The Just Checking In Podcast

In this episode of Behind The Mic we checked in with Tyler Shea.  Tyler is a singer/songwriter, currently based in Cornwall and is a mutual friend of friend of the pod Lily Ward. After writing his first album at the age of 14/15 years old, Tyler took the leap to become an artist in 2019 with his Tyler Shea project.  Since then, he has released his debut EP, ‘Still Not Over You’ in 2025 and is look...

In episode 357 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Miles Spencer.  Miles is a business leader and entrepreneur with over 30 years’ experience in the industry.  He has started, built, and led three unique companies and ‘exited’ from them, which means a founder, owner, or investor has sold their stake in a company, effectively cashing out their investment. Today, he is the Co-Founder...

In episode 356 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with David Maywald.  Born and raised in Australia where he resides today, David has worked in finance for over two decades as an investment professional, holding roles of Research Analyst and is a top-quartile Portfolio Manager. He currently works as a governance specialist and holds a portfolio of board roles across the fields of health...

In episode 355 of The Just Checking In Podcast our Founder Freddie flew solo to remember a very special woman who sadly died last year. We interviewed a woman called Claire Johnson on JCIP #66 all the way back in October 2021, where we discussed her incredible life, from dating the lead singer of 1970s rock band Deep Purple, to working in the Police service during the Yorkshire Moor murders, to th...

In episode 354 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Adam The Sartorial Gardener.  Adam runs an Instagram account where, as the title suggests, he documents his life tending and working on his garden whilst looking very dapper and elegant at the same time.  Adam also posts on the account to cherish the memory of his wife Evanne, who tragically died of brain cancer on April 29th 2025. ...

In episode 353 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with academic, author and commentator Dr Ashley Frawley. Ashley currently works as Senior Editor at Compact Magazine, as well as holding roles of sociologist and Visiting Researcher in the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies at the University of Kent, as well as Visiting Research Fellow at the MCC Brussels in Belgium. We first chec...

In episode 352 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Tom Festa.  We came across Tom through friend of the pod Mark Ferris as Tom was fundraising for Mark’s stepson Callum and his treatment for brain cancer through his ‘Race Around The World’ journey. Initially starting it as a personal journey for himself, Tom came across Callum’s GoFundMe page.  He didn’t know Callum or his family bu...

In episode 351 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Stephen Hall. Stephen is a qualified therapist and a Member of the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society, providing walk and talk as well as online therapy for his clients.  Based in Cumbria, Stephen is also the Founder of Stand Tall Empower C.I.C, a social enterprise which organises events and activities outside in natur...

In episode 350 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with academic Dr James Nuzzo.  James is an Exercise Scientist and Men's Health Researcher.  He also runs his own SubStack called 'The Nuzzo Letter' . In this episode we discuss his academic journey and how he got to where he is today, his academic cancellation from Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Australia, how it impacted...

In episode 349 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jessica Nguyen.  Jess is an entrepreneur and the Founder of Oh Tuesdays! Microbakery.  Based in Bristol, Oh Tuesdays was launched in August 2025 after Jess sat in a café on her way home from work and had a very expensive cookie and thought she could create one just as delicious but at a much more competitive cost!  We came across Je...

In this episode of our Reel Stories series, we checked in with Jude Vause-Walsh.  Jude is a voiceover actor and coach. Jude’s career started out after she completed her university degree, where she began carving out an acting career.  She landed some roles in small films and TV work and then she saw an advert looking for traffic and travel radio presenters. She applied and became a radio presenter...

In episode 348 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Nick Isles.  Nick is the Director of the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys (CPMRB). The Centre was established in May 2025 and is a research organisation and charity dedicated to understanding and addressing issues that uniquely affect men and boys in the UK. Their vision is a world where men and boys of all backgrounds can...

In episode 347 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Karen Sykes.  Karen is the Co-Founder of the Yorkshire branch of suicide grief awareness charity, Speak Their Name.  Karen co-founded the Yorkshire Speak Their Name Community Interest Company alongside a woman called Anna Scott. Both of them connected as they have both lost family members to suicide.  SInce its inception, the Yorksh...

In episode 346 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with academic Sophie Temple. Sophie is currently Doctoral Researcher in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University, specialising in eating disorders, disordered eating and body image pathology during the menopausal transition. She is also part-time Research Fellow in the School of Education, Department o...

In episode 345 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Richard Pomfrett.  Richard is the Founder and CEO of Boyz-2-Men, an organisation which is dedicated to supporting boys and young men through their journey into adulthood. They offer a supportive environment where they can learn, grow, and navigate the complexities of masculinity with confidence. B2M believe every young person has th...

In episode 344 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Chris Hemmings.  Chris is a published author and mental health advocate. Chris is the Founder of two organisations in the men’s mental health space: M-Path and Men’s Therapy Hub.  Chris set up M-Path first in 2019, which is an organisation designed to actively and compassionately engage men and boys in their own experience of existe...

In episode 343 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Niamh Hughes.  Niamh is a freelance journalist, producer, presenter and voiceover artist.  Niamh also happens to have a disability called Congenital Hemiplegia, which is a form of unilateral cerebral palsy. The disability only affects the right side of her body, so she can’t use her right hand and has to type with one hand. Prior to...

In Part 2 of journalist Niamh Hughes' journey, we discuss her diagnosis of Congenital Hemiplegia and how she managed it from being a young child, through to adolescence and adulthood. We explore how her acceptance of it came alongside her acceptance of herself as a person, and so many other challenges. We also talk about the normalisation of disabilities more widely and what still needs to ch...

In episode 342 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Olena Lukyanova.  Olena is a qualified therapist and the Director of her therapy practice, OL Psychotherapy and Consulting.  Olena had a desire to become a therapist from a very young age but growing up in the post-Soviet Union era in Ukraine, this wasn’t an option for her, so she studied economics at university and became an econom...

In episode 341 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Lucy MacLeod.  Lucy is a firefighter and has worked in the London Fire Brigade for over 16 years across a range of different roles since she joined the LFB in May 2009.  Her current role involves her being a trauma and wellbeing dog handler, which she does with her dog Blue. Together, they have a social media account which brings aw...

In episode 340 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jay Darkmoore. Jay is a published author, commentator and hosts his own YouTube channel and podcast, discussing issues around policing in the UK.  He has written several books, including crime novels and his own memoir, ‘The Job's F*cked - The Secret Diary of a Police Officer’, which was published in 2025 and details his 10-yea...

In episode 339 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Luke Loughlin.  Luke is a men’s mental health advocate based in Canada, the former Co-Founder of Men United and the Founder of Recovery Painting, a painting and decorating business which gives opportunities to men in recovery from addiction issues or have been in prison.  He is also the Founder of The Inside Job Project, a soon...

In episode 338 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with George Gabriel. George is the Director and Co-Founder of an organisation called ‘The Dad Shift’, which is made up of a group of men, dads and other parents campaigning for better paternity leave in the UK.  Currently, in the UK, dads only receive a statutory two weeks off work when they become a father or for any future children the...

In episode 337 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Mark Taylor.  Mark is a Director at Men Walking and Talking (MWAT), a men’s walk and talk organisation founded in 2021 by Dan Reid.  Mark is also the Kenilworth branch Walk Leader, which is how he became involved in MWAT and remains the leader to this day.  In this episode we discuss his involvement with MWAT, its growth, the servic...

In episode 336 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Sam Lehane.  Sam is an entrepreneur, former business owner and former employee of Virgin StartUp, where he worked during two separate periods. In-between all of that, he co-founded a creative events & wellbeing business called Make Your Own (M.Y.O) alongside his wife Diana, which they ran together from 2017-2025, until they exit...