The Proper Mental Podcast

Tom Davies

Welcome to episode 150!

I’m not sure if 150 episodes is an actual milestone or not, but it sort of feels like one so I wanted to mark it in some way.

I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to tell my own mental health story in a lot of different places but it’s been a long time since I’ve talked about myself on Proper Mental.

Very early on, episode 7 in fact, I did my own episode.  At that time, I had a really limited understanding of my own mental health.  I didn’t have the vocabulary that I do now and I hadn’t done any of work to explore what had really been going on.  I was only a few months post break down, newly medicated and still figuring it all out.  It was all very new.

Recently I’ve been getting asked about my experience a bit more and I realised it’s been a long time since I put anything out about me.  So, this feels like a good time to put something out.

I didn’t want to do a solo episode and just waffle on for an hour.  That feels self-indulgent and I think it would be boring for you to listen to and boring for me to record.

Last year I guested on a wonderful podcast called Full of Beans, it’s hosted by my friend Hannah (who is also a previous Proper Mental guest) and it was one of my favourite podcast appearances.

Hannah was good enough to let me have the audio and that’s what I’m putting out here.

Han is an incredible host.  She asks great questions; she really listens and she a lot of wonderful insight that her own experiences have given her.  I’ve guested on a lot of awesome podcasts but this one felt particularly special and I ended up chatting about things I wasn’t expecting to.

Huge thanks to Hannah for the original invite and for sharing the recording and go and check out Full of Beans because it’s brilliant!

You can follow Hannah on Instagram @thefobpodcast or connect with her via www.fullofbeansed.co.uk

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!

James McMahon

Welcome to episode 149 with James McMahon, a journalist and podcaster who spent a long time working at the NME, editing Kerrang! and interviewing pretty much everyone in the music industry.

James has lived with OCD for most of his life, although for a lot of that time he had no idea what it was or how to get help.

In this episode James and I chat about his own particular brand of mental illness, how it showed up and how it’s impacted his life over the years.

We chat about the support group he attends and the importance of community and relatability and we chat about how mental illness impacts the people around us.

We also chat about getting well and trying to stay there, empathy and what it’s like to have too much of it, Joe Rogan, Twitter, and the state of the world in general.

I’m a big fan of James’ podcasts and I was an avid reader of the NME during the era that he was there so it was really cool to chat to him!

Follow him on Twitter@ or Instagram @

His website is www.jamesjammcmahon.com

His Substack is Spoook - the Substack of James McMahon | Substack

The James McMahon Music Podcast and Brain Worms are available everywhere.

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!

Dr Ben Cave

Welcome to episode 148 with Dr Ben Cave, which is the pen name of a practising general and forensic psychiatrist.

For over 30 years Ben has worked as a prison psychiatrist, community psychiatrist and as a consultant in medium-secure, low-secure and general mental health units.

He is also the author of ‘What We Fear Most’ in which he reflects on a lifetime on the frontline of forensic psychiatry and the extremes of mental illness.

In this episode I chat to Ben about his work, what he does and why he started doing it.

We talk about the more challenging aspects of mental illness and the good and the bad side of diagnosis and we chat about the misconceptions and stigma around mental illness and how that is getting lost in the wider conversation about mental health.

As I’m sure you can imagine, we cover some big topics in this one!  Ben was wonderful to speak to and it fascinating and important to learn about the realities of treating some of the most troubled men and women in society.

You can learn more about Ben and his work via his website ben-cave.com.

Instagram @drbencave

Twitter @DrBenCave

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!

David Parkin

Welcome to episode 147 with David Parkin is an author, theatre maker and installation artist whose work is fiercely autobiographical or silly and speculative.

In 2015 he suffered his first manic episode and was sectioned under the mental health act for 4 months.

He is currently putting on a fully immersive art installation called ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ which explains his experience of being sectioned including his diaries from that time, recorded conversations from his friends and family and loads of anecdotes from his time in hospital.

In this episode I chat to David about his experiences with mental illness and how he ended up being sectioned.

We chat about his time in hospital, what it was like day to day and some of the things that happened and we chat about what life was like once he was discharged and some of the artistic projects he’s worked on since that are all mental health focused.

David also takes me through his recovery from a life-threatening brain injury that he had after jumping off the roof of a mental health hospital and many more incredible stories from his life.

David has some incredible stories and he was so much fun to chat to!  I love the idea of his installation and how he can use it to offer an insight in to being sectioned which is still a part of the mental health conversation that is not widely discussed or understood.

You can learn more about where to see David’s work here: www.davidparkin.org

You can follow him on social media @davidparkinartist

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!

Kimberley Nixon

Welcome to episode 146 with Kimberley Nixon, who is an actor and writer who has appeared in shows such as Fresh Meat, Cranford and The Tuckers and in 2017 she won the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress for her role in 'Ordinary Lies'.

In this episode I chat to Kim about her experiences with OCD, which started after she become a mum in 2020.

We chat about the way OCD impacted her early experiences of motherhood and we chat about intrusive thoughts, rituals and the realities of living with mental illness.

We chat about Kim’s journey towards recovery and what that has looked like for her over the last couple of years and we chat about her decision to start speaking openly about perinatal mental illness and how that’s been received.

And we chat growing up in Wales, becoming an actor and balancing work with family life and we chat about compassion, therapy and asking for help.

This is one of my all-time favourite episodes!  I saw a lot of my own experiences in Kim’s story and I was both moved and inspired by her openness.  She was wonderful to talk to!

Kim writes about her life and her mental health on her Stubstack and she has a wonderful podcast there too, you can find it here: Kimfluencing My Brain | Kimberley Nixon | Substack

You can follow her on Instagram @therealkimberleynixon

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!

Jeremy Thomas

Welcome to episode 145 with Jeremy Thomas, who is an author, public speaker and podcast host.

Jeremy has had a really exciting life and a lot of this is down to him living a big chunk of it with undiagnosed manic depression, a condition that is now known as bipolar.

He started off as a plugger for Decca Records in the 70’s working with the likes of Thin Lizzy and Al Green before moving away to start his own label.

It was around this time that Jeremy fell in to a deep depression that took him to the brink of suicide.  The bounce back was even more severe and for a long time Jeremy would experience bouts of undiagnosed mania and his lifestyle become more and more extreme.  It would be sometime before he was able to get help and would eventually be diagnosed with manic depression.

In this episode Jeremy takes me through his life from boarding school to the music business, and on to New York and 3 years on a Greek island.  This story takes in armed guards, a Lordship, bankruptcy and a lot of excess!

Jeremy credits attending AA and getting sober along with medication and diagnosis as the turning point and through all this is has amassed a huge amount of insight in to mental illness.  One of his talks is titled ‘How to stay sane in an insane world.’

He also hosts the Shed Talks podcast where he speaks to some incredible guests about their lives and experiences.

It was a lot of fun chatting to Jeremy and I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Find out more at Informative, Entertaining Good Mental Health Talks with Jeremy Thomas (jeremythomastalks.co.uk)

Follow him on social media @jeremythomastalks

Shed Talks is available on all podcast platforms!

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!

Eva Echo

Welcome to episode 144 with Eva Echo, who is a trans rights activist, writer and public speaker.

It took Eva a long time to figure out who she was and learn to live as her true self and this had a hugely negative impact on her mental health from a young age.

In this episode Eva and I chat about what it’s like to be transgender and she guides me through some of the current challenges that gender diverse people are dealing with on a daily basis.

We chat about how and why she became a campaigner and the importance of education and understanding in the work that she does.

We also chat about the journey she has been on with her own identity and the mental health struggles that ran parallel to that through her life until she was able to authentically be her true self.

We chat about compassion, language, acceptance and coming out and we chat about what makes a good ally.

I’ve followed Eva for some time and her work has been a really valuable resource for me to learn about the trans community so it was really lovely to meet her properly and really explore the conversation around gender and identity and the role of mental health within that.

You can follow Eva on Instagram @evaech0

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!

Danny McNamara

Welcome to episode 143 with Danny McNamara, who is a songwriter and the singer in Embrace.

Embrace released their debut album ‘The Good Will Out’ in 1996 and have gone on to release a total of 8 albums, all of which have charted in the top 10.

Danny experienced mental health challenges as a teenager, at one point having 15 panic attacks a day.  He would eventually be diagnosed with PTSD and later with Pure O OCD.

In this episode I chat to Danny about the early days of the band and his memories of recording their seminal debut album.

We talk about how PTSD entered his life after a traumatic event and the impact that had on his life and we chat about how he eventually recovered.

We also chat about the importance of talking, the benefits of therapy, being in a band and we chat about how getting married and having kids finally brought Danny some peace.

This was a special one for me!  I’ve been a fan of this band since day one, the debut was the 3^rd record I ever bought, and I’ve seen them live many times!

Danny speaks wonderfully about his experiences and it was an absolute pleasure to spend some time with him!

Everything you need to know about Embrace can be found at www.embrace.co.uk

Follow them on all platforms @embrace

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!

Cara Lisette

Welcome to episode 142 with Cara Lisette, who is a mental health writer and campaigner, a registered mental health nurse and CBT therapist.

In this episode I chat to Cara about her work in mental health services and some of the reasons why she got in to nursing and trained to be a therapist.

Cara has many years of experience of living with an eating disorder and bipolar disorder and in this episode Cara and I chat about some of the ways that these diagnosis impact each other and how she manages both of them day to day.

We chat about her experiences of mental ill health during childhood and the differences between child and adult services and we also chat about relapse, recovery and the bits in between.

Cara is the author of creative activity journals for eating disorders, bipolar and OCD which were inspired by some of the creative tools that she used as part of her own recovery and we also chat about creativity and the role it plays in good mental health.

I really enjoyed chatting to Cara and we cover a lot here.  Her experiences of mental health services on both sides and at different stages of her life have given her an incredible insight which was fascinating to explore.

You can find out more about Cara’s books and ll the other work that she does via her website https://caras-corner.com.

You can follow her on social media @caralisette

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!

Xani Byrne

Welcome to episode 141 with Xani Byrne, who is currently riding a tandem around the coastline of the UK, covering 3500 miles to raise awareness of suicide and mental health and to raise money for to incredible support charities.

The idea for his expedition came after losing his sister to suicide in 2022.  They had always planned to ride a tandem together but never got the chance and now Xani is offering up the back seat of his bike to a different person on each leg of the journey, all of whom have been affected by suicide in some way.

I caught up with him on a rare rest day when he was about 2/3’s of the way through this 88 day challenge which will finish in Edinburgh towards the end of August.

In this episode I chat to Xani about the story behind his cycle, the logistics involved and how he actually quit his job to make this happen.

We chat about some of the obstacles and challenges he’s come across during the journey so far and he shares some of the incredible stories on behalf of the people who have joined him along the way.

I heard about Xani and his tandem after he passed through where I live and it was such a pleasure to be able to chat to him about this incredible bike ride and the story behind it, especially as he is still in the saddle at the time of recording!  He’s a great guy and he’s doing something really special.

Xani’s Just Giving page can be found here: Tandem Against Suicide UK fundraising on JustGiving

You can follow him on social media @tandemagainstsuicide

There is more info about his chosen charities here:

Papyrus UK Suicide Prevention | Prevention of Young Suicide (papyrus-uk.org)

Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide – Overcoming the isolation of people bereaved by suicide (uksobs.org)

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!