Welcome to episode 2 of the Grab ‘em by the poesy podcast, ‘Are we bored of mental health?’ with your host Kate Murnane, in collab with the Oxford Feminist society. Today I’m joined by two equally wonderful inspirational women of Oxford, who work on different aspects of mental health. Iheoma Green is a wellbeing practitioner working within the NHS, specialising in childhood and adolescent anxiety. Shannon Maloney is a DPhil student in Teddy Hall who’s work (based in the department of Psychiatry) focuses on mindfulness based programmes.

This extended episode was an absolute joy to record and is full to the brim of insight, laughter and hope . Both Shannon and Iheoma’s passion for people, how our minds work and how we can help when things get dark, is inspiring.  Topics we cover include: imposter syndrome, representation of women within psychiatry, mental health vs mental illness, the harm of genderizing mental health illness and suicide, over-saturation and misinformation by the ‘mental health’ trend on social media, capitalist exploitation of ‘self care’ by patriarchal companies and why this risks oppressing women further. 

In this episode we have a teensy wifi blip toward the end (FU virgin media!!) and the sound quality on one of our mics is slightly shaky in moments, but bear with us because this nourishing episode is 100% worth it!!

Sending you all the love. We hope that this podcast will give you a chance to fill your cup because YOU are worth it xx

Trigger Warnings: mental Illness and suicide.

About your host

Kate Murnane is a DPhil student at Teddy Hall. When she’s not studying haematology, your host is most likely to be cooking something obnoxiously garlicky or stalking exotic cat breeds she can’t possibly afford, online. Why on earth you’d want to see more of this, I can’t imagine, but if you’re that kind of freaky, you can find her on Instagram @grab_them_by_the_poesy

Socials

We’re on Instagram! Follow us to engage with these discussions and suggest guests/topics for future @grabembythepoesypodcast

Kate Murnane: Instagram: @grab_them_by_the_poesy

Shannon Maloney: find Shannon on twitter (@shann_maloney), Instagram (@ourwellnessdiary and @shannonmmarie) and on LinkedIn

Iheoma Green: find Iheoma on LinkedIn and the department of experimental psychology website (specifically the TOPIC research group).

OxFemSoc: Engage with Oxford Feminist Society on Facebook, Instagram (@oxfemsoc) and on our website.

Resources

The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast, @wetheurban on Instagram (positive affirmations you need), Off the Record mental health charity based in Bristol (@otrbristol), The Value of Lived Experience in Social Change Baljeet Sandhu, 2017 (long read report), oversaturation of ‘The Conversation’ and the negative implications of this: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/30/nothing-like-broken-leg-mental-health-conversation, free mindfulness session through the Oxford Mindfulness Centre: https://www.oxfordmindfulness.org/learn-mindfulness/online-sessions-podcasts/, Insight Timer: Free mindfulness app.

Credits

Host and edits: Kate Murnane, 

Cover art: Ruth Thrush

Music: free on Anchor.fm