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Head Talks aims to inform, inspire and engage those interested in mental health and wellbeing.
Find people speaking from the heart and from their own experience, as well as a wide range of experts and healers sharing their tips and insights to help us work towards better mental health and wellbeing.
MASTERCLASSES
Dive even deeper into the world of mental health and wellbeing by signing up to our Masterclasses. Delivered by today’s leading voices, HeadTalks’ Masterclasses will give you exclusive access to insight, exercises and lifestyle tips – taking you deeper into the beautiful realm of what it means to be human.
Elif Shafak,
Famous Turkish author
Postnatal depression and how to heal
see video and read more
Sadhguru,
Yogi, mystic and visionary
How to make sense of today‘s world
see video and read more
Will Young,
Singer, songwriter and actor
Living with Fame and PTSD
see video and read more
Video highlights
Paws for thought, Professor Jo Williams (and Boomer)
An estimated 10% of youngsters in the UK have had an official diagnosis of a mental health condition. “The complexities of modern life add further cognitive strain and we are seeing a rise in these diagnoses,” says Professor Jo Williams from the University of Edinburgh. She has been researching the impact of pets on the […]
Finding the rational space, 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 […]
Falling down the rabbit hole, Claire Eastham
Claire Eastham is a mental health blogger who writes about her experiences of social anxiety and panic disorder. Although she had experienced social anxiety as a child, it wasn’t until Claire had a breakdown at 24 that she was diagnosed. Since then, she has tried many methods to deal with her conditions including medication, therapies and exercise. Dogs and humour help too!
Not all champagne and skittles, Simon Webbe
Singer and songwriter Simon Webbe — former member of Blue and Strictly contestant — broke down on TV and realised that he had to open up about his depression. He had lost close friends to suicide and now tells others the importance of talking to someone about your feelings. Simon finds talking, exercise, and creating […]
Being Friends with Your Own Mind, Matthieu Ricard
Buddhist Monk Matthieu Ricard is a French writer, photographer and Buddhist monk. His life is divided between the seclusion of a hermitage in the Himalayas and the whirlwind of modern life. Matthieu says that our state of mind can override our circumstances, whether good or bad. He says that our mind can be our best […]
When Life K.O.’s You, Audley Harrison
Boxing Champion Audley Harrison grew up in a broken home in a tough part of London. By the age of 17 he had been expelled from schools and ended up in juvenile detention. Relying on willpower, he turned his life around, becoming a university graduate and a boxing sensation. Harrison, who is retired and lives […]
The Impossible: Controlling Mind and Body, Wim Hof
The Iceman He has left scientists baffled. His ability to control his heart rate and brave extreme temperatures (breaking numerous world records, including the longest ice bath) has earned him the nickname ‘The Iceman’. Now Dutch daredevil Wim Hof has set out to spread the potential health benefits -mental as well as physical- of his […]
The Power of Pain – The Bereavement Expert, Julia Samuel MBE
Bereavement Specialist If 25 years of experience has taught her one thing, it’s that ‘running away from grief means we never recover from it.’ Warm, spirited and deeply compassionate, lauded psychotherapist Julia Samuel explains the connection between loss and mental wellbeing. Samuel, who has four grown-up children and four grandchildren, was a close friend of the […]
Headtalks blog
The mind makes you sick
Feed your mind
In this short talk Burgs investigates the relationship between body and mind. He invites us to understand how the coherence of consciousness is in fact one of the most significant conditioning factors determining our physical well-being as well as how we actually feel at a mental level. By learning to meditate we learn to enter […]
Call time on BS
Jess Phillips MP Every single one of the people I interviewed for this book laughed when I asked them if they were brave. Some threw up their hands in mock horror and responded with stories about how scared they had been when they spoke truth to power. All immediately leaned on their ordinariness. Not one considered themselves […]
The Anorexia Wars – 2012 to 2018
Struggle & success
Mark Simmonds In September 2012, our 16-year-old daughter, Emily, entered sixth form at Aylesbury High School to begin her A-Levels. She was level-headed, sensible and talented at many things. A month or so later, my wife, Mel, approached me with a slightly worried look and said, ‘We need to talk about Em.’ She had been […]
Podcast highlights
Moving the mind beyond trauma, Josh Dickson
Josh Dickson is a therapist who works with EMDR — eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing — therapy to help clients overcome past traumas. He says he has both experienced and witnessed its effects. Josh tells us the theories about why stimulating the brain helps it to file away old, painful memories and explains how he […]
Love, Hope and Cancer, Lucy O’Donnell
Cancer Wellness Advisor When Lucy was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in November 2011, she spent most of the next eighteen months in radical cancer treatment. Through her continuing treatment and experience, Lucy channels her energies into helping other people in and outside the cancer world. She is a Cancer Counsellor, Holistic Therapist, Inspirational […]
A Bridge to the Future, Jonny Benjamin MBE
Mental Health Campaigner Ten years ago, Jonny Benjamin was at a low point. He was talked out of a suicide attempt on Waterloo Bridge. His quest to find the man who rescued him, Neil Laybourn, became famous. Jonny’s now written a book about his story, his illness and his progress towards recovery. Jonny talks to […]
Guerrilla Hostage: Mental Survival, Ingrid Betancourt
Held Hostage by the Columbian FARC Ingrid Betancourt became headline news when she was kidnapped by the Colombian guerrilla movement FARC in 2002. The Colombian presidential candidate was held in the jungle, mistreated and tortured, until she, and 14 other hostages, were rescued by the Colombian military six years later. Betancourt, who has a son […]