Conversations On The Couch
Grab a coffee and curl up on your couch and meet a heap of very special humans as they answer some of life's curly questions. Guaranteed to move you and get you thinking.
Fraser Smith is a counselling psychology doctoral trainee in Glasgow, Scotland. He's passionate about psychology and for helping others in therapeutic contexts. This passion has developed into his career and hobbies, so much so that he started a YouTube channel called GetPsyched where Fraser looks into all different concepts and theories in psychology and illustrates how you can apply them to your own life.
Our most recent Conversation on the Couch is with psychology student, Karyn Battersby, who has grand aspirations of slowly slowly working towards being a registered psychologist. She’s hoping to qualify before her 60th birthday and we're sure she will!
Karyn recently asked her friends on social media to describe themselves without using their name, family status or work/career identity and when it was her turn, described herself thus:
"I am growth, I am learning. I love wholeheartedly and deeply, I am authentic. I am courageous. I embrace change (sometimes reluctantly), I am a seeker of truth, new experiences, and knowledge. I am a reader of books. I am a food lover, I am a deep thinker, I am a doer. I am enthusiastic, I am passionate. I am a motivator. I am a people lover. I am a sensual woman. And I am enough."
Matt Reeves is a father, a realist, a community minded optimist and lover of humour and music. Fourteen-year-old Matt loved Guns & Roses. Thirtyeight-year-old Matt still does but he now also collects vintage wine carafes and gives me a run for my money when it comes to being curious about other humans.
In our latest Conversation on the Couch we chat to the beautiful Cathy Crawford, a doting daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, friend...the list goes on. I first met Cathy when I joined her workplace in Newcastle in 2002. My first job was to order a bunch of flowers to be delivered to her in hospital after her breast cancer surgery that day. Little did I know, I was about to adopt a surrogate mother/big sister/role model/mentor. Cathy has been there for some of the hardest times life can dish out and that's why I knew she'd give us an amazing, inspiring Conversation on the Couch. Thank you Cath! x
Melissa is a loving partner, daughter, sister and aunt who lives for her family and friends. She's a lover of exercise who'll travel near and far for live music and she recently commenced her own bookkeeping business. Melissa also shares her singing voice regularly in a local band and duo. In her spare time, she's organising a fundraising event for Love Your Sister.
Thank you Mel for this heartfelt Conversation on the Couch. x
Tom is a beautiful proud Warramunga Man from the Wiradjuri Nation. He is a son, brother, husband and friend but touches so many more people every day as he shares his knowledge and stories through his work as the founder of Red Dust Healing. Today we are blessed to learn so much from this very wise man of very few words in our latest Conversation on the Couch.
Vanessa Eylward engages us with her insight and wisdom of valuable life lessons from a life well and truly lived, and from her latest life experience, living with breast cancer, for our latest Conversation on the Couch. This is laugh-out-loud funny and poignant all at the same time.
Earlier this year, six-year-old Scarlett (she's 7 now!) wrote to us at The Psychology of It asking a very important question - "Why do people live if they're only going to die?" We answered Scarlett in an open letter. So impressed by the curiosity and intelligence of this young lady, we thought it only fitting to invite her over for a cup of tea and what turned out to be a very special Conversation on the Couch. You can see it here.
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In early September, 2016, we discovered by chance a Facebook post by Christopher Sewell describing in raw detail, his first-hand struggle living with anxiety and depression. Christopher is a husband and a father and a surfer and a mate who is not defined by his disorders. Instead, he is brave and generous and shares this incredible insight into his experiences.
Melissa Reeser Poulin is a poet and prose writer with a passion for cultivating creativity in the lives of busy people, especially parents. In her own pursuit of creative fulfillment while raising an active 16-month-old, she has come to embrace shortcuts of all kinds-- including 20 minute workouts and cooking with Trader Joe's. She is an overly ambitious reader with far too many books on her bedside table.
Sandra Bucci is of Swiss-Italian heritage and a Novacastrian now residing in Manchester, U.K., with her husband and two beautiful children. She is a Dr of Clinical Psychology and an academic at The University of Manchester; her academic interests lie in understanding the development and maintenance of psychotic experiences such as hearing voices and having unusual beliefs. She is motivated to develop novel ways to help people have better access to mental health support and intervention. Sandra is a world citizen who has travelled extensively. She is a former competitive aerobics champion, tennis player and doesn't particularly like being in a field of cows (one might go so far as to say she has a bovine phobia!).
Paul is a loving and adoring husband, father, son and grandfather whose everyday begins with the unconditional love of his two mischievous puppies. He's just finished a wonderful renovation on his country home and he took some time out to sit down and have a Conversation on the Couch with us! Thanks Paul.
