There are men whose presence arrives like a sermon you didn’t know you needed—soft-spoken, deliberate, walking with the quiet conviction of those who’ve seen the world try to break them, and still chose to build. Mike Lawrence is one of those men.
This week on Trims and Talk, we sat with Mike—author, consultant, healer of the unseen wounds. But before titles, before accolades, before he became a lighthouse for many adrift in mental fog—I knew his brother. We worked together nearly thirty years ago, two young men navigating the complexities of care in a residential unit called Eastwood Grange, nestled in Ashover near Matlock. Back then, we weren’t looking for language around wellness—we just wanted to survive the storm while giving shelter to others. We'd meet up from time to time, as men do—coffee, barbershop wisdom, silence that didn't need explanation. A brotherhood shaped not by blood, but by the mutual understanding of what it takes to carry broken stories without letting them shatter you.
It was at SACMHA where I finally met Mike himself. He came to deliver a Mental Health First Aid workshop—something many overlook, but desperately need. A kind of attunement, really. A training of the eyes and ears to detect suffering that doesn’t scream, but simmers beneath the surface. He offered more than a skillset; he offered a mirror—helping us to see not only others, but ourselves.
What strikes me about Mike is not just his insight, but his humility. Did you know he was the first Black Redcoat at Bognor Regis? Yes, that Bognor Regis—the famous holiday resort. That tells you something. This is a man who has walked into rooms where he didn’t quite fit, and left having carved out a space for others to follow. He has seen it all and lived to tell about it—not as a boast, but as an offering.
Mike now stands as a multi-award-winning Health & Wellbeing Consultant, offering sanctuary to those who have lost their way. He works with men and women—often in their 40s—who woke up after the pandemic and found themselves estranged from their own lives. The confident voice they once had had gone hoarse. Their direction? Blurred. Their sense of self? Misplaced somewhere between survival and duty.
Mike’s gift is not in telling you who to be—but in helping you remember who you already are. Through a system developed over more than a decade and refined by hundreds of lived experiences, he helps people feel motivated, confident, and in control once again.
Whether you're a high-flyer who fell into a silent spiral, a mother whose life has been paused for decades, or someone still haunted by the echoes of childhood trauma—Mike meets you where you are. In a single hour, he begins the work of reawakening.
There’s no fireworks in his delivery. No fanfare. Just a quiet power. Like a man who has sat with his own pain long enough to hold space for yours.
"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you," Maya Angelou once said.
Mike Lawrence doesn’t just listen to those stories—he helps rewrite them.
You can listen to our full conversation on this week’s episode of Trims and Talk.
It’s more than just a podcast—it’s a balm.
