The Just Checking In Podcast

In this episode of Behind The Decks we checked back in for a third time with Australian DJ and producer, Jafunk. Lachy was the very first special guest on Behind The Decks when we launched the series all the way back in June 2020! Lachy then came back on again in May 2023, and three years later he has joined the esteemed group of guests who have checked in for a hat trick of appearances!Since we last checked in, Jafunk’s career has continued to go from strength to strength. At time of recording, he has amassed over 197,000 followers on Instagram and over 103,000 followers on TikTok! He has also released two EPs, ‘Disco Nights’ in 2024 and ‘Classic’ in 2025, toured with Australian peers Cosmo’s Midnight, supported another Australian peer and huge artist Young Franco, refreshed his brand identity, launched his own record label AND published his first book called ‘The Independent Artist’s Playbook’ in 2025!In this episode we discuss this chapter in his musical journey, establishing himself as one of the biggest and most respected disco producers in the scene right now, evolving his sound from Dance-R&B to Disco and Funk, and the two massive achievements of publishing the book and launching his own record label. We also discuss the tragic deaths of two producers and DJs in the music scene in the last few years, DJ titan Jackmaster’s death in October 2024 and Roche Musique label owner Kartell in March 2025. We discuss these deaths solely in the context of how they impacted Jafunk and how they shaped his attitude towards life, music and his career.For Lachy’s continued mental health journey, we discuss burnout from making social media content, and finding the right balance between music and social media when both are his livelihood now. We also discuss the proud moment of having his parents come to a hometown show back in Australia.We finish with a special section where Lachy checks in with our Founder Freddie about his journey and their relationship over the last six years!As always, #itsokaytoventListen to Jafunk on streaming platforms below:SpotifyYouTubeYou can follow Jafunk on social media below:InstagramSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 365 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with academic Dr Emily Setty.Emily is currently Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Surrey. Emily has a particular focus on young people’s online and offline sexual behaviours and the evolving challenges of digital sexual cultures.We first checked in with Emily in JCIP #210 in November 2023.In that podcast we talked about her wider academic journey and a whole range of issues she’s passionate about, including: the fear of false allegations young boys have, breaking down the myth of 'oppressor vs oppressed' paradigm and how we bridge the divide between young men and young women.. For Emily’s mental health journey, we discussed the sudden death of her father when she was 21 years old and why it was one of several factors which led to her developing an Eating Disorder, which thankfully she overcame.In Part 2, we discuss the continued work she’s done with men and boys, particularly around the issue of consent.She is also about to start a new project about how men and boys engage with online content. Emily adopts a mantra of ‘less pathologising, less problematising’.In addition, Emily is working on a new educational model designed to help all young people and can provide a framework for teachers and educators working with young people. And finally, Emily is working with a charity about sexual harms online for young boys – both in how they can become victims of it, and what impact does online grooming have on young boys with additional needs or vulnerabilities. For Emily’s continued mental health journey, she became a mum in October 2025, and we discuss how her life has changed from that moment. We finish by talking about how she feels about the conversation around motherhood online, particularly given the advocacy of great friend of the pod Freya India and her highlighting of 'The Femosphere’, which she spoke about first in her landmark book GIRLS. This work was then popularised by the viral piece in the New Statesman, which we also discuss.As always, #itsokaytoventSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 364 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Dr Sophie King-Hill.Sophie is currently Associate Professor at the Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham and has worked in academia since 2013. She published her latest book, ‘Reframing Masculinity for Young Men and Boys’ in 2025, and her areas of academic expertise are in masculinity and young men and boys, and children and young people and sexual behaviours. In this episode we discuss her academic journey, her working-class background and how that’s shaped her work and the issues she writes about. We also discuss her TedX talk in 2022 entitled ‘Stop Talking about the Weather and Start Talking about Sex’ and her pride in that achievement.We also talk about something Sophie calls ‘precarious masculinity’, the impact of pornography on men and boys, both positive and negative, something Sophie calls ‘the porn paradox’ and the role of consent for men and boys. For Sophie’s mental health journey, we discuss her social class through a mental health lens and motherhood.As always, #itsokaytoventSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 363 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Simon Whitmore.Simon is part of an organisation called Spoke To A Bloke. Spoke To A Bloke is a men’s mental health charity, which was founded in Australia by three men called Scott, Paul and Matt after their friend Nick Dunn tragically took his own life in 2021. Before he did, he would organise an annual 25k men's mental health walk in the country.After they did the first memorial ‘Nick’s Walk’ in 2022, Spoke To A Bloke was formed.Simon came on board through charity ambassador James Kennedy, and became the Brighton Walk Leader for the annual occasion.Since then, he has started more events on a more regular basis, including ‘Climb For A Bloke’ at his local climbing centre.In this episode we talk about his mental heath journey, which involved a lot of issues with his family during his childhood, which carried on into his adulthood.These traumatic childhood memories eventually led to Simon's mental health state becoming so severe that he came very close to taking his own life at the start of 2026.This rock bottom was also his turning point and since then he has taken ownership of his mental health and gotten the support he needs to turn his life around.We talk about him getting involved in Spoke To A Bloke, leading the Brighton leg of the annual Walk event, and the impact it had on him and the thousands of other men who got involved with it.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Spoke To A Bloke on social media below: InstagramTikTokTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion about suicide and suicidality, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 362 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Mick Rowe.Mick is the Founder of Suicide Sucks C.I.C, a mental health organisation centred around suicide prevention, which aims to provide a safe space to talk about suicide, grief and mental health. Through Suicide Sucks, Mick published her first documentary as a filmmaker about her brother’s death from suicide in 1996, who was just 27 years old at the time. Suicide Sucks also has its own podcast, which Mick hosts from her camper van, and also puts on her own events. These include one staged radio play, two stand up to suicide comedy nights (one in 2025 and one in 2026), and a special art exhibition called ‘Voices of Hope’.In March 2024, she set up Suicide Sucks as a Community Interest Company (CIC), and since then has started her first campaign called ‘Have you got 8 Minutes Mate?' In this episode we discuss her journey with Suicide Sucks, how the death of her brother fuelled her desire to start it, a deep dive into the documentary, the imposter syndrome she felt around filming it, and some of her favourite moments running it so far. For Mick’s mental health journey, we discuss the grief of her brother's death, the factors which contributed to it, a mental breakdown she had when she turned the same age as her brother was when he died and how the grief almost cost Mick her marriage.We also discuss a serious back injury in 2018 when she two slipped discs and had a sciatica, why the grief played a role in it, how she recovered from it through a non-traditional method and what she learned about the relationship between her physical and mental health.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Suicide Sucks here: https://www.suicidesucks.co.uk/.You can watch Mick's documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjaAVAeFogU.You can follow Suicide Sucks on social media below: InstagramYouTubeTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion of grief, loss and the impact that losing a loved one to suicide can have, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 361 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jenny Tomei. Jenny is the Founder and CEO of JenUp C.I.C. JenUp is a social enterprise specialising in training teachers on how to spot the early signs of an eating disorder. It also provides workshops for students on eating disorder awareness and body image.Jenny has lived experience of eating disorders herself, when she developed anorexia when she was 19 years old. She struggled with the anorexia for over 10 years, and in her words, should have been admitted to hospital as an in-patient in 2009 when her BMI dropped to just 14. At 23 she was forced into treatment but wasn’t ready to recover. She then moved to Australia, ended a toxic relationship she was in at the time, and went travelling. However, she came back and relapsed. It was only when she was around 27/28 years old that her first steps of recovery began. She then relapsed again aged 29 years old, before finally overcoming it in 2020. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, she had to close her personal training business and in the ashes of that, she founded JenUp in 2022. Since then, she has spoken in secondary schools about her journey of recovery, has qualified as a nutritionist and is in the last year of her qualification to become a specialist eating disorder recovery therapist.We discuss this journey from crisis to recovery and now advocacy, the impact she has had on young girls and boys she’s spoken with and her goals and ambitions for JenUp going forward. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about JenUp here: https://jenup.co.uk/.You can follow Jenny on social media below: InstagramTikTokTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains discussions about eating disorders, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 360 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Tom Maberly.Tom is now a decade into managing his own business, &Friends, a content studio servicing global clients with content strategy, creative, production and delivery. He is also CEO of a second business, Cavalry, a Contingent workforce management system, servicing marketing, creative and production agencies, and inhouse teams.Tom founded &FRIENDS alongside two business partners, Matt and Julian. In 2018, Julian wanted to move his family to Australia as his wife is Australian, so Tom and Matt came together and agreed to buy his share of the business out. Matt became Head of Business development and Tom became Managing Director.The business continued to grow fast, and their success was recognised with a holding group’s offer to buy them - they got close to a deal but pulled back.They were then approached by an Australian based business, Cavalry freelancing, who had offices in Sydney and Singapore, about the prospect of a merger, and they agreed, with &FRIENDS acquiring Cavalry in March 2022, taking on the Cavalry proprietary tech. It wasn’t plain sailing after the merger and it was a big learning curve for both Tom and Matt.Unfortunately, during this period, Matt’s mental health was also beginning to decline severely. Tragically, on April 16th 2023, Matt took his own life. It was a huge shock for Tom and the whole organisation. Tom as MD had to steady the ship, support his team whilst also grieving himself. Just two months before that, on February 16th 2023, Tom’s brother had also taken his own life.In this episode we discuss Tom’s professional journey and the events around his brother’s and Matt’s deaths. We then compare the experience of the two griefs as Tom’s brother had a history of mental illness, whilst Matt didn’t. We talk about how he processed the two deaths and why Matt’s death, in his words, gave Tom an ‘excuse’ to take action on his mental health, where previously he felt too stigmatised to do so without it and take those first steps on the road to recovery.As always, #itsokaytoventTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion about grief, loss and the impact that losing a loved one to suicide can have, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 359 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Kenny Bartonshaw. Kenny is the Founder and Director of Headspace FC C.I.C. Headspace FC is a weekly football group for adults (18+) who want to stay active, meet people, and take a break from the daily grind.Their mantra is: Play. Connect. Support.Based in Stoke-On-Trent in Staffordshire, Headspace FC began as a kickabout in April 2024 with Kenny and a group of 8-10 male friends who were either playing in veterans teams or hadn’t played in many years due to life commitments.The group grew from there and in June 2025, Headspace FC became a Community Interest Company or C.I.C.In 2025, they secured £9,000 in funding from Sports England which they used to hire more facilities and pitches. They grew from 1 session a week with 8 people to 3 sessions a week with up to 60 people taking part. With players ranging from 18-60 years old, Headspace FC is strengthening community bonds in the area and building bridges. Even Kenny’s wife has made connections and friends through its creation!In this episode, we discuss the genesis of Headspace FC and its journey from the first kickabout to now, the rapid growth of it and how Kenny balances it alongside his full-time job as an assistant headteacher of a primary school, and being a father of three children. For Kenny’s mental health journey, we discuss his career in football coaching and teaching. Kenny left college and did an apprenticeship at Stoke City FC to become a full-time football coach. He worked as a coach for around 10-12 years as a senior community coach. He also ran coaching clubs and achieved an UEFA B licence too.However, he was working very long hours and for very little pay so at 22 years old, he left Stoke City and transitioned into teaching after his wife, who also works in teaching told him about a role for a SEND Teaching Assistant job at the secondary school she worked at and told him he should apply for it. He successfully applied and combined his job in teaching alongside completing a degree in Sports Coaching and Management with a module in child studies at the Open University. After two and a half years at that school, he moved into primary school teaching, completed his degree and then underwent his teacher training through Schools Direct and has worked at the role he is in for over 11 years, working his way up to the role of Assistant Headteacher.We discuss this journey, the role his mentor provided in giving him the confidence to become a teacher and stick with it, a negative experience he had at another football club, and how he reflects on that journey now. We finish by discussing his mum’s cervical cancer diagnosis when he was in his early 20s, her death from it in 2008, and the impact that had on his mental health as a young man.We also discuss the grief of losing his best friend in 2018, also from cancer, when Kenny was 32 years old and the impact that had on him too.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Headspace FC C.I.C here: https://headspacefc.co.uk/.You can follow them on social media below: InstagramTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion about grief and loss, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 358 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Martyn James. Martyn is a freelance journalist, broadcaster, presenter and consumer rights expert. He has over two decades of experience working for the UK’s leading newspapers and broadcasters and at time of recording has done over 14,000 TV and radio appearances, conducting 15-20 a week.His weekly newspaper columns feature in The Times, the Mirror and his syndicated column appears in over 100 newspapers and magazines around the UK, from The Scotsman to the Eastern Daily Press. He has been a guest presenter on over 25 television programmes across all of the main channels in the UK, including BBC One's Rip Off Britain for over a decade and is a regular guest on some of the nation's most popular shows, from Morning Live to The One Show.In this episode we discuss his journey into journalism, broadcasting, presenting and how he landed on his speciality as the consumer rights expert in the UK. We explore what opportunities that’s brought him, the issues he covers and amplifies for UK consumers through a mental health lens and how his personal life has also intersected with the issues he covers too. For Martyn’s mental health journey, we discuss his experience of suicidality when he was at school, being bullied for his sexuality as a gay man, and the context of coming out in the 1980s amidst high levels of homophobia.We also talk about the death of his brother David from suicide in June 2020. He was just 38 years old at the time. We explore all of the emotions around this grief, including stigmatised ones like anger, the impact his suicide had on Martyn’s family, and how they’ve moved forward as a family in the last six years. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Martyn's work here: https://martynjamesexpert.co.uk/TRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion of grief, loss and the impact that losing a loved one to suicide can have, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In this episode of Behind The Mic we checked in with Tyler Shea. Tyler is a singer/songwriter, currently based in Cornwall and is a mutual friend of friend of the pod Lily Ward.After writing his first album at the age of 14/15 years old, Tyler took the leap to become an artist in 2019 with his Tyler Shea project. Since then, he has released his debut EP, ‘Still Not Over You’ in 2025 and is looking to define his pop-based sound going forward. In this episode we discuss his music journey, growing up in a musical household, studying for a degree in music production and sound engineering at university, and taking his first steps as an artist. For Tyler’s mental health journey, we discuss his struggles in school in making friends and never quite truly fitting into any social group he was in.We also discuss how he learned to come out of his shell, why music was key to it, and the deliberations he has had in moving to London to further his career.As always, #itsokaytovent You can listen to Tyler on streaming platforms below: SpotifyYouTubeYou can follow Tyler on social media platforms below: InstagramTikTokSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 357 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Miles Spencer. Miles is a business leader and entrepreneur with over 30 years’ experience in the industry. He has started, built, and led three unique companies and ‘exited’ from them, which means a founder, owner, or investor has sold their stake in a company, effectively cashing out their investment.Today, he is the Co-Founder and CEO of an AI company called Reflekta.Reflekta is an AI-powered ‘digital legacy platform’ in the company’s words, and their goal is to help families preserve voices, stories, and wisdom for generations.So far, Reflekta have enabled over 20,000 stories with their customers, and their goal is to reach 1m of these by the end of 2026. In this episode, we chart Miles' journey in business, the achievement of exiting from three different businesses, his business failures and what he learned from them, and how the art of storytelling has shaped his career, life and values. We then do a deep dive into the work he does with Reflekta, why they employ grief counsellors and hospice workers as advisors at the business to shape their work, why they aren’t therapy, and why he views it as important to state that, in his words, ‘we are not reincarnating people’.For Miles’ mental health journey, we discuss some mental health challenges he had in 2025 when several people close to him came close to death, the life and death of his father, who died 8 years ago and his own personal use of Reflekta too.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Reflekta here: https://reflekta.ai/Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 356 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with David Maywald. Born and raised in Australia where he resides today, David has worked in finance for over two decades as an investment professional, holding roles of Research Analyst and is a top-quartile Portfolio Manager.He currently works as a governance specialist and holds a portfolio of board roles across the fields of health, education, families, active lifestyles, infrastructure, investment, and sustainability. He is also a father and the author of the book ‘The Relentless War on Masculinity: Does It Ever End?’.In this episode, we do a deep dive into the book, the themes he explores, who is waging this war on masculinity and why.We also talk about the process of publishing the book, which he had to do self-published, why his financial situation allowed him the freedom of expression to write without fear of cancellation, and the reception of the book. For David’s mental health journey, we discuss fatherhood and a couple of periods where he has been depressed in his life, due to his employment situation and being isolated from his social networks. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow David on social media below: XSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 355 of The Just Checking In Podcast our Founder Freddie flew solo to remember a very special woman who sadly died last year.We interviewed a woman called Claire Johnson on JCIP #66 all the way back in October 2021, where we discussed her incredible life, from dating the lead singer of 1970s rock band Deep Purple, to working in the Police service during the Yorkshire Moor murders, to the London 2012 Olympics and finally, becoming a mental health advocate.Prior to that, in JCIP #45 in July 2022, we checked in with Sam Thomas, a mental health advocate who has been working in this space for even longer than me!In Sam's pod we discussed his very severe mental health crisis as a result of an alcohol addiction in 2018, where he was admitted to hospital as an in-patient for the second time and an incredible, kind and supportive person called Claire Johnson supported Sam through that crisis.Claire was very well known on Twitter in the mental health space for her tireless support of mental health advocates, and was always on hand to send a supportive message or reply to a tweet when anyone disclosed publicly they were struggling.Fast forward four years and tragically, last year we were informed by Sam that Claire was very seriously ill and implied she didn’t have long left to live.Then, on 12th June 2025, Claire very sadly died. Initially we had planned to have a conversation with Sam about Claire’s life and death on the podcast but unfortunately, he wasn’t ready to do that, which is absolutely fine. However, we still wished to celebrate Claire’s life in this podcast, and we obtained permission from Claire’s son to tell you the listeners about it. In a world today where the inter-generational divide in the UK is bigger than ever, young men and women are becoming more and more politically polarised and people have increasingly little empathy online, we need more Claire’s in this world who will approach everyone with kindness, empathy and love, whatever their situation is. If there were more people like Claire in this world, I am 100% sure it would be an infinitely better place.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can listen to Claire's JCIP below:JCIP #66 - Claire Johnson: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595459/episodes/18686157You can also listen to Sam's episode below:JCIP #45 - Sam Thomas: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595459/episodes/18686194Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 354 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Adam The Sartorial Gardener. Adam runs an Instagram account where, as the title suggests, he documents his life tending and working on his garden whilst looking very dapper and elegant at the same time. Adam also posts on the account to cherish the memory of his wife Evanne, who tragically died of brain cancer on April 29th 2025. Adam and Evanne met at university in Lancaster where he met her on the very first seminar he ever attended.Evanne was originally diagnosed before Adam met her, on December 28th 2018. They graduated together in 2022 but tragically, in November that year, her brain cancer returned and she was re-diagnosed with a grade 3 form of the tumour. Adam and Evanne had originally planned to get married in July/August 2025. However, because of Evanne’s prognosis and decline, they moved it forward and after getting engaged in March 2023, got married in March 2025, just one month before she died. During their time at university, there was a small garden at the end of the road of the flat where they both lived together. Adam started volunteering there and Evanne took pictures of the bees and flowers there as part of her degree. From that point, Adam’s desire to do horticulture and gardening for a career was born. In this episode, we first discuss Adam’s triple diagnosis of dyslexia, dyspraxia and dysgraphia and how that impacted his childhood and adolescence. We also discuss how the early diagnosis and having a hugely supportive state-school environment allowed him to thrive alongside these conditions, manage them and succeed by going to university. We then discuss the love story of meeting Evanne, how they navigated the brain cancer treatment, the story of their marriage, and Evanne’s tragic decline from her second diagnosis. We discuss the grief he has gone through in the last year since her death, his desire to keep her memory alive through the gardening account, and a hike he did in September 2025 alongside Adam and Evanne’s friends and family, which raised £3,300 for brain cancer research charities. We came across Adam through his interview on friend of the pod JD’s ‘What’s On Your Mind?’ channel.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Adam on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/the_sartorial_gardener/Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 353 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with academic, author and commentator Dr Ashley Frawley.Ashley currently works as Senior Editor at Compact Magazine, as well as holding roles of sociologist and Visiting Researcher in the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies at the University of Kent, as well as Visiting Research Fellow at the MCC Brussels in Belgium.We first checked in with Ashley in JCIP #253 in August 2024. In Ashley’s Part 1, we discussed her academic journey, the influence of Frank Furedi on her views and career, her critiques of ‘therapy culture’, her view that there is a crisis of meaning in Western society right now, an eating disorder she had from the ages of 14-21 and how she overcame it.In the last year, Ashley has written and commented on a range of issues, including the assisted suicide debate in the UK, trans discourse, Islamism’s influence in the West and has commissioned articles in Compact, including issues like Tucker Carlson’s recent political direction and ‘black post-liberalism’. The most spicy recent article we saw on Compact she commissioned, which went semi-viral was by a writer called Helen Andrews called ‘The Great Feminisation’. In the article, Helen argued that Western society has been slowly feminised over the last 20 years, to the detriment of political debate, and argued that cancel culture itself is a feminine phenomenon, propagated and executed mostly by female activists. Naturally, we wanted to find out more and interrogate the pros and cons of this argument, as well as covering other issues Ashley has spoke about through a mental health lens. As always, #itsokaytoventPlease find links to all the articles we discussed in the podcast below: The Fall of Maternal Liberalism - Dr Ashley FrawleyThe Great Feminisation - Helen AndrewsBoys Without Men - Dr Ashley FrawleySupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 352 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Tom Festa. We came across Tom through friend of the pod Mark Ferris as Tom was fundraising for Mark’s stepson Callum and his treatment for brain cancer through his ‘Race Around The World’ journey.Initially starting it as a personal journey for himself, Tom came across Callum’s GoFundMe page. He didn’t know Callum or his family but after finding out about Callum’s love for education, as a teacher himself, he chose Callum's story to fundraise for.In May 2025, he took his mum out to Canada with him and he ran his first half-marathon.From there, he travelled to Brazil and ran his first marathon on August 31st 2025.Then, in October 2025, he travelled to China and did a 7-day trek up and down the Great Wall, walking over 65,000 kilometres. And finally, he flew to Perth in Australia, where he completed an ‘ironman’ in December 2025 and visited some family members. His friends also flew out and joined him out there too.Tragically, in-between the time we organised this podcast and recorded it, on 26th January 2026, Callum died from the cancer he had been getting treatment for, with his funeral held on Friday 13th February 2026. In this episode we discuss the origins of Tom’s fitness journey, which came following the end of a 10-year-relationship. We discuss the aftermath of it, the crisis it provoked and how he used the campaign to give him a new purpose of raising money for Callum for the time he did.For Tom’s mental health journey, we discuss the grief of losing his grandfather on his mum’s side, which brought on a form of cleaning OCD and health OCD which became permanent in him. We unpack the traits this presented in his mental health back then and why, why it carried on beyond the grief and into adulthood and whether it presented in him prior to that point under the surface.We then discuss how he's managed the OCD, navigated a healthy life alongside it, and how running has quietened these traits for the period of time he’s been doing it for.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Tom on social media below: InstagramSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 351 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Stephen Hall.Stephen is a qualified therapist and a Member of the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society, providing walk and talk as well as online therapy for his clients. Based in Cumbria, Stephen is also the Founder of Stand Tall Empower C.I.C, a social enterprise which organises events and activities outside in nature and helps men step out of survival mode and reconnect with themselves and others.Prior to becoming a therapist, Stephen had a very different career in teaching, where he spent over 20 years as a secondary school English teacher and housemaster. 11 years ago in 2014, Stephen left teaching after having a mental health crisis. He had an identity crisis after no longer being able to do his job as a teacher, which had shaped most of his adult life, and tried to take his own life. At his lowest point, he was sectioned and placed in an in-patient facility. However, his mental health state did not improve and he experienced delusional psychosis.The turning point came when he was able to access EMDR therapy, which helped start his recovery and he used it to address decades of suppressed childhood trauma. After this, Stephen began his recovery. He tried starting several businesses, which unfortunately failed and then during the Covid-19 pandemic, he was spending time online in several men’s groups and doing a lot of mentoring to fill the void left by teaching.One of the men in that men’s group encouraged him to become a therapist, and the rest as they say, is history. In this episode we chart his professional journey across teaching, therapy and everything in-between. We also discuss his mental health crisis, the pain of having to leave teaching, carving out a new career and landing as a therapist, building the business, and why looking back, he needed a male therapist to suit where his mindset was and to make him feel comfortable. We finish by discussing how and why he operates walk and talk therapy sessions in the nature of Cumbria and North Yorkshire, and the Empower events for men to reconnect with nature outside of a traditional therapy setting too.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Stephen's work here.You can follow Stephen on social media below: InstagramSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 350 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with academic Dr James Nuzzo. James is an Exercise Scientist and Men's Health Researcher. He also runs his own SubStack called 'The Nuzzo Letter'.In this episode we discuss his academic journey and how he got to where he is today, his academic cancellation from Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Australia, how it impacted his mental health and how he rebuilt his career after that point.We also discuss why there is a life expectancy gap between men and women globally, across the West and the factors behind it.We then discuss the research bias he argues that exists against men and boys in academia.For James’s mental health journey, we discuss his move from America to Australia, the impact on his mental health, and self-development.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about James's work here: https://www.jameslnuzzo.com/.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 349 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jessica Nguyen. Jess is an entrepreneur and the Founder of Oh Tuesdays! Microbakery. Based in Bristol, Oh Tuesdays was launched in August 2025 after Jess sat in a café on her way home from work and had a very expensive cookie and thought she could create one just as delicious but at a much more competitive cost! We came across Jess through her interview with friend of the pod JD on his platform ‘What’s On Your Mind?’, where she spoke about her journey in creating the business and giving up a corporate job which wasn’t giving her fulfilment.In this episode we discuss her professional journey and how she created the idea of the bakery, balancing growing the business alongside a second job as a barista, social class and the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.We discuss what she's learned along the way, the importance of taking yourself out your comfort zone and following your dreams, wherever it may lead. For Jess’s mental health journey, we discuss a breakdown she had in 2021, her experience of depression and being prescribed anti-depressants, specifically Sertraline, an SSRI, which she was on for a year and came off it two years ago at time of recording.We finish by discussing the importance of her friends in believing in her and the business, supporting it and giving her the belief that she can make it a success.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Oh Tuesdays! here: https://ohtuesdays.sumupstore.com/.You can follow Oh Tuesdays on social media below: InstagramSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In this episode of our Reel Stories series, we checked in with Jude Vause-Walsh. Jude is a voiceover actor and coach.Jude’s career started out after she completed her university degree, where she began carving out an acting career. She landed some roles in small films and TV work and then she saw an advert looking for traffic and travel radio presenters. She applied and became a radio presenter for 15 years, working at Virgin Radio, Real Radio and Century Radio, in what is now known as Greatest Hits Radio. She mainly worked on the Breakfast Show so had to have a regular 3am alarm clock set. However, she had plans to start a family, and wanted to adjust her work life to match her new life as a working mum, and voiceover work seemed like a natural fit.In this episode we chart that journey, her favourite roles she’s done and ones she’s seen others perform, the stigma that can exist around voiceover work compared to on-screen work, the art of being a voiceover artist and the creative process behind inhabiting a character that no one can ‘see’.We also talk about the mental health impact of seeing her clients thrive after working with her and landing voiceover work themselves. For Jude’s mental health journey, we discuss the solitary life that comes with being a voiceover artist, her mother’s dementia which she was diagnosed with three years ago at time of recording, and Jude’s diagnosis of breast cancer five years ago, which was thankfully caught early, treated with surgery and she has recovered from it. We discuss how the breast cancer has shaped her attitude towards gratitude and given her greater perspective on life, career and family. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Jude's work here: https://www.voiceovercoach.uk/.You can follow Jude on social media below: InstagramSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 348 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Nick Isles. Nick is the Director of the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys (CPMRB).The Centre was established in May 2025 and is a research organisation and charity dedicated to understanding and addressing issues that uniquely affect men and boys in the UK.Their vision is a world where men and boys of all backgrounds can thrive in their families and communities, and one where the sexes can rise together by supporting each other.CPRMB focus on seven key policy areas as their focus: Health (suicide, mental and physical); Education, Fatherhood and Family, Economy, Employment and Skills, Criminal Justice, and the Portrayal of Men in Media and Culture. In this episode we do a deep dive into the work of the Centre and how Nick came to be its Director, the work they do across these seven areas, their impact, where they aim to sit within the men’s space and the wider conversation around men's mental health. For Nick’s mental health journey, we discuss his upbringing and how it shaped his early attitude towards mental health, fatherhood as he is the father of five daughters, 4 of which are biological and he is the stepfather of one as well. We also discuss what turned him towards the space of men’s mental health and how this helps fuel his mission at CPRMB now and going forward.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about CPRMB's work here: https://www.menandboys.org.uk/.You can follow CPRMB on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cprmenandboys/Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 347 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Karen Sykes. Karen is the Co-Founder of the Yorkshire branch of suicide grief awareness charity, Speak Their Name. Karen co-founded the Yorkshire Speak Their Name Community Interest Company alongside a woman called Anna Scott. Both of them connected as they have both lost family members to suicide. SInce its inception, the Yorkshire Speak Their Name Suicide Memorial Quilt has toured across the region of Yorkshire in a variety of settings, including sporting venues, hospitals and conferences to raise awareness about suicide grief.In this episode we first chart Karen’s mental health journey, where we discuss three periods of grief.The first was the death of her father in 2001. Then, on October 3rd 2015, her husband Ian tragically took his own life. Four years later, on 22nd April 2019, Karen’s youngest daughter Beth, also tragically took her own life. Beth was just 26 years old at the time. We dive into these periods of grief, how Ian’s and Beth’s deaths turned Karen's world upside down, how she tried to carve out a new life alongside the grief and her recovery. We also explore how she's connected with other mums who have gone through suicide grief, including friend of the pod and Bags for Strife Founder Angela Allen, and how Karen's channelled the grief into this new world of suicide grief awareness and post-vention support.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Speak Their Name and submit your own Memorial Quilt here: https://speaktheirname.org/.TRIGGER 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.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 346 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with academic Sophie Temple.Sophie is currently Doctoral Researcher in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University, specialising in eating disorders, disordered eating and body image pathology during the menopausal transition.She is also part-time Research Fellow in the School of Education, Department of Disability, Inclusion and Special Needs, College of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham.Sophie's academic expertise is in the subject of menopausal disordered eating, and how it affects women during all stages of the menopause. In this episode, we discuss Sophie’s academic journey, how and why she landed on this subject within EDs, the lack of research on these women and why, and the work she is doing to shine a light on it and give medical professionals better tools to treat these women too. We also talk about the comparison between how EDs manifest in teenagers and young women vs menopausal women and the different internal and external factors which may contribute to these women developing one. For Sophie’s mental health, we discuss her own experience of disordered eating traits during her undergraduate university degree when she was a sprinter at Loughborough University, the factors in her childhood and adolescence which contributed to those traits, and how her own perception of what someone with an ED looks like changed over time and education.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Sophie's work on social media here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-h-temple/.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 345 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Richard Pomfrett. Richard is the Founder and CEO of Boyz-2-Men, an organisation which is dedicated to supporting boys and young men through their journey into adulthood. They offer a supportive environment where they can learn, grow, and navigate the complexities of masculinity with confidence.B2M believe every young person has the potential to become a role model, so their programmes are tailored to help boys and young men understand and overcome the challenges posed by gender stereotypes and societal expectations. By engaging with primary and secondary school students, they provide the tools they need to develop into healthy, thoughtful, and responsible individuals. In this episode we discuss Richard’s professional journey, how he came to found B2M, the programs they offer to young men and the work they do and the impact they have on the young men they work with.We also have a wider conversation about where men and boys are right now in the UK, the importance of reaching in and listening to them, and how we move forward with a unifying message in this space. For Richard’s mental health journey, we discuss his diagnosis of Dyslexia, and how it shaped his education and adolescence growing up in the 1970s and 80s, how society’s education of it has changed and how he felt when he was diagnosed at 40 years old. We also talk about how getting into martial arts and combat sports was pivotal to his life path, the life skills it gave him and why it gave him a solid foundation for the rest of his life going forward.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Boyz-2-Men here: https://boyz-2-men.org.uk/.You can find out more about The Stay Safe Initiative here: https://thestaysafeinitiative.org.uk/.You can follow Richard on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/thestaysafeinitiative/.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 344 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Chris Hemmings. Chris is a published author and mental health advocate.Chris is the Founder of two organisations in the men’s mental health space: M-Path and Men’s Therapy Hub. Chris set up M-Path first in 2019, which is an organisation designed to actively and compassionately engage men and boys in their own experience of existence and encourage them to take charge of their well-being. After several years, Chris stepped away from the day-to-day running of M-Path to set up Men’s Therapy Hub in 2025, which connects men with male therapists in the UK who are passionate about working with male clients, ensuring those men receive tailored support from professionals who understand the unique challenges men face.M-Path are an organisation we came across through an article by a young man called Josh Sargent in The Guardian called ‘I’m a teenager who was lured into the manosphere. Here’s how to reach young men like me’. Josh referenced M-Path amongst several other organisations who are doing great work in the men’s space. M-Path provides men’s mental health, emotional wellbeing & masculinity programmes designed to drive inclusion and allyship within organisations of all sizes.In this episode we discuss the work M-Path and MTH do in the men’s space, Chris’s journey to entering this space and the impact those organisations have had in the years since their inception. For Chris’s mental health journey, we focus on several parts of his life which provided severe mental health difficulties. The first was when his father died when Chris was in his early 20s. After a 3-4 month period, he came close to addiction, and he left his job as a BBC journalist and embarked on a recovery journey. It was around this time that he also discovered the statistics around male suicide in the UK.We then talk about another period of grief when one of his best friends died from cancer in 2019, and how he navigated that alongside his mental health.We discuss all of this, his recovery, and how he turned these experiences into a vehicle for change with Men’s Therapy Hub and becoming a qualified BACP therapist in 2022.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Men's Therapy Hub here: https://menstherapyhub.co.uk/.You can find out more about M-Path here: https://m-path.co.uk/.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In Part 2 of journalist Niamh Hughes' journey, we discuss her diagnosis of Congenital Hemiplegia and how she managed it from being a young child, through to adolescence and adulthood.We explore how her acceptance of it came alongside her acceptance of herself as a person, and so many other challenges.We also talk about the normalisation of disabilities more widely and what still needs to change going forward to support disabled people, wherever they are on the spectrum and whatever disability they may have, physical or mental.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Niamh's work here.You can follow Niamh on social media below: InstagramSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 343 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Niamh Hughes. Niamh is a freelance journalist, producer, presenter and voiceover artist. Niamh also happens to have a disability called Congenital Hemiplegia, which is a form of unilateral cerebral palsy. The disability only affects the right side of her body, so she can’t use her right hand and has to type with one hand.Prior to going freelance, Niamh worked for many years at the BBC and worked as a reporter and producer on the BBC’s accessibility outlet and brand, Access All, then called BBC Ouch.In Part 1 of this bumper episode, we chart Niamh’s journalism journey and how she was inspired to get involved in it by previous podcast guest Izzie Clarke!We then discuss how she got her foot in the door at the Beeb, the various roles she's done in her very impressive career so far, including BBC Ouch, Newsnight's 'The 100 Women' programme, BBC News, her decision to leave the Beeb in March 2025 and the challenges of going freelance. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Niamh's work here.You can follow Niamh on social media below: InstagramSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 342 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Olena Lukyanova. Olena is a qualified therapist and the Director of her therapy practice, OL Psychotherapy and Consulting. Olena had a desire to become a therapist from a very young age but growing up in the post-Soviet Union era in Ukraine, this wasn’t an option for her, so she studied economics at university and became an economist for many years.She then moved to the United Arab Emirates and was living there 10 years ago when Ukraine was first invaded by Russia.Whilst she was there, she set up a Ukrainian cultural club for fellow ex-pats and organised rehabilitation for wounded Ukrainian soldiers and former prisoners of war. The more time she spent with them, the more she realised that the mental health support of these soldiers should also be a focus, and she began receiving positive feedback from the men and women she worked with about her listening and therapeutic skills.She then moved to the UK in 2015, and in In March 2022, once the war in Ukraine expanded beyond the Donbass Oblasts, Olena applied to study psychotherapy in the UK at the Metanoia Institute, and she graduated in 2025.In this episode we discuss her professional journey, her desire to become a therapist and the achievement of becoming one and the clients she has worked with from different nationalities, ethnicities and backgrounds. We discuss the support she has given to fellow Ukrainian ex-pat clients in the context of the Ukraine war, and also why she doesn’t want to limit herself just to supporting these clients, as important a role as it is.We then talk about how she’s built her therapy practice, transitioned into this new career, and how it’s made her get to know herself better.For Olena’s mental health journey, we discuss her life through the lens of a group of revolutions or conflicts: the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the Orange Revolution in 2004, the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine in 2013/2014 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine first in 2014, and again in 2022.We talk about her experience of childhood bullying in Ukraine for being a ‘different’ person and the environment of the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union, how the Maidan Revolution impacted her and her conception of herself as a Ukrainian and when Russia invaded Ukraine.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Olena and OL Psychotherapy and Consulting here: https://www.ol-therapy.com/.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 341 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Lucy MacLeod. Lucy is a firefighter and has worked in the London Fire Brigade for over 16 years across a range of different roles since she joined the LFB in May 2009. Her current role involves her being a trauma and wellbeing dog handler, which she does with her dog Blue. Together, they have a social media account which brings awareness to wellbeing dogs and the role they play in the fire service. In her words, Blue acts as a ‘buffer and a bridge’ with people and he helps build trust with them who then feel they can disclose to Lucy on what is happening to them.In this episode we first discuss her firefighting journey, why she joined it comparatively late in life, the roles she has had and the work she does with Blue now. For Lucy’s mental health journey, it centres around a terrible accident she experienced in 2004, when she worked as a duty manager at a pool and fitness centre. She inhaled chlorine gas and it burned her upper airway. She was on multiple medications and was diagnosed with PTSD (which we prefer to call PTSI). After struggling for a period of time, she decided one day that enough was enough and she wanted to take a more holistic approach to her mental health.She tried everything she could to make her feel better, including CBT therapy, EMDR and acupuncture. She also got a dog called Lucky, which was a game changer. He got her out of bed in the morning, gave her purpose and was her ‘heartbeat’. Lucy soon got another dog called Poppy to keep Lucky company when she went to work. Lucky unfortunately died in 2019 and Poppy died in 2022.We talk about the accident, why Lucy has a mantra of ‘you are not your diagnosis, it’s a start point’ and her recovery journey from 2004 to now.In 2025, she published her first book, a children’s adventure book called ‘Lucy & Blue Save The Day’ and we discuss how the book came about, how she feels to be a children’s author and the impact it’s had on the children who’ve bought it!As always, #itsokaytoventFind out more about Lucy's journey and where you can purchase a copy of her book here: https://lucyandblue.com/.You can follow Lucy & Blue on social media below: InstagramTikTokSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 340 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jay Darkmoore.Jay is a published author, commentator and hosts his own YouTube channel and podcast, discussing issues around policing in the UK. He has written several books, including crime novels and his own memoir, ‘The Job's F*cked - The Secret Diary of a Police Officer’, which was published in 2025 and details his 10-year career in the English Police Force as a Police Constable. In this episode we do a deep dive into the book and his journey in the Police, how domestic abuse incidents were handled during his time in the organisation, some of the most difficult call-outs he and his fellow officers had to deal with, what is the truth behind ‘non-crime hate incidents’? Is there a ‘two tier’ system in how crimes are handled? And much more. For Jay’s mental health journey, we discuss his personal experience of being domestically abused and why that inspired him to join the Police in the first place. We also talk about family issues he experienced throughout his early life, his relationship with his mum, the lack of control he felt he had in his childhood and adolescence, and how he went about taking that control back as an adult through his choices and life path. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Jay's journey, purchase a copy of his books and subscribe to the  Job's F*cked podcast here: https://linktr.ee/Jaydarkmoore.You can follow Jay on social media below: InstagramTikTokTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a brief discussion about suicide, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 339 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Luke Loughlin. Luke is a men’s mental health advocate based in Canada, the former Co-Founder of Men United and the Founder of Recovery Painting, a painting and decorating business which gives opportunities to men in recovery from addiction issues or have been in prison. He is also the Founder of The Inside Job Project, a soon-to-be-launched recovery and coaching programme for other people going through addiction recovery.Luke first came on the podcast in May 2024 in JCIP #244, where we discussed childhood trauma, including being a survivor of CSA, his battle with alcohol addiction, interactions with the police, faith and recovery. We then checked in again in March 2025 in JCIP #280 where we had one of the most powerful conversations we've ever had on this podcast with Luke and his sister Lindsay.In this Part 2 solo episode, we check back in with Luke’s mental health journey and recovery. We talk about the conclusion of a court case which has been hanging over him since 2019 and which came about because of his actions whilst in addiction. We discuss how and why he built his new painting and decorating business and giving other men like him an opportunity for employment, self-esteem and keep them on the path of recovery. For Luke’s continued advocacy journey, we discuss his launch plans for The Inside Job, the event he did in February 2026 with an organisation called Lives Touched by Addiction and a sermon he delivered about his story at his local church. We finish by discussing the opportunity he had when he got to speak to a graduate class of firefighters, which as you’ll discover, was a massive full circle moment for him in the context of his story. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Luke on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/mentalhealthloughlin/You can listen to Luke's previous episodes below: JCIP #244 - Luke LoughlinJCIP #280 - Luke Loughlin & Lindsay LoughlinTRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a brief discussion about sexual abuse and suicide, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 338 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with George Gabriel.George is the Director and Co-Founder of an organisation called ‘The Dad Shift’, which is made up of a group of men, dads and other parents campaigning for better paternity leave in the UK. Currently, in the UK, dads only receive a statutory two weeks off work when they become a father or for any future children they have. This is paid at less than half the minimum wage, with self-employed men receiving nothing.The Dad Shift is calling for more paternity leave that is sustainable, affordable and equal. In this episode we first discuss George’s mental health journey, which centres around several major life events. The first was his marriage to his first wife, who he was in a relationship with for 13 years. After it ended acrimoniously, he ended up moving back into his childhood bedroom with his parents at 30 years old. At the time, he was running a humanitarian organisation supporting refugees called ‘Safe for Passage’ and he hit rock bottom.The first steps of his recovery then came when his brother took him on a holiday to Brazil. However, things didn’t pan out that way and after signing up for a mountain hike in the middle of the night whilst intoxicated, he reached the summit and thought about taking his own life. Just as he was about to complete this attempt, his tour guide came over to him and offered him a Snickers bar, and it broke his suicidal thought cycle.He came back to the UK, took more positive steps with his recovery, and suddenly things began to fall into place for him. He was approached by a recruiter for a tech company and got the job, he did EMDR therapy and ayahuasca, which we’ll discuss in the pod how they benefited him, and George slowly rebuilt his life. He entered a new relationship with his now-wife and became a father twice! In his words, he now lives a life he never imagined.We discuss this entire mental health journey of crisis and recovery, fatherhood, the work he is doing with The Dad Shift and the impact it has had on changing the conversation.  As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about The Dad Shift here: https://dadshift.org.uk/.You can follow The Dad Shift on social media below: InstagramTikTokSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 337 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Mark Taylor. Mark is a Director at Men Walking and Talking (MWAT), a men’s walk and talk organisation founded in 2021 by Dan Reid. Mark is also the Kenilworth branch Walk Leader, which is how he became involved in MWAT and remains the leader to this day. In this episode we discuss his involvement with MWAT, its growth, the services it provides and the impact it’s had on the men they support. We also discuss Mark’s own mental health journey, which originates from a very bad car accident he had in 1997 when he was 25 years old. For a long time he didn’t see it as a long-lasting traumatic event.However, in 2021, his mental health issues came to a head. He started experiencing unexplained outbursts of anger in the workplace, which became so bad they almost cost him his job. He googled anger management therapists and found someone who began helping him unlock why he was having these outbursts. He told his therapist about some important life events which had caused him difficulty or even trauma. He listed being bullying at school, getting divorced from his wife and the loss of regular time with his children. He then disclosed the car accident and some traits which are associated with Post-Traumatic Stress, including the anger, as well as high sensitivity to noisy environments and certain sounds. Suddenly, things began to make sense and from there, he began to gain the self-awareness to improve his life, make adjustments to his work to avoid being triggered and recover from those traits which had previously almost derailed his life. We discuss all of that, his recovery and how he now helps men go on that journey of self-awareness and ownership like he did.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about MWAT and find your local walk branch here: https://www.menwalkingandtalking.co.uk/.You can follow MWAT on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/menwalkingandtalking/?hl=enSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 336 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Sam Lehane. Sam is an entrepreneur, former business owner and former employee of Virgin StartUp, where he worked during two separate periods.In-between all of that, he co-founded a creative events & wellbeing business called Make Your Own (M.Y.O) alongside his wife Diana, which they ran together from 2017-2025, until they exited and sold it.In this episode we chart Sam’s professional journey, from starting out in KPMG in their Dublin offices, moving to London, starting his own business alongside his wife and being inspired by his father, who ran his own business for over 30 years. We also discuss his work with start up businesses with Virgin and working with Richard Branson, where he is in 2026 where he could be unemployed for the first time, and the identity issues he has been managing as a result. For Sam’s mental health journey, we discuss the life and death of his dad, who died from bowel cancer on 4th September 2014. We talk about the influence he had on his life, the way Sam handled the grief and how he moved forward from that point. We also talk about how following the Covid-19 pandemic, Sam was much more proactive in developing his mental toolbox, which involved him trying various things to figure out what worked for him and what didn’t, and using those in the future when he experienced mental health dips.We finish by discussing the role his wife plays in supporting his mental health, fatherhood, which he was due to become at the time of recording and this new chapter of his life.As always, #itsokaytovent Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 335 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Darren Placid. Darren has worked as a firefighter in the London Fire Brigade for 20 years. He applied in 2004 and successfully became a firefighter in 2005. He is currently stationed at Romford Fire Station and completed a sponsored Hyrox on 5th December 2025 in full fire gear alongside his friend and colleague Carl to raise money for The Firefighters Charity. The charity provides mental health support to male and female firefighters across the service. In a previous life, Darren was a professional footballer, playing as a goalkeeper until retiring in 2004, and played in the FA Cup for non-league team Heybridge Swifts in 2003.After retiring, he didn’t know what to do with his life. He was away with his mates for a weekender and he happened to hear the fire service advertising on radio stations all weekend. He decided to apply, which caused some conflict with his dad, whom he later reconciled with, and the rest is history. In this episode we discuss his professional journey, becoming a personal trainer, and his 20 year firefighter career. For Darren’s mental health journey, we discuss his experience of Post-Traumatic Stress, particularly two incidents which shaped his life at different stages. When he was 16, he was at a train station when he saw a man jump in front of a train and take his own life.Fast forward a couple of decades and at the same train station, working as a firefighter this time, he had to deal with another incident of a young person jumping in front of a train too, and we talk about this very weird and dark ‘full circle’ moment. We discuss how he dealt with that incident from a mental health perspective, the tools he put in place to manage the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress when they occurred after that incident, and how he's moved forward to do his job to the best of his ability.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Darren on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/darrenplacid/Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 334 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Mike Thompson.Mike is the Founder of two organisations, Paternity Fraud UK and the Falsely Accused Network. Mike founded PFUK in July 2020 and then later set up FAN in May 2023. FAN supports men who have been falsely accused of domestic abuse in the family court system and outside of it, and PFUK supports men and families who have been the victim of paternity fraud, which is still not classified as its own unique criminal offence in the UK.Mike’s desire to start these organisations came from his own experience of being the victim of paternity fraud and being falsely accused of domestic abuse from his marriage to his first wife. Mike married his first wife in 2013 but very quickly after the wedding, the relationship became toxic. In November 2017, he decided to leave the relationship for good. However, the day he told her he was leaving her, she rang him and told him she was pregnant. This child was born in the summer of 2019. Fast forward two years later and in May 2020, after developing suspicions about his paternity and his best friend disclosing to him that he shared his own doubts, he took a DNA test and devastatingly, Mike found out that the child he was raising as his own for two years, was not his. In this episode we discuss that journey, his experience of periods of depression at various points in his life, his experience of being a victim of paternity fraud, its prevalence in the UK and the statistics behind it, his experience of the family court system and being falsely accused of domestic abuse. We then discuss how he channelled that trauma into setting up PFUK and FAN, the work the organisations do to support men, the safeguards they have in place to determine the genuine men who have been falsely accused and those who are in actual fact abusers looking to falsely accuse their own female victims, and the key achievements the organisation has had since they were created. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Paternity Fraud UK here: https://www.paternityfrauduk.org/ You can find out more about Falsely Accused Network here: https://www.falselyaccusednetwork.co.uk/You can follow FAN on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/paternityfrauduk/You can follow PFUK on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/falselyaccusednetworkuk/TRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains discussions about paternity fraud, domestic abuse and suicide, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 333 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Scott Johnson. Scott is the Founder and CEO of the Proper Blokes Club (PBC) C.I.C, a community organisation which provides walk and talk groups for men across London and, since we last checked in, outside of London too!We first checked in with Scott in JCIP #256 in August 2024, where we discussed the origins of PBC, divorce and his experience of the family court system, parental alienation, gambling and alcohol addiction and his subsequent recovery from both.In the last year, PBC has gone from strength to strength. Scott now runs PBC full-time, and the organisation has 30 walks across the UK!In Part 1, Scott was also developing a new idea called Talk FC, which in the last year, he has successfully launched. The first team is based in Romford in East London, with 25 lads from the ages of 20-50 years old.We discuss the ‘Team Talks’ they do at the end of every session, his plans for an employment project through Talk FC, and his plans for a new programme to help young people from the ages of 10-19 too. For Scott’s continued mental health journey, we have a check in on his recovery, rediscovering his love for running and his goal to do an ultra-marathon in 2026. We also discuss the balance he has to find between finding ‘good addictions’ to replace his old, negative ones but still retain a healthy work-life balance and family life. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Proper Blokes Club and find a walk and talk near you here: https://www.theproperblokesclub.co.uk/You can follow PBC on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/the_proper_blokes_club_cic/ You can also follow Talk FC on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/talk_fc_uk/You can listen to Part 1 of Scott's journey here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595459/episodes/18685899Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 332 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with George from TheTinMen.We first checked in with George in January 2024 in JCIP #223, where we covered a whole range of issues he covers on the platform, including: male domestic abuse victims, male suicide, working-class boys and boys more generally struggling in education, fatherlessness and sexual abuse in men’s prisons.In this Part 2, we discuss his views on Netflix’s megahit TV show ‘Adolescence’, the state of play for male domestic abuse victims and men with eating disorders, social media trends like ‘men would rather do X than go to therapy’ and the very problematic ‘would you rather be in a forest alone with a man or a bear’.We also discuss the controversy surrounding a dating app called 'Tea', and George’s ground-breaking investigation into men’s mental health charity ‘Movember’ and what he uncovered.We finish by discussing the recent break he took from advocacy work and why he did it.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow TheTinMen on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetinmen/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTinMenBlogYou can listen to Part 1 of George's journey here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595459/episodes/18685941Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 331 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Colm Brett. Colm is now the Founder and CEO of Arctic Event Solutions, which provides towable refrigerated trailers for hire to the live events space, including concerts and festivals. In this episode we discuss why he stepped away from the live events space full-time, building the business, and the freedom its given him in still being able to do freelance work in the space whilst having a much better routine and structure. We also discuss the benefits and challenges of being an entrepreneur and self-employed, and the new skills it’s given him. For Colm’s continued mental health journey, we talk about how he has become a lot better at expressing vulnerability and taking off the mask around people. We also talk about the role his long-term partner has played in the progress he’s made, and the joy that’s come into his life with the dog he and his partner decided to adopt! As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Arctic Event Solutions here: https://www.arcticeventsolutions.com/You can follow them on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arcticeventsolutions/Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 330 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with journalist Ben Sixsmith. Ben currently works as Online Editor and podcast critic for The Critic magazine, and also has a Substack called The Zone. We first checked in with Ben in November 2022 in JCIP #159, where we discussed his journey into journalism, male stoicism and the pros and cons of meaning and its absence. We also discussed Ben’s experience of an eating disorder, where he had anorexia and bulimia during his university degree, why the EDs forced him to drop out of university altogether, how he overcame them and turned his life around.In Part 2, we discuss a range of issues, including online subcultures and how our identities have become increasingly tied to them, AI and the future of creativity. For Ben’s continued mental health journey, we discuss his agnosticism, the grief of losing his dog Lola, and his decision to get a new dog called Buddy.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Ben's writing here: https://www.bensixsmith.com/.You can follow Ben on social media below: X: https://x.com/BDSixsmithYou can listen to Part 1 of Ben's journey here: https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-159-ben-sixsmithSupport 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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 329 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Richard Campion. Richard is a Devon-based professional photographer, who specialises in wildlife photography. We came across his work through great friend of the pod and all-round legend William Jones-Warner who recently did a collaborative project with Richard capturing wild otters in the Isle of Mull in Scotland.Richard grew up in Jersey originally and got into photography relatively late.It started when he moved to London in 2015 and he was in a corporate job in The City he deeply disliked. During this difficult period where he experienced symptoms of depression and quite severe anxiety, Richard would try and combat it by going for short walks and looking for wildlife. That summer, his sister visited him and bought him his very first camera, and the rest is history. He began capturing the wildlife he saw on those walks, building that love of nature and animals, and he eventually got himself out of that state of mind. Now, he has built his photography career to the point he can do it for his full-time career. He offers workshops and photography tours to clients, including the chance to see beavers, seals, brown hare and red deer. In this episode we discuss this journey, his career highlights so far, working with Will and their plans for a wildlife podcast in 2026. For Richard’s mental health journey, we discuss his diagnoses of OCD and ADHD. He was diagnosed with OCD and this manifested in rituals, health OCD and intrusive thoughts which his brain told him he needed to do in order to protect his mum and sisters and prevent them from dying. We discuss his journey of self-awareness, acceptance and ownership of both these diagnoses, the tools he’s used to manage them from childhood to adulthood, and where the conversation is for people living with OCD now, vs when he was a child in the 1990s.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Richard’s work here: https://www.richardcampionphotography.com/ You can follow him on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mywildlifeimages/ 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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 328 of The Just Checking In Podcast, we checked in with Declan Burley. Declan is a filmmaker, conservationist and wildlife camera operator. We came across Declan through his role in the incredible series on Apple TV, ‘The Wild Ones’, where he stars alongside former Royal Marines Commando Aldo Kane and Congolese cinematographer and cameraman Vianet Djenguet.Declan’s role in the show was as a camera trapper, where they tried to capture six incredibly beautiful but rare, endangered animals on film across the world.The Wild Ones team used the footage of each animal to show to the local communities that live in their habitats and prove to them that they are worth saving. As a result of each episode, conservation efforts have been stepped up in every one of those respective countries, as a direct result of Declan, Aldo, Vianet and their crew’s efforts. Declan’s journey into filmmaking didn’t follow the route of some of his more privileged peers. After being kicked out of college at 17 years old in his hometown of Luton, he had no idea what he wanted to do in life. One day, hanging out with his friend, he told him ‘I’m going to become a cameraman’. His friend laughed in response, and his origin story was confirmed. Despite his diagnosis of dyslexia, he went to a different college and completed a B-Tech in Media Studies, before going to Bournemouth University to study TV Production. Whilst Dec was at uni, he realised he wanted to get involved in wildlife filmmaking. Bournemouth funded him to travel to the Peruvian amazon rainforest for three months which in his words, ‘changed everything’.In this episode, we chart this journey, from college to university, amazon rainforest excursions, working on Sir David Attenborough’s ‘Frozen Planet 2’ in 2018/2019, how Covid-19 affected his career, and a deep dive into The Wild Ones series. We also discuss classism and access in the filmmaking industry, accentism and how he leaned into his his working-class background and owned it to secure opportunities for himself. For Declan’s mental health journey, we discuss a diagnosis of testicular cancer in 2017, the chemotherapy and surgery he went through to resolve it, fatherhood, resilience and anti-fragility.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can watch The Wild Ones on Apple TV here: https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/the-wild-ones/umc.cmc.4w1tfn11hyb3frc9tp5fpksbb You can find out more about Declan’s work here: https://declanburley.com/ 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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 327 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Tanyka Davson.Tanyka Davson is a Public Affairs professional and the Co-Founder of Cubbi, a platform built to support new and expecting parents with exclusive discounts from brands that truly understand the realities of family life.Tanyka founded the business alongside her sister Olivia in 2023, who became a mother herself that year. Olivia, like many new mums and dads quickly discovered how expensive parental leave could be. With finances stretched, even the smallest treats — a coffee or a pair of jeans to fit her new body — were tinged with guilt. Despite being a loyal customer for years, she felt unseen by the brands she loved most. So, she and Tanyka decided to take matters into their own hands and Cubbi was born. They officially launched the business in February 2024 and have signed up over 100 brands to date across a whole range of areas including healthcare, fashion, retail, food and drink, technology and experiences. In this episode we discuss Tanyka’s professional journey, where she's worked across public affairs, consultancy and the wider corporate environment.We then discuss the brave decision she took to leave her job in 2025 and work on Cubbi full-time, the transition to being self-employed, the joys and challenges of running a business with a family member and the support she hopes to extend to dads through Cubbi as the business hopefully grows.For Tanyka’s mental health journey, we discuss her experience of anxiety she’s lived with throughout her life. We talk about how it’s affected her mental health inside and outside the workplace and why it flared up particularly badly when her dad fell ill unexpectedly a few years ago.We finish by discussing the tools she used to get through those periods of anxiety and come out the other side a better and more well-rounded person. As always, #itsokaytoventFind out more about Cubbi here: https://www.cubbi.uk/You can follow Cubbi on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cubbi.uk/?hl=enTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cubbi.ukSupport 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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 326 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked back in with Nick Davis.Nick is a musician, actor and mental health advocate for addiction recovery. We first checked in with Nick all the way back in JCIP #51!In Nick’s Part 1, we discussed the work he did for Forward Leeds (FL), an addiction and recovery centre which provides support for adults, young people and families needing help with alcohol and drug use in Leeds. We also talked about ‘Music from the Attic’ (MFTA), a music collective and community club he founded in Leeds that brings people together to play and sing music. We then talked about his battle with alcohol addiction, his recovery and sobriety journey and his divorce from his ex-wife. In the last five years, a lot has happened in Nick’s professional and personal life. In Part 2, we have an update on MFTA and FL, his work with Kirkstall Festival, a volunteer-run festival performed, organised and staffed entirely by volunteers, which Nick has become chief booker for all of the music acts. Nick also put on a fundraising gig to raise money for operations costs for the festival in 2024 where he raised over £8,000 and over 800 people attended.As part of his recovery journey, he has created the ‘Nick Davis Recovery Roadshow’, a one-man band, touring project and 2-hour show where he tells his story of recovery through music, performing cover songs which have inspired him along the way, as well as his own original songs too. We also discuss some great minor roles he has held in TV dramas, including BBC’s Gentleman Jack and Netflix’s most recent show, House of Guinness, including how he managed working on a show directly related to his addiction. For Nick’s continued mental health journey, we talk about his prostate cancer diagnosis, which came two years ago. Nick was only diagnosed because he worked on a campaign around prostate cancer awareness and he got checked out as a precaution! We also discuss the death of his father, his relationship with him, reconciling with him shortly before his death and how he channelled those emotions and grief through a song he wrote called ‘Cold boiler man’.We finish by discussing him reconciling with his ex-wife as result of the publication of his first podcast, and the support of his current partner, who he has been with for over 3 years.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Nick on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickdavis1812/You can listen to Part 1 of Nick's journey here: https://soundcloud.com/venthelpuk/jcip-51-nick-davisSupport 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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 325 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with academic Immy Harrison. Immy is currently a PHD student and researcher into singlehood at the University of Swansea’s Evolutionary Psychology department, where she studies under the tutelage of friend of the podcast Dr Andrew George Thomas!Immy did her undergraduate degree completing a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology & Archaeology at the University of Durham, before completing a Masters in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University.In this episode we talk about her academic journey, how she came across the subject of evolutionary psychology through another great friend of the pod William Costello, a deep dive into her academic work on singlehood and what her end goals are for her PHD. We also talk about how the subject of evo psych and how some academics within it can fall into very binary analyses of how men and women think and act, and how that impacts her mental health from time to time.We then finish by why the subject has also given her greater empathy for groups of men like incels.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can follow Immy on social media below: X: https://x.com/immyyharrisonSupport 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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 324 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Dan Ascough.Dan works a firefighter for the London Fire Brigade. As part of his role, he is also chair of the employee support group on Neurodiversity, and runs the London section of the fire brigades union forum for disabled and neurodivergent members. Dan originally wanted to go into music as a kid, playing in bands and having a desire to go into music production.He studied for a music production degree but walked away from that career path, dropping out with just six weeks to go. Dan cites burnout from his undiagnosed ADHD at the time, his fear of failure and little lesson structure for the reasons why.He then worked for a short time doing various jobs, including manual labour before taking stock of what he wanted his life to look like.His dad was in the fire brigade, so he set his sights on that goal as a natural aim. He loved helping people and the idea of public service, so he went through the application process and succeeded in it.Dan was also diagnosed with autism and ADHD around 5/6 years ago, first with ADHD and then autism afterwards. Initially, he fought against the ADHD diagnosis and was in denial but over time, Dan has accepted and owned it, as well as his autism too. In this episode we discuss his journey into firefighting and how his ADHD and autism diagnoses led him to doing the work he does within the London Fire Brigade in recent years for men and women like him.We also discuss the conversations he has with ‘normies’ about firefighting and why some of them are problematic, the build-up of repetitive traumatic incidents you have to deal with as a firefighter and how he dealt with them himself. For Dan’s mental health journey, we discuss the ADHD and autism diagnosis in-depth, fatherhood and the grief of losing his mother from cancer in 2019 after a 14-month illness from cancer.As always, #itsokaytoventSupport 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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 323 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Darren Lawrence.Darren is a qualified life coach and the Founder of Front Foot Coaching.In Darren’s words, 'Front Foot Coaching is about helping you to get onto the front foot’.Darren predominantly works with middle-aged men, a demographic which is often forgotten about in the mental health space.Darren’s journey didn’t start in life coaching. For 17 years, he worked in large sports organisations including Sport England and The FA at regional and national levels.Interspersed within that time he gained some experience in a local authority and smaller organisations in a variety of senior roles, including CEO.He began to realise his passion for helping people was of equal level to his passion in sport, so in 2016 he enrolled on The Coaching Academy's Diploma for Personal Performance Coaching, which he qualified in, in 2017.Since then, he has taken up life coaching full-time and become self-employed, with all the highs and lows that come with that working life too.In this episode, we discuss this professional journey, from sport to life coaching and everything in-between.We then discuss the work he does specifically for middle-aged men, the issues he supports them with and the reality of the life coaching sector more widely.For Darren’s mental health journey, we discuss the precarious nature of being self-employed and the importance of having a growth mindset.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about Darren's work here: www.frontfootcoaching.com/You can follow Darren on social media below:Instagram: www.instagram.com/frontfootlifecoaching/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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 322 of The Just Checking In Podcast our Founder Freddie Cocker speaks about his diagnosis of ADHD in August 2025. Following on from his autism diagnosis in 2024, he now holds a dual diagnosis of AuDHD.In this episode he reflects on having this clarity at 31 years old, how he's used it to gain greater understanding and self-awareness about his mind, and moving forward alongside it in 2026 and beyond. This podcast is also available as an article, which you can read here: https://vent.org.uk/audhd-total-clarityAs always, #itsokaytoventSupport 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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 321 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Meg Skinner. Meg is a communications professional and currently works as Deputy Director of Communications at Barts Health NHS Trust, where our Founder Freddie worked in her team from December 2020 to August 2022. Barts manages five East London hospitals, including The Royal London, St Bartholomew’s, Newham University Hospital, Mile End Hospital and Whipps Cross Hospital.When it comes to Meg’s career, she started with a university degree in Psychology, and always had a desire to work with people in some way, shape or form.After meeting someone who worked in marketing, it piqued her interest and she then completed a Masters degree in marketing and communication. From there she embarked on her communications career. In this episode we chart that career, which includes working in a carer’s organisation, her NHS career, a period travelling, joining Barts Health and her drive and ambition which has got her to this point. We then discuss the Covid-19 pandemic and her experience of it, and we give you an insight into the things she saw, and how it changed her forever.Across Meg’s career and her personal life, we also discuss her use of coaches to support her career and shape that journey, which includes confidence issues she has always had to some degree.We finish by discussing how important her family, friends and colleagues have been in supporting her mental health.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can connect with Meg on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganskinner/You can also follow Barts Health NHS Trust on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nhsbartshealth/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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise

In episode 320 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jordain Dawkins.JD, as he is known to his friends, is the co-founder and co-host of the ‘You Good Bro?’ Podcast, which he started with his childhood friend and journalist, Jahmal.Their podcast is relatively young, with their first episode published in October 2024, but they have already covered a range of issues including mental health, relationships, racism, young people and current events. In this episode we discuss the genesis of the YGB podcast, JD and Jam’s friendship and relationship as it’s evolved through the podcast, the issues they cover and their plans for it going forward. For JD’s mental health journey, it centres around his diagnosis of dyspraxia, which he was diagnosed with at 13 years old. According to the NHS website, dyspraxia is also known as developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), and affects movement and co-ordination.JD struggled with the traits of dyspraxia throughout his childhood and adolescence and was in denial about it for a long time. He desperately wanted to be ‘normal’ and fit in, and adopted a class clown persona to mask his own insecurities. We talk about this journey of self-awareness, denial, acceptance and ownership of his dyspraxia, how he wants to inspire others with the condition and provide a blueprint to follow.We also discuss why conditions like this are descriptors, and his views on labels across the wider conversation for similar and different neurological conditions.Since recording this in the summer of 2025, JD and Jam also hosted their first live show in Manchester in December 2025, featuring a panel of esteemed guests across the men's mental health space.As always, #itsokaytoventYou can listen to You Good Bro? on streaming platforms here: https://www.yougoodbro.co.uk/You can follow YGB on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yougoodbropodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yougoodbropodcastSupport 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=d70wfeJSEvkSupport Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise