Why Do I Feel This Way?

This episode contains lived-experience discussion of traumatic birth, postnatal depression and anxiety, intrusive thoughts, panic attacks, addiction and recovery, and restrictive eating, and includes strong language.
Kate's friend Tara Hall joins Kate DeAraugo and Claudia Coy for an honest conversation about the gap between the motherhood she saw on TikTok and the one she actually lived.
Tara takes us through a traumatic birth: induced at 41 weeks, a forceps delivery that became an emergency caesarean, and waking up alone with her newborn after a general anaesthetic. Three weeks later she moved away from everyone she knew. On the outside she was going to the gym and catching up with friends; inside she was dissociating, controlling every routine, waking her daughter 20 times a night to check she was breathing, and faking it. It took two years, and a full-blown panic attack, before a doctor finally heard her and diagnosed postpartum anxiety and depression.
She talks about recovery, childhood patterns and learning to let her daughter struggle, while Kate shares the intrusive thoughts she had after her first baby and the postnatal depression she didn't recognise after her second. There's honesty about the parts of parenting that are just plain boring, and Tara's advice for any new mum who doesn't feel okay: reach out, advocate for yourself, and know your best years are yet to come.
This conversation reflects lived experience, not medical advice.
Huge thanks to Tara Hall for joining us.
Follow Tara: @tarahall
Season 5 is presented by Aurora Healthcare.
aurorahealth.com.au
If this brings anything up for you:
PANDA National Perinatal Mental Health Helpline: 1300 726 306
Lifeline: 13 11 14

This episode contains lived-experience discussion of childhood abuse, family violence, young motherhood, addiction and religious trauma, and includes strong language and sexual references.
Australian Idol and Young Divas star Emily Williams joins Kate DeAraugo and Claudia Coy for a reunion more than 20 years in the making. There's plenty to revisit from the Idol years and Young Divas, but Emily's story began long before Australia knew her voice.
Growing up in South Auckland, Emily talks about childhood, church, music and becoming a young mum. She takes us back to working as a forklift driver, almost missing her Australian Idol audition, and suddenly finding herself in a Grand Final alongside Kate. The two remember the Opera House, life inside Young Divas, and some of the stories that have followed them ever since.
Emily also opens up about rebuilding her career, performing in The Bodyguard in the UK, relationships, healing and what happened when she began questioning the Christianity she'd known for 37 years. There's honesty, a lot of laughter, and even a bit of unfinished business over Kate's Australian Idol single, Maybe Tonight.
Huge thanks to Emily Williams for joining us.
Follow Emily: @emilyurbandiva
Season 5 is presented by Aurora Healthcare.
aurorahealth.com.au

This episode contains lived-experience discussion of addiction, alcohol and other drug use, childhood sexual abuse, family relationships, treatment and recovery.
Season Partner: Aurora Healthcare
Belinda Walsh returns to Why Do I Feel This Way? with Kate DeAraugo and Claudia Coy to unpack what an intervention actually looks like — and why helping someone with addiction often starts with the people who love them.
Drawing on four decades working in addiction treatment, Belinda talks about the way addiction affects entire families, the difference between blame and support, and the practical steps behind her approach to interventions. From choosing the right people and writing letters to planning treatment and navigating the first days afterwards, she takes the conversation well beyond what most people have seen on television.
They also discuss the myth of waiting for “rock bottom”, treatment options, harm reduction, long-term recovery and the difficulties of accessing care. Towards the end, Kate shares her own family's experience and reflects with Belinda on what changed during the years she was struggling with addiction.
Huge thanks to Belinda Walsh for joining us again.
Belinda / Sober Living Rehab:
soberlivingrehab.com.au
With thanks to Equana Minds.
equanaminds.com.au
National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline — 1800 250 015

This episode contains lived-experience discussion of relationship conflict, infidelity, substance use and emotionally unsafe or abusive relationships.
Relationship coach Louisa Josem joins Kate and Claudia to unpack attachment styles, why we repeat the same relationship patterns, and why something that feels like intense chemistry isn’t always the same thing as safety.
Louisa breaks down anxious, avoidant and secure attachment, how those patterns can develop, and whether they can actually change. They get into the stories we tell ourselves when someone doesn’t text back, why we can keep choosing the same kind of partner, and what it looks like to build more security in ourselves and our relationships.
The conversation also covers reassurance, texting and social media expectations, nervous system regulation, boundaries, intimacy, authenticity, red flags, chasing the honeymoon-period high, infidelity — and whether people can actually change.
This episode is proudly supported by Equana Minds, an online psychology and counselling service that helps you get matched on what matters, to find the right therapist for you. Sessions are available in over 25 languages, with flexible telehealth wherever you are.
Find out more and get matched at equanaminds.com.au.
Huge thanks to Louisa Josem for joining us.
Instagram: @unlearnwithlouisa
TikTok: @unlearnwithlouisa
Website: unlearnwithlouisa.com
Podcast: Unlearn with Louisa
Support:
1800RESPECT — 1800 737 732
Text — 0458 737 732
Immediate danger — 000
Season 5 is presented by Aurora Healthcare.
aurorahealth.com.au

This episode contains lived-experience discussion of grief, regret, ageing, addiction recovery and mental health.
Rod Coy joins Kate and Claudia to tell the story of the bike trip he never forgot. At 23, Rod set off to cycle across Europe, only to abandon the journey in Italy after falling in love. Fifty years later, at 73, he went back to finish it.
What starts as an adventure story becomes something much deeper: regret, second chances, the goodbye he always carried, and the search to reconnect with Juliana decades later. Rod talks about returning to places he hadn’t seen since he was young, what it meant to finally complete the ride, and how the trip forced him to look more honestly at the man he used to be.
The conversation then opens out into ageing, purpose, recovery, and the emotional moment Rod realises what he would say to his younger self — and that maybe, in a strange way, he finally got to say it. It’s a bloody lovely episode about memory, love, getting older and making peace with your own life.
Huge thanks to Rod Coy for joining us.
Season 5 is presented by Aurora Healthcare.
aurorahealth.com.au