Into Deep

When Nick Perry’s daughter was born prematurely at just 30 weeks, fatherhood began in a way he could never have imagined — watching his tiny newborn spend six weeks in neonatal intensive care while he wrestled with fear, helplessness and a desperate instinct to protect her.
In this episode, Rhythm Health founder Nick Perry opens up about the emotional impact of that experience and how becoming a father fundamentally changed his relationship with vulnerability, love and what it meant to be a man.
Nick shares the fear and protective rage he carried during his daughter’s time in NICU, and how men’s work eventually gave him a space to access emotions and grief he hadn’t fully processed — including unresolved grief following the death of his own father.
Together, Geoff and Nick explore fatherhood, modern masculinity, identity and emotional suppression. They unpack the King, Warrior, Magician and Lover archetypes, why strength doesn’t mean shutting down emotion, and what can happen when we continually suppress the parts of ourselves we don’t know how to express.
The conversation also explores Nick’s own identity reckoning. After years of helping others create meaningful change, he entered what he calls an “inner winter” — questioning his career, beliefs and the expectations he had inherited through family, religion and society.
From people pleasing and self-abandonment to becoming a stepfather, navigating a blended family and learning to trust himself, Nick shares what it has taken to stop living according to who he thought he should be and start coming home to himself.
What You’ll Learn:
🏥 Nick’s experience of his daughter being born at just 30 weeks
 ❤️ How six weeks in NICU changed him as a father
 💭 The fear, helplessness and protective rage he struggled to process
 💔 How men’s work helped Nick access suppressed emotion and unresolved grief
 🧠 How fatherhood can challenge our identity and sense of self
 👑 The King, Warrior, Magician and Lover archetypes of masculinity
 ⚡ Why people pleasing can become a form of self-abandonment
 👨‍👩‍👧 The realities of step-parenting and raising a blended family
 ✨ Why “nobody gets you before you get you”
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Step-parent coach, podcaster and mum Kris Byrnes spent much of her life people-pleasing, walking on eggshells and trying to keep everyone around her happy — patterns she traces back to a childhood where she learned to shrink herself to keep the peace.
In this episode, Kris opens up about her complicated relationship with her father, growing up feeling that her needs weren’t always met, and eventually making the incredibly difficult decision to end that relationship as an adult.
She also shares being physically assaulted at 17, the depression and nightmares that followed, and why it took years to understand the impact these experiences had on her self-worth and the way she moved through the world.
Together, Geoff and Kris explore how childhood trauma doesn’t always come from one catastrophic event. Sometimes it can be “death by a thousand cuts” — years of feeling unseen, monitoring other people’s moods, questioning your own needs and slowly losing trust in yourself.
Kris shares how becoming a stepmum at 24 brought many of these patterns to the surface, eventually leading to burnout, resentment and the realisation that she needed to stop trying to change everyone around her and start taking responsibility for herself.
Now supporting other step-parents and raising a blended family of her own, Kris shares what she has learned about boundaries, self-worth, high-conflict co-parenting and protecting your peace without abandoning yourself.
What You’ll Learn:
🧠 How childhood experiences can shape people-pleasing and perfectionism
💭 Why trauma doesn’t always come from one major event
❤️ The challenge of cutting toxic family members out of your life
🔥 Why becoming a stepmum brought old patterns to the surface
⚡ How over-giving can turn into burnout and resentment
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The realities of step-parenting and blended families
🛑 How to navigate boundaries in high-conflict relationships
✨ What it means to stop shrinking yourself for other people

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#PeoplePleasing #ChildhoodTrauma #Boundaries #SelfWorth #Healing #StepParenting #BlendedFamily #MentalHealth

What does it actually mean to become a man?
Therapist, men's facilitator, and co-founder of the Embodied Man Institute, Ryan Barraclough believes the biggest crisis facing modern men isn't a lack of strength—it's a lack of belonging, purpose, and healthy initiation into adulthood.
After growing up as a chronic people pleaser following his parents' divorce, Ryan spent years searching for identity, approval, and meaning. Along the way, he experienced two periods of severe suicidal ideation that forced him to confront the big question: How do I stop living in fear?
Through psychotherapy, men's work, and deep spiritual practice, Ryan discovered that healing isn't about becoming someone new—it's about remembering who you were before the world told you who you had to be.
In this deeply reflective conversation, Geoff and Ryan explore identity, masculinity, attachment theory, childhood trauma, people pleasing, purpose, fatherhood, addiction, spirituality, and why so many young men feel lost in today's world. They unpack the influence of figures like Andrew Tate, the hidden impact of emotionally immature parenting, and why asking better questions can be more powerful than searching for easy answers.
Whether you're trying to better understand yourself, strengthen your relationships, raise emotionally healthy children, or find greater meaning in your own life, this conversation will leave you reflecting long after it ends.
What You'll Learn:
🧠 Why people pleasing often begins in childhood
❤️ How attachment shapes identity and adult relationships
👨 Why so many young men are searching for purpose
🔥 Ryan's perspective on Andrew Tate and the modern masculinity crisis
🌱 What healthy masculinity actually looks like
🫂 The importance of rites of passage and men's communities
⚡ Why purpose is one of the greatest antidotes to addiction
✨ How healing begins by remembering who you already are
Please note: This episode includes discussion of suicidal ideation and mental health. Please listen with care if these topics are difficult for you.
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Olympian, former professional boxer, and BNK Boxing founder Luke Jackson overcame a childhood shaped by neglect, foster care, addiction, and trauma and represented Australia at the 2012 Olympic Games—but success couldn't silence his inner battle.
Despite reaching the pinnacle of amateur boxing, Luke found himself battling cocaine addiction, self-destruction, and years of unresolved childhood trauma. What followed was a long road of recovery, healing, and learning that real strength isn't found inside the ring—it's found in confronting the parts of yourself you've spent a lifetime trying to escape.
In this episode, Luke shares the extraordinary journey from a traumatic upbringing in Tasmania to representing Australia on the world's biggest sporting stage before opening up about the addiction that nearly cost him everything. He speaks candidly about hitting rock bottom, spending time in psychiatric care, rebuilding his life, and why learning to be kind to himself became the greatest fight of all.
Together, Geoff and Luke explore childhood trauma, addiction, mental health, elite performance, grief, recovery, self-worth, fatherhood, and the relentless pursuit of becoming a better man. Luke reflects on the coaches, mentors, and relationships that helped shape him, the lessons boxing taught him about resilience, and why external success alone can never heal emotional wounds.
Now sober and leading one of Sydney's most respected boxing communities, Luke is using his experiences to help others realise that healing isn't about perfection—it's about continuing to show up, one day at a time.
This episode is a conversation about resilience, forgiveness, recovery, purpose, and discovering that the strongest people aren't those who never fall—they're the ones who keep getting back up.
What You'll Learn:
🥊 How Luke overcame a childhood shaped by neglect, foster care, addiction, and trauma
🇦🇺 The journey to representing Australia at the 2012 Olympic Games
🧠 Why childhood trauma continued to shape his adult life despite elite sporting success
💭 The hidden reality of cocaine addiction and what finally helped him begin rebuilding his life
❤️ Why self-compassion became the missing piece in his recovery
⚡ How boxing gave Luke purpose, discipline, and a path out of chaos
👊 The importance of community, accountability, and asking for help
🏃 Why success without healing can still leave you feeling empty
🌱 The mindset that helped Luke overcome setback after setback throughout his life
💙 Why becoming the man he never had growing up has become Luke's greatest purpose
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Brooke McIntosh became the fastest woman ever to run around Australia — but her story begins with a suicide attempt, years of anxiety and depression, and a life spent searching for validation instead of self-worth.
Covering more than 14,000 kilometres in just 204 days, Brooke pushed her body to extraordinary limits. But the real challenge wasn't physical — it was learning to heal, trust herself, and find purpose after years spent looking for answers everywhere except within.
After surviving a suicide attempt in 2022, Brooke was forced to confront the pain she had spent years avoiding. What followed was a profound journey of healing, self-discovery, and mental fitness that would eventually lead her to become one of Australia's most inspiring voices in mental health advocacy.
In this episode, Brooke opens up about hitting rock bottom, the moment that changed everything, and how running became a vehicle for healing rather than achievement. Together, Geoff and Brooke explore mental health, resilience, trauma, self-worth, purpose, vulnerability, and why so many of us spend years avoiding the very conversations that could change our lives.
Brooke shares powerful stories from the road, including the conversations that reinforced her mission to reduce suicide rates, her experience supporting a younger sister through addiction and homelessness, and the lessons she learned after spending more than six months alone with her thoughts while running around the country.
The conversation also explores social media, self-trust, identity, and why true healing begins when we stop running from our pain and start listening to what it's trying to teach us.
This episode is a conversation about resilience, purpose, mental health, self-acceptance, and finding the courage to become who you truly are.
What You'll Learn:
🔥 How Brooke went from a suicide attempt to becoming the fastest woman to run around Australia
🏃‍♀️ The physical and mental challenge of running 14,000km around the country
🧠 What mental fitness actually means and how to build it daily
💭 Why so many of us seek validation instead of self-trust
❤️ The role vulnerability and connection play in mental health recovery
🌊 How silence, stillness, and solo running transformed Brooke's life
⚡ Why healing requires courage, not perfection
🤝 The importance of community when navigating difficult seasons of life
🌱 How to stop avoiding hard conversations and start creating meaningful change
✨ Why purpose is often found on the other side of pain
Follow the show:
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Follow Brooke:
https://www.instagram.com/brookemcintosh
Follow Geoff:
https://www.instagram.com/geoff_elevate