In this episode of Agony Aunties, Julia, Emily and Sophie answer a heartfelt question from a listener who feels isolated after moving away from the city to start a family. Together they explore the unexpected loneliness of early motherhood, the lasting impact of childhood experiences on our sense of belonging, why we often protect the people we love by hiding our own struggles, and how small acts of vulnerability can help us rebuild connection. They share gentle reminders that meaningful friendships take time, asking for support is a strength, and feeling lonely doesn't mean you're alone.

Send us your Agony Aunties questions: [email protected]

Or message Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠⁠

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - ⁠⁠www.griefworks.com/therapy⁠⁠

Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠

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This episode of Agony Aunties tackles the emotional complexity of caring for an ageing parent when the relationship has always been difficult. Emily and Sophie respond to a listener whose 89-year-old mother’s declining health has reignited painful childhood wounds, sibling conflict, and feelings of duty, resentment, and guilt. Together, they explore how old family dynamics resurface during times of crisis, the importance of setting boundaries, slowing down reactive communication, and seeking support through therapy, community, or practical caregiving tools. Their compassionate conversation is a reminder that it's possible to care for someone while also protecting yourself and that navigating these difficult moments with kindness, both towards others and yourself, is enough.

Podcast mentioned in the episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/do-i-know-you-understanding-dementia/id1896564566

Follow the podcast:

@doiknowyoupodcast

Send us your Agony Aunties questions: [email protected]

Or message Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠⁠

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - ⁠⁠www.griefworks.com/therapy⁠⁠

Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Agony Aunties are back, answering a listener's question about the pressures of parenting through the long summer holidays. Together, Sophie and Emily explore the guilt so many parents feel when they can't provide the picture-perfect summer they see elsewhere, why boredom may be far more valuable than we think, and how to help teenagers develop resilience, creativity and independence. They discuss the trap of comparison, the emotional challenge of watching your children struggle, and why being present and connected matters far more than keeping them constantly entertained.

Send us your Agony Aunties questions: [email protected]

Or message Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠⁠

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - ⁠⁠www.griefworks.com/therapy⁠⁠

Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Agony Aunties, Julia, Emily and Sophie respond to a listener who has recently graduated but is struggling to feel proud of their achievement. Despite earning a good degree, comparisons with a high-achieving sibling and the pressure of perceived family expectations have left them feeling flat and unable to celebrate their success. Together, they explore the impact of comparison, perfectionism and internalised expectations, sharing practical tools for building self-worth, challenging critical inner voices and learning to recognise that being "good enough" is often more than enough.

Send us your Agony Aunties questions: [email protected]

Or message Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠⁠

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - ⁠⁠www.griefworks.com/therapy⁠⁠

Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Agony Aunties, they respond to a listener who avoids difficult conversations until their feelings spill out in anger or tears. Together, they explore why conflict can feel so threatening, how our childhood experiences shape the way we handle disagreement, and why keeping the peace often comes at the cost of our own needs. From conflict-avoidant partners to family dynamics, boundaries and people-pleasing, Julia, Emily and Sophie share honest reflections on their own experiences and offer practical tools for expressing yourself before resentment takes hold. If you've ever struggled to speak up, worried about upsetting people, or found yourself bottling things up until you explode, this episode is for you.

Send us your Agony Aunties questions: [email protected]

Or message Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠⁠

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - ⁠⁠www.griefworks.com/therapy⁠⁠

Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Agony Aunties, the girls tackle a listener dilemma that will feel familiar to many couples: what happens when you're sharing a sofa but no longer feeling emotionally connected? As one listener opens up about feeling lonely in her marriage while her husband spends most evenings on his phone, Sophie, Emily and Julia explore why technology can so easily replace meaningful connection, and how resentment can quietly build when our emotional needs go unmet.

Together, they discuss practical ways to reconnect, from changing how difficult conversations are approached to creating small rituals of connection, shared experiences and moments of laughter. They also explore the stories we tell ourselves when we feel ignored or rejected, and why understanding what's really happening beneath the surface can be the first step towards finding each other again.

Send us your Agony Aunties questions: [email protected]

Or message Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: ⁠https://juliasamuel.substack.com/⁠

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - ⁠www.griefworks.com/therapy⁠

Follow Julia on Instagram: ⁠@juliasamuelmbe⁠ for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: ⁠The Samuel Therapy Practice⁠

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s Agony Aunties episode, Julia and her daughters respond to a listener struggling with the overwhelming anxiety of living in a world shaped by climate crisis, political unrest, social media overload, and constant bad news. Together, they explore how to stay compassionate and informed without becoming emotionally consumed — discussing everything from nervous system regulation and information boundaries to collective hope, small acts of kindness, community, rest, joy, and the importance of staying grounded in the present moment. This is a conversation for anyone feeling the weight of the world right now.

Resources & References Mentioned

• Rebecca Solnit — author and activist
• Active Hope by Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone
• Action for Happiness
• Therapist Uncensored Podcast
• Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown

Send us your Agony Aunties questions: [email protected]

Or message Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - www.griefworks.com/therapy

Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, I speak with England rugby captain Megan Jones about grief, pressure, identity and what it means to keep going when life changes completely. Megan shares the experience of losing both of her parents within six months, growing up alongside her mother’s addiction, and how rugby, journaling and the people around her have helped her carry both pain and love at the same time.

Ahead of Celebration Day on Monday 25th May, a day that invites us all to raise a glass and remember someone we love and miss, Megan reflects on the small everyday moments she still holds onto most: cups of tea with her dad, car journeys, stories, laughter and feeling fully accepted by her parents. We talk about vulnerability, belonging, leadership and why the people we lose continue to shape who we are long after they’re gone.
Join in the celebrations and celebrate someone this Monday 25th May: https://www.celebrationday.com/
Follow Meg on Instagram: @thanksmeg

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - www.griefworks.com/therapy

Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Therapy Works, Julia is joined by Mark Williamson, co-founder and director of Action for Happiness and author of the number one bestselling book Make Life Happier. Together, they explore what happiness really means, not as a perfect destination, but as a direction of travel shaped by agency, relationships, kindness, purpose and the small actions we take each day.

Mark reflects on his own journey from outward success and inner struggle to discovering the deep connection between mental and physical health. He and Julia discuss why self-care and care for others must go hand in hand, how old patterns shape our relationships, why kindness benefits both giver and receiver, and how slowing down can help us notice the ordinary moments that make life meaningful.
Buy his book: https://amzn.eu/d/03sTolwL

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - www.griefworks.com/therapy

Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, our Agony Aunties tackle a dilemma that is becoming the "new normal" for many: the 30-something child who simply won’t fly the nest. When a listener writes in feeling a mix of deep love and growing resentment toward her 33-year-old son, the team explores how to transition from a parent-child dynamic to a boundary-led adult relationship. From discussing the "maturation crisis" among young men to the financial realities of modern housing, they offer a toolkit for having the "big talk" without it sounding like a rejection. It’s a thoughtful look at why multigenerational living doesn't have to be a failure - it just needs a serious reorientation of expectations and a naming of the "silent things" in the room.

Send in your question to [email protected]

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - www.griefworks.com/therapy

Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Therapy Works, I’m joined by garden designer, writer and Gardeners’ World presenter Arit Anderson to talk about the deeply personal story behind her Chelsea Flower Show garden for Parkinson’s UK. Arit shares how her sister’s Parkinson’s diagnosis inspired the garden, and how she hopes it will raise awareness, understanding and support for those living with the condition.

We also explore the healing power of gardens, nature and colour, and how planting, movement and simply being outside can offer hope, grounding and renewal. This is a moving conversation about family, resilience, creativity, and how even in the face of illness, a garden can become a place of beauty, connection and possibility.
Find out more about Parkinson’s UK: https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/

More from Therapy Works:

Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/

Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - www.griefworks.com/therapy

Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.

If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices