The very first live recording of The Mind your Mind Podcast took place on Thursday, October 5th in Midleton Park Hotel.
The dull, wet evening did not deter attendees from coming along to listen to the insightful and inspiring words of guests Katherine Dolphin Griffin, Aideen Stack and Emily Murphy.
To kick the evening off, I welcomed everyone and said a few words about the origins of the podcast, how it came to be and how it has gone so far. You can hear a lot more about this aspect of the podcast and the aims and objectives I have with it on my solo episode right back at the very start of this podcast journey in Episode 1 and in further detail in Episode 21 which was a bonus episode released for International Podcast Day.
What followed on October 5th though can only be described as amazing conversation.
Teacher, author, cancer survivor and founder of the Hope to Cope Charity Katherine Dolphin Griffin, shared her amazing story of determination, perseverance, loss, grief and above all else, hope. Those in attendance heard of her own fight with cancer, the loss of her Dad, Joe, on his fifth battle with the disease, her experience of all-consuming sadness and grief following his death, and how her unfinished business with cancer has driven her to self-publishing a book, raising over €100,000 for charity and founding her own charity, Hope to Cope.
We also heard from Health Psychologist Aideen Stack, who shared her story of discovering the discipline of health psychology through both her Masters in the Netherlands and her work in Auckland, her interest in medically unexplained symptoms which she carried out her research thesis on, her work with CanTeen, the prevalence of patients presenting with a physical health component to their mental health and her own experience of health anxiety.
And finally we were joined by Registered Intellectual Disability Nurse and CBT Psychotherapist Emily Murphy. Emily shared her experience of working with intellectually disabled patients, running a Covid ward during the first wave of the pandemic, the issues she encountered when trying to implement more support for her patients, her decision to leave the health service and start her own CBT Psychotherapy business, The Mind Mechanic, and her ongoing research into mental health difficulties among teenagers.
The conversation with these wonderful ladies was inspiring, informative, uplifting, and at times, filled with raw emotion and vulnerability.
The atmosphere in the room after the recording was wonderful with many commenting on how much food-for-thought the experience left them with.
And in all honesty, it left my heart very full. Full with gratitude to those who came along, to my guests for sharing their stories so openly and for the experiences this podcast has opened up for me. Together with that gratitude, I felt a great sense of pride in the podcast. It is truly an honour to facilitate these open, honest and sometimes, raw and emotional, conversations.
The recording was released on World Mental Health Day, October 10th.
To listen on Spotify, click here.
To listen on Apple Podcasts, click here.
€5 from the sale of each ticket for the event went to Irish Mental Health charity, turn2me. For more information on the work that turn2me do, visit turn2me.ie.