Therapy Works

In this episode, the Agony Aunties respond to a parent struggling to support their son through GCSE exam stress, offering a compassionate reminder that while exams can feel overwhelming, the most powerful thing a parent can provide is connection—not solutions. The Agony Aunties explore how to open supportive, pressure-free conversations, encourage collaboration rather than control, and gently help teenagers manage anxiety by breaking things into smaller, more manageable chunks. They also highlight the importance of honesty around parental expectations, the value of rest and self-care (balanced with realism about teenage habits), and reassuring both parent and child that even worst-case scenarios are not the end of the road. Above all, the Agony Aunties emphasise that feeling understood and not alone is often the greatest stabiliser during stressful times—and that, ultimately, exams will pass. More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/ Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - www.griefworks.com/therapy Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations. If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Agony Aunties respond to a heartfelt question from a listener struggling with ongoing financial stress following COVID and the rising cost of living. They explore how money anxiety taps into deep feelings of uncertainty, lack of control, and shame, and why these pressures can ripple into sleep, relationships, and family dynamics. The Agony Aunties gently reframe the experience, encouraging self-compassion over self-blame, and highlighting how external factors - like global instability and economic shifts - play a significant role. Alongside emotional support, they offer practical guidance: balancing worry with moments of gratitude, having open and honest conversations to reduce shame, seeking connection and shared experiences, and taking small, manageable financial steps to regain a sense of agency. This episode is a compassionate reminder that you’re not alone, that this is hard, and that support - both emotional and practical - is available. More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/ Download the Grief Works app here: https://www.griefworks.com/ Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations. If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, the Agony Aunties respond to a listener facing multiple bereavements, a late ADHD diagnosis, and ongoing anxiety, leaving her unsure how to understand what she’s feeling or what support she needs. They explore how grief, trauma, and ADHD symptoms often overlap, suggesting it’s more helpful to focus on regulating the nervous system than trying to separate causes. They discuss the importance of connection, updating coping strategies when they stop working, and creating gentle daily structure to ease overwhelm. Above all, they encourage allowing the messiness of grief and embracing this uncertain “in-between” space with compassion and patience. More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/ Download the Grief Works app here: https://www.griefworks.com/ Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations. If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s Agony Aunties episode, we’re diving into a heartbreakingly relatable question: how do you manage the mountain of "Death Admin" - wills, probate, and paperwork - when you’re still in the fog of bereavement? Julia and Sophie explore the "two-track" reality of loss. They share why we need to stop rushing, how to "scaffold" your brain with the right support, and how to silence the "shitty committee" that tells you you’re failing at a time when you have the least capacity. It’s a gentle reminder that while grief is a slow work, you don't have to navigate the practical demands of it alone. More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/ Download the Grief Works app here: https://www.griefworks.com/ Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations. If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this moving conversation, I talk to Julia Bradbury about the emotional aftermath of cancer, the pressure to keep going, and the hidden ways busyness can stop us feeling. We explore her new book Hack Yourself Healthy, the difference between reacting and responding, and why true wellness has to include our emotional lives as much as our physical health. Julia Bradbury also reflects on childhood bullying, family trauma, motherhood, and the resilience she has discovered through both illness and adventure. It’s a thoughtful, honest episode about slowing down, looking inward, and finding healthier ways to live, cope and heal. Find Julia Bradbury: Book: ⁠Hack Yourself HealthyInstagram: ⁠@juliabradbury⁠ Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/ Download the Grief Works app here: https://www.griefworks.com/ Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations. If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, I am joined by Jon Fox for a deeply moving conversation about a love that was "robbed" of its time. After both surviving cancer, Jon and Katie found a profound connection online, only for Katie to tragically pass away at just 28 years old, mere months into their relationship. Jon opens up about the unique "injustice" of grieving a future that had barely begun and the complexity of navigating his own chronic health struggles alongside this heartbreak. We explore the practical and psychological tools Jon uses to process his "acute" grief—from his private nightly rituals of talking to Katie to his intellectual approach as a "learner" of his own sorrow. It is a powerful testament to the idea that the depth of our pain is a direct reflection of the depth of our love, and that a bond does not end at death, but becomes a vital, internalised part of who we are. More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/ Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations. If you need help finding a therapist, visit The Samuel Therapy Practice: https://www.thesamueltherapypractice.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Therapy Works, I’m joined by chef, writer, restaurateur and MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers for a rich and honest conversation about mental health, food, family and finding your way back to yourself. Thomasina speaks openly about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her twenties, later exploring ADHD, and the long journey of moving from shame and feeling “broken” towards self-acceptance. We talk about how cooking became a lifeline for her, not just as a career but as a deeply grounding, creative and restorative practice that helped her feel more connected to herself and the world around her. We also explore the profound link between food and wellbeing, from the gut-brain connection to the emotional power of cooking, feeding and gathering around a table. Thomasina shares why her charity Chefs in Schools matters so much to her, how food can transform children’s health and happiness, and why agency, friendship, movement and nature all play such an important role in staying mentally well. It’s a warm, wise and energising conversation about embracing imperfection, following instinct, and learning to build a life that genuinely nourishes you. Find Thomasina: Website: https://www.thomasinamiers.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomasinamiers/ Visit Wahaca: https://www.wahaca.co.uk/ Chefs in Schools: https://chefsinschools.org.uk/ Supplement she recommended: Lithium Orate More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/ Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations. If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Therapy Works, I’m joined by Rebecca Coxon — writer, journalist and documentary director, and author of the book Inconceivable. Rebecca speaks with extraordinary honesty about living with endometriosis, fertility struggles, and the many different forms abandonment can take. We talk about the shock of discovering in adulthood that the man who raised her is not her biological father, the burden of carrying a family secret, and the emotional fallout of trying to make sense of identity, shame and belonging. Together, we explore what really makes a family, how secrecy can isolate us, and what repair can look like when difficult truths finally come into the light. Rebecca also shares the devastating experience of being left by a partner during IVF, the hope that sustained her through rock bottom, and the unexpected path that eventually led her to motherhood. It’s a rich, moving conversation about survival, love, and the many different ways families are made. Find Rebecca: Website: https://www.rebeccacoxon.com/ Instagram: @rebeccacoxon Pre-order her book: https://amzn.eu/d/0an4yGSs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today I am joined by Sarah Perry, award-winning author of The Essex Serpent, Melmoth and, most recently, The Death of an Ordinary Man. Sarah speaks with lyrical honesty about the aftermath of prolonged, severe pain and how terror can become encoded in the body, narrowing life into hypervigilance. She describes how therapy helped her reframe the mind not as an enemy, but as a protector, learning to turn towards fear and shame rather than flee from them. We also talk about dying as a stage of living, not a full stop, and the ordinary, bewildering, sometimes even tender events of a natural death. Sarah reflects on why we need a shared language for death so families are not left alone with ignorance and dread. Threaded through our conversation is her sense of grace, those unearned gifts that soften us towards gratitude, goodness and love that persists, real as hunger, even when the person is no longer in the room. Find Sarah: Instagram: @sarah_grace_perry Website: https://www.sarahperry.net/ Buy Death of an Ordinary Man: https://amzn.eu/d/04C3xmYt More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing — it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Therapy Works, I’m joined by Matthew Gulliford, who opens up about the loss of his beloved French bulldog, Mr. Carson. Matthew describes a kind of grief that completely blindsided him, visceral, physical, and all consuming, and we explore why pet loss can feel so intense when your animal is part of your daily rhythm, your home, and your sense of self.We talk about the parts people don’t always say out loud, like the guilt, the loneliness, and the heaviness of having to make end of life decisions, as well as what actually helped Matthew survive the worst moments. From personal rituals and writing “messages” to Carson, to planting a tree, carrying his ashes, and eventually expanding love again with new puppies, this is a conversation that gives real permission to grieve deeply and without comparison. If Only If create beautifully made nightwear that feels thoughtful, timeless, and deeply comforting at the end of the day. Their pieces are designed to support women through every stage of life and are made from natural fabrics in small batches. If you’d like to explore their collection, you can visit ifonlyif.co.uk and use the code JULIA15 for 15% off. More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠⁠⁠⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing — it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Therapy Works, I sit down with Cressida Bonas for a conversation that feels unusually intimate and quietly brave. We talk about the loss of her older sister Pandora and how saying the word “died” still lands with a kind of shock and finality. Cressida shares what she didn’t expect about grief, the fear that lives in her body, the numb days that feel lonelier than tears, and the strange push pull of wanting to hold on while also wanting the suffering to end. We explore what it was like watching Pandora die in hospital, how her family tried to “be strong” and hide their tears until Pandora asked them not to, and why that shift towards honesty became a lesson in love and connection for all of them.We also talk about the way Cressida processes through creativity, writing a letter to Pandora in those final days and then finding herself unable to stop writing afterwards, not as memoir but through characters that could hold what felt unbearable. She reflects on motherhood, self doubt, and finding more confidence since having children, alongside the frustration of being put in a box by other people’s assumptions. We end with what Pandora’s death has clarified for her, the preciousness of ordinary moments, the desire to waste less time, and the meaning behind her podcast Lessons From Our Mothers, which grew out of recording her own mother’s story and the wish to understand the women who made us. Listen to Cressida’s Podcast, Lessons From Our Mothers: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/lessons-from-our-mothers/id1803569581 If Only If create beautifully made nightwear that feels thoughtful, timeless, and deeply comforting at the end of the day. Their pieces are designed to support women through every stage of life and are made from natural fabrics in small batches. If you’d like to explore their collection, you can visit ifonlyif.co.uk and use the code JULIA15 for 15% off. More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠⁠⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠ Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠⁠⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing — it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠⁠⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Therapy Works, I’m joined by Charlotte Bellamy, who speaks with extraordinary openness about the death of her son Finn, who was stillborn at 28 weeks. Charlotte takes us through the shock of reduced movements, the devastating moment she was told “there’s no heartbeat”, and the surreal reality that even in loss, you still have to give birth. We talk about the grief of missing the baby you’d imagined, alongside the trauma of what happens medically and physically, and Charlotte shares how her sister, a midwife, supported her and her husband Milo through those first unbearable days and helped them create precious memories with Finn. We also explore how Charlotte and Milo grieved differently, why therapy and understanding the body’s response to grief helped, and how fear can shape everything that comes after. Charlotte describes the marathon of pregnancy after loss and the practical ways she protected herself, from having someone with her at scans to telling staff upfront what she needed. At the end, Sophie and Emily join me to reflect on the importance of support, naming, and speaking about the baby who has died, because using Finn’s name and remembering him isn’t “bringing it up”, it’s honouring a life that mattered.If Only If create beautifully made nightwear that feels thoughtful, timeless, and deeply comforting at the end of the day. Their pieces are designed to support women through every stage of life and are made from natural fabrics in small batches. If you’d like to explore their collection, you can visit ifonlyif.co.uk and use the code JULIA15 for 15% off. More from Therapy Works: Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠⁠ Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges. If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing — it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices