Meik Wiking, CEO of The Happiness Institute, explores what makes us happy. “It’s about having a sense of connection, a sense of purpose, and exploring positive emotions on a daily basis,” he says. During the pandemic, our sense of connection has suffered, he says, which impacts our daily mood, overall life satisfaction and the meaning […]
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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.
Inspiring Head Talks
Work hard to make good memories, Meik Wiking
How it is and how it goes, 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 […]
Learning to trust my brain again, Scarlett Curtis
Scarlett Curtis is a writer, podcaster and activist. Her new book, It’s not OK to feel blue (and other lies), is a collection of writings on mental health from high-profile figures. Scarlett tells us about how she gets through some of her own dark times — they’re less frequent now, fortunately, but still affect her […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Inspiration from our Blog
Respectful interventions at work
Struggle & success
Kindness at work also means kindness to ourselves right now, says wellbeing consultant Catrin Donnelly. She says we don’t do enough to ask our colleagues how they’re doing, if we think they are working too hard, or not taking enough breaks, or look like they could be struggling. “Have a proper conversation. Look […]
Learning to adapt
Struggle & success
Rachel Kelly Most of us prefer to follow a more predictable path and don’t like being rattled by unforeseen events. And, unfortunately, life feels especially unpredictable at the moment. The world is going through rapid and unprecedented change. We might in the past have relied on certain pillars of stability, be they religious, political or […]
Teaching kids to be kind to their minds
Struggle & success
Just because you’re young, doesn’t mean you don’t have worries, emotional health practitioner Jo Morton-Brown tells children. Using a collection of teddies to represent worries, Jo explains how talking about worries can help children manage them. She tells children how to be kind to their minds, and open themselves up to new ideas […]
Sticker on the mirror
Struggle & success
Imagine the wonderful feeling of being completely happy in the skin you’ve been given. Hopefully, you feel that already? Therapist and counsellor Cat Williams says that the difficulty we have praising ourselves might also be because we don’t accept praise well from other people. She says: “We might think we are just being […]
The ’thank you’ practice
Struggle & success
Yogi Divya Kohli shares a practice for when we need to break the cycle of negative thought. This practice gives you instant positive energy like a burst of joy. She calls the practice “thank you” and it combines gratitude and mindfulness into one great practice.
Mental wellbeing for young adults
Struggle & success
In this video for young adults, Jo Morton-Brown explains how stress can help us, but also how it can affect our wellbeing. Have you noticed any physical signs, like mouth ulcers or eczema? Jo explains how too much stress can be overwhelming. She suggests taking a pen and paper doing a mind dump […]
MASTERCLASSES and Workshops
Dive even deeper into the world of mental health and wellbeing by signing up to our Masterclasses and Digital Workshops. 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.
Building Resilience To Deal With Hard Times
A toolkit for accessing our natural resources
see online workshop
Dr Rangan Chatterjee,
Pioneer of Progressive Medicine
New Medicine
see video and read more
Elif Shafak,
Famous Turkish author
On discovering the power of the written word.
see video and read more
Podcast highlights
Changing minds in the workplace, Sir Ian Cheshire
Leading businessman Sir Ian Cheshire says the pandemic has completely changed the background to talking about mental health at work. He became interested in the issues because of family experiences and has since worked with charities to promote good practices in the office. The fact that so many of us are working from home poses […]
Feeling safe and secure in the new world, Dr Nihara Krause
For many young people, this year’s lockdown has brought mental health difficulties to the fore. Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Nihara Krause says that stress, anxiety and depression may result from the crisis, but she suggests ways to help young people build resilience and learn strategies to cope as they get back to their usual routines […]
The electricity of the mind, Dr Rahul Jandial
In his book, ‘Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon’, Dr Rahul Jandial uses what he has seen from years of operating on brains in trauma to tell the rest of us how best to keep our brains healthy. While the brain is an extremely complex and fascinating organ, there are simple things we can do […]
Dream Yourself Better, Charlie Morley
Lucid dreaming is a state where you’re asleep, but aware that you’re dreaming. Charlie Morley says that almost anyone can learn how to do it. He’s a teacher of lucid dreaming and a student of Buddhism. Charlie says that not only is lucid dreaming fun — like a virtual reality simulation — but it has […]
No Longer Living a Half Life, Mark and Maddy Austin
News Presenter & Daughter When Maddy Austin began to suffer from anorexia as a teenager, her father Mark didn’t know at first how to react. Mealtimes became a battle zone and the stress on the whole family was very difficult. It wasn’t until Maddy was able to get appropriate treatment that she began to recover. […]
The Search For Meaningful Connections, Johann Hari
The author and journalist Johann Hari was first diagnosed with depression as a teenager. In his new book, Lost Connections, he investigates broader approaches to mental health that go beyond medication. He argues that creating more meaningful connections with society and with nature, and having more control over our work and our lives, can provide […]
