The Proper Mental Podcast

Tatton Spiller

Welcome to episode 121 with Tatton Spiller, who is the founder and director of Simple Politics, which is an online platform that aims to explain politics in a way that everyone can understand.

He previously worked as a teacher before starting Simple Politics in 2015.

Tatton has been interested in understanding politics from a young age and found campaigning to be a useful outlet for the anger he felt as a young man living with mental health conditions.

After going through a breakdown in 2014 Tatton would eventually be diagnosed with BPD and Bi-Polar Disorder with a little Depression and Anxiety sprinkled in for good measure.

In this episode we chat his early experiences with both politics and mental illness.

We chat about diagnosis, defining mental health, the good and bad bits of mental illness, music, literature and the chaos of keeping up with the news.

This is a wonderful conversation that goes absolutely everywhere except politics!

You can connect with Tatton via @simplepolitics or @tattonspiller.

Or stop by simplepolitics.co.uk or tattonspiller.co.uk

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Dr Lucy Foulkes

Welcome to episode 120 with Dr Lucy Foulkes is an academic psychologist at the University of Oxford who researches mental health and social development with expertise in adolescent and student mental health.

She is an honorary lecturer in psychology at UCL and her book ‘What Mental Illness Really Is (and what it isn’t) explores how we talk about mental health and mental illness and explains why we need to rethink the conversation around these things.

In this episode I chat to Lucy about her book and what inspired her to write it.

We chat about the language that is used to talk about mental health and mental illness and how the words we choose can have both a positive and negative impact.

We look at the need to distinguish between the 'normal' challenges of modern life and actual illness and discuss the medialisation of human emotions.

We chat about the good bits and the bad bits of mental health awareness and have a good look at what that even means and who that conversation helps.

We get in to social media, environment, parenting, diagnosis and everything in between.

This was a fascinating episode to record!  It’s a deep dive in to a topic that is not straightforward and it was great to get the chance to explore it with both nuance and compassion.

Follow her on Instagram @drlucyfoulkes and Twitter @lfoulkesy

Her website is www.lucyfoulkes.com and her book is available everywhere!

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Prof. Rory O’Connor

Welcome to episode 119 with Professor Rory O’Connor, who is an author, speaker and educator who has spent 25 years working in the field of suicide research and prevention.

He also leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory at Glasgow and is one of the leading suicide and self-harm research groups internationally.

In this episode I chat to Rory about suicide, suicidal thoughts and self-harm.

We look at some of the contributing factors to suicidal behaviour and we dismantle some of the common myths and misconceptions about suicide.

Rory also takes me through his journey in to this work and the personal reasons behind his passion for what he does.

And we chat about the research itself, what that looks like and why it’s can help people to understand something that can be almost impossible to understand.

This is a really important conversation and whichever side of the conversation you are on I think you will relate.

You can follow Rory on Twitter @suicideresearch or Instagram @oconnor_roryc.

His book ‘When It Is Darkest’ is available now and is highly recommended!

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Danny Gray

Welcome to episode 118 with Danny Gray, who is the founder of JAAQ and War Paint for men.

JAAQ (Just Ask A Question) is a free mental health platform providing interactive responses to over 50,000 questions on topics from depression to eating disorders to anxiety and addiction.

Danny has lived with Body Dysmorphia Disorder from a young age and one of the tools that helped him to manage this was make up. 

He found make up helped his confidence and positively influenced the way he felt about his appearance and that led him to launching War Paint, for men, the first ever cosmetic brand created specifically for men.

After appearing on Dragons Den, where he spoke openly about his experience with mental illness, he started to get asked a lot of questions about BDD and mental health in general and that is where the idea for JAAQ started to form.

In this episode I chat to Danny about BDD and the impact that it has had on his life.

We chat about some of the tool he uses on a daily basis to be able to live with BDD and we chat about how his experiences let to setting up both War Paint and JAAQ.

JAAQ is an incredible platform and the potential it has to reach and help anyone who needs it is huge!  It was amazing to chat to Danny and hear all about how he brought some of the world’s leading experts together to make it all happen.

You can access JAAQ via the website here JAAQ: The new mental health social media platform

And you can follow both Danny and JAAQ on social media @jaaqofficial or @danny.h.gray or @warpaintformen

Danny on Dragons Den: Dragons swoop over ‘flawless' men’s makeup biz | Dragons' Den - BBC - YouTube

Huge thanks to Svnty6 for the help with the sound catch him here: WORDSnBEATS oe @svnty6spoken

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Elliott Rae

Welcome to episode 117 with Elliott Rae, who is the founder of Music Football Fatherhood (MFF).

MFF is a parenting platform for men which is all about open conversations around fatherhood and has been described as the ‘Dad’s version of Mumsnet’ by the BBC.

After the traumatic birth of his daughter, Elliott struggled with his mental health but went without help for over a year.  He would eventually get the help he needed and be diagnosed with PTSD.

He started writing about his experiences as a new Dad and his experiences with mental health and his writing would go on to become the MFF platform and he has now supported thousands of Dads since starting in 2016.

He is now one of the UK’s most prominent speakers and writers on topics around fatherhood, masculinity, mental health, equal parenting and gender equality. 

In this episode I chat to Elliott about becoming a Dad and the impact that has had on all aspects of his life.

We chat about the birth of his daughter and the mental health challenges he faced afterwards and everything that led to him being diagnosed with PTSD.

We also chat about setting up MFF and the incredible work that they do and we chat about parenting, being dads, being husbands, masculinity and everything in between.

A lot of the things that we covered in this episode where very close to my own experiences with fatherhood and my mental health so it was amazing to chat to Elliott and shows just how important his work is.

Elliott is particularly active on Linkedin linkedin.com/in/elliott-rae-a3a469144

Connect with him on Instagram @iamElliottRae or his websites:

https://musicfootballfatherhood.com

https://elliottrae.com

You can watch his BBC documentary here: BBC iPlayer - We Are England - Series 1: Becoming Dad - Watford

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Angela Samata

Welcome to episode 116 with Angela Samata, who is an Arts Professional and a suicide awareness advocate.

Angela presented the BAFTA award nominated documentary ‘Life After Suicide’ which was shown on BBC1 and watched by more than 5 million people.

She made the film to challenge the stigma around mental illness and suicide after her partner took his own life.  The documentary describes her own experience, and that of her children, as she travelled the country speakers to others who have experienced the same type of loss.

I had the privilege of recording this episode in person and it was both moving and inspiring to chat to Angela about the film and the events that let to it being made.

We chat about the stigma that surrounds suicide and the challenges that come with this particular type of grief.

We also chat about mental health awareness, her decision to become an advocate and how these things have changed over the years that she has been working in this area.

Sitting down to have this conversation with Angela was a wonderful experience and while it’s not always an easy listen there is also a lot of light here too and I think that you’re going to have a lot to think about after listening.

You can connect with Angela on Instagram or Twitter @angelasamata and @superstarsourdough

You can watch the documentary Life After Suicide here: Life After Suicide | Documentary Heaven

You can learn more about Angela and her work at www.angelasamata.co.uk or www.speakerscollective.org.

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Alastair Campbell

Welcome to episode 115 with Alastair Campbell, who is a journalist, author, broadcaster and mental health campaigner.

He is best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy.

Alastair is a long-time campaigner for mental health and has worked with some of the U. K’s biggest charities and organisations.  He has written two personal memoirs about depression and the pursuit of happiness.

In this episode I chat to Alastair about the work he does in the mental health space and where his passion for this work comes from.

We chat about his own experiences with psychosis, depression and addiction and about his brother Donald, who had a lifelong struggle with schizophrenia.

We also chat about cold water swimming, his love of Burnley F.C and how his depression impacts his family.  We even chat a little bit of politics towards the end too.

It was lovely to chat to Alastair about his life and his work and everything in between and I really can’t thank him enough for his time and his openness.

You can follow him on Instagram @alastaircampbell or on Twitter @campbellclaret or his website www.alastaircampbell.org.

His BBC documentary can be found here: ‘Alastair Campbell:Depression and Me’ Full Documentary on Vimeo

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Paul Andrew Williams

Welcome to episode 114 with Paul Andrew Williams, an acclaimed writer and BAFTA winning director.

Paul has an incredible body of work including T.V like Broadchurch and The Walk In and films like London to Brighton, Cherry Tree Lane and Bull.

He began his career as an actor and attended drama school and then went on to direct pop-promos and short films before releasing London to Brighton which won several awards.

Throughout his career Paul has dealt with mental health challenges and has had to learn how to balance his mental health while working in the world of film and television.

Paul is a big believer in talking about mental health and is always incredibly open and honest about his own experiences.

In this episode I chat to Paul about how and when he started to suffer and how his mental health has impacted him over the years.

We chat about mental health in relation to his work, his reluctance to take medication and why he changed his mind and we chat about imposter syndrome, anxiety and panic attacks.

Paul and I really hit it off and we were chatting away straight from the off!  He talks very openly about a recent patch of bad mental ill health and it’s a really moving and emotional part of the conversation.  He is a lovely, lovely man and it was an absolute pleasure to chat to him!

You can follow him on social media @pawcorestar and you can watch his films and television programs on all the main streaming platforms!

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Alex Holmes

Welcome to episode 113 with Alex Holmes, who is a mental health consultant, author and podcast host.

Alex started to experience anxiety and panic attacks whilst at work but at that time he felt that he couldn’t talk to anyone about what was happening.

After carrying the weight of this in silence for some time, he eventually went to therapy and as he began to get a better understanding of himself, he set out to explore his experience, and the experiences of others, with his podcast, The Time to Talk Sessions.

Alex is now a well-known and respected voice in the conversation around mental health and his work focuses on the ways that boys and men can achieve better mental and emotional health.

His book, Time to Talk: How Men Think About Love, Belonging and Connection, was published in 2021.

In this episode I chat to Alex about growing up and how society’s view of what a boy should be would go on to affect him as a man.

We chat about men, masculinity, and some of the potential reasons behind the shocking statistics around men’s mental health.

We also chat about self-awareness, emotional freedom, going to therapy and the wizarding world of Harry Potter and how it relates to mental wellbeing.

I’m always interested in anything that Alex is involved with and I absolutely loved his book so it was a real pleasure to chat to him and explore his work and hear the story behind it!

You can connect with Alex on social media @byalexholmes or via his website Alex Holmes | Mental Health Consultant

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Tanya Marwaha

Welcome to episode 112 with Tanya Marwaha who is the founder of Championing Youth Minds.

Championing Youth Minds provide free, online resources to schools, parents, and young people to help them to understand mental health and problems and what to do about them.

It was started by Tanya after she witnessed first-hand the lack of help and support that is offered to young people by the current education system.

She has created a platform that gives young people a platform and a voice so that anyone who uses it can educate themselves on mental health and wellbeing and share their experiences with other people.

Tanya and I chat about her early experiences with grief would lead to mental ill health problems and long-term chronic pain issues and we chat about how she manages these issues as a young person.

We chat about the need for Championing Youth Minds and why Tanya set it up and we chat about all the wonderful things that she is doing and her plans for the platform in the future.

We also chat about mental health in the South Asian community, attending university during the pandemic and some of the additional challenges that young people are dealing with in regards to their mental health.

Tanya is really making a difference to everyone who is using her platform and it was wonderful to hear all about it!

This is an episode that is worth sharing with any young people in your life or anyone that you know who works with young people and I think it’s really important that more people know about this work.

Learn more here www.championingyouthminds.com and connect via social media @championingyouthminds and @­_tanyamarwaha

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You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast and you can connect with me via the website here: www.propermentalpodcast.com

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!