I am shaking up the wellness industry and addressing the things that people usually avoid. With relentless curiosity and refusal to sweep things under the rug, this podcast is for those who crave truth over comfort and honesty over surface level BS.
So, get yourself in the lotus position because I have no plan, no pretence and definitely no bypassing….. I’m Josh Connolly and this will probably be dysfunctional
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
I am shaking up the wellness industry and addressing the things that people usually avoid. With relentless curiosity and refusal to sweep things under the rug, this podcast is for those who crave truth over comfort and honesty over surface level BS.
So, get yourself in the lotus position because I have no plan, no pretence and definitely no bypassing….. I’m Josh Connolly and this will probably be dysfunctional
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, I’m joined by Elaine Baxter, a breathwork facilitator who’s been through the full arc of modern wellness, from fixing and performing, to actually holding space in a way that’s real.
We talk about ditching the “spiritual costume” and why so much of the healing industry rewards masks over authenticity. Elaine shares how breathwork helped her reconnect with feeling after years of numbness, grief, people-pleasing, and trying to hold everything together.
We explore what trauma-informed actually looks like in practice, the difference between fixing and holding, and why safety, honesty, and grounded language matter more than aesthetics, labels, or vibes.
This conversation is for anyone who wants deep work without the performance, and real healing without having to become someone they’re not.
Elaine is a Breathwork Facilitator who has supported people in processing emotions through the breath since 2020 and is a qualified Inner You Breathwork Facilitator. At the heart of Elaine’s practice is a commitment to creating a safe, compassionate, and non-judgemental space, where people are met without pressure to change and genuine healing can naturally unfold.
https://www.instagram.com/rebalance_with_elaine
https://misneachcentre.ie/allied-health-professionals/
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Leaving an abusive relationship doesn’t always mean the abuse stops.
In this episode, Josh speaks with Miranda Allen, an ambassador for Mums in Need, about post-separation abuse and how control continues through courts, finances, smear campaigns, and children. Miranda shares her lived experience and why believing survivors matters more than ever.
Learn more or support the work of Mums in Need:
👉 https://mumsinneed.com
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In this episode of Dysfunctional, I’m joined by relationship recovery coach Jo Westwood for a deep, honest conversation about toxic relationships, codependency, and what real self-worth actually sounds like in practice.
We talk about love bombing and how to spot it early, the moment “the switch” happens after commitment, and why being nice, polite, or endlessly understanding can quietly turn into self-abandonment.
We also unpack why so many people rush to defend power, fame, and parents at all costs, using the viral Anthony Hopkins estrangement clip as a real-world example of how society struggles with accountability, family loyalty myths, and reading the energy behind someone’s words.
This is a conversation about slowing down, trusting your instincts, and learning to say:
“You don’t know me well enough yet.”
And meaning it.
We explore:
The difference between love bombing and genuine connection
Why codependent people can be manipulative without meaning to be
The “special one” fantasy and how it keeps people stuck
Why healthy relationships can handle a slow start
Estrangement, boundaries, and the myth of unconditional family loyalty
Politeness vs kindness, and why people-pleasing pushes people away
Why abusive people don’t cut you off, and why survivors often have to
This episode isn’t about blame, cancel culture, or perfect healing.
It’s about self-reflection, personal responsibility, and building relationships that don’t require you to disappear to keep the peace.
If you’ve ever felt confused, drained, or like you keep ending up in the same painful dynamics, this one’s for you.
Find Jo:
Website: http://jowestwood.com
IG: http://instagram.com/jowestwood
The Anti People Pleasing Podcast link:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-anti-people-pleasing-podcast/id1576679526
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4av63LLVwYNt8MNMu8Ygar
Audible: https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/The-Anti-People-Pleasing-Podcast/B08K61YDSF
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Alex Williams was eight years old when his mum was murdered by his stepfather.
In this episode, Alex shares what it’s really like to grow up after extreme trauma, how it shaped his nervous system, identity, and relationships, and why “healing” is often misunderstood.
Alex is an NHS mental health practitioner with over 20 years of experience and a suicide and self-harm prevention trainer. He brings both lived experience and frontline insight into what actually helps people after childhood trauma, and what doesn’t.
We talk about:
Growing up after domestic abuse and parental homicide
Why safety matters more than therapy in the early stages of trauma
The long-term impact of unprocessed grief in childhood
Compassion fatigue in mental health and helping professions
Why forgiveness is not required for healing
How the mental health system labels people instead of holding them
Phone addiction, numbing, and modern forms of escape
Meaning, survival, and choosing a life after trauma
This is a raw, honest conversation about loss, resilience, and what it means to live a good life after something unimaginable.
If you grew up in dysfunction, abuse, or emotional neglect, this episode will likely resonate.
Find Alex here -
https//instagram.com/thealexjwilliams
https//tiktok.com/thealexjwilliams
https//www.linkedin.com/thealexjwilliams
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Trauma doesn’t just live in your head. It can shut down your voice too. Vocal coach Claire Delaney joins me to talk C-PTSD, nervous system survival, toxic industry culture, and finding your voice again.
"Claire is a vocal coach who works with singers and actors whose voices have to hold up under real-world pressure. She’s coached performers across the West End, Broadway, and the National Theatre, and has worked for Italia Conti and ITV’s Mamma Mia: I Have a Dream.
Her approach is trauma-aware and shaped by the belief that you can’t separate a voice from the person using it. Her work blends science, psychology, and practical technique, with a lens shaped by lived-experience. She helps performers rebuild the physical, emotional, and technical foundations of their voice, aiming for long-term reliability, confidence, and self-trust to make singing actually enjoyable again."
Instagram: @clairedelaney.vocalcoach
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In this episode I’m joined by Jared Shurin, a strategic communications specialist who works in counter extremism, violent radicalisation, misinformation, and social cohesion. We dig into the psychology of people who reach the point of extreme violence, why it often starts with the loss of trust, hope and faith, and how communication can pull people back from the edge.
We talk about:
How people become vulnerable to radicalisation
The link between extremism, suicidality, and hopelessness
Why most people sit in the exhausted moderate middle
The role of belonging, community, and agency in prevention
How governments, NGOs and everyday people can reduce social harm
What actually works when trying to talk someone down from violent thinking
This episode explores the real human drivers behind extremism, how isolation fuels dangerous behaviour, and why rebuilding local community may be our best defence.
Find Jared -
https://extra-fox.com/
newsletter - https://raptorvelocity.beehiiv.com/
https://www.instagram.com/straycarnivore/
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What if those moments where you’re convinced you’re a horrible person who “shouldn’t even be here” aren’t proof that you’re broken… but that you’re in what my guest calls a shame storm?
In this episode I’m joined by Melinda Delisle, MS LCCE – clinical nutritionist, former childbirth educator, and someone who has spent years navigating intense emotional dysregulation herself. We talk honestly about what it actually feels like inside a shame storm, why some of the most popular “healing tools” can make it worse, and how food, supplements and nervous system health quietly drive so much of our emotional world.
We get into:
- The difference between a shame swamp, a shame spiral and a full-blown shame storm
- Why gratitude lists, mindfulness and “just be present” advice can feel like gaslighting when you’re in survival mode
- How trauma, high sensitivity and people-pleasing set us up for chronic hypervigilance
- The link between nutrition, B vitamins, SSRIs and emotional dysregulation
-- Mistaking familiarity for safety – and why so many of us feel unsafe even with “nice” people
- Self-parenting, accountability and facing the ways our own dysregulation can make us the “toxic” one at home
Melinda also shares a free upcoming 4-week program she’s creating to help people build awareness, have better conversations around triggers and start finding their way out of constant dysregulation.
Substack: https://melindadelisle.substack.com/
Free 4-week program: https://melindadelisle.com/foundation/
Instagram: @melindadelisle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-delisle/
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Children with a parent in prison are some of the most invisible kids in the country. In this episode, I sit down with Sarah (founder of charity Children Heard and Seen) and Felix (communications officer) to talk about what really happens to those children when a parent goes to prison, and why nobody is officially keeping track of them.
We talk about:
How Children Heard and Seen supports kids in the community with mentoring, groups and one to one support
The shocking reality of children left completely alone at home when a parent is sent to prison
Why there is no national data on which children have a parent in prison
The role of media, stigma and vigilante attacks on already vulnerable families
Why support must be child led, not focused on “fixing” the parent or forcing contact
The first ever Children with a Parent in Prison Day (25th November) and the national conference
If this episode moved you, please share it, talk about it with someone, and check out Children Heard and Seen to see how you can support or spread the word.
Link to the conference:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hear-me-see-me-parental-imprisonment-lived-experience-conference-tickets-1700692921309?aff=oddtdtcreator
Link to our website:
https://childrenheardandseen.co.uk/
Lived Experience Blogs written by adults who had a parent in prison as a child:
https://childrenheardandseen.co.uk/hidden-voices/
#parentalimprisonment
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode Josh talks about:
Why the phrase “toxic person” makes some people more uncomfortable than abuse itself
The difference between “people doing toxic things” and people who are mostly harmful
How spiritual bypassing and “it’s all trauma” language can erase accountability
Why victims get to choose the language for what happened to them
Empathy with no boundaries and why it’s self-destructive
Healthy shame vs toxic shame
Why it’s okay to walk away and even hate someone who hurt you
#toxicpeople
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Maike is the author of The Confession: A Journey to Acceptance, her memoir of growing up with a father with undiagnosed mental health issues who went on to take his own life. She is a lived experience speaker and volunteer for Survivors of Bereavement by suicide
When Maike Mullenders was eleven years old, her dad sat her down and told her he was going to end his life — and made her say goodbye.
He survived that night. But ten years later, he died by suicide and left behind a confession to the police saying he’d “been inappropriate” with her — something Maike had no memory of.
In this conversation, we talk about what happens when your childhood forces you into the role of caretaker, and how that shapes everything that follows. We explore dissociation, survival, and what it means to grow up reading every tone of voice in a room just to stay safe.
Maike shares how decades of therapy, yoga, and community work helped her reclaim her body, her boundaries, and her right to take up space — even without ever knowing the full truth about her past.
We talk about:
Surviving a parent’s suicide attempts and living with the aftermath
The lifelong impact of emotional enmeshment and hypervigilance
Parenting after trauma and breaking generational patterns
Acceptance versus forgiveness — and why you don’t need both
Learning to feel safe in your body through movement and presence
The healing power of community and self-compassion
This episode is about what real healing looks like — messy, nuanced, and deeply human.
It’s about learning to live with not knowing, and finding peace anyway.
Please take care of yourself while listening.
Find Maike here -
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maike-mullenders-3021232b7/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091853840552
#suicideawareness #mentalhealth
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We call it “mental health,” but what if the real diagnosis is a sick system?
Wellness anthropologist Aurora Leigh joins Josh to argue that disconnection — not individual defect — sits under our crises of addiction, anxiety, and depression. We dig into stoicism as emotional shutdown, the trap of pathologizing pain, and how somatic, community-based healing outperforms label-and-medicate approaches.
Expect Rat Park, the Roseto effect, sexual trauma as an ignored root cause, and Aurora’s “Somatic Regeneration” blueprint for moving the nervous system from survival to open, curious, connected. We finish with practical tools listeners can use today — and a challenge to rebuild policy, schools, and healthcare around safety, love, and belonging.
Find out more about Auroara here -
https://www.skool.com/simply-sacred-wauroara-leigh-2570/about?ref=9e5561a6facc4f2586229fc89b4fbee6
www.simplysacred.ca
https://youtube.com/@auroaraleigh?si=Xl7bT3OHHHEyy3s-
#mentalhealth
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This episode includes candid references to suicide, depression and self-harm.
It’s just been World Mental Health Day. I’m asking a hard question with no easy answers. Is the mental health conversation helping… or are there places it’s making us worse?
I talk about the tension between compassion and consequence. The risk of romanticising suffering when public figures die. How awareness can accidentally normalise behaviours. Princess Diana speaking about bulimia and what followed. The pathologisation of being human. My own swings, labels I once clung to, and what it takes to pull myself out of a spiral without shaming the struggle.
This isn’t anti-awareness. It’s a call to evolve it. Less performance. More truth. Fewer labels as identity. More community and responsibility. Let’s bring the pendulum back to the middle.
In this episode
If you’re struggling
Please reach out to someone you trust. You can also contact crisis support in your country (e.g. Samaritans in the UK, CALM, or your local emergency services). You don’t have to carry it alone.
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In this solo episode of Dysfunctional, Josh asks a raw question:
Is the world actually worse, or are we just being fed constant content that keeps us triggered?
As a highly sensitive person, Josh reflects on how algorithms exploit empathy, why stress has become a hidden addiction, and how our compassion is being stretched to breaking point. He dives into the danger of compassion fatigue, the blurred line between activism and doomscrolling, and why protecting your nervous system matters more than ever.
This is a conversation for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the state of the world — and who needs reminding that caring doesn’t mean carrying everything.
#highlysensitiveperson
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Old friends. Real talk. A mini 115 Miles reunion.
Hasan Khair joins me to unpack why work feels like a moving target and what to do when the ladder you were climbing gets ripped from the wall. We get into how school trained us for compliance, how hyper capitalism rewards harm, and why AI is speeding up a reckoning in every industry.
This is not doom. It is a plan. We get practical about midlife pivots, redundancy, belief, and the tiny actions that rebuild confidence. If you feel stuck, dehumanised by job boards, or scared to start again, this one will help.
In this episode
The real shift in work since 2008 and why restructures never stop
AI and automation. Why senior roles are getting cut first
School as a factory model. How it kills agency and creativity
Confidence and class. The advantage of environment
Hasan’s story. Failing A-levels, Blockbuster, Virgin, executive roles, redundancy, reinvention
Panic vs purpose. How to pause and design a different path
Ikigai without the fluff. What you love. What you’re good at. What the world needs
Nano steps. Not grand gestures
Why community multiplies belief
Hasan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hasankhair/
Tyllr - https://tyllr.co
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Lauren Smallcomb grew up the “golden child” at home and in church. When compassion widened and questions came, the role cracked. We get into:
Work with Lauren and Luke: Flourish Therapy (mind body practice, global)
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In this episode, Josh sits down with Theresa and her son Cody for one of the rawest and most hopeful conversations yet.
Cody shares what it was like to grow up with an alcoholic mother, the emotional estrangement that followed, and how he once decided, “I don’t have a mom anymore.” Theresa opens up about her alcoholism, early recovery, the shame of realizing she had become the toxic parent she swore she wouldn’t be, and the painful accountability required to begin repairing.
Together, they talk honestly about the darkest years of their relationship, the role of recovery and IFS (Internal Family Systems) in healing, and how they slowly rebuilt trust—not through excuses, but through deep accountability, boundaries, and a willingness to really listen.
What emerges is a story of hope: proof that repair is possible, even after estrangement and years of hurt.
Whether you’re an adult child of a toxic parent or a parent carrying shame for the harm you’ve caused, this conversation offers both validation and possibility.
Teresa is now a a Somatic Wellness Practitioner who uses the Triad of Healing which is Parts Work, Breathwork, and Somatic Release to gain the full spectrum of emotional healing. Teresa says she does this as a profession because of the healing it brought her in her life. She works with anyone overcoming any kind of trauma.
Teresa can be found here -
www.energiesinmotion.com
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What if everything you’ve been told about mental illness… isn’t true?
In this raw and uncompromising episode of Dysfunctional, I sit down with psychologist and best-selling author Dr. Jessica Taylor to tear apart the myths and corruption within psychiatry and the wider mental health industry.
We talk about:
👉Why so many psychiatric “truths” are based on weak science (or none at all)
👉How labels and diagnoses can keep people trapped instead of free
👉The profit-driven systems that benefit from keeping people sick
👉 true healing might look like outside of psychiatry
👉Why being human has been pathologised — and how we can reclaim it
This conversation is not comfortable, and it’s not supposed to be. Some of you will feel liberated. Some of you might feel defensive or upset. Wherever you land, I invite you to sit with it, question it, and decide for yourself.
🔗 Connect with Dr. Jessica Taylor:
Website: https://www.drjessicataylor.com
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In this episode of Dysfunctional, Josh sits down with Debra Paynter — business manager, single parent, and advocate — for a raw conversation about raising her son, Teddy, who is autistic and has a learning disability.
They explore:
Why SEND families are so often failed by schools, local authorities, and society
The difference between a tantrum and a meltdown, and what public judgement really feels like
How lockdown became a turning point in Teddy’s development
The exhausting fight to secure the right school place and legal protections
What society could do — right now — to better support SEND parents
The unexpected joy, connection, and resilience Debra has found in her journey
This is a conversation about courage, love, and truth-telling — and it will make you think differently about SEND parenting.
Follow Debra:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debs.does.asana/
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In this raw and unfiltered conversation, Josh sits down with Dr. Sherrie Campbell — psychologist, author, and unapologetic disruptor in the toxic family space — ahead of their joint Come Home to Yourself event in Los Angeles on October 4th.
What starts as an excited chat about the event quickly dives deep into some of the most taboo and misunderstood truths about healing from family abuse:
Dr. Sherrie shares the most vulnerable moment of her healing journey — the day she realised her mother had no respect for her because she kept forgiving her — and how that moment became a turning point toward freedom.
This is not a conversation for those looking for sugar-coated healing. It’s for those ready to face the truth, drop the audition for love, and come home to themselves.
🎟 Come Home to Yourself — Los Angeles, October 4th
A full-day interactive experience with Josh & Dr. Sherrie featuring deep teaching, inner child work, live Q&A, and a powerful breathwork session for emotional release.
Spaces are limited: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/come-home-to-you-tickets-1461867257319?aff=oddtdtcreator
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