LionHeart Talks

LionHeart Talks… Resilience and mental health One month before she sat her APC towards the end of 2020, graduate surveyor Sophie Clarke took her own life. Although she had experienced periods of anxiety and low moods, there was absolutely no sign just how much Sophie was struggling, and for her many loved ones her heartbreaking decision came like a bolt out of the blue. In this episode, our host J...

Around 15 million people in the UK (about a quarter of the population!) live with a long-term health condition, so you’re not alone – although it often feels that way. Our host Lucy Wright and LionHeart ambassador and surveyor, Derek Carter, talk about what it’s like to go from living a busy, active working and personal life to being told you’ve got a health condition that’s not going to go away....

Having your own inner critic is bizarrely not always a bad thing. What was once hard-wired into our brains as a survival mechanism can actually help us to succeed and improve – but only if we use it well. Our host Melissa Gough Rundle is joined by one of the LionHeart trainers, Isabelle Fielding, who is a coaching psychologist and consultant specialising in working with people and organisations on...

The feelings of helplessness when you realise your child is struggling with their mental health are like no other. The worry can be all-consuming, especially if you’re not quite sure when and where to get professional support, and can impact the whole family. LionHeart host Melissa Gough Rundle is joined by Carmel Mullan-Hartley and Colette Hartley from our youth counselling partner, Open Door. We...

“My body was telling me something was wrong – I just wasn’t listening to it.” Sudden, serious health events that happen seemingly out of the blue can change everything, mentally and physically. Our host Jo Grant is joined by LionHeart ambassador Amol Bhatnagar MRICS as we talk health problems that change your life – something around 1 in 10 of the cases we support each year have in common – and ho...

What are some of the biggest barriers to better inclusion at work? In this episode, LionHeart host Jo Grant is joined by Vanessa Curtis, senior director at CBRE, RICS Governing Council member, and founder and chair of AbilityRE, a non-profit organisation that promotes awareness of disability and neurodiversity within the property industry. Vanessa’s journey began with her personal experiences of t...

3.1 A Growth Mindset (& how to get one) What’s a growth mindset: how do you get one – and why would you want one anyway?! LionHeart host Melissa Gough Rundle is joined by one of the LionHeart trainers and certified coach Rob Edwards to talk about the difference between fixed and growth mindsets and how we can train our minds like a muscle to embrace new skills and opportunities and make us mor...

Every year, millions of UK employees experience bereavement – astonishingly, around a quarter of the workforce. Yet almost 60% of those felt unsupported at work following their loss. Despite bereavement being something we all experience, it seems workplaces and colleagues are not always well-equipped to offer support and are often not sure what to do or say (or what not to do or say). In this seco...

Every single one of us will lose a loved one at some point in our lives, but the impact of grief is something we still don’t talk about very much – which can leave someone who’s been bereaved feeling very isolated in their feelings. In this first of two episodes to mark Grief Awareness Week, LionHeart host Jo Grant is joined by ambassador and surveyor Claire Martin and LionHeart communications man...

LionHeart Talks… Gearing up for your APC Undertaking your APC and, in particular, getting ready for final assessment can be one of the most stressful, daunting periods of a surveyor’s career, with the need to juggle work, study, revision and home life. So how can you help yourself gear up for that all-important journey? In this episode, our host Melissa Gough-Rundle is joined by ambassador Roy Alb...

5 LionHeart Talks… How talking beats the stigma [Trigger warning: this episode contains references to suicide and suicide prevention] The fear of admitting you’re feeling vulnerable can magnify problems no end. Worst case scenario, bottling things up can even make you ill. In this episode to mark Time to Talk Day, LionHeart host Melissa Gough-Rundle is joined by our long-time ambassador Steve Lees...

“At some point I’m going to be found out – I’m such a fraud!” An astonishing number of people (up to 70% of us!) have secret feelings of ‘imposter syndrome’ at work at some point: feeling like a ‘fraud’, that they don’t fit in, don’t deserve to be where they are, and that one day someone will discover they’ve been winging it all along. Sound familiar? LionHeart host Jo Grant is joined by our ambas...

How many of us have had that dreaded Sunday evening feeling, where your evening is totally over-shadowed by the thought of going to work the next day? People experience stress in different ways but there’s no doubt that prolonged or extreme stress at work can have a huge impact on your physical and mental health. LionHeart host Jo Grant is joined by ambassador Derek Carter who - one Friday the 13t...

LionHeart Talks… APC Referral “If you’re not kind to yourself, this is where the APC goes wrong for a lot of folk.” Sometimes it’s not about your surveying knowledge or technical expertise but how you approach the APC mentally that can hold the key to success – or not. LionHeart host Melissa Gough-Rundle is joined by our ambassador John Tierney who knows only too well how the career milestone can...

LionHeart Talks… Alcohol and dependency January is often a month where people reassess how they drink, after the festivities of Christmas and New Year or perhaps because they’re doing Dry January for health reasons or even for charity. LionHeart host Melissa Gough-Rundle is joined by our ambassador Paddy Phillips to talk about alcohol and how it fits into people’s lives, from the habitual and soci...

LionHeart Talks… It’s time to talk! “I wish I had talked to you six months ago.” Talking is huge. Talking can change lives, or even save them – but it doesn’t have to be about the big conversations, the little connections are so important too. So many of the people we help say they wish they had talked to us sooner, because talking about a problem really can help relieve the burden. In this specia...

If things are tricky at work then that has a habit of spilling over into your own time, having a negative effect on your wellbeing and giving you the dreaded ‘Sunday night feeling’. The most difficult situations can impact your own confidence and even lead to stress and burnout. LionHeart host Melissa Gough-Rundle is joined by support officer and qualified coach Clare Davis to talk about the vario...

“Everything changes all the time so you can cope with it - but sometimes it can be like a rolling stone gathering moss.” Some of us love it and some of us hate it, but change is part of life. LionHeart host Jo Grant is joined by Tracy Evans, one of our support officers, to talk about the myriad of changes any of us can face throughout life – and change can impact on our health, wellbeing and confi...

“We all experience grief and loss at some point in our lives. But we all experience it differently and it’s important to stress there are no rules about how you should feel or when you should feel it.” LionHeart host Jo Grant is joined by our counsellor Mark Hodson as they discuss grief and coping with loss; something that sadly affects every one of us but can still be immensely difficult to talk...

“The APC is a long journey, and there’s a lot riding on the one-hour assessment that you get after two years. That’s why it makes up such a large proportion of the calls we get around fear, failure and disappointment.” LionHeart host Melissa Gough-Rundle is joined by our support officer Ben Halpin to talk about some of the issues in his day to day work on the LionHeart helpline and longer term wor...

“Social anxiety is a fear of social situations; the bottom line is a fear of being judged negatively by others. That anxiety can be so overwhelming it can essentially stop people from living their lives.” Around 1 in 8 people are thought to struggle with social anxiety, making it one of the most common anxiety disorders. Much more than being a few nerves in new situations or feeling shy among new...

“Sometimes it’s about getting through the here and now, before we even start to look at strategies to move forward in future.” LionHeart host Melissa Gough-Rundle is joined by support officer and qualified coach Clare Davis to talk about the huge issue of overwhelm and burnout we see time and again among the surveyors we support. Ever feel like you’re sliding backwards down a hill – even though yo...