the Grow Yourself Up Podcast

a podcast to support all of us in our adult lives

Many of us did not get our needs adequately met in childhood. The devastating legacy of childhood trauma, wounding and traumatic stress lives on in our brains, our bodies, our nervous systems and our behaviour/reactions impacting the way we turn up to our lives in many ways.

We are going to unpack all of this on Grow Yourself Up. This podcast will be a companion as you journey on your own road of healing and recovery.

You will learn you are not alone. Someone has been where you are. There is hope.

We will break down shame together and learn to cultivate self compassion. There is always the possibility for change. And regardless of what has happened in our past, as adults we have to take responsibility for our own lives.

We have to tend to our pain, our sadness and our dysfunction so that we can live a life we love and shift toxic patterns for our children.

Each week we send out journal questions based around the podcast’s topic. If you would like to receive these questions, please sign up here.

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Looking for a specific topic or guest? Search below:

Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 47: Anxiety, Control, Letting Go and Perfectionism in our Mothering with Azalia Suhaimi

In this week's episode Cath is joined by artist and illustrator Azalia Suhaimi. Azalia shares her motherhood journey and how perfectionism, anxiety and trying to get everything right led her to burnout. Azalia reflects on the importance of letting go and getting help. The generous storytelling will help you feel less alone and that no matter what issues you are experiencing in motherhood, there is a way through.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 46: Making Space For Grief

Grief is an emotion that arises in response to loss and it applies to many things apart from death.

We often need to learn how to make space for it and to allow ourselves to actually grieve, instead of denying or cutting off from our experiences.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 44: Perfectionism, Baby Sleep, Breastfeeding and Rage with Hannah Clapham

In this episode Cath is joined by Hannah Clapham who runs a sleep consultancy service called Little Nest Sleep. Hannah shares about how she has grown herself up in motherhood. There is so much richness in this episode including expectations in motherhood, self blame, how perfectionism trips us up, challenges around kiddie sleep and surrender, breastfeeding, advocating for ourselves and rage and how it relates to our own childhoods.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 42: Blame, Responsibility and Co-regulation

In this episode Cath looks at the concept of blame. Blame is often something that happens a lot in dysfunctional families and, as adults, it can feel necessary to blame something or someone for issues, problems or the way life is.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 38: The Scourge of Shame and Why it Matters

Shame is present in all dysfunctional families and yet it is something we don’t talk about that much.

Cath has mentioned it in multiple episodes and this episode is dedicated exclusively to shame because it is everywhere. Often operating out of our awareness and causes so much pain.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 37: What Drives Anxiety and A Key Tool to Help

In this episode Cath delves into anxiety more, following on from Episode 34. She uses neuroscience to explain why those of us with a stressful/traumatic childhood are more prone to anxiety.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 35: Being a Good Enough Parent

In this episode Cath speaks about how good enough parenting is rooted in relationship. When we tend to ourselves, begin to meet our own needs and deepen our own self connection, our parenting journey starts to become more intuitive.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 34: Uncertainty, Anxiety and Control

In this episode Cath speaks to how we are much more likely to struggle with managing uncertainty and to experience anxiety when we have not had our needs met in childhood.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 33: Mental Health and Personal Growth in our Mothering with Emily Adler Mosqueda

In this episode Cath is joined by Emily Adler Mosqueda. We discuss Emily's mothering experience. Emily shares how her postpartum time after the birth of her second daughter was much more challenging than her first. We examine what contributed to this touching on cultural expectations, perfectionism, rage, meeting our inner child in parenting, mental health, support and learning to make space for ourselves as mothers. Emily shares the arc of her journey explaining how she has landed in her own good enough space.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 32: Practical Tips To Make Change

This episode is a continuation of Episode 30. In episode 30 Cath talked about being in our own power, being aware of our agency and using these to create the life we would love to live (while being aware of systemic constraints).

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 31: Being a Good Enough Mother with Ali Pember

In this episode Cath chats to coach and psychotherapist Ali Pember about what it means to be a good enough mother. This episode is full of insight and realness which many of you will identify with. Cath and Ali discuss Ali's journey to motherhood and how she has grown herself up along the way. Ali explains how she approached motherhood (an approach which will resonate with many Mums).

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