The Proper Mental Podcast

Hannah Hickinbotham

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 101 with Hannah Hickinbotham who is an eating disorder advocate and the host of the Full of Beans podcast.  She also has an MSc in Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition.

Han in on a mission to reduce the stigma around eating disorders and increase ED awareness and she does this with her podcast and the wonderful community that’s she has built around it.

In this episode I chat to Han about her own experiences with Atypical Anorexia and Body Dysmorphia and how she was able to hide her illnesses in plain sight by throwing herself in to the world of fitness.

We chat about diet culture and how societies obsession with weight and food can impact mental health and we chat about recovery and what that looks like for Hannah.

I always feel inspired by Han and how she shows up for herself and her community on social media, so I knew this was going to be a powerful conversation.

We ended up going in really deep on this one and at times it gets quite emotional but in a really beautiful way.  I cannot thank Han enough for her openness and honesty about her own experiences!

I was lucky enough to be a guest on Full of Beans and you can listen to my episode and all the others here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5n4ajipSOEUBCi6glX3Wg7?si=th9aGy3hQ6GwEoT9_yCe4g

You can connect with Han and learn more about the Full of Beans Workshops and Community Blogs here: Eating Disorders | Full Of Beans (fullofbeansed.co.uk)

You can follow Hannah on all social media platforms @thefobpodcast

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

You can buy tickets for The Hope Conference at this link:

Hope Conference 2022 Tickets, Fri 11 Nov 2022 at 09:30 | Eventbrite

You can get any more information you need here: 

Hope Conference 2022 | Speakers Collective

And the code for a 10% discount on your ticket is propermental

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!

TJ Power

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 101 with TJ Power, a neuroscientist, international speaker and educator.

TJ has spent many years deeply researching mental health, lecturing in psychology and speaking all over the world about the human brain.

In this episode TJ and I chat about the four key chemicals required to maintain biological harmony.

We chat about why we need these chemicals and how they help us and also how they are affected by things like social media, alcohol and junk food.

TJ also offers some solutions and ideas about simple ways that we can produce these chemical when we need them which really contribute towards improved mental health.

We chat about dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins and we chat exercise, nature, connection and diet.

These chemicals are the foundations of physical and mental wellbeing, and it is so important to have the basics in place when it comes to health.

I’ve personally taken a huge amount from this episode and TJ’s social media channels and actively use several of his methods daily and they have made a huge difference to my mental state in recent months.

You can connect with TJ on Instagram @tjpower or @neurify.io and learn more about his work via his YouTube channel Tj Power - YouTube

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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!

Rosie Tressler OBE

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 100 and this week I chat to Rosie Tressler OBE who is the CEO of Student Minds.

Student Minds is a student mental health charity that is working to empower members of the university community to look after their own mental health, support others and create change.

Rosie has worked in several different aspects of the charity sector and in 2019 she was awarded an OBE for services to Mental Health in Higher Education.

In this episode I chat to Rosie about Student Minds, the work that they do and the support that they offer.

We chat about Rosie’s route in to campaigning and all the different things that she has done in the mental health space and we chat about the sort of mental health problems that can typically affect students, people at universities and anyone who is involved in higher education in some way.

We also get in to the importance of collaboration and the need to speak to as many different people as possible and working together to spread awareness and work towards long term, meaningful policy change.

You can learn more about Student Minds via their website www.studentminds.org.uk or on all social media platforms @studentmindsorg

You can follow Rosie on Twitter @rosietressler

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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!

Ian Winwood

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 99 with Ian Winwood, an author and journalist who has spent over 30 years writing for Kerrang!, NME, the Daily Telegraph and countless other publications.

His time spent in and around the music has given him an incredible insight into the lives of musicians, bands and rock stars both on and off stage.

His recent book ‘Bodies’ explores the music industry and the rock n roll lifestyle and how this way of life impacts mental health.

In this episode, Ian and I chat about the world of music, the type of people it usually attracts and why it seems to be such a breeding ground for mental illness and addiction.

Ian tells me all about the bands he has met and written about over the years (Frank Turner, Biffy Clyro, Metallica, Yard Act, Green Day) how the different ways that working in music affects mental health and how bizarre behaviour and serious addiction issues are completely normalised and, more often than not, celebrated.

We chat about the process of setting out to write the book and what he discovered along the way and we also chat about Ian’s own experiences with mental ill health and how he was able to blend in perfectly within the dysfunctional world of rock and roll excess.

Bodies is one of the best books about music and mental health that I have ever read and I can’t recommend it highly enough!

It was such a pleasure to hear all about it from Ian who was incredibly engaging and generous with his time.  You can connect with him on social media @ianwinwood1.

You can read an extract from Bodies here : Read an exclusive extract from Ian Winwood's 'Bodies: Life And Death in Music' (rollingstone.co.uk)

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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!

Sarah Callaghan

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 98 with Sarah Callaghan, who is an award-winning comedian, spoken word artist and writer.

Sarah has been performing stand up for over a decade and has gigged all over the world.  She is also a respected spoken word artist, performing solo and with a band.

Sarah’s poetry is informed by personal experience and her work discusses childhood trauma, heart break and other aspects of everyday life.

Sarah and I caught up to chat about her own experiences with mental health and how it inspires her creative process.

We chat about living authentically and choosing your own path, the differences between writing comedy and poetry, and we chat about spirituality, self-belief and the challenges of living a creative life.

I knew going in to this conversation that it was going to be good and it did not disappoint!  It was awesome to hear first-hand about Sarah’s way of looking at her life and her work and I really got a lot out of speaking with her.

You can watch her performance on the BAFTA winning Sky TV Show ‘Arts & Rhymes’ here:

Life and Rhymes | Sarah Callaghan - Who Are You? on Vimeo

Her website is Home (sarahcallaghan.com) and you can connect with her on Instagram @sarahcallagh1

The track included on this episode is called ‘It’s Not That Deep’

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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!

Stuart Ralph

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 97 with Stuart Ralph, who is a counsellor and psychotherapist for children and young people.

He is also the host of the OCD Stories podcast, a weekly podcast where he interviews some of the best minds in OCD recovery.

Stuart started to experience OCD at the age of 7 and his own journey of recovery would eventually inspire the OCD Stories podcast and his role as an advocate.

In 2018 he was awarded the Hero award by the International OCD Foundation and his podcast has over 4.5 million downloads and counting.

Stuart and I chat about OCD, all its forms and how it affects people.  We also chat about the different types of help, support and therapy that are available for people who suffer.

We talk about his own experience as a child with OCD and the impact it had on his life and we chat about his work as a psychotherapist and counsellor.

You can learn more about Stuart and his podcast via the website home - The OCD Stories and you can listen in all the usual places!

Connect with him on Twitter or Instagram @TheOCDStories or Facebook The OCD Stories | Facebook

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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!

PsyPAN

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 96 with Ian Roullier and Leonie Schneider from PsyPAN.

The Psychedelic Participant Advocacy Network (PsyPAN) is a non-profit organisation created to connect and empower participants of psychedelic trials and anyone who has received psychedelic therapy.

Ian has suffered from depression and anxiety for most of his adult life and psilocybin has proven to be the most effective treatment for his mental health and to date he has taken part in two psychedelic trials.

Leonie was first diagnosed with depression in 1996 and had not found any long-term relief in almost continuous antidepressant medication or from conventional talking therapies in over 20 years. In November 2019, Leonie was a participant in the second Psilocybin for Depression clinical trial at Imperial College.

They started PsyPAN to ensure everyone gains the maximum potential benefit from the treatment they are being given and to give a collective voice to all participants and help improve participant safety and wellbeing.

In this episode I chat to Ian and Leonie about the mental health issues and lack of effective treatment that led them to participating in psychedelic trials and we talk about the process of signing up, the trial itself and what happened afterwards.

We also talk about the work they are doing with PsyPAN and why it’s so important for them to contribute towards a responsible, ethical and, most importantly, safe psychedelic sector.

Both Ian and Leonie have an incredible insight, not just in to psilocybin as a treatment option, but also of mental health advocacy in general and it wonderful to hear about their experiences and their work.

You can learn more about PsyPAN at their website PsyPAN - Psychedelic Participant Advocacy Network (psypanglobal.org) or via Instagram and Twitter @psypanglobal or Facebook @PsyPANglobal

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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!

Samuel Jack

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 95 with Samuel Jack, the musician and song writer behind the viral hit song, Feels Like Summer.

Samuel grew up in South Africa and is now based in London and before his music took off, he worked in high end hospitality to pay his way.

For years he juggled long, stressful shifts in kitchens with traveling for gigs and writing music and this would eventually catch up with him as his mental health declined to the point of breakdown.

In this episode Samuel and I chat about the pressures of working in hospitality and the particular lifestyle that comes with that line of work.

He takes me through his breakdown and everything that led to it and we talk about what happened as he moved out the other side and how he got well again.

We chat about his upbringing in Johannesburg and how it formed an early love of music, learning to write songs and the challenges of being a musician.

Of course, we chat about Feels Like Summer and how it feels to go viral and we chat about self-care, therapy, writing emotion driven songs and making music.

You can connect with Samuel via his website Samuel Jack | Official Website (samueljackofficial.com) or on Instagram @samueljackofficial and Twitter @samueljackmusic

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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!

Kirsty Eaton

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 94 with Kirsty Eaton, who is the founder of Reach Out for Mental Health,

Reach Out are a charity that supports individuals who experience suicidal thoughts and provides a safe, confidential and non-clinical space for you to talk to a trained volunteer about anything which may be troubling you.

She has her own lived experience of mental ill health and it was this combined with losing a friend to suicide that inspired Kirsty to start Reach Out in her local community.

On her journey to starting the charity Kirsty faced a huge amount of red tape and bad attitudes from some very unsupportive local health care organisations and really had to fight just to be able to support the people she knew needed it the most.

We caught up to chat about this process, the push back she got from people working in mental health care and what she did about it.

We also chat about Kirsty’s own mental health struggles, being a natural worrier and how it feels to come to the end of the therapeutic process.

Kirsty and her volunteers are doing incredible things and it was shocking to hear about the challenges she faced just trying to do something as important. 

She has specifically positioned Reach Out to support anyone who might fall through the cracks in the current system and it was awesome to chat about her plans for the future.

You can learn more about Reach Out for Mental Health here: Reach Out for Mental Health – Relief from suicidal thoughts and feelings (reachoutfmh.co.uk)

And follow them on social media on Twitter @reachoutfmh or Facebook @ReachOutFMH

You can listen to my episode on the Reach Out podcast here:  Push Fwd Network Platform | Podcast on Spotify

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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!

The Wave Project

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 93 with The Wave Project founder, Joe Taylor.

The Wave Project is a surf charity that harnesses the power of the ocean to improve the mental health of children and young people.

The Wave Project started in September 2010 and at that time was the world’s first ‘surf therapy’ course funded by a government health service. 

They now have 32 beaches and locations across the U.K where they run surf therapy programmes.

In this episode I chat to Joe about how the charity got off the ground and how its grown over the years.

We chat all about surf therapy, how it works and who it helps and we chat about surfing, nature and supporting children and young people’s mental health.

The Wave Project is an incredible thing and surf therapy is now a growing global movement so it was awesome to learn more about it all.

You can learn more, donate or volunteer at The Wave Project | The Surf Therapy Charity : Wave Project

You can connect with them on social media @waveprojectuk on all platforms.

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

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!