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_outlineIn 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 looking to encourage people to dive into the world of outdoor swimming, supporting people gain the benefits of cold water and community.
This episode is about the wonderful world of wild swimming and how you can get involved in a mental health swim near you by joining this thriving community, but it's also about the realities of living with mental illness. It's about the stigma that surrounds opening up about mental health, the stigma attached to certain conditions and the barriers to treatment and dignity that occur as a result. It's about learning to live around those complications in an empowered and autonomous way.
Speaking about mental health is historically difficult, more people are championing the need to speak up and speak out and in turn to be truly heard. Rachel is one of those people and in this episode you hear how she has done so but also that the responsibilities and expectations of this can be an added pressure.
Rachel and I discuss the issue of inclusion and how we both have battled with being on the outside. We talk over the possibilities of belonging in the not belonging.
You will hear how Rachel, despite having her own daily battles has formed a hugely popular community and why cold water swimming has been one way Rachel lives with her illness.
TRIGGER WARNING
It's important to note that in this podcast difficult issues come up; some are spoken about very briefly but others in more detail that may be triggering for some people. These include childhood sexual abuse, self states of borderline personality disorder, PTSD, anxiety and paranoia. As always please take care of yourself when listening.
If you're worried about your mental health or just need to reach out, there are always places you can do that.
Breathing Space: 0800 838587
Edinburgh Crisis Centre: 0808 801 0414
Samaritans: 116 123
Use the NHS 111 online service, or call 111.