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:
Ep 172: Giving Up on Being Good, Fawning, Shame and Discomfort
In this episode Cath talks about her concept 'Giving Up on Being Good' and the 'Good Girl Grid'. The experience of emotional neglect produces a set of coping strategies based on our stress responses and unwinding these as we grow and develop as adults is really important so that we can live our own TRUE lives.
Ep 171: Anxiety, Somatics and Growing Up in Motherhood with Colleen Adrian. Re-release
In the episode this week, Cath is joined by Colleen Adrian. Colleen is an author and a connected parenting coach for parents of sensitive spirited children. She’s a Mom, a Stepmom, and a Grandma and lives on a small island on the west coast of Canada.
Ep 170: Longing, Adult Love Relationships and Feeling Seen and Heard
In this episode Cath answers two listener questions. The first question is a short question related to attachment and trauma in our younger years. Have a listen to episode 14 which gives a broad overview of trauma and helps provide context for the first question. Cath will be doing a more detailed view on this material (from episode 14) in an upcoming episode.
Ep 169: Ambivalence, Love and Hate in Motherhood and Parenting
In this episode Cath speaks about the expression of mixed feelings in motherhood and how we may move between two positions. With childhood trauma we may have more intense swings and not have much access to a ‘middle ground’.
Ep 168: Sensory Systems, Integration, Trauma and Family Considerations
In this episode Cath talks about our 8 sensory systems, about the importance of sensory integration, how trauma can impact this and shares some specific sensory systems and a couple of anecdotes from her own life to give you an idea about how impactful our sensory experience is.
Ep 167: Rage, Vitality, Agency and Growing up in Motherhood with Lisa Marchiano. Re-release
Lisa Marchiano is an award-winning author, podcast host, and certified Jungian analyst. She is the author of three books published by Sounds True, Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself, The Vital Spark: Reclaim Your Outlaw Energies and Find Your Feminine Fire and Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams. She is the cocreator and cohost of the popular depth psychology podcast This Jungian Life, and has a private practice in Philadelphia.
Ep 166: Overfunctioning, Emotional Neglect and the Circle of Care
In this episode Cath speaks to over-functioning, how this traps many of us, breaking cycles, noticing and including ourselves in care and to stop operating like a hologram in our own lives. This is long term work with small shifts, Cath says please go gently with yourself.
Ep 165: Ancestral Healing and Wisdom, Power and Growing Up in Motherhood with Kate Merrick. Re-release
Cath is joined by psychotherapist and coach Kate Merrick. Cath and Kate talked about Kate's path to motherhood, her lineage, how her ancestors turned up to support her journey, personal power in the postpartum time, advocating for our children, medical herbalism and much more.
Ep 164: Neurodivergent Family Life, Home Education and Breaking Cycles with Amanda Appiagyei
Cath was joined by productivity strategist and home educating Mum of 3 Amanda Appiagyei this week on the podcast. Cath and Amanda talked about Amanda's path to motherhood, mothering in a neurodivergent family, how Amanda tends to herself, her nervous system, her kids and her business, breaking cycles in a black mixed race family and the complexities of dealing with our own stuff as we parent.
Ep 163: Neurodivergence, Unmasking, Late Diagnosis and Growing Up with Dr Emma Offord
In this episode Cath was joined by Dr Emma Offord. Cath and Emma talked about Emma's path to motherhood, childhood trauma, how Emma tends to and advocates for herself and her children and sensory needs and how these are so important to understand, particularly in the context of families/food/parenting. We talked about autism, ADHD, neurodivergence and trauma, late diagnosis, OCD and how Emma experiences OCD and Emma talked about unmasking and how she advocates for herself in order to tend to her needs.
Ep 162: Guilt and Shame in Parenting: Ask Cath (Re-release)
In this episode Cath answers a listener's letter. The content of this episode deals with the question: ‘How can we tend to ourselves when we realise some of our parenting has come from our own pain and trauma?’ How do we deal with the guilt and shame arising from this? What helps this shift?
Ep 161: Control and the Chaotic Shit Show (Re-release)
In this episode Cath speaks about how control is such a key coping strategy for so many of us and how this rears its head at times of stress (like early motherhood) and in new situations. Control is not the solution we think it is and Cath shares a recent incident from her own life showing how control is so seductive and seems to be the answer, but really it is an illusion.
Ep 160: Sovereignty, Secure Attachment and Unconditional Love
In episode 160 Cath speaks about how we have to develop our own sense of power and sovereignty as we heal from childhood trauma and how this involves really moving away from external approval. She talks about developing self trust, ceasing to gaslight ourselves and the concept of unconditional love. We have to consciously unhook from societal messages so we can craft the life of our own dreams.
Ep 159: Attachment Styles, Finding our Voice, Avoidance, Grief and Growing with Anne Power
In this deeply touching episode Cath was joined by attachment expert and psychotherapist Anne Power. Anne shared about her own attachment journey, some of her childhood story, boarding school, brief explanations about the different attachment styles, attachment in couple relationships and attachment, grief and repair in the parent child relationship. This episode will help you feel supported and seen.
Ep 158: Complex Trauma, Mother Wounds and Generational Healing with Dr Arielle Schwartz
In this rich and wide ranging episode Cath is joined by Dr Arielle Schwartz. We discussed Arielle's path to motherhood, mother wounds in her matrilineal line and how this impacted her childhood, ambivalence in motherhood, complex trauma, nervous system healing, vagal toning and much much more. This episode is woven with rich storytelling crossing multiple generations and offers so much hope to all of us on our own healing journeys.
Ep 157: Generational Clashes and Parenting as Gardening
In this loving and practical episode Cath responds to a listener question about how to manage generational clashes around the approach to dealing with emotions and how to start conversations around this. She reads the listener's letter and looks at the query from multiple points of view.
Ep 156: Earned Secure Attachment
In this episode Cath speaks more about earned secure attachment, infant attachment and its relationship to adult attachment and how we can shift our patterns.
Ep 155: Attachment Theory, Reparenting and Earned Secure Attachment
In this episode Cath starts to speak about some of the key points of attachment theory, why this is important for us as adults and starting to cultivate a sense of being fully self supporting of ourselves.
Ep 154: Fantasy, Family Nervous Systems, Stress Responses and Success
In this episode Cath talks about how many of us go into peak fantasy at this time of year and set ourselves up to have a tricky time. She talks about getting clear about what your fantasy is and to notice that and stop comparing to it.
Ep 153: Rage, Shame, Terror and Making Space for your Inner Baby
In this episode Cath reflects on how rage may be one of the most common experiences in motherhood (particularly if we have had childhood trauma). She speaks about getting to know our own rage, the shame we might feel and how that might derail us and trying to understand what our rage might be protecting us from. She uses one of the books she talked about last week to springboard into this conversation and highlights psychological patterns by telling a couple of anecdotes.
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