In this episode we were joined by your words. We were delighted to receive messages from our community which we’ve shared with you. And it was a chance for the three of us to reveal our themes for 2023, ask if you’d like be a guest and a little on how we’ve grown over 2022.
In this episode we were joined by Penny Rabarts from The Childless Wanderer and Elaine Ritchie, who works for the NHS; she provided palliative care during the height of Covid. More people are childless due to being single than any other reason but it’s not spoken about. Are we in danger of creating bingos in our childless community and how we support each other? These were all questions we put to Elaine and Penny. Both were keen to share their experiences and be open about the triggers that have affected them. It’s an empowering listen. Here's the link to the transcript.
In this episode we were joined by Charlie Bishop, Palo Barker and Steph Penny. Often the wider world can assume that the only reasons we do not have children are failed IVF, failed adoption or didn't try. This narrative excludes many for whom getting pregnant can be life threatening or a hidden illness means one cannot conceive. Charlie, Palo and Steph all spoke about how invisible illnesses can compound and complete the unseen grief of not having children. We also asked them to share the support groups they have founded or are involved with, and resources that have helped them. We thank them all for speaking so honestly and informing us. Show notes: MRKH Connect a registered charity founded in 2014 supporting those with MRKH (Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser) Syndrome which affects 1 in 5000 female births leading to the absence of underdevelopment of the uterus, cervix and shortened vagina. MRKH Connect has been involved in numerous research studies on mental health and the psychological impact of MRKH, runs events and aims to Connect those with MRKH together whilst providing valuable resources for the community and the public. Our Guest, Charlie, is the Director of MRKH Connect and also an advocate for MRKH and for the childless community also being part of the Tutum Journal editorial team, a magazine for, and by, childless women. Find out more by following @mrkhconnect across social media, @tutumjournal or email Charlie. Our guest Palo supports chronic survivors at Chronic Survivors Childless Warriors and myasthenia group Diet and Myasthenia Gravis UK You can also find on the admin teams for Childless Not By Choice-Non-Religious and Childless by Circumstance, Not by Choice Palo has a private group for Asian childless women and (optionally) chronic condition sufferers. This is a secret/private group by invitation, please contact The Full Stop and we’ll connect you with Palo. Steph Penny is the author of Surviving Childlessness: Faith and Furbabies, and composer of Angel At My Keyboard. You can find all of Steph’s work on her website.
When we met up with Jessica Hepburn for episode 43, two things came to mind. The first is how we met her, which you’ll discover in the recording which was had a time of new starts for all of us and the importance of 43 which Jessica explains to us, and oddly how this is indeed, episode 43! It’s fair to say that her pursuit of motherhood is just one of many parts of this pond to peak adventurer’s story! Jessica has been on many journeys herself and inspired others; maybe she’ll do that for you as you find out more about struggling well. How to follow and connect with Jessica Jessica’s website, and you can follow her on Facebook, and Instagram. Buy Jessica’s books: In Pursuit of Motherhood or shop B-Corp at World of Books. 21 Miles
Annie Kirby lives on the south coast of England where she works part-time as a university researcher. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and a PhD in American Studies. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and broadcast on national radio and she is a winner of the Asham Award for short fiction. Annie is a graduate of the Penguin WriteNow programme. Annie first appeared on our podcast in episode 2, way back in 2019. In episode 42, she joins us again as The Hollow Sea is released for publication. If you enjoy our episodes and like the newsletter, we'd appreciate your support. At the moment, we're keeping our Kofi account open. Just £1 goes a long way to securing the future of the Full Stop podcast, and helping us with the hosting costs and growing our podcast to include transcriptions. You can donate to us via Kofi, with the reassurance that all funds go direct to the podcast. Click here if you'd like to
In Episode 41, meet Rob Hutchings, a seasoned endurance athlete and author of Downriver Nomad. In his autobiography, Rob tells tales of his nomadic adventures in triathlon, marathon swimming and sports, navigating hairpin bends, whirlpools and white-water rapids. We were thrilled when he accepted our invitation to the Full Stop. In this recording, he discusses what compelled him to tackle adventure sports and speaks honestly about his struggles with an alcoholic father and childlessness. It’s a story that will open your eyes to strength, vulnerability and adversity. You can buy Rob’s book, Downriver Nomad: A Triathlete's Adventures and Adversities into the Rapids on Amazon, in paperback and ebook editions.
In Episode 40, we were honoured to share spacing with Katy Seppi who joined us in early June to talk about the forthcoming Childless Collective Summit. It’s happening again on 14-17th July 2022. Join us as we meet Katy and discuss the event and creating communities for people.
In Episode 39, we put our own Sarah Lawrence in the hot seat with coach Sarah Bagg. They've teamed up to launch the Childless Mental Health Hub and shared the story of the idea from it's website to a business with a network that promises to make a huge change. If you're inspired to ask to Sarah Lawrence (for the counseling side) or Sarah Bagg (if you offer coaching), you can get in touch through the website. Sarah Bagg can also be found via her website, Life, Love and Me.
In Episode 38, we were reunited with Sarah who was recovering from Covid, and Stella Duffy OBE joined us. It's fair to say that when we asked Stella to be a guest and she said 'yes' we were thrilled, as admirers of her work. You’ll also see Stella in Gateway Women's videos. Where does anyone start with describing the work and joy that Stella brings to theatre, yoga, mentoring, literature and life? As you'll find out, we struggled to find the words! There's a lesson right there - ask the guest to describe what they do in their own words! "There is huge power in grief, power in understanding what loss is like but as well as being pronatal and heteronormative, our culture is 'let's be happy' and to never admit that things are hard sometimes." Stella Duffy, OBE It's a very passionate episode as we discuss worth, loss and life-changing experiences, but there are some moments of profound discovery. There are tears and lots of laughter too. As with all podcast guests, we wanted Stella to join us in person for a party and a book reading too - but we'll have to wait a bit longer for that in this ever-changing world. We do hope you'll love this episode as much as we loved recording; it felt extra special for us for so many reasons, as you'll hear.
We invited a few guys from the Clan of Brothers to discuss this topic, we were lucky enough to get guys from three different continents and cultures. Of course it was a rhetorical question we all need community, but what I found enriching were the reasons why. We are not immune to loneliness as you will hear. We all need a safe space to share those inner most emotions and feelings with others knowing we will not be ridiculed. We also know that in community we have so much potential that can make our lives even better as we age.
Empowerment can be a big act or something personal. In this episode we share our podcast episode with Judy Graham and Sarah Roberts who run their own practices supporting people who are childless not by choice. They’ve also dived into politics and tackled the issue of equality and this episode is an astonishing example of shared alliances and experiences.
In this episode, we share the details on our plans. The background to the change is future proofing our work and making it more streamlined so that we can continue to inform, entertain and give a voice to our community. We feel very fortunate to spend time with each other and our community including you, and people who support each other and take time out to care, making some incredible connections. Please listen and join us! This episode was recorded during January 2022 and Covid-19 rules and restrictions we might discuss may have changed in your location in the meantime.
In this episode we are joined by past guests from the podcast to share messages of hope and coping techniques to help you through the festive season. Our guests share their experiences, and as always, there maybe some mentions of infertility treatment and miscarriage in this podcast. We were joined by Helen Segal, Bindi Shah, Professor Krista Cooper, Clare Elleray (Mee) and Tessa Broad. You’ll also find some messages from past guests too. This episode was recorded during November 20121 and Covid-19 rules and restrictions may have changed in your location in the meantime
In this episode we discuss the healing properties of The Full Stop, what we’ve learned from our guests and share the episodes that made an impact on us. We also share the plans we’re making to secure the future of the podcast from 2022.
In this episode we were joined by Katy Schnitzler who is a trainer, researcher and lecturer, studying for a PhD. She’s doing amazing work as the founder of MIST (Miscarriage & Infertility Support Training) providing workshops and information for businesses who want to support employees who are struggling with miscarriage, infertility and childlessness, and give them advice on creating a balanced workplace. If you are a business owner, work in HR or any area of training, you’ll find this very useful. Colleagues and managers of anyone who is childless will also benefit from this as well as our listeners who will find a wealth of advice in Katy’s words. We also think you’ll find it a huge comfort. You can find out more about Katy’s work here and she’s on Twitter too, right here. Some of you mentioned, in our World Childless Week webinar, that you found LinkedIn to be a challenge. You maybe interested to know that The Full Stop podcast is on the platform and we’ll be pleased to connect with you. Click here to find us.
Join us - Michael, Berenice and Sarah - as we talk about sex and how being childless affects mental health, perception and worth. We discuss the triggers, the challenges and misunderstandings that come with not being a parent and how this life-changing journey has impacted intimacy. We also celebrate being World Childless Week Ambassadors and Sarah’s award as the World Childless Week People’s champion, voted by our community. In this episode, we talk about sex and there may be triggers for you as we include trying to conceive, fertility treatment, miscarriage and grief. As always we speak with care and sensitivity.
In this episode, we were joined by the founder of World Childless Week, Stephanie Joy Phillips to get the inside information on the plans for the 5th year of this week-long event. World Childless Week brings together Ambassadors selected from the thought leaders, campaigners, and awareness raisers who volunteer alongside Steph, to give hope, support, and strength to our childless not by choice community. In this exclusive gathering with Sarah Lawrence, Ambassadors Michael and Sarah, Steph also discussed what next for World Childless Week, how you can be involved and some of the events that are new to the week for 2021.
"No feeling is good or bad, right or wrong. I don't get to judge, but I can sit with you and help you know you are not alone and that there is support out there." Chrissy Pantlin Our guest this month is Chrissy Pantlin. She’s based in Australia. After illness, Chrissy qualified in counseling and set up her practice in the pandemic. Chrissy has taken all her knowledge from working in health and safety in heavy industry where she saw an absence in support mental and physical health and skills to provide a much-needed service. In this episode, Chrissy talks about what she’s learning from the men who come to her practice and shares a wealth of advice that we know will be useful to all genders.
Please be aware that we discuss failed pregnancy and suicide in this episode. If you would like further support you can find resources here on our toolkit. Episode 28: The joy in the everyday is a celebration of self-care and looking after ourselves. We hope you’ll be inspired by our guests, Bindi Shah and Clare Elleray Bindi Shah is a meditation teacher, a life coach and a healer. She’s started online meditation classes specifically for our community and Berenice loves them. “I love meditation practice but it was always hard to find a space that was trigger-free. I know that each week, I have a class in my diary and a time to connect not just with myself, but with friends in the group. I have complete trust in Bindi to guide me through a peaceful meditation that is part of my healing journey.” Berenice You can find out more about the classes and Bindi’s work on this link to her website here Clare Elleray is the founder of Growing, Singing Childless and Whole which is an experience that Clare says is best understood by joining for a taster session. “We spend an hour on Zoom in the company of other women who happen not to have kids, when that was their plan, learning and singing lovely, meaningful, positive songs with beautiful harmonies and rhythms and helpful, fun, uplifting messages in them that we'll maybe find are useful mantras to carry with us in our daily lives. While not focussing on talking about our childlessness we do get a moment in every session to connect with the other women in the session. By connecting and singing together we gain confidence in using and enjoying our voices in our lives and find so many others just like ourselves who are growing into their childless selves acknowledging the sadnesses and the joys of being who they are. Joining in requires no specialist musical or singing skills at all. You won't be heard by others on the call but will be able to hear all the song parts on recordings that support your singing voice wherever you are. You'll then have access to the website (if you decide to join us) where all the details of the songs and recordings of many of them are shared so you can refer to them between sessions.” Here’s the website for more details Clare also wrote a song to celebrate 10 years of Gateway Women and you can find that here
Join us - Sarah, Michael and Berenice - as our guests turn the tables on us. We were not able to have an in-person party because of COVID and travel restrictions across the world, so we set up an open house with Jody Day, Robin Hadley, Sarah Roberts, Victoria Firth, Yvonne John and Lesley Pyne, with a special message from our podcast inspiration, Civilla Morgan.