Experienced Wirral life coach and published author Alison Blackler has been offering her wisdom to LBN readers since 2017 and is now to present her own radio show. Tony McDonough reports
Wirral life coach and published author Alison Blackler is to offer her successful brand of self-help therapy to radio listeners in the borough with a new show starting in January 2022.
Alison, who has been writing self-help articles for LBN for almost five years, is the founder of 2minds which she established in 2010. Prior to that she had worked for the NHS for 24 years where she supported people who had a range of mental and emotional issues including domestic abuse and drugs and alcohol addictions.
During her career she has trained as a counsellor and CBT therapist, a Master NLP Practitioner and a Clean Language Coach. Via 2minds she has worked one-to-one with many individual clients and delivered leadership and team programmes for large corporates such as BMW, Sainsbury’s. She has also worked in schools and prisons.
During the pandemic she has published her first two books – A Path Travelled – how to make sense of your life and A Path Travelled – how to make sense of relationships. They both draw Alison’s professional and personal experiences. At times in her own life she has struggled with low self-doubt.
Taking on the radio show, which will be broadcast on Wirral Wave Radio from early in the New Year, is part of her own journey and is about “pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying something new”.
She explained: “Many of us have times when we are holding ourselves back and we feel like we are just not on the right path. We know we could be happier and more fulfilled. We can feel stuck, dissatisfied and not making the right decisions or choices. We can feel anxious, emotional and overwhelmed.
“This can lead to us feeling frustrated, we procrastinate, and our minds have negative thoughts. This is because our minds are a powerful and complex piece of kit, and the challenge is that it doesn’t come with an instruction manual.
“When we are able to understand our thoughts, feelings and behaviours then we will feel so much happier, and we can make positive changes. If we can do this, it will allow us to feel more content, more fulfilled and empowered which helps us create better relationships, make positive decisions and feel motivated.”
Each show will comprise an hour of sharing experiences, asking thought-provoking questions and discussing tools and techniques to help you make sense of your life. It will be an upbeat, safe place to chat about all things that challenge us as humans in the 21st century.
The show will be played out on a day of the week yet too be announced and replayed twice more across the week. Alison will bring on special guests and can chat through issues such as relationships, grief, mental health and many more common topics.
Listeners can get in touch with ideas for guests, or in fact we welcome guests putting themselves forward. Alison added: “The show will have a loose structure. There will be a theme for each episode and the theme will link through to the carefully selected music, the guests and ‘The Quote of the show’.
“We want it to be fun, and in fact a bit of a laugh. We are not aiming for a perfectly polished show. The plan is it will be chatty, informative and upbeat. We will play uplifting tunes and listeners can message in with suggestions.”
Alison will be accompanied by George Collings as her ‘wing man’. George is the much needed technical and production side of the show. He himself is a musician and passionate about music.
Wirral Wave Radio is Wirral’s internet community station. Since 2019 it has broadcast a variety of shows, supporting local organisations and promoting local talent. It is a not-for-profit run by volunteers.
Throughout the pandemic, despite no Government funding, it has continued to be a vital resource to the communities sharing news, boosting morale and playing fantastic music 24/7. There is a show for everyone. Every style of music, from blues, jazz, country to dance anthems. There are also talk shows such The Weekender and Sunday Socials.
“For more than 20 years now, I have helped hundreds of people to make sense of their lives, and this experience led me to write two books,” said Alison.
“I really want to share my skills and expertise and link it with my own personal and professional journey through the radio. Everyone at the station is so friendly and I am really excited to join the team.”
Alison, George and all at Wirral Wave Radio love to hear from the listeners. You can find Wirral Wave Radio on www.wirralwave.co.uk