Great to have Dr Anna Colton with us this week. Anna is a clinical psychologist and she chatted to us about the importance of being honest about distress from a young age, helping young minds build a tolerance to deal with it. Anna discusses how the education system needs to change to help young people formulate a language to understand and label their distress. While this requires significant institutional change, on an individual note, Anna recommends that young people create an environment around them to help them deal with distress including, organising your life so you have protective factors around to help. Anna points out how “vulnerability attracts us to each other”, and it's a reason we enjoy the company of others because it makes them human, helping us to remember we are also human too. This in turn can help us all to not be frightened by our own vulnerability. Tune in for more. 

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Delighted to be joined by Dr Manuel Madriaga this week. Manny is a Senior Lecturer in Education Studies at Sheffield Hallam University. His research interests are on the process of social exclusion and inclusion related to ‘race’, ethnicity, and disability. Aneeska and Manny discuss the need for multicultural, inclusive spaces on campuses amidst the white majority higher education space in the UK. Manny stresses the importance of engaging with the lived experiences of students of colour, to highlight that students aren’t empty vessels. Through shining a light on their stories and experiences, we can understand how each student is unique, and in turn, create educational spaces that stress the importance of unity in diversity. As Manny says, ‘you can’t cheer someone on if you don’t know them’. Give the episode a listen for more.

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This week it was a pleasure to have Michael Priestley with us. Michael is a PhD student based at Durham University and his research explores how higher education policies impact student wellbeing, with a particular focus on assessments and exams. Tune in to hear Michael discuss the importance of a cultural change around how we value and talk about assessments, issues around self-worth and examinations and the importance of co-production. Aneeska and Michael also share their own lived experiences as students working through assessments and examinations too.

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Delighted to have John de Pury, the Assistant Director of Policy at Universities UK, join us this week. Aneeska and John explore how our mental health and wellbeing underpins our success in relation to learning. John talks about how we all have and own this experience, and why we must pay sustained attention to it. Tune in to also hear about why a collective approach to student mental health can be such a powerful tool.

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This week Aneeska chats with Misha Clarke, a mindfulness and yoga teacher based in Oxford. Misha discusses the benefits of mindfulness for children, drawing off her experience of teaching students aged from 7-11. We are delighted to announce that Misha is offering a free meditation and yoga session for our listeners! Listen to the episode for all the info!

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To kick off Series 2, we are excited to have Natasha Devon with us. Natasha is a writer and activist. She is currently doing a Saturday Night LBC show. She tours schools, colleges & universities around the world, delivering talks as well as conducting research on mental health. In this episode, Aneeska chats to Natasha about the importance of navigating mental health from a young age. 

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For the last episode of this series, we have Tom Gulliver with us discussing the mental health benefits of music. Tom chats to us about all the music outlets he's been involved with at the University of York, including Band Soc, open mic nights at different colleges, as well as helping with tech at the Norman Rea Gallery through events such as A Multilingual Experience. Tom tracks his own journey as a musician with us, from being a part of the band Kräken, dealing with the anxieties of performing, to developing his own record label Lucky Boy Records. Tom chats about the mental health benefits of songwriting as a creative outlet, in particular how powerful it can be when songs resonate with the audience, helping them with their mental health too. We also discuss the power of the positive energy that arises from people coming together through music. 

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(CW: eating disorders) This week we chat to Issy Tee and Lydia Jones about the work they are doing for BEAT, the UK's eating disorder charity. Issy, a young ambassador for BEAT, discusses the different ways the charity support those with eating disorders, as well as how they look out for those who are supporting others with eating disorders too. Lydia, the former vice president of the BEAT Society at York, tells us all about the great activities they have been running, offering a variety of fun sessions, as well as a platform to build friendships. The pair chat about the importance of breaking the taboo around eating disorders through stressing how its a facet of mental illness. They also discuss what they do day-to-day for their own self care, such as exercising and gratitude journals, which are tips and tricks that they have also shared with each other. 

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Tune in to hear from Becky Metcalfe this week who chats to us about how dance has been a consistent and great outlet for her since she was little, really helping her ground her mental health. We discuss her evolution as a dancer, and Aneeska shares her experience as a dancer too. The pair share anecdotes, discuss the challenges of performing, as well as how to take in criticism. They chat through similar experiences where they have learnt from fellow dancers, discussing the benefits of dancers of different abilities working collectively, helping each other improve and learning from one another along the way. 

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This week we chat to Sonya Sandhu about the mental health benefits of playing football. Sonya discusses how university sports teams are breaking the taboo surrounding mental health and sports by appointing welfare officers, with teams starting to take mental health just as seriously as physical health. She tracks her own mental health journey with us, discussing the well-being benefits of being a part of a sports team, as well as how she has become more aware about her own mental health over the years. 

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