What does it really mean to find your inner strength and embrace a new version of yourself after adversity, and how can stepping outside the traditional therapy room open up transformative change?

This powerful conversation explores how reconnecting with nature, embracing values, and facing life’s toughest moments can transform our approach to healing and personal growth. Dr. Kate Mason shares her inspiring journey through cancer, how it reshaped her career, and why therapy doesn’t have to happen indoors.

You’ll hear practical tools for the days that feel impossible: count small wins, lean on safe people, and return to your compass - adventure, connection, or freedom, whatever your values may be. We talk about post-treatment anxiety, the myth of instant transformation, and why vulnerability is strength, not failure. If you’ve felt lost through illness, divorce, menopause, or sudden change, this conversation offers grounded steps to rediscover purpose and joy, one walk at a time.

Highlights include:

02:52 Nature, Challenge and Values-Led Work

04:57 Kate’s Cancer Story and Impact on Identity

15:24 Challenge, ACT, and Weathering Storms

27:06 Firewalking and Trusting Intuition

This week's guest:

Dr Kate Mason is a Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years experience helping women reconnect with who they are and what truly matters. After facing her own life-changing experience with breast cancer at 35, Kate discovered the transformative power of being outdoors, stepping beyond our comfort zones, and reconnecting with ourselves and a community of like-minded women.

From cycling 250 miles from London to Paris to hiking 120km across the Sahara Desert and Cuban mountains, Kate has experienced first-hand how adventure and nature can spark deep healing and personal growth. That journey inspired her to create Women & Wild in 2023, a thriving community that blends psychology, coaching, and the great outdoors to help women rediscover their strength, purpose and joy. Her work has been featured in multiple media publications where she continues to champion the power of nature, connection, and courage as tools for lasting wellbeing.

Website: Women and Wild

Instagram: @womenandwild

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The Hello Therapy podcast and the information provided by Dr Liz White (DClinPsy, CPsychol, AFBPsS, CSci, HCPC reg.), is solely intended for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute personalised advice. Please reach out to your GP or a mental health professional if you need support.

Experiencing a feeling of things being unreal or feeling detached from 'real life' and not sure what to do? This episode can help.

This week, I am talking to Dr Claudia Hallett, Clinical Psychologist and lead of the UK’s only specialist depersonalisation and derealisation service at the Maudsley in London, to demystify DP/DR and offer a practical path through the fear and confusion it creates.

Across a frank, compassionate conversation, we define depersonalisation and derealisation in plain language and explore why these dissociative symptoms show up across conditions like OCD, PTSD, low mood, and neurodiversity. Claudia explains the freeze response, what’s likely happening in the brain and we tackle the most persistent myths: that DP/DR is rare, untreatable, always trauma-led - and share prevalence data that puts DP/DR on par with better-known difficulties.

Most importantly, we outline what actually helps and hear how values-led action restores identity when chasing the “old me” keeps life on hold, and why grounding isn’t one-size-fits-all. We discuss promising approaches like body movement psychotherapy and mindful movement for safer reconnection with the body, plus the power of peer support through charities such as Unreal.

Highlights include:

02:31 What DPDR Feels Like

06:26 The Brain, Freeze Mode And Survival

12:38 Neurodiversity And Interoception

24:14 Practical Self‑Help

This week's guest:

Claudia is a highly specialist Clinical Psychologist and accredited Cognitive
Behavioural Psychotherapist. She is currently the clinical lead for the National
and Specialist Depersonalisation & Derealisation service, part of the Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma service at the Maudsley NHS Hospital in South London. She is involved in the teaching and supervision of trainee psychologists on the Clinical Doctorate course at the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience and is involved in several research projects with colleagues across SLAM and KCL. She also runs her own private practice where she specialises in helping clients with DP/DR, anxiety and trauma difficulties

Claudia's instagram

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-> NEED THERAPY? <-

For private psychology services and therapy in person (London/Hertfordshire) or online, please visit Harley Clinical Psychology.

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-> DISCLAIMER <-

The Hello Therapy podcast and the information provided by Dr Liz White (DClinPsy, CPsychol, AFBPsS, CSci, HCPC reg.), is solely intended for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute personalised advice. Please reach out to your GP or a mental health professional if you need support.

Are you feeling constantly frazzled, even though nothing major seems to be going wrong?

In this episode of the Hello Therapy podcast, I'm joined by clinical psychologist, Dr. Tess Browne to explore the powerful impact of "micro stressors", those everyday pressures that silently drain our energy. The conversation delves into how these small stressors affect our nervous system, especially for women and mums juggling work, family, and endless demands.

Tess shares practical, evidence-based strategies for calming your nervous system, even when you’re time-poor, and highlights the importance of self-compassion and connection. Whether you’re struggling with burnout or looking for simple tools to create more calm in your day, this episode offers reassurance and actionable advice to help you feel seen, supported, and empowered.

Highlights include:
03:33 Micro stressors shape modern life
12:27 Unseen stress of motherhood
14:00 The pressure to "have it all"
19:13 Preventing burnout and prioritising self
22:37 Recognising a dysregulated nervous system
23:34 Signs of stress on the body
31:21 Stacking habits for change
34:09 Overcoming challenges of slowing down

This week's guest:
Dr. Tess Browne is a Chartered Clinical and Coaching Psychologist and the founder of The Mind Atelier, a boutique online psychology practice supporting high-achieving women - especially busy mums - to feel calm, confident, and connected. Drawing on over 25 years’ experience, Tess helps women break free from perfectionism, people-pleasing, and self-criticism, and replace them with self-compassion, confidence, and emotional ease.

As a mum of two, she knows first-hand how easy it is to put pressure on yourself - and how hard it can be to prioritise your own well-being. She’s passionate about making mental health support practical and relatable, breaking down complex psychology into tools women can use in the middle of their real, messy, everyday lives.

Website
Instagram
Download free Mum Guilt Manual

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FREE until 5th December 2025 - grab my mini course HOW TO STOP SPIRALLING today - click below:

How To Stop Spiralling mini course

-> JOIN OUR SUBSTACK <-

Be part of our growing community for free - Join now

-> NEED THERAPY? <-

For private psychology services and therapy in person (London/Hertfordshire) or online, please visit Harley Clinical Psychology.

-> SOCIALS <-

Subscribe to Dr Liz's YouTube channel

Follow Harley Clinical on Instagram

Follow Dr Liz White on TikTok

-> DISCLAIMER <-

The Hello Therapy podcast and the information provided by Dr Liz White (DClinPsy, CPsychol, AFBPsS, CSci, HCPC reg.), is solely intended for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute personalised advice. Please reach out to your GP or a mental health professional if you need support.