Taboo Talk with Sarah

Taboo Talk with Sarah is the podcast that breaks the silence on life’s toughest challenges. From grief and mental wellness to caregiving and the cracks in the healthcare system, we dive into the topics no one talks about but everyone feels. Together, we’ll foster hope, build connection, and remind you that you’re never alone.

Taboo Talk with Sarah is a society podcast hosted by Sarah Jordan-Ross, with 69 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 81.

Sarah Jordan-Ross hosts Taboo Talk with Sarah, a society show with 69 episodes published.

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  Episode #23

  Taboo Talk Season 2 Episode 23 After Survival: Fear, Forgiveness & Learning to Live Again with Peter McLaughlin

  Sep 21, 202653 minS2

  MAIN TOPICS & TAKEAWAYS 1. Surviving isn't the end of the story A crisis may end physically while fear and old patterns remain. Peter's leukemia diagnosis forced him to confront his mortality and become willing to question the life he'd been living. 2. We can change how we respond to the wave Peter compares life's challenges to ocean waves. The same wave can knock us over—or, with a different approach, we can learn to navigate it. We don't control everything that happens, but we can explore how we respond. 3. Sometimes a crisis makes change possible Peter was diagnosed with leukemia and Lyme disease on the same day while undergoing a physical to become a volunteer firefighter. He describes the diagnosis as the moment that made him willing to consider changing his beliefs, patterns and direction. 4. Look beneath the symptom Peter's work focuses on what he calls the root cause. Rather than only looking at what's happening externally, he encourages people to become curious about the beliefs, emotions and patterns underneath it. 5. Forgiveness includes ourselves Peter's closing message is simple: as long as you have breath, you have the ability to change. Sarah and Peter explore forgiveness, compassion and learning to speak to ourselves with the kindness we'd extend to someone we love. ️ MEMORABLE QUOTES “The energy is the same. It's how we navigate the energy that really matters.” — Peter McLaughlin “As long as you have breath, you have the ability to change.” — Peter McLaughlin “Our thoughts have power, our words have power. Be careful how you use them.” — Sarah Jordan-Ross ⏱️ KEY MOMENTS & TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – What happens after survival? 01:55 – Victim mentality versus creator mentality 02:20 – “What if the black cloud is actually a mirror?” 04:30 – Finding meaning after difficult experiences 05:08 – Why painful experiences can become turning points 06:00 – Learning to navigate life's waves 07:45 – Getting knocked down—and getting back up 09:00 – Leukemia and Lyme disease on the same day 10:31 – How firefighting changed Peter's perspective on life 12:03 – How cancer changes the questions we ask 13:51 – Peter's experience around 9/11 16:09 – Being told he might have ten years 17:00 – Becoming willing to change 18:34 – How Peter found hypnotherapy 20:01 – Mortality, fear and his young children 21:00 – The unexpected path that led to hypnosis 23:15 – Travelling to New Mexico and wondering, “What am I doing?” 24:40 – Faith, intuition and meaningful coincidences 26:00 – Knowing without being able to explain why 27:00 – Relationships, growth and challenging each other 30:08 – Looking inward when something isn't working 31:00 – Victim mentality versus personal agency 32:00 – Free will and choosing change 33:09 – Experimenting with letting go of guilt 35:14 – Hypnosis and looking beneath external symptoms 35:42 – Why Peter calls himself a spiritual root-cause coach 36:04 – Fixing the cause instead of blowing away the smoke 37:10 – How we speak to ourselves 38:00 – Self-forgiveness, humility and compassion 40:36 – Peter's perspective on ancestral healing 44:05 – “As long as you have breath, you have the ability to change” 45:36 – Spirituality and the human experience 47:09 – What makes an experience “real”? 48:34 – The subconscious and our responses to thoughts and stories 49:41 – When repeated thoughts begin shaping our experience 50:38 – Our thoughts and words have power 51:01 – Sarah's biggest takeaways 51:46 – Your story might change someone else's life

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  Episode #22

  Taboo Talk Season Episode 22 When Safety Is Shattered: Trauma, Trust & Finding Yourself Again with Dr. Kalyani Gopal

  Sep 14, 202644 minS2

  MAIN TOPICS & TAKEAWAYS 1. Look beneath the symptoms Behaviour, anxiety, substance use and other symptoms may be signalling something deeper. Dr. G explains why understanding underlying trauma matters rather than only addressing what appears on the surface. 2. Repeated displacement can damage trust Dr. G introduces displacement trauma—what can happen when children repeatedly lose caregivers and attachment bonds through foster care, displacement or other circumstances. 3. Safety comes before rebuilding At Dr. G's shelter, survivors initially receive something deceptively simple: time to rest, sleep and eat without expectations. Creating safety gives the mind and body space to begin recovering. 4. Healing includes rediscovering who you are Trauma can leave people defining themselves through what others have told them they are. Recovery means rebuilding self-worth, identity and the ability to decide: Who do I want to be? 5. One person believing in you can matter Sarah and Dr. G discuss resilience and the enormous difference a supportive person can make. Sometimes one person who genuinely believes in you can change the direction of a life. ️ MEMORABLE QUOTES “The moment you control your breathing, you control your life. Because breath is life.” — Dr. Kalyani Gopal “All it takes is one person to care.” — Sarah Jordan-Ross “I have power and have self-agency and I have control over my life. And I have the right to have control over my life.” — Dr. Kalyani Gopal ⏱️ KEY MOMENTS & TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – What happens when our sense of safety is shattered? 01:48 – Meet Dr. Kalyani Gopal 02:17 – What Dr. G has seen that she can never unsee 03:00 – The devastating reality of child trafficking 05:03 – 35 years of witnessing trauma and survival 07:14 – What keeps Dr. G doing this work 08:00 – When the real story underneath the symptoms is trauma 09:13 – Treating symptoms versus addressing the underlying cause 11:00 – Why Dr. G still loves the work she does 14:00 – Women, identity and losing ourselves while caring for everyone else 16:00 – What happens when we finally start caring about ourselves 17:58 – Toxic relationships and losing your identity 19:13 – Understanding displacement trauma 20:00 – Repeatedly breaking children's attachment bonds 22:16 – Trauma, abandonment and self-worth 22:51 – Emotional regulation and helping the brain feel safe 24:49 – Strong Roots, Safe Wings and overcoming adverse childhood experiences 25:00 – Why the way we speak to ourselves matters 27:40 – Resilience, optimism and responding differently to adversity 29:56 – “All it takes is one person to care” 31:05 – Why rescue is only the beginning 32:05 – Creating a shelter for survivors during COVID 33:00 – The first month: rest, sleep, eat and feel safe 34:00 – Reparenting and giving survivors time to find themselves 35:15 – Remembering who you are beyond what happened to you 37:38 – What gives Dr. G hope after seeing so much suffering 40:00 – Why the goodness in humanity isn't lost 42:15 – Reclaiming self-agency and control 43:43 – Dr. G's final message: practise human decency and kindness

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  Episode #21

  Taboo Talk Season 2 Episode 21 How Are You, Really? Connection, Belonging & Being Fully Human with Terence LeClere

  Sep 7, 20261h 5mS2

  MAIN TOPICS & TAKEAWAYS 1. Our imperfections may be what make us human As technology becomes increasingly polished and predictable, Terence believes our messy, spontaneous and imperfect moments become even more valuable. The things we may once have tried to hide—the stumble, the emotion, the unexpected reaction—can be exactly what creates genuine human connection. 2. Belonging is about participation, not simply being present Terence's work in immersive experiences has taught him that people don't just want to watch—they want to feel like they matter to what is happening. When people are invited in, included and made to feel valued, an ordinary moment can become something they remember for years. 3. People want to feel seen, valued and important Through his work designing experiences for major brands, Terence has noticed something simple underneath all the sets, technology and spectacle: The moment people remember is often the moment another human made them feel like they mattered. 4. We need permission to play again Children naturally walk up to other children and ask, “Can I play?” Adults often lose that ability. Sarah and Terence explore how play creates connection without needing an agenda, transaction or outcome—and why creating spaces where adults feel safe enough to be curious, silly and open can be transformative. 5. Reaching out is not failure In one of the most vulnerable moments of the episode, Terence shares calling a crisis helpline and initially feeling ashamed that he'd needed to. He later realised something important: the part of him that reached out wasn't giving up—it was the part fighting to survive. ️ MEMORABLE QUOTES “Everything that I thought made me bad actually makes me human.” — Terence LeClere “The reaching out is not failure.” — Terence LeClere “How are you? How are you really?” — Sarah Jordan-Ross ⏱️ KEY MOMENTS & TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Why some experiences stay with us long after they're over 01:29 – What has Terence seen that he can no longer unsee? 02:00 – Technology, AI and what they may reveal about humanity 04:00 – Why perfection can actually feel less human 05:40 – “Everything I thought made me bad actually makes me human” 06:43 – The beauty of being perfectly imperfect 08:00 – Sarah shares her son's fear of roller coasters 09:23 – Terence's terrifying road experience and how perspective changes an experience 11:00 – The difference between fear and an amusement park ride 12:00 – Approaching life like an immersive experience 14:30 – What exactly is immersive theatre? 15:55 – Why the audience is necessary to the experience 16:48 – Humans making meaning together 18:22 – Immersive experiences, technology and participation 19:49 – The difference between attending something and truly being part of it 20:00 – Sarah's family experience at an American baseball game 21:26 – Creating opportunities for people to feel like they belong 22:15 – Why people remember how you made them feel 23:04 – Our need for connection and belonging 23:30 – Fitting in versus truly belonging 24:00 – Meeting people where they are 27:00 – Expertise, imperfection and learning from everyone 29:26 – Why Sarah created Taboo Talk 31:16 – “Nobody ever knew” and the danger of suffering in silence 33:00 – Why emotional wellbeing can still carry shame 34:00 – Terence opens up about calling a crisis helpline 35:00 – Realising that reaching out wasn't failure—it was survival 35:58 – Why actors often feel safe being messy and emotional on stage 37:30 – The unique power of human-to-human interaction 38:30 – A Disneyland elf and the tiny human moment people remembered 40:18 – Why AI can support connection but can't replace human connection 41:57 – What happened to our sense of community? 42:35 – Have adults forgotten how to play? 43:18 – Children naturally connecting with strangers through play 44:13 – Connection without transaction 45:00 – Why play creates permission to explore 47:12 – Giving each other permission to be silly, curious and uncertain 47:52 – Maybe the point of life is figuring it out together 49:05 – The most meaningful immersive experiences of Terence's career 50:00 – Creating a deeply personal experience from audience responses 51:03 – Working on an immersive experience for Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary 53:00 – What it feels like to become the “host” of SNL 54:00 – Why people may want fame because they want to feel important 55:00 – Treating every guest like a celebrity 56:27 – We don't necessarily want fame—we want to know we matter 57:30 – What conversation does Terence wish we had more honestly? 57:41 – Why “How are you?” rarely gets an honest answer 58:30 – The festival “check-in desk” that became a place for real connection 59:00 – The power of a few minutes of genuine connection 59:58 – “How are you? How are you really?” 1:01:00 – Why the experiences we remember are the ones where we felt seen 1:03:28 – Where to connect with Terence 1:04:03 – Sarah's reminder: reaching out is strength, not failure

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  Episode #20

  Taboo Talk Season 2 Episode 20 Your Diagnosis Is Not Your Identity: Learning to Live Again with Tami Stackelhouse

  Aug 31, 20261h 8mS2

  MAIN TOPICS & TAKEAWAYS 1. A diagnosis can be a relief without becoming your identity After years of searching for answers, Tami's fibromyalgia diagnosis finally gave her something concrete to work with. But Sarah and Tami explore an important distinction: living with an illness isn't the same as becoming the illness. Your diagnosis can be part of your story without becoming your whole story. 2. Invisible illness affects more than the person experiencing it Tami describes being able to “hold it together” for a few days around others, while needing significant recovery afterwards. Even her husband couldn't always tell whether it was a good day or a day when something as simple as watching a movie was too much stimulation. The conversation highlights one of the hardest parts of invisible illness: people can't automatically see what your body is asking you to carry. 3. Management is the process—not the destination Learning to manage symptoms matters. Rest matters. Boundaries matter. But Tami makes an important distinction: “Management is the process that lets us get to the life that we want.” The goal isn't to create a life completely centred around managing illness. Those strategies should eventually help create enough capacity to actually live. 4. Healing can require learning to trust your body again Chronic illness can teach you to fear consequences: If I do this today, what will tomorrow cost me? As health improves, those old boundaries don't necessarily disappear automatically. Tami describes needing to carefully test them, notice what happens and slowly rebuild trust with her body. Her accidentally-rock-climbing story perfectly illustrates the process: cautiously discovering that soreness doesn't necessarily mean another flare is coming. 5. Your new life doesn't have to look like your old one to be beautiful Illness can take things away. Sometimes those things return. Sometimes they don't. But Tami and Sarah explore another possibility: identifying what you loved about the thing you've lost and finding new ways of experiencing that feeling, purpose or joy. As Tami puts it, instead of simply replacing an activity, we can learn to “go after the feeling, not just the thing itself.”     ️ MEMORABLE QUOTES “Just because you're not getting answers doesn't mean that answers don't exist. It just means that the people you're asking don't have them.” — Tami Stackelhouse “Management is the process that lets us get to the life that we want.” — Tami Stackelhouse “A diagnosis, regardless of what it is, it's a part of the story. It's not your whole story.” — Sarah Jordan-Ross     ⏱️ KEY MOMENTS & TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Sarah introduces the central question: how do we accept our bodies without allowing a diagnosis to become our identity? 01:21 – Meet Tami Stackelhouse. 02:00 – Tami shares what life was like before receiving her fibromyalgia diagnosis. 03:00 – “Just because you're not getting answers doesn't mean answers don't exist.” 03:30 – Exhaustion, brain fog and trying to function in a high-stress job. 05:00 – When feeling unwell becomes so normal you forget other people don't feel that way. 06:00 – Tami's determination to find answers. 07:00 – A breaking point: struggling to clean the house and wondering if this was what disability looked like. 08:20 – The hidden reality of invisible illness. 09:20 – How chronic illness affects partners and the people around us. 11:00 – Sarah shares her own experience with chronic fatigue as a teenager. 12:00 – Losing abilities that once came naturally. 13:10 – Spending years looking for answers and questioning whether symptoms were “all in your head.” 14:10 – The relief of finally receiving a diagnosis. 16:00 – Sarah introduces the danger of allowing a diagnosis to become your entire identity. 17:13 – Tami explores the difference between living in a “fibro body” and being defined by fibromyalgia. 18:00 – Tami shares that she hasn't experienced fibromyalgia pain since 2018. 19:00 – Agency versus feeling powerless. 19:40 – Treating your own health journey like an experiment: observe, test, learn and adjust. 21:00 – Learning your body's limits without assuming those limits can never change. 23:00 – How Sarah's chronic illness changed the career she originally imagined. 24:00 – Turning a changed path into a 25-year career in wellness. 25:40 – You might not become who you thought you would—but you can discover who else you are. 27:00 – Chronic illness as another chapter rather than the end of the story. 28:00 – Helping people build new lives after illness. 30:00 – Why agency still matters when life doesn't look the way you want. 31:00 – Your value as a human being has nothing to do with how much you can do. 32:00 – Who are you when nobody is watching? 33:00 – The way we speak to ourselves when nobody else can hear. 35:00 – Why getting better can actually feel frightening. 35:30 – Tami's accidental rock-climbing adventure. 37:00 – “Am I going to pay for this tomorrow?” 38:00 – Normal muscle soreness versus the fear of another flare. 39:00 – Rebuilding trust with your body. 40:00 – Tami's Fibromyalgia Hierarchy of Needs. 41:00 – Moving from symptom management toward self-efficacy and self-actualisation. 41:53 – Management versus living permanently in survival mode. 43:00 – Making health changes so you can actually live your life. 43:30 – Why healing often requires help. 45:30 – Everything you say yes to means saying no to something else. 46:00 – “Say no to say yes.” 47:00 – Sarah shares a funny—and very real—example of managing limited energy. 47:45 – Spoon Theory and the enormous number of decisions involved in chronic illness. 49:00 – Why limited energy can teach us to become intentional about what really matters. 51:00 – Self-care looks different depending on the season of life. 52:00 – Giving something up now doesn't necessarily mean giving it up forever. 53:00 – Sarah shares how her son's MS diagnosis changed what he could do—and how he discovered bass guitar. 54:30 – Different isn't necessarily bad. Sometimes it may even become better. 55:00 – Grieving the activities chronic illness has taken away. 56:00 – Finding what you actually loved about an activity rather than focusing only on the activity itself. 58:00 – Modifying what you love rather than abandoning it completely. 59:20 – Start smaller than you think. 1:00:25 – Tami identifies with the tortoise: little steps still get you where you're going. 1:00:57 – Tami's message to people living with fibromyalgia: feeling better is possible. 1:02:34 – Why hope is where change begins. 1:03:17 – You don't need to see the whole picture—you only need to see the next step. 1:04:21 – Sarah's takeaway: there is always hope and always something you can do. 1:05:00 – Accepting limitations and believing something more is possible can coexist. 1:06:09 – “A diagnosis is part of the story. It's not your whole story.” 1:06:40 – You don't have to wait until you're symptom-free before having a life. 1:07:16 – Sarah closes with the reminder that sharing our stories can change someone else's life.

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  Episode #19

  Taboo Talk Season 2 Episode 19 The Science of Wishing: How Hope Can Change What Happens Next with Brownell Landrum

  Aug 24, 202654 minS2

  Main Topics & Takeaways 1. Wishing can be more than wishful thinking Brownell began researching wishing while world-building for one of her novels. What started as storytelling led her to explore anthropology, psychology, neuroscience and other fields she believes help explain why wishing and its rituals can be powerful. 2. Make your wishes peaceful, positive and purposeful Brownell introduces her Three Ps of Wishing: peaceful, positive and purposeful. Rather than continually focusing on what we don't want, she encourages people to identify the positive outcome they're actually seeking. 3. Goals, prayers and wishes aren't necessarily the same thing Brownell describes goals as generally focusing on what we believe we can control, prayer as often releasing what we can't control to a higher power, and wishes as potentially occupying the space between the two—combining personal action with openness to possibilities beyond our control. 4. Sometimes a “no” redirects us toward something better Not every wish needs to come true exactly as imagined. Brownell describes four possible responses to a wish—yes, no, wait, or something better—and introduces what she calls the expansive pivot: moving beyond one narrowly defined outcome to understand the feelings or deeper needs underneath it. 5. Hope isn't passive For someone who has stopped wishing because life has disappointed them too many times, Brownell's message is compassionate but challenging: allowing ourselves to imagine something different is itself meaningful. Sarah closes the conversation with the idea that wishing isn't about escaping reality—it's about changing it. ️ Memorable Quotes “Wishes need to be peaceful, positive, and purposeful.” — Brownell Landrum “Sometimes no isn't an ending, it's just more information.” — Brownell Landrum “Wishing's not about escaping reality, it's about changing it.” — Sarah Jordan-Ross ⏱️ Key Moments & Timestamps 00:00 – Sarah introduces hope—not wishful thinking, but the kind that helps us keep moving when life hasn't gone according to plan. 01:10 – Meet Brownell Landrum and enter the world of wishes. 01:26 – Why Brownell began taking wishing seriously. 02:00 – How writing A Love Story to the Universe led Brownell into researching wishes. 02:45 – Is there actually science behind wishing? 03:46 – The different scientific fields Brownell connects to wishing. 04:00 – Why seemingly simple rituals like birthday candles and shooting stars may matter. 04:54 – Neuroplasticity and our ability to continue rewiring our brains. 05:45 – Brownell introduces the Three Ps: peaceful, positive and purposeful. 06:25 – Why our brains look for evidence supporting what we already believe. 07:13 – The reticular activating system and why we suddenly start noticing what we're looking for. 08:59 – The default mode network and why answers sometimes arrive in the shower or on a walk. 10:24 – Survival mode can stop us from asking ourselves what we actually want. 10:53 – Fight-or-flight, cortisol and why anxiety can make creative problem-solving harder. 12:59 – The surprising ideas Brownell encountered while researching wishes. 13:50 – Wishful thinking versus wishing followed by action. 14:24 – The difference between a goal, a prayer and a wish. 15:57 – Brownell's idea of “cosmic collaboration.” 17:31 – Why “I want to feel better” may create a different relationship with change than a number on the scales. 18:32 – Repetition, practice and training our attention toward possibilities. 19:23 – Brownell's unusual sneezing story and why she interpreted it as a message from her father. 20:31 – Human beings as meaning-making machines. 21:12 – Why listening when our bodies “whisper” may matter. 21:30 – Brownell's idea of reverse optimism. 22:29 – Sarah reflects on turning painful experiences into purpose. 23:18 – Jackie Wilkinson and Turning the Tables on Trauma . 24:43 – The “Blue Balloon Phenomenon.” 26:33 – Why strange ideas shouldn't automatically be dismissed simply because they sit outside our current understanding. 29:47 – Staying open to possibilities without necessarily claiming certainty. 31:02 – Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and My Stroke of Insight . 32:59 – A tangent with an important message: understand your body and notice when something changes. 37:00 – “Our body whispers at us long before it yells at us.” 37:51 – Working with your body instead of constantly fighting against it. 39:39 – Brownell explains the Cosmic Wish Experiment. 40:00 – Creating “wish circles” and practising a collective wish for eight weeks. 41:43 – Can a wish change because you changed? 41:59 – The four possible responses: yes, no, wait, or something better. 43:30 – The expansive pivot: looking underneath a specific wish to understand what you're truly seeking. 45:01 – Legally Blonde and the difference between what we want and what we need. 45:45 – Cast Away as another example of wants, needs and unexpected redirection. 47:41 – Unanswered prayers and blessings we sometimes only recognise in hindsight. 49:21 – What Brownell would say to someone who has stopped wishing altogether. 50:00 – How hope can spread socially when people begin believing something different is possible. 51:33 – What could happen if we focused more on what connects us than what separates us? 52:34 – One minute a day of being peaceful, positive and purposeful. 52:48 – Sarah's closing thought: wishing isn't about escaping reality; it's about changing it.

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