Mindset By Dave Podcast

In this episode I speak to Debbie, the founder of Sean's Place. Sean's place is a service center in Liverpool offering men of all ages connection through cookery classes, guitar gatherings and so much more.

Sean's Place was setup by Debbie in the wake of losing her brother Sean to suicide. Sean was receiving some help, but not enough and like with so many people the time between the help you receive was empty and disconnected.

Debbie hopes to give the service users of Sean's Place the help that Sean needed. The social prescribing, the connection and the cure for isolation.

Whether working from home is something you're doing by choice or by necessity right now I've got you covered.

I've worked from home for many years now and fallen into practically all the traps you can.

In this episode I share the lessons I have learned from those mistakes to help you make this transition a whole lot smoother than I did!

Joe Horton is someone who's journey shifted radically at the age of 36 after the loss of his dad.

After this life changing event Joe decided to get serious about improving all areas of his own life and finding a replicable system that could impact any part.

He starts from 3 words: vision, action and meaning and then he strategises how to make the biggest impact.

This may sound like a very machinelike approach, but far from it Joe has used this same method to nurture presence with his family, something most of us would simply leave to chance.

What I love about Joe is that his approach is so much more methodical than anything I do so I hope that this different point of view provides a value for listeners that I haven't brought myself!

You can listen more to Joe on his excellent podcast "Guild of Dads" which is available from all good podcast providers.

I've made two decissions for whilst an increasing number of people begin to self-isolate:

1- I won't be talking about Coronavirus on any public platforms;

2 - I will be increasing content on ALL platforms to give people alternative stuff to consume.

I've made this decision not because I think it isn't important to talk about, but because I want to give people a space where they don't have to read/hear about it.

NB this is only on public posts, if you want to talk about it in relation to mental health personally my inbox is still open!

If there's anything else you would like to see covered in this time, from mindset and mental health to escapism content of me chatting sh*t then let me know!

So for now stay safe, be nice to yourself and others and please take some time to expose yourself to information other than the news from time to time.

If you were to think of ways to improve both mental wellbeing AND mental health awareness I imagine acting wouldn't be the first thing that springs to mind...

Thankfully for Anna and Megan of MALIT (Motivated And Loving IT) in the Community it was!

These fabulous ladies put on drama workshops for people to help them both express AND improve their mental health and through their Verbatim Theatre productions give a unique way to raise awareness of the mental struggles of many different individuals.

So far they have covered Body Image in a powerful production that shows body image is something that can impact lives at any age, young or old; and they have also covered men's mental health, helping men find their voice and explore their character through drama.

Their next project is all about those who have been bereaved by suicide and I think for tackling that subject thesse girls deserve a sstanding ovation!

The difficulty of something is not set in stone, it's also not the same for everyone of us, or even us on our best day vs us on our worst. It moves!

In this episode I talk about the shifting nature of difficulty and how this interplays with our own momentum and our mental health.

Over the past couple of years I've done a number of talks for kids between the ages of 8 and 16 and believe me, they are ready to talk mental health!

One of the key messages of this episode is understanding that a problem that may not be big for you is massive for our kids!

"School was the best days of our lives" is something we can only say because we now have the perspective of an adult, something we can tell a kid about, but they will have to experience on their own one day.

For now all change comes from accepting that if a problem is real to THEM then it is REAL. Annoyingly I learned this from other people's kids... not my own!

In this episode from one parent to another I try to pass on some of the things I have learned and how these can be applied in your relationships with your kids.

The word don't is an interesting thing for me. It is essential to know what not to do sometimes, however telling me what not to do without providing alternatives of what "to do" has limited use and can often be quite harmful.

I see this growing trend on social media of people saying how they don't want to be treated, or how certain behaviours are unacceptable; but with very little instruction on how they would like to be treated.

I think this trend comes from a place of goodness and that is in the intention to help, but from my experience the reality is falling a little short. Rather than help, many of these posts simply condemn the reader; a reader who may have previously been an ally to your cause but now leaves as they feel they are "not doing it good enough."

In many ways we are fighting overt shame with a more subtle stealthy kind of shame.

The moral of the story? If you're going to say what not to do, then follow it up with some positive alternatives!

It's my birthday so I'll post if I want to!

I like to do something a little different for the podcast on my birthday and this year is no exception.

I am currently in the process of writing my mental health story (or autobiography depending on how you look at it) and for this bonus episode I am sharing a little bit from the age of 13-14.

My first impression of Nikki Parry is how great a communicator she is, which is fantastic as her primary role is in education on mental health first aid as one half of the dynamic duo Be Well Learning.

Be Well Learning have a mission to help make 1 in 10 people in the North West (and then the UK) mental health first aid trained, which is something I am very much on board with.

Physical first aiders are a legal requirement in the work place, but mental first aid isn't supported in this way, so it's fantastic to have forward thinking companies taking the initiative and seeing the importance of this training.

As well as talking about MHFA we also discuss The Bloom Building and the Open Door Project. The former being a creative hub in Birkenhead where various forms of media and creativity are used to provide people with an outlet to express themselves and the latter being a fantastic FREE 8 week mentorship service to help young people with their mental health.