The Just Checking In Podcast

In episode 291 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Leigh Edwards.Leigh Edwards works as a QA Analyst for a housing association and helps lead on the community work that men's mental health charity Mandem Meet Up (MMU) carries out in Wolverhampton.Leigh was raised by a single mum in a difficult neighbourhood of Wolverhampton, but achieved the grades to study at university. He dropped out in his second year but views it as the best decision he’s ever made.Leigh’s mental health difficulties started when he was 26 years old. He suffered with auditory psychosis for eight months but never told anyone about it.It got to the point where he became suicidal and he planned to take his own life on Mother’s Day in 2019. His plan was to go round to see family and ‘say goodbye’ for the final time. However, his mum had the most important mother’s instinct of her life and wouldn’t let him leave the house as she knew something was wrong.After forcing the issue through his defences, Leigh disclosed to her how he was feeling, broke down and agreed for his family to take him to their local hospital.After psychiatric nurses came to his house for a few weeks and checked in on him, he felt like it was no longer helping him and decided to take ownership of his mental health and life.He started doing meditation, discovered the work of a philosopher called Alan Watts and the concept of Taoism, jumped down a rabbit hole and never came out.In this episode we discuss Leigh’s upbringing, the psychosis, suicidality and recovery. We then discuss the grief of losing his best friend Ryan who had helped him through that period just a year afterwards in 2020, who tragically took his own life. We also discuss the impact that David Goggins had on Leigh's recovery and how it led him to taking his fitness journey to another level, starting with one half-marathon in memory of his friend, before running two ultra-marathons for himself.Leigh’s advocacy work began in December 2022, a month before MMU Wolverhampton was formed. He took part in a monthly hike in Snowden with MMU and in January 2023 – the charity's Founder and previous JCIP guest Jamie Dennis gave him the green light to get involved with Mandem Wolves.MMU Wolves work continued with an outreach programme for homeless people in Wolverhampton town centre, which takes place once-a-month and has been running for two years.We discuss this community work, running MMU football and his plans to turn it into a fully-fledged team.We finish by discussing his next project to run 10 marathons in 10 days to fundraise for MMU, which at time of recording he was preparing for, but has now successfully completed in June 2025. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can donate to Leigh's campaign here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/maintain-our-free-services-to-the-men-of-our-community?attribution_id=sl%3A9af31a4f-3b67-434d-a6b6-6741e9a4d3a3You can follow Mandem Meet Up Wolves on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandemmeetup_wolves/You can follow Mandem Meet Up's main social media channels below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandemmeetup/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mandemmeetup?lang=en-GBYou can also follow Leigh on social media below:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leigh_edwardss/Support Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukPayPal: paypal.me/freddiec1994?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GBMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk

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In episode 290 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Angela Allen.Angela is the Founder of ‘Bags for Strife’, a charity which supports people bereaved by suicide, set up by people bereaved by suicide.When Angela’s 23-year-old daughter Katrina died by suicide on 8th November 2019, she reached out to friends and loved ones and asked them what the overriding emotions they felt when they learned of her death. Time and again four emotions were named: blame, anger, guilt and sadness.Angela was struck by the lack of accessible support for family and friends in the aftermath of suicide grief and wanted to set something up to provide practical and emotional support for those who may need it. The physical bags the charity provides have been tailored to what they think a bereaved person may need in both the immediate term and longer term, ranging from the practical to the emotional. Through these bags, they hope it will make that period of grief that little bit easier.Tragically, Angela’s story of suicide grief does not end there as on 5th July 2020, her husband and Katrina’s stepfather Damian, also took his own life. He was just 58 years old.In this episode we discuss these two huge moments of grief and the impact it had on her life, her family and her mental health. We explore the emotions around both of these deaths, the nuanced conversations she has had about them in the years since, and how the grief affects her now vs back then.We then discuss how she’s channelled that grief and turned it into Bags for Strife, and created this vehicle of positivity and support for men and women who have been bereaved by suicide like she was at that time.As always, #itsokaytoventFind out more about Bags for Strife here: https://www.bagsforstrife.co.uk/Follow Bags for Strife on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bagsforstrife_Support Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukPayPal: https://paypal.me/freddiec1994?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GBMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvkTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion about grief, loss and the impact that losing a loved one to suicide can have, so please listen with caution.

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In episode 289 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Dean Corney.Dean Corney is a firefighter and the Co-Founder of Walk & Talk 999, a men's walk and talk organisation in the UK for any man in the emergency services to walk and talk about their mental health, if they want to, and be met with empathy, trust and understanding.We first checked in with Dean in March 2023, in JCIP #203 where we discussed the origins of the organisation, some of its highlights since it was formed and the power of the walk & talk.We also discussed Dean’s firefighting career, the hero complex which some firefighters can develop and which can stop them from seeking help when they develop mental health issues. We then discussed a period around 13 years ago where he struggled with depression and which developed into an eating disorder.Since we last checked in, Walk & Talk 999 has gone from strength to strength, with 17 walks now across the UK. It has grown to the point where it’s now Dean’s full-time role and we discuss the transition he has had to do away from firefighting and having a ‘watch’ of other firefighters to work with every day.We also discuss the impact he’s seen his talks and presentations have on his fellow firefighters, how he builds the trust with them to help them disclose to him and how he encourages them to take action with their mental health after disclosure. For Dean’s continued mental health journey, we discuss a significant period of grief where he lost both his grandparents fairly close together, both of whom developed dementia. He lost his grandad 2 years ago, and then his nan died around seven/eight months later.After they both died, Dean naturally put other members of his family first before dealing with his own grief and also shunned affection from others. Dean’s emotional reaction to this grief is something he is still trying to work out, but he believes stems from his childhood.We explore this juxtaposition and how it might link to that hero complex from firefighting, how he processed the grief and how he feels about the grief now. We also discuss how he deflects not just physical affection in times of grief but also praise and compliments when he has received them, whether that’s after doing one of his talks or in general life. We finish by discussing the link between physical health and mental health as Dean had blurred vision in one of his eyes which forced him to wear glasses for two years. He then broke his Achilles and was house-bound for six months but it was during this recovery period that he discovered his eyes were clear when he took off his glasses and found out from speaking to medical professionals that the blurred vision was stress-related.We discuss how he’s prioritised his self-care after that moment and gained greater awareness of how his body, and his mind can damage the other when one is out of sync.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can listen to Part 1 of Dean's journey here: https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-203-dean-corneySupport Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukGoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-healthMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk

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In this episode of Mind On The Game, we checked in with Rory Crawford. Rory is the current owner of Combat Fight Series and coaches out of Crawford K1 Thai Boxing Gym.Previously, Rory was a professional Thai Boxing champion, holding titles at Area, English, British and European levels respectively. Rory played sport from a young age, playing football from the ages of 5 to 16/17 and in-between trying his hand at karate and boxing.However, at 18 years old, he was in danger of going down the wrong path, and an older friend saw it and took him down to a few classes at a Thai Boxing gym. In his words, it ‘completely saved him’ and the rest as they say, is history.After a year in training and only 3-4 amateur fights, he had his first professional fight aged 19, and went onto have a successful 11-year professional career. After the explosion in popularity of the UFC and seeing a lot of his friends begin fighting in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Rory made the decision later in his career to move to MMA, where he had one fight, which he won, before his daughter was born. Just before his daughter was born, Rory began to experience serious and debilitating panic attacks, which caused him to check himself into A&E multiple times and caused him serious distress.After his daughter was born, and to focus on taking on himself out of that crisis, Rory retired and has devoted the next stage of his career to putting on shows, promoting them and coaching other fighters. In this episode we discuss his professional career in combat sports, retirement and carving out his next chapter in promoting and coaching.We then discuss his experience of those panic attacks, anxiety, how he manages them now and fatherhood. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Rory on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rory_crawford87/You can also follow Combat Fight Series on social media below:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combatfightseries/Support Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukGoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-healthMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk

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In episode 288 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in, for the fourth time, with Gar Lock. Gar Lock is an Irish farmer and one of the biggest characters we've had on the podcast.In our chats over the last two years, we have discussed a whole range of interesting subjects, as well as his fascinating life journey. In our first check-in, in JCIP #196 we discussed his chequered family history, serving prison time, his journey to redemption and helping ex-prisoners turn his life around like he did.In JCIP #225, we discussed the influence that fitness guru David Goggins has had on Gar's life, the loneliness epidemic in men and how and where men can find meaning if the traditional route of a family is out of reach.Finally, in JCIP #263, we had a frank and nuanced conversation about the concept of men crying, the importance of regulating and managing your emotions as a man and when is the right time to cry as a man and the wrong time to cry? We also discussed Gar’s approach to his own sons when they have cried in front of him.In this episode we discuss the rise of a concept of ‘mankeeping’, which was coined by academics Angelica Puzio Ferrara and Dylan P. Vergara, and published by Stamford University in their study from October 2024 called ‘Theorizing mankeeping: The male friendship recession and women’s associated labor as a structural component of gender inequality’.We also discuss the current life juncture he finds himself in, with five children and some of them flying the proverbial nest and the rest getting to that stage soon too.We finish by discussing his programme for ex-prisoners, where it is now and where he potentially sees it going in the future. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can listen to all of Gar's previous episodes below: JCIP #196 - Gar Lock: https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-196-gar-lockJCIP #225 - Gar Lock - Part 2: https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-225-gar-lock-part-2JCIP #263 - Gar Lock - Part 3: https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-263-gar-lock-part-3Support Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukGoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-healthMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk

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In episode 287 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Sam Gravestock. Sam is the Founder of The Forest Path, which bills itself as a therapeutic wilderness guide.Through The Forest Path, Sam offers programmes to help his clients reengage with nature and improve their mental health as a result.This includes things like Intuitive Coaching and Campfire Counsel, a Men’s Guided Therapeutic Wilderness Retreat, Fellowship by the Fire and Nature Connection Walks.The inspiration for starting The Forest Path came when Sam experienced a mental health crisis in his 20s and bushcraft and nature were key to his recovery. At the time of starting it, it was the Covid-19 pandemic. Sam was working in the health and social care sector but was feeling burnt out from it. He had a life epiphany, resigned from his job and decided to start The Forest Path and has got it to where it is now. In this episode we discuss Sam’s professional journey, his work in social care, youth work and the genesis of The Forest Path and what it provides for his clients. We then discuss Sam’s mental health journey, which includes that mental health crisis, specifically psychosis, the factors which triggered it, spending six weeks in a psychiatric ward and being spiked with crack by a fellow in-patient whilst he was there.We then discuss his recovery, the impact of doing The Forest Path on his own mental health, marriage and fatherhood.As always, #itsokaytoventFind out more about The Forest Path here: https://www.theforestpath.co.uk/You can follow The Forest Path on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_forest_path_uk/Support Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukGoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-healthMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk

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In episode 286 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Matthew Ayres. Matt works in recruitment and is the current partner of great friend of the pod and Just Checking In Live (JCIL) #6 headliner Jade Morgan Kelly.We met Matt at JCIL #6, and he told us he wanted to share his story on the podcast.Matt grew up in Exeter, in Devon, and when he was around 16/17 years old, he was told by his mum that his dad, the man he had thought was his dad for his entire life up to that point, was not actually his dad and was actually his step-dad. Naturally, his entire worldview collapsed and he spent the next few years trying to figure out who his biological father was, and also who he was too.Eventually, after setting up an Ancestry account, which allowed him to find out who his biological uncle was and connect with him, he discovered who his dad was and met him for the first time in a pub in East London. Since then, Matt and his dad have met up several times since and have as good a relationship as can be expected when their lives took such different paths. It's important to state that Matt’s dad had no idea he existed and was not told that the mother of his first child was even pregnant, so neither Matt nor us at VENT place any blame on his dad for being absent for most of his life up to this point. In this episode we chart this journey, how meeting a ‘high-performance coach’ that his workplace had in place helped him massively with his mental health, the periods in his childhood where he rebelled against his step-father, not even knowing he wasn’t his dad, the moment he discovered who his dad was and that first meeting with him.We also discuss the stigmas that still exist for men’s mental health and question if we need to change the language around therapy to encourage more men who do need it to seek it out? And finally, how we need to move from crisis strategies and campaigns for men to more preventative strategies, so we don’t have men seeking help for the first time when they are always in crisis mode.As always, #itsokaytoventSupport Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukGoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-healthMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk

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In episode 285 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Brady Frost and Tom Bradshaw.Brady Frost and Tom Bradshaw are both Huddersfield Town fans and previously co-hosted a series on the Huddersfield Town podcast ‘And He Takes That Chance’ called The Warm Up, where they previewed upcoming games.After doing that for a few years, they wanted to try something new and different but stay within the Huddersfield Town podcast space. They set up a new podcast called ‘Still Smiling’, where they interview Town fans, former players and others and aim to remind Town fans you why they love the club. Our Founder Freddie Cocker was a guest on their first series and they have already interviewed a range of illustrious guests, local celebs in the Town fanbase and iconic former players. We first interviewed Brady on this podcast way back when in JCIP #43, and we first interviewed Tom in JCIP #127.We wanted to bring both back on to discuss the new podcast, what they want to achieve with it, some of their favourite episodes and the role it plays in the Huddersfield Town content creator space.We also have a check in with each of their respective, continued mental health journeys.For Brady, we discuss his experience of redundancy, which he went through during the Covid-19 pandemic period.We also discuss him getting engaged, buying a house and his decision to cut down drinking. We finish by discussing a wonderful article he wrote on journalist Daniel Gray’s website ‘When Saturday Comes’ about a half-and-half scarf and how it became a family tradition for him going to watch Town games. For Tom, we discuss the continued positive role his local Sunday league football team has on his mental health, and his three dogs, which he describes as a ‘life changer’.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can subscribe and listen to the Still Smiling podcast on streaming platforms below: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/still-smiling-a-huddersfield-town-podcast/id1756086683Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3HLWlANnokQ6zXsJEDtE5KYou can follow them on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stillsmilingpod/You can read the full piece Brady wrote on When Saturday Comes here: https://www.wsc.co.uk/stories/close-knit-the-huddersfield-and-arsenal-half-and-half-scarf-thats-worn-with-pride/You can listen to Part of Brady & Tom's journeys below: JCIP #43 - Brady Frost: https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-43-brady-frostJCIP #127 - Tom Bradshaw: https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-127-tom-bradshawSupport Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukGoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-healthMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk

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In episode 284 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Daniel John. Daniel is the Founder of the mental health platform ‘You, Me & Anxiety’, which he founded in February 2018 to try and tackle the stigma around anxiety, provide him with a channel to voice his own experiences of anxiety and amplify the voices of others. We first checked in with him in JCIP #60, where we discussed the origins of the platform, the skills it gave him and his experience of anxiety, panic attacks, childhood bullying, his religious upbringing and much more.Since we first checked in, Dan decided to take a break from the platform for his own mental health. He was experiencing difficulties in his work and career, which was causing him significant distress.He went on holiday to Lisbon in Portugal for a week with a friend in November 2022 and had a life epiphany. He then took the decision to leave the job he was in and go travelling for three months. However, whilst he was travelling, he started to experience strange symptoms, including exhaustion and chronic pain, which he’d never experienced before.He tried toughing it out but in the end it got too much for him and he made the decision to come home and sort it out.After not receiving the best advice from his GP, he decided to go privately and was told the issue may be caused by bacterial overgrowth in his gut, where his immune system was weaker because of the workplace stress. After a period where he thought it was getting better, at the end of that year, the pain and fatigue came back and Dan began to believe the symptoms were psychological.One day he saw a book in his mum’s house called ‘The Mind Body Prescription’ by John E. Sarno. He read it and after reading it once, his symptoms went down by roughly 30%. Now, whenever he feels these symptoms flare up again, he re-reads the book and uses it as a literal mental and physical tool to help his mental health. He went back out travelling again, enjoyed it and has now returned to the UK where he is back in a stable place with his career. In this episode, we discuss: why he’s starting the platform back up again and his goals for this next chapter, what has changed and stayed the same in the mental health conversation since we first checked in, and the types of voices he wants to amplify on the platform going forward.We then discuss that continued mental health journey, the emotional build-up which may have been at the heart of that distress and pain and the relationship between physical health and mental health.And finally, for the first time, we discuss Dan's relationship with his father, which may explain the origins of some of the experiences we discuss and why he’s reacted the way he has in these periods of his life. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about You, Me & Anxiety here: https://medium.com/you-me-anxietyYou can follow the platform on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youmeandanxiety_/You can listen to Part 1 of Dan's journey here: https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-60-daniel-johnSupport Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukGoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-healthMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk

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In episode 283 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jason Reeves. Jason is the Founder of Embers Woodcraft, a charity which offers bushcraft experiences, workshops and a range of other activities that bring people together and focus on the natural environment’s power to improve their mental health.Jason began his career in the military, joining the Parachute Regiment at the age of 19, serving in Northern Ireland during The Troubles in 2Para. He then left the Paras and worked offshore on an oil rig for a year, before joining the Fire Brigade as a firefighter. He served in Kent Fire Brigade for 28 years at various stations in the county, and he will be retiring from the Fire Service in May 2025.Jason set up Embers in March 2024 and made it a C.I.C in September 2024. They currently put on one workshop a month and exclusively cater to helping male and female current and ex-emergency service personnel, as well as serving and non-serving military personnel.For Jason’s mental health journey, his passion for mental health also stemmed from his own mental health difficulties as well as his family’s. At the end of 2023, Jason found something in the back of his brain, which he feared was a brain tumour but thankfully turned out to be a benign cyst. However, between discovering it and the eventual reality, the cyst caused him to experience late-stage epilepsy. Thankfully there were no seizures, but he did experience tingling sensations in parts of his body which he could not explain at the time. After doctors believed he was having a stroke, they did a brain scan and found a cyst the size of a 50p piece.In addition, in 2023 his eldest daughter experienced her own mental health difficulties, which included self-harm, and it caused Jason immense stress and difficulty managing her mental health towards recovery. In this episode we chart Jason’s career across the armed forces and fire brigade, how it led to his work with Embers now, his passion for men’s mental health and utilising the power of nature, the outdoors and walking and talking to help men.We then discuss how the cyst impacted his physical and mental health, his relationship with his daughter during her mental health difficulties and after she recovered, his plans for retirement and his plans for taking Embers to the next level in the years to come.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Embers Woodcraft here: https://emberswoodcraft.co.uk/You can follow them on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emberswoodcraft/Support Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukGoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-healthMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvkTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains descriptions of self-harm, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.

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