What does it really take to come out later in life, when you're married, a mother, and terrified of breaking everything you've built?

In this powerful episode of The Braver Women Show, Nichole shares her raw, honest journey of coming out at 50 after decades of hiding her truth.

From growing up in a conservative religious environment in Utah, to the fear of disappointing her family, to the moment she finally had the conversation with her mother she'd avoided for years, this is the story of what it means to let go of the life you were told to live and choose authenticity instead.

Nichole worked with me for 3 months in the Braver Women therapy programme, where she dismantled the fear, shame, and silence that had kept her stuck for decades. She didn’t just come out. She finally came home to herself.

If you’re tired of hiding, afraid of what coming out might cost you, or unsure if it’s too late to choose yourself, this episode is for you.

Ready to start your own journey?

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What if everything you believed about who you had to be, strong, self sufficient and always in control was actually keeping you stuck? How much joy does that leave for you in your life?

In this raw and powerful episode, I sit down with child centred councillor Suzy, a woman who, approaching 60, made the decision to stop surviving and finally let go to start healing.

Suzy grew up in the 1970s and '80s, a time when being gay meant staying silent. She worked in the corporate capital of banking in London and this reinforced the shame and the silence. That silence left emotional marks: anxiety, shame, people pleasing, and the constant sense of needing to earn her place. Even after building a life with her wife, the impact of those early years lingered.

When Suzy came to work with me in therapy, she was burned out, anxious, and disconnected from her own needs. Together, we unpacked the survival strategies that had helped her get through life but were now keeping her stuck.

In this episode, Suzy shares:

• How anxiety and emotional control became her default

• The invisible cost of always being the strong one

• Why rest felt unsafe and emotional vulnerability felt impossible

• The deep patterns of people-pleasing and self-abandonment

• What changed when she finally put herself at the centre of her healing

Suzy’s story will resonate deeply with queer women who’ve spent years trying to keep it together while silently struggling. Her transformation shows that even after decades of carrying the past, it is possible to create a new emotional reality with the right support.

Links & Resources:
→ Join the Braver Women community
→ Learn more about the Braver Breakthrough™ Therapy Programme
→ Work with me directly - Book your consultation here

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Do you feel stuck in your life? Ever feel like no matter what you do, you end up back in the same place?

Same doubts. Same fears. Same types of relationships. Same patterns that leave you questioning yourself.

In this episode, we get into the real reason it happens and why it’s not about willpower or working harder.

We’ll talk about survival strategies that once protected you but are now keeping you stuck in cycles you’re ready to break.

If you’re tired of feeling like you're living on repeat with patterns that aren't helping you in your life or your relationships anymore, this is where something different can finally start for you.

Come and join us in the worlds premier hub for therapeutic content and personal growth for LGBTQ+ women

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Most lesbian and queer women aren’t walking around saying, “I feel shame.”
They’re saying, “I don’t feel good enough.”
“I overthink everything.”
“I’m scared to be fully myself - even now.”

In this powerful and personal episode, I take you deep into the hidden layers of internalised shame - what I call the master emotion. It’s not loud. It doesn’t announce itself. But it silently shapes everything from your self talk to your style choices, your anxiety, and even your attachment patterns.

I break down how shame gets encoded in your nervous system as a child, how it fuses with your queer identity, and how it’s been running the show without you realising it. This episode includes my own story - growing up queer in a strict religious home, the emotional fragmentation that followed, and what I’ve learned through years of therapeutic work with LGBTQ+ women around the world.

We’ll unpack:

• Why anxiety is often shame in disguise

• The difference between guilt and shame (and how most of us get it wrong)

• How people-pleasing, perfectionism, and fear of rejection are survival strategies

• The concept of double internalisation and how your nervous system stacks risk

• How to begin softening shame’s grip and reconnect with your real self

If you’ve ever struggled with not feeling enough, hiding parts of yourself, or feeling emotionally off even after coming out, this might be the episode that finally gives you the language and clarity you’ve been searching for.

It’s not a quick fix.
But it might just be the beginning of something real for you

🔗 Join us in the Braver Women Facebook group if you’re ready to learn to start showing up as the real you, not the you you've been thinking you need to be.

www.braverwomen.com

"Inauthenticity is like choosing to breathe through a straw, rather than breathing freely..."

Those words stopped me in my tracks and they came from a hugely inspirational client I’ve had the honour of working with.

In this episode, I’m joined by a courageous, thoughtful, and deeply honest gay woman from North America who’s completed her Braver Women journey with me. And today, she’s here to share her story with you.

Amanda opens up about how she broke free from the grip of 20 years of stress, anxiety, and people pleasing... how she unpicked the storylines that once kept her boxed in by other people’s expectations... and how she stopped chasing her worth through overworking, perfectionism, and trying to ‘earn’ acceptance.

Like so many LGBTQ+ women, Amanda was existing not living. But that’s not where her story ends.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in the past, responding to scripts you never wrote... if you’ve ever silenced yourself just to feel safe... if you’ve ever wondered whether life could feel different - it can. And Amanda is living proof of that.

These stories aren’t just inspiring. They’re necessary. They remind us that transformation is possible and that there is life beyond the coping strategies and scripts we’ve long outgrown.

So join me in this episode as I talk with Amanda and celebrate her phenomenal journey.

Her bravery is a powerful reminder of what’s possible and my hope is that by listening, you feel ready to take some braver steps of your own.

If you want to break your patterns and learn to be braver, then you know where to find me:

https://braverwomen.com/

If you want to be part of the worlds premier hub for therapeutic content and personal growth for LGBTQ+ women - Then join me here

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Love the podcast? Then I'd love to hear about it! Would you be kind enough to rate and leave a review? It helps other LGBTQ+ women around the world, find it too!

Thanks for being here.

Sending much love,

Leanne ;-)

If you want to feel deeply moved to change your life, to experience what it feels like to live a life of genuine authenticity and emotional freedom - from the inside out - Then you're not going to want to miss a moment of this story.
Today I’m going to introduce you to a very courageous client of mine who is using some of the insights from breakthroughs she’s experienced since working with me privately.

In this episode, Gemma is sharing the deeply personal story of how she changed her relationship with herself from the inside out. She’ll take you through the monumental shifts she made since working with me - breaking free from old survival patterns, facing fear head on, and untangling the years ofconditioning that told her she wasn’t enough.

She’s no longer paralysed by self-doubt. She trusts herself. She’s living with confidence, making bold decisions, and no longer sacrificing her own needs to make other people comfortable. And she’s sharing this with you because she knows what it’s like to feel trapped in your own head, questioning if change is even possible.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in self-sabotaging cycles as a lesbian or queer woman, if you’ve struggled with anxiety, if you’ve ever feared being truly seen - this conversation is for you. Because here’s the truth: You don’t just wake up one day and become confident. You have to unlearn everything that told you, you weren’t enough in the first place.

And when you're ready to break your patterns and become braver, then you know where to find me.
www.braverwomen.com

If you want to be part of the worlds premier hub for therapeutic content and personal growth for LGBTQ+ Women - Then join me here

Connect with me:

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If you love the podcast - Then I'd love to hear about it! Would you be kind enough to rate it and leave a review? It helps other women around the world find it too!

Thanks for being here.

Sending much love,

Leanne :)

In this episode, Leanne talks about her own experience with heartache anxiety. She provides a popular and relatable talk that gained so much gratitude in the Braver Women community for her raw honesty and relatability when she first shared it five years ago. She's sharing it outside of her community for the first time - Breaking the mould on what traditional therapists do!

If you're a lesbian or queer woman who's going through hell right now following on from a breakup - this is going to help you.

Leanne provides some actionable insights that helped her move past the hurdle of hurt to finally recover - With one golden nugget concept that has brought relief to so many women who listened to this when she first published it.

If you're not a part of the incredible Braver Women Facebook Community - then you're missing out on the deeper conversations, group only videos, peer support and resources that Leanne has put together to help you stop cycling around in insecure anxious patterns - that you won't find anywhere else.

Like this episode? Share it - You'll be supporting other lesbian and queer women to access something that could make a difference to their life right now.

Link to come and join us here

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For lesbians and queer women, relationships aren’t just about dating—they’re about identity, belonging, and the search for real connection in a world that hasn’t always made space for us. But if you find yourself caught in cycles of attachment anxiety, fear of abandonment, or stuck in emotional dependency, it’s not about what’s wrong with you—it’s about what’s missing inside, I'm going to reveal to you what's going on deep underneath the emotional pain you're experiencing, but more importantly, what you can begin to do about it from a self-help perspective. In this episode, I’ll challenge how you think about abandonment, love, and self-trust to move you from feeling helpless and lost to being more in control. We’re going beyond labels and theories and getting into what’s happening beneath the surface. If you’ve ever found yourself gripping onto relationships, fearing rejection, or losing yourself in love, this conversation is one you won’t want to miss.

🎧 Hit play now and let’s dive in.

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📩 DM me your biggest takeaway from this episode—I love hearing what lands with you!

💜 Love the show? Please LIKE and leave a review. Share this episode with someone who needs it. The more we talk about these struggles, the more you move out of the shadows and into taking up your space - without shame or hiding.

🚀 Ready to start your braver journey?

Visit www.braverwomen.com to learn more.