The Sanctus Podcast on Mental Health

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#31: Why we need to change the perceptions of mental health (pt.2) Dec 13, 2018

Show notes

James Routledge and George Bettany, founders of the mental health startup Sanctus, have been on a mission for the last two years to try and change the perceptions of mental health - with the intention of one day putting the first mental health gym on the high street.

Their experiences with mental health from before Sanctus and through their work with businesses around the UK to create impartial, safe spaces for employees to work on their mental health have made them realise just how much the perceptions need to change and how we need to get people talking about their mental health in day to day conversation.

James has been friends with Lou for a while and asked her to come on the podcast to speak about her tragic experiences because of her fresh, honest and inspirational perspective she has come out of the experiences with.

With University being one of the toughest times to experience family problems, Lou received a huge blow during her education in 2012 when her mother died - leaving the whole family grieving. It was a difficult time but her whole family but none more so than her dad, whose physical reaction to grief seemed to be getting increasingly worse over the next few months.

They unexpectedly received the news just after Christmas that year that his deteriorating condition was actually due to him having advanced bowel cancer. Still in education, Lou decided to push through and make frequent trips home to see her father in hospital - all whilst studying.

Five months later, Lou's father died and the upbeat and awesome Lou tells us the difficulties she has been through since with other people struggling to know how to react to her.

“It’s not really a great chat up line is it”

Music Credit:

"Loopster, Odyssey, Spring, Perspectives" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

#30: Why we need to change the perceptions of mental health (pt.1) Dec 06, 2018

Show notes

After Stas Lawicki got in contact a few months back, we found out that after years of keeping this story to himself - he was finally ready to share it and give people a powerful example of what can happen when a workplace doesn’t fully understand mental health problems when they encounter them.

After being brought up with the attitude to push through and keep a stiff upper lip, Stas was performing incredibly well in his job when a new managing director (MD) joined the company. The MD wasn’t without his problems - he flipped between confiding intimate information in employees to being managerially aggressive at the complete opposite end. When Stas had a pay review with the MD - despite performing incredibly well - the MD offered him a pay reduction with the line “if you don’t accept this, our relationship will change indefinitely”.

Feeling confident and strong, Stas refused the pay package and continued on to spend three years under a managing director who had the sole focus of making a resilient Stas leave the company - despite having no other reason than a personal vendetta.

Years after this happened, Stas has finally chosen to open up and share his story after hearing many of his friends going through similar workplace stresses and not fully accepting when you need to prioritise yourself and not stubbornly keep a stiff upper lip through stressful situations - because Stas is fully aware of the long term consequences that can bring.

Thanks to Stas for getting involved and join us next week for part two for an incredible episode about changing the perceptions surrounding grief with our brilliantly open guest Louise Kirby.

#29: Phil Coaches James Nov 29, 2018

Show notes

The ever-growing startup that is Sanctus is never without it's challenges - especially when the mental health of every person at the business comes first. As of late, James and George have been feeling the pressures of burnout. A few weeks ago, they were talking on an episode (which never aired) about their burnout - George on the other side of it and James stuck right in it.

George convinced James to get a coaching session on the podcast and the first thing they did was call Sanctus coach, Phil Askew, who gladly came in to run through what a session would look like whilst also coaching James to help him deal with his workload stress.

Music Credits:
Up Above by Pyrosion https://soundcloud.com/pyrosion
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/mikXltmStnc

Dreams by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud

Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/VF9_dCo6JT4

#28: Shayan Qadir - The mental health of a mental health professional Nov 22, 2018

Show notes

Shayan Qadir, trained in Gestalt psychotherapy and coaching in London and Toronto, met James at the start of the Sanctus journey and became one of the first Sanctus coaches two years ago.

After working with hundreds of people on their own mental health, Shayan recently reached a point where he has decided to take a break from his work with Sanctus to focus on himself.

The opportunity cropped up to delve into dealing with depression and the mental health of a person that spends so much of his time putting other people first and finding his ‘voice’ lost amongst many.

An interesting and candid discussion that resonates with James himself about his own mental health - and indeed the mental health of anybody that finds themselves adopting the ‘listener’ role in their relationships with people.

Music Credits:
Sparks by Chaël https://soundcloud.com/chael_music

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/XIoyEFrDRDo

Dreams by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud

Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/VF9_dCo6JT4

Daybreak by Electric Mantis https://soundcloud.com/electricmantis

Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/1cgXZLQieRk

#27: Hannah Keal - Where to start with mental health in the workplace Nov 15, 2018

Show notes

When the guys met Hannah, she was transforming Sanctus partner Goodlord into a workplace that was soon recognised at Mind's Workplace Wellbeing awards. She has since gone onto becoming the People & Culture Partner at Unleashed.

Hannah explores how she challenges the damaging startup culture where people end up working ridiculous hours with the belief that is the only way to 'succeed'. Whether you are an employee in a business where mental health hasn't entered the conversation or the head of people where it very much is, Hannah comprehensively covers how she introduced mental health at Goodlord and transformed their culture.

#26: James & George - How We're Going and How We're Growing Nov 08, 2018

Show notes

After a podcast hiatus, Sanctus founders' James & George talk about how their mental health brand Sanctus is growing and how it's going. They discuss their concerns and stresses, what it means to increase the impact Sanctus can have on the world and their own work life balance living in London.

Longing by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/wSL0sGLTgLQ

#25: Nathaniel Cole - Celebrate Difference Sep 21, 2018

Show notes

This week, we spoke to Nathaniel Cole: founder of SWIMDEMCREW (an inner city swim club who focus on the power of community) and blog writer who talks about masculinity, mental health and his series #Blacxellence. James and Nathaniel discuss topics from masculinity to mental health and diversity in the workplace. Check it out! Music Credit: Great Days by Joakim Karud http://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5lhZRunuJTs

#24: Sadia Azmat - Being a Young British Asian Woman in Comedy Sep 14, 2018

Show notes

This week, James speaks to the amazing stand-up comedian Sadia Azmat about all things mental health. Sadia reflects on her experiences and opinions of mental health in the British asian community. All whilst pursuing a career in comedy. Sadia performed her debut comedy show seven years ago at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has gone onto hosting her own BBC podcast ‘No Country for Young Women’ - a much-loved podcast voicing the daily ins and outs of being a young woman of colour in the world. In this episode, James and Sadia explore a variety of topics from mental health & parent expectation through to freedom of expression in comedy. Thank you so much to Sadia for coming on, the pleasure was all ours!

#23: Vix Anderton - Mental Health in the Military Aug 31, 2018

Show notes

With almost fifteen years in the military, Vix Anderton joins us to talk about the life-changing events she has experienced through her life. From how mental health was approached in the military to finding her purpose after leaving the RAF. This is one of our most unique insights into mental health in an often overlooked field. Great Days by Joakim Karud http://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5lhZRunuJTs https://soundcloud.com/sanctusldn/15-sanctus-roundtable-discussions-pt2-masculinity-mental-health/s-uCzla

#22: Dominic McGregor - Sobriety & Mental Health Aug 24, 2018

Show notes

We spoke to the co-founder of Social Chain, Dom McGregor, about his journey to sobriety and a new-found perspective on mental health today. An inspirational journey and relatable to anyone who’s used alcohol as an outlet. Great Days by Joakim Karud http://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5lhZRunuJTs

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