Mastering Change | The trauma, mental health & wellbeing podcast

For many people, healing can feel stuck. Symptoms persist, patterns repeat and change itself can begin to feel unsafe. 
In this episode of Mastering Change, Raoul Goldberg, founder of the PATH Method, explores why what we often describe as “chronic” may not be purely medical – but psychosocial and spiritual in nature. He shares how his work helps people reconnect with a sense of wholeness by strengthening the parts of themselves that are capable of change. 
Raoul walks through the core elements of the PATH Method: forming a clear wish, connecting with a felt sense of one’s “best self,” embodying that state and learning to step outside habitual perspectives. Practised over time, this process helps people build enough internal strength to face trauma rather than remain trapped by it. 
Rather than creating something new, Raoul describes PATH as helping people reconnect with something that already exists within them – a capacity for agency, empowerment and growth. 
We explore 
Why long-term symptoms may reflect blocked psychosocial change 
How the PATH Method helps people feel safe enough to change 
The role of embodiment and perspective in breaking old patterns 
Why trauma work requires strength, not just insight 
How reconnecting with wholeness supports healing 
Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 
See Raoul Goldberg at Transform Trauma Oxford 2026 – Get your Super Early Bird Tickets here. 
Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast
Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd
Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

How do you rebuild a life when your earliest memories are of profound and extreme loss? 
That’s what Richard McCann explores in this episode. When he was just five years old, his mother was murdered – an event that later became national news and that influenced every part of his childhood. 
Richard describes how this grief showed up in ways he didn’t have words for at the time – hypervigilance, fear, constantly scanning for threats – and how teachers were among the first adults to recognise what he was going through and what he needed most. 
He shares how this early experience influenced his adult relationships and how he eventually found meaning and strength through spirituality and post-traumatic growth. 
Despite everything he faced, Richard believes that there is always a way forward, even from the most painful beginnings. Today, he uses his experience to support others navigating trauma. 
We explore 
What extreme Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can look like 
How trauma shows up in children – and what adults can look out for 
The crucial role of teachers and early recognition 
How childhood trauma continues into adulthood 
The part spirituality played in Richard’s healing 
Why he believes there is always hope, even after unimaginable loss 
Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 
Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast
Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd
Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

So much of what happens in healthcare is shaped by trauma – yet most clinicians are never taught what trauma is or how to recognise it in themselves or their patients. 
This week on Mastering Change, we speak with Susanna Petche, a GP with 25 years’ experience, who shares how her own misdiagnosed depression eventually revealed an underlying trauma response. That realisation changed her life – and her medical practice. 
Susanna reflects on the reality that trauma is everywhere in the healthcare system: in people’s symptoms, in their behaviour and in the overwhelm that brings them to a GP or hospital. However, doctors receive no formal education about trauma, no supervision and little support in navigating the emotional impact of their work. 
She shows how much difference simple, trauma-aware tools can make – from acknowledging how frightening a hospital environment can be, to helping patients regulate their nervous systems in moments of stress. Small shifts like this, she argues, can meaningfully improve care long before large-scale system change becomes possible. 
We discuss  
Why trauma underpins so many physical and mental health presentations 
How the lack of trauma training leaves clinicians without essential tools 
Why simple, everyday interventions can improve patient safety and connection 
What genuine practitioner wellbeing requires - beyond slogans about resilience 
How AI could support care if implemented with sensitivity 
Why even one hour of trauma education could transform healthcare 
Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 
Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast
Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd
Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

What makes someone feel so bonded to a group that they’d sacrifice almost anything for it – and how does that same force help us heal? 
In this episode of Mastering Change, cognitive anthropologist Dr. Martha Newson unpacks ‘identity fusion’ – an extreme form of social bonding where self and group identities merge, creating family-like ties and powerful loyalty.  
Drawing on years of research with football fans, prisoners and festival communities, Martha explores how ritual, shared challenge and moments of perceived transformation strengthen these bonds. She explains why people can feel trapped in damaging groups – families, institutions, even cult-like communities – because losing that belonging can feel physiologically unsafe, not just emotionally painful.  
Martha also advocates for collective healing spaces – from 12-step groups to choirs and walking clubs – explaining that they are essential companions to individual therapy. 
We explore: 
What identity fusion is – and how it shows up in everyday life 
How shared rituals, sport and festivals create deep feelings of “we-ness” 
Why leaving harmful groups can feel more dangerous than staying 
How trauma, when held in community, can shift from stagnation to transformation 
The role of collective spaces (12-step rooms, choirs, sports, retreats) in trauma healing 
How internalised community, ancestors, nature and a sense of “higher self” can sustain people who spend time alone 
Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 
Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast
Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd
Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.

Therapists, clinicians and helpers often tell themselves they’re “fine” – even as the work wears down their nervous system. 
In this conversation, palliative care doctor Dr. Rosie Weir offers a compassionate guide to trauma stewardship: the practice of staying present to other people’s pain without losing yourself in it. 
Drawing from her years on the frontline of end-of-life care, Rosie explains how practitioners can unconsciously carry the emotional burden of others long after a session ends. 
‘If you're a painter and you're painting all day, you come home covered in paint. And that's what it's like doing this kind of work – you come home covered in other people’s emotional material.’ 
Rosie shares the practices that help her stay grounded and slow down, while challenging the belief that self-care must always be ‘active’ or fast paced to be effective. 
We discuss 
The emotional residue practitioners carry and how to recognise it 
Why slowing down is often more regulating than speeding up 
Building a relationship with yourself as a foundation for resilience 
How hobbies and joy act as protective factors 
Why healing work must include the wellbeing of those who deliver it 
A reflective, grounding episode for anyone doing work that asks you to hold other people’s pain. 
Moment of Care: This episode discusses sensitive episodes related to trauma, mental health and potential distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a moment to check in with yourself and seek support. 
Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast
Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/masterseventsltd
Visit mastersevents.com/oxford-2026 for more details.