In this recast of the second ever episode of ‘The Skies We’re Under’ Lucy, Sarah and Rachel talk about some of the helpful and unhelpful ways they deal with times of stress and transition.

This is not professional advice but an honest conversation about the trust of complex realities and how they try to live life well.

Content warning: Very early on in this episode we talk about the fear and potential for childhood death, DNACPR, childhood cancer and stroke.

They also do laugh a lot because this world we live in manages to have both sadness and laughter– despite the absurdity of it all.

Please do not listen to this episode if this will not serve you well. They also discuss the importance of conversations about children’s end of life care. Details of resources are below.

The following resources are discussed during the podcast:

• ReSPECT documents and end of life discussions.
• Completing the stress cycle. You can listen to the brilliant podcast with Brene Brown, Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski, How to complete the stress cycle. Or read Emily and Amelia’s book.
• Affinity hub website: emotional support for parents of children with special needs.
• Day-by-Day: emotional wellbeing in parents of disabled children. Jo Griffin

Since this episode the podcast has gone from strength to strength and almost 130 episodes later there's still so much to discuss and share with our wonderful listeners, the families of people with complex disabilities and the many practitioners that support us. Moving forward we need your help to keep producing new episodes. You or your organisation can sponsor a season or advertise within an episode. Email us to find out more.

Email your questions and comments to tswupodcast@gmail.com and don’t forget to rate, review, share and subscribe - this increases our chance of being able to keep doing The Skies We're Under podcast.

This week we're travelling back in time to the first ever episode of 'The Skies We're Under'. Back to a time when we didn't have studio production to keep the sound crisp and we still had the energy to beep out all the swears.

Content warning the topics of childhood cancer, birth trauma, chromosome duplication and severe disability is discussed.

Rachel Wright, Lucy Parr and Sarah Clayton introduce themselves and their families (as they were back in early 2022). They all have different experiences of becoming parents of children with complex needs and how that impacted their identity as women and parents. The conversations they have sometimes even makes them exclaim, “That’s not my name.”

Since this episode the podcast has gone from strength to strength and almost 130 episodes later there's still so much to discuss and share with our wonderful listeners, the families of people with complex disabilities and the many practitioners that support us.

Moving forward we need your help to keep producing new episodes. You or your organisation can sponsor a season or advertise within an episode. Email us to find out more.

Email your questions and comments to tswupodcast@gmail.com and don’t forget to rate, review, share and follow the podcast.

Life updates, broken systems and tiny pockets of joy are packed into this week's episode of The Skies We’re Under. From continuing healthcare assessment clangers, post‑college provision crises and why SEND reform feels equal parts hopeful and terrifying.

Rachel, Lucy and Sarah bring laughter, swearing, tears and truth as they talk about navigating everything from milestone birthdays to the minefield of adult social care and EHCP chaos.

With the SEND white paper looming, they explore what real inclusion could look like and what families fear it won’t. Plus, a very special interview as Rachel’s 10-year-old son making his podcast debut freshly diagnosed and finding his voice.

If you'd be interested in sponsoring an episode of The Skies We're Under, please contact us at TSWUpodcast@gmail.com.

To help us keep podcasting we’d LOVE it if you could support the podcast, like, subscribe, review and share. The more listeners we get, the more we’ll be able to provide things to listen to - and we’re chock full of ideas!

We’d love to hear from you – we love sharing stories, we love hearing how things are going, the good, the bad, the snotty-crying ugly.

You can leave a message with us in a number of ways:

· Firstly you can leave a message using speakpipe here: SpeakpipeTSWU

(Please note calls need to be limited to 90 seconds)

· You can send us a voice note from your phone to our email address at tswupodcast@gmail.com

· Or, if the thought of hearing your own voice gives you ‘the ick’, then send us an email to tswupodcast@gmail.com

Whatever way you choose to get in touch, we really want to hear your thoughts, views, musings, rants and confessions (we love a confession!) .

Thanks for listening and being a part of our podcast community -It would make our day if you could like, follow and review the podcast wherever you listen.

We’re so happy that The Skies We’re Under is a free, independent podcast. Any sponsorship received is used to cover the costs of the production of episodes and compensate our valuable guests for their time. The hosts provide their time and efforts for free. They do, however, appreciate any offers of caffeination to keep them going – you can buy them a cuppa here…

Follow us on Instagram @BornatRightTime. Head to www.bornattherighttime.com to find a parent workshop or CPD-certified training for practitioners in communication, collaboration and personalised care with parents/carers.