How to Set Boundaries with Family During Christmas Chaos?
Is Christmas your calm or your chaos? Kate Mason welcomes returning couple therapists Helen and Shahn to unpack why the festive season so often becomes a pressure cooker and how couples can reclaim it with clarity and compassion. They share their own blended-family reset, choosing Christmas morning at home to create sleep, sanity, and new traditions.From end-of-year exhaustion to old family roles that snap back under one roof, they explain how reactivity takes over and how to stay “untangled” by planning ahead, agreeing on boundaries, and responding by values. You will hear practical scripts like saying “ouch, that is sharp,” advice for united communication with parents and in laws, and survival tips that include pre warning, lightening the alcohol, and offering grace when family of origin ghosts appear. The result is a toolkit for couples who want a kinder, more intentional holiday season.Listen For3:00 How do you create new Christmas traditions when old ones no longer work?7:28 Why does Christmas bring back old family roles and tension?11:00 What should you do if you're stuck with a toxic relative during dinner?23:42 How can couples set boundaries with their families around Christmas?30:13 What are the best survival strategies for a smoother festive season? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one click Connect with guests: Shahn Baker Sorekli, Director | Author | App Founder | Clinical Psychologist | Couples Therapist | Board Approved SupervisorShahn's LinkedIn Helen Robertson, Director | Clinical Psychologist | Author | Advanced Certified Schema Therapist | Schema Certified Supervisor | Board Approved SupervisorHelen's LinkedIn The 8 Love Links Book | Website | Instagram |TikTok |Tiktok Contact Kate: Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X
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How to Reconnect With Your Partner in Five Minutes
Is your partner your teammate… or just your roommate? Kate Mason dives deep into why so many loving couples start to feel emotionally disconnected—not because of conflict, but because of neglect. With warmth and insight, Kate introduces the "Five-Minute Personality Check-In," a powerful weekly ritual that helps couples realign, reconnect, and stay curious about each other, even when life gets chaotic. She explores how our unique personality types shape how we connect (or clash), revealing practical tools to bridge the gap between introverts and extroverts, thinkers and feelers, planners and free spirits. If your relationship feels more functional than emotional lately, this episode offers a refreshingly simple yet powerful way to find your way back. Listen For6:57 How do introverts and extroverts experience connection differently?9:26 How do thinkers and feelers misread each other’s intentions?11:52 Why does planning the week create conflict for some couples?14:15 What are the three questions in the Five-Minute Check-In? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one click Contact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X
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How to Make Wellness Work Without Burning Out
What if your health isn’t something you do, but something you are? Kate Mason sits down with wellness journalist and author Casey Beros to trace her path from a Perth uni student obsessed with health reporting to on-air roles with ABC’s evidence-based program Tonic and a dream daily TV gig that was axed 35 episodes in—followed by a grief-soaked reset that clarified her true mission. Casey shares how building Paper Tiger health retreats gave her real-world empathy, why she trusts slow science over fast headlines, and how her “Headlines to Live By” cut through fads: move, eat mostly whole foods, sleep, tend your mental and social health, and see your doctor. She rejects quick fixes (and “expensive urine”), champions agency over obedience in a more horizontal model of care, and offers micro-actions—water, breath, a text to a friend, ten squats—that compound into real change. Listen For:32 What sparked Casey’s lifelong obsession with health journalism?3:25 How did a bold pitch to Dr Norman Swan open the first big door?7:12 What did Casey learn creating ABC’s evidence-based show Tonic?14:51 How did she rebuild after a dream TV job was suddenly axed?38:07 What “minimum viable interventions” can you start using today? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one click Connect with guest: Casey Beros | Medical Facilitator | Educator | Communicator LinkedIn | Website | Next of Kin Book | Instagram | X | Facebook | Newsletter Contact Kate: Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X
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Could 3 Questions Change the Way You Parent?
Are we expressing more than we’re actually coping? Kate Mason poses three big, bold questions to five insightful guests—Cat, Cassie, Jack, Maryann, and Tracy. Together, they explore what today’s kids are most missing: is it freedom, discipline, or connection? They unpack whether our personality or our experiences shape us more deeply, and whether the current culture of emotional openness is fostering resilience or just performance. With perspectives from teachers, parents, and leaders, this episode invites listeners to rethink the way they parent, teach, connect, and even scroll. It’s honest, nuanced, and might just shift the way you see the emotional lives of both kids and adults.Listen For2:33 What are kids missing most—freedom, discipline, or connection?8:51 Are we shaped more by personality or experience?14:27 Have we become better at expressing or just posting emotions?19:47 How can we help kids build real resilience offline? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one clickContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X
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Can the Same Parents Raise Different Kids?
Ever wondered if siblings raised by the same parents actually grow up in completely different families?Kate Mason sits down with author, veteran, and filmmaker Pamela Vines to explore how sibling dynamics, birth order, and evolving parenting styles shape who we become. Through heartfelt storytelling and humorous reflection, Pam shares how she and her two sisters (each born in a different decade) experienced three radically different versions of the same parents. From being a self-sufficient middle child to caring for her aging father, Pam reflects on generational shifts in parenting, perception, and purpose. Together, Kate and Pam dig into how personality, timing, and life circumstances affect our family roles, childhood memories, and ultimately, how we parent. Listen For6:59 What inspired Pam Vines’ project on aging, caregiving, and creativity in later life?14:00 How did birth order and big age gaps affect Pamela's family dynamic?24:17 Did all three sisters really experience the same parents?31:41 How did different rules apply to each sibling when it came to freedom and trust?37:52 How do parents unintentionally show favoritism—and can they ever see it?Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one clickConnect with guest: Pam Vines CEO of Vines Film and Media, AuthorLinkedIn | Website | Book | InstagramContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X
One thing about being a parent – there’s no shortage of personalities to be surrounded by. Our kids, our partners, our family, our friends. They keep us laughing, growing, loving, and crying. If only they understood us. Like the musician Van Morrison once sang “When people understand what I mean, mama said there will be days like this.” Adelaide Australia’s Kate Mason is an author, wife, and mother who has spent her career studying personality and relationships. In this podcast she looks at why relationships work, and why some don't. She also looks at how our personalities impact our relationships and examines what compels our children, husbands, wives and others to behave the way they do. This podcast is designed to help you understand those you love. A half hour listening on your own, will connect you with the ones you care about the most.
Ireland