Create Your Kindspace carolinelaurenson

It's not every day that you get the opportunity to share your story and do it on a day as meaningful as International Women's Day. Our life experiences have such a profound way of shaping our future selves and not always in the way that you might expect. There will be amazing people in your life that have gone through things and overcome things that you could never even imagine. I was honoured to share my story and also hear the stories of other brave inspirational women, but in all our stories what came out was how much our own mother's have influenced the women we have become. So this is my story...
Timestamps:
00:01:20             It’s Halloween 1989
00:02:02             The Chaos of Family Life
00:03:32             Leaving Home at 16
00:04:05             My Career as a Chemical Engineer
00:05:01             The Interesting Thing About Fear
00:06:12             Working with Your Other Half
00:07:34             Labels Don’t Define Us
00:09:19             Stories that Shape Us
00:09:53             Finding Kindspace
00:10:27             Honouring My Mum
 
Links:
TL Tech Website: https://www.tltechsmart.com/
Kindspace Website: https://www.createyourkindspace.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-laurenson/
 
Transcript:
https://createyourkindspace.com/stories-that-shape-us-with-caroline-laurenson/
 
As the podcast series continues, I encourage you to get in touch and share your stories and tips, I’d love to hear from you! Pop me an email at caroline@tltechsmart.com or message on social media @createyourkindspace

Imagine you’ve just become a mum for the first time, but you’re struggling with your health. Appointment after appointment, test after test, you finally get the news you have Multiple Sclerosis. My guest, Dr Clara Doran, opens up about her diagnosis and experience of living with a long-term health condition. She also shares how writing about her feelings and the challenges of becoming the patient instead of the doctor and how has led to her forthcoming memoir, Dr Interrupted. I can’t wait to find out more, so let’s dive in.
Timestamps:
00:02:16             Pursuing Medicine and General Practice
00:03:38             The AccelerateHer Programme's Impact
00:06:13             Doing Scary Things & Funny First Times
00:08:19             Discovering Brain Health and Founding Noggin
00:13:25             Living with Multiple Sclerosis
00:16:41             Sleeping and Newborns
00:19:00             Prioritising Sleep for Brain Health
00:27:51             Nutrition Tips for Better Sleep
00:36:20             The Journey of Writing a Memoir
00:47:03             Creating Kind Spaces through Writing
00:49:54             Looking Ahead: Children's Brain Health Product
 
Links:
Website: https://nogginbrain.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NogginTheBrainPeople/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nogginthebrainpeople/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-clara-doran-mbbs-mrcgp-81667958/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nogginbrain/
X: https://twitter.com/NogginPeople
Curtis Brown Writing Courses: https://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/creative-writing-courses
Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay: https://amzn.to/3J5k4gA
The Psychology Mum - A Toolkit for Your Emotions: 45 ways to feel better https://amzn.to/49qZ8Ls
 
Transcript:
https://createyourkindspace.com/understand-brain-health-sleep-and-nutrition-with-dr-clara-doran/
 
Outro:
I think there’s nothing more powerful than when someone takes a life experience and uses that to help others. Dr Clara is one of the most courageous, intelligent and kind people I’ve ever had the honour of meeting. I’m very excited for the book launch and I hope you’ll all get behind her to help broaden the reach of her amazing work helping others through difficult diagnoses and educating us about the importance of brain health.
As the podcast series continues, I encourage you to get in touch and share your stories and tips, I’d love to hear from you! Pop me an email at caroline@tltechsmart.com or message on social media @createyourkindspace

Would you believe it if I told you that unpaid carers do the equivalent of 162 billion pounds of work every year? But despite the vital role that unpaid carers provide, support is significantly lacking and the limited support that there is, can be so hard to navigate. My guest today has made it his mission to bridge this gap. Darren Crombie founded Bridgit Care and his resourcefulness and ability to adapt to the changing technology landscape shines through in our discussion. Keep listening for this fascinating insight into how human-centric tech can empower carers and communities.
Timestamps:
00:02:17             Darren's journey from management consulting to founding Bridgit Care
00:04:49             Why support for unpaid carers matters
00:05:47             Putting lived experience at the heart of Bridgit Care
00:12:34             How Bridgit Care identifies, supports, and connects carers
00:15:54             Partnering with charities and councils to enhance existing carer services
00:17:14             Using WhatsApp and AI personas to provide tailored support and advice
00:25:02             The role of AI in health and social care
00:28:03             Expanding the model to support other communities in need
00:31:08             Pivoting from hardware to software
00:33:43             A day in the life of Darren at Bridgit Care
00:37:35             How does Darren create his kind space?
00:40:49             Where to find out more about Bridgit Care
00:43:07             Supporting other social entrepreneurs
 
Links:
Website: https://bridgit.care/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bridgitcare
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bridgitcare/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bridgitcare
X: https://twitter.com/BridgitCare
Aster Foundation: https://www.aster.co.uk/foundation
Barclay Eagle Labs Health Tech: https://labs.uk.barclays/our-industries/healthtech/
Codebase Techscaler Start-up Support: https://www.techscaler.co.uk/
 
Transcript:
https://createyourkindspace.com/darren-crombie-bridges-the-gap-to-support-unpaid-carers/
If you’d like to be a guest on the show or collaborate on content, I would love to hear from you! Pop me an email at caroline@tltechsmart.com or message me on social media @createyourkindspace
It would also mean a lot to me if you could rate and review this podcast as it helps other people to discover our content.

In this episode, with the help of the amazing Dr Jill William’s, we delve into the topic of burnout. There are many aspects to burnout. Contrary to popular belief, burnout is not working too hard. It’s about chronic stress and our bodies response to that stress. Often, it’s external factors, which are difficult to influence or resolve. Jill does such a great job of explaining the warning signs for burnout and the simple steps we can take to uptrain our brain to be more resilient to these pressures. And most importantly, make it out the other side.
Timestamps:
00:02:41             Jill’s journey, working in retail to lecturing at university
00:05:57             Experiencing burnout firsthand
00:10:01             Common warning signs
00:12:16             Burnout is multifaceted
00:14:06             Importance of confiding in a trusted coworker
00:15:45             Coming out of burnout with a new perspective
00:17:49             The stages of burnout
00:18:35             Self-employed and entrepreneurs
00:20:06             Jill’s road to recovery
00:20:50             That feeling of disconnect
00:21:38             The importance of taking time out
00:23:52             Peer support is a protective factor
00:25:34             Strategies for prevention
00:26:36             Doing the “opposites”
00:27:22             Societal factors, talking about our life outside work
00:31:50             Creativity and giving your brain space
00:37:50             The concept of rust-out
00:39:30             The uptrained brain
00:42:10             How to approach blocks and negative thinking
00:44:46             Unhelpful behaviours and risk factors
00:45:47             People pleasing
00:47:05             Putting a recovery plan together
00:52:18             Caregiver Burnout
 
00:55:43             How Jill creates her kind space
00:59:07             How to get in touch with Jill
00:59:37             Organisational changes are needed
 
Links:
Jill’s blog about her burnout experience; https://www.rethinktherapyconwy.com/post/if-a-psychologist-can-burn-out-my-personal-story-of-burnout
Uptrained Brain course & Book a discovery call with Jill: https://www.rethinktherapyconwy.com/uptrainedbrain
Free Recovery from Burnout Guide: https://www.rethinktherapyconwy.com/blog/categories/burnout-work-related-stress
Nick Petrie resources: https://www.nicholaspetrie.com/blog-1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheUptrainedBrain
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jill-williams-92a907255/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uptrainedbrain/
X: https://twitter.com/UptrainedBrain
 
Transcript:
https://createyourkindspace.com/dr-jill-williams-helps-us-to-find-light-after-burnout/
If you’d like to be a guest on the show or collaborate on content, I would love to hear from you! Pop me an email at caroline@tltechsmart.com or message me on social media @createyourkindspace
It would also mean a lot to me if you could rate and review this podcast as it helps other people to discover our content.

Hi, it's Caroline here. This episode will be a little bit different. There's no guest. It's just me having a bit of a reflection.
There are many reasons for doing a look back, both for the podcast and for the year that's just passed. I thought this would be a good opportunity for you to get to know me a bit and learn a bit more about Kindspace and its origins. I also really wanted to have a quiet Christmas without any pressure to create or have to do any work.
Ah, but isn't it funny, you know, when you give yourself some downtime, just be bored and potter around and that's actually when you can be your most creative.  I don't know if anyone else finds that but certainly my brain. seems to come alive with ideas. And I'm like, no, do nothing. Watch Netflix. So I hope you were able to switch off over the festive period and are feeling recharged and ready for 2024.
Timestamps:
00:00:40             Introduction to this slightly different episode
00:01:45             Did you miss our Tech the Halls bonus episode?
00:03:04             How did Kindspace come to be?
00:08:27             Why did I decide to start the podcast?
00:12:21             Who have we had on the show so far?
00:22:06             How do I feel about the podcast for the year ahead?
00:25:06             Do you have a word of the year for 2024?           
 
Links:
Website: https://www.createyourkindspace.com/
 
Transcript:
https://createyourkindspace.com/lets-kick-off-2024-with-special-guest-me/
If you’d like to be a guest on the show or collaborate on content, I would love to hear from you! Pop me an email at caroline@tltechsmart.com or message me on social media @createyourkindspace
It would also mean a lot to me if you could rate and review this podcast as it helps other people to discover our content.

If you caught the last episode you will have heard that as part of an event series we've been running in December, we'd decided to go with the theme of Tech the Halls. We've had a great time with students coming along to shadow the set-up for the venue, school pupils helped us to create smart home prototypes, we've had people from the third sector along to learn about the ways that smart homes can support wellbeing and healthy ageing, we did a lunch and learn all about the energy efficiency and environmental side of smart homes and on the last day, we went to town with festive light displays and a workshop where people could create their own programmable LED light wreath for the holiday season.
So here it is, as promised, Tech the Halls, written and performed by me Caroline Laurenson. I hope that you have the most amazing Christmas, and know that I am here for you, Kindspace is here for you and we will see you in the New Year. Enjoy!
Tech the Halls
Tech the halls with LED lights, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Tis the season joyous and bright, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Turn on the fairy lights at a word, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Ask Alexa for music preferred, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
 
See the smart home support your needs, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Automate the heating degrees, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Stock up now, don't delay, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Let me show you tech's array, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
 
As the old year closes in, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Await the new year to begin, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Sing we now of tech with glee, Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Smarter homes for you and me! Fa la la la la, la la la la!