At 87% we believe in empowering every single person’s mental wellbeing, be it in work or wider society. We have the strong belief that both physical health, and mental health work in tandem to make up our overall holistic health, and one simply doesn’t work effectively without the other. Which is why we are thrilled to say that isoshealth is a trusted partners of ours. Like us, isoshealth has an extremely holistic approach when it comes to health. They call their approach the ‘power of 3’. It’s called this because they facilitate consultations with dieticians, psychologists, and physiotherapists ensuring that your dietary, mental and physical wellbeing is cared for. This power of 3 concept, is what works for athletes, as they also have these three areas of support, so we explore this and how successful this can be when supporting overall holistic health.

On this episode of Life Happens we speak with Lieutenant General Andrew Graham CBE. Andrew discusses his long and colourful career in the army detailing the life lessons he learnt, what it really means to be a good leader and impact mental ill-health left on his fellow colleagues. 

Andrew is now the Chairman of Combat Stress, a charity that supports the mental health of veterans. For a century, Combat Stress has helped former servicemen and women with mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We discuss how PTSD can be the result of any form of trauma, not only army related incidents. 

Thank you Andrew, for such an in-depth and truly fascinating conversation from a military perspective. 

 Thursday 10th Oct 2019 is World Mental Health Day, this year the theme is urging people to discuss suicide, and try to avoid it happening at all. In this episode of Life Happens, we spoke with Adam Land, who tells us his story. As we are all aware life throws us continuous curveballs but sometimes the extent of sadness they bring with them in unfathomable. Our guest, Adam, has had to deal with one of the most heart-wrenching things to happen in life, twice. Adam shows us what real strength lies in humanity, and how to turn a truly devastating situation into a way of helping others. Thank you, Adam.

In this week's podcast we speak with 22-year-old, Leaders of Tomorrow board member, Emmy Hawker. Emmy tells us about her first hand experience of leaving a previous role due to the lack of support she received when it came to her mental wellbeing, and why this subject is a great passion of hers. We discuss the pressures the younger generation face when entering the UK workforce, and the impact this could also be having on this generation as a whole. Emmy gives her personal insight into what changes ought to be made, and how these can be rolled out. 

We are delighted to present 87% in conversation with Jonny Benjamin MBE. Jonny is currently one of the UK's biggest mental health advocates, and talks candidly about his own personal experiences. Jonny was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in 2007, when he was 20 years old. He discusses the turbulent aftermath that followed his diagnosis which resulted in him on Waterloo bridge with the intention of jumping off it, until the stranger on the bridge (Neil Laybourn) came along and literally saved his life. Now over a decade later, Jonny and Neil work as an extremely impactful mental health advocacy duo, focusing on all areas including workplaces, youth and many more. Jonny talks about the need for more men to talk openly about their mental health, along with his involvement with the young Royals, the changes that need to be made when it comes to mental health waiting lists and he tells us about his new venture intended to give grants to companies who are making waves in mental health but have had funding taken away. Jonny, thank you. Enjoy everyone! 

We had a chat with Katie Tucker, who along with her partner and young two children decided last year to take a once in a lifetime trip around the world. As well as being a fabulous trip into the unknown, we also spoke about the mental strains of not having a fixed abode and the ample resilience needed for the unpredictability of the trip. Let's meet her...

In this episode of the 87% podcast we spoke with Jo Hooper, founder of the Mad and Sad Club. Jo had a successful career in communications, and like many others worked her way up a career ladder which resulted in her bagging her (what she thought) 'dream job'. Jo says that work is one of her main triggers for mental ill health, and expands upon experiences she has been though which led to her entirely changing her career path. Being made redundant from a role, or ending a job drastically can appear daunting and understandably scary, but sometimes it leads to wonderful new beginnings. Listen to Jo's story here...

In this 87% podcast we speak with Che Donald, Vice Chair of The Police Federation for England and Wales. Che discusses how this notorious 'macho' culture that runs throughout the police is changing when it comes to the predominant male workforce (29% of the police workforce in the UK are women) talking about mental health. Che talks about how in 60% of cases, the police are the first port of call when it comes to mental health issues, and how they regularly work with mental health professions when assessing those in custody. Che also opens up about his personal mental health experiences which led to him taking 6 months leave from work. Thanks Che for a fascinating discussion!

Our brains and bodies are really incredible, they run in tandem making up our own holistic self, one needs the other. In this audio article, we explore exactly what that means and put it into real life context drawing from past experiences. Read and written by Emily Sexton Brown. 

In the latest episode of the 87% podcast we spoke to mental health campaigner and author, Hope Virgo. Hope suffered with anorexia for over 4 years, which then led to her being admitted to a mental health hospital in 2007, where she lived for a year. Hope talks to us about her recovery and her new relationship with food, as well as her love for running. Hope says she originally became obsessed with running and saw it as a form of punishment, but after a long time she began to include running into her wellbeing routine. Thank you for your honesty Hope - as Hope said in the podcast, we need to keep the conversation going, even if it's a tough conversation to have.