S3 E129 Finding Your True Voice After Trauma and Burnout with Francesca Lion

Growing Tall Poppies Podcast: Season 03, Episode 129

Have you ever felt like you've been running on empty, masking who you really are just to get through the day? What would it take to stop surviving and start thriving, as the person you actually are?

This week I'm joined by Francesca "Frankie" Lion, a clinical hypnotherapist and psychotherapist, for a warm, honest and wonderfully meandering conversation about burnout, masking, and finding your way back to your own voice.

Frankie spent eleven years in a corporate career that was never the right fit, while masking undiagnosed ADHD and working far harder than everyone around her just to get through the day. Eventually she burnt out, spectacularly. She shares the moment, in the middle of a phone call about her return-to-work plan, when she heard a voice of true clarity and certainty that wasn't led by fear, and how that moment pointed her towards a completely different path.

Frankie found that talk therapy gave her insight but, in her experience, not the tools to change how she responded. Neither of us is saying that psychology or talk therapy doesn't have its place, because it does. But for some people, the roots go deeper than the thinking mind can reach. Hypnotherapy and NLP gave Frankie her first real relief, and somatic and nervous system tools helped her to feel safe enough to keep going.

We talk about what actually happens in a first hypnotherapy session (and no, nobody gets made to quack like a duck), why rapport and safety have to come before any big change work, and why you don't have to go with the first practitioner you speak to. As Frankie says, we get three quotes for a plumber, so why not for our mental health? She also shares the simple technique she created, combining breath counting with EFT tapping, and her Mindfree Method for bringing the conscious mind, the subconscious mind and the body into alignment.

If you've been frustrated with traditional therapy, or you're exhausted from trying harder without lasting change, I hope this conversation gives you permission to pause, get curious, and explore what might work for you.

In this episode, we explore:

• How burnout and masking undiagnosed ADHD led to Frankie's breakthrough moment of clarity, and what it was like to listen to her own voice for the first time in years

• Why Frankie found she needed to work with the subconscious mind and the nervous system, as well as the thinking mind, in order to feel better

• How hypnotherapy, parts work and somatic tools can be used to update old patterns gently and safely

• What to expect in a first hypnotherapy session, and why hypnosis is not like the stage shows

• A simple technique Frankie created: counting your breaths while tapping, which she uses to help calm anxiety, including for neurodivergent brains

• Why rapport and nervous system safety matter so much, and why you don't have to go with the first practitioner you speak to

• Why healing isn't linear, and how to approach it with curiosity, persistence and compassion

• The Mindfree Method: aligning the conscious mind, the subconscious mind and the body, clearing the past, easing the worry about the future, and coming back to the present

Key Takeaways

• Healing is not linear. It involves integrating all parts of yourself with compassion and curiosity.

• If what you've tried so far hasn't worked, you're not broken. It may simply be that you need something different.

• Nervous system regulation is a skill that can help you change how you respond to triggers, not just the triggers themselves.

• Rapport and safety come first. Big change work can't happen without them.

• You have the right to choose your own therapeutic path, and trying things on, like hats, to see what fits is part of the process.

A Question To Reflect On

What might it feel like to listen deeply to your own inner voice, beyond fear and old expectations?

If you've been pushing to perform, or to heal "the old way", I hope this episode invites you instead to slow down, integrate, and gently update your relationship with yourself.

If this episode resonated with you...

If you've been doing the inner work but still feel like something is quietly holding you back, it may not be a lack of motivation, confidence or willpower.

It may be that your identity is still organised around survival.

That's exactly why I created my Archetypes of Transformation™ and Invisible Ceiling Assessment™, to help you begin recognising the unconscious patterns, identity fractures and protective strategies that may be keeping you from fully stepping into the life that's waiting for you. Take the free quiz here:

Quiz: https://quiz.drnataliegreen.com.au/archetype-of-transformation-quiz

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Connect with Frankie Lion

Francesca "Frankie" Lion is a clinical hypnotherapist and psychotherapist who supports people with fears, stress and self-confidence. She brings together her clinical expertise and her own experience of anxiety, burnout and a late ADHD diagnosis, working with the conscious mind, the subconscious and the nervous system through her Mindfree Method.

Website: https://www.mindfreetherapy.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MindfreeHypno/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfreehypno/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindfreetherapy/

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And remember: you were never meant to cut yourself down to make other people comfortable.

There is always room to grow tall and shine brightly.

If this episode resonates with you, then I'd love for you to hit SUBSCRIBE so you can keep updated with each new episode as soon as it's released, and we'd be most grateful if you would give us a RATING as well. You can also find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drnatgreen/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DrNatalieGreen

Intro and Outro music: Inspired Ambient by Playsound.

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be deemed or treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Previous Episode

👉 Episode 128 - When Success Costs You Yourself: High-Achiever Burnout, Identity & Self-Trust