Dandelion Tales Fri, 09 Oct 2026 11:49:07 +0100 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2653345 en-us © 2026 Dandelion Tales yes 0b9d73fc-80fe-588f-a687-1c1d959986ae Pollie Rafferty episodic true About Dandelion Tales

Have you ever picked a dandelion clock and blown the seeds into the wind, with no idea where they’d land?

Stories work the same way. Wherever they land, they take root. They shape how we see ourselves, each other, and what we believe is possible.

Dandelion Tales is a podcast about the stories behind the stories: the woman, the business, and the tales themselves.

What you’ll hear

  • Women telling their own stories, in their own words, about their lives and their work.
  • Old stories looked at afresh. Where they came from, how they were reshaped over generations, and what that has cost women and men alike.
  • The stories we tell ourselves, and how to change the ones that are holding us back.
  • New stories, because pointing out what’s wrong is only half the job.

This isn’t about swapping one unfair story for another. It’s about a world where people are judged on what they can do, not their gender, and that’s better for everyone.

New episodes every Friday.

About Pollie

I’m Pollie Rafferty, a storyteller first and the founder of Change the Script™.

For years I believed a story about myself: that I was broken, that I didn’t fit, and that nobody wanted to hear what I had to say. I grew up as an undiagnosed neurodivergent girl, at a time when autism and ADHD weren’t recognised in girls.

Understanding that story, and where it came from, changed everything. I now hold a diploma in narrative therapy and a higher education certificate in psychology, and I bring a lifetime of experience and an autistic hyperfocus on storytelling, its history and its effect on society.

Today I work as a storytelling, speaking and empowerment coach, helping women find their voice and get their stories heard.

Come and join in

]]> Buzzsprout (https://www.buzzsprout.com) Pollie Rafferty https://storage.buzzsprout.com/apggi4bs2gjyogyp0uoj8ehb1b7u?.jpg Dandelion Tales https://www.buzzsprout.com/2653345 What I Mean When I Say "Men" What I Mean When I Say "Men" "Not all men." Pollie knows, and she says she wouldn't be married to one if it were.

In this episode of Dandelion Tales, Pollie Rafferty of Change the Script™ sets out what she means when she talks about men, women and the patriarchy. She explains why the old stories are hurting men too.

She talks about bystanders, and why good men speaking up matters so much. She looks at how social media algorithms keep feeding us the same stories until we believe that's how the whole world thinks. And she looks at the "breadwinner" story that still tells men they must earn and women they must cope.

Pollie also shares how she and her husband divide up home life according to their strengths. She explains why words like "helping" and "babysitting" keep the old story alive, and what "weaponised incompetence" really means.

In this episode:

  • Why challenging misogyny is everyone's job
  • How the patriarchy benefits only a small minority, and costs most men as well
  • Why sharing your experience helps other women feel less alone and lifts the shame
  • How honest conversations about strengths can ease resentment and burnout at home

This one is unscripted and from the heart, and Pollie shares her own opinions along the way.

📚 Mentioned in this episode: Breadwinners: and other power imbalances that influence your life by Melissa Hogenboom
https://canongate.co.uk/books/5277-breadwinners-and-other-power-imbalances-that-influence-your-life/

⚠️ Content note: this episode discusses rape, sexual violence and domestic abuse. Please look after yourself while listening. In the UK, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free and open 24 hours a day on 0808 2000 247, and the Rape Crisis 24/7 support line is 0808 500 2222.

Dandelion Tales is brought to you by Change the Script™: changing internal stories for a better future.
 🔗 www.changethescript.org


Sources:

Intro music By my 13 year old Jacob Rafferty 

Pollie Rafferty Dip.Narrative.therapy, Cert HE Psychology is known globally as the Speakers Storyteller. She is a neurodiverse entrepreneur, author, storyteller, international speaker, and founder of Change the Script and Dandelion Tales podcast 


Pollie discovered performance storytelling in 2004 while overcoming crippling anxiety that had kept her trapped in her own home. Since then she has spent years researching storytelling and narratology, trained with a former UK Storytelling Laureate, and developed the STAR Storytelling System — her own original framework for helping women find and share their stories with confidence.


She has lived experience of neurodivergence (autistic, ADHD), fibromyalgia, hypermobile EDS, anxiety and depression — and has used the power of story to change her own life from the inside out. She knows what it feels like to be silenced. And she knows the way through.


https://www.facebook.com/pollieraffertychangethescript/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollie-rafferty/

]]> "Not all men." Pollie knows, and she says she wouldn't be married to one if it were.

In this episode of Dandelion Tales, Pollie Rafferty of Change the Script™ sets out what she means when she talks about men, women and the patriarchy. She explains why the old stories are hurting men too.

She talks about bystanders, and why good men speaking up matters so much. She looks at how social media algorithms keep feeding us the same stories until we believe that's how the whole world thinks. And she looks at the "breadwinner" story that still tells men they must earn and women they must cope.

Pollie also shares how she and her husband divide up home life according to their strengths. She explains why words like "helping" and "babysitting" keep the old story alive, and what "weaponised incompetence" really means.

In this episode:

  • Why challenging misogyny is everyone's job
  • How the patriarchy benefits only a small minority, and costs most men as well
  • Why sharing your experience helps other women feel less alone and lifts the shame
  • How honest conversations about strengths can ease resentment and burnout at home

This one is unscripted and from the heart, and Pollie shares her own opinions along the way.

📚 Mentioned in this episode: Breadwinners: and other power imbalances that influence your life by Melissa Hogenboom
https://canongate.co.uk/books/5277-breadwinners-and-other-power-imbalances-that-influence-your-life/

⚠️ Content note: this episode discusses rape, sexual violence and domestic abuse. Please look after yourself while listening. In the UK, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free and open 24 hours a day on 0808 2000 247, and the Rape Crisis 24/7 support line is 0808 500 2222.

Dandelion Tales is brought to you by Change the Script™: changing internal stories for a better future.
 🔗 www.changethescript.org


Sources:

Intro music By my 13 year old Jacob Rafferty 

Pollie Rafferty Dip.Narrative.therapy, Cert HE Psychology is known globally as the Speakers Storyteller. She is a neurodiverse entrepreneur, author, storyteller, international speaker, and founder of Change the Script and Dandelion Tales podcast 


Pollie discovered performance storytelling in 2004 while overcoming crippling anxiety that had kept her trapped in her own home. Since then she has spent years researching storytelling and narratology, trained with a former UK Storytelling Laureate, and developed the STAR Storytelling System — her own original framework for helping women find and share their stories with confidence.


She has lived experience of neurodivergence (autistic, ADHD), fibromyalgia, hypermobile EDS, anxiety and depression — and has used the power of story to change her own life from the inside out. She knows what it feels like to be silenced. And she knows the way through.


https://www.facebook.com/pollieraffertychangethescript/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollie-rafferty/

]]> Pollie Rafferty Buzzsprout-19900084 Fri, 02 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0100 1167 1 3 full true From "Broken" to Storyteller: Getting to Know Pollie" From "Broken" to Storyteller: Getting to Know Pollie" For years, Pollie believed a story about herself: that she was broken, that she didn't fit, and that nobody wanted to hear what she had to say.

In this episode of Dandelion Tales, Pollie Rafferty of Change the Script™ tells you more about who she is. She grew up as an undiagnosed neurodivergent girl, at a time when autism and ADHD weren't recognised in girls. She talks about friendship, rejection and people-pleasing, and about the years when that "not good enough" story kept getting stronger. She also describes the night her friends dragged her to a gathering where a storyteller hushed the whole room, and how that moment changed everything.

Along the way, Pollie looks at why humans are wired for story. She covers 40,000 years of tales told around the fire, why EastEnders keeps us hooked, and the old dandelion warning that turns out to be true. She also explains why "cleaning up" an old story can take away its meaning.

In this episode:

  • How the stories we tell ourselves grow stronger every time we look for evidence
  • Why we have always used stories to make sense of the world
  • Why everyday stories from everyday women matter more than climbing Everest

Episodes are about 20 minutes long, so they fit nicely into the school run, the housework or your commute.

🌼 Would you like to be a guest? Pollie would love to hear your story. She'll be in Birmingham at the end of October collecting stories from people she meets.

⚠️ Content note: this episode includes brief mentions of grooming, a controlling and abusive relationship, mental health struggles, and alcohol and drug use. Please look after yourself while listening. If you're affected by domestic abuse in the UK, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free and open 24 hours a day on 0808 2000 247.

Dandelion Tales is brought to you by Change the Script™: changing internal stories for a better future.
 🔗 www.changethescript.org

Intro Music By Jacob Rafferty 

Intro music By my 13 year old Jacob Rafferty 

Pollie Rafferty Dip.Narrative.therapy, Cert HE Psychology is known globally as the Speakers Storyteller. She is a neurodiverse entrepreneur, author, storyteller, international speaker, and founder of Change the Script and Dandelion Tales podcast 


Pollie discovered performance storytelling in 2004 while overcoming crippling anxiety that had kept her trapped in her own home. Since then she has spent years researching storytelling and narratology, trained with a former UK Storytelling Laureate, and developed the STAR Storytelling System — her own original framework for helping women find and share their stories with confidence.


She has lived experience of neurodivergence (autistic, ADHD), fibromyalgia, hypermobile EDS, anxiety and depression — and has used the power of story to change her own life from the inside out. She knows what it feels like to be silenced. And she knows the way through.


https://www.facebook.com/pollieraffertychangethescript/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollie-rafferty/

]]> For years, Pollie believed a story about herself: that she was broken, that she didn't fit, and that nobody wanted to hear what she had to say.

In this episode of Dandelion Tales, Pollie Rafferty of Change the Script™ tells you more about who she is. She grew up as an undiagnosed neurodivergent girl, at a time when autism and ADHD weren't recognised in girls. She talks about friendship, rejection and people-pleasing, and about the years when that "not good enough" story kept getting stronger. She also describes the night her friends dragged her to a gathering where a storyteller hushed the whole room, and how that moment changed everything.

Along the way, Pollie looks at why humans are wired for story. She covers 40,000 years of tales told around the fire, why EastEnders keeps us hooked, and the old dandelion warning that turns out to be true. She also explains why "cleaning up" an old story can take away its meaning.

In this episode:

  • How the stories we tell ourselves grow stronger every time we look for evidence
  • Why we have always used stories to make sense of the world
  • Why everyday stories from everyday women matter more than climbing Everest

Episodes are about 20 minutes long, so they fit nicely into the school run, the housework or your commute.

🌼 Would you like to be a guest? Pollie would love to hear your story. She'll be in Birmingham at the end of October collecting stories from people she meets.

⚠️ Content note: this episode includes brief mentions of grooming, a controlling and abusive relationship, mental health struggles, and alcohol and drug use. Please look after yourself while listening. If you're affected by domestic abuse in the UK, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free and open 24 hours a day on 0808 2000 247.

Dandelion Tales is brought to you by Change the Script™: changing internal stories for a better future.
 🔗 www.changethescript.org

Intro Music By Jacob Rafferty 

Intro music By my 13 year old Jacob Rafferty 

Pollie Rafferty Dip.Narrative.therapy, Cert HE Psychology is known globally as the Speakers Storyteller. She is a neurodiverse entrepreneur, author, storyteller, international speaker, and founder of Change the Script and Dandelion Tales podcast 


Pollie discovered performance storytelling in 2004 while overcoming crippling anxiety that had kept her trapped in her own home. Since then she has spent years researching storytelling and narratology, trained with a former UK Storytelling Laureate, and developed the STAR Storytelling System — her own original framework for helping women find and share their stories with confidence.


She has lived experience of neurodivergence (autistic, ADHD), fibromyalgia, hypermobile EDS, anxiety and depression — and has used the power of story to change her own life from the inside out. She knows what it feels like to be silenced. And she knows the way through.


https://www.facebook.com/pollieraffertychangethescript/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollie-rafferty/

]]> Pollie Rafferty Buzzsprout-19884148 Tue, 29 Sep 2026 22:00:00 +0100 1209 full false Blowing the First Seed Blowing the First Seed Have you ever picked a dandelion clock and blown the seeds into the wind, with no idea where they'd land? Stories work the same way. Wherever they land, they take root and grow into something useful.

In this first episode of Dandelion Tales, Pollie Rafferty of Change the Script™ explains who she is and why she's starting this podcast. It's about the stories behind the stories: the women, the businesses, and the tales that have been reshaped by patriarchy and misogyny over the generations. It's also about finding and sharing stories that can give our young people the hope and connection that old fairy tales no longer offer.

Pollie tells how storytelling found her in 2005, when anxiety and depression had kept her inside her own home. She talks about the first time she stepped onto a stage, and about the old tales of strong, resourceful women that helped her. She also shares a secret about the Arabian Nights that most people don't know.

In this episode:

  • Why a "weed" is really one of the most useful plants on the planet, and what that says about stories
  • The stories behind women, businesses, and history, and why they matter now
  • How sharing your "ordinary" story can help someone else feel less alone

This podcast is for anyone who wants to help future generations, and for every woman who has ever felt her story wasn't worth telling.

🌼 Subscribe, and tell Pollie what you'd like to hear or what you'd like to know. She loves to research your questions.

Dandelion Tales is brought to you by Change the Script™: changing internal stories for a better future.
 🔗 www.changethescript.org

Intro music By my 13 year old Jacob Rafferty 

Pollie Rafferty Dip.Narrative.therapy, Cert HE Psychology is known globally as the Speakers Storyteller. She is a neurodiverse entrepreneur, author, storyteller, international speaker, and founder of Change the Script and Dandelion Tales podcast 


Pollie discovered performance storytelling in 2004 while overcoming crippling anxiety that had kept her trapped in her own home. Since then she has spent years researching storytelling and narratology, trained with a former UK Storytelling Laureate, and developed the STAR Storytelling System — her own original framework for helping women find and share their stories with confidence.


She has lived experience of neurodivergence (autistic, ADHD), fibromyalgia, hypermobile EDS, anxiety and depression — and has used the power of story to change her own life from the inside out. She knows what it feels like to be silenced. And she knows the way through.


https://www.facebook.com/pollieraffertychangethescript/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollie-rafferty/

]]> Have you ever picked a dandelion clock and blown the seeds into the wind, with no idea where they'd land? Stories work the same way. Wherever they land, they take root and grow into something useful.

In this first episode of Dandelion Tales, Pollie Rafferty of Change the Script™ explains who she is and why she's starting this podcast. It's about the stories behind the stories: the women, the businesses, and the tales that have been reshaped by patriarchy and misogyny over the generations. It's also about finding and sharing stories that can give our young people the hope and connection that old fairy tales no longer offer.

Pollie tells how storytelling found her in 2005, when anxiety and depression had kept her inside her own home. She talks about the first time she stepped onto a stage, and about the old tales of strong, resourceful women that helped her. She also shares a secret about the Arabian Nights that most people don't know.

In this episode:

  • Why a "weed" is really one of the most useful plants on the planet, and what that says about stories
  • The stories behind women, businesses, and history, and why they matter now
  • How sharing your "ordinary" story can help someone else feel less alone

This podcast is for anyone who wants to help future generations, and for every woman who has ever felt her story wasn't worth telling.

🌼 Subscribe, and tell Pollie what you'd like to hear or what you'd like to know. She loves to research your questions.

Dandelion Tales is brought to you by Change the Script™: changing internal stories for a better future.
 🔗 www.changethescript.org

Intro music By my 13 year old Jacob Rafferty 

Pollie Rafferty Dip.Narrative.therapy, Cert HE Psychology is known globally as the Speakers Storyteller. She is a neurodiverse entrepreneur, author, storyteller, international speaker, and founder of Change the Script and Dandelion Tales podcast 


Pollie discovered performance storytelling in 2004 while overcoming crippling anxiety that had kept her trapped in her own home. Since then she has spent years researching storytelling and narratology, trained with a former UK Storytelling Laureate, and developed the STAR Storytelling System — her own original framework for helping women find and share their stories with confidence.


She has lived experience of neurodivergence (autistic, ADHD), fibromyalgia, hypermobile EDS, anxiety and depression — and has used the power of story to change her own life from the inside out. She knows what it feels like to be silenced. And she knows the way through.


https://www.facebook.com/pollieraffertychangethescript/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollie-rafferty/

]]> Pollie Rafferty Buzzsprout-19880706 Tue, 29 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0100 344 full false