The Full Stop blog

Find updates, reflections, and guidance on topics related to involuntary childlessness and our episodes.

If you're exploring what it’s like to be childless not by choice, or are already engaged and looking for connection, this page is a supportive, welcoming resource. Start with the most recent entry and scroll back to find posts, or use the search below.

Podcast episode Berenice Howard-Smith Podcast episode Berenice Howard-Smith

Let's talk about work

We spent an extraordinary amount of time earning a living. You maybe in an office, factory or a key worker. Employed or working for yourself. Perhaps you left the office and set up alone only to find that there’s other forms of inequality (Digital Mums anyone?!) We’d love to hear from you about the challenge you’ve faced or continue to experience.

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

A cuppa with... Stephanie Joy Phillips from World Childless Week

Get to know our guests and us, our alternative Q&A! We’re catching up with friends, past and present to ask them about the important stuff in life. Y’know… cake, tea and biscuits. Here’s guest Stephanie Joy Phillips sharing a secret about scones!

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

A cuppa with... Bindi Shah

Get to know our guests and us, our alternative Q&A! We’re catching up with friends, past and present to ask them about the important stuff in life. Y’know… cake, tea and biscuits. Here’s guest Bindi Shah talking about gluten-free cakes and rituals.

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

Downloads or listeners? Celebrating 10k

The download numbers for any podcast are not the whole picture and only form a backdrop. The feedback received from listeners is more valuable than numbers can ever be and we love to hear from you.

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

A cuppa with... Berenice Smith

Get to know our guests and us, our alternative Q&A! We’re catching up with friends, past and present to ask them about the important stuff in life. Y’know… cake, tea and biscuits. Here’s presenter Berenice talking about scones and living a creative life.

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

A cuppa with... Helen Segal

Here’s our guest Helen Segal chatting about how she starts her day with mediation and all about Smash Books. You can listen to Helen on our podcast with Michael and Berenice here.

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

A cuppa with... Sarah Lawrence

Get to know our guests and us in our alternative Q&A! We’re catching up with friends, past and present to ask them about the important stuff in life. Y’know… cake, tea and biscuits.

Here’s presenter Sarah telling us all about direct talking and rock cakes!

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

Happy International Women’s Day and why we're challenging the stats

Happy International Women’s Day! Did you know that women make up just 1 in 3 of podcast presenters? On this IWD we want to thank all our female guests as it turns out men are more likely to be podcast guests too and say hurrah for going against that trend too! Special thanks to…

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

Why you need to be ‘Living The Life Unexpected' by Jody Day #LTLU

We’re always delighted to hear about new resources for our community. Some are long standing ones that have served us all well. So we - Sarah, Michael and Berenice - were delighted to hear that Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women was revising ‘Living The Life Unexpected’ and asked us to endorse it last year. Bluebird (an imprint of PanMacmillan) will be publishing this updated edition on 19th March.

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Mother's Day episode, can you help?

We confess that we’ve had a bit of an episode shuffle as we wanted to record an episode about Mother’s Day which falls in March in the UK. It’s the first time we’ve talked Mother’s Day on the podcast as we launched after the event last year. Can you help us? Read on to find out.

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

Stage fright and awe

I’ve got to admit that when we started this podcast, I had thought we’d largely be talking to ourselves initially, and so when I see Michael excitedly sharing the stats, showing that we’ve reached places like Cyprus, San Marino and Lativa, I have to take a deep breath, not just to keep the stage fright in check, but also because I have to admit to feeling a sense of awe.

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

Special offer from Empowering Childless

To help make 2020 your best year yet, Anne Barratt from Empowering Health in Sydney, Australia is offering a 15% discount on her emotional healing and wellbeing services. Anne specialises in helping people who are childless not by choice, and is CNBC herself.

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Berenice Howard-Smith Berenice Howard-Smith

Greetings from down under from Michael

Many of you would have seen the horrific scenes from the fires and the devastation that came with it. As the fires are coming under control, the sky is beginning to clear and there are many stories that warm the heart, showing us that, in this cynical world, there is humanity and lots of it. 

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The power of our community

Watch Michael’s Facebook Live in which he reflects on this year and how we’ve found strength from our community.

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