The Proper Mental Podcast

Welcome to episode 213 with Darren McGarvey, who is an author, musician, social commentator and journalist. Darren grew up in Pollok on the south side of Glasgow, and has lived through extreme poverty, addiction and homelessness.  He wrote about his life and experiences in his first book ‘Poverty Safari’ which received critical acclaim for its insights into poverty and inequality. His upcoming boo...

Welcome to episode 212 with Tana Sirois, who is an actor, theatre maker and coach who is currently touring a one woman show called UnTethered, an autobiographical comedy that follows a queer, demi sexual woman with obsessive compulsive disorder as she attempts to transcend her fears so that she may finally experience what it’s like to feel safe and loved. Tana is originally from the States but it...

Welcome to episode 211 with Owen Williams, who is the singer and guitarist in The Tubs. He is also a vocalist and guitarist in Ex-Void and the drummer in Sniffany and The Nits and other things in other bands as well, all under the banner of the London based, music collective Gob Nation. In this episode I chat to Owen about his experiences with OCD and the mental breakdown that he was going through...

Welcome to episode 210 with Rosie Viva, who is a model, presenter, author and an ambassador for Bipolar UK. Rosie has experienced various mental health challenges from a young age and was originally misdiagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Despite this she built a successful career as a model which took her all over the globe, working with some of the world’s biggest brands but in the background her...

Welcome to episode 209 with Dr Dean Burnett, who is a neuroscientist, lecturer and author. Dean is currently an honorary research fellow at Cardiff Psychology School and has also worked as a psychiatry tutor and lecturer at the Cardiff University Centre for Medical Education. He is the author of several acclaimed books about brains, neuroscience, emotions and mental health. And this episode is a l...

Welcome to episode 208 with Hyphen, who is a rapper, songwriter and political punk. After finishing university, Hyphen found himself working in finance.  He also found himself bored, depressed and drinking to cope. This came to a tipping point when a close friend of his died by suicide and his own mental health was pushed towards breaking point.  Hyphen started to experience his own thoughts of su...

Welcome to episode 207 with Hana Walker-Brown, a multi-award winning and critically acclaimed storyteller and sound artist who works across film, radio and podcasting and narrative non-fiction. In 2023 Hana was signed off work with severe burnout.  It took a year for her to understand this experience, to unpack it, to make peace with it and to get back to herself and in this episode, I chat to Han...

Welcome to episode 206 with Karsta Lowe, who is an Olympian and professional volley ball player who was a member of the United States women's national team that won bronze medals at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Karsta has played volley ball, at the highest level, all over the world, winning multiple titles and medals along the way.  But throughout her career she was also struggling with anxiety, de...

Welcome to episode 205 with Dr Ross Ellenhorn, who is a sociologist, psychotherapist and social worker. Dr. Ellenhorn is encouraging mental health professionals to be more present with patients and think outside the box when it comes to treatment methods. With offices in Boston, New York and LA, he offers the types of care that serve and empower anyone who has been diagnosed with psychiatric and s...

Welcome to episode 204 with Ginger Wildheart, who is the singer, songwriter and guitarist in The Wildhearts. The Wildhearts formed in 1989 and over years since have celebrated top 20 singles and top 10 albums and sell out tours all over the world while navigating record company battles, industry politics, multiple line up changes, drugs, depression, splitting up, going on hiatus and getting back t...

Welcome to episode 203 with Sam Delaney, who is a journalist, author, broadcaster and podcaster whose work has featured in Guardian, Big Issue and Talk Sport. Sam guested on Proper Mental a couple of years ago back at episode 127, and in that episode, we talked a lot about his problems with addiction and how he adjusted to getting sober. This time around, Sam and I chat about some of the things th...

Welcome to episode 202 with Dan Astles, who is a musician and singer songwriter from Liverpool who makes music under the name Astles, either on his own or alongside a 10 strong musical collective called The Balloon Moon Orchestra. Dan has a new album on the way that has a very sad but beautiful story behind it.  Dan’s uncle Joseph died by suicide before he was born, but it was often commented on b...

Welcome to episode 201 with Dr Martin Brunet, who has been an NHS GP for more than 20 years and is also well known for his social media channels and videos about different aspects of mental health. In this episode I chat to Martin about his time in general practice and some of the changes he has seen in mental health over the years. We also talk about his new book ‘Your Worry Makes Sense’ and how...

Welcome to episode 200 with Professor Joanna Moncrieff who is a psychiatrist, author and researcher who is one of the founding members of the Critical Psychiatry Network. In 2022, Joanna was the lead author of a study that explored the ‘chemical imbalance’ theory of depression and found that no clear evidence that serotonin levels or serotonin activity are responsible for depression. The study bec...

Welcome to episode 199 with Georgia Lock, who is an actor, poet and an advocate for obsessive compulsive disorder. In this episode I chat to Georgia about the moment that her ‘brain broke’ and OCD became a part of her life. We chat about what happened next, what helped looked like for her and how she manages her OCD on a day-to-day basis. We chat about things like guilt, memory loss, community, go...

Welcome to episode 198 with Dr Susie Bennett, a psychologist and research fellow at the 'Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab' at the University of Glasgow. Her work focuses on trying to understand why men are more at risk of suicide and what can be done to help more men access a dignified and meaningful life. Through this work, Susie has been involved in reviewing two decades of research on male suici...

Welcome to episode 197 with Kevin Briggs, who is a retired sergeant for the California Highway Patrol, known as the "Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge”. The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California.  It’s about 200 feet above the water and there are 6 lanes of traffic that...

Welcome to episode 196 with Rory Lamont, who is a former professional Rugby Union player and the co-founder of CAIM, a health and wellness retreat centre in highland Scotland. During his time as a professional rugby player, Rory played for Glasgow Warriors, Sale Sharks and Toulon.  He has 29 international caps for Scotland and has represented his country in two world cups. Over the years he was pl...

Welcome to episode 195 with Dr Linda Gask who is a writer and a psychiatrist who has been an advisor to the World Health Organisation and been awarded the President’s Medal by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2017. Her latest book is titled ‘Out of Her Mind’ which asks the questions ‘Are we failing women’s mental health and what needs to be done?’ In this episode I chat to Linda about some of...

Welcome to episode 194 with Dr Benji Waterhouse who is a front-line NHS doctor specialising in psychiatry and an award-winning stand-up comedian. He is also the author of the best-selling medical memoir ‘You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here’ where he has written about his work as a psychiatrist and the stories of the patients he has met along the way. In this episode I chat to Benji about his boo...

Welcome to episode 193 with Tom Fleming of One True Pairing and formerly of Wild Beasts! As a member of Wild Beasts, Tom released 5 acclaimed albums, one of them was nominated for the Mercury Prize and two of the records charted in the top 10. Wild Beasts called it a day in 2018 with Tom putting out his first material as One True Pairing in 2019.  His new record, Endless Rain, is out later this mo...

Welcome to episode 192 with Nathan Filer, who is a writer, university lecturer and broadcaster and a former mental health nurse. In this episode I chat to Nathan about his route in to nursing and how it formed some of things that he has written books about. I reached out to Nathan after reading his book ‘This Book will Change Your Mind about Mental Health’ and it was great to chat about some of th...

Welcome to episode 191 with Dave Lock, who is more commonly known as the running telephone. For the last 25 consecutive years, Dave has ran the London Marathon to raise funds and awareness for the Samaritans charity and along the way he has become an iconic part of both the marathon and the mental health space.  This year he ran as team captain for the charity’s fundraisers. In this episode I chat...

Welcome to episode 190 with Philippa Dawson, who is a writer, producer and performer who is also the creator of Character Flaw, a show about her experiences with ADHD and how it’s impacted her throughout her life. In this episode I chat to Pip about her show, about living with ADHD and how this has impacted her mental health over the years. We chat about the before and after of diagnosis, her expe...

Welcome to episode 189 with Alex Staniforth, who is an adventurer, speaker and the founder of Mind Over Mountains, a charity that brings together walking in nature, mindfulness & professional coaching and counselling in support of good mental health & wellbeing. Alex was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of nine and this would be the catalyst for several years of bullying, anxiety, panic...