THRIVING MINDS PODCAST

Episode #5: It Takes a Village — We Want to Help- Build Reading Brains, Toileting Tips and Community Support for Big Feelings, Growing Brains 26.06.2026 33min

Raising children is not something families should have to do alone. It takes a village: parents, grandparents, educators, health professionals, community workers, neighbours and friends who can offer practical help, calm advice and a reminder that no one needs to have all the answers. In Episode #5 of Big Feelings Growing Brains, we explore the everyday moments that can feel big for families: supporting children in building early reading skills, navigating toileting, asking for help, and find...

Episode #4: Food. Families. Love. Simple food and lunchbox ideas for big feelings, growing brains. 25.06.2026 25min

Simple food and lunchbox ideas for big feelings, growing brains Feeding children is rarely just about food. It can be about time, cost, tiredness, sensory needs, routine, allergies, lunchboxes that come home untouched, and the pressure families can feel to get every meal right. In Episode #4 of Big Feelings Growing Brains, we heard many thoughtful, practical ideas from educators, health professionals and families who understand these everyday challenges. Their conversations reminded us that f...

Episode #3 From School Avoidance to Attendance Helping Children Feel Safe, Seen, and Ready to Learn, Big Feelings Growing Brains. 01.06.2026 43min

School avoidance is becoming an increasingly common challenge for families, schools, and communities. For some children, walking through the school gates can feel overwhelming. Anxiety, bullying, social pressures, learning difficulties, emotional distress, and feeling unsafe can all contribute to school refusal and disengagement. In Episode 3 of Big Feelings, Growing Brains, we explore what may sit beneath school avoidance and what families, educators, and communities can do to help children ...

Episode #2 Screen Meltdowns to Calm What to Do When Screens Become a Struggle, Big Feelings, Growing Brains podcast 01.06.2026 48min

Why do some children seem calm one moment and completely overwhelmed the next when it is time to switch off a screen? In Episode 2 of Big Feelings, Growing Brains, we explore what is really happening in the developing brain when children move from highly stimulating digital environments back into everyday life. Together, parents, educators, and wellbeing leaders discuss why screen transitions can trigger big emotions, what children are trying to communicate through their behaviour, and practi...

Episode #1 Big Feelings, Growing Brains. Connection Before Disconnection. Bringing together the community to support thriving kids. 25.05.2026 31min

Why Children Melt Down When Screens End Why do simple moments like “time to turn it off” so often end in tears, anger, shutdowns, or emotional explosions? In the first episode of Big Feelings, Growing Brains, neuroscientist Professor Selena Bartlett brings together educators, parents, and wellbeing voices to explore what is really happening in the developing brain during screen-time transitions. Featuring: Professor Selena BartlettDr Mark Williams, cognitive neuroscientist, Author, ScreenSma...

Episode #217 Are We Raising Anxiety? Dr Danielle Einstein, Clinical Psychologist 19.05.2026 50min

Anxiety in children and teenagers is rising, but are we always helping in the right way? In this powerful conversation, with clinical psychologist Dr Danielle Einstein to explore what anxiety really is, how modern parenting, social media and screens may unintentionally reinforce it, and why avoidance can quietly strengthen fear over time. Drawing on neuroscience, clinical psychology, and real-world family experiences, this episode explores: Why the brain learns through experience H...

Episode #216 Will Agency become the word for 2026? Raising Screen Smart People with Dr Mark Williams 06.05.2026 42min

What does it really mean to raise a screen-smart child in a world that is designed to capture their attention? In this important and timely conversation, I sit down with Dr Mark Williams to discuss his new book with Gavin McCormack, exploring the science, the reality, and the responsibility we all share when it comes to children and screens. Drawing from their new book Screen Smart Children, we go beyond fear and blame to unpack what is actually happening in the developing brain. We talk abou...

Episode #215 Contained. Are we guardians or thieves or both? Benjamin Knight, Co-Founder of A curious tractor, and Lead, AIME design studio 07.04.2026 43min

If we are honest, we know we are not one fixed version of ourselves. We can be generous and self-interested, patient and reactive, all within the same day. In this episode, we explore that uncomfortable truth and what it reveals about human behaviour. I sit down with Benjamin Knight to discuss Contained, a powerful immersive experience that brings you inside the reality of youth detention. It asks a confronting question: how different are “we” from “them,” really? Through story, neuroscience,...

Episode #214. Can Pickleball Save Us? Rebuilding Community at the Edge of the Meta-Crisis. Andy Hamilton, Founder of Human Nature 27.03.2026 49min

What if the pickleball court was the beginning of a movement? Not a fitness trend, but a genuine response to one of the most significant public health challenges of our time: the slow erosion of the social fabric that holds communities together and keeps people well. I was sharing an Uber Pool on my way to speak to a room full of local council leaders when the woman sitting next to me started talking about why she had left her job in tech. She had spent a decade building a platform connecting...

Episode #213. Kindness Tim Tams: A World a Little Better Because of Rachel Robinson, MySummits 08.03.2026 46min

Kindness Tim Tams: A World a Little Better Because of Rachel Robinson, MySummits In this episode of Thriving Minds, Professor Selena Bartlett speaks with Rachel Robinson, Director of Adventure-Based Therapeutic Solutions (ABTS) and co-founder of MySummits, about the transformative impact of connection and outdoor adventure for young people. Rachel shares a story from one of her camps where offering a struggling young person a simple Tim Tam became a powerful moment of kindness and care. Drawi...

Episode #212 Helping Kids Grow Up Strong in 2026 | What Schools Are Facing and What We Can Do Bryan, A Teacher, Coach and Father Speaks 26.02.2026 46min

"I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message. " In 2026, many parents, teachers and coaches are asking the same question. What is happening to our children? Across schools and communities, we are seeing more aggression, faster escalation of conflict, online humiliation spilling into classrooms, and young people struggling to regulate strong emotions. At the same time, childhood is now lived through screen...

Episode #211. What running taught us about our brains, learn about exerkines with Associate Professor Tara Walker, Queensland Brain Institute, UQ and Co-host of Trail Tales. 16.02.2026 50min

This week on Thriving Minds, I’m joined by Associate Professor Tara Walker, Senior Research Associate at the Queensland Brain Institute (UQ) — and co-host of the trail running podcast Trail Tales with Tara and Bryce. Tara and I are both neuroscientists, and we both love running. In this episode we explore the science and the joy of trail running — what it does for brain health, mental health, confidence, and connection. We talk about why running on trails feels so different to road running, h...

Episode #210. Don’t Break Their Spirit. Learnt helplessness in the AI era. Professor Selena Bartlett 15.02.2026 10min

What happens when we mistake compliance for strength? In this episode of Thriving Minds, Professor Selena Bartlett explores a powerful and confronting conversation with a man who was proud of the physical punishment he received as a child. He believed it made him disciplined. He believed it taught him consequences. He believed it made him better. But beneath that story lies a deeper question: when does discipline build character, and when does it condition helplessness? Drawing on neuroscienc...

Episode #209. "Authenticity" may become the word for 2026? Conversation with Ellie Murphy, Founder of Storitiv. 07.02.2026 47min

In this episode of Thriving Minds, Professor Selena Bartlett is joined by Ellie Murphy, founder of Storitiv, to explore why authenticity is becoming one of the most important human skills in an AI-mediated world. As technology makes it easier than ever to generate polished language, profiles, and narratives, many people are sensing a growing gap between how they present themselves and what feels true underneath. This conversation examines why that gap matters, how humans are wired to detect a...

Episode #208. Welcome 2026. From Crisis to Care: Seeing humanity in mental health prevention and treatment, Professor Sharon Lawn, Executive Director Lived Experience Australia 23.01.2026 51min

The podcast episode featured a conversation with Professor Sharon Lawn about mental health systems, lived experience, and the importance of humanising care for individuals with mental health challenges. We discuss the need for more person-centered, compassionate approaches in mental health services and the value of incorporating lived experience perspectives into research, policy, and practice. The conversation emphasized the significance of community support, everyday acts of kindness,...

Episode #207. Thank you for listening and a Blueprint for Feeling Good to Finish out 2025. 09.12.2025 24min

Episode #207 marks a moment of deep gratitude and reflection. In this special episode, I look back on the journey that shaped Thriving Minds from the early days of questioning how the brain works, through decades of neuroscience, to the new era we are stepping into together. This episode explores how early life experiences shape the nervous system, why connection is a biological regulator, and how compassion, presence and daily habits drive real neuroplastic change and where AI and digital te...

#206: Thriving Minds 2026: The Future is Connection, Healing & Human Potential 06.12.2025 16min

2025 has felt like a turning point. Across this year’s Thriving Minds conversations—from brain health and dementia, to stress, team flow, near-death experiences, and the “neuroscience of two”—one message keeps rising to the surface: We are only just beginning to understand how powerful we are for each other’s brains. In this special reflection episode, I explore what we learned in 2025 and where Thriving Minds is heading next, at the intersection of neuroscience, healing, neuroplasticity and ...

Episode #205: DeepDive: The Strongest Shield: Why Parental Discomfort is the Biggest Threat to Child Safety and the Two Proactive Tools Every Adult Needs Now, Feather Berkower Expert Tips 08.11.2025 8min

Thriving Minds Podcast Deep Dive: Building a Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Team Hosted by Professor Selena Bartlett Expert: Feather Berkower, Author of Off Limits: A Parent’s Guide to Keeping Kids Safe from Sexual Abuse The top 5 things to keep children safe in the digital age. Feather challenges the outdated belief that children should be responsible for protecting themselves. Instead, she empowers adults to take charge by building what she calls a “Prevention Team.” This team includes ever...

Episode #204 Let Them be Seen. Because healing begins when we choose to see — and to be seen. 21.10.2025 34min

Neuroscience now shows us that human connection changes the brain. Walking high above the forest floor on the Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk in Western Australia, I felt what real strength looks like. The giant tingle trees reach for the light, but their power doesn’t come from standing alone. Under the soil, their roots and fungi form a living web, sharing water, nutrients, and information. Each tree depends on the health of the whole forest. That is what thriving organisations do too. ...

#203: If only I knew what I know now. Science of Motherhood podcast, interview with Dr Renee White 21.08.2025 1t 8min

Today on Thriving Minds, I’m sharing a special replay of my conversation with Dr. Renee White on her Science of Motherhood podcast, where we explored what I wish I knew then—now that I know this—about screens, resilience, and protecting our kids’ mental health in the digital age. Screens are part of everyday life, but learning how to manage them while protecting our children’s mental health can feel like an uphill battle. In this candid conversation, Professor Selena Bartlett shares the lesso...