It's a Mind Field!

Chris Jaeger talks with his cousin Jess about miscarriage. She tells her heartbreaking story of pregnancy loss. Miscarriage can inflict profound emotional wounds, often leading to a complex array of mental health challenges. Grief, guilt, and deep sadness may engulf individuals and couples, triggering feelings of inadequacy and despair. Anxiety and depression can emerge, lingering long after the p...

Leon Fernandes has a conversation which 'changed his life'.  His guest Greg, has wisdom in bucket-loads.  They discuss the difficulties of coming-out as a gay man, in decades past, and run-ins with suicide. Coming out as a gay man was often a journey marked by profound trauma and societal rejection. The weight of societal stigma and fear of persecution hung heavily over individuals who d...

 Chris Jaeger continues his conversation with paramedic Jason Kirkaldy. A front line paramedic, Jason experiences trauma daily. He speaks about the unique mental health challenges faced by first responders.  IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW . Content warning - Interviews include explicit language and feature topics such as depression, stigma and suicide. We acknowledge tha...

Chris Jaeger talks with paramedic Jason Kirkaldy who opens up about revealing mental health struggles in a workplace that sometimes demonstrates a culture of shame. Jason discusses trauma that stems from working on the frontline in paramedicine and how that can impact mental health.  IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission of NSW . Content warning - Interviews include explicit language...

After 10 years in the mental health sector supporting patients, and being a patient himself,  Max Simensen believes there is a better way to approach treatment.  Max speaks up against emotional suppression and discusses how people with mental health issues find a need to perform 'unwellness’ in order to access the treatment they need. Over the last two years, Max has led NSW’s first operation...

What happens to young people when religious dogma clashes with sexual identity? In many cultures, living outside of sexual norms can evoke guilt, shame and rejection. But, Mohammad Awad who runs the award-winning Muslim Peers Project, which supports young Muslims, says that religious identity and queer identity are not mutually exclusive - they can exist in harmony.  An artist, writer and poet, Aw...

Leon Fernandes talks with Meg, a clinical psychologist who reveals how stigma and shame inhibit members of her profession from discussing and seeking treatment for their own mental health issues. Meg’s perspective is shaped by having faced mental health trauma and the uncomfortable reactions exhibited when communicating her experiences to colleagues. Leon, who has for a long time been in therapy w...

In Part II of Big Feelings , Chris Jaeger introduces Natalie Toal - a ‘super feeler’ who is an advocate of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy for managing big feelings. Natalie explains what is involved in the therapy, and outlines its benefits. Natalie relies on DBT herself and, as a peer worker in mental health, she is involved in helping others who are dealing with overwhelming feelings.  Chris an...

After 10 years in psychotherapy, Hannah Achelles has learned to navigate big feelings. In this interview with co-host Chris Jaeger, Hannah talks about befriending emotions to stop them from becoming overwhelming and developing into depression. For those who experience extreme emotions, managing those feelings can be a complex and lifelong journey. IAMF! is supported by the Mental Health Commission...

Executive Producer of IAMF, Leon Fernandes has faced deep trauma because of failings in mental health care. While awaiting a psychiatric hospital bed, Leon spent 12 terrifying nights in an open ward shared with people experiencing drug-induced psychosis.  In this episode Leon speaks candidly about his fears and suicidal thoughts. With presenter Chris Jaeger, he discusses failures of a system that...

Loneliness affects one in three of us. It is a silent epidemic that can negatively impact  our mental and physical health.  Producer/presenter Chris Jaeger talks about his experiences of loneliness, delving into the roles played by friendship, romantic connections, and loss. Expert, Dr Michell Lim explains her mission to elevate awareness, and encourage actions, to address loneliness. IAMF! is sup...

In this episode, we hear the stories of two people whose loved ones have died by suicide. It’s heavy stuff, involving big emotions. As presenter Leon Fernandes says in the interview, “ There are places where words can’t reach and that darkness [of suicide] is absolutely one of them.” Jane talks about the loss of husband Jez, and how she continues to struggle to make sense of his suicide, with gust...

Have you ever wondered what it's like to hear voices? In this mesmerising episode, Leon Fernandes is joined by Ruah Grace who talked about her life-long experience of hearing voices. A deeply spiritual character, Ruah recently departed this life after suffering a short illness. This episode is dedicated with love, to Ruah, her partner, family, and friends. Ruah’s voices took on many guises fr...

How comfortable are you in talking about sex and suicide? No matter what, we each have a close relationship with and strong opinions about sex and suicide. Talking candidly about them can be difficult – with each they can fill us with unease, bring up distressing memories, force us to sit with uncertainty and with fear. * This episode has a significant focus on suicide. If you need to talk to some...

For most of human history, mental illness has been largely untreatable. Sufferers lived their lives - if they survived - in and out of asylums, accumulating life's wreckage around them. In 1948, all that changed when an Australian doctor and recently returned prisoner of war, working alone in a disused kitchen, set about an experimental treatment for one of the scourges of mankind - manic dep...

Many people across Australia and the world are afraid to talk about suicide. A common misconception is that talking about it will encourage and lead to suicide. In episode 11 of It’s A Mind Field!, we start the conversation about suicide and some of the myths around it. We take a  first-hand look at the factors that drive suicidal thinking and behaviour and reveal the powerful effect that holding...

Australia is a country that lives for sport; in the 2021 lockdown, millions of people were glued to the Olympics in Tokyo and football grand finals. But what about the mental health of athletes when they’re off the field? Renowned sports psychiatrist Dr Ranjit Menon joins It’s A Mind Field! to discuss the mental health of high-performance athletes. On December 14 2012, the world watched in horror...

Episode Nine of It’s A Mind Field! explores Aboriginal mental health and suicide.  Research shows that Indigenous people in Australia are twice as likely to die by suicide than non-Indigenous Australians. The suicide rate of Indigenous Australian children is amongst the highest in the world and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged between 15 and 24 are almost four times more likely to commi...

Imagine that life is a video game and at the start of the game, everyone is gifted 90,000 ‘bonus hours’, to spend doing whatever tickles their fancy  How would you spend this time?  Would you explore the world with those you love the most?   Would you kick-back and watch re-runs of Sex and The City?  Or maybe rescue twelve dogs and start a commune in Alaska.   However you’d spend this time doesn’t...

Drugs destroy lives…..or do they? Everyone has an opinion about drugs, and usually a robust one.  For some people living with mental health issues, the impacts of drug use can be devastating and even fatal. However, for some, intoxication can also be a source of joy, inspiration, and self-knowledge. What do you reckon? This episode features two of Australia’s most prominent and influential voices...

In today’s episode, we examine some of the things we hold near to our hearts but might be afraid to talk about. We talk openly about suicide from those with personal experience and what the research says. This is a story of hope, not despair.  We then have an interview we hope you’ll love as much as we do!  We interview a sex worker who specialises in working with clients who have dementia, living...

Have you ever felt lonely? Are you lonely now? French writer, Honoré de Balzac wrote that “solitude is fine but sometimes you need someone to tell that solitude is fine.” Ain’t that the truth! In this episode, we investigate what causes loneliness and how it is different from solitude. And where does our drive to connect come from? How and why do we connect, with words or without them? Though it c...

Is there a connection between religious involvement and mental health? Hell yeah! Though it is a long and complex relationship indeed. For some, religion and sport has been a source of deep joy and connection, whereas for others it has been an irritant. Of course, there are many shades in between. Funnily enough, the exact same thing could be said about sport. What do you reckon?  Carole Cusack is...

In this episode, we unearth the connection between invisible illness and its propensity to result in 50 shades of displacement -- from friends, family, work, visibility in public discourse, and the home itself. Join in on our chats with SHOW ME WHERE IT HURTS: LIVING WITH INVISIBLE ILLNESS author Kylie Maslen, and Yfoundations CEO Pam Barker. Kylie Maslen is a writer, critic and the author of SHOW...

In this episode of It’s a Mind Field! We’re focusing on youth and some of the challenges that young people have faced in the past and still deal with today. Our expert interview is with 2010’s Australian of the Year, Professor Pat McGorry. Pat is a psychiatrist known world-wide for his development of early intervention and youth mental health services and for mental health innovation, advocacy, an...