The Returning Warrior Podcast

Have you ever noticed how many men never had their fathers around to teach them how to be a man? Most of these men were not taught how to share their emotions and instead they have tried to achieve their way to being enough by constantly chasing titles. 

Ben helps these men discover their gifts, learn how to lead, express their emotions and build the type of relationships that allow them to build organisations, that make a big difference in the world. 

Strap in, settle down and please enjoy the next instalment of the returning warrior podcast. 

If you have enjoyed this podcast please get in touch. I would love to hear from you and discuss the topics within this episode with you. 

You can find Ben here: Linkedin or Instagram 

Sheila is a Los Angels based Artist and prominent figure in her community.  You may have seen her work online or Instagram. Sheila sketches daily and elevates this medium as a form of emotional expression, self-reflection and healing. But Sheila wasn't always an artist, she once had a successful career as a digital innovator and business coach. Now with renewed passion, drive and purpose, Sheila is positively affecting people's lives through art, and I am immensely fortunate to have her company on todays podcast.  

www.sheiladarcey.com

www.instagram.com/sketchpoetic

www.facebook.com/sketchpoetic

Kate Burgess is a midwife and has worked in the NHS for the last 10 years. For the last two years, Kate has been working as a Mental Health Midwife.  She has supported women and their families during their childbearing journeys.  Kate has just taken the leap from the NHS to the world of academia and now works as a lecturer at Bournemouth University.  Working within mental health services has not been her only encounter with poor mental health or mental health services.  She has also supported her family after the sudden death of her father.  This led to a family member attempting suicide during the COVID pandemic.  Managing her own mental health during and after this event was very hard at times.  Kate is married and has been navigating the crazy world of infertility and IVF.  Kate says "I can honestly say that I have never felt stronger than I do now".  She puts this strength down to the support and love she has from her family and friends around her, and now has the strength to tell her story here today on the Returning Warrior Podcast.

Kate Burgess is a midwife and has worked in the NHS for the last 10 years. For the last two years, Kate has been working as a Mental Health Midwife.  She has supported women and their families during their childbearing journeys.  Kate has just taken the leap from the NHS to the world of academia and now works as a lecturer at Bournemouth University.  Working within mental health services has not been her only encounter with poor mental health or mental health services.  She has also supported her family after the sudden death of her father.  This led to a family member attempting suicide during the COVID pandemic.  Managing her own mental health during and after this event was very hard at times.  Kate is married and has been navigating the crazy world of infertility and IVF.  Kate says "I can honestly say that I have never felt stronger than I do now".  She puts this strength down to the support and love she has from her family and friends around her, and now has the strength to tell her story here today on the Returning Warrior Podcast.

Kate Burgess is a midwife and has worked in the NHS for the last 10 years. For the last two years, Kate has been working as a Mental Health Midwife.  She has supported women and their families during their childbearing journeys.  Kate has just taken the leap from the NHS to the world of academia and now works as a lecturer at Bournemouth University.  Working within mental health services has not been her only encounter with poor mental health or mental health services.  She has also supported her family after the sudden death of her father.  This led to a family member attempting suicide during the COVID pandemic.  Managing her own mental health during and after this event was very hard at times.  Kate is married and has been navigating the crazy world of infertility and IVF.  Kate says "I can honestly say that I have never felt stronger than I do now".  She puts this strength down to the support and love she has from her family and friends around her, and now has the strength to tell her story here today on the Returning Warrior Podcast.

Samantha's story is best told in her own words - "Between the ages of 30-32, I was given 3 ‘terminal’ diagnosis following a series of events. The first one had an 8 week deadline to raise the funds, avoid death and travel 5,000miles for the surgeries.

I was internally decapitating. Surgeons refused to operate in the U.K. but neurosurgeons in the USA could help - at an immense cost. It was a price I couldn't afford.

Facing a monumental task and armed only with a small group of friends; The ‘Save Samantha’ campaign was created.

I had 8 weeks to fund & travel for the surgeries. Despite never having campaigned or crowdfunded before, the 'Save Samantha' campaign was incredibly successful and raised approx >£500,000 for my lifesaving Neurosurgeries.

One surgery became four, each one requiring crowdfunding & a need to relearn how to walk, talk and function again.

Each surgery left me with less and less movement of my head and spine.

This was just the beginning of a series of unbelievable, emotional and life shattering curveballs that my family & I overcame."

Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE says of Alex: "RARELY DOES ONE HEAR ABOUT SUCH AN INSPIRATIONAL AND HEROIC BRITON AS ALEX FLYNN. THE CHALLENGES HE HAS SUCCESSFULLY UNDERTAKEN WOULD BE CONSIDERED SERIOUSLY HARD BY ANYONE’S STANDARDS AND ARE, IN MY VIEW, INDEPENDENTLY WORTHY OF RECOGNITION".

Being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 36, has had a profound and life changing effect on Alex. Not only is he a father, he is also an Adventurer, Speaker, Writer and so much more.

In this episode we hear the tremendous capacity to withstand pain that Alex has, describing every morning like being encased in concrete. His motto is Keep Moving! And he has inspired many to do the same, including me. His next planned adventure is probably the greatest of them all, to put Parkinson's on top of the world by climbing Everest, and help raise awareness of the decease with the aim to accelerate the finding of a cure. 

Find out more at www.alexflynn.co.uk,  follow him on on Instagram @alexflynn 

There are those among us that seem to accomplish way more in a life than the rest of us. A variety of experiences across multiple disciplines. Well Ram is this person in my life. Let me give you a snapshot of what I mean; born in London to a Jamaican biological father and an American white mother. Grew up in Athens, Greece, attended boarding school in Switzerland, he speaks 5 languages, was part of the Swiss Junior Racing Team Cadre and snowboarding freestyle competition sponsorships. All this before he left school. He returned to the UK to dedicate the next 12 years to the Royal Marine Commandos, when at the rank of Lance Corporal he organised The March For Honour, the biggest fund raising event a single person ever has (Until Sir Tomas More), raising over £1.2M for the Royal British Legion. He was involved in several "sanctioned opposition efforts against Daesh", finally leaving the Marines due to severe PTSD after several tours of duty, Ram set out to reinvent himself as a senior member of a Texan petrochemical company operating out of Kuwait. Moving on to becoming a senior executive member of a Kuwaiti Critical National Infrastructure engineering company. He received his MBA after four years, in Leadership & Corporate Environmental Sustainability, eventually responsible 8000 employees and a portfolio worth over £30Bn.

Ram returned to the UK to take up a role as CEO of a green energy company. Eventually leaving that role to return to his hearts mission of being of service. He now works for the civil service in Defra and willingly sacrificing the salary someone of his experience can attain in the private sector, in order to come inline with what he was here to do, serve others.

Former Royal Marine Emile Ghessen, joined the Royal Marines and serve his country for 12 years. After several tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, it was time to move on. But his visits to war zones did not stop there. Inspired to discover how Mohammed Emwazi, also known as Jihadi John, who went to the same school as his and lived 400 metres from him, could join the ISIS Islamic terrorist group, Emile swapped his gun for a camera and decided to document that story, and the story of volunteer fighters leaving the comfort of their normal lives in Europe, to fight ISIS. What he discovered turned into the documentary Robin Hood Complex, The Fight Against Islamic State. He has gone on to make two more documentaries covering the war in Ukraine and recently returned from Armenia. He brings the human story to life, with raw and powerful accounts of war and the capacity of the human spirit. 

A former Royal Marine Commando. He became the first triple amputee to survive the Afghanistan war. He is an Invictus games Champion, author, motivational speaker, mentor and coach. He was awarded his MBE for services to the Royal Marines charity and veterans community.