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 ..read more

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 lo ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ina 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 appreciate ..read more

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 hea ..read more

Thea Joshi sits down with Centre for Mental Health chief exec and returning guest, Andy Bell. Having been at the Centre for over 20 years, Andy shares the changes that have been forged in mental health in that time, and the distance we have yet to travel to eradicate persisting inequalities. They discuss how to balance frustration at slow progress with a sense of optimism that allows us to continue the hard work of making mental health equality a reality ..read more

How is children's behaviour in schools linked to their mental health? And what impact are behaviour management approaches having on young people's mental health? This episode, Thea Joshi sits down with Charlotte Rainer from the Children & Young People's Mental Health Coalition and Daisy*, a member of the Coalition's parent-carer advisory team, to discuss the Coalition's new research on behaviour and mental health in schools. They consider how children's behaviour is currently managed, how more punitive processes affect children's mental health, and how schools could better meet the needs o ..read more

Thea Joshi is joined by award-winning mental health activist and anti-racism campaigner António Ferreira. From providing guidance for an Eastenders storyline about a young Black man with schizophrenia, to his campaign to end tokenism in the charity sector, António is a force of nature in using his own lived experience to drive real change in mental health. They discuss António’s journey, how his experience of peer support during his time on an inpatient ward stoked a fire in him to study psychology and work to improve things for people living with a mental illness. António shares what he’s lea ..read more

Thea Joshi is joined by Emma Bailey and Hannah Moore from the Equally Well campaign, which we run in partnership with Rethink Mental Illness. They share how Equally Well UK is working to improve the physical health of people with severe mental illness, with the critical aim of reducing the unacceptable mortality gap that people with severe mental illness are faced with. Emma and Hannah discuss how physical health is often neglected in mental health inpatient services, and give examples of good work that is being done to change this ..read more

Thea Joshi sits down with Chantal and Jamie from Off The Record Croydon to discuss the work they do with young people who have experienced youth violence. They discuss the challenges facing the young people they work with, the unhelpful narrative of young people as 'hard to reach', and the distinctive approach Off The Record takes to meet young people where they're at. Show notes and full transcript: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/blogs/podcast-record Music by scottholmesmusic.com ..read more