Welcome to episode 223 with Dr MaryCatherine McDonald, who is a research professor and life coach who specialises in the psychology and philosophy of trauma.

Her work focuses on thinking critically about how we understand, define, and heal from traumatic experiences.

Her newest book, The Joy Reset is a ground breaking, accessible guide to identifying the key ways trauma prevents joy and hope, with strategies for healing.

In this episode I’m joined by MC to chat about her research in to trauma and how things look different when we use both a psychological and a philosophical lens.

We chat about misunderstanding joy and the different forms this emotion can take and we talk about how joy interacts with trauma and the research and that informs this work.

MC also guides me through the neuroscience of The Hope Circuit and The Fear Circuit and breaks down the 6 thieves of joy and what we can do about them and we discuss how all of this relates to trauma and recovery.

We also chat about the nervous system, cultivating kindness, why some people resist joy, overidentifying with trauma and why it’s so important to imprint ‘tiny little joys’ every single day.

This is a fascinating conversation about the complexities of trauma alongside small, actionable steps to change your relationship with it and the science and research to back it up.

You can connect with Dr MaryCatherine and join her in imprinting a tiny little joy everyday this year on her social channels @mc.phd

Find out more about all aspects of her work at www.drmcmcdonald.com

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 222 with Anthony Kavanagh, a singer and author who exploded onto the pop music scene in the late 90’s when his song ‘I Can Make You Feel Good’ was a huge hit all over the world.  At just 18 years old he was touring with the Spice Girls and Boyzone, on the front cover of Smash Hits and countless magazines and regularly appearing on Top of the Pops.

Throughout this time Anthony was keeping his sexuality a secret, slowly developing a serious drinking problem and all while trying to stay relevant in the music industry where fame can be quickly taken away and second chances are few and far between.

In this episode, Anthony joins me to chat about growing up in Manchester with dreams of being a pop star and how he made those dreams a reality.

We talk about Smash Hits awards, sell out tours and being a pop star and we chat about what happens when the hits stop coming and the money starts to run out.

We also talk about 90’s nostalgia, the mental toll of hiding his sexuality, addiction, rehab, recovery and the beauty of finding humour and hope in the darkness.

His recent book ‘Popscars: A Memoir on Fame, Addiction and the Dark Side of 90’s pop’ is one of my reads of the year so far and it was wonderful to chat about why he decided to write the book and what he learned about himself from writing down his story to share with the world.

Anthony is a lovely man and it was absolutely lovely to chat! 

Connect with Anthony on social media @kavana_real

His book is available everywhere now and you can learn more here: Pop Scars - Bonnier Books

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 221 with Kaila Yu, a journalist, travel writer and the author of Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty.

A former model, Kaila became closely associated with the import scene that took off in the late 90’s (think Fast & Furious 1) and also featured in many of the high-profile magazines of that time.

In this episode Kaila joins me to chat about growing up as an Asian woman in America and how pop culture warped her sense of self-worth and mental wellbeing.

We chat about her journey in to modelling, the lack of Asian representation and role models at that time, the emotional and psychological impact of being hypersexualized by media and her own journey with beauty standards self-acceptance, and healing.

And we chat about Asian fetish, feminism, finding self-love and compassion, and the intersection of race, body image and mental health.

Connect with Kaila on Instagram @kailayu and TikTok @kaila.yu

Learn more at https://kailayu.com

Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty is available everywhere, learn more at: Fetishized by Kaila Yu: 9780593728017 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 220 with Miranda Arieh, who is a mental health educator and founder of the pioneering HEROES Programme, a holistic, transformation-focused and trauma-informed approach to mental health recovery.

Miranda was sectioned under the mental health act at the age of 14 and became a ‘revolving door service user’ in the NHS mental health system, bouncing in and out of foster care, homelessness and crisis.

This cycle continued until a breakdown at the age of 30 forced her in to an intense period of learning, development, healing and growth and it was her experiences of the mental health system and her own journey outside of it that led to the creation of HEROES.

This educational and therapeutic mental health solution has been piloted within the NHS and Miranda has supported the recovery journeys of thousands of patients across Leeds and trained more than 800 NHS and private healthcare staff.

In this episode I chat to Miranda about her experiences with mental health and how these experiences inspired her groundbreaking approach to recovery.

We chat about the role of lived experience, building capacity for difficult emotions, dis-identifying from your pain and how she is changing the mainstream mental health systems from the inside out.

And we chat about identity, self-compassion, forgiveness, embodying change and the importance of tools, resources and actionable steps when it comes to recovery.

This is powerful stuff!  It’s easy to criticize the mental health system but it’s much harder to offer up actual solutions or to make any sort of meaning change but that is exactly what Miranda is doing

You can learn more about this incredible project at https://mirandaarieh.co.uk/

Follow Miranda on social media @mirandaarieh and @heroesprogramme

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 219 with Andrew Scull, who is a sociologist whose research has centred on the social history of medicine and particularly psychiatry for more than 50 years.

He is a recipient of the Roy Porter Medal for lifetime contributions to the history of medicine and the author of more than a dozen books including Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity and Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry's Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness.

In this episode Andrew guides me through the history of mental illness and psychiatry.

We discuss the earliest documented accounts of madness and lunacy, some of the different ways civilisation has approached the treatment of mental illness throughout history and the role of the religion and the church.

We chat about the idea behind asylums, why they didn’t work and what came next.

We cover surgery as treatment before the introduction of a medical approach and how some of our medications were created and began to be prescribed

And we chat about the origins of lobotomy, electric shock treatment, the influence of Hitler and the Nazi’s during WW2 on early theories around genetic predisposition and what we can learn about the future of treating mental illness from studying the past.

This is a huge episode and we cover an incredible amount of history in a relatively short amount of time.  I can’t thank Andrew enough for his insight and I found some of the things we covered absolutely mind blowing!

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 218 with Lauren McQuistin, who is a musician, opera singer and author of No Lost Causes Club, a memoir that explores what navigating sobriety looks like in our modern world.

She is also the creator behind one of my all-time favourite mental health related meme accounts @brutalrecovery.

While in her early twenties, Lauren was told that her life expectancy could be as low as twenty-five if she did not stop drinking and in this episode, she joins me to chat about her experiences with addiction and her journey towards sobriety.

We chat about growing up in rural Scotland, moving to America to become an opera singer and the mental health challenges that fuelled both her music career and her relationship with alcohol.

And we chat about low self-esteem, getting sober, staying sober, accepting help when you really don’t want to and how wonderful things happen when you realise that you’re just not that special.

Sobriety is big right now and, on the whole, that has to be a good thing but I think that how we talk about recovery often misses the mark. 

It’s not all amazing experiences, new friendships and an exciting new lifestyle – although it can be these things – it’s often messy and confusing and brutal and I love the way that Lauren talks about all the different sides of her experiences.

 And if all of that can be summed up with a great meme, then I am all for it!

Follow Lauren on social media @brutalrecovery

Here book is available to pre-order now at No Lost Causes Club by Lauren McQuistin – HarperCollins Publishers UK

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 217 with Sam Parker, who is British GQ’s Site Director and someone who has worked in culture and lifestyle journalism for over 15 years.

He is also the author of Good Anger: How Rethinking Rage Can Change Our Lives and for this episode he joins me to chat about the good bits and the bad bits of getting angry.

We chat about his experiences with anxiety that led him to explore his relationship with anger and how these two complicated emotions can feed each other.

We chat about the purpose of anger, how to channel to it, why getting angry can be a positive thing and the mental and physical price to be paid by repressing it.

We also chat about the important difference between anger and aggression, people pleasing, racket emotions, spiritual bypassing and how anger expression differs between men and women.

As a mental health podcast, the topic of anger comes up a lot!  It’s a complicated and misunderstood emotion and it was amazing to chat to Sam about his book.  He spent years researching anger and had an incredible knowledge of the subject at his finger tips and I learned a lot, not just about anger, but also about my own relationship with anger.

Good Anger is available now: Good Anger: How Rethinking Rage Can Change Our Lives: Sam Parker: Green Tree

You can connect with Sam on Instagram @samparkeruk and X @samparkercouk

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 216 with Adam Farrer, who is a writer, lecturer, mentor and editor.

Adam’s recent book Broken Biscuits and Other Male Failures is all about his struggles to live up to masculine expectations and in this episode, we chat about what it means to be a man and what it’s like to fall short of those ideals.

We chat about Adam’s route to becoming a writer, dealing with rejection along the way and following a creative path just for the love of it.

We chat about why he decided to write a book about his failures, the importance of healing emotional wounds, self-acceptance and the relief that comes from engaging with who you really are.

And we talk about Adams’ experiences with suicidal thoughts and how losing his brother to suicide forced him to get his own mental health in check and we chat about grief and feelings and loads of other things that men are often told they can’t talk about.

I absolutely loved Adam’s book.  It’s funny and it’s emotional and I saw so many of my own regrets, failures and cringe worthy moments in his stories.  

Vulnerability is something we talk about a lot in the mental health conversation and I think it’s in these everyday failures and mistakes and awkward moments where real vulnerability lies. 

It’s these messy parts of being a human, that when shared, are where we can really connect and feel seen and ultimately make some sort of peace with, that allows us to move on and grow and do things differently. 

That’s the sort of opening up and being vulnerable that really makes a difference and it was a joy to read the book and to chat to Adam about all of it.

More about Adam’s work here: www.adamfarrer.co.uk and @adamjfarrer

Broken Biscuits and Other Male Failures is available now Broken Biscuits: And other male failures by Adam Farrer – HarperCollins Publishers UK

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 215 with Dr Lisa McKenzie, who is a working class academic and anarchistic author.

She is a researcher and educator whose work relates to class inequality, social justice and British working class culture and a founding member of The Working Class Collective CIC.

Lisa grew up in Nottingham, in a mining community.  After she left school, she went to work in a local factory with her Mum and her aunties and never considered going to university because it was never on the table.  After her Mum passed away, she was inspired to take an access course at the age of 33, which led to a degree and then eventually becoming a lecturer.

Lisa’s work centres around class inequality because that’s what she’s experienced her whole life and, in this episode, she joins me to chat about the impact this can have on mental health.

We chat about the stigma that surrounds poverty and why no one wants to talk about class and we talk about the day-to-day challenge of just about scraping by, the myth of social mobility and how damaging it is to live with the unfairness of a system that is stacked against you.

We talk about the anger that comes from being ignored and let down, generational trauma and learned coping strategies and finding humour in misery as a way to cope.

And we also talk about some of the wonderful things that happen in working class communities, the unseen heroes of council estates, the community coming together and the important role of storytelling in the places.

You can’t talk about mental health without talking about class and it’s a part of the conversation that just isn’t happening.

This is an episode I have being trying to do for some time and it was incredible to get to chat to Lisa about her experiences and her work in this space.

It’s a big and complicated topic but we’re not scared by that here at Proper Mental and I’d love to hear what you take from it.

Follow Lisa on X @redrumlisa and Instagram @drlisa1968

Her own book is called Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain and she has also published Lockdown Diaries of the Working Class with The Working Class Collective and you can learn more at Work Class Collective

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 214 with Cormac Russell, who is an author and social explorer.

He is the Founding Director of Nurture Development and a member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute.

Cormac has spent more than 20 years working all over the world training communities and professional organisations in Asset-Based Community Development and other strengths-based approaches.

In this episode I chat to Cormac about his strengths based approach to community, the four modes of change and how these things impact and support good mental health.

We chat about what 'helping' someone really means, the downsides to the traditional approach to supporting people who are struggling and what we can do differently as communities when we take an asset based approach and focus on what's strong instead of what's wrong.

And we chat about the role of storytelling, how structural change happens at the speed of trust and why 'we don't have a health problem, we have a village problem'.

It was inspiring to chat to Cormac and this is a powerful conversation about what is possible when communities come together and how this approach can change how we think and feel about mental health and mental illness.

https://www.nurturedevelopment.org/ 

https://www.nurturedevelopment.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/we-dont-have-a-health-problem-we-have-a-village-problem8259.pdf

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!