The Proper Mental Podcast

Welcome to episode 238 with Andy Nicholson, who is a musician, producer, photographer and a founding member of the Arctic Monkeys. Andy met Alex Turner and Matt Helders at high school, they asked for instruments one Christmas, formed a band and the rest is history.  Their debut album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ became the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history. Andy le...

Welcome to episode 237 with Beatrice Birch, who is a Hauschka Artistic Therapist and the founder of Inner Fire, a proactive healing community that offers a choice for adults to recover from debilitating and traumatic life challenges with minimal use of medications. Beatrice has worked as an artistic therapist and consultant since 1986 and over these years she has worked in schools, hospitals, reha...

Welcome to episode 236 recorded live at the City Lit Mental Wealth Festival 2025! On Saturday 11th October I was joined by Sam Delaney and Shaun Flores for a live recording of Proper Mental which was titled ‘On Being a Man: Contemporary Masculinities & Mental Health’ We set out to explore what it means to be a man in 2025, the mental health challenges men face, and the resources and interventi...

Welcome to episode 235 with Louise Beech, who is an award-winning author and writer who was making up stories in her head before she was even old enough to hold a pen. One of her many published works is the incredible memoir ’18 Seconds’ where she writes about the day her mother jumped from the Humber Bridge and somehow survived the fall.  This event inspired Louise to look back at her life and re...

Welcome to episode 234 with Andy Ellis, who is an actor, voice actor and film maker known for his roles in This is England, The Walk In and Supertato.  He is also acting coach at Scene to Screen Acting School in Manchester. Andy found a passion for acting in high school and it was almost by chance that he landed a part in Shane Meadow’s BAFTA winning film ‘This is England’.  He went on to star in...

Welcome to episode 233 with Brother Richard Hendrick, who is a Capuchin Franciscan priest-friar, a mindfulness and meditation teacher, and a poet and author. For over 20 years, he has worked to bring the insights of the Christian Contemplative tradition to wider public awareness, particularly in relation to modern mindfulness theory and has worked as a retreat giver and chaplain in various setting...

Welcome to episode 232 with Katja Pavlovna, who is an educator and award-winning activist and the co-founder of Lives Not Labels, a project designed to shine a light on the mental health conditions and labels that are stigmatised, discriminated against and typically left out of the mainstream conversation. After years of struggling with her mental health and fighting to access support, Katja recei...

Welcome to episode 231 with Krystal Evans who is a writer and stand-up comedian. Krystal is also the author of The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp, a memoir about growing up poor in America, living with a mentally ill mother and narrowly escaping a house fire that led to the unimaginable tragedy of losing her sister. In this episode I chat to Krystal about the chaos of her childhood, the impact of const...

Welcome to episode 230 with Sophie Scott, who is a practicing transpersonal psychotherapist and the Founder of Balance, an award-winning wellness media brand working to bring mental and physical wellbeing to the masses. Sophie is also the author of ‘You Are Not Alone in This’ a book aimed at the partners, parents, siblings and children of people who are suffering, that offers practical ideas on ho...

Welcome to episode 229 with Glyn Butcher, who is a member of the People Focused Group in Doncaster and an Ambassador for the Citizen Network. Growing up Glyn experienced racism, abuse, poverty and discrimination on a daily basis.  When he was 11 his Mum was sectioned under the mental health act and not long after that he left to school to care for her at home. He spent his youth bouncing in and ou...

Welcome to episode 228 with Dr Eugene Lipov, who is an anaesthesiologist and pain physician and a leading expert in treating post-traumatic stress. When advanced brain scans revealed trauma’s invisible scars on the brain, Dr Lipov realised that if trauma could be seen, then it could be treated and he became the pioneer of using a stellate ganglion block to alleviate the symptoms of PTSD, a procedu...

Welcome to episode 227 with Angus Collins, an endurance athlete and adventurer who has rowed across the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, setting multiple records in the process. He is the youngest man to row three oceans and is thought of as one of the world’s most successful rowers and he achieved all of this while battling his own mental health, taking on these incredible challenges to avoi...

Welcome to episode 226 with Nick Ray, who is a sea kayaker, wild walker and adventurer who also lives with treatment resistant depression and is a suicide attempt survivor. Nick has undertaken many adventures by sea and over land.  Throughout 2022 and into 2023 he undertook a 12-month solo sea kayak journey around Scotland, paddling over 3000 miles. This year he walked 1000 miles, over three month...

Welcome to episode 225 with Phil Borges, a documentary photographer and filmmaker, recognised for his documentation of indigenous peoples and tribal cultures, with a particular focus on Tibet, human rights, and women's empowerment issues.  His work is exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. While Phil was documenting the various human rights abuses faced by tribal and indigenous cultures aro...

Welcome to episode 224 with Karla Chubb, who is a singer, guitarist and songwriter in Sprints. Sprints formed in Dublin in 2019 and quickly became known for their explosive, cathartic, and incredibly powerful live performances.  After a series of EP’s, they released their debut album in 2024 to great critical acclaim.  The follow up ‘All That is Over’ is out this month. In this episode I’m joined...

Welcome to episode 223 with Dr MaryCatherine McDonald, who is a research professor and life coach who specialises in the psychology and philosophy of trauma. Her work focuses on thinking critically about how we understand, define, and heal from traumatic experiences. Her newest book, The Joy Reset is a ground breaking, accessible guide to identifying the key ways trauma prevents joy and hope, with...

Welcome to episode 222 with Anthony Kavanagh, a singer and author who exploded onto the pop music scene in the late 90’s when his song ‘I Can Make You Feel Good’ was a huge hit all over the world.  At just 18 years old he was touring with the Spice Girls and Boyzone, on the front cover of Smash Hits and countless magazines and regularly appearing on Top of the Pops. Throughout this time Anthony wa...

Welcome to episode 221 with Kaila Yu, a journalist, travel writer and the author of Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty. A former model, Kaila became closely associated with the import scene that took off in the late 90’s (think Fast & Furious 1) and also featured in many of the high-profile magazines of that time. In this episode Kaila joins me to chat about growin...

Welcome to episode 220 with Miranda Arieh, who is a mental health educator and founder of the pioneering HEROES Programme, a holistic, transformation-focused and trauma-informed approach to mental health recovery. Miranda was sectioned under the mental health act at the age of 14 and became a ‘revolving door service user’ in the NHS mental health system, bouncing in and out of foster care, homeles...

Welcome to episode 219 with Andrew Scull, who is a sociologist whose research has centred on the social history of medicine and particularly psychiatry for more than 50 years. He is a recipient of the Roy Porter Medal for lifetime contributions to the history of medicine and the author of more than a dozen books including Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity and Desperate Remedi...

Welcome to episode 218 with Lauren McQuistin, who is a musician, opera singer and author of No Lost Causes Club, a memoir that explores what navigating sobriety looks like in our modern world. She is also the creator behind one of my all-time favourite mental health related meme accounts @brutalrecovery. While in her early twenties, Lauren was told that her life expectancy could be as low as twent...

Welcome to episode 217 with Sam Parker, who is British GQ’s Site Director and someone who has worked in culture and lifestyle journalism for over 15 years. He is also the author of Good Anger: How Rethinking Rage Can Change Our Lives and for this episode he joins me to chat about the good bits and the bad bits of getting angry. We chat about his experiences with anxiety that led him to explore his...

Welcome to episode 216 with Adam Farrer, who is a writer, lecturer, mentor and editor. Adam’s recent book Broken Biscuits and Other Male Failures is all about his struggles to live up to masculine expectations and in this episode, we chat about what it means to be a man and what it’s like to fall short of those ideals. We chat about Adam’s route to becoming a writer, dealing with rejection along t...

Welcome to episode 215 with Dr Lisa McKenzie, who is a working class academic and anarchistic author. She is a researcher and educator whose work relates to class inequality, social justice and British working class culture and a founding member of The Working Class Collective CIC. Lisa grew up in Nottingham, in a mining community.  After she left school, she went to work in a local factory with h...

Welcome to episode 214 with Cormac Russell, who is an author and social explorer. He is the Founding Director of Nurture Development and a member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute. Cormac has spent more than 20 years working all over the world training communities and professional organisations in Asset-Based Community Development and other strengths-based approaches. In th...