Mental Health Monday

Mick Coyle is joined by Siobhan Roxburgh and comedian Sam Avery to discuss The Comedy Trust's new "Laughter after Loss" project. The scheme is open to anyone dealing with grief, or who've suffered a loss, to explore their experiences, using comedy as a tool to connect with other people and open up the conversation about grief, loss or other emotions experienced in the weeks, months and years after...

Pete Smyth is Mick Coyle's guest on this week's Podcast. Pete is part of the Parents in Mind service from the NCT which connects dads with other dads to talk through some of the difficulties and issues that can emerge when you become a father. Pete uses his own experiences of being a father and son to help guide dads through challenging moments, or help gather perspective when facing times of diff...

Mick Coyle brings you the full story behind CALM's #TheLastPhoto exhibition and campaign. Featuring the last photo taken of people in the days and weeks before their suicide, the campaign aims to show you that "suicidal doesn't always look suicidal" and to challenge our preconceptions about suicide. There's a link to the CALM resources, and more about the campaign on our website . Please don't suf...

Mick Coyle is joined by Yorkshire MP, and member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Loneliness Kim Leadbeater. Kim is here to discuss the issues and facts raised by Loneliness Awareness Week in June 2022. The long term impacts of isolation are only just being understood, but there are concerns it can significantly increase someone's risk of death, and can be as bad for you as smoking. The Bri...

Mick speaks to the CEO of Zealous and the creator of the Amplify mental health art competition "Amplify" Guy Armitage. Guy and Mick have a wide ranging conversation about humans in a modern world, and the role art can play in helping us represent our own thoughts, or perceive them in others. Guy also talks about his own mental health journey - exploring the idea of a strobe light which turns on at...

Max George from The Wanted is our guest on this week's #MentalHealthMonday Podcast. (Podcast art by Alamy) Mick Coyle caught up with Max ahead of "thank you" day, where people are encouraged to show their appreciation for those who go above and beyond to make a difference to people's lives. Max speaks incredibly highly of NHS staff who supported him through this battles with anxiety and depression...

Founder and CEO of the Lions Barber Collective Tom Chapman is our guest on this week's podcast. Tom has revolutionised the role of hair and beauty specialists, and turned them into crucial workers on the mental health frontline. His new book "How to listen so men will talk" explores how we as individuals can be better equipped to listen and understand when people choose to open up to us about thei...

Mick Coyle is live in Liverpool for episode 250 of Mental Health Monday! Headlining the "Mental Health and Work Summit" at the Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre, he's joined by the writer and creator of hit TV series "The Responder". As you will hear, Tony Schumacher's personal mental health and work journey inspired events we see play out on screen, with a cast starring the likes of Martin Fr...

We're joined by Psychotherapist Ali Donat on this week's podcast. Ali works for Nafsiyat, a therapy service in North London. Nafsiyat provides therapy for people from a whole range of global backgrounds from non-English speakers, to immigrants and refugees. There are currently more than 30 therapists working for the service, delivering therapy in 24 different languages. It's a fascinating conversa...

Author of " #BeMoreWolf: A Survivor's Story" Wendy Kier is Mick's guest on this week's Podcast Wendy's new book charts her history of trauma, and her journey to cope with and compartmentalise events from her past. It also looks at how she tries to break the cycle of trauma and find yourself after going through difficult times. Thanks to Wendy for sharing her story with us. You can follow host Mick...

Tyler Cruickshank is Mick's guest on this week's Podcast. You might recognise him from the 2021 series of Love Island on ITV2. Following a close friend's suicide, Tyler has signed up as an ambassador for the charity SOS Silence of Suicide. He's hoping his profile, and experience of losing a friend to suicide, will encourage other young people to talk about their mental health. Find out more about...

Stephen Robinson is this week's guest on Mental Health Monday. Stephen founded "It's Mental" after losing two close family relations to suicide in a short space of time, as well as suffering from his own personal breakdown. He is now a passionate advocate of keeping on top of your mental health and wellbeing on a regular basis, and created the "It's Mental" platform to provide resources for people...

Jess Cooney is Mick's guest on this week's Podcast. Podcast art by A.P.hotography Jess explores her own personal mental health journey, and how she suffered with anxiety while at university. She then looks into how "flow art" and the power of movement helped her find a new path through difficult times. After moving back to Merseyside from Edinburgh she's now bringing the skills she's learned to a...

Off the back of the Chancellor's Spring Statement, and the forthcoming huge increases in the cost of living, Mick speaks to Conor D'Arcy. Conor is from the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, who as an organisation, want to break the cycle of money and mental health problems that people can face. The UK is facing an inflation rate on 8.7% in 2022, and families are facing large energy bills,...

Mick meets Storm for this week's episode on the Mental Health Monday Podcast. New stats from Carer's Trust lifts the lid on the difficulties young people are facing when it comes to looking after a loved one at home. Stress, burn out, and lack of outside support are all highlighted in a new survey. Carer's Trust also makes recommendations on how services can work together to support young carers i...

Mick Coyle is joined by GoodShape CEO Alun Baker. This week's episodes explores new data which proves how important mental health and wellbeing is to business, while at the same time showing how the majority of firms are rolling back mental health initiatives as coronavirus pandemic restrictions are eased. Mick looks at why this could be a big mistake for businesses, and how new employees are dema...

Writer Majid Mehdizadeh (aka Actor Luke Jerdy)'s new show about anger is about to hit the road for a UK Tour. In Y'MAM (Young man's angry movements) he traces the origin of his own personal struggles with anger and probes the unspoken anxieties, desires, and fantasies of male anger, inviting us to join him on his journey to a new modern ‘manhood’, as he battles with the invisible hierarchy that ex...

Cherry Jezebel artwork by Ben Youdan Mick Coyle meets playwright Jonathan Larkin ahead of his new play "Cherry Jezebel" appearing at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. The play charts the highs and deep lows of lead character "Cherry" a drag queen whose make-up and personality covers scars from their past. Described as "Raw, rude, and raucous", the production looks at how events and people from the pas...

Mick is joined by 21 year old Emma, and the CEO of charity The Mix Chris Martin. This week we're discussing the results of a survey from YouGov and The Mix into how young people view relationships, and how truthful representation in family and external settings breeds confidence, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community. We also look at the mental health consequences of not showing the realities of wh...

Thomas Dunning is the Mental Health Runner. After a difficult time in his life following the death of his brother, Thomas  experienced psychosis, which affected him for a number of years, and left him feeling suicidal. As part of his recovery he decided to put on his running shoes and slowly start to get back out to pound some pavements. Now Thomas leaves #OperationSamaritan tags in prominent loca...

Mick Coyle is joined by Phil Noon for this fascinating edition of Mental Health Monday. Phil provides mental health training to businesses, schools, organisations and charities, and uses his own experiences, alongside things like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, to help people think differently about their thoughts and feelings. The podcast explores how we can encourage people to make those changes,...

Welcome to the home of the UK's conversation about mental health. Mick is joined by CiCi Reagan on this week's edition of Mental Health Monday. CiCi talks about her six years of sobriety following her alcohol addiction, and how abuse and her family circumstances combined during her teenage years to create an environment where her drinking began and later escalated. Now living in the UK, but origin...

Mick takes a look at statistics around the number of men coming forward to get help for Eating Disorders. Stats from Beat show that during the pandemic, the number of sessions supplied to men and boys increased by 113%. In this week's podcast, he's discussing the stigma and misunderstanding around eating disorders in men, and how it could mean the issue goes unreported. Ed Emond and Thomas Pickfor...

Mick Coyle is joined by the creator and star of Rambler Man - a new short film about dealing with and talking about depression through family connection, and the great outdoors. Ewan Pollitt explores how his own mental health journey, relationship with his father and the love for his home county of Cumbria inspired him to create a new superhero for the big-screen - albeit one wearing a waterproof...

As #MentalHealthMonday marks its 5th birthday... A new report from GoodShape shows mental health issues are the number one cause for UK staff absences in 2021. More time was lost to things like stress, depression or anxiety than was lost to coronavirus. Mick Coyle is joined by Nurse, and Clinical Governance Officer Suzanne Marshall to discuss where businesses are going wrong and how measures can b...