Stories and Stanza
Stories and Stanza is a podcast for curious minds hosted by Abhra Pal - poet, storyteller & public speaker.
The show is charting in the top mental health podcasts across the US, UK, and Canada.
Through two distinct series, the show explores the human experience with honesty, depth, and literary intention.
📖 Between The Lines brings intimate conversations with writers and creators — uncovering the vulnerability behind their craft, the stories that shaped them, and the creative struggles that lead to transformation.
🎙️ Fail With Me features raw, unfiltered conversations with doctors, psychologists, and mental health advocates exploring emotional intelligence, resilience, and the courage it takes to rebuild. Because awareness builds bridges — and people suffer silently until someone speaks first.
Episodes
142 episodes
Why "Use Your Words" Doesn't Work: How Children Learn Emotional Language | Dr David Marcus
"Use your words," we tell our children. But what if they don't have the words yet? In this Fail With Me conversation, clinical psychologist Dr David S. Marcus explains why emotional language is a skill that has to be built, not something childr...
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Why We Repeat Patterns We Know Are Hurting Us: Shadow Journaling, Self-Acceptance and the Reveal, Reclaim, Rewrite Method with Oliver Mann
Why doesn't self-awareness lead to change? Shadow journaling coach Oliver Mann, author of Shadow Journaling: A Field Guide to Personal Alchemy, explains why self-acceptance is the missing step between knowing your patterns and changing them.
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Navigating Redundancy: Grief, Identity and Finding Yourself Again
What happens to your sense of self when the job you gave years to suddenly no longer needs you? In this Fail With Me episode, Abhra sits down with Claire, a fellow writer, for an honest conversation about redundancy, job loss and the quiet grie...
Can You Predict How People Will Behave? Jim Marshall on Septemics
#StoriesAndStanza #Septemics #HumanBehaviour #SelfImprovement #EmotionalIntelligence"95% of the problems in industrialised society are because people don't understand people, including themselves." That conviction sits at the heart of S...
Art Is an Act of Survival — Dancer Alexandra Beller on Aloneness, Healing & Finding Your Voice
GNiYQGXxQongx5BIPosv"This is what it feels like to be alive. Does anybody recognise it?" Dancer and choreographer Alexandra Beller believes that's the question at the heart of all art — and the answer is what makes us feel less alone.
From Trauma to the Page | A Nurse's Journey Through Writing & Forgiveness — Nancy Jasin Ensley
#WritingAsHealing #PTSD #MentalHealth #StoriesAndStanza #Resilience"I decided I didn't want to be afraid all the time." That one decision changed everything for Nancy Jasin Ensley — and it might change something for you too.In thi...
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What If Your Happiness Isn't Yours? Redefining Happiness With Charu Moorjani
What does it mean when your life looks perfect on the outside but something feels deeply off inside?In this episode of Fail With Me, I sit down with Charu Moorjani — Australian author of The Happiness Pathway, mindset coach, and wellbein...
Moonee Valley Writing Group on Craft, Community, Resilience & New Work
What happens when you pass a mic around a library table and ask four writers why they keep showing up?This is the first ever in-person episode of Stories and Stanza — recorded live at Sam Merrifield Library in Moonee Ponds with the M...
Writing Scary Books: What I Learned from NaNoWriMo
In this episode of Stories and Stanza, host speaks with writer Diana Gunn about her writing journey from starting at age eight and using NaNoWriMo to build discipline and finish projects to publishing five books, including her recent Gothic hor...
From Cancer Diagnosis to Bestselling Novelist
In this episode of Stories and Stanza, I sit down with writer, musician, and cancer fighter Ray Hartjen to talk about his brand new novel, The Iranian Fiasco — a Tom Clancy-inspired espionage thriller published on April 7th and available wherev...
Eradicating Loneliness Through Connection, Compassion, and Boundaries
Relationship coach, YouTube creator, and author Stacy Rocklein joins Stories and Stanza to discuss her mission to eradicate loneliness by helping people feel seen, known, and understood in their relationships. A former math teacher turned coach...
Solving Dyslexia: The Method That Jumps Kids 8 Grade Levels in Months
#dyslexia #neurodiversity #learningdisabilityRussell Van Brocklen, the Dyslexia Professor, reveals the writing-based method that helped students jump 8 grade levels in months — at less than 1% of the cost of private dyslexia schools. If ...
Why Your Political Views Aren't Fully Your Own: Personality, Conditioning & Filter Bubbles
What if your political identity has less to do with facts and more to do with personality and conditioning? In this episode of Stories and Stanza's Fail With Me series, host Abhra sits down with psychologist Jennifer Cox to unpack the psycholog...
Why Love Languages Aren't Enough — Missing Skill That Actually Saves Relationships | Laziena Hodge
We know our love languages. We've read about attachment styles. We've even set boundaries. So why do we still struggle to stay connected when conflict hits?In this episode of Stories and Stanza, Laziena Hodge — relational intelligenc...
Why Men Suffer in Silence
What happens when men are told to toughen up, push through, and never ask for help? In this episode of Stories and Stanza — recorded in solidarity with Men's Mental Health Awareness Month — I sit down with Joelle Camille, somatic therapist, bod...
You Are Not Your Thoughts: Mindfulness, Leadership & Radical Acceptance | Dalida Turkovic | Fail With Me
What is mindfulness, really? And what happens when we confuse achieving with living?In this episode of Fail With Me — Stories and Stanza's series on mental health, resilience, and the messy, beautiful work of becoming — ...
How Do I Know What Kind of Help I Need?
What if the hardest part of getting help isn't the therapy itself — it's knowing where to start?In Part 2 of our conversation with counsellor and psychotherapist John Cuturilo, we go deeper into one of the most common questions people ca...
The Warning Signs We Miss: Robert Mahoney on Behavioral Threat Assessment
What if violence could be predicted — and stopped — before it ever happens? In this episode, we sit down with Robert Mahoney, founder of TVTP Solutions, who argues that there is no such thing as a random act of violence. Every attack follows a ...
The Dark Humor That Saved My Life in the Psych Ward
In this episode of Stories and Stanza, host Abhra sits down with Robert Rickelmann for an unflinching conversation about a life shaped by mental illness and addiction. Robert grew up with crippling anxiety — and discovered early on that alcohol...
This Artist Illustrates What OCD Actually Feels Like
In this episode, host sits down with writer, illustrator, and mental health advocate Mia Mason to explore her book Worry's Whispers — a collection of illustrated poem...
Manifestation Isn't About Wanting More—It's About This
In this episode of Stories and Stanza, host Abhra and guest David Allen Brown discuss reframing a “midlife crisis” as a midlife renaissance, exploring how depression can feel like numbness that can turn to despair. Brown shares his background a...
Migration, Belonging, and the Courage to Write
In this Stories and Stanza “Between the Lines” episode, host Abhra interviews writer Áine , an Irish immigrant living on the U.S. East Coast, about how journaling from age 14 evolved into publishing fiction and nonfiction. Áine describes feelin...
Mental Health Stigma, Misinformation, and Owning Your Flaws
Host Abhra speaks with Melbourne-based counselor and media creator John of Your Listener Counseling about reframing failure and reducing mental health stigma. John argues that society overemphasizes success, causing people to mislabel learning ...
Writing After Trauma: How Lived Experience Fuels Creative Writing
In this intimate conversation on Stories and Stanza, Teri shares how lived experience with trauma — including surviving a 14-year emotionally abusive marriage — became the foundation for her most authentic and powerful creative writing. If you'...
Haiti Never Left Her: Marissa Germain's Writing Journey
Marissa Germain, who lives in the DC area and whose family ties to Haiti shaped her work and writing. Germaine discusses her debut novel, It’s Always Mango Season, begun in early 2020 during COVID after leaving her job, and inspired by her time...
