Human Cogs Podcast

Jeremy Macvean is a marketing and communications expert who has held senior roles at Clemengers, Young & Rubicam and Austereo among others before deciding he wanted to use his comms expertise and insights for good not evil. This realisation led Jeremy to share his marketing and digital nous with the Royal Women’s Hospital, Peter McCallum Cancer Centre and The Movember Foundation… and in 2019 Jeremy co-founded The Fatherhood, a Dad-focused media platform to shine the light on the importance of fatherhood and to help guide others to thrive and survive in the only job that really counts – fatherhood and parenting. Along the way, he cites a midlife crisis and a divorce as significant milestones that bought pain and growth. In this chat with Sabina, Jeremy shares the lessons he’s learned along the way to carve out meaningful work, earn a living, and bond deeply with his kids. He shares the most powerful tool he knows to connect with others and what he wishes his now ex-wife knew about the way he thinks and feels today… 4 years since they separated. It's conversations like this that remind us why Human Cogs exists. If you are searching for work with meaning, or navigating a separation, or wanting to connect more deeply with your kids, or wondering what fatherhood is all about, then this conversation is for you. And if you’d just like to lean in more to others and yourself, then I know you’re going to love Jeremy and his raw curiosity, exploration, warmth, and the ahas he is discovering along the way. ### Guest: Jeremy MacveanWebsite: radiate.com.auLinks: LinkedIn, Instagram Hosts: Sabina Read and Mads GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What do you think are the most important ingredients for a young person to learn and thrive? While we’ve hopefully come a long way since reading, writing and arithmetic topped the list, we wonder how many of you would say that connection, empathy and a sense of agency matter most when it comes to educating young people to step out into the world and be their best selves.  In this conversation we meet the extraordinary Lael Stone - a Parenting Educator, Speaker for The Resilience Project and TEDx, Author of best-selling book - Raising Resilient and Compassionate Children and the founder of Woodline Primary - an independent school which opened in February 2021 with a novel modern curriculum based on emotional awareness and a key focus on educating the whole child so they learn to deeply know themselves, so they can better navigate the world around them. Lael shares her incredible and inspiring journey through parenthood, trauma, self-discovery and healing, and how she has utilised her story and teachings to help parents and students alike. She also shares tips on how to manage the mother load to ensure you are prioritising your own self-care and setting boundaries, while also creating space for your kids to step into who they are fully. And if you think this chat is only about parenting and the failings of the education system, you’d be wrong! There are so many brilliant tips and human insights for how each of us can manage our experiences of trauma, understand and own our stories and learn to truly listen instead of trying to fix. ### Guest: Lael StoneWebsite: laelstone.comLinks: Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook Hosts: Sabina Read and Mads GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You might think you know Shaynna Blaze as the vivacious and talented interior designer from TV shows The Block, Selling Houses Australia, Celebrity Apprentice or Country Home Rescue. What you may not know is that Shaynna is also a passionate advocate for women and a social justice campaigner for tackling domestic violence.  In this conversation, Shaynna shares some of the challenges she faced in her early years as a single mum with a 4 and 5 year old after leaving her first marriage, how she then set her mind and abundant talents to rebuilding her life and a stable future for herself and her children, and where she finds herself now decades later, continuing to create a legacy using her creative skills and public voice to spearhead meaningful change. Shaynna has been an unstoppable force in her journey as a talented and passionate artist. Her latest project is as the executive producer of The Fort, a new feature film written and co-directed by her children Carly and Jess about one woman’s battle to escape her abusive marriage while attempting to shelter her son from the realities of domestic violence. Shaynna describes the power of using the arts to hold a mirror up to domestic violence, and to catalyse conversations to bring about much needed change in our societies and ourselves. She invites each of us to look into that mirror, confront the realities of abusive behaviour and find the language to move beyond the fear and speak up. ### Guest: Shaynna BlazeWebsite: shaynnablaze.comLinks: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest Hosts: Sabina Read and Mads GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The word trauma is everywhere, but what does trauma really mean and can we heal and recover from the impact of assault, neglect, coercive control, parentification, bullying, loss, sexual violence, war, accidents or destructive acts of nature? In this episode, I speak with Dr Ahona Guha, a forensic and clinical psychologist, who is also a survivor of complex trauma herself, as well as the author of new book: Reclaim - understanding complex trauma and those who abuse. Dr Ahona helps us unpack what big T and little T trauma are, she explains why some people heal from unbearable experiences while others continue to struggle, and she helps us understand why some of us may minimise our own traumas not only to others, but also to ourselves. Personally, I don’t know a family untouched by trauma and therefore it’s my belief trauma is everyone’s business. Ahona agreed! So whether you are a trauma survivor, a clinician, someone who loves a survivor, or someone seeking to better understand abuse, this chat is for you. Here’s my hopeful chat with Dr Ahona Guha. Sabina x # Guest: Dr Ahona Guha
Website: www.ahonaguha.comInstagram: @drahonaguha Hosts: Sabina Read and Mads GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How many people do you know who live with hidden conditions?You might be surprised to learn that an estimated 30 per cent of the Australian population live with neurodiverse conditions including ADHD and autism. In fact, new data has revealed the number of prescriptions issued for ADHD has more than doubled over the last decade in Australia, with an increasing number of adults - particularly women - being diagnosed with the condition later in life.In this conversation we meet the extraordinary and inspirational Anna Oxley Rintoul, host of The Village Lantern Podcast and a 40-something Mum with a diagnosis of ADHD, who is also juggling the joys and challenges of raising three neurodiverse kids. Anna shares the complexities of navigating the ups and downs of their daily lives, how she has worked to live with the grief of wanting to fit in and be so-called 'normal' in a world of neurotypicals, and the bridges of connection she's built to share both the shadows and unexpected silver linings of the journey so far. A wealth of knowledge, insights and practical tips, this episode is an important listen for anyone living with or loving someone with neurodiversity or indeed anyone who wants to learn more about its impact on individuals and families. We thank Anna for her wisdom, honesty and humanity in this chat, and for giving us all a window into her remarkably brave and hard walk through a beautiful "good enough" life. ###Guest: Anna Oxley RintoulPodcast: https://thevillagelanternpodcast.com/Resources and Support: https://takesavillage.com.au/Instagram: @annaoxrin Hosts: Sabina Read and Mads GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a very little child, Mariam Issa dreamt of traveling to faraway places. What she did not dream is that she would need to flee the horror of Somalia’s civil war on an overcrowded boat to Kenya. Nor did she dream of the violence and bombings she witnessed, or of her beautiful close-knit family being torn apart and displaced to far-flung foreign countries.  One of those countries was Australia, where Mariam arrived 25 years ago with four young children in tow, and pregnant with her fifth. What she found when she was settled as a refugee in Melbourne, was a culture she did not understand, and a completely different world and way of being. Now a life coach, author, community builder and educator, Mariam founded #ResilientAspiringWomen in 2012 – a safe space for women to connect and create community – believing that if women can heal themselves from the impacts of patriarchy, the world will also heal. In this conversation, we meet a wise and reflective Mariam, now an empty nester, divorcee and no longer wearing the hijab that defined her for so long. Mariam shares with us the peace she has found when she sits in the sacred silence where the waters of her two worlds meet, the practices she lives by to ensure she lives and breathes her top three non-negotiable values, and the benefits for all when we take off the masks that disconnect us from ourselves, and from each other. Above all, Mariam shares her story with deep and abiding gratitude, recognising and celebrating our shared humanity with the beautiful African phrase, "Ubuntu" [I am, because you are]. ### Guest: Mariam IssaWebsite: www.mariamissa.com.auSocials: Facebook Instagram Hosts: Sabina Read and Mads GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How are you feeling right now? Are you wired? Are you tired? Did you sleep ok last night or are you tossing and turning til dawn? What about your relationship with your body? Are you fasting? Stressed? Eating meat? Riding sugar highs? Suffering energy lows? And what role are hormones playing in your life day to day? In this episode we do a full-sweep health check with Michele Chevally Hedge -  a regular presenter and writer with Mama Mia, Huffington Post and Body&Soul, Nutritional Medicine practitioner, Cure Cancer and Heart Research Institute Ambassador and best-selling international author who consults to leading corporations on optimising well-being and nutrition, and how to change your relationship with food, for good. Passionate, authentic and bursting with knowledge and advice, Michele is a wealth of information, vitality and inspiration and will leave you thinking about the small and achievable changes you can easily make to sleep better, quit sugar, find joy in food, manage stress and even dial up your sex life!  ### Guest: Michele Chevally HedgeWebsite: http://ahealthyview.com/Socials: Twitter Instagram Hosts: Sabina Read and Mads GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If your heart had a voice, have you ever wondered what it would say? Dr Michelle Woolhouse is an author, podcaster and holistic and integrative GP with decades of experience working in the fields of anxiety, stress and burnout. We first spoke to Michelle in 2020, around the time she hit a wall within herself, which catalysed her decision to step off the high-stress career treadmill she’d been on, and to embark on a deep journey of self-discovery and to get underneath the anxiety that had been ever-present in her life. This conversation explores what happened when Michelle pushed pause on everything, undertook a holistic reexamination of her life, work and future, and let her heart lead the way. It wasn’t easy. But by trusting her intuition and challenging some of her traditional medical training, Michelle got out of her head and into the wholeness of her body. Off the back of that powerful and transformative journey, Michelle has written and released a book, The Wonder Within, in which she explores society’s normalisation of stress, unpacks the interconnections of health and healing, and provides a playbook to give us all the skills, knowledge and inspiration to uncover our full selves in order to feel wholly alive.  ### Guest: Michelle WoolhouseBook: The Wonder WithinWebsite: The Holistic GP Hosts: Sabina Read and Mads GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Award-winning documentary maker and author Pete Dickson is no stranger to life’s curved balls. Childhood illness and a fast-track to an AFL career truncated due to a life-threatening condition were the early harbingers, but the tragic loss of his beloved brother Robert - Australian football identity, reality TV star and filmmaker - and his two young nephews in an accident one ordinary day threw his life into a spin of grief, heart-break, holding on and trying to keep it together when his world was blown apart.  It’s a human challenge so many of us have sadly had to face. When someone you love dies too soon, how do you honour their legacy but also know how to let them go? How do you find the will to go on when they are gone? And how do you uncouple yourself from their story? We thank Pete with full hearts for his beautiful sharing and sensitivity in this episode, where he opens up about his journey to the heart of grief’s darkness, and out the other side again. And while this is Pete’s story, it is also a story of how siblings indelibly shape us, the binds of brotherly love and how you can find yourself again in the face of unimaginable loss. ### Guest: Pete DicksonPurchase Book: He Was My Brother: The Story Of Rob Dickson And Me Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave us a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was the philosopher, Holocaust survivor and author of 'Man's Search for Meaning' Victor Frankl who said: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” The idea links to Epictetus’ Dichotomy of Control, that being that there are multiple things within our sphere of influence we do have the ability to change, but there is also so much of our human experience that sits well outside the realm of our influence, no matter our desires or hopes or striving. This means that we will all - someday, somehow, without a doubt - suffer deeply. And it is only then that we will be forced to look within and ask more of ourselves so we can both endure and adjust ourselves to carry and ultimately transcend that suffering. In this space of suffering, are there any opportunities for growth? Can we see positives? Will this increase our resilience? Our compassion? And most importantly, deepen our understanding of what it means to be human in the fullest sense? In this episode we have the privilege of hearing the incredible and profound story of Dianne Draganovic, who shares her stoic and beautiful journey as a mother of four children - Liliana who died too young, and Bella who was born with Down Syndrome. Before you listen, please take a few minutes to watch the video via the link below so you can meet Bella and her family, and inhabit her world for a moment. Then please lean in, listen and learn from Dianne whose wisdom, humanity, curiosity and unstoppable crusade to help Bella live her best life is an unforgettable and powerful lesson in stoicism for us all.  ### Guest: Dianne DraganovicWatch video link of Bella and her family: https://youtu.be/rc652FCw9ls Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine GrummetProducer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :) Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogsWe'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! CLICK FOLLOW on Apple and Spotify. Or if you're really feeling it, please leave us a quick REVIEW. Thanks for listening!Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.