Episode Twenty two: WE ARE LIKE WAVES
Being On The Inside
This episode I chat with Jordyn Romero, she is a award winning filmmaker from Santa Fe, NM. Her work aims to elevate the female narrative in the outdoor space.
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Episode Twenty One: Gender Equality In Sport: Playing The Long Game
Being On The Inside
In this episode I have the pleasure of chatting with Bethan Taylor Swaine. Bethan is a PhD student at Birkbeck, University of London where she studies the representations and identities of women in ultra running. This episode we delve into what it means to be a woman in sport, the history of how we are encouraged to participate. How men are better facilitated to achieve success. That essentially men still dominate sport and are also the gatekeepers to it.
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Episode Twenty: Creative Nature for Wellbeing, SMHAF 2021
Being On The Inside
This episode is a collaboration with the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2021. I chat with Kate Stevens, the Creative Learning Co-ordinator, at the Beacons arts centre, a contemporary theatre and arts venue in the heart of Inverclyde. Kate's one of the workshop facilitators of a series called, creative nature for wellbeing that ran during this year's festival. I get to try out a couple of these exercises with Kate, exploring the connection between our mental health and our relationship with nature
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Episode Nineteen: ROOM ON THE BOARD FOR EVERYONE: International Surf Therapy
Being On The Inside
In this episode I meet and share space with Kris Primacio, who currently serves as the CEO of the International Surf Therapy Organisation (ISTO), a Nonprofit she co-founded in 2017 in Cape Town. You are going to hear stories about sea otters, dolphins, the healing power of mother ocean, about how surf therapy can both heal and unite in a common goal. We also chat about belonging, access, equity and inclusion in the water including racism and historic segregation and why this needs to be addressed.
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Episode Eighteen: RACIST BRITAIN, Tales From a Small Island
Being On The Inside
In this episode I chat with artist and activist Karlie Wu, her work delves into the identity of being British/Scottish-Chinese. Karlie is one of the founding members of besea.n, a non-profit, anti-racism grassroots organisation that tackles negative stereotypes and advocates positive media representation of East and South East Asian people in the UK.
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Episode Seventeen: Dermatillomania- PICKING RECOVERY
Being On The Inside
Kirsty Alexander is a teacher on the Applied Gender Studies programme at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and a gardener at Ochil Tower School in Auchterarder. She talks with me about living with Dermatillomania. Otherwise known as Excoriation or skin picking disorder. Kirsty’s allows us to hear her journey from diagnosis to acceptance and parts of what came before and after. We talk about behaviours that are developed because of anxiety following catastrophic events as a way of coping.
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Episode Sixteen: Home School Dropout
Being On The Inside
In this episode I chat to Viana Maya and Karsten Huttenhain both of pRESPECT, an organisation that through the ethos of Respect, Empowerment and Empathy aim to is to empower minority ethnic and other marginalised people into meaningful employment. This podcast episode will not tell you how to ‘home school’ properly, it's not about study tips and goal setting but, about giving space and time to acknowledge how we are approaching, surviving, not coping with this winter lockdown.
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Episode Fifteen: WE GO OUTSIDE TOO
Being On The Inside
In the episode, I chat to Marlon Patrice founder of Wegooutsidetoo, a UK-based organisation that hopes to encourage, support, and inspire the black community into outdoor activity, exercise, and the multiple benefits of nature.
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Episode Fourteen: MENTAL HEALTH SWIMS
Being On The Inside
In part five of a mini-series on wild swimming health and healing. I chat with Rachel Ashe the founder of mental health swims. A UK based organisation encouraging people to dive into outdoor swimming, supporting people gain the benefits of cold water and community.
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Episode Thirteen: DO YOU BELIEVE?
Being On The Inside
In this episode you are invited to join my newly formed coven of amateur Edinburgh witches. I am fascinated by the practices of Witchcraft, Wicca, Shamanism, magic and the connection between nature and spirituality. I am curious if rituals in our daily life connect and or disconnect us from our spirituality. A group of friends and I experiment with ancient rituals. We perform a Celtic Cacao ceremony and a Fire ceremony and some tarot cards, you get to hear how some of our beliefs have been formed.
info_outlineKirsty Alexander is a teacher on the Applied Gender Studies programme at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, and a gardener at Ochil Tower School in Auchterarder. In this episode, she talks with me about living with Dermatillomania. Otherwise known as Excoriation or skin picking disorder. Skin picking disorder is one of a group of behaviours known as body-focused repetitive behaviours, it's currently classified as an impulse control disorder.
Kirsty allows us to hear her journey from diagnosis to acceptance and parts of what came before and after. We talk about behaviours that are developed because of anxiety following catastrophic events as a way of coping. That impulsive control disorders usually come alongside other mental health diagnoses. Kirsty shares openly and honestly how living with a largely stigmatised condition and how this has affected all aspects of her life and relationships. Whilst these at times have caused a large amount of suffering, she has an incredible viewpoint in her reflections of experience, which have brought her to even see the gains she has made from living through difficult times.
We chat about impermanence and death, learning about thought distortions and understating our own, why storytelling across history has a profoundly powerful place in our recovery and ability to understand the human condition, as a stepping stone towards healing and a source of comfort and teaching of endurance. We talk about the latest lockdown restrictions and where we are practically and mentally. Kirsty describes herself as a gold medallist in catastrophising, we acknowledge in this episode how we have been living through a collective catastrophe and how that impacts our lives.
Skin picking disorder is a largely stigmatised mental illness/condition, it is not easy to take centre stage and open up about things that carry these historical labels. Kirsty says in the podcast this is a gentle conversation on a relatively brutal subject. Kirsty sharing her story here is part of a larger conversation, not only raising awareness but telling her story so others can find the strength to tell theirs.
This podcast discusses issue some may find triggering, please take care when listening, if you have been affected by anything we have talked about today and or wish to find out more information:
Samaritans Scotland Helpline 116 123
CD UK https://www.ocduk.org Helpline 03332 127890
OCD Action UK https://ocdaction.org.uk Helpline 0845 390 6232