The Proper Mental Podcast

Vince Freeman

Welcome to episode 176 with Vince Freeman, a singer and songwriter who is about to release a debut album that has been a decade in the making.

Vince started out by running and playing club shows and regularly racking up 300 gigs a year.  He appeared on The Voice in 2012, written multi-million streamer dance tracks, had 5 European Top 10 hits and played at the FA Cup Final and The Royal Albert Hall.  He even has a thank you on Ed Sheeran’s debut album.

He’s also experienced mental health issues and spent six years living in chronic pain with a debilitating back issue that required multiple surgeries and threatened his ability to walk and play music.

In this episode, Vince and I chat about his introduction to music and how he started writing songs and we chat about chasing fame, going on the voice, losing several years to a couple of compressed discs and 3 spinal surgeries and the impact these things have had on his mental health along the way.

And we chat about the pandemic forced a temporary career change and how making a coffee and a chance encounter led to his return to music and his debut album which is due out in June.

This is an incredible story of bad luck, resilience, hard work and good karma and it was wonderful to hear all about it.  Vince is the loveliest man it is impossible not to root for him!

Connect with him on social media @vincefreemanofficial and keep up to date with the album and the tour via his website https://vincefreeman.com

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

A great way to support the show and spread the word 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!

Allie Bailey

Welcome to episode 175 with Allie Bailey, who is an ultrarunner, coach and author.

She was the first woman to run 100 miles across a frozen Lake in Mongolia, has ran the full length of the Panama Canal, crossed the inhospitable Namib Desert three times, and completed a 1,000-mile off-road version of the classic Land’s End to John O’Groats route in just thirty days.

Allie has finished over 200 marathons and ultramarathons in some of the most extreme places in the world and she ran most of them while battling depression and alcoholism.

For many years Allie had a dream career in the music industry, working with major record labels and meeting some of the world’s biggest bands.  Throughout this time, she was also struggling with mental illness and alcohol addiction and originally started running to help her mental state.

Running didn’t save Allie but it started to become a big part of her life.  After reaching another crisis point in 2021, she was forced to admit the depth of her problems and start to work on getting better.

In this episode I chat to Allie about her relationship with alcohol, how it started, how it helped and how it started to wrong.

We chat about her journey to finding running and how it didn’t save but her did give her the time and space to start making sense of her mental health.

And we chat about recovery and what it looks like for her, the ultrarunning community, the music industry, some of her incredible running challenges and what it was like to revisit some incredibly dark moments to write her book ‘There is No Wall’.

It was awesome to chat to Allie!  She has spent so much time working on herself and has an incredible amount of self-awareness, I really took a lot from this episode.

You can find out more about all aspects of Allie’s work on her website here: alliebailey.co.uk and you can connect with her on social media @ab_runs.

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

A great way to support the show and spread the word 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 Danan

Welcome to episode 174 with Paul Danan, who is an actor and the founder and creator of Morning After Drama (MAD), a theatre company that provides specifically tailored workshops to support people who have experienced trauma, been involved with the criminal justice system, suffered from addiction or experience poor mental health.

Paul shot to fame when he landed a part on Hollyoaks straight out of drama school.  He has worked on stage and film productions, featured on several high-profile reality TV shows, hosted a chart-topping podcast and at various times in his life been a tabloid regular.

Over the course of his career, Paul has suffered with mental issues, problems with addiction and had multiple stays in rehab.

In this episode I chat to Paul about setting up MAD, where the idea came from and how they are using acting, improv and community to improve mental health.

We chat about his time on Hollyoaks, his move to LA and the impact that had on his mental state, his love of acting and some of the mental health issues behind his addictions.

And we chat about Paul’s acting career, becoming famous and dealing with rejection and we chat about addiction, going to rehab, self-worth and self-esteem.

You can learn more about MAD at Home | Morning After Drama and follow then on social media @morningafterdrama

You can connect with Paul on social media @pauldanan and @paul_danan_official

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

A great way to support the show and spread the word 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!

Gulwali Passarlay

Welcome to episode 173 with Gulwali Passarlay, who is a speaker and campaigner for refugee rights.

Gulwali was sent away from Afghanistan at the age of twelve, after his father was killed in a gun battle with the US Army.

He was smuggled into Iran and spent the next 12 months traveling through Europe.  He crossed 10 countries, was put in prison 6 times, endured a desolate month in the camp at Calais and almost drowned at sea before making it to Britain.

When he arrived, the authorities did not believe he was a child of 13 due to his appearance.

Eventually he was fostered, sent to a good school, won a place at a top university, and was chosen to carry the Olympic torch in 2012 and he has told his story of life as a refugee in his autobiography: “The Lightless Sky” which is an incredible read.

In this episode I chat to Gulwali about his childhood in Afghanistan before being forced to leave.

We chat about the impact that fleeing a war zone had on his mental health and how the struggles with bureaucracy, isolation and racism added to his mental struggles.

We also chat about how his story is just one of thousands of similar stories and we talk about compassion and understanding and breakdown some of the myths and misunderstandings around refugees and asylum seekers.

In the general conversation around the refugee crisis, people tend to talk in numbers or about boats and barges and benefits but behind every figure and statist is a person, who just like Gulwali, has probably lived through some horrific experiences and I wanted to do an episode about the mental health side of that.

This is an episode that I’ve wanted to do for a long time.  It’s a little different but it’s important and I can’t thank Gulwali enough for his insight and his time.

You can follow Gulwali on social media here: @gulwali_passarlay

Watch his Tedx Talk here: How I got to Manchester from Afghanistan: Gulwali Passarlay at TEDxManchester (youtube.com)

And his website is Gulwali Passarlay | The official website of an influential Afghan refugee who is a published author, TEDx speaker, and a Politics major at the University of Manchester. (wordpress.com)

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

A great way to support the show and spread the word 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!

Bill Ryder-Jones

Welcome to episode 172 with Bill Ryder-Jones, who is a singer-songwriter, musician, music producer and composer.

Bill was a co-founder of The Coral, which they started when he was 13, and he played lead guitar on the first five albums, eventually leaving in 2008.

It was around then that Bill started to experience depression, agoraphobia and panic attacks which would eventually lead him to leave The Coral at the height of their success.  At that time, it wasn’t made public that Bill’s mental health issues where a result of witnessing the death of his brother in a freak accident while they were on a family holiday as children..

After the breakdown that followed, Bill started to work on his solo career and to date has released 5 albums under his own name and has collaborated with the Arctic Monkey, Graham Coxon and Paloma Faith and produced records for the likes of Mick Head and Saint Saviour and many others.

His latest record, Iechyd da, was released in January to a fanfare of praise and glowing reviews and its already a contender for album of the year.

In this episode I chat to Bill about the album, the songs and the upcoming tour.

We chat about Bill’s experiences with agoraphobia and how it affects him day to day and in relationships and we chat about touring, drinking, getting older and making music.

We also chat about panic attacks and dealing with fear and being alone how sometimes choosing an unhealthy coping strategy is choosing the lesser of many possible evils.

I loved chatting to Bill.  He is such a lovely man and we laughed a lot despite getting in to some really deep topics.  I’m a huge fan of his music so getting the opportunity to ask him about it was a personal podcasting highlight for me and I can’t thank him enough for his openness and his time.

Follow Bill on socials @billryderjones tour dates and tickets available now at Bill Ryder-Jones (billryderjones.co.uk)

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

A great way to support the show and spread the word 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!

Mark Williams

Welcome to episode 171 with Mark Williams, who is an author, speaker and international campaigner for father’s mental health.

Mark suffered with PTSD and depression after the birth of his son and he suffered in silence for many years while trying to support his wife who was also struggling with her mental health and they were both in at crisis point at the same time.

He is an incredibly active campaigner for parental mental health and has appeared on national radio and television, founded International Father’s Mental Health Day and published 5 books, one of which was made in to a short film by Amazon Prime. And he has also been voted Inspirational Father of the year and local hero at the Pride of Britain Awards.

In this episode I chat to Mark about becoming a dad, how that impacted him mentally, and how he and his wife supported each other through that time when they were both struggling.

We chat about some of the things that can impact new parents and some of the reasons why dads can struggle and we look at how these issues can show up and play out and look at a few things that can be done to help.

We also chat about growing up in a rural area, how working-class people are often forgotten about in mental health advocacy and why community is so important to health.

Follow Mark on social media @

For more info head to How are you Dad, his newest book is available everywhere now!

If you would like to watch this episode or any of the others, you can do so by joining the Patreon community at www.patreon.com/propermentalpodcast.  For £3 a month you’ll get early access to any and all episodes that aren’t available to watch anywhere else and help to support the show and keep it fully independent and ad free

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

Another great way to support the show and spread the word 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!

Lily Bailey

Welcome to episode 170 with Lily Bailey who is an author, journalist and activist who has been writing and speaking about OCD and mental illness for a long time and in this episode, I chat to Lily about her experiences with obsessive compulsive disorder and how it’s affected her over the years.

We also chat her new book, When I Feel Red, written for middle grade age children, about a young girl with Dyspraxia, which is a neurological condition that affects movement and co-ordination and something that Lily has lived with since childhood.

We chat about Dyspraxia, how it’s affected Lily over the years and why she decided to write about it.

We chat about writing for young people, and how she approaches challenging topics like mental illness when writing for young people.

And we chat about navigating the challenging teenage years, being different, trying to fit in, the importance of telling stories and finding compassion for others through reading stories.

This was a really lovely chat and it was fascinating to learn about Dyspraxia and the wider implications of the condition.  I highly recommend Lily’s writing as well and the new book is fantastic!

You can follow Lily on social media @LilyBaileyUK

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

A great way to support the show and spread the word 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!

John Rattray

Welcome to episode 169 with John Rattray, who is a former professional skateboarder and the creator of Why So Sad?

Why So Sad? Is a skate and cycling focused campaign with the goal of driving awareness and education around mental wellbeing and suicide prevention.

In this episode I chat to John about getting in to skating and the importance of community and sub cultures.

We chat about his experiences with depression at different points in his life and where the idea for Why So Sad? came from and how Nike got involved to produce a WSS? Signature shoe.

And we chat about some of the themes and ideas that inform John’s work, the Adverse Childhood Experience study and how learning about what’s going on in our brains and our bodies can help us to understand mental distress and what to do about it.

You can watch Why So Sad? here: Nike SB | Why So Sad? Comic | Skateboarding and Our Mental Health (youtube.com)

And the Your Brain on Sport video is here: Your Brain on Sport (nikesb.com)

And you can follow John on social media @ratt_ray

The books that John mentions in the episode are: What Happened to You? by Dr Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey, Lost Connections by Johann Hari, Waking Up, Alive by Richard Heckler.

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

Another great way to support the show and spread the word 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!

Jess Greenfield

Welcome to episode 168 with Jess Greenfield, who is a multi-instrumentalist and a singer with Wonder 45 and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying birds.

In this episode I chat to Jess about singing, the music industry and balancing being a mother and a touring musician.

We also chat about Jess’ experiences with post-natal mental health issues, the impact that had on her family and how she got through it.

We chat about the vulnerability of singing, parental anxiety, asking for help and the loss of identity that comes with becoming a parent.

There is also loads of music chat in this one!  It was great to hear about everything Jess is doing with Wonder 45 and of course we chat about how Jess came to join Noel Gallagher’s band and what it’s like to play on some of the biggest stages in the world.

Jess was also good enough to let me use one of Wonder 45’s singles as part of this episode!  I used an incredible live audio of the song Cry and you can also watch that here:

Cry - Wonder 45 - Live Studio Session (youtube.com)

You can follow Jess on social media @greenfiledsings and @wearewonder45

Her website is www.jessgreenfiledmusic.com

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

A great way to support the show and spread the word 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!

Nadia Gilani

Welcome to episode 167 with Nadia Gilani, who is a writer and yoga teacher.

Nadia was introduced to yoga as a teenager when her Mum took her along to a class as a way of helping her mental health.

Since then, yoga has been a constant and important part of her life but her relationship with the practice has not always been a smooth one.

In this episode I chat to Nadia about her experiences with mental illness that started when she was a teenager. 

We chat about that first yoga class, what led her there and the impact that finding yoga has had since.

And we chat about eating disorders, sobriety and recovery and we chat about movement, physical health and why wellness is bullshit.

Of course, we chat a lot about yoga, how it can be beneficial with regards to mental health but also how it’s not the answer to everything like it’s often sold to be.

I absolutely loved chatting to Nadia!  We had one of those wonderful conversations that goes absolutely everywhere and we really got in to some big topics.

I highly recommend her book The Yoga Manifesto which covers a lot of the themes we talk about here and a lot more besides.  It’s out now and available everywhere.

You can follow Nadia on social media @theyogadiddident and learn more about her work via her website https://nadiagilani.co.uk

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

A great way to support the show and spread the word 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!