The Natural Resilience Podcast

Performance psychologist Gerry Hussey works with Olympians and the Cork hurlers. As a boy, anxiety attacks crippled him.

How do you navigate change, find a purpose that is your own, and perform in line with your own values when the pressure is on?

In this episode of The Natural Resilience Podcast, Ciarán May sits down with Gerry Hussey in a conversation recorded live in front of an audience in Belfast.

Gerry has spent close to twenty years working in health and performance, preparing athletes and teams for Olympic Games, World Cups, Heineken Cups and All-Ireland finals, and working with leaders and organisations on how people perform under pressure. He is the author of Awaken Your Power Within, The Freedom Within and I Am, I Can, I Will, and a speaker in high demand with organisations and teams.

His story starts somewhere very different. As a young boy, Gerry was crippled by anxiety attacks. He talks openly about what that was like, how he found his way through it, and how it shaped the work he does today.

Gerry and Ciarán talk about why change feels so threatening, how to find a sense of purpose that belongs to you rather than one you were handed, and what happens to performance when the way you live and work lines up with what you value.

IN THIS CONVERSATION
- Gerry's childhood with anxiety attacks, and how he found his way through
- Why we resist change, and how to move through it
- Finding a purpose that is your own
- Living and performing in alignment with your values
- What Olympic and elite sport has taught him about pressure
- Building a life as a speaker, consultant and author from that starting point

TAKE THE FOUNDER SCORECARD
Gerry's point is that performance starts with knowing where you actually are. The Founder Scorecard is a good place to start. It takes a few minutes and shows you where you are performing well, and where you need more clarity, structure or support.
https://founder-first.scoreapp.com

GET THE LESSONS FROM EVERY EPISODE
We pull the most useful thinking out of these conversations and send it to our mailing list, so the ideas stay with you after the episode ends.
http://eepurl.com/hhiFzr

FIND GERRY
Soul Space: https://soulspace.ie
Books: https://www.gerryhussey.ie/books

MORE FROM NATURAL RESILIENCE
Website: https://natural-resilience.co.uk

Subscribe to The Natural Resilience Podcast for more conversations about leadership, resilience, entrepreneurship and the realities of building a meaningful life and business. New episodes twice a month, recorded in Belfast.

The Natural Resilience Podcast explores how founders, leaders, elite performers and remarkable people build the capacity to perform, endure and live well.

THANK YOU
This evening was co-organised with Jessica Higginson and the team at Podiem, and sponsored by Sam Shephard and The Juice Jar. Thank you both for making it happen.
Podiem: https://www.podiem.com
The Juice Jar: https://juicejar.com

#GerryHussey #PerformancePsychology #Anxiety #Purpose #Resilience #Change #Leadership #CorkHurling #Belfast #NaturalResiliencePodcast

Dr Stephen McCabe leads Momentum One Zero, the £70 million innovation centre built
under the Belfast Region City Deal.

What does it actually take to build psychological safety into a workplace, and can a
whole city region learn to do the same thing?

In this episode of The Natural Resilience Podcast, Ciarán May sits down with Dr
Stephen McCabe, Executive Director of Momentum One Zero, to talk about identity,
performance and psychological safety in high-pressure leadership, and how a £70
million innovation centre is helping bring the Belfast Region City Deal to life.

Momentum One Zero sits inside Queen's University Belfast and exists to turn research
and industry collaboration into real economic activity for the city region, backed by
the Belfast Region City Deal. Stephen talks through what building an institution like
that actually involves, and what it will mean for Belfast's technology and innovation
sector over the next several years.

The conversation turns personal. Stephen has spoken publicly before about his own
experience of anxiety and depression, and why psychological safety in a workplace has
to start with a leader who is honest about their own inner world before they can build
it for anyone else. Ciarán and Stephen talk through identity under pressure, what a
leadership persona costs, and what it takes to build a genuinely safe environment
around you rather than just saying you have one.

IN THIS CONVERSATION
- What Momentum One Zero is, and its role inside the Belfast Region City Deal
- Building psychological safety into high-pressure tech and innovation environments
- Stephen's own experience of anxiety and depression, and why he chose to speak about it
- Identity and the leadership persona: what has to change, and what has to stay constant
- What it takes to build a £70 million innovation centre, and what it means for the region
- Practical advice for leaders trying to build real psychological safety in their own teams

TAKE THE FOUNDER SCORECARD
Stephen is direct about needing to know your own state before you can lead anyone
else's. The Founder Scorecard is where that starts. It takes a few minutes and shows
you where you are performing well, and where you need more clarity, structure or
support.
https://founder-first.scoreapp.com

GET THE LESSONS FROM EVERY EPISODE
We pull the most useful thinking out of these conversations and send it to our mailing
list, so the ideas outlast the episode.
http://eepurl.com/hhiFzr

MORE FROM NATURAL RESILIENCE
Website: https://natural-resilience.co.uk

Subscribe to The Natural Resilience Podcast for more honest conversations about
leadership, resilience, entrepreneurship and the realities of building a meaningful
life and business. New episodes twice a month, recorded in Belfast.

The Natural Resilience Podcast explores how founders, leaders, elite performers and
remarkable people build the capacity to perform, endure and live well.

#StephenMcCabe #MomentumOneZero #BelfastRegionCityDeal #QueensUniversityBelfast
#PsychologicalSafety #Leadership #BelfastTech #NorthernIreland #Innovation
#NaturalResiliencePodcast

Kieran Kelly went from the family butcher's to CEO of Ubloquity, the Belfast firm
securing global supply chains.

What does it actually take to build a technology company from an unorthodox start,
and who do you need around you to do it?

In this episode of The Natural Resilience Podcast, Ciarán May sits down with Kieran
Kelly, founder and CEO of Ubloquity, to trace a route into tech that went through a
family butcher's shop and a bedroom building PCs before it arrived anywhere near a
boardroom.

Kieran describes Ubloquity as the trust protocol in the supply chain. It uses
blockchain to let goods move across borders without friction, and to prove where
something came from, what it is made of and who made it. He talks through the
company's work with Amazon Web Services, and a project with Lowden Guitars in County
Down that gave individual instruments a verifiable record of their own provenance.

The conversation turns to what scaling actually costs. Kieran is direct about the
cognitive load, the pressure, the stakes and the risk of building a start-up, and
about why none of it is survivable alone. His line for it is that it takes a village
to raise a start-up. Finding a tribe of founders who understand the work gives you a
support system, and people who will show you your own blind spots.

He closes on Northern Ireland's technology sector, and why the grit, the
determination and the genuine willingness to collaborate here amount to a competitive
advantage rather than a consolation.

IN THIS CONVERSATION
- From the family butchers, to building PCs, to founding a technology company
- What Ubloquity does, and what a trust protocol in the supply chain means
- Blockchain, frictionless borders, and proving provenance
- The work with AWS and the Lowden Guitars project
- Why scaling is high load, high pressure, high stakes and high risk
- Finding your tribe, and the blind spots only other founders can show you
- Collaboration as Northern Ireland's competitive advantage

TAKE THE FOUNDER SCORECARD
Kieran is clear that no founder gets there alone. The Founder Scorecard is where that
starts. It takes a few minutes and shows you where you are performing well, and where
you need more clarity, structure or support.
https://founder-first.scoreapp.com

GET THE LESSONS FROM EVERY EPISODE
We pull the most useful thinking out of these conversations and send it to our mailing
list, so the ideas outlast the episode.
http://eepurl.com/hhiFzr

MORE FROM NATURAL RESILIENCE
Website: https://natural-resilience.co.uk

Subscribe to The Natural Resilience Podcast for more honest conversations about
leadership, resilience, entrepreneurship and the realities of building a meaningful
life and business. New episodes twice a month, recorded in Belfast.

The Natural Resilience Podcast explores how founders, leaders, elite performers and
remarkable people build the capacity to perform, endure and live well.

#KieranKelly #Ubloquity #SupplyChain #Blockchain #BelfastTech #NorthernIreland
#TechFounder #Startup #LowdenGuitars #NaturalResiliencePodcast

CHAPTERS
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Tracy Kelly grew up on Sandy Row and went on to become Lord Mayor of Belfast.

What does authentic leadership look like when it is rooted in community, shaped by working-class values and driven by a determination to make sure nobody feels left behind?

In this episode of The Natural Resilience Podcast, Ciarán May sits down with Tracy Kelly, former Lord Mayor of Belfast, to explore her journey from Sandy Row to Belfast City Hall and the experiences that shaped her approach to leadership.

Tracy speaks openly about growing up in a proud working-class community, the importance of representation, and why people from areas like Sandy Row should be encouraged to believe that their background does not limit their future.

The conversation explores grassroots leadership, staying connected to the people you represent, and the responsibility leaders have to make sure communities do not feel forgotten. Tracy also reflects on the realities of public leadership, remaining true to herself, and using her position to help others see what might be possible for their own lives.

This conversation was recorded during Tracy's term as Lord Mayor. Her term has sinceended.

IN THIS CONVERSATION
- Growing up on Sandy Row and what that community gave her
- The road from grassroots work to Belfast City Hall
- Representation, and why it matters who is in the room
- Staying connected to the people you represent
- The realities of public leadership
- Leadership as impact rather than title

TAKE THE FOUNDER SCORECARD
If you are a founder or business leader who wants to lead yourself and your organisation in the right direction, the Founder Scorecard will help you identify where you are performing strongly and where greater clarity, structure or support may be needed.
https://founder-first.scoreapp.com

ABOUT BREAKING BREAD
This episode was recorded live at Breaking Bread, our quarterly leadership and business breakfast in Belfast. Every three months we bring together 50 of the city's top entrepreneurs and business leaders for three live fireside interviews and the conversations that follow.
Join the waiting list: https://businessnetwork.scoreapp.com

MORE FROM NATURAL RESILIENCE
Website: https://natural-resilience.co.uk
Join the mailing list: http://eepurl.com/hhiFzr
Subscribe to The Natural Resilience Podcast for more honest conversations about leadership, resilience, entrepreneurship and the realities of building a meaningful life and business.
New episodes twice a month, recorded in Belfast.

#TracyKelly #LordMayorOfBelfast #SandyRow #Belfast #NorthernIreland #Leadership#CommunityLeadership #WomenInLeadership #BreakingBread #NaturalResiliencePodcast

Sometimes the greatest purpose is forged through life's greatest loss.After losing his father to a heart attack and later his father-in-law, Mark Hanna found purpose through supporting Marie Curie. What began as a way of giving back has become a lifelong mission.
Since then, he has:
Raised over £1 million for Marie Curie.
Completed 22 marathons (with the Dublin Marathon 2026 next on the horizon).
Taken on multiple Ironman competitions.
Reached Everest Base Camp.
Climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
Cycled the length of Ireland.
Trekked Machu Picchu.
Organised Northern Ireland's Time Ball, raising significant funds for Marie Curie every two years.
But this conversation isn't really about endurance sport. It's about grief, purpose, service, and the extraordinary impact one person can make when they dedicate themselves to a cause greater than themselves.
Mark also shares his remarkable personal transformation, losing five stone, and reflects on why purpose—not motivation—is what keeps him moving forward.
If you've ever wondered how ordinary people achieve extraordinary things, this episode is for you.
If Mark's story resonates with you and you'd like to support this year's Time Ball in aid of Marie Curie, you can make a donation here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/timeball7-11-26?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=WA
If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.
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