Lively Minds, the UK Mental Health Podcast

Australia’s nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2024, Matt Ottley, talks to us about his new work The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness , which explores experiences of bipolar and psychosis through art, word and music.  Matt Ottley is an internationally acclaimed and multiple award-winning neurodiverse artist, author and composer from Australia, with more than forty picture books to...

“Sometimes, people just need to be really very sad together” In this episode, we will be talking with funeral celebrant - or ‘funeralist’ - Andy Jones about funerals and mental health.  We ask Andy what ingredients he thinks a funeral needs in order to best support the wellbeing of those that have lost someone. We also discuss how, as someone who spends his life around death and grieving, Andy loo...

What is Dramatherapy? How does it work? And how can it help us make better sense of our mental health?  In this episode, Ellie and Will chat with Ciara McClelland of Dream Together, who is a registered dramatherapist and social worker. We explore dramatherapy's application in both individual and group contexts. From facilitating personal healing journeys to shedding light on pressing social issues...

Did you know, that in the UK, anyone - no matter what their qualifications or experience - can set themselves up as a counsellor, a psychotherapist, or indeed use any job title except for a chosen few that are protected by law? In this episode, we will be talking Phil Doré and Amanda Williamson about regulation - or rather, the lack of it - in mental health care in the UK. Amanda Williamson is a S...

How can the arts help achieve positive change for people with mental health problems? Who can get involved? What counts as “activism”?  Writer, director and Disabled rights activist: Vici Wreford Sinnott returns to the show to discuss these questions. She highlight some of her favourite examples of mental health-focused activism and talks about how those with and without mental health challenge ca...

How many times have you heard someone say “I’m being so OCD” to describe a random bit of preciseness or when they need to double-check something? Whether it’s newspaper articles falsely linking OCD to violent behaviours, unhelpful social media memes that perpetuate mistaken concepts of “intrusive thoughts”, or the names of brands which trivialise the experience - misinformation, and perhaps someti...

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Why is mental health and learning disability so often confused? How do they interact? Why are learning disabled people more likely to experience mental health problems than the general population? In this episode, we will be talking to Paul Wilshaw, who is Associate Producer at https://www.mind-the-gap.org.uk/. As well as being an advocate for Mind the Gap, Paul uses his own lived experience to be...

Welcome to the first episode of SEASON 2 of Lively Minds! In this episode, we will be talking to Stuart Ralph who featured in what is currently our most popular episode of season 1, exploring OCD: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Stuart is a counsellor and psychotherapist for children and young people, who has lived experience of OCD, is the co-founder of the Integrative Centre for OCD Therapy and h...

We asked for your thoughts and questions, and you did not disappoint! Thank you to everyone who contacted us. In the second of our 2-parter, Ellie will respond to your questions about her experiences both working in and being admitted to mental health hospital. If you haven’t heard our three episode miniseries on mental health hospitals you may want to go back and listen to that before listening t...

We asked for your thoughts and questions, and you did not disappoint! Thank you to everyone who contacted us. In the first of another 2-parter, Ellie will respond to your questions about her experiences both working in and being admitted to mental health hospital. The questions were SO good, that we’ve had to spread Elllie’s responses over two episodes - and the second will land in your feeds next...

The social model of disability offers a radical alternative to the way we understand our mental health problems. Rather than focusing on health problems as deficits or diagnoses, the social model asks what structural barriers such as lack of mental health care, access, discrimination and exclusion (whether intentional or not) affect people’s wellbeing. The social model of disability still values t...

What is clinical anxiety? And how does it differ from everyday anxiety? We are delighted to welcome back to the show Karen Lowinger, who is a clinical psychologist from Panama. For fourteen years now, Karen has been working with teenagers and adults going through anxiety disorders, mood disorders and borderline personality disorder. She last spoke to us about high functioning mental health problem...

What is the relationship between neurodivergence and trauma? In today’s episode we are chatting again to Amanda Marples, who is a writer, social worker and mentor with over twenty years experience in community mental health. She has written for numerous magazines, is the author of "The Healing Workbook" and operates a mentoring service for neurodivergent writers called Reconcile Creative. The last...

What are Ellie's hopes for the future of mental health hospitals in the UK? In the third and final part of this three part mini-series, Will chats to Ellie about her experiences of running creative workshops and events within mental health hospitals, how this differed from her time as an inpatient, and what her hopes are for the future of mental health hospitals. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter)...

What is it like to be an inpatient on a mental health ward? In the second of this three part mini-series, Will shall be chatting to Ellie about her experiences of both being admitted to and working in mental health hospitals. In the UK, a mental health or ‘psychiatric’ hospital or ward refers to an inpatient healthcare setting which specialises in the treatment of people who are considered to be e...

What is it like to be admitted to mental health hospital? What does it mean to be “sectioned”? Over the next three episodes, I will be chatting to Ellie about her experiences of both being admitted to and working in mental health hospitals. In the UK, a mental health or ‘psychiatric’ hospital or ward refers to an inpatient healthcare setting which specialises in the treatment of people who are con...

What is trauma? In today’s episode we are chatting to Amanda Marples, who is a writer, social worker and mentor with over twenty years experience in community mental health. We will be discussing her new book: "The Healing Workbook". Published by Summersdale , this guide is designed to help people understand and deal with trauma. For more information on the DSM definition of PTSD (Post Traumatic S...

Are mental health problems a ‘disability’? We chat with Professor Tom Shakespeare about the relationship between concepts of disability and mental health. Tom is Professor of Disability Research at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has taught and researched at the universities of Sunderland, Leeds, Newcastle and East Anglia, worked for the World Health Organisation, and authored s...

Kema Sikawe recently appeared in a BBC 3 documentary: Therapy: Tough Talking in which he gives viewers a front-row seat at a series of therapy sessions where he opens up and discusses his mental health challenges. Kema, who is also known as Kema Kay, is a musician, actor and broadcaster based in Newcastle. In this episode we talk with Kema about the pros and cons of talking publicly about your men...

In a world dominated by Western approaches to psychiatric health, what does the non-Western world offer in terms of alternative interpretations of our mental health experiences? In today’s episode we are talking to Dr. Arya Thampuran, a researcher from Durham University in the UK, about her work focusing on how creative practitioners in African diasporic contexts express distress and healing in wa...

Is it OK to avoid everyday situations that make us anxious? Or should we always find a way to cope? For people with mental health problems, this question is particularly relevant. It may be that fears around a particular situation are linked to trauma, generalised anxiety or compulsive behaviours. No matter how much we rationalise that such fears are unfounded, we find it near impossible to allay...

Why do so many stand up comedians have mental health problems?? In this episode, we chat with Hal Branson about the connection between stand-up comedy and mental health. Hal is a comedian and live comedy co-ordinator who has worked in the industry for over 12 years. He has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and his comedy has been inextricably linked with his mental health, both in the content of his...

Wondering where this week's episode of Lively Minds is? Here's a podcast update! Follow us on Twitter and more at https://www.bio.link/livelyminds Find out more about our show at https://www.anyamedia.net/livelyminds

On this episode of Lively Minds, the Mental Health Podcast , Ellie and Will reflect on their most memorable moments from the conversations so far and discuss why they resonate. If you haven’t heard some of the episodes we discuss, don’t worry, we’ll provide enough context for it to make sense. We’ll also mention the episode numbers so you can go back and listen if you’d like to! Follow us on Twitt...