Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by Justin Ray, a psychiatric nurse practitioner in Virginia . Justin owns South Chesapeake Psychiatry and Transforming Minds Interventional Psychiatry, and is the provider for the City of Chesapeake's Assertive Community Team. Justin spent 22 years in the US Navy, thirteen of them as a psychiatric technician, before qual...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life, I'm joined by Eloise Skinner, an existential psychotherapist, former corporate lawyer and fitness teacher . Eloise spent five years in corporate tax law before retraining as a psychotherapist. She works in existential therapy, the field concerned with meaning, purpose, identity and values, and she also teaches yoga and Pilates. That...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life, I'm joined by Charmian Johnson, a former global law firm partner, now founder of Charm Johnson Coaching and a Partner of The Mental Wellbeing Company . Through nervous system-aware training and coaching, she helps law firms reduce absence and attrition while improving performance and wellbeing. She also helps female lawyers move fro...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life, I'm joined by Nicky McLaughlin, Area Partnership Manager for Scotland at CAP (Christians Against Poverty) , a debt counselling charity now in its 30th year. Nicky supports the debt centre managers and coaches who visit people in their own homes, often at the hardest points of their lives. That means holding two things at once: the t...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life, I'm joined by Michael Alexander, CEO of JAANUU , a fashionable yet functional medical apparel company founded in 2013 by a female paediatrician. Michael's core belief is simple: a CEO's number one job is to drive culture, and culture is what protects the mental health of everyone in the organisation. We talk about what that looks li...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life, I'm joined by Jodie Marshall, Founder and Managing Director of social enterprise A Mind Apart , and founder and owner of her consultancy and coaching company Mantleco Ltd. We start with a question most workplaces skip: who looks after the leader? Jodie is honest about her own burnout, and about how a burnt-out leadership can never b...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life, I'm joined by Tracey Secker, founder of Voices Social Enterprise , a non-profit raising awareness of domestic abuse, trauma and other forms of abuse, supporting both employees and employers through training, resources and events. Tracey also works with the charity Rape and Sexual Violence Project. Tracey came to this work through li...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life, I'm joined by Steven Pink, who is the CEO of Verve Healthcare, a SELDOC Group company . Steven has worked in retail, banking, aviation, the NHS and private healthcare. You will hear in the podcast how experiences from each of these industries have shaped Steven's view on how to lead well. Steven's route to leadership has been intere...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by Dr Emma Williamson, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and CEO of Aneemo . Emma spent over 20 years in the NHS, including developing what is now the largest homeless psychology service in Europe, and she now supports organisations across sectors through trauma-informed leadership, training and immersive learning. We sta...

In this episode of  Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by  Marjorie Thomson , a commercial leader with more than 30 years in the construction industry. Marjorie's career has taken her from graduate trainee in Croydon to regional director responsible for a £26 million business, through two start-ups, two sales, and the process of leading a company through administration. She...

In this episode of  Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by  Sue Naughton-Marsh , Organisational Development Strategist, Leadership Coach and Psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience helping organisations build confident, capable leaders. Sue brings a rare combination of perspectives. As a psychotherapist, she works one-to-one with people experiencing workplace stress...

In this episode of  Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by  Dr Raja Gangopadhyay , Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Obstetric Lead in Perinatal Mental Health at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and NHS Clinical Entrepreneur. As a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist with a special interest in perinatal mental health, Dr Raj brings a clinical le...

In this episode of  Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by  Irene Warner-Mackintosh , co-founder and director of Mhor Collective. Irene brings a perspective shaped by a career spent entirely in the third sector, where the ethos of care is part of the DNA, but where capacity constraints and funding pressures create their own challenges. We talk about what a mentally healthy w...

In this episode of  Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by  Carolina Uggenti , Research Fellow at the MRC Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, working on innate immunity and rare genetic diseases. Carolina shares a perspective shaped by major life transitions, from moving countries to navigating cancer, and how those experiences have changed the way she...

A note on audio quality:  This episode was recorded with some technical challenges, so the audio isn't as crisp as usual. The conversation is well worth sticking with. In this episode of  Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by  Iain Kennedy , Health and Safety Manager at the University of Edinburgh, based at Western General Hospital and a trained Mental Health First Aider. I...

In this episode of  Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by  Liz Stewart , therapist and somatic trauma informed coach. With 18 years of experience in therapy, Liz brings a grounded, no-nonsense perspective on what mentally healthy workplaces actually look like, and where most organisations are still getting it wrong. We talk about why a mentally healthy workplace is simply o...

In this episode of  Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by  Camilla , a postdoctoral cancer researcher at University College Dublin, originally from Italy. We explore what mental health looks like in the world of academic research, where short-term contracts, relentless pressure to publish, and blurred boundaries between work and life are the norm. Drawing on a decade of exp...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by Andy Coley , leadership development trainer & keynote speaker, and experienced NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Trainer. We explore what makes a mentally healthy workplace when leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence are at the centre. Drawing on Andy's work supporting teams and leaders across mult...

In this episode of  Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I'm joined by  Jane Gill , Manufacturing Technician in the Biopharma industry. We explore what mentally healthy workplaces look like across very different industries, from the high-pressure, fast-paced world of hospitality to the structured, process-driven environment of biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Drawing on Jane's career jo...

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life , I’m joined by Dr Luis Soares , Science Communicator and Research Impact Lead , based in the School of Health in Social Science at the University of Edinburgh . We explore what a mentally healthy workplace really looks like when you strip away slogans, policies and performative wellbeing initiatives. Drawing on Luis’s experience in...

Younger workers are being criticised for refusing unpaid overtime, but this backlash tells us far more about broken work systems than it does about Gen Z. In this episode, we explore why younger workers are setting firmer boundaries, why that is causing discomfort in organisations, and what it reveals about job design, wellbeing and culture. This is not a work ethic problem. It is a work design pr...

Are workplace wellbeing campaigns making a real difference, or just ticking boxes? In this thought-provoking episode, we uncover the gap between what organisations say and what employees actually experience. As stress, cynicism, and disengagement rise, it’s time to ask, how do we move from surface-level gestures to genuine cultures of care? Join us as we dig into the realities of performative well...

This week, two of our team, Angela Rook and Sonia Last, sit down with our partner Claire Mackenzie from Venturing Out for a relaxed, 23-minute chat about the future of employee wellbeing. Wellbeing is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a business-critical imperative. Organisations are shifting from managing the negative impacts of mental health to proactively creating cultures that support wellbeing a...

A tribunal ruling on a manager’s repeated sighs might sound trivial, until you look closer. In this episode, we unpack what a “sigh” really communicates in power-imbalanced settings, and why it matters for neurodivergent people at work. We explore how micro-behaviours like tone, silence, and sighs can become part of a broader pattern of exclusion. 🎧 Key Topics: The legal and cultural implications...

What if underperformance isn't a failure of the person, but a signal that something in the system isn't working? In this episode, we step back from the blame game and explore a more compassionate, human-centred approach to performance, support and leadership. From outdated job descriptions to the idea of “try before you commit” roles, and even a Universal Basic Income, we imagine a future where wo...