Mastering Change | The trauma, mental health & wellbeing podcast

So much of what happens in healthcare is shaped by trauma – yet most clinicians are never taught what trauma is or how to recognise it in themselves or their patients. This week on Mastering Change, we speak with Susanna Petche, a GP with 25 years’ experience, who shares how her own misdiagnosed depression eventually revealed an underlying trauma response. That realisation changed her life – and her medical practice. Susanna reflects on the reality that trauma is everywhere in the healthcare system: in people’s symptoms, in their behaviour and in the overwhelm that brings them to a GP or hospital. However, doctors receive no formal education about trauma, no supervision and little support in navigating the emotional impact of their work. She shows how much difference simple, trauma-aware tools can make – from acknowledging how frightening a hospital environment can be, to helping patients regulate their nervous systems in moments of stress. Small shifts like this, she argues, can meaningfully improve care long before large-scale system change becomes possible. We discuss  Why trauma underpins so many physical and mental health presentations How the lack of trauma training leaves clinicians without essential tools Why simple, everyday interventions can improve patient safety and connection What genuine practitioner wellbeing requires - beyond slogans about resilience How AI could support care if implemented with sensitivity Why even one hour of trauma education could transform healthcare Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

What makes someone feel so bonded to a group that they’d sacrifice almost anything for it – and how does that same force help us heal? In this episode of Mastering Change, cognitive anthropologist Dr. Martha Newson unpacks ‘identity fusion’ – an extreme form of social bonding where self and group identities merge, creating family-like ties and powerful loyalty.  Drawing on years of research with football fans, prisoners and festival communities, Martha explores how ritual, shared challenge and moments of perceived transformation strengthen these bonds. She explains why people can feel trapped in damaging groups – families, institutions, even cult-like communities – because losing that belonging can feel physiologically unsafe, not just emotionally painful.  Martha also advocates for collective healing spaces – from 12-step groups to choirs and walking clubs – explaining that they are essential companions to individual therapy. We explore: What identity fusion is – and how it shows up in everyday life How shared rituals, sport and festivals create deep feelings of “we-ness” Why leaving harmful groups can feel more dangerous than staying How trauma, when held in community, can shift from stagnation to transformation The role of collective spaces (12-step rooms, choirs, sports, retreats) in trauma healing How internalised community, ancestors, nature and a sense of “higher self” can sustain people who spend time alone Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

Therapists, clinicians and helpers often tell themselves they’re “fine” – even as the work wears down their nervous system. In this conversation, palliative care doctor Dr. Rosie Weir offers a compassionate guide to trauma stewardship: the practice of staying present to other people’s pain without losing yourself in it. Drawing from her years on the frontline of end-of-life care, Rosie explains how practitioners can unconsciously carry the emotional burden of others long after a session ends. ‘If you're a painter and you're painting all day, you come home covered in paint. And that's what it's like doing this kind of work – you come home covered in other people’s emotional material.’ Rosie shares the practices that help her stay grounded and slow down, while challenging the belief that self-care must always be ‘active’ or fast paced to be effective. We discuss The emotional residue practitioners carry and how to recognise it Why slowing down is often more regulating than speeding up Building a relationship with yourself as a foundation for resilience How hobbies and joy act as protective factors Why healing work must include the wellbeing of those who deliver it A reflective, grounding episode for anyone doing work that asks you to hold other people’s pain. Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

For people who have spent years in survival mode, joy can feel uncomfortable.  Here, Melita Stancil explains why (as well as how we can experience joy more readily). She is the creator of Anthelum, a framework designed to help people move out of survival mode by looking at families, schools, workplaces and communities as interconnected parts of healing. A central theme in her work is joy. She shares how hypervigilance and stress can make exposure to joy difficult, and why practicing joy becomes essential for long-term wellbeing. She explains that many people, especially those with trauma histories, spend more time scanning for what’s wrong – not because they’re pessimistic, but because their brain is still trying to keep them safe. She also describes why healing must include families and systems, not just individuals. Joy, she argues, grows through connection – and the environments around us play a crucial role in whether recovery is sustained. We explore The Anthelum framework and how systems shape healing How hypervigilance restricts access to joy Why joy is a skill we must practice and protect The role of connection in helping people thrive Why healing happens in systems, not silos Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

Have you ever noticed how some stress seems to not just dictate your mood, but your whole sense of presence? That’s because, according to craniosacral therapist Lulu Ferrand, we’re operating on a spectrum of vibrational frequency. On this week’s episode, Lulu speaks to us about how what we engage with, moment to moment, can raise or lower our sense of freedom, safety and connection. She explains how she understands craniosacral therapy (CST) as working not only with the nervous system but also with the body’s subtle energetic field – helping people access states where old emotional and physical patterns can release. She emphasises that CST isn’t about ignoring or dismissing the difficult, lower-frequency experiences people may be living with; rather, it helps clients recognise that the more time they spend in lighter, more regulated states, the more they can be gently ‘pulled up and out’. She also shares how even the smallest moments of beauty or presence – like ‘noticing that a particular flower is looking beautiful’ – can create meaningful shifts in the system. We discuss How engaging with ‘higher’ or ‘lighter’ experiences can support emotional and energetic regulation Why highly sensitive people and empaths may feel drained or overwhelmed by others How CST supports the body’s natural capacity to let go of held patterns How sensitivity can show up early in life – and why attuned support makes a difference Practical ways to ground and protect your own energy How small, everyday moments can shift how we feel in profound ways Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

Sometimes, talking therapy isn’t enough. This week on Mastering Change, we speak with neurofeedback specialist Stuart Black, whose work focuses on trauma, PTSD and the patterns the nervous system can’t shift through traditional talking therapy alone. Stuart explains how neurofeedback helps a dysregulated nervous system re-regulate, especially when trauma has left people stuck in survival mode. He describes how it can support the processing of traumatic memories stored in the emotional brain that otherwise couldn’t be accessed.  “We can enable you to process any traumatic memories which are stuck in your emotional brain… so you're controlling those memories rather than those memories controlling you.”  We explore Why a dysregulated nervous system can block therapeutic progress How neurofeedback helps the brain access and process traumatic memories Why trying to “fix brain chemistry” misses the root cause Why there is no such thing as an average brain The importance of the therapeutic relationship – and why neurofeedback isn’t “just a machine” Why educating people about neurofeedback could drastically speed up the therapy process Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

Christmas can intensify grief. Familiar rituals, memories and traditions can exacerbate the feelings of absence and bring more emotional pain to the surface. In this episode of Mastering Change, psychotherapist Julia Samuel shares what years of supporting grieving individuals have taught her about love, loss and the support people need most. She explains how grief is held in the body, how the brain struggles to catch up with the reality of loss, and why “pain is the agent of change” in helping us adjust. Julia describes the dual process of grieving – moving between feeling the pain and intentionally taking breaks from it – and why slowing down is key for staying grounded during overwhelming moments. She offers concrete guidance for navigating the festive season: having honest conversations with family, creating rituals that acknowledge the person who has died, taking sensory breaks to regulate, and setting aside time to remember so the person “doesn’t die twice.” She also introduces the Griefworks app, with practical tools, meditations and reflective exercises to help people meet their grief with compassion. We exploreWhy grief is so physical How slowing down supports emotional regulation Practical steps for coping with grief at Christmas The importance of continuing bonds and remembering How guided tools like Griefworks offer support when it's most needed Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

Why are so many women only discovering their ADHD in adulthood? In this episode of Mastering Change, Dr. Samantha Hiew, founder of ADHD Girls, explores the gender bias in psychiatry and the ways in which hormones, stress and trauma intersect with neurodivergent experience. Through her own story and research, Samantha reveals how hormonal shifts and perimenopause can alter stress tolerance, why diagnosis can be a powerful act of self-recognition, and how understanding our neurobiology can transform how we see ourselves. “Diagnosis, when done right, isn’t about labels – it’s about understanding yourself, and validating your lived experience.” We explore: The gender bias shaping ADHD diagnosis in women How hormones and perimenopause affect emotional regulation The connection between trauma, autism and stress sensitivity Why every neurodivergent mind has its own truth Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

Perimenopause is often described as a hormonal shift – but what if it’s also a neurological and emotional one? In this episode of Mastering Change, Paula Rastrick, founder of The Brain-Body Method, explores how trauma, stress sensitivity and hormonal health are intricately linked. Paula explains how our stress profiles begin developing in the womb, shaped by our mother’s nervous system and early attachment experiences. Through her neuro-bio-psycho-social lens, she shows how unresolved trauma can re-emerge during perimenopause, when fluctuations in cortisol and GABA bring stress patterns to the surface. “There's a lot of talk within the trauma world of nervous system dysregulation – but I think we're not understanding the biochemical neurological aspect of that.” We explore: The brain-body connection in perimenopause How early adversity shapes stress sensitivity and hormonal response Why perimenopause can re-trigger unresolved trauma The role of cortisol and GABA in emotional regulation How nervous system awareness supports hormonal balance Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

What happens when the part of us that wants to heal becomes the thing that gets in the way? In this episode, we speak with Laura Patryas, a nondual IFS practitioner who sees our inner parts as expressions of awareness rather than problems to fix. Laura explains how trauma disconnects us from presence and how, in both therapy and life, healing begins when we can rest in awareness rather than try to control it. She describes how nondual IFS expands traditional IFS by integrating spiritual insight, compassion and connection to the whole. “Having parts isn’t a problem. It’s just like waves on the ocean – different expressions of the same awareness.” We explore: What nondual IFS is and how it differs from traditional IFS The role of presence and awareness in trauma healing The difference between empathy, sympathy and compassion How to work with the therapist’s own “parts” during sessions How this approach supports both personal and collective healing Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.