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.

Looking for a specific topic or guest? Search below:

Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 56: The Messy Imperfection of Rupture and Repair

In this episode Cath speaks about the process of rupture and repair with our children. We may imagine that this is a neat, easy process (and sometimes it is) and often it is more complex and messy.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 53: Neediness, Choice and Growing Up in Motherhood with Mara Glatzel

In episode 53 Cath is joined by author, coach and podcast host Mara Glatzel.

This is a rich conversation centered on needs and how we can make space for them, illustrated with stories from Mara’s life. We also discuss ambition, grappling with achievement, choice and the decisions we need to make about how we actually spend our precious lives.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 52: The Complex Journey of Meeting Needs

In episode 52 Cath focuses on our needs and why starting to meet/meeting them can be so complex (building on earlier episodes on this topic, listen to episodes 1-4 and 26).

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 50: Shame, Perfectionism and Holidays

In this half century episode Cath talks about how our own shame and perfectionism (and what happens when our shame gets touched) can impact our holiday times.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 49: Burnout and Parenting When Our Kids Struggle with Kendra Wilde

Cath was joined by Kendra Wilde this week. They talked all about how to keep our sanity intact in parenting when our children are struggling in some way. Kendra shared about the 'why' behind (Wild Peace for Parents) and how she was pushed to a place of burnout on her parenting journey. This conversation is loaded with self compassion and wisdom from someone who has kids in their twenties, we hope you enjoy it.

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Catherine Counihan Catherine Counihan

Ep 48: Understanding our Jealousy and Envy

In this episode Cath talks about two feelings - jealousy and envy - that are often seen as ‘bad’ feelings or feelings we should not admit to (because we may come across as not being ‘nice’).

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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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