Honoured to be joined this week by Joe Taylor, founder of The Wave Project.

The Wave Project is a charity using surfing and spending time in the ocean as a form of therapy for young people struggling with mental and physical issues. Having taught watersports for nearly 10 years to thousands of children, it was amazing to chat to Joe about why he started the Wave Project, and the effects it has on young people who otherwise wouldn't get out on the water.

We discussed why surfing works so well for young people struggling with mental health issues, especially anxiety. It's a tough sport to do, but it's not inherently competitive, there are no leaderboards, and you can't score a goal. It doesn't matter whether you're standing up for the first time ever, riding on your stomach, or doing your first air. The goal is the same, to catch a wave and have fun.

As Joe described, The Wave Project's goal isn't to teach people to surf well, or to produce the next Kelly Slater. It's designed to build young peoples resilience and help build confidence and feel more positive about themselves. It may sound a bit silly that surfing does all of these things, but the proof is there.

By encouraging growth in a less clinical environment and allowing young people the chance to learn something new (and fun!) at their own pace. It's literally changing lives.

From personal experience, I always feel a lot better once ive been in the ocean, I wish I'd found windsurfing and surfing at an earlier age. It's amazing that The Wave Project are bringing these experiences to people who otherwise wouldn't experience them. Hope you enjoy!

This week I'm joined by construction industry veteran and host of the awesome 'Mind Your Head' podcast, Rob Muldoon. 👷🏻

Having worked on sites for nearly 20 years, Rob has a great insight into how the mental health conversation within the industry has changed. After his own personal struggles and battles, Rob is now a qualified mental health first aider, and hosts his own podcast chatting to people within the construction and wider trades industry about breaking the stigma on mental health within them.

We discussed many things, from the steps he takes on site to make sure all his staff are feeling good, why often not making a big thing out of it and keeping it casual is the best way to chat to someone, (often straight up asking someone what the problem is just scares them away, I still don't get why people don't understand this 🙄) and how the mental health conversation has changed throughout the wider industry.

Thanks so much to Rob for his honesty and insight. There are so many people working in this industry and it's long been thought of as 'a mans world' and youve got to be macho and 'man up'. It's great to see guys like Rob breaking down those stigmas.

Honoured to be joined by Parsa Nani this week!

Parsa is in his 3rd year of medicine at uni, but alongside that he's an online personal trainer, viral music producer and TikTok personality.

A few weeks back Parsa uploaded a video to Instagram that really struck a cord with me. In it he discussed a tiktok trend video he and his mates uploaded, only for it to be trolled by a load of girls.

Of course, uploading anything to social media is always a risk, and you're always opening yourself up to be criticised. But in this 'if you can be anything, be kind' world we're living in, where mental health is spoken about more and more, it's insane the amount of internet trolling and shitty comments that still go on.

One example I saw recently was the treatment of Sebastian Vettel's recent pics on his social media about him testing his new car, and all the comments etc were talking about the fact he'd gone bald!

We discussed all this and more, including the different way men and women are treated online, assumptions people make about who someone is through social media (often only 1 picture!), building a following without trying to and a whole lot more!

An awesome and hugely important conversation with a great guy, might sound old saying it, but I'm glad I got through my teenage years without having social media in my pocket 24/7.

Hope you all enjoy 🙏🏼

Great to be joined this week by clinical hypnotherapist, CBT coach and mental health first aider Will Everett.

Will kindly invited me to do an Instagram live with him a while back, and I decided to get him on the podcast as I've always been intrigued with hypnotherapy, having been to one once before. There are so many misconceptions and stigmas attached to it. Cue ''look into the eyes not around the eyes' jokes.

It was great to chat to someone who actually knows about this, not an internet charlatan, but someone qualified who does it for a day job and, judging by his social media, is genuinely making a difference and helping people with their lives. Another big thing we discussed and that I personally took away from the conversation was that it's ok to own your successes. Too often (especially in the UK) we're called arrogant for talking about being successful.

Sure, theres a fine line between arrogance and pride, but it's important to be proud of, and recognise your successes as much as your failures.

Finally Will touched on the sentiment of hypnotherapy always being the last straw, the last type of therapy someone does, almost as a last ditch attempt after all other routes are exhausted. I think it could greatly benefit people if the odd 'hippy wank shite' esque stigma can be removed and it can be recognised as something that could genuinely help others.

I really great and interesting conversation about a subject many know very little about. Huge thanks to Will for his time and his honesty.

As promised a while ago, a podcast about the thing that makes the world go round... For this I brought in one of my close friends, previous guest, owner of Turtle Straws, trader and all round sustainable superhero Alex Bruce.

Money is a hard one, it's so tied to our mental well-being, who among us can't say at one time or another that they've been anxious due to finances. Yet it's still something that we don't discuss openly with each other.

Im not saying we need to go show each other our bank accounts, but a more open conversation about it is important. In fact the reason I got Bruce on was because we recently had a very open conversation about our finances, and I felt much better for it.

We discussed many things, from Bruce's experience and advice when it comes to investing and trading and why its a marathon not a sprint, to my views on money and why you probably really don't need as much as you think in order to be happy.

We both definitely agreed that doing seasons sets you up very well in that you get so used to living with so little, and still having a great time.

Please take this with a pinch of salt. Neither of us are experts or financial advisors. Im also well aware of being a very privileged white middle class male.

All I'm trying to do is chat some shit, drink some beer and encourage people to have a more open conversation about things that sometimes make you feel a bit shit.

Honoured to have Ben West on the podcast this week, and for episode 50!

Ben is a mental health activist and campaigner, having won the Pride of Britain award, and being names one of LinkedIn's changemaker's last year. He is now spearheading the campaign for mental health support to be included in University league tables, meaning in order for a uni to be recognised as one of the best in the country, it's mental health support system would be taken into account.

As someone who didn't go to uni, it's a part of life I never lived, and therefore don't know much about. But thats why these conversations are so important, to get perspective of how others live their lives.

Pleasure to be joined by old friend Dan Alldis this week!

Having not seen each other for over 10 years now, it was awesome to reconnect and hear Dan's story. Dan is now based out in Dubai (Don't worry, he's not an influencer!)

We spoke of what its really like living out there, it can be a bit of a mythical place surrounded in so many rumours, it was interesting to hear about what it's actually like.

For the first year or so he was travelling to and from Dubai almost weekly, living out of a bag in hotel rooms. This had a hugely detrimental effect on his mental well-being, causing a spiral into a bad routine of over-eating, no exercise and loneliness.

Luckily, Dan did what I and many others have been preaching since day 1. He spoke to someone. After this the routine switched slowly, starting with a bit of exercise, to where he is at now.

This journey culminated in November 2020, where, for Movember, Dan ran just over 2km on the hour, every hour, for 24 hours, raising over £1000 for charity in the process. Dan's story is a true testament that we can always change our routines, and that despite someone looking like they have everything, they still might be struggling.

Great to be joined this week by Nick Dempsey, the most successful olympic windsurfer of all time!

We discussed his history of competing in the olympic, from Sydney in 2000 finishing 16th, to ending his career on a high, winning silver in Rio in 2016. Now a coach for the Japanese team, he has experience on both sides of the line.

We moved on to the training side, the sacrifices made in order to chase a medal, both mental and physical and the mindset needed to focus on the goal of winning. (no curry and beer nights with friends!)

Something really interesting was his insight into how mental health in the olympics has changed over the years. I was surprised when he said it hasn't. But with hindsight it does make sense. The focus is entirely on winning and as Nick said, it's driven by passion, not business, which makes a big difference in my opinion in someones motivation to win.

A very interesting conversation and insight into a very different, focused world few get to experience.

Just me on this one, talking about the original idea behind the podcast, why drinking beers was a big part of it, why it isn't so much and my relationship and history with alcohol.

Enjoy, with, or without a beer 🙏🏼

Great to be joined this week by Lydia, Max and Beth, founders of Wild Swimming Cornwall. After each of their own struggles with varying mental health issues, friends Lydia, Max and Beth decided to spread their love of the ocean and found Wild Swimming Cornwall.

It is a community with the aim of encouraging more people to take part in wild swimming and experience its benefits. As we discussed, those benefits are massive.

On top of the physical exercise, the mental benefits are numerous, but the biggest to me is how much it improves stress response and expands your comfort zone, something so valuable to people suffering with anxiety.

Something I also advocate and chat about a lot is the importance of having a passion in life, something you can invest even just a couple of hours a week, something to lose yourself in. Many are now finding this in Wild Swimming, whether it's planning your next swim, sorting gear out and then the act of actually swimming. It's an entirely consuming experience, allowing yourself a break from daily worries.

Not to take anything away from the girls, whose story I actually resonated with more personally. But Max's story of solo crossing the Atlantic, suffering a fire onboard and just scraping to the Caribbean is such an incredible story thats worth the price of admission alone! Max is in fact crossing the Atlantic again as we speak!

We also discussed why less men take part than women, maybe its the lack of performance and competition, interested to know what you listeners think also.

Something so important when going in the ocean is safety, please make sure you're aware of what tides are doing, the correct gear and you've told someone where you're going. I'm always happy to recommend but give these guys a follow/DM for more info, especially on their new guide coming soon!