In this episode, we sit down with Emily Beauchamp, a full-spectrum doula and founder of Growing Together Doula Services. Emily shares how her own experiences with pregnancy, postpartum struggles, and breastfeeding challenges led her to pursue a career supporting families through the entire perinatal journey.

We explore what a full-spectrum doula actually does, from fertility and pregnancy to birth, postpartum, and grief and loss. Emily explains how doulas help bridge important gaps in care, like providing education, emotional support, and practical guidance that many parents don’t receive within the healthcare system.

The conversation also dives into maternal mental health, the realities of postpartum life, and why the idea of “it takes a village” is more important than ever. Emily highlights how small acts of support, like bringing a meal or simply showing up, can dramatically impact a parent’s wellbeing and the health of families and communities.

This episode is an honest and compassionate look at the transition into parenthood, the invisible work of caregiving, and how we can all play a role in supporting new parents.

Important Messages

“You don’t know what you don’t know:” Many parents aren’t aware of the questions to ask during pregnancy and birth. Doulas help provide education about options, resources, and decision-making. Seeking support is actually a powerful way to build the support system families need.

The biggest gap is often postpartum support: While much focus is placed on birth, the postpartum period can be the most challenging and long-lasting stage, yet many families feel unprepared and unsupported. Modern families often lack the intergenerational and community support that historically helped new parents.

Small acts of support matter: Simple things, like bringing food, helping with errands, offering practical help, can significantly improve maternal mental health, relationships, parenting, and the emotional well-being of other children in the home.

In this episode, Colleen sits down with Jarvis Strong, Executive Director of the Escarpment Corridor Alliance, to explore the winding path that led him to a meaningful career in conservation leadership.

Jarvis shares how his journey was anything but linear, moving through multiple roles and periods of uncertainty before finding work that truly aligns with his values. He reflects on the power of mentorship, the impact of someone believing in you at a pivotal moment, and how building strong relationships has shaped both his personal growth and professional direction.

The conversation highlights the importance of connection, not just in career development, but in cultivating confidence, belonging, and self-worth. Jarvis speaks candidly about early struggles with self-esteem, the turning points that shifted his trajectory, and why finding work that “ticks the boxes” in its purpose, impact, and sustainability matters more than chasing titles or retirement countdowns.

For young people (and the adults who support them), this episode is a reminder that careers don’t have to follow a straight line, mentorship can be life-changing, and believing in someone might be the spark that changes everything.

Important Messages

Belief can be transformative: Some of life’s most powerful learning happens outside the classroom, and when someone chooses to believe in you, it can shift your entire sense of self-worth and direction.

Meaningful work looks different for everyone: Career paths are rarely linear, and sometimes we need to meander to find something that aligns with our values. Growth often comes through experimentation and risk.

Relationships are foundational: Learning how to connect with people from different backgrounds builds resilience and belonging, and folks who have worked at camp are particularly skilled at this – those “camp skills” really transfer further than you think. Camp leadership, youth work, and community involvement build valuable lifelong competencies.

In this episode, Colleen is joined by Amanda Lamb (Pine River Institute) for a deep, thoughtful conversation about anxiety, emotional regulation, and resilience through a developmental lens.

Rather than treating anxiety as something to eliminate or “fix,” this conversation reframes anxiety as a capacity that develops over time, shaped by relationships, expectations, culture, and lived experience. Using clear developmental analogies, the discussion explores how children and adolescents learn to manage anxiety, and why so many young people (and adults) are struggling right now.

The episode also offers practical, compassionate guidance for parents, educators, and professionals supporting anxious youth, with a strong emphasis on attunement, co-regulation, and building distress tolerance instead of avoidance.

Important Messages

Considering anxiety on a developmental framework: Much like motor skills, anxiety regulation develops in stages; these stages are both sequential and flexible, and regression under stress is normal. Many young people haven’t “failed” to regulate anxiety, they may simply not have learned the skill yet.

Early development begins with adults and transitional objects: Infants rely entirely on caregivers to regulate distress, while toddlers begin managing anxiety with external supports like stuffies, blankets, and soothers.

School-age children and adolescence begin to self-regulate: School introduces opportunities to build distress tolerance and social regulation without caregivers or transitional objects. Increased screen time and reduced in-person interaction interfere with this process, and many adolescents lack consistent co-regulating relationships outside their families.

Supporting anxious teens: We need to rethink age-based expectations (age is “just a number;” support should be based on developmental capacity, not chronological age). We need to see a young person accurately, not through grades, age, or expectations.

We can build capacity through responsibility: Chores are a powerful, evidence-based tool for building resilience that introduce manageable, tolerable discomfort; repetition builds confidence and distress tolerance.

This podcast episode features an in-depth conversation with Alhan Rahimi, a translator, interpreter, author, and educator, who shares about her personal and professional journey across languages, cultures, and countries. Alhan shares how her passion for languages led her from translation into interpreting, higher education in England, and eventually into community-building through YouTube, courses, and children’s books.

She discusses the realities of interpreting work—especially the differences between consecutive and conference interpreting—and the isolation that can come with freelance language work. To address gaps in interpreter education (particularly Arabic–English), she began creating real-life interpreting content online and is now developing formal courses to support interpreters at different stages of their careers.

Beyond her professional life, the conversation explores multilingual parenting, cultural identity, and the emotional importance of language as a connection to ancestry, family, and heritage. Alhan reflects on raising children across cultures, preserving Persian language and culture, and navigating identity while living in Canada.

The episode also delves into mindset, risk-taking, and confidence. Alhan reflects on her academically driven upbringing, the impact of her parents’ trust, and a pivotal year where she pushed herself, leading to national academic recognition and a full scholarship. She connects these experiences to her current philosophy: when an idea appears, it’s worth acting on it, trusting that effort is never wasted.

Important Messages

Language is more than communication: Language is a bridge between generations, cultures, and identities. It’s important to maintain because losing a heritage language can mean losing deep family connections.

Gaps create opportunities: A lack of Arabic–English interpreting resources motivated Alhan to create real-world examples and educational content. Sharing imperfect, authentic practice helps learners more than polished theory alone.

Community reduces isolation: Freelance interpreters often work alone, and so Alhan has worked to develop community spaces that provide colleagues to continue their learning beyond formal education.

Effort builds confidence: Past experiences of doing hard things become internal proof that future challenges are manageable. Effort is never wasted, even when outcomes are unexpected.

In this episode of Exception Seekers, Colleen talks with Kim Hopkins, Executive Director at Lives in the Balance, about the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) model developed by Dr. Ross Greene. Kim explains how CPS offers a compassionate, trauma-informed, and neurodiversity-affirming approach to supporting children who struggle to meet expectations—especially in schools and homes.

Kim highlights the importance of collaboration instead of control, emphasizing that traditional punitive or reward-based methods often increase stress and disconnection. In contrast, if we can focus on understanding a child’s perspective, identifying unmet needs, and working together to develop mutually satisfactory solutions, we will see more success. The conversation touches on why kids “do well if they can,” and how language and mindset shape outcomes for both adults and children.

Kim also shares a deeply personal story about how witnessing and experiencing the harm of restraint-based practices motivated her to advocate for safer, more humane, and effective approaches. She discusses the ongoing global expansion of CPS, new initiatives such as a parent platform, and Dr. Greene’s forthcoming book The Kids Who Are Not Okay, which focuses on transforming educational systems to better support vulnerable students.

Important Messages

“Kids do well if they can:” When children struggle, it’s not due to a lack of will but a lack of skill. The goal is to identify what’s getting in their way, not to punish them.

Trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming: CPS respects that people think differently and may access skills differently. It’s not about “fixing” a child, it’s about supporting their functioning and happiness.

Schools need alternatives: Teachers often rely on outdated training; small introductions to CPS concepts (like “find your sympathetic ear”) can open minds to new approaches.

Resources mentioned

Lives in the Balance

Collaborative & Proactive Solutions

This episode is a heartfelt dive into the world of youth mental health, relationships, and the brain. Dr. Jean Clinton shares about how love, connection, and understanding can shape young minds, way more than we often realize. We talk about practical ways to support kids and teens, from connecting before correcting, to being mindful of relationships and context in teaching and counselling.

Dr. Clinton highlights the importance of relationships, connection and context; it’s not just about behaviour intervention, it’s about listening, empathy, and building meaningful relationships that truly help kids thrive.

Important Messages

Connect before you correct: Kids respond better when they feel understood and supported first, rather than immediately “fixed.”

Love builds brains: Relationships and emotional safety are just as important for development as academics or therapy techniques.

Context matters: Kids’ behaviours make more sense when you consider their relationships, environment, and past experiences.

Collaborative dialogue is powerful: Sharing experiences and learning together benefits both adults and children.

Practical, small steps count: Simple, consistent acts of connection make a huge difference over time.

This podcast episode features a deep, reflective conversation with Carmen Theobald of Horse Sense North, focusing on the creation and impact of their equine-assisted programs for first responders and public safety personnel. Carmen shares how horses provide a grounded, non-judgmental presence that helps people reconnect with safety, embodiment, and authentic emotion. The discussion touches on the unique design of their five-day intensive program, the importance of community and relational safety, and the program’s growing support—including full funding for OPP members and emerging pathways for others.

Carmen also opens up about her own personal journey: leaving Montreal at 18, following a nontraditional path, struggling to trust her instincts, and finding profound meaning in her relationship with horses. She describes surviving a traumatic event in a classroom, the way that proximity to death reshaped her sense of purpose, and how this informs both her life and her work. The episode closes with a reflection on courage, strength, vulnerability, and living in alignment with one’s deeper truth.

Important Messages

Horses offer a unique pathway to regulation and healing: Horses respond to people as they truly are - not their uniforms, roles, or titles. Their presence helps individuals feel safe, seen, and connected, often without needing to revisit traumatic content.

Community across roles matters” Bringing together different first responders fosters understanding “beyond the uniform;” their shared humanity becomes clearer when hierarchy and labels fade.

Carmen’s personal story informs her work: A life-altering event involving hiding from danger taught her a profound acceptance of mortality. This experience fuels her dedication to living fully and helping others do the same. Her unusual life path guided largely “by the horses,” required courage and trust in unconventional choices.

The heart of the work is strength + vulnerability: Carmen emphasizes the paradox of holding both simultaneously, and how horses model this balance every day, inviting humans to do the same.

In this chat with Kelly Mahler, a leading expert on interoception, we dive into what interoception really means and why it’s such a game-changer. Kelly explains how interoception is about tuning into the signals inside our bodies — like hunger, thirst, heart rate, and emotions — and how understanding these can totally change the way we relate to ourselves and others.

We hear about how this awareness is especially powerful for kids and families, helping them move away from traditional compliance-based approaches that can feel controlling or punitive. Instead, Kelly champions a gentler, collaborative way where kids learn to recognize what their bodies need to manage challenges and build resilience.

The conversation also touches on some of the resistance people face when trying to shift away from old methods, but Kelly reminds us that it’s not about chaos — structure and expectations are still super important, just balanced with empathy and curiosity about what’s really going on beneath the surface.

One exciting highlight is Kelly’s upcoming kids’ book series on interoception, co-written with her daughter, that invites kids to explore their body signals through experiments and stories, making the science of interoception accessible and engaging.

Overall, the interview leaves us with a fresh perspective on how paying attention to our internal experiences can lead to healthier relationships, better emotional regulation, and a more compassionate approach to parenting and teaching.

Key Takeaways

• Interoception = Internal body awareness: It’s the sense of what’s happening inside your body — hunger, temperature, emotions, and more. Interoception-based approaches promote safe, collaborative boundaries, so instead of blaming kids for difficult behavior, by asking “What’s going on inside your body?” we can help open a door to understanding and support.

• Moving beyond compliance: Traditional “follow the rules” approaches can miss what kids really need; listening to their body signals helps build resilience and cooperation. Structure still matters, it’s not about “no rules,” but about flexible expectations that respect a child’s bodily experiences.