Episode Twenty: Creative Nature for Wellbeing, SMHAF 2021
Release Date: 06/17/2021
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.
info_outline Episode Twenty One: Gender Equality In Sport: Playing The Long GameBeing 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.
info_outline Episode Twenty: Creative Nature for Wellbeing, SMHAF 2021Being 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
info_outline Episode Nineteen: ROOM ON THE BOARD FOR EVERYONE: International Surf TherapyBeing 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.
info_outline Episode Eighteen: RACIST BRITAIN, Tales From a Small IslandBeing 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.
info_outline Episode Seventeen: Dermatillomania- PICKING RECOVERYBeing 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.
info_outline Episode Sixteen: Home School DropoutBeing 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.
info_outline Episode Fifteen: WE GO OUTSIDE TOOBeing 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.
info_outline Episode Fourteen: MENTAL HEALTH SWIMSBeing 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.
info_outline 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_outlineThis 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 is one of the workshop facilitators of a series called; creative nature for wellbeing that ran during this year's festival. The Beacon partnered with Belville Community Garden Trust and Mind Mosaic Counselling and Therapy to deliver a series of workshops exploring the connection between our mental health and our relationship with nature.
If you have ever wondered what 'creative therapy' may be about and wish to explore beyond the stereotypes of analysis, or that this isn't something you thought you can do, as you're not ‘a creative’, then this podcast is for you. Here Kate and I give you first hand experience of a creative therapy workshop centred around the theme of nature.
Join in whilst you listen to Kate leading me through two exercises: nature soundscapes where we immerse ourselves in some forest bathing. I find this both relaxing and slightly challenging when asked to make my own sounds to join the forest but it makes for a good discussion afterwards. Kate and I talk through memories and how they are formed as part of a writing exercise relating to my first experience in nature.
This podcast is about the joy of sound and creative writing, the ability to connect us with the outdoors from inside our own rooms, whilst giving us tools to enable us to connect with what's going on inside us. Recently I have been connecting with the sounds around me in nature and brought some home to share in this episode.