Conductor Charles Hazlewood created the Paraorchestra for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, as a way to enable virtuoso disabled magicians to share their musical gifts. But music has played a greater role than that in Charles’ life: it has helped through the recovery from deep-buried sexual abuse when he was young. “The trauma that […]
Drug Abuse
Reclaiming myself after addiction, Talitha Fosh
Psychotherapist Talitha Fosh is an addict. “The way that my mind works is what makes me an addict,” she says. It started with an eating disorder when she was 14, comparing herself to others, and it spiralled out of control quickly. Then Tally found alcohol and drugs. “I didn’t like who I was when I […]
Former Gang leader turned Campaigner & Poet, Karl Lokko
Karl Lokko grew up on a south London estate where gang violence was all around him. He saw friends killed and became involved in crime himself, until he managed to turn his life around. Now he’s a mentor, campaigner and poet. Karl says he knew little about mental health when he was younger and that […]
Labour MP, Jess Phillips MP
The Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips, says that she often wakes up anxious about the day ahead. Some of her anxieties are all too real as she is often the target of vicious online abuse and has experienced the effects of terrorist attacks. But as Jess says, having gone through eating disorders and […]
Whatever Warms Your Heart Up, Samantha Moyo
Wellness Event Producer Samantha Moyo is the founding mother of the sober morning dance movement, Morning Gloryville. It’s a rave that lets people who love dancing the day in a playful, fun way without relying on drugs or alcohol. Samantha herself says she’s still an addict of sorts — Morning Gloryville helped her with drink […]
Living and Working with Bi-Polar
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Bex Simon recently gave an amazing Head Talk on her work as a bipolar blacksmith. If you’d like to know more here’s a documentary she put together on how she channels her bipolar disorder into her craft.
Hammering it Out – The Bipolar Blacksmith, Bex Simon
Bipolar Blacksmith Becoming a blacksmith saved Bex Simon from succumbing to bipolar disorder. In fact, the illness laid the foundations for her blacksmith business. Praised for her unusual and spectacularly artistic designs, Simon has been off medication since 2009, and lives with her husband and two children. She uses her illness ‘by building like a […]
From Homelessness to Breakthrough Musician, Joel Lees
Homeless Busker When 18 year old Joel got kicked out of his home for stealing from his mum, he had nothing, apart from ‘several mental issues I told no one about.’ For many years he lived on the streets of London busking, abusing alcohol and drugs. Through a rehabilitation program, he got back on track, […]
British film director, Nick Love
British Film Director It was never certain that Nick’s life would work out. ‘I’m a bona fide addict,’ says the successful British writer and film director. As a teenager growing up on a South London housing estate, Love went through an intense spell of petty crime and drug taking. ‘I’ve got addiction running through my […]
How to Survive the Quarter-Life Crisis, Joey Bradford and Persia Lawson
Founders of Addictive Daughter When self-medicating with alcohol, men and drugs no longer worked, Joey Bradford and Persia Lawson decided to ‘sit through this and meet the pain.’ Persia, a daughter of drug addicts, and Joey, drinking and dating from age twelve, became best friends in drama school. After both making an ‘amazing’ inward journey, […]
Deep Jungle Healing, Bruce Parry
Indigenous Peoples Explorer He lived with tribes in Africa, South-America, Greenland and the Himalayas. He has filmed himself taking hallucinogenic potions, which he credits with helping to heal his traumas. Bruce Parry, a former Royal Marines Officer and award-winning documentary maker, says there’s something about the connectedness of indigenous people that nourishes mental health far better […]
Former NBA Basketball Champion turned Psychologist, John Amaechi OBE
Leading psychologist and high-performance coach Basketball giant John Amaechi OBE was for a long time widely known as the highest paid British sports star in the US. Born in the US and brought up in England, as a child he always felt different with ‘no one to turn to’. Braving a homophobic backlash, this self-described ‘extreme introvert’, courageously […]
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