Mastering Change | The trauma, mental health & wellbeing podcast

Why does sexual desire fade in long-term relationships? And could the way we think about sex be part of the problem?
In this episode of Mastering Change, Araminta Jonsson speaks with Dr Nicole McNichols, a professor at the University of Washington and author of You Could Be Having Better Sex, about the psychology of desire, the science of pleasure and why sexual wellbeing is so often overlooked in conversations about mental health.
From the pressures of modern relationships and the exhaustion of everyday life to the misconceptions surrounding orgasms and intimacy, Nicole challenges some of our most deeply held assumptions about sex.
Together, they explore why desire doesn't always happen spontaneously, how shame can prevent us from communicating our needs, and why creating space for pleasure could be an important part of our overall wellbeing.
In this episode, we explore:
Why sexual wellbeing is so often excluded from conversations about mental health
How exhaustion, stress and the mental load can affect sexual desire
The difference between spontaneous and responsive desire
Why planning sex doesn't necessarily make it less satisfying
The orgasm gap and what we misunderstand about female pleasure
How shame, communication and consent shape our intimate relationships
The relationship between trauma, safety and sexual intimacy
A thought-provoking conversation about moving beyond sexual shame and developing a healthier, more informed relationship with intimacy and pleasure.
Moment of Care: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, serious violence, mental health and other potentially distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take care of yourself and seek support if you need it.
Watch this episode on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/masteringchangepodcast
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Trauma doesn't always end when the danger has passed.
Even years after a difficult experience, our brains and bodies can continue responding as though we're still under threat. But why do these patterns persist, and can we learn to change them?
This week on Mastering Change, Emma Stapleton and Araminta Jonsson speak with Siegfried Othmer, a physicist and pioneer in neurofeedback, who has spent over four decades exploring how the brain regulates itself and what happens when that regulation is disrupted.
While traditional approaches to trauma often focus on understanding and processing our experiences, Siegfried offers a different perspective. He argues that trauma recovery may also depend on helping the brain develop new patterns of self-regulation, rather than relying on psychological understanding alone.
Drawing on his family's personal experiences and decades of clinical work, Siegfried explores the potential of neurofeedback and why he believes the physiological dimensions of trauma deserve greater attention.
We explore:
Why the brain can remain in a state of threat long after danger has passed
How trauma affects the brain's ability to regulate itself
What neurofeedback is and how it works
Why talking therapies may not address every aspect of trauma
The potential of brain training to support emotional and physiological regulation
Moment of Care: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, serious violence, mental health and other potentially distressing experiences. If you feel triggered at any point, please take care of yourself and seek support if you need it.
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 happens when the emotional pain we avoid begins to shape the way we treat ourselves and others? 
In this episode of Mastering Change, Emma Stapleton and Araminta are joined by author and frontline practitioner George Stoimenov to explore unresolved trauma, masculinity and the possibility of breaking cycles of pain. 
Originally from Bulgaria, George has spent more than a decade supporting people facing significant adversity, from unaccompanied young asylum seekers and young people experiencing homelessness to men on probation. 
But his work is also deeply personal. 
George reflects on his own experiences of childhood trauma, the ways he once avoided difficult emotions and the transformative experiences that eventually changed his understanding of himself.
Drawing on his personal journey and professional work, he explores how unresolved pain can influence anger, relationships and destructive behaviour, and why meaningful change may require us to look beneath what someone does to understand what they have experienced.
The conversation also considers the wider consequences of disconnection, including how declining community ties and growing polarisation can make it easier to project our pain onto others.
We explore:
How unresolved childhood experiences can shape adult behaviour
Why avoidance can prevent us from recognising emotional pain
What George has learned working with vulnerable young people and men on probation
The relationship between trauma, masculinity, anger and violence
How the father–son relationship can influence identity and emotional development
Why connection and community matter for recovery
How unresolved pain can contribute to conflict and polarisation
What breaking cycles of trauma might look like in practice
Moment of Care: This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, violence, criminal justice experiences and emotional distress. Please take care while listening if these subjects feel close to your own experiences.
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.

When someone is struggling with infertility, we often encourage them to keep going, stay hopeful and try again. 
But what happens when that encouragement becomes part of the pressure they're already carrying? 
This week on Mastering Change, we're joined by reproductive trauma advocate Anita Guru, who shares her deeply personal experience of endometriosis, infertility, IVF and the psychological impact of a reproductive journey that unfolded very differently from the life she had imagined. 
Through years of treatment, loss and uncertainty, Anita came to recognise something that is still too often overlooked: infertility is not only a medical experience. It can also involve profound grief, shame, guilt and trauma.
One of the most powerful moments in our conversation comes when Anita describes reaching the point where she wanted to stop treatment, but was waiting for someone to give her permission.
Her story raises important questions about how we support people through reproductive trauma, why grief can go unrecognised when there is no visible loss, and how we can create space for different futures without diminishing the pain of letting go.
We explore:
Why infertility and pregnancy loss need to be understood through the lens of reproductive trauma
The emotional impact of endometriosis and fertility treatment
How shame and guilt can shape someone's sense of identity and self-worth
Why well-intentioned encouragement can sometimes deepen distress
The often-unrecognised grief of ending fertility treatment without a child
How earlier traumatic experiences can resurface during reproductive challenges
Why feeling seen, heard and supported can make such a difference
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.

Everything is connected. Diversity is essential for survival. And living systems have feedback mechanisms that tell us when something is out of balance.
What might happen if we applied these principles of ecology to mental health?
This week on Mastering Change, psychiatrist and psychotherapist Joanna Cheek introduces us to the idea of an “ecology of health” – a way of looking beyond the individual to understand our wellbeing in the context of our relationships, communities, social structures and wider environment.
One idea particularly stayed with us: distress can be feedback.
In trauma-informed care, we have learned to move beyond asking “What’s wrong with you?” towards “What happened to you?” Joanna invites us to widen the lens further. What is happening around us? What systems are we part of? And could some of the feelings we are trying to eliminate actually be signalling that something is out of balance?
It opens up a fascinating conversation about where individual healing meets collective wellbeing – and whether caring for ourselves can ever be entirely separated from caring for the world around us.
We explore:
What the principles of ecology can teach us about mental health
Why distress can sometimes be understood as feedback rather than dysfunction
How “What happened to you?” can widen to include the systems around us
Why focusing solely on the individual can leave important causes of distress unseen
The relationship between our individual and collective wellbeing
Why diversity and connection matter for healthy living systems
What changes when we see self-care and collective care as interconnected
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.