Inner-Strength Check Podcast

Hi All, 

Been a while between episodes - a LOT has gone on this year. 

I've had a bit of a crisis of confidence in this whole podcasting stuff, so I have avoided it for a while. Plus mental health stuff. Today's episode I do a bit of a catch-up on where I'm at in 2022 around work, hobbies, life etc, before the meat of the episode 'bout halfway through.

Rounding out the first few initial episodes to give you, the listener, some overall scope on your hosts' lived experience with mental health recovery and fun stuff, is a dive into how I've more recently fallen down into nerd hobby holes I never thought I would. 

We dive more into how the hell a weird bogan-nerd-hybrid like me ever went from scoffing at Tabletop RPGs as a hobby ('You mean telling stories with paper and maths?! Gross, yuck, ew no') to that now being a huge aspect of what I enjoy in my non-working life. 

As this is a podcast focused on how mental health and other factors intersect with enjoying and growing in non-work interests, we go briefly into how that, executive dysfunction and other factors play into it too - these will be touched on in a more meta level in future episodes.

From here, I do intend on making the podcast less 'me-focused' (although using lived experiences as examples, ofc) and more on the meta of gaming, music, mental health in the community as well as strategies and tips for you guys, too.

Stick around, some in-depth stuff coming in the future, but more casual and fun stuff as well. 

If you wanna support the podcast - don't. Donate to a good, charitable cause (and me not slamming $10 house pints til I'm near-chundering) at:

https://www.dryjuly.com/users/brady-irwin

Cheers, and both good fun and mental health to you! 

Thanks for listening. 

Brady.

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Cover Art Credit: Johan Norr. IG: @artbynor

a.k.a. a bit of a retrospective look into the powerfully formative impact music has had for me in terms of my mental health, coping strategies, values and identity. As well, a bit of discussion around sensitivity and the arts, perfectionism and the broader millenial generational backdrop to how my musical journey has formed over time.

There's a fair bit of prelude discussion before hitting the 'meat' of the topic itself however I feel it's still worth a listen to set the scene. If you'd like to (as they say in Holy Grail) GET ON WITH IT to the topic, by all means please skip forward to roughly 25min mark (time-stamps TBA).

Please Note:

*  Content Warning for discussions of mental health, depression and anxiety. 

* Not a family friendly pod. We're hitting pretty deep stuff here and I've got a bit of a potty-mouth, so not kid-friendly!

Thank you.

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Some Resources for Self-Help:

1. CCI WA: 

Have a brilliant set of self-help cognitive behavioural therapy resources you can use on your own, with a professional or with a friend/close one. There's also conversely some good specific information on 'Taking Care of Others' too: 

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/

2. My Possible Self:

 If I could recommend a nice all-in-one mental health toolkit app, this is it. Mood tracking, mindfulness and meditation exercises, podcast episodes, inspirational posts, instructional exercise vids, nutrition tracking, etc:

https://www.mypossibleself.com/

3. BeyondBlue: 

Fantastic phone counselling and general/specific mental health information services. Chat to a trained counsellor via phone, email or chat, as well as forums and lots of information for you, your family, workplace etc. 

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

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BLOG LINK: https://www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/blog/podcast-ep-2-inside-the-ear-canal

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Cover Art Credit: Claire Desjardins. LINK: https://clairedesjardins.com/blogs/claire-desjardins-blog/synesthesia-in-art-and-music

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Hi All! It's been a while. 

This is a between-topical-episodes-episode. Just a general catch up on where I am at/the state of affairs, but also some discussions around how I will be pivoting the ISC podcast to be a bit more broad content-wise, incorporating a larger range of topics. I also discuss perfectionism as it presents through procrastination, not a means commonly thought of in our culture but one that is pervasive with mental illness.

Thank you. <3

SUPPORT OPTIONS:

If you're feeling like you need some support, please be sure to check in with those around you - remember, social support is the biggest predictor of mental and physical health!

AUSTRALIA:

* If you're feeling like you need some extra mental health assistance, please don't hesitate to contact your GP to discuss a Mental Health Care Plan, which will allow you to access 6-10 rebated sessions with a psychologist. 

* to approach your GP with an appropriate psychologist prior (gender, telehealth, treating issues, client demographics etc), check out the APS Find a Psychologist service:

https://psychology.org.au/find-a-psychologist

* same for psychiatrists in Australia:

https://www.yourhealthinmind.org/find-a-psychiatrist

LOCATION-AGNOSTIC:

* some handy apps for self-care: 

My Possible Self

Stop, Breathe and Think

Smiling Mind

* a handy resource for evidence-based self-help cognitive behavioural therapy for depression, anxiety, bipolar, self-esteem, procrastination, social skills, relationships etc (ignoring the lame ClipArt) for yourself and others:

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself

Good day and good mental health to you. <3

Cover Art Credit: Matt Schofield. IG: @mattscofieldart

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Link to Episode on ISC Blog: https://www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/blog/podcast-ep-neurological

Welcome to Inner-Strength Check, a podcast at the confluence of mental health, hobbies, leisure, society and community. 

For today's episode, I decided to give you all a bit of an honest peek behind the GM screen and detail my own mental health recovery/neurodiversity trajectory over time, up to the present day. I felt it important not only to set the tone for the mental health side of things, but for you get a more honest and raw appraisal of your show host. 

Coming up next will be Behind The Screen, which is parallel to this episode but will be more involved with discussing how my hobbies and leisure have formed, changed and persist from the past to the present day. From there, we'll expand out much more broadly to look at gaming, mental health and the like on a community and systemic level. 

Please do get in touch if you're interested in coming on board as a guest, co-host or even just to game together! 

Cheers, 

Brady. 

LINKS:

Website: www.innerstrengthcheckpodcast.com/

Facebook: facebook.com/innerstrengthcheck

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/innerstrengthcheck

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/@innerstrengthcheck

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Cover Art Credit: Greg Dunn. Website: https://www.gregadunn.com