The Proper Mental Podcast

Welcome to episode 115 with Alastair Campbell, who is a journalist, author, broadcaster and mental health campaigner. He is best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Alastair is a long-time campaigner for mental health and has worked with some of the U. K’s biggest charities and organisations.  He h...

Welcome to episode 114 with Paul Andrew Williams, an acclaimed writer and BAFTA winning director. Paul has an incredible body of work including T.V like Broadchurch and The Walk In and films like London to Brighton, Cherry Tree Lane and Bull. He began his career as an actor and attended drama school and then went on to direct pop-promos and short films before releasing London to Brighton which won...

Welcome to episode 113 with Alex Holmes, who is a mental health consultant, author and podcast host. Alex started to experience anxiety and panic attacks whilst at work but at that time he felt that he couldn’t talk to anyone about what was happening. After carrying the weight of this in silence for some time, he eventually went to therapy and as he began to get a better understanding of himself,...

Welcome to episode 112 with Tanya Marwaha who is the founder of Championing Youth Minds. Championing Youth Minds provide free, online resources to schools, parents, and young people to help them to understand mental health and problems and what to do about them. It was started by Tanya after she witnessed first-hand the lack of help and support that is offered to young people by the current educat...

Welcome to a very special, Christmas episode of the Proper Mental podcast! Tis the season that not everybody enjoys, for a lot of different reasons.  I wanted to put something out at Christmas that might give someone a little lift if they needed one, even if it’s just for 5 minutes.  Sometimes 5 minutes can make all the difference. I reached out to advocates, campaigners, authors, speakers and pod...

Welcome to episode 111 with William McCarthy who is a musician, songwriter, and the former lead singer of the band Augustines. Bill grew up around mental illness, alcoholism, and poverty.  When he was 19, his mother died by suicide after many years of addiction and deteriorating mental health issues.  His younger brother was also diagnosed with a mental illness and also died by suicide whilst bein...

Welcome to episode 110 with Hannah Phillips who is a writer, speaker, and mental health advocate. She is also an ambassador for Big Moose Charity, who she credits with saving her life, and the founder of Wonderful Women.  We chat about all of that in this episode! Han grew up around mental illness and experienced OCD herself as a child.  She would hide her struggles from those around her for many...

Welcome to episode 109 with Mel Bradley, who is the founder of Men Against Mountains and a men’s mental health advocate. Men Against Mountains is an online platform for conversations and connections around men’s mental health and everything that comes with that topic. Every Sunday, Mel hosts The Sunday Summit, a live conversation in which a different man each week joins her to tell his story and s...

Welcome to episode 108 with Shaun Flores, a model, actor, and OCD advocate. He is also a 2 x TED speaker where he talked about ‘The Straight Jacket of Masculinity’ and ‘The Failures of Multiculturism’. Shaun began to experience OCD seemingly out of nowhere when he woke up from a dream and was convinced that he had become gay overnight.  While obsessively searching for evidence that this wasn’t the...

Welcome to episode 107 with Sara Prinsloo, who is the founder of the It’s Okay Project. The It’s Okay Project is a Zine that contains artwork, poems and written pieces that focus on mental health and creativity. Sara started the project as a way to process her grief after losing a loved one.  It started will an open call on social media for creative pieces related to mental health and has grown in...

Welcome to episode 105 with Oliver Mol who is a writer, author and train guard. In 2015 Oliver started to suffer with a migraine that lasted for 10 months. He lived with constant, excruciating pain which was made worse by looking at any sort of screens.  He saw all manner of doctors, physio’s, therapists and healers and no one was able to help. He slowly became a writer who couldn’t write and a pe...

Welcome to episode 105 with Emily Laing, who is an actor, writer, singer, recovering addict and survivor. She is also the creator of the Why Do You Think You Have No Friends podcast where she talks about her own experiences with mental health and chats to guests about theirs. Emily suffered a breakdown at the start of 2022 which landed her in rehab, this helped her to find a way back to herself an...

Welcome to episode 104 with Katy Georgiou who is a counsellor and psychotherapist. Katy’s latest book is called How to Understand, and Deal with Stress and she joins me in this episode to chat all about it. We talk specifically about stress and Katy guides me through some of the common causes, what happens to us when we start to feel the pressures of life building up and the impact that stress can...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 103 with The Scary Guy, an educator and public speaker who has dedicated his life to teaching others his powerful, solution-based theories and concepts on human behaviour and communication. Scary changed his name more than 24 years when a chance encounter forced him to look at his life and the way that he was choosing to live it. Since then, he has travelled the wo...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 101 with Hannah Hickinbotham who is an eating disorder advocate and the host of the Full of Beans podcast.  She also has an MSc in Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition. Han in on a mission to reduce the stigma around eating disorders and increase ED awareness and she does this with her podcast and the wonderful community that’s she has built around it. In this e...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 101 with TJ Power, a neuroscientist, international speaker and educator. TJ has spent many years deeply researching mental health, lecturing in psychology and speaking all over the world about the human brain. In this episode TJ and I chat about the four key chemicals required to maintain biological harmony. We chat about why we need these chemicals and how they he...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 100 and this week I chat to Rosie Tressler OBE who is the CEO of Student Minds. Student Minds is a student mental health charity that is working to empower members of the university community to look after their own mental health, support others and create change. Rosie has worked in several different aspects of the charity sector and in 2019 she was awarded an OBE...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 99 with Ian Winwood, an author and journalist who has spent over 30 years writing for Kerrang!, NME, the Daily Telegraph and countless other publications. His time spent in and around the music has given him an incredible insight into the lives of musicians, bands and rock stars both on and off stage. His recent book ‘Bodies’ explores the music industry and the roc...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 98 with Sarah Callaghan, who is an award-winning comedian, spoken word artist and writer. Sarah has been performing stand up for over a decade and has gigged all over the world.  She is also a respected spoken word artist, performing solo and with a band. Sarah’s poetry is informed by personal experience and her work discusses childhood trauma, heart break and othe...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 97 with Stuart Ralph, who is a counsellor and psychotherapist for children and young people. He is also the host of the OCD Stories podcast, a weekly podcast where he interviews some of the best minds in OCD recovery. Stuart started to experience OCD at the age of 7 and his own journey of recovery would eventually inspire the OCD Stories podcast and his role as an...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 96 with Ian Roullier and Leonie Schneider from PsyPAN. The Psychedelic Participant Advocacy Network (PsyPAN) is a non-profit organisation created to connect and empower participants of psychedelic trials and anyone who has received psychedelic therapy. Ian has suffered from depression and anxiety for most of his adult life and psilocybin has proven to be the most e...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 95 with Samuel Jack, the musician and song writer behind the viral hit song, Feels Like Summer. Samuel grew up in South Africa and is now based in London and before his music took off, he worked in high end hospitality to pay his way. For years he juggled long, stressful shifts in kitchens with traveling for gigs and writing music and this would eventually catch up...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 94 with Kirsty Eaton, who is the founder of Reach Out for Mental Health, Reach Out are a charity that supports individuals who experience suicidal thoughts and provides a safe, confidential and non-clinical space for you to talk to a trained volunteer about anything which may be troubling you. She has her own lived experience of mental ill health and it was this co...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 93 with The Wave Project founder, Joe Taylor. The Wave Project is a surf charity that harnesses the power of the ocean to improve the mental health of children and young people. The Wave Project started in September 2010 and at that time was the world’s first ‘surf therapy’ course funded by a government health service.  They now have 32 beaches and locations across...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 92 with Samantha Renke, an actress, presenter, disability activist, inclusion and equality consultant and keynote speaker. She is a columnist for the Metro and often writes about what it is like to be disabled in a disabling word. After finishing university Sam became a teacher before moving to London to pursue a career in media and is now a regular on TV and radio...