The Letterbox Podcast

Some teachers stay with us long after we leave school.

Lily (@lm_london) writes a letter to her Year 6 teacher, Miss Wilson, who made her feel safe, believed in her and helped her realise what she was capable of. More than a decade later, Lily has never forgotten the impact she had on her life.

It’s a letter about the teachers who make a difference, the little moments that mean more than they realise, and the hope that one day,...

Dear Second Chance

Twenty-three years ago, James fell 18 feet onto a marble floor in Paris.

He was given a 3% chance of surviving.

After six weeks in a coma and months of rehabilitation, James had to learn how to walk, talk and do the everyday things most of us never think twice about. Some took years.

In this letter, James looks back at the accident that changed his life the second chance he was given.

It’s a letter about surviva...

Dear Future Me

A letter to the women she hopes to become.

Written from a busy chapter of life, this letter looks back at homelessness, illness, loneliness and the difficult years that came before — and the lessons that came from them.

It’s about letting go of old beliefs, learning to trust yourself, finding your way home, and building a life that feels like your own.

A letter about self-worth, personal growth, healing and l...

A letter to a best friend on her wedding day.

Liya, @softlyscribbed.by.l, writes to Zainy about friendship, growing up, girlhood, and true feelings she’s gone through watching someone she loves begin a new chapter.

It’s a letter that many will relate to, about the versions of ourselves we leave behind, the memories that stay with us, and loving someone enough to let them change.

Thank you, Liya, for sharing your words with...

Abby Stewart was sitting on the edge of her bed, desperate to take a satisfying breath.

Her chest felt tight. She was constantly yawning, sighing and trying to pull in more air — but the next breath never felt like enough. Her tests were normal, and she was told it was probably anxiety.

This is the letter Abby wrote to that younger version of herself, reflecting on the years that followed: discovering breathing pattern disorder...

In this episode of The Letterbox Podcast, Sirenity Phoenix shares a letter about two near-death experiences — and the spiritual awakening she believes followed the second.

The first came after a birthday night of heavy drinking and drug use, when she describes dying in hospital and encountering her late uncle. Years later, a serious car accident brought another experience of death, followed by what she describes as a profound ...

What would you write to the person you haven’t met yet?

Five years ago, Vera Lee wrote a letter to her future partner — someone she had yet to meet, but was already imagining a life with.

In this episode, I read her words about love, timing, distance, and the hope of finding someone whose life will become intertwined with yours.

The letter comes from Vera’s book, Feel Our Future, a collection of letters and thoughts ...

A letter about motherhood, the small talk we make with other mums, and all the things we often leave unsaid.

Kathryn @theshift.parenthood reflects on the mothers she has met on buses, at soft play, in parks and at baby groups — the brief conversations that stay on the surface, even when what we really want to ask is, how are you actually doing?

From sleep and Calpol to returning to work, exhaustion and the strange new world of ...

There are some stories that take a lifetime to tell.

In this episode of The Letterbox Podcast, Ira Blacker shares a deeply personal letter about his childhood, family, survival and the experiences that shaped the man he became.

Ira’s life would eventually take him into the heart of the rock and roll business. After beginning his career in the music industry in the 1960s, he co-founded American Talent International, one of the m...

Dear Mama.

Our final letter in this NICU Awareness Month mini series is a letter to the mother who kept showing up.

To the mum who learnt the medications, the appointments and the language of the hospital. Who held her baby through blood draws, wires and procedures, while trying to keep some sense of normality for her other child. Who was told she was strong and resilient, when really, she was simply doing what her babies needed her ...

To Medical Parents | NICU Awareness Week — Letter Six

For the sixth letter in our NICU Awareness Week series, Dr Katherine shares a letter to the parents living through the unimaginable: NICU and PICU parents, heart parents, and families whose children have been seriously ill.

Before sharing her original piece for Tiny Tickers, Katherine writes directly to other medical parents about fear, guilt, exhaustion, love, uncertainty a...

When you can’t hold your own baby, sometimes the people caring for them become the people who make it possible for you to step away, breathe, eat and sleep.

In the fifth letter of The Letterbox Podcast’s NICU Awareness Month series, @drkatherinewrites writes a heartfelt thank you to Susie, the PICU nurses and all the healthcare staff who cared for her daughter through an incredibly difficult time.

Although this is Katheri...

Letter 4 in the NICU awareness month mini series.

A Letter About Family, Serious Childhood Illness & The People Who Show Up.

Katherine writes a heartfelt letter to the grandparents who supported her family through 18 months of serious childhood illness, hospital stays and her daughter’s heart surgery.

She reflects on the complicated emotions of medical parenting, the helplessness of watching your child suffer, and the gran...

In the third letter of our NICU Awareness Month mini-series, Katherine (@drkatherwrites) writes to her husband about the experience of watching their daughter spend time in NICU with a congenital heart condition.

She writes about the fear of seeing your tiny baby so unwell, the impact of medical trauma on a family, and the way an experience neither parent could have imagined changed their marriage.

But most of all, this is a letter o...

In the second letter of The Letterbox Podcast’s seven-part NICU Awareness Month series, Katherine writes to her firstborn son.

He was just two and a half when his baby sister was born and unexpectedly became seriously ill. Instead of the arrival they had carefully planned, Katherine and her husband found themselves spending weeks in hospital, while their little boy was cared for at home, mostly by his grandparents.

This is a le...

September is NICU Awareness Month, and over the next seven days, The Letterbox Podcast is sharing seven letters from one family’s experience of neonatal care.

This first letter is written by Katherine, an NHS and private practice Clinical Psychologist, writer and mum of two, to her daughter — her baby.

Her daughter was diagnosed with serious congenital heart disease just hours after her emergency birth. She had stopped gr...

In this episode, Abigail Anne writes to Jackie — the girl who made her believe that perhaps she had found the kind of love she had been looking for- only to realise that she would never be loved the way she wanted.

Now, Abigail is with a woman who loves her openly and gives her the things she once wanted from Jackie. But driving past an old street, hearing a song, or remembering the smallest details can still bring it all bac...

In this short but beautifully nostalgic letter, ThePeculiarPoet looks back on being 17, sneaking into a music festival with friends and experiencing the kind of carefree teenage freedom that feels endless when you’re young.

Through memories of neon lights, glowsticks, music drifting through the woods and nights that seemed to exist outside the real world, this letter captures a feeling many of us recognise — looking back...

Fran is an adaptive amputee, disability advocate and someone who has faced a rare tumour diagnosis that changed the course of her life. In her letter, she reflects on what it means to navigate an unexpected new chapter, finding strength, adapting to change and learning to see possibility where she once saw uncertainty.

A heartfelt letter about resilience, identity and the things we discover about ourselves when life doesn’t go...