The Just Checking In Podcast

In episode 239 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Gary Hayes. Gary is the Co-Founder and CEO of PTSD999, which is a charity that was set up in 2015 to support those in the emergency services, and their families, living with Post Traumatic Stress. Gary lives with Complex PTSD himself and was undiagnosed for many years when he worked in the British Transport Police (BTP) as a Police...

In episode 238 of The Just Checking In Podcast, we checked back in with previous guests Claudia Van-Nimwegen and Tobiah Frei for a special episode. Claudia is a a teacher, photographer and creative. Tobiah Frei is an artist and sound engineer. They both met each other through the London church, Liberty London. In this episode we discuss their friendship, faith, creative commonalities and how our F...

In episode 237 of The Just Checking In Podcast, we checked in with Jordan Nimmo. Jordan is the Founder of men's mental health platform, 'Men Behind The Masc' (MBTM), which he started in 2018.MBTM aims to promote positive mental health in men and change the conversation around men’s mental health more generally. Jordan became a father aged 19 years old with his childhood sweetheart A...

In episode 236 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Oliver Tennant. Ollie is an actor and the Founder of Run4Hope, a campaign he has created where he is running 12 marathons in 12 months to raise money for men's mental health charity, James’ Place UK. In this episode we discuss how and why he started Run4Hope and his fitness journey into getting ready for the marathons. We then...

In episode 235 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Diane Porterfield. Diane is a menopause Nurse Practitioner, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) prescriber and the Founder of Bourne2Care. Bourne2Care is Diane's own private consulting practice, where she sees female clients struggling with the menopause and she can prescribe HRT as a course of treatment, where appropriate. Diane...

In episode 234 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jonathan Lee. Jon is currently a Creative Director at an advertising agency and the Founder of mental health initiative The Life Jacket (TLJ).After Jon’s friend Alex took his own life in 2023, he wanted to create a new suicide prevention tool that would have intervened in the period building up to Alex’s death. Jon tragically discov...

In episode 233 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with academic Dr Susie Bennett. Susie currently studies at the Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab (SBRL) at the University of Glasgow, researching male suicide. We came across Susie through friend of the pod George from TheTinMen and for her PHD dissertation, she conducted one of the largest studies of suicidal men ever done. She interviewe...

In this episode of Behind The Mic we checked back in with UK band VICTORS for the third time. This time we checked in with Simon who plays lead guitar in the band. In this episode we discuss Simon’s music journey and how he came to form the band with Harry who came on for Parts 1 and 2, playing in various indie-rock bands in his school days and a fond discussion over a shared love of the mid-00s U...

In episode 232 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with academic and writer Dr Samuel Mace. Sam currently works as a teaching fellow at the University of Leeds and has a SubStack called ‘Theory Matters’. He also holds a BA and MA in Politics and a PHD, which specialised in political theory and middle-eastern studies. We came across Sam through an article he wrote in The Critic entitled ‘...

In episode 231 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with a very old friend of ours, Elliot Pearce. Elliot first came on the podcast way back when in JCIP #2! At the time we recorded Part 1 he worked at Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA), a very important organisation who deliver Mental Health First Aid training to organisations across the UK. Elliot worked his way up to the role...

In episode 230 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Sam Evans. Sam is a mental health advocate and works in the healthcare industry. He first came on the podcast way back when in JCIP #31.In Part 1, we discussed his exposure to mental illness when one of his friends tragically took his own life and it ignited his desire to help men with their mental health. He has since put his...

In episode 229 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with conflict journalist, Andy Hayward. Andy currently works as a freelance journalist and has previously worked for VICE News in their international team producing news pieces and documentaries. Andy also previously worked on VICE’s flagship, Emmy Award-winning show VICE News Tonight on HBO.We came across Andy through friend of the pod...

In this episode of Behind The Mic, we checked in with artist, producer and DJ Le Dionisos. Dion puts out brilliant, balearic disco and funk music that is a joy to listen to. Hailing from the Netherlands, Dion studied keys and production at The Conservatorium van Amsterdam. In this episode we discuss his music journey, the self-confidence you need to succeed in the music industry, how he fell in lo...

In episode 228 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with George Mycock. George is the Founder of MyoMinds and a mental health advocate for awareness of Muscle Dysmorphia (MD).MyoMinds mission is to demystify mental health for exercisers and athletes and to create an understanding future for the exercising community. Through research, public talks and their podcast, they work with universi...

In this episode of Behind The Mic, we checked in with R&B and pop artist Yasmin Dyer. Yasmin loved musical theatre from a young age as well as dance and drama and was auditioning for musical theatre schools before she decided to focus on music. She then auditioned for the London College of Contemporary Music during the Covid-19 lockdown and successfully got in. She then met previous Behind The...

In episode 227 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Juan Jose Estrada. Juan or 'Pedro' as he is known to his friends, works as a personal trainer in his spare time and in this episode we discuss his fitness journey, from being introduced to sport at a very early age by his parents, before focusing on road cycling and weightlifting as he reached his late teens. As I did with...

In episode 226 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Laura Dodsworth. Laura is a author, journalist and photographer. We came across Laura through her latest book, 'Free Your Mind: The New World of Manipulation and How to Resist it', which she co-authored with Patrick Fagan. She is also the author of several other books including ‘A State of Fear: how the UK government weapo...

In episode 225 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Irish farmer Gar Lock. We first checked in with Gar in JCIP #196 where we discussed his upbringing which involved criminality, serving prison time and how he turned his life around to become a farmer and a father of five children. We also discussed the work he has been doing to help other former prisoners to change their lives...

In this episode of Behind The Decks we checked in with Joe White. Joe is a DJ, music promoter and cousin of our Founder Freddie Cocker. He is also the Co-Founder of DJ collective, Social Groove, alongside his other co-founder, Tommy Oriel, who will both be performing at Just Checking In Live #5.Joe began life buying and playing Drum & Bass (D&B) vinyl records before meeting his now DJ part...

In episode 224 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Andy Noon. Andy currently works as Head of Centre at the Liverpool branch of a charity called James' Place. James’ Place is a charity offering free, life-saving treatment to suicidal men in their centres, currently in Liverpool, London and Newcastle. The charity was founded by Clare Milford Haven and Nick Wentworth-Stanley foll...

In episode 223 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with George, Founder of from men's media platform, TheTinMen. TheTinMen explores issues around men's mental health, aims to widen perspectives around men as a sex, asks uncomfortable conversations, expose ugly truths and discusses the unpopular other half of gender equality. George started the platform around the end of 2019 an...

In episode 222 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Eric Frydman. Eric works in law and has previously been President and Vice-President of the Jewish Law Student Association at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, where he studied in Toronto in Canada. As part of his role there, Eric dealt with issues of antisemitism on campus and did a joint statement with the Muslim Law Stu...

In episode 221 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with British-Palestinian journalist Hamza Ali Shah. Hamza has outlets including Tribune Magazine, Dazed, Byline Times, Novara Media and The New Arab. We came across Hamza through his article in Tribune called ‘Palestinian Lives Behind Bars’ which examines the plight, injustice and hardship of Palestinians imprisoned under the current Isr...

In episode 220 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in for the fourth time with Claudia Van-Nimwegen. Claudia is a teacher, photographer and creative. In Parts 1, 2 and 3 we discussed her various struggles with self-harm, gender identity, Autism, an undiagnosed Eating Disorder and a stroke which happened to her in December 2022. Since then she has been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Funct...

In episode 219 of The Just Checking In Podcast, our Founder Freddie Cocker checked in with himself and provided some reflections and updates about what's happened with Vent and the JCIP in 2023!He also shares the key achievements of the year just gone, some milestones and the physical health and mental health struggles he’s had to overcome. This has included: multiple surgeries, mental health...