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Mentally Healthy Leaders

Mentally Healthy Leaders

Author: Thoughtify Ltd

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Welcome to Mentally Healthy Leaders. A Platinum Award winning podcast. In this podcast series, I’ll be chatting to senior executives, special forces soldiers, entrepreneurs, world record holders, and other inspirational leaders. Many of which have experienced their own struggle with mental health issues. Our guests are happy to share their story in the hope that it will help others to talk, and encourage business leaders to create more mentally healthy workplaces. Tom Fox. Podcast host, & MD of Thoughtify Ltd www.thoughtify.co.uk
12 Episodes
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Kate is the national director for healthcare services across England for Armed Forces serving personnel, veterans and their families; Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs); and prisons, immigration removal centres and secure children’s homes and training centres.  Her national role is to assure high quality, consistent and sustained services with a strong focus on health inequalities and outcomes for patients and their families.Kate was awarded an OBE in 2009, for services for disadvantaged communities. In 2018, she was awarded a CBE for her work to improve services for some of the most vulnerable groups and an Honorary Doctor of Staffordshire University in recognition of her commitment to health and social equality.
Today’s guest is one of the leading voices in Mental Health support in the workplace.Tim Munden, the Global Chief Learning officer at Unilever, has created programmes which aim to inspire people worldwide to look after their health and wellbeing.But it was when he first started developing these programmes, that he realised he had his own demons to tackle.From being injured out of an Army Career before it even started, to having a near death car crash that brought him years of harrowing nightmares, and the driving forces in his own career that have helped and hindered him over the years, he’s here to discuss them all.
Our guest today is Simon Blake OBE.  CEO of Mental Health First Aid England.Mental Health First Aid England has one aim - to improve the mental health of the nation. The organisation wants to see 1 in 10 of the population trained in mental health first aid, and for all of us to start considering mental health as being on a par with our physical health.As a gay man who came out during the HIV epidemic, Simon understands the importance of supporting mental health through every stage of life and work. Tragically, when his brother died suddenly five years ago from heart failure he also saw first hand how more needed to be done to support those suffering with grief & loss.
We may think of them as police profilers who get deep within the psyche of serial killers and sex abusers, but Kerry Daynes says her profession as a Forensic Psychologist is much more than that. She’s worked with some of the most serious offenders in our society, but she’s also worked with some of the most vulnerable. At times she’s also been on the receiving end of abusive behaviour which has affected her own mental health and taught her lessons about how we are shaped by our experiences. Author, Consultant Forensic Psychologist, and TV personality Kerry Daynes is todays guest.
Today’s guest was a Senior Global Director at both Microsoft and Google, but after suffering a severe breakdown he left the corporate world to find personal fulfillment at a Start-Up.Mark Hodgson says his life collapsed around him four years ago, but he now recognises the warning signs were there for years.At his new company - Cervest, he is combining lifelong passions with professional experience and driving the Mental Health Agenda forward to support his colleagues. 
Today’s guest is Paul  Spanner.Paul is a former Senior Officer in the Royal Marines, who was medically discharged after a cycling accident in which he suffered a fractured skull, broken back and neck among other injuries. He died twice at the side of the road. For most of us a crash of that scale may keep us off a bike forever, but Paul went on to join the GB Paralympic Cycling programme, and compete at a World Championship.  After the accident he spent several years with his mental health teetering close to the brink of a breakdown, struggling with his identity and on a path of self destruction. He threw himself into his new job at the Home Office and in the corridors of Number Ten, but it was once he found his current role at PwC that he got a grip of his demons. Paul is now a Professional Services Consultant at PwC and is one of the firm’s Champions on Mental Health Wellbeing.  
Today’s guest is Chris Averill. Chris is a successful entrepreneur, who built his tech business from scratch over a 16 year period...before selling it for a multi million pound price tag. He survived two downturns, employed teams in London and New York, worked with Fortune 500 Companies and won a host of awards. After the sale of his company, at a time when he should’ve felt on top of the world and relishing his success and financial freedom, he was struggling with panic attacks, the fear of failure, ‘sellers remorse’ and says he became the worst version of himself.  Chris now prioritises time with his young family and is mentoring other large business owners, to avoid the pitfalls he found himself in.
Today’s guest went 52 years before he got a diagnosis for Bipolar. He says he’d always known he was a bit different, but it wasn’t until the death of his Dad, when his life imploded, that he finally found the help and the diagnosis he’d always needed.But for Nigel Edginton-Amor, or Sky Creative Agency his illness isn’t all bad. Although he suffers extreme highs and severe lows, his condition also aids his creativity. He first spoke out about being bipolar at work, when Sky began training Mental Health First Aider's, and now he wants to help others better understand what it’s like to live with the disorder.
Today’s guest went from being homeless as a child in Manchester’s Moss Side & suffering racial attacks for being one of the only white boy's at his school… to one of Prince Harry’s most trusted friends, and an ambassador for the mental health charity Heads Together.Dean was in the UK Special Forces (Special Boat Service), when a parachuting accident almost ripped off his leg & killed him. He was medically discharged in 2011 but then his mental health started to deteriorate as he lost his sense of identity and purpose.As he approached his 40th birthday, and having only ever cycled 20 miles before, he decided to set a new World Record by completing the 22,000 kilometre Pan American Highway and set TWO World Records.
From living in a YMCA in London to becoming Global MD for a Strategic PR and Communications company - Nicky Young worked hard to make a name and a successful business.But in 2017 she found herself almost paralysed with depression prior to the sale of the firm.The loss of her Father, post natal depression, and the stresses of managing several roles in the business saw her collapse and eventually signed off work for 2 months.Nicky is now a mental health advocate, helping companies to create healthy environments where their employees feel safe and supported.
From the playgrounds of Belfast at the height of the conflict in Northern Ireland, to defusing terrorist bombs around the world, Mark Neill has kept a clear head and a strong focus.But the former Bomb Disposal Officer who is today’s guest, found himself unable to get out of bed for three weeks when his mental health hit rock bottom when he started working in the corporate environment.Mark is now the Managing Director of Landmarc Support Services - which looks after all the training facilities for the UK Ministry of Defence - a contract worth more than £900 million. He wants to encourage other business leaders to be open about their mental health - and help to reduce stigma.
I’m Tom Fox - and in 2015 I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD. I’d been working in high stress environments in Financial Services and the IT sectors in the City of London. The warning signs had been there for years - but I didn’t recognise them as such - because I didn’t understand Mental health. I coped by throwing myself into my work and never really switched off. Eventually I suffered a breakdown and that led to my diagnosis. You see, before I joined the corporate life I was an infantry soldier in the British Army.The whole experience of my own mental health journey inspired me to help others recognise the signs, and I now train Mental Health First Aiders and deliver Courses to help people Manage Stress and Anxiety for major international corporations as well as working with NHS England as a Mental Health adviser. I want to make sure that across business we’re having more open conversations, and in this Podcast - Mentally Healthy Leaders - I’ll be speaking to senior executives, entrepreneurs, world record holders, and other inspirational leaders, who have all experienced their own struggle with mental health or mental illness. We want to share their inspiring stories of recovery in the hope that this helps others to speak out about how they’re feeling and for those in business to create a more mentally healthy workplace. Tom Fox.  Your podcast host & MD of Thoughtify Ltd
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