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Normalising open and honest conversation about mental health by having open and honest conversations about mental health.
Episodes
Monday Feb 21, 2022
Monday Feb 21, 2022
Welcome to Proper Mental episode 61 with my guest Zoe Burnett, an author, speaker and mental health advocate who is known as The Barefoot Rebel.
In 2018, Zoe was diagnosed with Atypical Anorexia Nervosa although she had been struggling with this for many years before being diagnosed and it very nearly claimed her life.
For a long time Zoe was deemed “not slim enough” to have an eating disorder and she guides me through the heart breaking process of not being able to get the help she so desperately needed.
We chat about diet culture and the role it plays in eating disorders, we chat about self-esteem, self-hatred and self-care and we chat about recovery and looking after mental health.
Zoe also breaks down Set Point Theory, a key focus of her recovery and we chat about her incredible Tedx Talk and how she got nicknamed The Barefoot Rebel.
I absolutely loved chatting to Zoe! She is on a mission to bring awareness to a mental illness that is often left out of the mainstream conversation and it was great to hear all about her journey and her passion for this work.
You can follow Zoe on social media @barefootrebel1 and you can learn more about her via her website www.barefootrebel.co.uk.
You can watch her Tedx Talk here: Healthy weight, unhealthy mind: Embracing your set point | Zoe Burnett | TEDxBrayfordPool - YouTube
You can grab a copy of Zoe’s book here: Inside My Ed: Amazon.co.uk: Burnett, Zoe: 9781914529009: Books
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!
Enjoy!
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Welcome to Proper Mental episode 60 with my guest, Lee Pennington who is the Director of The Open Door Charity, a multi-award winning mental health resource that is delivered by young people, for young people.
The Open Door is one of the largest independent providers of talking therapies in Merseyside and one of the most progressive organisations of its kind in the UK.
They offer free, immediate access to an innovative range of creative therapeutic support options which are delivered by a frontline team of up to 100 Peer Mentors.
Lee and I chat about how and why he started the charity 10 years ago and the unique approach that they use to support young people with their mental health.
We chat about the bigger picture of mental health support and the need for collaboration and change in the current system and we chat about the importance of culture, art, community and empowerment.
I also get an insight in to the future of The Open Door and how they have secured a huge financial investment to build the national centre of excellence for mental health support.
It’s an inspirational story that really shows what’s possible when you want to make a difference and the plans that are in place for the next few years are incredibly exciting!
You can follow ODC on social media @theodcharity or @bloom_building and read more about them on www.opendoorcharity.com.
You can watch Lee chatting with Dr Alex here:
BBC iPlayer - BBC Children in Need - 2021: Dr Alex: Our Young Mental Health Crisis
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!
Enjoy!
Monday Feb 07, 2022
Monday Feb 07, 2022
Welcome to Proper Mental episode 59 with my guest Michael Byrne who is the Founder of LETs (Lived Experience Trauma Support) and one of the UK’s leading Mental Health speakers.
Michael established LETs after overcoming many traumatic events in his life including child abuse, the violent murder of his father, losing twins through miscarriage and surviving The Clutha disaster in 2013.
He suffered a breakdown in 2017 and was diagnosed with C-PTSD and it was after his journey to recovery that he founded LETs with the aim of improving Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace.
Michael has a mental health story that has to be heard to be believed and the fact that he has managed to turn it in to such a positive is incredible and inspirational!
We chat about Michael’s life and how he dealt with hard times by pretending they weren’t happening and we chat about why that seems to be the preferred way for men to deal with these things.
We talk about his diagnosis of C-PTSD and how he manages that, his work with LETs and how he has trained his brain and switched his mindset to focus on the positive.
You can learn more about Michael and LETs via the website here:
Lived Experience Trauma Support Home Page
You can buy Michael’s book here:
You can hear Michael talking about more of his story on the BBC here:
BBC Radio 4 - Life Changing, We said we’d never talk about it again
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!
Enjoy!
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Monday Jan 31, 2022
Welcome to Proper Mental episode 58 with my guest Natasha Naomi Rea, an actress, author and Bipolar UK ambassador.
Tasha is diagnosed with type 2 Bipolar and has been living with this illness from a young age.
Her acting credits include Coronation Street and Emmerdale and she is currently writing, producing and staring in her own short film that has mental illness firmly at the centre.
She is also the author of the critically acclaimed memoir ‘Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda’ and the ambassador for the #SpeakOutLikeBrenda campaign which encourages people to speak their truth about mental health and living with bipolar.
Tasha and I chat about bipolar diagnosis, depression and manic episodes and we chat about powerlifting, meditation and kundalini yoga.
We also chat about the way mental illness is typically portrayed in the media and the negative affects this can have and Tasha tells me all about how and why she plans to change this by writing and making her own shows.
I think that Tasha is truly inspiring. She is so positive and has a wonderful way of looking at the world. She is a force of nature and I really enjoyed our conversation!
You can buy her book in all good book shops and read more about it here
HOME | Me Myself & Bipolar Brenda (meandbipolarbrenda.com)
You can read more about the #speakoutlikebrenda campaign here
The power of shared experience #speakoutlikebrenda | Bipolar UK
And the link for Bipolar UK is here
You can connect with Tasha on Instagram @memyselfandbipolarnrenda or on Twitter @natasharea.
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!
Enjoy!
Monday Jan 24, 2022
Monday Jan 24, 2022
Welcome to Proper Mental episode 57 and my guest this week is Rachel Philpotts, a registered nutritionist, health science writer and mental health expert.
Prior to becoming a nutritionist, Rachel enjoyed a successful 13-year commercial career. However, her career-girl lifestyle caught up with her in her 30s and left her a shadow of her former self. It took total burnout to make her realise something had to change.
It was during this time that she discovered the concept of functional medicine. The simple nutrition and lifestyle change she made transformed her health, and she was inspired to quit the corporate world and retrain.
She is now the founder of re:Nutrition, an online nutrition and lifestyle medicine clinic that helps other stressed-out career women to improve their mood naturally.
Rachel and I chat about all thing’s nutrition and lifestyle medicine. We cover hydration, protein, caffeine and alcohol and how these things affect our mood. We also chat about self-care, community and connection and Rachel takes me through her process of putting all these things together.
You can learn more about Rachel and her work via her website www.re-nutrition.co.uk or via social media @re_nutrition.
Rachel also writes for BBC Good Food which you can find here: Rachel Philpotts - BBC Good Food
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!
Enjoy!
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Monday Jan 17, 2022
Welcome to Proper Mental episode 56 and my guest this week is Nick Littlehales, an author and coach who specialises in sleep.
He is considered the world lead in this area, working with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Team Sky and a host of sports clubs and teams at the highest level.
He can now add being a guest of Proper Mental to that impressive list!
Nick and I chat about his work and discuss all things sleep. Nick might work with some of the best athletes in the world but his approach to sleep can be adopted by anyone.
We talk about what’s needed for quality sleep and how to get more of it. We chat about why we all struggle with sleep when it’s such a natural and important process and we chat about how changing your perspective and introducing some new habits can make it easier to actually get some.
We don’t talk about sleep problems or negative side effects; this is all positive information with actionable ideas to help you get some sleep.
This was an incredible conversation!
There is so much here that will genuinely help you to improve your sleep patterns and I can’t wait for you to hear it!
You can follow Nick on @sportsleepcoach or learn more about his work at Sport Sleep Coach - Improve Your Sleep, Performance and Wellbeing
You can watch Nick’s Ted Talk here:
The unconventional wisdom about sleep | Nick Littlehales | TEDxNewcastle - YouTube
And his book, Sleep, is available everywhere. Please shop independent if you can!
Sleep by Nick Littlehales – Sport Sleep Coach
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!
Enjoy!
Monday Jan 10, 2022
Monday Jan 10, 2022
Welcome to Proper Mental episode 53 and my guest today is Johanna Basford OBE!
Johanna Basford OBE is an illustrator and a pioneer of colouring books for adults, having sold over 21 million copies of her books worldwide.
In 2016 she was appointed an OBE for services to art and entrepreneurship and in 2019 she broke the world record for the largest drawing by an individual. She has also worked several brands including Nike, Sony and Starbucks.
She also happens to be an old friend of mine so it was lovely to have a catch up and chat all about creativity and mental wellbeing!
We chat about the benefits of being creative and the importance of having an outlet, enjoying the process and making time for your mind.
As well as pens and pencils we also get in to authenticity, the power of nature, the benefits of therapy and the ups and downs of social media.
I enjoyed this conversation so much! It was great to catch up with Jo and I’ve also discovered a new hobby that has helped to bring me a lot of joy and stillness of the last few weeks and that’s colouring in! Jo was kind enough to send me a starter pack after our chat and I’ve coloured every day since and I absolutely love it which I wasn’t expecting at all.
You can grab Jo’s books absolutely everywhere, please shop local or independent if you can!
You can take a look around Jo’s world through her website www.johannbasford.com and you can follow her on social media @johannabasford.
You can catch up with my work at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via Instagram @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!
Enjoy!
Monday Jan 03, 2022
Monday Jan 03, 2022
Welcome to Proper Mental episode 54 with my guest Antonio Ferreira, an activist, speaker and lived experience consultant.
He works as a volunteer for several mental health charities, sharing his story and experiences as part of his mission to eliminate stigma and misconception of mental illness within racialised communities.
At the age of 16 he spent 2 years as an inpatient on a mental health ward after attempting to take his own life. At that point he had been diagnosed with Undifferentiated Schizophrenia and Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder and was experiencing auditory hallucinations.
Antonio takes me through his story and what it’s like to be hospitalized as a teenager but also what it’s like to leave hospital, take A levels and go on to study Psychology with Cognitive Neuroscience at university.
We chat about his work as a consultant on the set of Eastenders where he worked with the cast and crew on a recent schizophrenia story line.
And we chat about his recent campaign and petition calling out tokenism by mental health charities and urging them to be more authentic in their anti-racism efforts.
Antonio not only has an inspiring story but an inspiring outlook on his life and the future. It was awesome to chat to him and I can’t wait to see what he goes on to achieve in the mental health arena!
You can follow him on social media @antonioferreira_mh and find out more about his campaigning and activism via his website Antonio Ferreira | Mental health activist and public speaker
You can catch up with my work at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via Instagram @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!
Enjoy!
Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
Welcome to Proper Mental episode 53 and my guest is Catherine Benfield!
Catherine Benfield is an OCD advocate, blogger and speaker.
Cath was diagnosed with OCD at the age of 32 although she had lived with distressing, intrusive thoughts since her childhood.
She started her blog, Taming Olivia, as a way of processing and managing her mental health and it is now is used as a concept around the world.
It’s a fantastic resource for so many different aspects of OCD and as well as writing very openly and honestly about her own experiences, Cath writes about recovery and offers a huge amount of useful advice and ideas for anyone who might need them.
In this episode Cath and I chat about all thing’s obsessive-compulsive disorder. We discuss what OCD actually is and what it’s definitely not, we chat about intrusive thoughts, anxiety, depressed and many other symptoms linked to OCD and we chat about self-compassion and kindness as useful recovery tools.
It was such a pleasure to chat to Cath and really shine a light on OCD. It is an illness that is massively misunderstood which creates a huge amount of stigma and it was powerful to listen to Cath talk about her own journey with OCD and her process of recovery.
You can catch up with Cath’s work at Taming Olivia | Mental Health - A blog about living with OCD | England or connect with her on Instagram @catherine_benfield.
You can catch up with my work at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via Instagram @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!
Enjoy!
Thursday Dec 23, 2021
Thursday Dec 23, 2021
Welcome to a very special, Christmas episode of the Proper Mental podcast!
Tis the season that not everybody enjoys, for a lot of different reasons. I wanted to put something out at Christmas that might give someone a little lift if they needed one, even if it’s just for 5 minutes.
Sometimes 5 minutes can make all the difference.
I reached out to advocates, campaigners, authors, speakers and podcasters and friends and I asked them to record a voice note that might be nice for someone to hear over Xmas. Some of these people I knew and some I didn’t but all of them are wonderful and inspiring and I was so touched by the response.
You’ll have to listen to hear if there is anyone you recognise!
I’ve put them all together here in this episode. There are some anecdotes, some advice, some kind words and even the odd gag. You can listen in one go or dip in and out when you want to. It might help if you’re not really in the mood for Christmas and if you love this time of year, then it will inspire you to love it even more.
I reached out to a bunch of strangers and asked them to leave a supportive message for a different bunch of strangers and all these people said yes.
That truly is a sign that you are not alone and to me, it’s the true spirit of Xmas.
There are so many support services that stay open and available during the Xmas period, please reach out if you need to.
Please talk to someone if you need to.
If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, head to www.hubofhope.co.uk. There’s a link in my bio.
A huge thank you to everyone involved in this episode and a huge thanks to you, for listening!
Jonny Benjamin. Eddie Temple Morris. Brendan & Matthew/Bottoming. Susie Weaver/So Happy In Town. Mark/Dopamine Shred. Zoe Burnett. James Withey. Bryan Ingram. Rob Evans/Fireman’s Tired Eyes. Niki Clarke/My Black Dog. Dr Mike II. Talk to Coco. Joe Plumb. Hope Virgo. Tom Davies/Proper Mental.
I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, in whatever shape or form that needs to take for you, and all the best for the New Year.
Here are some more links that might help:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/36Wkp4bduwuR8uH9bDAJGe?si=gtg6WJk1SE2vpw5DnWmUTg