Centre for Mental Health

Thea Joshi hears from Amarno Inai and Androulla Harris about their recent work on Shifting the Dial, evaluating a Birmingham-based project to promote young Black men’s mental health. In light of the risk factors facing Black men’s mental health, they explain how, community-based, culturally informed spaces for young Black men have made a massive difference. They also discuss the way peer research...

Thea Joshi chats with Poppy Jaman OBE, CEO of the City Mental Health Alliance, founder of Mental Health First Aid England and trustee at Centre for Mental Health. Reflecting on her own lived experience of mental health problems and growing up in a Bengali Muslim family, Poppy talks about some of the individuals who supported her at pivotal points in her life. Together they discuss the root causes...

For too long, children's mental health has been underfunded. Children face a postcode lottery when it comes to mental health care, despite the clear moral and economic benefits of early intervention. In this episode, Thea hears from Nick O'Shea, the Centre’s Chief Economist, and Charlotte Rainer, Lead of the Children & Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, about our new research, 'Time for actio...

Sarah Hughes, the Centre's chief executive, joins Thea to look back at 2021 and the impact our work has been having through these extremely challenging times. From supporting the NHS to get vaccines to people with severe mental illness, to advising the Government on the mental health impact of the pandemic, to sharing people's own stories of Covid, we've been continuing the fight for equality in m...

Shuranjeet Singh, founder of Taraki, joins Thea to talk about how his organisation is working with Punjabi communities to reshape approaches to mental health. We discuss what led him to create the organisation, the role of faith centres, and the need for an intersectional approach to mental health inequalities. Shuranjeet reflects on the barriers to accessing mental health support, and the need fo...

This episode, we hear from Alex Augustine, one of the Centre’s peer researchers, on what genuine peer involvement and coproduction should look like. He shares his own journey to working for the Centre, how his own experience shapes the way he works, and the corrosive impact racism is having on the mental health of Black men. Alex also highlights the urgent need for organisations to put lived exper...

Dr Amy Pollard joins Thea Joshi to talk about her new role as the Centre's writer in residence, explaining how she has drawn on painful lived experience to distil ideas which can be shared with others. Amy's first piece as our Writer in Residence focuses on loneliness in mental health, putting it in the context of the Enlightenment, and they discuss how the Enlightenment has shaped our thinking ab...

Dr Graham Durcan, our Associate Director of Research and Evaluation, speaks to Thea Joshi about mental health in prisons. The Centre has done decades of research in this area but, despite some good progress, in some ways prisons are less safe than they were 15 years ago. Graham discusses the findings of our new report about mental health care for people in prisons, and why a fundamental culture sh...

Marsha McAdam, mental health ambassador, speaks to Thea Joshi about being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. We talked about using her experience of mental health difficulties to create meaningful changes in services, and how those of us living with mental health difficulties can 'bring our whole selves' to work. Music by scottholmesmusic.com View the full transcript and show notes: h...

Andy Bell, deputy chief executive at Centre for Mental Health, joins Alethea to reflect on some of our recent work and the power of applying research to real life. We covered a lot of ground, from the changes he's seen in policy and services over many years at the Centre, to our work on race equality and more widely in the campaign for equality in mental health. View the full transcript and show n...

Myira Khan, founder of the Muslim Counsellor and Psychotherapist Network, joins Kadra and Alethea from Centre for Mental Health to discuss the mental health challenges facing racialised communities, particularly Muslim communities. Myira shares pertinent insights from her own practice about the need for a more representative workforce, and the barriers that stigma and language can create for peopl...

In our second Centre for Mental Health podcast episode, Sarah Hughes chats to Nathan Dennis, Founder Trustee of First Class Foundation, a Birmingham-based charity working to tackle youth violence and build mental health resilience. With his usual wisdom and honesty, Nathan discusses racial inequality and mental health, his own journey to founding First Class Foundation, the apprehension in some ra...

In the first of our new Centre for Mental Health Podcast episodes, we speak to chief executive Sarah Hughes. We explored how she describes the Centre, why equality for mental health is such a critical goal, her previous work in mental health and her key areas of focus. Did you like the podcast? We always like to hear from you - contact us at website@centreformentalhealth.org.uk For more informatio...