Slay Your Dragons - Malcolm Stern

About Slay Your Dragons - Malcolm Stern

To become equal to the dream sewn within us, our heart must break open and usually must break more than once. That’s why they say that the only heart worth having is a broken heart. For only in breaking can it open fully and reveal what is hidden within." - Michael Meade This is a series of podcasts based on the premise explored in Malcolm Stern’s acclaimed book of the same name, that adversity provides us with the capacity to develop previously unexplored depths and is , in effect , a crucible for self reflection and awareness. Malcolm lost his daughter Melissa to suicide in 2014. It slowly dawned on him over the following few years that he was being educated and an opportunity was being presented where new insights helped him forge a path through his grief and despair. As part of that cathartic journey, he wrote “ Slay Your Dragons with Compassion ( Watkins 2020 ) where he was able to describe some of the practices that had helped him shed light on a way through the darkness. Having run courses for a number of years for Onlinevents, he entered into a collaboration with John and Sandra Wilson, to put together a series of podcasts which featured interviews with people who had found enrichment through facing into, and ultimately overcoming adversity. The intention was to provide inspiration for its listeners to map out and challenge their own adversity. Some of his guests are well known - others less so, but each has a story to tell of courage, insight and spiritual and emotional intelligence. More than 50 podcasts have been published so far and include Jo Berry’s moving story of transforming her fathers murder by the IRA in the Brighton bomb blast ( Sir Anthony Berry) by engaging with Pat McGee ( the man who planted the bomb) and finding forgiveness and meaning and an unlikely friendship. Andrew Patterson was an international cricketer who has found purpose and meaning after a genetic illness paralysed him and ended his sporting career. Jay Birch was an armed robber and meth addict , who woke up to his true self and now mentors and coaches other troubled individuals and Jim McCarty, a founder member of the Yardbirds , shares his story of his wife’s death from cancer and the deep spirituality he found in the wake of her passing. All the podcasts are presented by Malcolm Stern. Who has worked as a group and individual psychotherapist for more than 30 years. He is Co-Founder of Alternatives at St James’ Church in London and runs groups internationally.

Publisher

Malcolm Stern

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

10 Nov 2023

Latest episode

25 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

99 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   25 Jun 2026

   From Childhood Trauma To Purposeful Longevity with Anna Finlayson

   Send us Fan Mail (https://www.buzzsprout.com/2257595/fan_mail/new) A five-year-old watching her parents shout and thinking “it doesn’t have to be like this” can grow into an adult who makes conflict resolution her life’s work. That’s where our conversation with Anna begins, and it quickly deepens into the realities that shaped her: divorce, a mother leaving at a pivotal age, sexual abuse, and the survival choices children make when the system around them is unsafe. We speak honestly about trauma, insecure attachment, suicidal feelings and the long echo these experiences can have in relationships, self-trust and the ability to feel at home in your own body. From there we follow the thread of healing as a lived practice rather than a tidy story. Anna shares how studying psychology and sociology, entering counselling, and spending time in survivors’ groups helped her break patterns like codependency and self-erasure. We reflect on the “unbroken part” that keeps people moving, and why presence, compassion and language matter so much when someone is suffering. If you care about trauma recovery, emotional resilience and how to rebuild a sense of self after abuse, this dialogue stays grounded in what that work actually looks like over decades. We also turn towards purpose and longevity, including Blue Zones research and the idea that health is not only diet and exercise but also community and meaning. We challenge the cultural messages aimed at women about ageing, beauty and “giving up”, and we explore why soulful purpose can be the most sustaining kind of energy. If the conversation resonates, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave us a review so more listeners can find Slay Your Dragons With Compassion. This Podcast is sponsored by Onlinevents (https://app.onlinevents.co.uk/)

2. 

   19 Jun 2026

   Finding A Way Through Child Loss When Society Looks Away with Claire Greenland

   Send us Fan Mail Someone asks, “Do you have children?” and suddenly you are standing at a crossroads between politeness and truth. That is where this conversation begins: a party, two strangers, and the quiet moment when we both admit our children took their own lives. My guest, Claire Greenland, speaks with disarming clarity about suicide bereavement, child loss, and what it takes to stay human when the room does not know what to do with your grief. We dig into the part people rarely ...

3. 

   15 Jun 2026

   Vulnerability Turns Grief Into A Wider Heart with Joanna Long

   Send us Fan Mail Spiritual awakening is often marketed as a constant high, but what happens when it feels more like an unravelling? I sit down with mentor Joanna Long to talk about awakening as the unconscious becoming conscious, the body as a truth detector, and why real growth rarely lets us bypass the hard parts. From the start, Joanna reframes spirituality as something we bring down into our lives, not something we use to float above them. Joanna shares her own dramatic catalysts: ...

Who has been a guest on Slay Your Dragons - Malcolm Stern

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Chloe Goodchild
• Alina Panteleev
• Jonathan Sattin
• Martin Pollecoff
• John Wilson

Podcast Authority Score: 42 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

74

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

27

Contact Slay Your Dragons - Malcolm Stern

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.