Author, maternal mental health advocate and mum of three Tracy Holmes joins Dominique this week for a conversation about motherhood, diagnosis and real resilience.

Tracy is mum to three boys, including twins Harry and Freddie. Shortly after they were born, Freddie was diagnosed with Down syndrome. What followed was one of the most difficult periods of Tracy’s life. With one newborn at home and another still in hospital, she found herself pulled between two worlds, all while she was navigating the shock of diagnosis. The pressure resulted in the quiet collapse of her mental health.

In this episode, Tracy speaks with the most extraordinary honesty about that year. The grief for the life she had imagined, the stigma around admitting struggle as a mother and the moment she realised she needed help. But she also speaks about the love that has grown since. About the bond between her boys, the joy Freddie brings to their lives and the way he has changed how their whole family sees the world.

She speaks about the power of language (Freddie has Down syndrome, he is not a Down syndrome child), and also about the gaps that still exist in Ireland for families raising children with individual needs. Something we both hope conversations like this might help change.

Tracy is extraordinarily strong. But what moved us most was her willingness to show the moments where she wasn’t. We are so grateful to her for sharing her story with us.

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Psychologist, author and mum of three Dr. Clodagh Campbell joins Dominique this week, for one of the most personal conversations of the season.

Dominique and Clodagh share powerful parallels in their lives. Both are adopted. Both lost their beloved fathers too early.

Together they explore how adoption can shape identity across a lifetime and why questions around belonging often become louder once we become parents ourselves.

Clodagh also opens up about her experience with postnatal depression. As a psychologist, she didn’t initially recognise the signs in herself. It arrived slowly and quietly, and by the time she realised what was happening she was already struggling.

The conversation also explores the nervous system, maternal exhaustion, the invisible cognitive load many parents carry and why small moments of awareness can make such a difference in our busy lives.

IMAGE The Motherload is powered by Peugeot, and sponsored by Liffey Valley, Avoca, Revive Active, Aptamil Advanced and Tigers Childcare

This week on IMAGE The Motherload, Dominique sits down with Coleen Rooney for a real conversation about family life.

Coleen opens up about her childhood, the loss of her sister Rosie, her and Wayne’s experience of miscarriage, and occasionally shouting at the boys in McDonalds. She shares the brilliant chaos of raising four boys, the realities of parenting in the public eye, and why family is ultimately so important to her.

This is Coleen Rooney in her own words.

IMAGE The Motherload is powered by Peugeot, and sponsored by Liffey Valley, Avoca, Revive Active, Aptamil Advanced and Tigers Childcare