The Proper Mental Podcast

Welcome to episode 188 with Jaxon Feeley, who is a Life and Mindset Coach, motivational speaker and TV personality. Jax served in the military as an RAF Corporal for 4 years, which included a tour of Iraq, before joining MHP Hindley as a prison officer. Throughout his life, Jax had been through plenty of mental health struggles but had always managed to pull through and distract himself through hi...

Welcome to episode 187 with Chris Baker, who is a mentor, coach and public speaker. Chris got in to crime at a young age and spent a long time bouncing in and out of prison.  He ended up losing an arm in a motorbike crash while being chased by police and this sent him in to a spiral of depression and self-loathing and he was also sentenced to longer stretch inside. Chris decided that he didn’t wan...

Welcome to episode 186 with James McInerney, who is the creator of The Poetry Project. James started off experimenting with words by writing out his thoughts and feelings to instrumental film scores and he found that expressing himself through poetry helped him navigate his way through depression. After publishing several books, he launched The Poetry Project with the aim of spreading mental healt...

Welcome to episode 185 with Dr. Gladys McGarey, who is a 103-year-old still-consulting doctor who is internationally recognised as the ‘Mother of Holistic Medicine’. Dr Gladys was born in 1920 and grew up in India.  She joined Women’s Medical College during the second world war and when she began practising, women couldn’t even have their own bank accounts. Gladys co-founded the American Holistic...

Welcome to episode 184 with Dr Louise Newson, who is a G.P, menopause specialist and member of the UK Government’s Menopause Taskforce who has been described as the ‘medic who kickstarted the menopause revolution.’ She is also an award-winning educator and author and regularly appears in the media as an expert in women’s hormone health. In this episode I chat to Louise about menopause and perimeno...

Welcome to episode 183 with The Artist Taxi Driver, who is an artist, taxi driver, educator and speaker who is also known as Mark McGowan. Mark discovered art as part of his mental health recovery when he was an inpatient.  He uses the media, activism and mental health to create daily artworks. Mark’s form of performance art over the years has included eating a swan in protest against royalty and...

Welcome to episode 182 with DJ Paulette, who is a renowned DJ, radio broadcaster and author who has spent more than three decades entertaining crowds all over world and breaking down racial and gender barriers along the way. She was the first female DJ to hold residency at The Hacienda, playing weekly at the ground-breaking LGBTQ+ club night ‘FLESH’ in the early nighties, and went on to have resid...

Welcome to episode 181 with Amelia Wrighton, who is the co-founder and CEO of Suicide & Co, a charity that is on a mission to support bereaved individuals and open the conversation around suicide-related grief. Amelia set up Suicide & Co. with Emma Morrisroe after they met at work and realised that they shared the same experience of losing someone to suicide. The charity provides one-on-on...

Welcome to episode 180 with Andrew Jenkins, who is a mental health advocate, speaker and star of the hit BBC series The Traitors. At the age of 21, Andrew was in a car accident that left him pronounced dead at the side of the road. He spent 5 weeks in a coma and when he woke up, was told that he might not recognise his family or be able to walk. The impact that this had on his sense of self, his i...

Welcome to episode 179 with Tim Owen, Mike Palmer and Andy Airey, who are collectively known as the 3 Dads Walking! Tim, Mike & Andy are 3 dads, bereaved by suicide who have been walking in memory of their daughters, Emily, Beth & Sophie. In 2021 they walked 300 miles between their 3 homes, to highlight the fact that suicide is the biggest killer of young people across the entire UK. In 20...

Welcome to episode 178 with Hannah Phillips, who is a mother, a runner, a writer, speaker and trainee psychotherapist. Han is a returning guest and first appeared on Proper Mental back at episode 110.  In that episode we covered her early experiences with OCD, her relationship with alcohol, getting sober and hitting crisis point shortly after. I reached out to Han to invite her back on for a speci...

Welcome to episode 177 with Joe Griffin, who is a psychologist and co-founder of the Human Givens approach to psychotherapy. Human Givens is a practical, holistic and scientific approach to therapy that focuses on what individuals need to live mentally healthy and fulfilling lives. It draws on the latest insights from neuroscience and psychological research, and combines this knowledge with proven...

Welcome to episode 176 with Vince Freeman, a singer and songwriter who is about to release a debut album that has been a decade in the making. Vince started out by running and playing club shows and regularly racking up 300 gigs a year.  He appeared on The Voice in 2012, written multi-million streamer dance tracks, had 5 European Top 10 hits and played at the FA Cup Final and The Royal Albert Hall...

Welcome to episode 175 with Allie Bailey, who is an ultrarunner, coach and author. She was the first woman to run 100 miles across a frozen Lake in Mongolia, has ran the full length of the Panama Canal, crossed the inhospitable Namib Desert three times, and completed a 1,000-mile off-road version of the classic Land’s End to John O’Groats route in just thirty days. Allie has finished over 200 mara...

Welcome to episode 174 with Paul Danan, who is an actor and the founder and creator of Morning After Drama (MAD), a theatre company that provides specifically tailored workshops to support people who have experienced trauma, been involved with the criminal justice system, suffered from addiction or experience poor mental health. Paul shot to fame when he landed a part on Hollyoaks straight out of...

Welcome to episode 173 with Gulwali Passarlay, who is a speaker and campaigner for refugee rights. Gulwali was sent away from Afghanistan at the age of twelve, after his father was killed in a gun battle with the US Army. He was smuggled into Iran and spent the next 12 months traveling through Europe.  He crossed 10 countries, was put in prison 6 times, endured a desolate month in the camp at Cala...

Welcome to episode 172 with Bill Ryder-Jones, who is a singer-songwriter, musician, music producer and composer. Bill was a co-founder of The Coral, which they started when he was 13, and he played lead guitar on the first five albums, eventually leaving in 2008. It was around then that Bill started to experience depression, agoraphobia and panic attacks which would eventually lead him to leave Th...

Welcome to episode 171 with Mark Williams, who is an author, speaker and international campaigner for father’s mental health. Mark suffered with PTSD and depression after the birth of his son and he suffered in silence for many years while trying to support his wife who was also struggling with her mental health and they were both in at crisis point at the same time. He is an incredibly active cam...

Welcome to episode 170 with Lily Bailey who is an author, journalist and activist who has been writing and speaking about OCD and mental illness for a long time and in this episode, I chat to Lily about her experiences with obsessive compulsive disorder and how it’s affected her over the years. We also chat her new book, When I Feel Red, written for middle grade age children, about a young girl wi...

Welcome to episode 169 with John Rattray, who is a former professional skateboarder and the creator of Why So Sad? Why So Sad? Is a skate and cycling focused campaign with the goal of driving awareness and education around mental wellbeing and suicide prevention. In this episode I chat to John about getting in to skating and the importance of community and sub cultures. We chat about his experienc...

Welcome to episode 168 with Jess Greenfield, who is a multi-instrumentalist and a singer with Wonder 45 and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying birds. In this episode I chat to Jess about singing, the music industry and balancing being a mother and a touring musician. We also chat about Jess’ experiences with post-natal mental health issues, the impact that had on her family and how she got through it. W...

Welcome to episode 167 with Nadia Gilani, who is a writer and yoga teacher. Nadia was introduced to yoga as a teenager when her Mum took her along to a class as a way of helping her mental health. Since then, yoga has been a constant and important part of her life but her relationship with the practice has not always been a smooth one. In this episode I chat to Nadia about her experiences with men...

Welcome to episode 166 with Tate Smith, who is an award-winning trans activist, consultant and speaker. Tate started to experience anxiety at high school but this had nothing to do with his gender.  It was only later on in his teenage years that he became aware of what it means to be trans and was able to start making sense of himself. In this episode I chat to Tate about anxiety, why it started a...

Welcome to episode 165 with Roxy Longworth. When Roxy was 13, she was coerced then blackmailed into sending explicit photos, which were spread around her school. The school blamed all of this on Roxy and the shame and embarrassment that was heaped down on her, by the very establishment that was supposed to be looking after her, took a huge toll on her mental health and eventually led to self-harm...

Welcome to episode 164 with Ian Tucknott who is a creative coach, arts educator and the curator of the Mental Wealth Festival which is hosted by City Lit. The festival is an annual event that provides a forum for informative, challenging and inspiring discussion through workshops, talks, exhibitions, and other activities. In this episode I chat to Ian about the festival, the incredible work that t...