The Proper Mental Podcast

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 44! My Guest this week is Dr Mike the 2nd! Dr Mike Banna is an NHS General Practitioner, trainer, speaker, writer and podcaster. He is the mental health lead at his practice and regularly talks at various events about all thing’s mental wellbeing. Mike is well known in the fitness industry and he uses his social media platform to explore all the different facets of...

Welcome to Proper Mental Episode 43! My guests this week are Rebekah and Sarah from A drop in the Bucket! A Drop in the Bucket is an honest (& frankly awesome) podcast that tells people’s stories of mental health and handling life’s stresses. It is hosted by Sarah, who is a primary school teacher and Bekah, who is a clinical psychologist. They join me this week to chat about mental health, support...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 42! My guest this week is Dick Moore! Dick Moore became a mental health campaigner after his son died by suicide at the age of 21. He is now is an internationally recognised speaker who visits businesses and schools all over the world to talk to pupils, teachers and parents about the challenges of adolescence and the signs and symptoms of mental health disorders. D...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 41! My guest this week is Ben Wakeling! Ben Wakeling is a full-time artist who works for the NHS, delivering his own expressive arts program for NHS mental health secure units across London.  He also runs The Outsider Gallery, London's first and innovative art gallery, exhibiting original works from NHS trusts in Forensic, CAMHS, secure units, care settings and the...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 40! My guest this time around is Jess Robson! In October 2017 Jess was dealing with a dark period of depression and she found that running and the outdoors enabled her to open up and talk about her mental health. She started Run Talk Run to make being open about mental health less intimidating and it has grown steadily in to a global running community.  Jess has al...

Welcome to Proper Mental Episode 39! My guest this week is the recording artist, TED speaker and mental health advocate, Shocka! Shocka first became known as part of the collective Marvell and toured with the likes of Chip and Skepta and also spent time in the studio with Drake and Rhianna.  After the group were eventually dropped from their label, Shocka felt his mental health start to decline an...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 38! This week I’m joined by Claire Eastham who is regarded as one of the UK's foremost mental health bloggers. Claire has also had over 371 panic attacks and this episode is all about anxiety, panic and fear. We chat about feeling a bit anxious versus anxiety as a condition.  We chat about the new social media trend of mental health “coaching” and we chat about pan...

Welcome to Proper Mental Episode 37! This week I’m joined by Brendan and Matthew from the Bottoming Podcast! The aim of Bottoming is to show that although anyone can suffer from poor mental health, it can and does impact LGBTQ+ people on a larger scale and I felt like that was an important conversation for me to have! As a straight, cisgender male I’ve had a very different journey to Brendan, Matt...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 36, I’m joined by Stu Mills, the creator of the Noisy Brain! The Noisy Brain is an app connects writers and musicians in the mental health space to encourage creative collaboration.  Stu previously worked for some of the world’s most famous advertising agencies and his work took him around the world until he finally settled in Singapore. It was in Singapore that he...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 35, my guest this week is Rob Osman, the founder of Dudes & Dogs! Dudes and Dogs is a wellbeing community for men to head out in to nature, with their dogs, and talk about anything they need to talk about. Rob’s mission is to help men associate more openly with their emotions and their ability to express them, by redefining what masculinity means to individuals, re...

Welcome to Proper Mental Episode 34, my guest this week is Frank Turner! Frank Turner is a successful, internationally charting, award-winning singer and songwriter of consequential folk-punk-pop rebel songs. His music covers topics like atheism, sexism, excessive drinking, and the power of rock & roll. Originally a member of the punk band Million Dead, Frank went solo in 2005.  He was released 8...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 33, my guest this week is Becky Goddard-Hill! Becky Goddard-Hill is a multi-award-winning writer and children's therapist with a post-grad in Psychotherapy. She previously worked in social work as a child development trainer and as a children's bereavement therapist before having her own children. She is the author of the ‘Create Your Own’ book series that deals wi...

The Bloom Building is a progressive and unique concept that’s rewriting the rules around how the worlds of culture, community, social action and mental health can flourish together. There are several organisations all holding space under the same roof, working together and making a difference with a strong focus on community, creativity, wellbeing and empowerment and these values combined with a c...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 32, my guest this week is Ed Cunningham from A Need to Read podcast! A Need to Read is a podcast that brings you honest and engaging book reviews, unstructured chats with inspirational guests and important conversations. Ed has openly talked about his own mental health and how reading has really helped him to make positive changes that played a big part in him chan...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 31, my guest this week is Nemone Metaxas! Nemone is a  DJ, radio presenter and television presenter/producer. She is also a trained psychotherapist practising in West and Central London. She started her radio career at Kiss FM before moving to Radio One for the Saturday Breakfast Show and finally finding her spiritual home at BBC 6 Music. She is renowned for her fo...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 30! I’m joined this time around by Brent Draper! Brent is a MasterChef Australia contestant, father, husband and mental health advocate. He made the news all around the world earlier this year after leaving MasterChef Australia mid-way through a season to protect his mental health. There is a moment where Brent raises his hand during a show and tells the judges and...

Paul Fjelrad is an author, sailor and C-PTSD survivor. His book ‘The Struggle Continues’, co-written with his daughter Natasha, is an intimate and up-close look at how childhood abuse led to a spiral of self-destruction until the reunion of father and daughter starts a journey on the long, hard road back to health. He uses his writing, speaking engagements and workshops, to break the veil of silen...

Welcome to another bonus episode of The Proper Mental Podcast! This time around I’m joined by a few members of The Happy Chilly Dippers for a roundtable episode about all things cold water, community and mental health. After episode 27 with founder Jazmin, I wanted to explore the idea of community and connection in a little more depth and it seemed like the best way to do that was to sit down with...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 26! My guest this week is Jazmin Seddon from The Happy Chilly Dippers! Jazmin Seddon is the founding member of The Happy Chilly Dippers, a community of cold-water enthusiasts who are supporting wellbeing by embracing nature. The community meet each day at various Wirral beaches to come together, connect with each other and embrace the water.  They have over 4000 me...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 26! This week I chat to Big Al Casey! Big Al Casey is a mental health advocate, podcast host and social media content creator. Al is known for his pranks, stunts and banter as part of Team Wak with Woody and Kleiny and it was during filming one of their video’s that Al inadvertently became an advocate for mental health. The video in question has been viewed over 40...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 25! My guest this time around is Hope Virgo! Hope Virgo is a leading international and award-winning advocate for people with eating disorders.  She is an activist and a campaigner and an all-round force of nature! She is the author of two books ‘Stand Tall Little Girl’ and ‘Hope through Recovery’ and actively campaigns for change in the way that eating disorders a...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 24! My guest this week is Mikie Kitaruth from Radical Clothing UK! Radical Clothing UK is a surf, skate, snow and music inspired clothing brand from Cornwall. Mikie launched the brand after struggles with his mental health during the pandemic and with Radical he is doing things a bit differently to other clothing brands.  Not only has beach life, snow covered mount...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 23! This week I’m joined by Kate Lucey! Kate Lucey is a journalist, editor and author.  Her recent book ‘Get a Grip, Love’ is a hilarious, honest story about living with depression, and how-to self help guide to recovering from a mental health illness.  Or as Kate says “a book about being a sad twat”. Kate is formally the Editor at Cosmopolitan.co.uk and has writte...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 22! My guest this week is Lucy Lord! Lucy Lord is a self-taught cook who recently released the Sunday Times Bestselling cookbook ‘Food for the Soul’. Lucy’s aim is to share recipes made from real foods, cooked simply, done well and enjoyed mindfully and she takes that caring and mindful approach and applies it to all areas of her life. If you follow Lucy on social...

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 21! This week I’m joined by Tom and Sarah from In Earnest! In Earnest are a band from South End on Sea, consisting of Tom (vocals, electric guitar), Sarah (vocals & keys) and Toby (violin, acoustic guitar). Tom and Sarah write the bulk of the songs and Toby makes them pretty. They mostly write around personal topics such as mental illness, nostalgia and identity, w...