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PODCAST

F**king Normal

The Fking Normal Team

Join hosts, Lauren Fenton and Rina Teslica, both mothers to daughters with special needs as they and their guests share unique parenting stories and chat about the things they"ve learnt and are still learning. Prepare to sometimes laugh, sometimes cry, but hopefully leave with a shot of optimism in your arm!The goal of the F**king Normal podcast is to extend the conversation and build a supportive community for other parents. We don"t have the answers but want to create a safe space to share stories

kids & family parenting

All Episodes

9:44

Lauren and Rina wrap up Series 4

F**king Normal ·

2025/03/17

Just a quick chat with your hosts Lauren and Rina on some of their favourite bits from series 4 and a reminder to get in touch with the F**king Normal team if you have any ideas for future episode topics for the next series. Thank you for listening and supporting the podcast . We promise we will be back with more episodes very soon! Find us on Instagram: @fkingnormal_podcast or email us at fkingnormalpodcast@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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54:57

Ep 30: From trauma to renewed purpose with Brandi...

F**king Normal ·

2025/02/03

In this week’s episode, Lauren and Rina sit down with Brandi Amiss-Towler as she shares the extraordinary story of her son Caspian’s birth, the challenges of his early days, and how her experiences have driven her to retrain and pursue a career in law. Brandi offers a candid and raw account of the early days, navigating a complex medical journey with a large number of professionals and an extended hospital stay. She also reflects on what motivated her to take on her impressive journey to courtroom

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1:07:55

Ep 29: Helping my child find her voice with Cat Troiano

F**king Normal ·

2025/01/20

In this week’s episode, Lauren and Rina chat with museum curator and researcher Cat Troiano. Cat is mother to two young daughters, Stella (4) and Petra (almost 3). Stella has 5p minus syndrome, also known as Cri du Chat syndrome. Growing up in a multilingual family with a strong focus on language and linguistics, Cat’s perspective was profoundly transformed by her fight to meet Stella’s communication needs.This thought-provoking conversation delves into Cat’s journey, the challenges she faced and

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1:13:05

Ep 28: "Love makes the world go round" with David...

F**king Normal ·

2025/01/06

In this week’s episode, Lauren and Rina sit down with the accomplished theatrical duo David Thacker and Margot Leicester to discuss their experiences as parents of their youngest adult daughter, Elizabeth, who is autistic and has learning difficulties. In this warm and inspiring conversation, David and Margot reflect on their journey raising a disabled child and adult, offering heartfelt wisdom on what truly matters most.Content WarningsDiagnosisGuest BiographiesMargot was brought up in Middleton,

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1:04:15

Ep 27: SEN Finances with SEND Protect Founder Cara...

F**king Normal ·

2024/12/16

In the latest episode of the Fking Normal Podcast, hosts Rina and Lauren sit down with Cara Roughani to discuss her remarkable parenting journey and the inspiration behind creating SEND Protect. Cara, a passionate advocate for the financial empowerment of families with SEND children, shared her personal experiences navigating her parenting journey as well as the inspiration behind her founding SEND Protect. Wanting to educate families, parents and carers with the knowledge and tools they need to

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1:01:19

Ep 26: From early days survival to changing the world...

F**king Normal ·

2024/12/02

In this episode, Rina and Lauren talk with Sara Johnson about the birth and diagnosis of her now 19 year old son, who has 18p deletion syndrome. They discuss how this led to her career pivot, as after forging a successful career as a TV drama executive, Sara now focuses her efforts on advocating for and representing disabled talent in the industry. It is a sweary, candid and often emotional discussion, peppered with Sara’s wonderful nuggets of wisdom.Content WarningsStrong Language warningDifficult

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55:31

Ep 25: Life and work as an occupational therapist...

F**king Normal ·

2024/11/18

On this weeks episode, Rina and Lauren chatted with South African native Marina Dias on her life as a SEND parent and her work as an Occupational Therapist. The trio discuss the initial difficulties when you’re first thrust into the parent/carer space, Marina’s difficult experience bringing her son Tommy into the world and how her work as an OT has played a role in how she helps not only the children she sees, but their families too.It’s a joyous and very frank conversation about the difficulties of

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1:18:48

F**KING NORMAL LIVE April '24

F**king Normal ·

2024/07/01

Our first live show was recorded at the Parcel Yard, London Kings Cross in April 2024. The event was jointly hosted by Hibi and the F**King Normal Podcast. We were absolutely overwhelmed by the love, warmth and connection in the room. Thank you so much to everyone who was able to join us. For those who weren’t, you can share in the experience with this episode and we hope to have news of more events for the community to join very soon.During this live event, the incredible Polly Hazelwood stepped in

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59:40

Ep 23: Conversation with a dad, with Kevin Troy.

F**king Normal ·

2024/06/03

On this week’s episode, Rina and Lauren sat down with dad Kevin Troy to talk about his journey to fatherhood. Having previously worked in fast paced, male dominated environments, centred around the ‘work hard, play hard’ philosophy, Kevin’s world has slowed down significantly since his daughter Coraline was born in 2018. Diagnosed with Downs Syndrome, Coraline not only made Kevin a dad, but inspired him to create an organic skincare brand named after her.The conversation is funny, light hearted but

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54:09

Ep 22: Transition to adulthood with Julia Marsan

F**king Normal ·

2024/05/20

In this episode, Rina and Lauren talk with Julia Marsan about her experience in supporting her disabled daughter Nicole in the transition to adulthood outside of her parents care and into supported living. In this thoughtful discussion, Julia shares her story of parenting two children with different additional needs, as well as some of the valuable lessons she has learnt along the way. They discuss Nicole's pathway through education and, later into supported living where she now lives "the best

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1:10:45

Ep: 21 Learning and unlearning with Suzanne McManus

F**king Normal ·

2024/05/06

In this episode, Lauren and Rina talk with mother, advocate and BBC commissioning editor Suzanne McManus on her neurodivergent family. Suzanne candidly shares her own parenting story with great warmth, insight and a fair few laughs along the way. Her eldest son has a PDA profile of autism and this has required their family to embrace the concept of low demand parenting. While the benefits to her children are clear to see, it’s an approach that is not always easy to take, often requiring a lot of new

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57:03

Ep: 20 'I am because we are' with dance movement...

F**king Normal ·

2024/04/22

In this episode, Lauren and Rina talk with dance movement psychotherapist and mother Juliet Diener on building an inclusive community and working with disabled children and their families. Juliet shares her passion for what she does with her charity organisation icandance and how her personal family story has influenced the empathy and understanding she brings to the disabled young people she works with and their parent carer families. She is a mother to 2 children with Cystic fibrosis. Juliet’s

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1:00:02

Ep 19: Uprooting and rerouting with Camilla Cook

F**king Normal ·

2024/04/08

In this episode, Lauren and Rina talk with teacher and mum Camilla Cook on how she left her home, job and life behind her during the COVID pandemic at the same time as coming to terms with the fact that her youngest daughter Sylva, had a yet undiagnosed genetic condition. Camilla shares her story of leaving Tanzania (where she lived and taught) pregnant with Sylva, with her husband and 3 year old in tow not realising they would not be going back. Camilla had a lot of help and support from her family

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1:09:20

Ep:18 Working 9 to 5 with Leisa Millar

F**king Normal ·

2024/03/25

In this episode, Lauren and Rina talk with journalist and fellow podcaster Leisa Millar on the world of work as parent carers. Leisa is host of the podcast: ‘SEN Mums’ Career Club’, where she speaks with women in fascinating and diverse roles who are also parent carers. In each case, she finds out how they make balancing their paid work and carer role, work for them. In this thoughtful discussion, Leisa shares her own story of juggling parenting, caring and her day job, as well as some of the

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52:21

Ep 17: Sandwich caring with Rachel Pears

F**king Normal ·

2024/03/11

In this episode, Rina and Lauren talk with New Yorker and lawyer, Rachel Pears about her experience as a 'sandwich carer'.The “sandwich generation” is defined as those who are caring for both elderly parents and their own dependent children. Rachel, an only child living in London,describes the challenges of caring for her 8 year old daughter Amelia who has a rare genetic condition, at the same time as becoming designated carer for both her parents in New York.As Rachel puts it, she felt like she was

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1:06:42

Ep 16: Wellbeing with Nicole Stephens

F**king Normal ·

2024/02/26

In the first episode of Series 3, Rina and Lauren talk with nutritionist, health professional and SEND mum Nicole Stephens. Nicole candidly shares how, despite her professional knowledge, she neglected to look after her own health and wellbeing in the early days before and after her daughter was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition. This frank and joyful conversation goes from unhealthy coping mechanisms and a discussion on self-blame, to the decision to have a second child and lots of simple

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11:12

Series 3 coming soon... and chat with Hibi app...

F**king Normal ·

2024/02/19

We are back! A quick hello from your hosts, Lauren and Rina to let you know that Series 3 will be coming out very soon. And what an interesting array of guests and topics we have in store for you. We'll be talking wellbeing, working the 9-to-5, to and about dads, therapists and much more.We also have some exciting news. This series of the F**king Normal podcast will be sponsored by Hibi. A few months ago Hibi asked us if we'd be interested in them sponsoring us - we have always been adamant to

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57:26

Ep 15: Conversation with a therapist with Charlotte...

F**king Normal ·

2023/10/02

In the final episode of series 2 Lauren and Rina take to the couch for a different kind of conversation with psychotherapist Charlotte Fox Weber. The discussion covers some of the emotional themes that come up again and again with parents of disabled children and Charlotte answers questions submitted by listeners.Charlotte shares her professional and candid insight on topics like: the pressure to cope; the sneaky emotion that is guilt; asking for help; and how to deal with ongoing trauma. It is an

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1:14:34

Ep 14: Intersectionality, community & representation...

F**king Normal ·

2023/09/11

In this week’s episode, Lauren and Rina interview the incredible social entrepreneur and campaigner, Tinuke Awe. Tinuke recounts her experiences raising her black autistic son and passionately describes the work that she is doing to challenge prejudice, create community and shine a light on her son’s identity. The group discusses the absence of role models and representation, the importance of finding community and how to tackle cultural barriers to acceptance of disabled children. It is an

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1:01:14

Ep13- Coping through connecting and community with...

F**king Normal ·

2023/08/29

In this week’s episode, Rina and Lauren discuss the importance of connecting with people who share your experience, building a community (hello the fkingnormal podcast!) and just how valuable this is for providing a safe space to cope through difficulties — together. They interview Australian author and advocate Melanie Dimmitt on her journey to accepting her less typical parenting path, what she has learnt and what she has now done to support others in a similar position.Mel shares her initial

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