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 […]
From university dropout to inspiration
Izzy Radford In November 2018, I dropped out of University after six weeks. I aim to help young people at highly academic schools realise that going straight to university isn’t the only option. I want to encourage people to think critically and evaluate their options rather than just following the crowd, and how to navigate the real world […]
Economist measuring happiness vs inequality, Lord Layard
Richard Layard is an Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics where he is also Director of the Wellbeing Programme, as well as a member of the House of Lords and the co-founder of Action for Happiness. His books include Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, and Thrive. Lord Layard began his career as […]
Author, Journalist & social media influencer, 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
An Inheritance of Trauma by, Josh Zitser
Josh Zitser is a journalist who became interested in the after-effects of the Holocaust on the families of survivors because of his own family’s experience. Josh’s grandmother survived Auschwitz — although other members of her family did not. Years later, she shared memories with him that she had been reluctant to talk about with her […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Psychotherapist, Lou Lebentz
Lou Lebentz is a therapist and trauma specialist. She came to her work through her own experiences of trauma, addiction and eventually psychosis. Lou says that years of trauma are like a shaken-up bottle of fizzy drink — at some point it will explode. She sees her role as helping clients to open the bottle […]
Get into the smile zone
Off Grid Therapy
Paralympic champion Anne Usher recently cycled around the world on a tandem with her husband Simon. You can read about her travels and see her amazing photos on her blog. Here, she writes about what she has learned from her travels. For me there’s a ‘change paradox’: I dread change. The anticipation of leaving my familiar […]
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