Episode 7 | Katie's Story: Behind the Smile

Please note: This episode discusses anxiety, depression, and OCD. If you're struggling, please reach out to a trusted friend, your GP, or a mental health professional.

Have you ever looked at someone and thought — she's got it all together? In this episode, Stacey sits down with Katie, mindset coach and former teacher, whose story is one that so many women will quietly recognise.

On the outside? Confident. Bubbly. Absolutely fine. On the inside? Battling crippling anxiety, depression, and OCD for over a decade — and not one person knew.

Katie opens up about how her parents' divorce at six set the foundation for a life lived in survival mode. From losing two stone on a dream trip to Thailand because she couldn't leave the room, to performing at university while falling apart behind closed doors — Katie shares the raw reality of living with two completely different versions of yourself.

She talks about the moment therapy changed everything, how EMDR helped her finally process what she'd been carrying since childhood, and the long road from people-pleasing perfectionist to the woman she is today — a mindset coach helping others do exactly what she had to do herself.

This episode covers:

• Growing up feeling deeply different and not understanding why
• What OCD really looked like for Katie — and why nobody knew
• EMDR therapy explained: what it is and why it worked when nothing else did
• Leaving teaching, pivoting to coaching, and learning to trust her gut
• The inner critic that gets louder when you go self-employed
• Why vulnerability is the real definition of female strength
• Learning to feel the full spectrum — including the joy

If you've ever smiled on the outside while falling apart on the inside, this one's for you.

In this episode, Stacey is joined by 21-year-old Katie Cook, the voice behind The PMDD Diary, for an honest, raw, and powerful conversation about living with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) — a severe hormone-based mood disorder that affects millions of women, yet barely anyone talks about.

From the age of 12, Katie knew something wasn't right. She suffered crippling mood swings, heavy painful periods, and a level of anxiety and emotional pain she couldn't put into words. But every time she asked for help, she was told the same thing: "You're just a teenager. It's normal. You'll grow out of it."

For nearly nine years, Katie was dismissed by doctors, even by a gynaecologist who wrote her off in five minutes on a video call. She started to believe she was the problem. That she was "just dramatic." That maybe she really was crazy.

It wasn't until she was 18, sitting in a GP's office refusing to leave without an answer, that the words premenstrual dysphoric disorder were finally spoken — and her whole life made sense.

In this episode, Katie shares:

• What PMDD actually is (and why every woman needs to know about it)
• The emotional toll of being dismissed by medical professionals for almost a decade
• How she went from hiding her condition to running 10k and raising over £1,000 for the PMDD Project
• Why she shows up on her platform with no makeup, in tears, no shower — and why that rawness matters
• The advice she'd give her 13-year-old self
• A message for every parent watching their daughter struggle behind a closed bedroom door

This one is for the women who've been told "it's all in your head." For the mums trying to understand their daughters. For anyone who's ever felt like a burden when really, they just needed someone to sit beside them and ask if they wanted a cup of tea.

Katie's story is a reminder: you are not crazy, you are not alone, and you absolutely have to advocate for yourself.

Connect with Katie: Follow Katie on TikTok and Instagram: @pmdddiary_

Resources mentioned: The PMDD Project — research, advocacy, and awareness for PMDD

Lillie's Story: Surviving a Narcissist, Trusting Your Gut & Walking Away 8 Months Pregnant

In this powerful and deeply honest episode, Stacey sits down with Lillie, founder of Salves Skincare, who shares her raw and unfiltered story of surviving a narcissistic relationship and rebuilding her life from the ground up.

Lillie opens up about how it all started — the designer clothes, the fancy car, the dream man who lavished her with gifts and made her feel like the most special woman in the world. And then slowly, almost invisibly, the drip, drip, drip began. The fly-away comments. The isolation. The OCD-level control. The role reversal that left her questioning her own sanity.

By the time she was eight months pregnant with her second child, Lillie had been gaslit into believing she was the problem. Until one morning, locked in her downstairs toilet with her partner's phone, she found the email that confirmed what her gut had been screaming all along.

This conversation is for every woman who has ever felt isolated, doubted herself, or wondered if she was the crazy one. It is for the woman who is still in it, still questioning, still trying to make sense of why she feels so unhappy in a life that "looks" perfect from the outside.

In this episode we talk about:

• How narcissists target empaths and the patterns to watch for
• The drip-feed effect of emotional abuse and why it's so hard to spot
• Gaslighting, isolation and the role reversal that strips you of your confidence
• Why your gut instinct is one of the most powerful tools you have
• How Lillie found the courage to leave, eight months pregnant with a toddler in tow
• Rebuilding your identity, your boundaries and your life on your own terms
• Finding real love after surviving the worst
• Lillie's non-negotiable boundary speech on her first date with her now-husband

Lillie's message to any woman listening who knows this is her story: "Just leave. However bad you think it might be, just leave. It only gets worse from there. The only way is up."

This is a must-listen for any woman who needs the reminder that her gut is right, her worth is not up for negotiation, and she is never as stuck as she thinks she is.