I'm Fine! - The Truth Behind the Smile

A note before you listen: this episode includes a frank and open conversation about burnout, depression and suicidal thoughts. Please look after yourself while listening, and come back to it another time if today is not the right day.

In this episode of I'm Fine, The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne Ellis is joined by Ngozi Weller, co-founder and director of Aurora, a leadership development and organisational effectiveness consultancy that helps workplaces work better for everyone in them.

Ngozi tells her story with warmth, humour and honesty: an insecure teenager who longed to be a...

In this episode of I'm Fine, The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne Ellis sits down with an old friend and former colleague, Claire Gardner, Managing Director of Dynamic Training and a former learning disability nurse.

Claire shares the winding path that took her from nursing into education and then into running her own business. She talks about specialising in learning disability nursing, moving through paediatrics and health visiting, and grabbing every opportunity the NHS put in front of her, before eventually setting up the training company she still leads today.

Jayne and Claire look back...

In this episode of I'm Fine - The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne Ellis is joined by Dr Tim Anstiss, a medical doctor, health coach, motivational interviewing trainer and advocate for more compassionate approaches to behaviour change and wellbeing.

Tim explains why simply telling people what they should do rarely leads to lasting change, and how motivational interviewing creates a very different kind of conversation, one built on curiosity, empathy, autonomy and collaboration.

They explore the 'expert trap', why clinicians burn out when they feel responsible for changing their...

Jayne Ellis on I'm Fine - The Truth Behind the Smile welcomes Frances Alcock, an independent funeral director and former nurse, for an honest conversation about nursing, career change, grief, transferable skills, emotional resilience and finding the courage to do things differently.

Frances spent 30 years in nursing, beginning in oncology before moving into district nursing, nurse practitioner roles and finally becoming a multiple sclerosis specialist nurse. She shares what drew her to community nursing, why she preferred working one to one with patients, and the pressures of a healthcare system stretched by staff shortages and limited resources.<...

What happens when your job is to care for people at one of the hardest moments of their lives? In this powerful episode of I'm Fine - The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne Ellis is joined by Poppy Mardall, founder of Poppy's Funeral Directors in London, for an honest conversation about death, grief, compassion and boundaries.

Poppy came to funeral directing from the art world, driven to do things differently after seeing poor standards of care in the sector. What began as a wish to give grieving families better care has grown into a team dedicated to...

Jayne Ellis on I'm Fine, The Truth Behind the Smile welcomes educator, coach and award-winning school leader Adrian Blake for a personal conversation about neurodivergence, inclusion, identity and creating environments where people can be themselves.

Adrian shares an unexpected journey from wanting to join the army, through acting, into education and school leadership. Having had to engage with Educational Psychologists from primary school, he was eventually diagnosed with ADHD in his early twenties, and he reflects on growing up in a system that didn't understand neurodivergence, and how the right environments, structure and opportunities helped him thrive.<...

Jayne Ellis on I'm Fine - The Truth Behind the Smile welcomes nurse and clinical coach Charlotte Evans for an honest and inspiring conversation about career change, caring for others, burnout and what happens when saying 'I'm fine' becomes a way of hiding how we really feel.

Charlotte shares her career journey from nursing in Switzerland and pharmaceutical market research to becoming an entrepreneur, running a home care business and eventually returning to healthcare, discovering along the way that her caring nature could be used in many ways and that being a nurse didn't have to define...

What if managing stress wasn't about simply coping better, but about learning how your mind and body actually work?

In this episode of I'm Fine - The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne is joined by Silvia Freeman, a health and wellbeing consultant who helps organisations move beyond simply talking about stress and instead teaches practical techniques that help people regulate their emotions, calm their nervous systems and prevent burnout before it takes hold.

Silvia shares her own journey from an administrative career into wellbeing leadership at Network Rail, where a personal experience with therapy and...

What happens when the people caring for our beloved pets are quietly carrying the emotional weight of everyone else's worries?

In this episode of I'm Fine - The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne is joined by Kate and Sharon, directors of Mulberry House Vets, to explore the hidden emotional realities of veterinary practice. Between them, they have decades of experience as a veterinary surgeon, veterinary nurse and practice leaders, giving a unique insight into one of the most rewarding, but emotionally demanding, professions.

Kate reflects on always knowing she wanted to be a vet and...

What does great care really look like?

This week, Jayne is joined by Nick Witan, founder of the 'Just Care' Campaign and host of the 'Just Care' Podcast, for a thoughtful conversation about why care should mean far more than simply meeting people's basic needs.

Nick shares how he unexpectedly found his calling in health and social care and why, after more than 17 years in the sector, he believes it's time for a fundamental shift in how we think about support. Together, he and Jayne explore the difference between helping people survive and helping them...

Burnout expert, author and host of Fried: The Burnout Podcast, Cait Donovan joins Jayne for a fascinating conversation about why so many caring, high-achieving people don't realise they're burning out until their minds and bodies force them to stop.

Cait shares her extraordinary journey from training as an acupuncturist, building thriving practices across Europe, and experiencing severe burnout herself, to becoming one of the world's leading voices on burnout prevention and workplace wellbeing.

Together, Jayne and Cait explore the hidden links between childhood experiences, helping professions and perfectionism, why compassion fatigue and burnout can be...

What happens when the people who spend their lives caring for others forget to care for themselves?

In this episode of I'm Fine- the truth behind the smile, Jayne is joined by Vicky Lake, Workforce and Education Manager at the West Midlands Cancer Alliance, for an honest conversation about modern nursing, compassion fatigue and why emotional wellbeing should be considered just as important as physical health and safety.

Vicky shares her journey from teenage nurse cadet to intensive care nurse, clinical researcher and now regional workforce leader, reflecting on the unexpected twists her...

This week on I'm Fine – The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne Ellis is joined by Verna Lavender, Head of Nursing for Research, Innovation and Education at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

Verna's career has taken her from working as a teenage care assistant, supporting herself through adversity, to becoming a cancer nurse, educator, researcher and leader in one of the UK's leading NHS organisations.

In this honest and thoughtful conversation, Verna reflects on the experiences that shaped her career, including caring for her father during her nurse training, navigating repeated pregnancy lo...

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions about suicide, burnout, compassion fatigue, euthanasia, grief, emotional trauma, mental health and animal illness and loss. Some listeners may find these topics distressing. Please listen with care and seek support if you need it.

This week on I'm Fine – The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne Ellis is joined by veterinary surgeon, educator and mental health advocate Mark Johnson.

From life as an equine vet working relentless hours to leading one of the world's most respected veterinary information platforms, Mark shares the reality behind a profession th...

How far would you go to protect someone you love?

In this powerful and deeply moving episode, Jayne is joined by leading advocate, author and Founder of Care Campaign for the Vulnerable, Jayne Connery, whose personal experience of caring for her mother with dementia led her to become one of the UK’s leading voices for greater transparency, safety and dignity in adult social care.

After witnessing failures in her mother’s care, Jayne turned heartbreak into action, founding a national not-for-profit organisation that supports families navigating the care system while championing the rights of vuln...

What happens when the person everyone relies on is the one who's struggling?

In this thought-provoking episode, Jayne is joined by mindset and leadership coach Carmen MacDougall, who shares her own experience of corporate burnout and how it transformed both her career and her understanding of emotional wellbeing.

Together they explore why so many leaders feel they have to carry everything alone, the hidden impact of people-pleasing, and why asking for help is often seen as a weakness when it should be recognised as a strength.

Carmen explains how stress, anxiety and overwhelm...

What if the experiences that shaped your deepest struggles could also become your greatest source of strength?

In this powerful conversation, Jayne is joined by Resilience Expert Alfred Ricci to explore how childhood trauma, adversity and high-pressure careers can become catalysts for growth, purpose and service.

Alfred shares his remarkable journey from an unstable childhood spent in shelters, group homes and foster care to an international career in corporate banking spanning more than 20 countries. Despite professional success, he found himself questioning whether achievement alone could bring fulfilment, leading him on a path towards helping others...

After arriving in the UK as a young student in 1975, Parvez Hemnani set out with a simple ambition: build a better life for himself and his family. What followed was a successful career spanning decades in sales and marketing, negotiating million-pound deals, leading teams and working under the relentless pressure of targets, forecasts and performance expectations.

In this episode, Parvez joins Jayne to reflect on the hidden cost of working in high-pressure corporate environments and the moment he realised that stress at work, combined with challenges at home, had become too much to carry alone.

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In this insightful episode of The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne Ellis sits down with A&E Matron Lucy Tebbit to explore the realities of a life spent caring for others.

With more than three decades on the NHS frontline, Lucy shares the lessons she’s learned about trusting your instincts, finding the courage to speak up and navigating the emotional impact of witnessing trauma, grief and loss from a young age.

Together, they discuss why so many healthcare professionals say “I’m fine” when they’re anything but, the importance of having safe people around you...

Jayne Ellis on I’m Fine – The Truth Behind the Smile welcomes physiotherapist and researcher Libby Jarman for a powerful and honest conversation about career change, compassion, burnout, and the realities of caring for others.

Libby shares her fascinating journey from a successful career in music publishing to becoming a physiotherapist, driven by a desire to do work that felt meaningful and made a difference. Along the way, she reflects on working in research, supporting people living with multiple sclerosis, and the challenges and rewards of building her own business.

Together, Jayne and Libby explore the...

In this powerful and deeply honest episode of I’m Fine: The Truth Behind the Smile with Jayne Ellis, Jayne sits down with serving police officer Leon Astley, whose 23-year career has taken him from the Royal Air Force to frontline policing, public order operations, mounted units and riot policing in London.

Leon opens up about the emotional realities behind the uniform - the trauma officers silently carry, the incidents that stay with them forever and how years of witnessing tragedy slowly took a toll on his mental health. From fatal car crashes and violent cr...

In this episode of I'm Fine, The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne Ellis is joined by Dr Teyhou Smyth, a licensed counsellor and therapist who lectures at Pepperdine University in California while supervising the next generation of clinicians entering the profession.

Teyhou talks candidly about why she moved into mental health work in the first place, having found her earlier careers lacking the depth and human connection she was searching for. She speaks with real warmth about the students she now supervises, and the particular isolation many face training online without the mentorship and...

In this powerful episode of I’m Fine – The Truth Behind the Smile, Jayne sits down with Vicky Osbourn, who spent years navigating high-pressure corporate environments while regularly carrying the emotional and physical weight of stress. 

From adapting to demanding personalities and workplace expectations to the pressure of constantly appearing “fine,” this conversation explores the hidden emotional labour many professionals experience every day.

Everything changed after a life-altering health crisis - a stroke initially dismissed as high blood pressure - forcing a complete reassessment of stress, wellbeing, recovery and the culture of silence that still exists in...

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 ov...

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 tr...

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 familie...

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...

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...

What happens when the people who dedicate their lives caring for others forget to care for themselves?

In this introductory episode, our Host Jayne Ellis opens up about her own journey through compassion fatigue, a difficult exit from a career in Healthcare that she loved and the moment she realised that emotional health and safety in the workplace wasn't just overlooked - it was barely there! 

This inspired Jayne to write her first course to bring awareness for others who were suffering without the proper support in place and EF training was founded. She's on a...