Welcome back to you, my lovely, and, if truth be known, my favourite listener. I’m your host, Chris Young, purveyor of all things walk a mile, and in this episode of the podcast, I speak with the delightful and multi-faceted Phoebe Webb. As with many folk, I stumbled across her in the Twitterverse, @Feehlo and, I’ve got to say, right from the start, I really liked the cut of her jib. Phoebe speaks frankly and openly about her experience of being labelled with an eating disorder in our chronically underfunded NHS which she talks about extensively, mainly with others, in her fabulous podcast, ‘Not About Food’. I can’t recommend it enough – especially the episode, ‘My Child has Anorexia – How do I handle it?’ where she speaks candidly with her dad about their journey together. It’s moving – compassionate – occasionally funny and, at times, a little arse clenching. Listen to it! She also writes well and knowledgeably around the subject in her blog, which, for your convenience, is also called, ‘Not about food’ 

Phoebe is employed as a mental health peer support worker with the NHS. I hope you’ll get as much out of her insights around the trials and tribulations of this relatively embryonic profession as I did.

It was an absolute privilege to speak with her – the podcast could have easily been 4 times longer – I’ve a feeling I’ll have to ask her back…

Please take some time to explore her world, you won’t regret it.

On that very topic, if you’d like to become a little more immersed in the whole Walk a Mile in my Shoes gig, you can find me on Twitter @walkamileuk, on YouTube with my fledgling walk a mile in my shoes channel where, just like the podcast, I thoroughly mix up my branding into a maelstrom of ‘The Mental Diabetic’ and ‘Fucking Mental’ among other things. If Facebook’s more your thing, then please join us in the Walk a Mile in My Shoes group, or, if you fancy a more intermittently neglected space, feel free to give the Walk a Mile in My Shoes Facebook Page a like.

If you, as a mental health professional or punter, carer, interested party or just plain old nosy Parker would like to contribute to the podcast, please get in touch. If social media isn’t your thing, you can email me at hello@letswalkamile.org.uk

'til the next time, I’ve been Chris Young, and you’ve been rather fabulous. Thank you for listening.

Walk a Mile