We Are What We Overcome

Sometimes we just need to talk for a while about how we feel and what’s going on with us. This is one of those times. With Wez away on magical duties, Matt and Nick began talking about friendship, but ended up having a much longer mental health check-in than usual.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

The boys get together to talk about physical health, fitness and its effect on mental health. We’re all at different levels of fitness and interest in exercise, though we seem to have sprouted some unexpected new year’s resolutions (not that we’d admit to them, of course).

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

We were slightly delayed in recording this episode because of a health problem, so it seemed fitting that we talk about it. Much of our discussion is about Matt’s recent heart attack, how it made him feel, and the impacts of health  – good and bad – on us and those around us. 

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

In this episode we’re talking about time (and using the word “time” far too many times). All of memories and much of how our modern life is organised and driven are rooted in time. We talk about how we feel about time, the mental health issues where time seems to have an effect, whether it’s OK to be late for meetings, but also how our relationship with time has changed as we’ve gotten older. It’s a strange elastic thing that controls our lives and it can be hard to get a grip on.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.9

We do it every night, and are supposed to spend up to one third of our whole lives doing it, but catching a good night’s sleep can be really difficult. And when we don’t get enough sleep, everything seems to harder. This time we’re talking about sleep – whether we manage to get enough, what happens to us when we don’t, and what we can do to ensure we catch as many Zs as possible.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

We met up at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Matt is performing his acclaimed one-man mental health music and spoken word show. Among the many shows at the Fringe is Man Shed, a dramatised one-man play inspired by the international Men’s Shed organisation. We sat down outside the Symposium Hall with the playwright Euan Martin and actor Ron Emslie to talk about these two shows, their mental health themes and what it’s like to do a show rooted in trauma.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

Links:

Men’s Shed UK: https://menssheds.org.uk/

Man Shed: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/man-shed - at the Pleasant Courtyard, 14:15 till 29 August

Matt’s show, We Are What We Overcome: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/we-are-what-we-overcome - at theSpace @ Symposium Hall till 27 August

Both the past and the future are filled with things to think about, fret about, and hope for. Sometimes those  thoughts can be intensely distracting, and take us away from being in the present. Being in the moment means different things to each of us, but for all us it’s a way to pay more attention to ourselves, to those we’re with, and to appreciate what we have.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

Are you happy? It’s a harder question to answer than we think. Overloaded with expectations, ambitions and comparing ourselves with others, we dive into a discussion about something that we’re all “supposed” to be aiming for: happiness. 

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

What do you do when someone opens up to you? It’s a privilege, but it’s also potentially terrifying, very awkward and just difficult to know how to respond! We talk about what it feels like when a friend, family member, or even a complete stranger shares something deeply personal with us, and how we might respond. 

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

This episode is about being in counselling, sharing how the process can feel, and what can be gained from the experience. Ten years after being in counselling, Nick shares some excerpts from the notes he made after those sessions. He talks about piecing shattered memories back together, why that’s a fundamental part of his here and now, and with a detached approach he wanders through his scattered reflections on that past. This episode contains conversations and personal thoughts about child abuse, self-harm, and trauma - please use your own judgement before listening.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

Modern life is filled with a seemingly endless barrage of information - news, social media feeds, gossip... stuff. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming, but you can't just turn it off... can you? This time we chat about how being constantly fed news affects us, how we feel about it and what we can do to manage the insistent external voices.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

We talk about the barriers to seeking help, recognising whether we need help, and why it is that so many people don't reach out when they're in distress. It's complicated, and we talk about our own personal experiences with realising we need help, as well as how we've seen others seek aid.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

This month we talk about something that can linger in the back of our minds... regret. It's a slippery feeling, and so we spend some time trying to figure out what regret is, and what leads us to hold onto feelings that often hurt. 

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

Gosh it's been a long year... or super-short? Either way, there's a new one coming up in just a couple of days. For some that brings promise of hope and change, for others it's the beginning of the same old cycle. 

We met up just before Christmas to talk about this annual event, hanging out at Derby Arena's Sleeping Beauty pantomime during set construction, which set a cheery tone for the conversation to follow. 

Join us as we consider hope, reflecting on the past, making positive changes and whether new year makes any sense at all. 

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

It's that time of year. Snow, Real Fires, Baileys (other Irish Cream Liqueurs are available but not necessarily as good) Relatives, Cold (both varieties), Present shopping, Panto, stories about immigrants seeking refuge and finding a stable etc.  

It's a tricky and diverse time of year, met with polar opposite emotions depending where you're at in this life. 

Wes, Nick and Matt talk through it all, the upsides, the downsides. It's good to chat x

At last we’re able to meet up in person again, and we took advantage of a gloriously sunny day to gather and talk about mental health. This episode is about perspectives, particularly that sensation we sometimes have when our perspective suddenly changes and everything feels different. We’re interested in what that feels like, and what prompts such a change in our mental landscape. 

CW: this conversation includes a discussion about sexual abuse and its impact. 

This episode was recorded on 18 July 2021, outside in Woodhouse Moor in Leeds, so there may be some background sounds of other folks enjoying themselves.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

We met up to talk about what social masks we wear under different circumstances. For some of us, being sociable and out and about is a really good thing that gives us energy, but sometimes is just too much! It's been a weird year for socialising, and the prospect of getting back to a "normal" social life is only partly appealing...

This episode was recorded on 24 April 2021 using Zoom.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

Continuing our two-parter on performance and mental heath. We talk about what the experience of performing does for our mental health, as well as the things that motivate us to perform. All four of us are performers in different ways – musicians, improvisers and magicians. It’s an important part of our lives and one that we’ve been unable to indulge in for the last year. 

This episode was recorded on 27 March 2021 using Zoom, and includes one contributor with incredibly laggy audio...

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

All four of us are performers in different ways – musicians, improvisers and magicians. It’s an important part of our lives and one that we’ve been unable to indulge in for the last year. We talk about what performance means to us, why we perform and how it affects and is an effect of our mental health and identities. 

This episode was recorded on 27 February 2021 using Zoom.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

Well, 2020 finally came to an end and we met up in early in the new year to talk about change, hope and new year’s resolutions. 

This episode was recorded on 2nd January 2021, but it kinda still feels like 2020.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

In this episode we discuss empathy, what it means and how important it can be - especially right now. We also talk about how and why empathy can be difficult, and even whether it’s always worth it. 

This episode was recorded on 5th December 2020.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

Mental Health Awareness Week is the perfect time to talk about our own mental health. In this episode we talk about what awareness we have of our own mental health, what the signs (positive and negative) are for us, and what steps we feel able to take to deal with it.

Technically, this is the fourth of our special lockdown recordings over Zoom, which we recorded and streamed live way back in May, but we’re releasing them out of order - this is 2020 after all.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

Well, we’re back in lockdown in the UK, and we’re not really sure how to feel about it. High on the list of hard to define feelings is anxiety, which can be a constant pressure whose source is tricky to pin down. We talk about anxiety, what might cause it and what we can do to alleviate it. Technically, this is the tenth of our special lockdown recordings over Zoom, but we’re releasing them out of order - this is 2020 after all. 

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

From the earlier days of lockdown, when we were still adjusting to a life lived at home and constant disaster news weighing heavily on our minds. We talk about self care, its importance, our own techniques and how well we actually apply them to ourselves, plus tips for others.

Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

Lockdown continues… This time we’re talking about how we talk to each other, abut the kinds of language we use and how being direct may also be better in certain situations. Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

When lockdown came, we started chatting online to see how we were coping. This is our first one from April 2020. Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception, especially in these weird times. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

This one's a tough one, so trigger warnings up front: we're talking about grief, bereavement and death. Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling. This episode was recorded at Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds.

This week we're talking about how our mental health affects our family and our loved ones. While they're also the people most likely to buoy us up if we're down, they're also the ones who take the brunt of our own mental health. Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling. This episode was recorded at The Castle pub in Nottingham.

We're talking about suicide this week, so major TRIGGER WARNING, for us and anyone listening. We share our personal experiences of being on the edge, of friends and family, suicide myths, and struggle to figure out how we feel about people taking their own lives. Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling. This episode was recorded at QUAD Derby during the Little Ed Festival.

This time our main topic is anxiety, and all the ways that's affected us and how we learn to deal with it. We’re also testing out a mental health check-in for ourselves at the top of the show, since we're all affected by everything we talk about too! Everyone needs to talk more about mental health and we’re no exception. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.

A podcast for starting an essential conversation about mental health. We’ve all faced mental health problems; we’ve told friends we’re fine and kept it all to ourselves… now it’s payback time. We talk about Matt's experiences taking his show to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018, its subsequent development into a touring production and podcast, as well as what mental health means to us, and for us. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counselling.