The Good Girl Game Changers

Are you looking for a group of like-minded women to do this messy, beautiful work with? Come and join us for 30 days free at The Breaking Free Studio: ⁠https://www.thegoodgirlgamechangers.com/the-breaking-free-studio

 
What grief are you carrying right now? Is it the loss of someone you love, a relationship that's ended, a hope that didn't work out, or the heaviness of what's happening in the world? And where do you go when it all feels like too much? In this episode, Chelle talks with wellbeing researcher and nature connection specialist Simon Coverdale about the difference between being in nature and being in relationship with it.

1:47 — Introducing Simon Coverdale: wellbeing researcher and nature connection specialist with over 20 years experience working alongside First Nations communities
2:13 — Simon shares his strong boy story
3:13 — Why good girl and strong boy conditioning hasn't faded with the generations, and what the manosphere signals about pressure on young people today
5:32 — Simon's relationship with nature growing up
8:59 — What the research shows: how nature connection links to vitality, well-being, and the easing of self-monitoring that lets us just be
11:54 — Awe, perspective, and perfectly imperfect: how witnessing nature's cycles helped Chelle give herself permission to stop chasing perfection.
13:33 — Eco-anxiety, burnout in the environmental sector, and why deepening nature connection builds the very resources we need to keep caring
15:44 — Sitting with grief and love at the same time: "Grief is nature's receipt for the way we love"
18:30 — The difference between time in nature (contact) and being in relationship with it (connection), and why it matters
21:00 — How Chelle moved from walking past the sea to being in it: the "wall of green," learning tree names, and drawing a circle in the sand each morning
28:00 — Connection to country: Simon on five years working with Jara Jar Jarwang people, what country really means, and why Western nature science and Indigenous knowing are "same, same, but different"
32:00 — Chelle visits the land of her Irish ancestors: a nature-based ancestral retreat and a cellular experience she didn't expect
34:14 — Where to start: nearby nature, indoor plants, doing what you already enjoy, and why you don't need to know your bird calls
37:00 — Three Good Things in Nature: the research-backed micro-practice that builds well-being and nature connection at the same time
39:24 — Two hours a week is the tipping point, using your senses as a doorway, and the five pathways to nature connectedness
41:03 — Closing, resources, and Robin Wall Kimmerer's quote on plants as those who take care of us

Are you looking for a group of like-minded women to do this messy, beautiful work with? Come and join us for 30 days free at The Breaking Free Studio: https://www.thegoodgirlgamechangers.com/the-breaking-free-studio

Are you fed up with trying to break free of your 'good girl' behaviours? Are you tired of trying to think your way to healing? Are you sick of doing it all on your own?  In this episode, Chelle sits down with rewilding facilitator and Nature's Apprentice founder Claire Dunn to unpack what she calls the "magical trifecta": a deep connection to ourselves, to community and to nature. 

To learn more about Claire's work and her rewilding programs, visit naturesapprentice.com.au.

1:50 — Introducing Claire Dunn: writer, rewilding facilitator, and founder of Nature's Apprentice
2:03 — Claire shares her good girl story
4:03 — How Claire's environmental activism became its own form of perfectionism and led to burnout
6:00 — What drew Claire to rewilding and ancestral lifeways, and the missing piece she finally found living in the bush for a year
13:39 — The real lesson from that year in the bush: moving from doing to beingness, from imposed tasks to genuine desire
15:14 — Chelle shares her own experience in Claire's program
17:21 — Claire on what she sees in participants: the trifecta of connection to self, community, and nature and why women come looking for something therapy couldn't quite reach
22:55 — The concept of "injured instincts," Clarissa Pinkola Estés, and what happens when women reconnect with their wild inner landscape
27:27 — Claire's frameworks: eco-awakening, deep nature connection practices, and initiation — the shape of the path
36:26 — Practical advice for busy lives: curiosity as the fuel, sit spots, nature journaling, and why one wild day a month goes a long way
41:09 — Raising nature-connected kids: Claire on screen limits, unstructured outdoor play, boredom as a portal, and finding mentors outside the family

When was the last time you followed what joyfully called to your heart? We've been paying much closer attention to those tugs lately, and they've shaped where this new season of the podcast is heading. But it helps to go back to where we started.

Are you looking for a group of like-minded women to do this messy, beautiful work with? Come and join us for 30 days free at The Breaking Free Studio: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thegoodgirlgamechangers.com/the-breaking-free-studio
And a special for our wonderful listeners, you can get 25% off The Nervous System Advantage Toolbox using code GGGC25 at checkout. ⁠⁠Simply click here to discover more.

2:01: What 1,000 Australian women told us about 'good girl' conditioning and what breaking free looks like.
12:41: Evie's after-party: yoga teaching, turning 30, a burn-off on her grandparents' land, and being pulled toward somatic ecotherapy
16:53: Chelle's after-party: returning to forests after decades away, camping for the first time since 14, and finding community she didn't expect
22:24: Why trusting yourself first makes it easier to trust others and what it means to claim belonging rather than wait for it
24:58: The second round of research and introducing the 3 C's: Cherishing Nature, Cultivating Community, Claiming Belonging
32:31: What's coming in Season 5: guests, family members joining, and the path toward becoming uniquely us
33:52: Uniquely Us Tool: "Noticing What Calls to You": a four-step somatic practice for following your somethings
41:07: Post-show update

Are you looking for a group of like-minded women to do this messy, beautiful work with? Come and join us for 30 days free at The Breaking Free Studio: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thegoodgirlgamechangers.com/the-breaking-free-studio

And a special for our wonderful listeners, you can get 25% off The Nervous System Advantage Toolbox using code GGGC25 at checkout. ⁠⁠Simply click here to discover more.

Who's behind the wheel of your life this morning — you, or whichever part of you got there first? Two years into learning Internal Family Systems with Dr. Tori Olds, this aha episode unpacks three ideas that keep proving themselves true, and the tools that help put them into practice.

2:23 — Chelle recaps the IFS framework from episodes eight and nine: Self energy, managers, firefighters, and exiles — what they are and why they all have good intentions
5:18 — Aha number one: IFS doesn't work when the nervous system is still in the red or blue zone — you have to soothe the body before parts work becomes possible
10:26 — Tool one, find your Self: a guided practice to locate and anchor Self energy through memory, breath, and the 8Cs
14:11 — On building Self energy proactively, not just reaching for it in crisis
15:22 — Aha number two: the difference between genuine Self energy and a self-like part — one shows up with no agenda, the other is quietly trying to manage the outcome
20:31 — Tool two, move towards your parts: a guided practice using three steps — notice the part, get to know it, ask what it needs
27:39 — Aha number three: parts don't disappear, they evolve
29:12 — What it looks like when a part genuinely trusts Self enough to shift
35:23 — Tool three, check in on your parts: a short practice for regular part check-ins
38:00 — Chelle summarises all three ahas and tools
41:04 — Post-episode debrief

Are you looking for a group of like-minded women to do this messy, beautiful work with? Come and join us for 30 days free at The Breaking Free Studio: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thegoodgirlgamechangers.com/the-breaking-free-studio

And a special for our wonderful listeners, you can get 25% off The Nervous System Advantage Toolbox using code GGGC25 at checkout. ⁠⁠Simply click here to discover more.

You're not broken, and there are no bad parts of you — just a whole inner family that's been working overtime to keep you safe. In part two with Dr. Tori Olds, Chelle goes deeper into the IFS model: what managers and firefighters are actually doing for us, who the exiles are that they're protecting, and what becomes possible when the capital-S Self finally shows up to take over.
2:10 — Chelle shares part two: we've met Self, now we meet the parts — managers, firefighters, and what they're all protecting
4:07 — Chelle asks Tori to briefly re-ground listeners in the IFS framework from episode eight before going deeper
7:43 — Tori on why the word "part" matters
10:15 — The two types of protector parts explained: managers (proactive, preventative, keep things under control) and firefighters (reactive, desperate, break windows to get you out of the burning building)
13:48 — What firefighter parts look like: overspending, drinking, eating disorders, rage — and why they deserve compassion, not shame
15:35 — Chelle introduces the exiles: the wounded younger parts that managers and firefighters have been working so hard to protect us from ever feeling again
17:00 — Tori on what wounds us
19:22 — Chelle shares her own exile work
23:19 — Tori explains memory reconsolidation — how a real felt mismatch between an old knowing and a new experience can reorganise a neural network in seconds
30:52 — What happens to parts after unburdening
35:21 — Tori on doing IFS solo versus with a therapist or coach, and how to read your own system to know when you need more support
40:23 — Chelle summarises this episode
42:01 — Close and resources
43:07 — Post-episode debrief