Navigating modern relationships feels like constantly running on empty. Everyday pressures, stress, and misunderstandings quietly shape the dynamic between us, often leading to communication breakdown and conflict.

Systemic Family Therapist Scott Hill uncovers how to shift from individual blame to understanding relational patterns. He reveals the hidden emotional needs beneath arguments and how to reconnect when exhaustion turns a supportive role into strain.

This episode provides actionable insights to strengthen communication and find the courage to be vulnerable in your closest relationships.

Scott Hill is a practising Social Worker with two decades of experience in mental health. As a Systemic Couple and Family Therapist at St John of God University Hospital, he specialises in helping families and couples strengthen communication and improve relationships.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

Creating new, generative conversations
Looking at relational patterns, not individuals
Vulnerability underlies all relationship conflict
How stress changes brain communication
Courage is needed to be vulnerable

GUEST DETAILS

Scott Hill is a Systemic Family Therapist currently working at St John of God University Hospital. He has 19 years of experience as a practising Social Worker in mental health, focusing on the addiction team and adolescent mental health service. He qualified as a Systemic Family Therapist five years ago and passionately believes that healthy relationships can help people manage whatever life presents.

MORE INFORMATION

To find out more about the work of the St John of God University Hospital visit stjohnofgodhospital.ie

QUOTES

I always know I'm doing an okay job when a family member, a couple, might say, I never knew that, I never heard that before, you never said that to me, I didn't realise. - Scott Hill

My job in the therapy space, to sum it all up, is to create a kind of an experience, a different type of conversation, really, that brings a bit of difference and a bit of hope and a bit of life. - Scott Hill

My client, my patient is the relationship, or my client is the family." - Scott Hill

KEYWORDS #FamilyTherapy #HealthyRelationships #ActiveListening #MentalSupport #RelationalPatterns

To mark International Nurses Day, this episode of The Stigma Shift focuses on the people learning, growing and preparing to shape the future of mental health care.

Shona Giles, Clinical Placement Coordinator at St John of God University Hospital, joins the podcast to discuss her role in supporting mental health nursing students during their clinical placements. She reflects on the importance of a positive learning environment, the value of mentorship, and how clinical experience helps students build confidence, compassion and professional identity.

This year’s International Nurses Day theme, Our Nurses. Our Future. Empowered Nurses Save Lives., offers a timely opportunity to recognise not only the vital contribution of nurses today, but also the importance of investing in the nurses of tomorrow.

Through this conversation with Elaine, Shona explores what it means to support students in a specialist mental health setting, the role of education in high-quality patient care, and why empowered nurses are essential to the future of healthcare.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

Student placements are deeply immersive
Therapeutic relationships are built on communication
Manage shift work and feedback pressures
Weekly reflective practice builds self-awareness
The immense commitment of nurse training

GUEST DETAILS

Shona Giles is a Clinical Placement Coordinator and registered mental health nurse at St John of God University Hospital. She is a core member of the Nurse Practice Development unit.

Her key skills include overseeing student clinical placements, ensuring quality learning environments, and supporting students from the academic to the clinical setting

MORE INFORMATION

To find out more about the work of the St John of God University Hospital visit stjohnofgodhospital.ie

QUOTES

Students are straight in. They're getting involved in anything that's happening on the wards, and they're very much supervised, of course, you know, from stage one onwards. - Shona Giles

The student nurse will be involved in that documentation of the patient's presentation and really like building on their own communication skills and their therapeutic relationships… - Shona Giles

If you can just be the person that listens. You're actually That's huge. That's really powerful. - Shona Giles

KEYWORDS #MentalHealth #NursingStudent #ClinicalPlacement #ReflectivePractice #NurseTraining

The rise in workplace mental health awareness has not translated into meaningful, day-to-day change for employees. Policies and awareness days are common, but a significant gap persists between organisational intention and lived reality. This failure to act often leaves staff reliant on reactive support when issues reach a crisis point.

This episode unpacks the disconnect between language and behaviour, exploring what is missing from current approaches. The solution is moving beyond campaigns to prevention, focusing on continuous support, shared understanding, and practical frameworks. We focus on the 'Working Mind' programme, an evidence-based approach brought to Ireland to enable earlier recognition of mental health shifts.

Host Elaine McDonald is joined by Jacqui Mulligan, Project Coordinator with Mental Health First Aid Ireland. Jacqui has spent over six years developing mental health literacy programmes. She has led large-scale training rollouts for organisations, including the Irish Defence Forces.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

• Awareness has not shifted staff behaviour
• Policies look great but trust breaks down
• The Working Mind builds shared language
• Understanding the mental health continuum
• Leaders must prioritise a healthy workforce

GUEST DETAILS

Jacqui Mulligan is a Project Coordinator with Mental Health First Aid Ireland. She has over six years experience in mental health literacy and programme development. Jacqui led efforts to localise and introduce the evidence-based 'Working Mind' programme to Ireland.

Her expertise includes supporting large-scale training rollouts for organisations like An Garda Síochána.

MORE INFORMATION

To find out more about the work of the St John of God University Hospital visit stjohnofgodhospital.ie

QUOTES

We've normalised talking about mental health, but what we haven't normalised is then responding to it. - Jacqui Mulligan

Prevention requires culture, not campaigns. - Jacqui Mulligan

I always believe that if my intention is to care, I can't get it wrong, because that is genuine. - Jacqui Mulligan

KEYWORDS #MentalHealth #WorkplaceWellness #PsychologicalSafety #MentalContinuum #BehaviourChange