Advertise on podcast: Just Like the Moon (we go through phases)

Today’s episode is a solo episode with myself, your host Laura.  It is also marks the end of series two, and so I wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate some of the things that I have taken from my conversations with my guests over the last 40 episode, the most reoccurring facts people have shared throughout their journey with their mental health and the most valuable lesson I’ve learnt from others since starting this podcast. And I hope sharing these insights that I've gained will help you as much as they've helped me. If you enjoy this episode please feel free to share with others, spread the love, rate and review and subscribe to the podcast so you can listen to past episodes or, once the new series is launched, you never miss another one. And if any of this episode today resonates - let's connect on instagram, come share your thoughts with me,  @ljsprojects.  

Sally Beaton is a women’s holistic nutritionist and coach, speaker, author and founder of Women With Sparkle.  Through her book 'Get your Sparkle back' and her coaching, Sally helps countless women all over the world re-ignite their health, happiness, energy, and confidence as well as better understanding their hormones and physical and mental health by sharing the knowledge she has accumulated over the last decade through her own research and her work. In this episode Sally talks about how she went from choreographer and performer in music videos to now being a woman’s coach and helping women with their hormones, their health and their happiness; she talks about you know how empowering it can be to understand women’s hormones, how cycles, seasons and our body works and how this can really benefit both of hour physical and mental health; she talks about the common themes that come up with the women she works with and how we can work to counteract those themes and she offers tips on how to let go of external validation, embrace your are worth and your essence that is basically your sparkle - so yeah, how to get your sparkle back! To find out more about Sally's work and book heck out her website: https://www.womenwithsparkle.com/ For Show Notes: www.ljsprojects.uk/blog/sallybeaton-show-notes

Dan is a hair stylist, wig designer and owner of the Riah Hair Studios in Brighton and who’s work specialises in breaking down beauty standards and gender binaries in the hairdressing industry. Dan is also the founder of the Riah Project, that consists in Sunday meet ups where queer people and allies can come and get hair cuts for what they can afford, as well as hosting queer performance in the space by poets, musicians and so on, and thus creating a beautiful sober space where people can feel empowered and embrace their queer community. In this episode Dan talks about why he decided to set up the Riah Project, as well as opening his own studio, the Riah Hair Studio, about the importance of education with regards to gendered language, and the role we can all play in creating safe spaces for all ages, ethnicities and multiple genders as well as talking about the amazing work he does as a wig designer and artist and so much more. You can find out more about Dan's work on instagram @danwchapman or @theriahhairstudio and to find out more about the Rhia Project follow  @theriahproject. Show notes: www.ljsprojects.uk/blog/danwchapman-show-notes

This week on the podcast I am joined by Francesca, founder of The Money Fox. Through her work, Francesca aims to help women use their money to create a happy life, improve their money mindset and build wealth.After years of struggling in a really unhappy relationship where she was not allowed to earn any more money, Francesca found herself drowning in debt and feeling trapped, despite budgeting and working hard on saving. Determined to change this, she did extensive research and took a leap of faith, tried stuff out, and it worked!She has now left her unhappy marriage and has gone on to establish a successful business helping others by sharing the knowledge she has accumulated over the years and offering resources to support others overcome debt, build wealth, and change their money mindset. In this episode Francesca talks about how she overcame her money struggles, the value of budgeting, and offers tips and tricks to make extra money, budget and change your money mindset whilst also taking care of your mental health.Find out more about Francesca’s work on her website: www.themoneyfox.com/ or check out her instagram page @the.moneyfoxPodcast show notes: https://www.ljsprojects.uk/blog/francesca-the-money-fox-show-notes

Ashley is a 26 year old BSc Biology student, a Kidney Transplant Recipient and passionate about raising awareness about Kidney disease, failure and living life with chronic disease. When she was 16 she found out she had a rare autoimmune disease (one in a million people get it), called anti-glomerular basement membrane disease - a disease in which the antibodies in your body start to think you organs, specifically your kidneys and your lungs, shouldn’t be there and start to attack them.   Due to this being untreated for quite a while, by the time she received the diagnosis, her kidney functions were in such a state she had to get emergency dialysis and her family was told that is was very unlikely she would survive. However she fought through it and after treatment got rid of the disease - however did required a kidney transplant as the damage cause by the daisies was so extent. In this episode we talk about her journey from the discovery of having autoimmune disease, undergoing emergency treatment to getting a kidney transplant; she talks about the impact of the various treatments, both from a physical and mental point view, we discuss the need, and the lack of, mental health support for people undergoing similar treatment and living chronic disease - and so much more. TPodcast Show Notes: https://www.ljsprojects.uk/blog/ashley-hagon-show-notes You can find out more about Ashley's journey by following her on instagram @highland_transplant_girl and check out her podcast Kidnae Live Without It on Spotify 

Sophie Cliff is a qualified life coach, also know as The Joyful Coach, and a positive psychology practitioner that supports people in finding joy, whatever that means to them.  She does this in a number of ways: through 1:1 coaching with clients, group programmes and workshops, and through the free content that she produces both on her social media, in her blog and newsletter and on her podcast, Practical Positivity. In this episode Sophie talks about how she came to realise there are so many ways to do life, and how she became the Joyful Coach and what this work entails, she talks about how we can take control and we can take action of our lives right now, and don’t have to wait for a dramatic life event to be the catalyst for change, and so much more. To find out more about Sophie’s work check out her website www.sophiecliff.comor follow her on instagram @sophiecliff - and you can listen to her podcast Practical Positivity on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Nathan is a podcaster and blogger under the name Mood Swings, a mental health advocate and passionate Muay Thai boxer. In 2015 Nathan challenged himself to write 365 words a day for a year and during this time he wrote a well-received article about his own mental health struggles, including anxiety and depression titled “My mind and me”.  Following this, in 2016, he went on to write an anxiety diary of sorts every day for a month in 2016 called ‘Mood Swings’ and consequently a podcast under the same title. The has now reach 100 episodes of Mood Swings podcast, hosting episodes with musicians, poets, writers, people in combat sports and people passionate about mental health. Nathan is also a passionate about Muay Thai and he finds that, although this sport can be quite intense and can have its challenges, it is also quite spiritual – the rigorous training gives him a real routine and a real drive each day and has been a great help in reducing his stress levels and supporting his mental health. In this episode Nathan talks about how Mood Swings came about, what Muay Thai training entails, the practices he implements and the challenges it sometimes brings, finding a sustainable and intuitive relationships with food and exercises, and his experience of mental health ups and downs. A word of warning as is needed sometime with this podcast - in this episode we talk about calorie controlled diets and weight loss. If this is something that may be triggering for you at this time please feel free to move on and you can always come back this when you are in a better place. To find out more about Nathan’s project Mood Swings you can find him on Instagram and Twitter @moodswingsabzor check out his blog on Tumblr and you can find his podcast onLibsyn, Apple podcast and Spotify under Mood Swings. For more show notes: https://www.ljsprojects.uk/blog/nathan-mood-swings

Kat is a Self Love, Body Acceptance & Wellness coach from Lancashire that helps women feel empowered from the inside out, she is a mental health advocate and her daily motto is Put The Good In Your Day. Kat’s journey to self love was not a linear one, like many of our journeys, but by going through many ups and downs, and putting in the work to build herself back up, she has learnt to believe in herself, in her worth and to not try and find validation from external factors, but from within. In this episode Kat talks about the experiences that have shaped her, from grieving the loss of a parent to getting out of an emotionally abusive relationships, the lessons she has taken from her struggles and how ultimately these were the catalysts for her to start believing in herself, and finding her purpose, that is helping others believe in themselves too. To find out more about Kat’s work, including her 1 to 1 and group work, you can find here on instagram @_beeingwell or email her at [email protected]. For Show Notes: www.ljsprojects.uk/blog/kat-show-notes

Mary Coughlin is a leader in the field of neonatal nursing and internationally recognised expert in the field of trauma-informed, age-appropriate care in the Neonatal intensive care unit, a published author and the President and Founder of Caring Essentials Collaborative, based in Boston.  She started her career in the United States Air Force Nurses Core. After almost 7 years of service, in 1989 she left the Air Force to become a civilian nurse, specialising in neonatal work at the Brigham And Women's Hospital in Boston. For a short period she worked in an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit, where she was first introduced to the notion of trauma informed care, a very grounded theory that originates within behavioural/mental health.  In our chat Mary talks about the amazing practice of trauma informed care whilst also sharing fascinating research surrounding this methodology, and around mental health - she discusses the importance of understanding the impact mental health can have on our biology, and our physical health, and the value of being kind and compassionate to yourself, to others and the importance of understanding people’s story and history. If you want to find out more about Mary’s work check out her website: www.caringessentials.net or you can find her on Instagram (@caring.essentials), Facebook (@caringessentials) and Twitter(@meccares). For Show Notes: www.ljsprojects.uk/blog/mary-coughlin-show-notes

Siobhan is a freelance sober speaker, social media manager and content creator originally from Cornwall, now based in Manchester. Prior to her sobriety, Siobhan would have described herself as a binge drinking, party girl. The kinda girl that lived for the weekend and was always up for a night out, so much so she would get annoyed if ‘going for a couple of drinks’ wouldn’t lead into a big night out. Lots of her drinking nights would end up in blackouts, in embarrassing moments she couldn’t remember, and occasionally ending up hurting and letting down her friends and family. So it eventually came to a point where Siobhan decided to stop drinking for a year, to reset her body and her relationship with alcohol.  She has now been sober since December 2018, and still to this day cannot stop raving about how amazing sobriety is. In this episode Siobhan talks about how, in hindsight, drinking may have been a coping mechanism and a way of dealing with the feelings of anger and grief, how she had a complete lack of regard and care for what happened to her when drinking, the ups and down of becoming sober and ultimately how sobriety has give her back time, money and ultimately life experiences - as well as offering some brilliant tips for anyone starting out their journey into sobriety. To find out more about Siobhan’s work check out her website www.notsosecretlysober.com and follow her on instagram for brilliant posts, tips, Q&A’s and more @notsosecretlysober For Show Notes: www.ljsprojects.uk/blog/siobhan-show-notes