JCIP #305 - Melanie Williams

In episode 305 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Melanie Williams. Mel is the Founder of 'Mel Williams Coaching'. She also works as an Mental Health First Aid Instructor for MHFA England, and as an Associate Tutor for Suicide First Aid.In this episode we discuss her varied career, from working at Nationwide Building Society, setting up her first business 'Reinspire by Mel' during the Covid-19 pandemic, taking up voluntary redundancy from Nationwide and setting up Mel Williams Coaching and becoming self-employed.From there, she has developed her own eight-step process for coaching people and attached herself to a new mental health charity based in Swindon called The Kelly Foundation as a ‘Coach Support Worker’. Through that role, she helped clients with everything from addiction issues to PIP assessments and even helping a woman overcome agoraphobia.Because of that work, the charity offered to help her train to become a Mental Health First Aid Instructor, which she has done for a year and a half at time of recording.She took that training one step further and became trained as a Suicide First Aid tutor in March 2025, which she can now deliver in the UK and internationally.For Mel’s mental health journey, we centre the discussion around her experience of motherhood, specifically the birth of two of her children. The first, Ryan was tragically stillborn and almost cost Mel her life. We discuss this experience and the trauma of it, the important role Mel’s husband played in it throughout, the decision process behind them trying again for a child and the birth of her daughter in 2013 despite the high-risk history would repeat itself. We then talk about her mental recovery from Ryan’s birth and death and Mel's experience of bereavement counselling to process it. She was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or a Post-Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI) which we prefer to describe it as, which came from the trauma of her fear of dying.We finish by discussing the way Mel and her husband processed Ryan’s death, as they dealt with it very differently and how they moved forward together as a couple.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Mel on social media below: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mel-williams-coaching-and-training-81258612b/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melwilliamscoaching/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=d70wfeJSEvkTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion about grief and loss, which some listeners may find extremely upsetting or distressing, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise