Centre for Mental Health Centre for Mental Health

Thea Joshi is joined by Frederico Cardoso, the Centre's Senior Economist, to hear about a major new report calculating the economic and social costs of mental ill health. While a £ sign is an imperfect measure of the toll that mental health problems can take on people's lives, this economic analysis has broken new ground in assessing the scale of the problem and the consequences for our economy and society of failing to act. Frederico breaks down and contextualises the figures in the new report and shares some of the solutions that would support better mental health and reduce costs in tandem.

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Thea Joshi sits down with David Woodhead, our Associate Director of Research, to hear about what LGBT+ History Month means to him. He shared how his experiences as a gay man have affected his mental health, for good and ill, and about his journey from addiction to recovery. It was a really moving conversation, and it exemplified the way that lived experience, albeit painful, brings a depth and a richness to our fight for better mental health.

If you appreciated this episode, we'd love your support to keep our work going - please donate today: www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/donate

Music by scottholmesmusic.com

Thea Joshi is joined by Claudia Turbet-Delof, a local councillor in Hackney, Mental Health Champion, person centred therapist and human rights campaigner. Claudia shares her experience of growing up in poverty in Bolivia, moving to the UK and facing depression and racism. She tells us how these experiences, and witnessing the power of collective struggle by indigenous people in her country, have driven her ambition to make mental health a fundamental human right. Please note that this conversation does make reference to racist language and sexual abuse.

If you appreciated this episode, we'd love your support to keep our work going - please donate today: www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/donate

Music by scottholmesmusic.com

Thea Joshi is joined by Centre for Mental Health’s current Writer in Residence, Andrew K Kauffmann. Together they discuss OCD and its battles, from diagnosis and labels, to therapy and everyday life.

If you appreciated this episode, we'd love your support to keep our work going - please donate today: www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/donate

Music by scottholmesmusic.com

Show notes:

Read Andrew's Writer in Residence piece on OCD 'Life with OCD: an anti memoir' here: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/life-with-ocd-an-anti-memior/

Check out Andrew's most recent Writer in Residence piece on men's mental health here: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/a-sermon-that-no-one-will-hear-the-clarion-call-to-act-urgently-on-mens-mental-health/

Useful contacts for OCD resources: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/useful-contacts/

Thea Joshi is joined by Centre for Mental Health’s Associate Director for Policy, Kadra Abdinasir, to discuss the way racial trauma affects multiple generations of a family. They discuss A Constant Battle, a collaboration between the Centre and King’s College London, which investigates how the experiences of racism towards both parents and children affect their mental health and parent-child interactions. Kadra shares insights from the research and unpacks the concept of trauma, pointing us to actions that could address the severe impact of racism on mental health in the UK.

If you appreciated this episode, we'd love your support to keep our work going - please donate today: www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/donate

Music by scottholmesmusic.com

Show notes:

Learn more about our recent briefing, A Constant Battle: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/briefing-62-constant-battle

Check out Living While Black by Gilaine Kinouani, recommended by Kadra during the episode: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442992/living-while-black-by-kinouani-guilaine/9781529109436

Read our report, A Mentally Healthier Nation: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/mentally-healthier-nation

Check out the Leaders Unlocked network, mentioned by Kadra during the episode: https://leaders-unlocked.org/

[Content warning: this episode discusses self-harming and suicide.]

Thea Joshi is joined by ZeZe Sohawon, an award-winning mental health activist who campaigns for better support for people at the intersection of autism and mental health. ZeZe shares her own lived experience of being on a low-secure inpatient unit, and what helped her to get better. She also shares the vision behind her new charity Emotion Dysregulation in Autism which is working to improve the mental health of young people. She discusses what’s needed for more culturally competent mental health support, and the inequalities facing autistic young people who are struggling with their mental health.

If you appreciated this episode, we'd love your support to keep our work going - please donate today: www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/donate

Music by scottholmesmusic.com

Show notes:
Learn more about ZeZe's new charity - Emotion Dysregulation in Autism here: https://www.emotiondysregautism.org/

Check out their Podcast (https://open.spotify.com/show/300fnb414ZS3Mu6xXgMWhk?si=513851a39987437a&nd=1) and follow ZeZe on X, formerly known as Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FZeZeJonesBoi

Read our blog by Zainab on her own experiences of the difficulties she faced as a Muslim trying to access mental health support in the UK that acknowledged her cultural and religious context: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/blogs/it-just-me-mental-health-muslim-communities

Download our Muslim Mental Health factsheet made in partnership with Woolf Institute: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/publications/fact-sheet-muslim-mental-health

Watch our Festival of Ideas event on Children and Young People, where ZeZe Sohawon was a guest speaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaAwF4kgPl8&feature=youtu.be