The Just Checking In Podcast

The Just Checking In Podcast by VENT
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Weekly

The Just Checking In Podcast is another step in VENT’s mission to give people a voice, change the conversation around mental health and provide an outlet where everyone, but especially men and boys, can express themselves. In each pod we check in with a special guest. We have a natter and a chat about all things mental health as well as anything and everything else they're passionate about. If it helps that person with their mental health, we'll discuss it!

  1. 2d ago

    JCIP #376 - Jamie Hall

    In episode 376 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jamie Hall. Jamie is part of Mandem Meetup Wolves, the Wolverhampton branch of Mandem Meetup (MMU), a grassroots charity promoting, correcting and improving the conversation around men’s mental health and wellbeing. Jamie became part of MMU Wolves (MMUW) in 2023 when he messaged the Founder of the Wolves branch, Christian if he could get involved. He went on his first hike with them in the same year and from there, the rest is history.  He now runs the MMUW football team alongside another man called Danny Grady, who took the reigns over from previous guest Leigh Edwards. Jamie also leads on their homeless outreach programme in the city too.  In this episode we first discuss Jamie’s mental health journey. This includes being expelled from school and then multiple prison sentences throughout a 20 year-period.  At 29, he moved out of the city with an ex-partner. However, he got into a fight in a local pub, went to prison for another year, came out and was diagnosed with a brain tumour, collapsing at a house party.  After being hospitalised, he discovered he had an aneurysm on his brain at just 30 years old.  Despite all of this, none of it was the wake up call he needed.  At 33, he became a father for the first time but it was only through joining MMU Wolves which he credits as the turning point for his life.  He went to his first Talking Circle the organisation runs, and after attending a few more, he plucked up the courage to speak himself, and broke down. From there, he has turned his life around, gone from strength to strength and the Mandem has been the vehicle for driving that.  We talk about all the work he does with MMUW, how it fuels his purpose and keeps his recovery on track, and how he reflects on the man he is now vs the lost soul he was in his childhood and 20s. As always, #itsokaytovent You can follow Mandem Meet Up on social media below:  InstagramTikTokSupport Us: PatreonPayPalMerchandise

    JCIP #376 - Jamie Hall

  2. Aug 21

    JCIP #375 - Arthur Colquhoun

    In episode 375 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Arthur Colquhoun.  Arthur is the Founder of YES Club, an invite-only network for London’s mission-led, early-stage founders. They host intimate, highly curated in-person experiences built for depth, peer learning, and meaningful connection. He is also the Founder’s Associate of The Fifth, who bill themselves as “a high-performance members club for ambitious professionals who work hard, value their health, and want to be part of a purpose-led community.” The Fifth is being designed as an integrated hub combining focused workspace, wellness and fitness facilities, and community-led experiences to help members perform better in work and life. At the moment, Arthur splits his time between YES Club, The Fifth and he has just founded his own community and events agency. In this episode we discuss his professional journey first, which started in 2023 after he graduated from Manchester University.  He then joined a mental health start-up called Talk Life, went travelling for six months in 2024, moved to London in September of that year and joined another start up called UNTIL. He then started YES Club in June 2025.  He then met a fellow entrepreneur called Dan, who was the Founder at The Fifth, and they have been building the business since then.  For Arthur’s mental health journey, we discuss his childhood, where he grew up with family members who had severe mental health difficulties.  At 17 years old Arthur had his first panic attack, and had anxiety for the next six years after that.  His recovery started through him adding different tools to his mental toolbox which worked for him. This included improving his mindset, taking himself out of his comfort zone and putting himself into challenging scenarios. As a people-pleaser, he also learned the importance of putting in healthy boundaries and saying no, and we discuss how he’s practiced that and been consistent with it going forward now. As always, #itsokaytovent Support Us: PatreonPayPalMerchandise

    JCIP #375 - Arthur Colquhoun

  3. Aug 14

    JCIP #374 - Dr Rebekah Wanic

    In episode 374 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Dr Rebekah Wanic. Rebekah is an academic, leadership consultant, life coach and the Founder of ‘Vent To Reinvent’. She is also the Founder of the SubStack ‘PsychSkeptics’. We came across Rebekah through an article she wrote on a publication called Minding The Campus called ‘The Disappearing Male Student’ which friend of the pod Dr James Nuzzo shared. In the article she talks about the disparity in student numbers between male and female students on US college campuses, where men now make up around 41-44% of the student population.  She also wrote about how male students are treated on these campuses, whether it comes to political debate, fears of cancellation by their female peers or even their female professors. In this episode we discuss Rebekah’s wider academic journey, why she enjoys the freedom and flexibility academia gives her as a career, a deep dive into the men on campus article, some of the other articles she’s written and her own attempted cancellation she experienced in a previous job.  For Rebekah’s mental health journey, she was hospitalised a lot as a child for asthma issues. She suffered from depression from the age of 13 to her mid-20s and an eating disorder from 13-30 as well, which came in the form of anorexia and then developed into bulimia.  We talk about the impact that had on her mental health, how she overcame it, her positive experience of therapy and how it empowered her to overcome her ED, take action and own it. As always, #itsokaytovent You can follow Rebekah on social media below:  X Support Us: PatreonPayPalMerchandise

    JCIP #374 - Dr Rebekah Wanic

  4. Aug 7

    JCIP #373 - Sarah Roberts

    In episode 373 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Sarah Roberts.  Sarah is a communications professional and has over 25 years of experience in global communications and business strategy. She is currently Senior Managing Partner at PR agency Vane Percy & Roberts, which she co-founded, and is also Executive Director of Reckitt Global Hygiene Institute (RGHI). We came across Sarah through a LinkedIn post she published after she attended the Women’s Business Forum at the Institute of Directors (IoD). In that post, she questioned the echo chamber nature of the event, how male and female relationships in the workplace can improve, and highlighted how the glass ceiling is not always held up by men in powerful positions, but women too. She also opened up a conversation about the difficulties men face in the workplace in the post-Me-Too era. In this episode we discuss Sarah’s professional journey, how she balances holding the very senior dual roles she has today, her views on men and women in the workplace, and what needs to change to facilitate better conversations, without fear of reprisal. For Sarah’s mental health journey, we discuss burnout she experienced in the second half of 2024 and the unresolved trauma which was the trigger for it, including a miscarriage she had gone through earlier in her life and the death of her father-in-law. We finish by discussing the death of her father, who died in February 2026, his life, her relationship with him and how its forced her to rediscover who she is and what she stands for. As always, #itsokaytovent Support Us: PatreonPayPalMerchandise

    JCIP #373 - Sarah Roberts

  5. Jul 31

    JCIP #372 - Men's Sheds: A Safe Space No More?

    In episode 372 of The Just Checking In Podcast our Founder Freddie flew solo for a one-off episode investigating a men's mental health organisation we had previously been big supporters and champions of, Men's Sheds.  We even interviewed former CEO of the UK Men’s Sheds Association, the body who oversee all Men's Sheds in the UK, Charlie Bethel in JCIP #249, in July 2024.  Men’s Sheds are community-based, non-commercial spaces where men gather to socialise, share skills, and work on practical projects. Designed to reduce loneliness and combat social isolation, these workshops focus on building, repairing, and collaborating while significantly improving mental health and well-being. The reason for this episode is because we stumbled across some threads on Twitter/X from men claiming that Men’s Sheds, a space deliberately and purposely created as a men-only space, were now accepting female members. This wasn't just an isolated one-off incident but allegedly on mass. Surprised, angry, and confused, we decided to investigate and the public data we very easily found disappointed us.  On the UK Men’s Sheds Association website, on a section called ‘Women’s Health and Wellbeing’ it states that “between 30% & 40% of Men’s Sheds in the UK have women involved in them”.   We speak about the implications of this, why this means in our view that Men's Sheds are currently no longer safe spaces for men only, and provide a public example of women invading these sheds too, in a Shed in Loughborough, Leicestershire.  We know there are some fantastic people who work at the UK Men's Sheds Association, and we hope they listen to this episode, heed our warning and take action to protect the long-term mental health of the men they claim to support.  We don’t want Men’s Sheds to fall, we want them to reflect, adapt and remember what their founding purpose was for. As always, #itsokaytovent In response to this episode, a UK Men's Sheds Association spokesperson said: “UK Men's Sheds Association doesn’t run or operate any Sheds, we’re here to provide support.  "As each Shed is independent and self-determining, they’re responsible for deciding their own membership in line with the needs of their members and communities. We don’t determine who Sheds include in their activities.  "Sheds choose to welcome members in a variety of ways – mixed sessions, men only sessions or women only sessions, while many remain men-only. This reflects the autonomy of individual Sheds rather than any change in the purpose of the movement or UK Men’s Sheds Association.  "Most people don't join Sheds for health benefits, mental health or otherwise; those are important but ancillary benefits. As a result, we’ve always been happy to support both those Sheds who feel a need to preserve a safe space for men and those Sheds who feel their primary goal is met by mixed membership.  Our focus is on supporting Sheds to create safe, supportive environments where members can connect, share skills and improve their wellbeing.” Support Us: PatreonPayPalMerchandise

    JCIP #372 - Men's Sheds: A Safe Space No More?

  6. Jul 29

    JCIP #371 - Joe Giles

    In episode 371 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Joe Giles. Joe is an artist and creates, in his words, intuitive abstract paintings rooted in emotional expression rather than planned composition. We came across Joe through his interview on friend of the pod JD and his platform, ‘What’s On Your Mind?’. Joe’s life story is not what you’d expect. He was born in Sussex in the South East of England. However, he was raised in a religious cult.  The cult controlled every aspect of Joe and his family’s life; education, work, and thought.  He wasn’t allowed to watch TV, radio and never had a holiday.  His father left the cult when he was just eight years old and from that point was raised by his mother.  Seven years ago, in August 2019, he was ex-communicated from the cult and was able to escape the cult. However, he has never spoken to his mum or his two sisters ever again.  Thankfully, he was able to reconnect with his dad, and his brother left one year after Joe in 2020. He now lives in London and can see him occasionally.  At 29 years old, he was thrust into a world he had no idea how to navigate and had been sheltered from for his whole life up to that point.  To unpack and heal from the trauma he had gone through with the cult, he tried CBT therapy and other methods but what helped him the most was art and painting. He took up painting in 2025 after going through several mental health difficulties at the same time. He experienced the loss of a relationship break-up, lost his job and his dream apartment.  As a result, he had an identity crisis, and painting was his therapy to get through that period and has now become his passion.  In this episode we chart this journey from cult survivor to artist, reuniting with his father, discovering art, its power to heal and everything in-between.  As always, #itsokaytovent You can find out more about Joe's artwork here: https://joe-giles-art.myshopify.com/. You can follow Joe on social media below:  InstagramTikTokSupport Us: PatreonPayPalMerchandise

    JCIP #371 - Joe Giles

  7. Jul 24

    JCIP #370 - Carolyn Gorman

    In episode 370 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Carolyn Gorman.  Carolyn currently works as a Fellow for an organisation called the Manhattan Institute.  The Manhattan Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank whose scholars and journalists are dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in America and its great cities.  They cover a range of policy issues including policing and public safety, housing, education, law, economics and more.  In this episode we discuss Carolyn’s professional journey and her career up to this point, before we dive into a range of issues Carolyn writes and speaks about through the Institute.  These include: the failures of the mental health system in the West, the deinstitutionalisation movement of the 1960s and 70s and the impact that’s had up to now and 'therapy culture'. We also discuss the early screening of young people for conditions like autism and ADHD, what is the right approach? Can early screening be harmful for some children long-term? And can destigmatising these conditions ever have a downside?  For Carolyn’s mental health journey, we discuss her psychology undergraduate experience at university and how it made her self-reflect on her own personality and development, her regret at not taking economics instead, and her argument against solely relying on lived experience.  As always, #itsokaytovent You can follow Carolyn on social media below:  X: https://x.com/CarolynGorman_ Support Us: PatreonPayPalMerchandise

    JCIP #370 - Carolyn Gorman

  8. Jul 22

    JCIP #369 - David Harper

    In episode 369 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with David Harper.  David is a freelance journalist, presenter, producer and reporter. David is currently host of LBC News’ Saturday Breakfast Show, and is a regular presenter of the BBC’s World Business Report. Growing up in the small North Wales village of Penyfordd, David left his state comprehensive at 16 years old with very little qualifications and no idea what he wanted to do with his life. In his words, he fell into community radio, when he got a job at a radio station in South Flintshire. In 2005, he then left local radio and landed a job at BBC Cymru Wales based in Cardiff, where he worked as a producer, presenter and reporter for over 14 years.  In 2019 he went freelance and has gone onto host a range of roles at broadcast organisations including ITN, Global and BBC News. We chart this journey, how he developed the skills to be a newsreader and television host and making the transition from local radio to national radio. For industry issues, we discuss social mobility, and the decline in state-school journalists from working-class backgrounds in the industry.  For David’s mental health journey, we discuss his diagnosis of Bipolar, which he obtained around 12/13 years ago. In 2023 he spoke publicly about his mental health for the first time and from there, he has become an advocate for greater awareness of the condition. He was also diagnosed with ADHD in 2025 and we discuss this latest development, how he feels now having this dual diagnosis and moving forward with his life alongside them. As always, #itsokaytovent Support Us: PatreonPayPalMerchandise

    JCIP #369 - David Harper
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About

The Just Checking In Podcast is another step in VENT’s mission to give people a voice, change the conversation around mental health and provide an outlet where everyone, but especially men and boys, can express themselves. In each pod we check in with a special guest. We have a natter and a chat about all things mental health as well as anything and everything else they're passionate about. If it helps that person with their mental health, we'll discuss it!

Information

  • Creator
    The Just Checking In Podcast by VENT
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    483
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Just Checking In Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Just Checking In Podcast