The Just Checking In Podcast

In episode 271 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Aaron Pearson. Aaron is the husband of previous guest and Co-Founder of Menstrual Health Project, Gabriella Pearson. Aaron works as an estate planner and as a car salesman and has been with Gabriella for 10 years. Aaron’s mental health journey started when he was between seven to 11 or 12-years-old when he was sexually abused and th...

In episode 270 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Robert Grattan. Robert works as a Clinical Physiologist and our Founder Freddie met Rob through playing football locally in north-east London as teenagers. In this episode we discuss his exposure to suicide as a teenager when family friends of Rob took their own lives. We then talk about a relationship break-up Rob went through rece...

In episode 269 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Antoine Brimbal. Antoine Brimbal is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Modern Insurgent, a grass-roots independent media organisation which specialises solely on insurgencies, rebellions and political movements from around the globe. We first checked in with Antoine in JCIP #164 when he was still a puppy at 18 years old but...

In episode 278 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jamie Dennis. Jamie is the CEO and Founder of Mandem Meetup (MM), a grassroots charity which promotes, corrects and improves the conversation around men’s mental health and wellbeing. They provide an open, inclusive community for all men, integrating a range of social, holistic and more ‘traditional’ forms of clinical support. This...

In episode 267 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Robert Parks. Robert is a Head Chef and someone our Founder Freddie has known since they were school-mates one year apart at Ilford County High School, where Freddie attended for sixth-form college. They then went to the same university at Sussex and have remained friends ever since. Rob broke into the culinary industry in the...

In this episode of Behind The Mic, we checked back in with Pete Anderson, frontman of Beach For Tiger. Pete also plays guitar and bass for several other artists, including friends of Vent Rayowa, Isla Rico and DROZ!We first checked in with Pete in 2022 and since then we have also checked in with his brother Mick, who plays in the band. Since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pete has worked hard t...

In episode 266 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with two of our favourite guests, Danny Bowman and George Mycock. Danny and George both work in the mental health space around eating disorders, specifically Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). Danny has come on twice, in JCIP #70 and JCIP #209 respectively. He is currently in the final stages of completing a PHD at the University of Li...

In episode 265 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Billy McGranaghan. Billy is the Founder and CEO of Dad’s House. Dad’s House is a charity which aims to make sure children remain the priority after divorce, separation or bereavement. There are currently over two million non-residential dads in the UK and over 450,000 raising their children alone. Just in London there are 25,000 dad...

In episode 264 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with David Leck. David Leck is a communications professional, writer, editor, copywriter and the business owner and Managing Director of David Leck Associates. Our Founder Freddie met David whilst he was working in the BBC Press Office from 2019-2020.David’s career in the BBC started when he was a young man and he worked in various depar...

In episode 263 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in for a third time with Irish farmer Gar Lock. Gar first came on the pod in JCIP #196 where we discussed his redemption story from prisoner to farmer and family man, his relationship with his father and family and the work he does to help other men, who are also former prisoners, turn their life around. We checked in again in JCIP #22...

In this episode of Behind The Mic, we checked back in for (maybe) the final time with UK rock band Cavalcade. In JCIP #25 we interviewed interviewed Jack Campbell from the band for the first time. A couple of years later, Jack was joined by bandmate Connor to check in again on Behind The Mic. The band then played JCIL #4 (Take Two) and sold out The Victoria in Dalston, east London. In August 2024,...

In episode 262 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Duncan Craig OBE.Duncan is the Founder and CEO of We Are Survivors (WAS), formerly known as Survivors Manchester. We first checked in with Duncan in JCIP #147 where we charted his journey starting the charity many years ago, being recognised for his work with an Order of The British Empire (OBE), the conversation at that point...

In episode 261 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jody Goldsworthy. Jody is the Founder and CEO of Jonathan’s House Ministries, which serves as one of the only male domestic abuse shelters in Wales. Jonathan’s House Ministries firmly believes in all men, and that all men deserve to be healed, restored and eventually fulfilled. Through building safe spaces and educating people on th...

In episode 260 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with journalist, presenter and DJ, Amber Haque. We first checked in with Amber in JCIP #177 to discuss her brilliant and powerful BBC documentary series, 'Hometown: A Killing’, series two, which focused on the murder of teenager Yousef Makki. We also discussed her workplace anxiety and ADHD symptoms she exhibited in childhood a...

In episode 259 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Patricia Faulks. Patricia Faulks first came on the podcast in JCIP #92 to talk about her blog Just Me & Lilley, where she writes about being involuntarily childlessness, her life, her wonderful dog Lilley and issues affecting predominantly women but also men who are involuntarily childless. She came on again in JCIP #167 to...

In episode 258 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Gabriella Pearson. Gabriella is Co-Founder of an organisation called Menstrual Health Project (MHP).Gabriella co-founded MHP with her friend Anna, whom she met through Instagram. Gabriella was based in Brighton, Anna was in North Wales and they came together with the idea to start a community project. They created a toolkit to help...

In episode 257 of The Just Checking In Podcast our Founder Freddie Cocker speaks about getting officially diagnosed with autism. Freddie was first diagnosed by his GP in December 2023 but given the role he holds through Vent in the men's mental health space, he wanted to be 100% certain before declaring it online. He was fortunate enough to be in a position where he could pay for a private as...

In episode 256 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Scott Johnson. Scott Johnson is the Founder and CEO of the Proper Blokes Club (PBC) C.I.C, a community organisation which provides walk and talk groups for men across London and hopefully, the country very soon! Scott founded PBC in September 2020 when he was going through the family court system on two occasions from two ex-partner...

In episode 255 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Gary Quinn. Gary Quinn is a professional painter and decorator by trade and the business owner of ‘Quality Brushstrokes’. Gary was sexually abused by his stepfather from the ages of 10-12 years old. Then, when he was 17, his mother entered another relationship with a man who domestically abused her and one night, he murdered her whi...

In episode 254 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Tom Bradley. Tom is a photojournalist, artist and the Founder of the project ‘Leprosy Eliminated?’. In this project, he has taken pictures of people living with leprosy across the globe for the last 15 years. It includes people in 12 countries including Togo, Nigeria, Brazil, Bangladesh andIndia. Until 2022, a country was declared e...

In episode 253 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Dr Ashley Frawley. Ashley is currently 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. She was also previously Associate Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at Swansea University until 2023.She is the author of Semioti...

In episode 252 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jide Ehizele. Jide was born and raised in Lewisham in south-east London and acts a leader and mentor at his church, St Peter's Church in his local community of Brockley, where he still resides today. He also has a Substack where he writes about issues related to class, race, countering identity politics and faith. In this episo...

In episode 251 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Lauren Seager-Smith. Lauren is the is the CEO of the For Baby’s Sake Trust (FBS), a charity which empower parents to break cycles of abuse, transform the life-chances of whole families and move forward in positive change, starting with the baby. The baby is at the heart of everything they do. The Trust was set up philanthropically b...

In episode 250 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Connor Smart. Connor currently works in emergency planning and lives in a rural part of the Midlands with his fiancé and now, young son. Connor and our Founder Freddie used to work together as interns at a think-tank in 2016 and Connor's first piece of Vent content was an article he wrote in November 2017. He then came on...

In episode 249 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Charlie Bethel. Charlie is currently the CEO of the UK Men's Sheds Association (UKMSA).The concept of the Men’s Shed started in Australia in around 1999. It then spread to New Zealand, Ireland, the UK, Canada and, more recently, Europe and the USA. At time of recording, there are a total of 1180 Sheds across the UK.Men’s Sheds...