I'm Fine! - The Truth Behind the Smile

#6 Sara Lister: The Emotional Reality of Cancer Care - Why Kindness Matters

Jayne invites Sara Lister, an Oncology Psychotherapist within the NHS, to share her remarkable journey from oncology nursing into psychotherapy, and to explore the emotional realities of working in cancer care. Drawing on decades of experience supporting both patients and healthcare professionals across many different organisations, Sarah offers powerful insight into what it means to care for others in deeply challenging environments—and why that care can leave a lasting emotional impact. Together, they explore the often-unspoken emotional toll faced by healthcare professionals, especially in oncology, where grief, loss, and repeated exposure to distress can quietly build over time. Sara shares why the language around “compassion fatigue” and “resilience” can sometimes miss the bigger picture, focusing instead for greater honesty, systemic support, and a deeper understanding of the human impact of caregiving. This episode also challenges common misconceptions around staff wellbeing, highlighting how meaningful support goes far beyond one-off resilience training or wellbeing initiatives. Sara discusses the importance of protected spaces, compassionate leadership, practical support, and creating workplace cultures where staff feel safe to acknowledge when things are hard. At its heart, this conversation is about balance—how healthcare workers can hold space for sadness while also protecting hope, connection, and joy in their own lives. Insightful, thoughtful, and full of practical wisdom, this episode is essential listening for anyone working in healthcare, leadership or caregiving roles. Sara Lister - Oncology Psychotherapist RN, BSc (Hons), PGDAE, MA, MSc, MBACP (Accred.) ACC (Accred.) Connect with Sara here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-lister-1a761463/  https://www.instagram.com/saraelister/?__d=undefined EF training exists because nobody should have to pour from an empty cup. Founded by Jayne Ellis who learnt the hard way so you don't have too. If today's conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, share and leave a review - it helps more professionals who care find this community. If you or someone you know would like to join the conversation and be a guest on our podcast, please get in touch.  Connect with us at info@eftraining.co.uk Visit us at http://eftraining.co.uk for more information about Jayne Ellis and learn about our Compassion Fatigue and Emotional Resilience Training for Organisations and Individuals. Please note: This podcast is intended for education and supportive purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support. If you are struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional or contact your GP.  The views and options expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, values or position of EF training Ltd. Guest content is shared in the spirit of open conversation, learning and intended as a safe space for honest dialogue.

#5 From Police Officer to Purpose: Kate Flint on Trauma, Service & Finding Strength

This week on the I’m Fine podcast, Jayne welcomes a very special guest and a valued member from within her own team - Kate Flint, Training Manager of the EF Training whose life before this role was spent serving as a police officer with Thames Valley Police. Kate opens up about her journey into policing, from studying sports science and forensic interests to finding her true calling supporting victims of serious sexual violence and major crime. She shares the emotional realities of frontline policing, the pressures of performance culture, and the deep impact that working with trauma can have on those who dedicate their lives to helping others. In this honest and moving conversation, Kate reflects on compassion, resilience, identity, and the hidden emotional toll carried by emergency service workers. It’s a powerful insight into the human side of policing — and the strength it takes to listen, support and keep showing up for people during the darkest moments of their lives. Kate Flint  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-flint-47236834b/ EF training exists because nobody should have to pour from an empty cup. Founded by Jayne Ellis who learnt the hard way so you don't have too. If today's conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, share and leave a review - it helps more professionals who care find this community. If you or someone you know would like to join the conversation and be a guest on our podcast, please get in touch.  Connect with us at info@eftraining.co.uk Visit us at http://eftraining.co.uk for more information about Jayne Ellis and learn about our Compassion Fatigue and Emotional Resilience Training for Organisations and Individuals. Please note: This podcast is intended for education and supportive purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support. If you are struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional or contact your GP.  The views and options expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, values or position of EF training Ltd. Guest content is shared in the spirit of open conversation, learning and intended as a safe space for honest dialogue.

#4 Sally's Story From Loss to Legacy: Abby’s Heroes & The Hidden Weight of Care

In this powerful and deeply personal episode, Sally shares the heartbreaking yet inspiring story of her daughter Abby — a vibrant, joyful child whose battle with cancer led to the creation of Abby’s Heroes, a charity now transforming the lives of families facing childhood cancer. From losing Abby in 2016 to building a vital support network embedded within University Hospital Southampton, Sally reflects on grief, resilience, and turning unimaginable pain into purpose.  She reveals how Abby’s Heroes now provides family support workers, counselling, financial grants, sibling and grandparent support, and meaningful moments of connection for families navigating paediatric cancer. This conversation also shines a crucial light on the emotional toll carried by nurses, palliative teams, and healthcare professionals working long shifts on the frontline of child loss. Sally speaks candidly about the urgent need for mental health support and better wellbeing systems for those caring for others through the darkest moments. With remarkable honesty, Sally explores the masks people wear when answering “I’m fine,” the burden of grief, the loneliness of loss, and the strength it takes to protect others while surviving yourself. She also shares how “responsible selfishness” — from the gym to extraordinary cycling challenges like London to Paris — has become part of reclaiming her strength. This episode is a moving exploration of love, loss, survival and service — and a reminder that even in the aftermath of devastation, purpose can rise, communities can heal and extraordinary legacies can be built. Find out more about Abby's Heroes:  https://abbysheroes.org/ [https://abbysheroes.org/]  Connect and Follow here: https://www.instagram.com/abbysheroes/  https://www.facebook.com/AbbysHeroesCharity/  Connect with Sally here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-randall/ EF training exists because nobody should have to pour from an empty cup. Founded by Jayne Ellis who learnt the hard way so you don't have too. If today's conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, share and leave a review - it helps more professionals who care find this community. If you or someone you know would like to join the conversation and be a guest on our podcast, please get in touch.  Connect with us at info@eftraining.co.uk Visit us at http://eftraining.co.uk for more information about Jayne Ellis and learn about our Compassion Fatigue and Emotional Resilience Training for Organisations and Individuals. Please note: This podcast is intended for education and supportive purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support. If you are struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional or contact your GP.  The views and options expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, values or position of EF training Ltd. Guest content is shared in the spirit of open conversation, learning and intended as a safe space for honest dialogue.

#3 Conversation with Charlotte Fielder MBE - From Law Enforcement to Love in Action

After 33 years in law enforcement, Charlotte Fielder MBE followed a burning desire to open the final chapter of her career in service of something deeper. In this episode, Charlotte joins Jayne to trace her remarkable journey - from Lead on Volunteering at a Thames Hospice, to 8 years Head of the Volunteer and Fostering team at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home - and what she discovered about human nature, purpose and the power of core values along the way. Charlotte shares why you can train skills but who people are at their core is what truly motivates them to give their time for causes they love, and why volunteering in animal welfare carries a grief and emotional weight that is often under estimated. And of course, Jayne asks the question at the heart of every episode - are you really fine? Charlottes answer may surprise you - as she wisely reflects, sometimes we are the very last ones to know when we’re not okay - and the stories we tell ourselves can be the most convincing of all. Charlotte speaks in a personal capacity and views expressed are her own.  linkedin.com/in/charlotte-fielder-mbe-she-her-59190514 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-fielder-mbe-she-her-59190514/] EF training exists because nobody should have to pour from an empty cup. Founded by Jayne Ellis who learnt the hard way so you don't have too. If today's conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, share and leave a review - it helps more professionals who care find this community. If you or someone you know would like to join the conversation and be a guest on our podcast, please get in touch.  Connect with us at info@eftraining.co.uk Visit us at http://eftraining.co.uk for more information about Jayne Ellis and learn about our Compassion Fatigue and Emotional Resilience Training for Organisations and Individuals. Please note: This podcast is intended for education and supportive purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support. If you are struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional or contact your GP.  The views and options expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, values or position of EF training Ltd. Guest content is shared in the spirit of open conversation, learning and intended as a safe space for honest dialogue.

#2 Ellie Robinson - The Nurse Who Skipped Every Meal but Never Missed a Shift

From insisting her mum sew her a nurse's uniform at age seven, to leading an entire cancer nursing team at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Ellie Robinson has spent her whole life in devoted service to others. In this Episode, Ellie joins Jayne for an honest and deeply moving conversation about what happens when the people who care for everyone else, stop caring for themselves. Ellie traces her journey from a surgical urology ward to building a cancer nurse specialist team from the ground up over 17 years - and reflects on the moment that changed everything: being encouraged by Jayne to stay for training on Compassion Fatigue that she set up for her team and discovering there was a name for what she and her colleagues had been silently carrying.  She opens up about the weight of leadership in the NHS, why saying "I'm fine" becomes almost a reflex when you're conditioned to put everyone else first, especially when responsible as a leader. But this story is also about recovery and reclaimed wellbeing.  Ellie shares how a 5.15am solo walk - come rain, snow or darkness - became the strategy that replaced her 3am anxious thoughts, restoring her sleep and gave her back herself. A quiet but powerful reminder that even the most devoted carers need someone to ask - and really mean it - "how are you"? Follow Ellie on X - https://x.com/EleanorRobins16  EF training exists because nobody should have to pour from an empty cup. Founded by Jayne Ellis who learnt the hard way so you don't have too. If today's conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, share and leave a review - it helps more professionals who care find this community. If you or someone you know would like to join the conversation and be a guest on our podcast, please get in touch.  Connect with us at info@eftraining.co.uk Visit us at http://eftraining.co.uk for more information about Jayne Ellis and learn about our Compassion Fatigue and Emotional Resilience Training for Organisations and Individuals. Please note: This podcast is intended for education and supportive purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health support. If you are struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional or contact your GP.  The views and options expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, values or position of EF training Ltd. Guest content is shared in the spirit of open conversation, learning and intended as a safe space for honest dialogue.