When Jaina Mistry was young she had a very scary encounter with a dog that she thought had given her a lifelong phobia. Her family felt much the same. But years later her freedom would be curtailed in the most basic way as even going out to a café or to the gym became fraught with danger. To help her through this she was encouraged to put all her faith in a dog called Laura.

Jaina is believed to be England’s first blind female fitness instructor and told Jane Garvey about the transformative impact Laura has had on her life.

To get in touch with the programme, or to share your personal story, you can email us at: [email protected]

Image: Jaina Mistry & Laura the dog

Twitter: @mistryjaina1

One Sunday, over drinks, Reg Mead was told a story: that back in the fifties a farmer had unearthed a pot full of old coins. He’d scooped up what he could and then ploughed the rest back in to the field. Reg is a keen metal detectorist so his interest was piqued. He got permission from the landowner and set off with some friends from his metal-detecting club. But there was a catch, the land was very much in use so he could only search for four to five hours a year. After a while most club members gave up and moved on but Reg and his friend Richard Miles persisted, for thirty years.

If you’d like to get in touch with the programme you can email us: [email protected]

On the evening of Friday 29 November 2013, Michael Byrne was having a drink with a friend in a bar in Glasgow. They'd gone to see a band and had only been there for about an hour when suddenly it felt like everything had been shaken up – as if they were in snowglobe. Amid the chaos of falling debris Michael’s actions helping others were heroic, and afterwards to his wife and colleagues he seemed to be just fine. In the aftermath of this disaster he and his friend had agreed not to speak about what they’d been through in a misguided effort to ‘protect’ themselves. But Michael was struggling to cope and the more time that passed without talking about it, the worse things got for him.

Confronting the experience would bring back traumatic memories from his early life and push him to a place where he contemplated suicide. He was stopped by a chance event – and then began seriously to address his mental health.

Now Michael has founded an organisation called Lived Experience Trauma Support to provide mental health training and support services to businesses.

The tragedy in 2013 was caused by a police helicopter that crashed into the roof of the Clutha Vaults in Glasgow. It claimed the lives of the pilot, his two crew members and seven customers in the pub that night.

If you are looking for details of organisations offering information and support with mental health you can find them at bbc.co.uk/actionline. To get in touch with the programme, or to share your personal story, you can email us at: [email protected]

Pip Peacock lives in Bakewell in the Peak District, a perfect spot for walking the family dog, Buster. He’d been with them for 11 years. He was originally a present for her youngest son when he was a teenager but when he found out just how much was involved in dog ownership the title of chief dog walker soon fell to Pip.

Thankfully she likes walking. This year she set herself a challenge of completing 1000 miles on foot. She finished the last mile this October, raising money for the air ambulance who had come to her rescue when she was seriously injured on another country walk with Buster back in 2019. She tells Jane Garvey how that moment left her fighting for her life.

If you’d like to get in touch with the programme you can email us: [email protected]

See here for more detail on how to keep safe whilst walking near livestock: www.ramblers.org.uk/advice/safety/walking-near-livestock.aspx

Jemma Bere had an unusual childhood. Her mum was a primary school teacher who chose to homeschool her so they could move around a lot. They lived on a boat in Turkey, travelled to Thailand, Bali and across Europe. In her teens they finally settled in Wales after her mum met a new partner. He was a big drinker and home life became a bit chaotic but they muddled along.

Jemma’s mum and stepdad moved to Spain in her second year of A-levels. By now the couple had two kids: Alex and Billie. Then, just as Jemma was doing her exams, her mum died, she’d been hit by a car. The children were looked after by their dad and an amazing nanny who kept everything together while he continued to drink. Jemma would visit all the time; by now she had started university, but the situation wasn’t brilliant and when the nanny had to leave to look after her sick mother everything fell apart.

At the age of 23, fresh out of university with no home of her own and no job, Jemma made a life-changing split-second decision. Many of her friends and some of her family thought she was crazy but Jemma was stubborn and stuck to her guns. She tells her story to Jane Garvey.

If you have a story you would like to share you can contact the programme at [email protected]

In his twenties Jon Godsall was working in the family air-conditioning business but he also wanted to see the world, so he took his skills abroad. He found a job at the British embassy in Kuwait.

On August 2, 1990, Jon set off in his car for work as he did every day. He realised something was wrong when he was stopped as he neared the embassy. The next thing he knew, he was on the floor with a gun pointing towards him.

What happened next transformed his life. For thirty years, Jon found himself unable to speak about that time. Then in lockdown, this year, something changed and the process of opening up and sharing his experience had a remarkable impact on him.

This is the first time Jon has told his story in public and some of what you will hear is upsetting.

Details of organisations offering information and support with mental health are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Jane Garvey introduces series 2 with more incredible stories of transformative moments.

Tony Kofi is the fifth of seven brothers and was raised by his Ghanaian parents in Nottingham in the late 1960s.

At secondary school Tony was turned down for the music course he wanted to do, told he wasn’t focused enough, and directed to do woodwork instead. He stuck with woodwork as he was really good at it, and left school at the age of 16 to become a carpentry apprentice. A few months in, working on a house construction, he fell from the roof arch to the ground floor where he landed on his head. Tony says he experienced the fall in slow motion and he had clear visions of unknown faces and places and saw images of himself playing an instrument. During his recovery it was that image which kept coming back to him. Tony made the decision to quit his apprenticeship and announced his intention to become a musician. He bought a saxophone and taught himself how to play by ear, before earning a full scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the US.

Scroll forward many years, Tony is now a highly-acclaimed jazz saxophonist and credits the fall with turning his whole life around.

Sheetal Surti was born in to a British South Asian family in a small town in the East Midlands. Aged seven Sheetal noticed a white patch behind her ear. She didn’t think much of it but soon more patches appeared and started to spread.

She was diagnosed with vitiligo – a skin condition where unpigmented patches appear on different parts of the body. And so the treatments began. Some were medically advised, some were recommended by friends. Most of them were unpleasant, one in particular was horribly painful. But most importantly, for Sheetal, they didn’t work.

It was a lot for a girl going through puberty to handle and Sheetal’s answer was to slap on a smile and ignore it. While she couldn’t cover her patches, she became a master of covering up her feelings. Because of her appearance some people would ask if she had leprosy or skin cancer, others would tell her that she’d never get married or have a family.

By 22 all of her skin had turned white. She no longer resembled the rest of her family. People would look at her quizzically when she told them her Indian name. After a while she would explain by telling them she was born in the 70s and her parents had gone through a hippie phase. She’d never talk openly about her vitiligo.

Then, aged 35, Sheetal was watching a TV programme where people with vitiligo were talking about their condition. It was a turning point for her and the day she finally started to address her questions about belonging, her lost identity and the shame she’d buried for so many years.

If you would like more information on vitiligo please visit www.nhs.uk

Keith Williams aka Keith ‘y Glo’ or ‘Keith the coal’ was born in 1952 and brought up as the son of a coal merchant in South Wales. At the age of 13 he found out he had been adopted but it was only when he was in his forties and expecting a grandchild that he started looking into his family history.

He eventually tracked down his birth mother and arranged an emotional reunion. It was at this first meeting that Keith asked her about his birth father and was presented with a bundle of documents and photographs. She told him that his father had been a young Malaysian prince who had also been studying in London. They had fallen in love and started a relationship but he was forced to return to Malaysia, where he later became the Sultan of Perak, one of the country’s nine royal families.

That revelation and Keith’s search for answers has taken him to Malaysia and back as he attempts to piece together who he really is and what defines his identity.

In another life Keith could have been royalty, and while that knowledge has changed him he reflects that he wouldn’t have had what he has now; the warmth and love of his large Welsh family and the strong relationship he built with his birth mother.

If you have a story you would like to share you can contact the programme at [email protected]