How comfortable are you in talking about sex and suicide? No matter what, we each have a close relationship with and strong opinions about sex and suicide. Talking candidly about them can be difficult – with each they can fill us with unease, bring up distressing memories, force us to sit with uncertainty and with fear. *This episode has a significant focus on suicide. If you need to talk to someone, please visit the Mindframe website where you will find a list of contacts. Guests: On the final episode for season one, we chat with Stella Anna Sonnenbaum MPH CSSE, a Somatic Sexologist and Cer ..read more

For most of human history, mental illness has been largely untreatable. Sufferers lived their lives - if they survived - in and out of asylums, accumulating life's wreckage around them. In 1948, all that changed when an Australian doctor and recently returned prisoner of war, working alone in a disused kitchen, set about an experimental treatment for one of the scourges of mankind - manic depression, or bipolar disorder. That doctor was John Cade and in that small kitchen he stirred up a miracle. John Cade discovered a treatment that has become the gold standard for bipolar disorder - lithiu ..read more

Many people across Australia and the world are afraid to talk about suicide. A common misconception is that talking about it will encourage and lead to suicide. In episode 11 of It’s A Mind Field!, we start the conversation about suicide and some of the myths around it. We take a  first-hand look at the factors that drive suicidal thinking and behaviour and reveal the powerful effect that holding space for someone going through this can have. *This episode has a significant focus on suicide. If you need to talk to someone, please visit the Mindframe website where you will find a list of ..read more

Australia is a country that lives for sport; in the 2021 lockdown, millions of people were glued to the Olympics in Tokyo and football grand finals. But what about the mental health of athletes when they’re off the field? Renowned sports psychiatrist Dr Ranjit Menon joins It’s A Mind Field! to discuss the mental health of high-performance athletes. On December 14 2012, the world watched in horror as a deadly school shooting unfolded at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in the United States. It was the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in US History. Darren Wagner has ex ..read more

In today’s episode, we examine some of the things we hold near to our hearts but might be afraid to talk about. We talk openly about suicide from those with personal experience and what the research says. This is a story of hope, not despair.  We then have an interview we hope you’ll love as much as we do!  We interview a sex worker who specialises in working with clients who have dementia, living within aged care facilities. Though eye-opening, this is a story of tenderness, not titillation. *This episode has a significant focus on suicide. If you need to talk to someone, please vis ..read more

Have you ever felt lonely? Are you lonely now? French writer, Honoré de Balzac wrote that “solitude is fine but sometimes you need someone to tell that solitude is fine.” Ain’t that the truth! In this episode, we investigate what causes loneliness and how it is different from solitude. And where does our drive to connect come from? How and why do we connect, with words or without them? Though it can feel like it sometimes, you’re not alone. We promise!  Dr Michelle Lim is a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology and leads the Social Health and Wellbeing Laboratory at Swinburne University ..read more

Episode Nine of It’s A Mind Field! explores Aboriginal mental health and suicide.  Research shows that Indigenous people in Australia are twice as likely to die by suicide than non-Indigenous Australians. The suicide rate of Indigenous Australian children is amongst the highest in the world and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged between 15 and 24 are almost four times more likely to commit suicide than non-Indigenous people of the same age. In today’s episode, we hear the voices of Aboriginal Australians talking about mental health. *This episode has a significant focus on suici ..read more

Imagine that life is a video game and at the start of the game, everyone is gifted 90,000 ‘bonus hours’, to spend doing whatever tickles their fancy  How would you spend this time?  Would you explore the world with those you love the most?   Would you kick-back and watch re-runs of Sex and The City?  Or maybe rescue twelve dogs and start a commune in Alaska.   However you’d spend this time doesn’t matter; what matters is it's yours.   I’m sorry to break this brief moment of fantasy; life is sadly not a utopian video-game with 90,000 bonus hours. The ..read more

Drugs destroy lives…..or do they? Everyone has an opinion about drugs, and usually a robust one.  For some people living with mental health issues, the impacts of drug use can be devastating and even fatal. However, for some, intoxication can also be a source of joy, inspiration, and self-knowledge. What do you reckon? This episode features two of Australia’s most prominent and influential voices around all things related to drugs, and their opinions might not be the ones you expect. Guests: Professor Nadine Ezard is the Director of the National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging D ..read more

In today’s episode, we examine some of the things we hold near to our hearts but might be afraid to talk about. We talk openly about suicide from those with personal experience and what the research says. This is a story of hope, not despair.  We then have an interview we hope you’ll love as much as we do!  We interview a sex worker who specialises in working with clients who have dementia, living within aged care facilities. Though eye-opening, this is a story of tenderness, not titillation. *This episode has a significant focus on suicide. If you need to talk to someone, please vis ..read more