Skanda Lokeshwaran joins us from India and shares his story of grief. Skanda lost his best friend in an unexpected manner at the age of 24. Skanda gets candid about the loss, the struggles of coping, how he still connects with his friend years after the death, the lessons he learnt from his best friend and why it was important for him to finally talk about this journey. He was in fact with his friend hours before the unfortunate incident. He has since felt guilt, anger, and more and has opened up about the journey it took for him to be where he is now and how he is now.
Thank you Skanda for trusting us with your story and sharing space with us in this beautiful way.
Trigger & Content Warning: grief, loss, depression, alcohol
Des joins us from Canada and we have a very candid conversation about our grief, emotions and feelings. We cover the amazing overlap of art and mental health, the power of breath and her journey of her discovering her true self.
This beautiful soul tells us her story of healing music, breath and yoga.
Thank you Desirée for letting us into your space, and sharing your journey with us.
Instagram: @desereedawsonmusic
Trigger Warning: Anxiety, grief, loss
Nivedita joins us from India in this lovely conversation. We have a very candid discussion about living with anxiety, the importance of having the conversation of mental health from the grass root levels and how her journey with her mental health has been instrumental in her career choice and her own attempts to create conversation around Mental Health.
Thank you Niv for allowing us to share your story.
Trigger Warning: Anxiety, depression, panic
Margaret joins us from India and takes the time out to explain the beautiful and very important nexus between our emotional health and our mental health.
As an emotional agility coach she explains practices and notions that we can implement in our lives as well and also her experience working with the younger generations and the importance of giving emotional support and developing our emotional intelligence as well. A very educational episode no doubt, thank you Margaret for taking the time to talk to me!
Trigger Warning: mental health, emotional abuse,
Becca Rose joins us from USA and she is no stranger to mental health and the different challenges it comes with
Becca opens up about her journey with mental health, experiences with therapy and how her figuring out her sexuality played a role in her mental health.
She also talks about her journey with music and how it played a role in her healing.
Becca believes in the power of sharing stories and we are grateful to have been able to hold space for her.
Trigger Warning: anxiety, depression, medication, therapy, loss, grief
Sowmya joins us from India and shares her experience of developing Anxiety disorders in her adulthood and how her journey with therapy and medication went about. It took her time to figure out who to go and where, this is again because of our lack of information of these issues. This episode really puts into perspective how the lack of conversation of mental health is going to hurt us.
Thank you Sowmya for taking time to talk to me and trusting me with your story.
Trigger Warning: anxiety, panic attacks, medication, therapy
Jordan joins us from Canada and we have an open conversation on the intersections between Mental Health and the Climate Crisis.
In today’s day and age, the need to care of our environment and our planet is of utmost importance. Add to this situation the pandemic, I know a lot of us out there have experienced a lot of fear of the uncertainty of our existence. Did you know there are terms that describe these feelings?
In this episode, Jordan, the Co-Host of the Imperfect Eco-Hero Podcast and I delve into a very interesting discussion and we explore this overlap of the climate crisis and our mental health.
A very informative and eye opening discussion and important discussion that needs to be had, now more than ever.
Also don’t forget to check out Imperfect Eco Hero and their podcast where they delve into some very required discussions.
Having these conversations are so important to create awareness!
So grateful to Jordan for taking time out to talk to me and for bringing this perspective to the podcast!
Trigger Warning: Depression, guilt, anxiety, eco-guilt, eco-anxiety
Instagram: @imperfect_ecohero
Website
Emy joins me from France and this is a beautiful walk through a journey of music, love and kindness.
From personal journeys of self love and discovering who she was and the journey to share that part of herself with the world and why she shared.
Music and the power of rhythm and how it shapes and anchors us to reality, the wonders of meditation and the existence of communities that are filled with love and kindness and compassion coming together to help one another.
Listen to this gorgeous soul share her story, her Perspective.
Thank you Emy for allowing me to share space with you.
Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety, panic
Instagram: @emytaliana
Penny joins us from USA.
Grief affects us all in so many different ways. Whether it’s a relation, a person or anything, w each have our own journey with grief.
Penelope, also goes by Nic, is one these individuals that has experienced grief and has been so brave to share their story.
Losing a parent is hard, losing a sibling is hard. These losses have a significant contribution to the person we are, the decisions we take in life and honestly just how we live.
Nic takes time to share their experience of losing her mother and brother, the effect it had on her relationships with her family and how they are as a parent themselves.
MindMatters is beyond grateful and in awe of the strength for sharing this journey with us.
Trigger warning: depression, grief, loss, death
Indigo joins us from the UK.
Art, creativity and healing are three concepts that truly existence together. Indigo, is an individual that showcases exactly how.
Indigo, is the founder of Creative Being.
Creative Being is an online platform focused on using creativity as a tool to influence and promote positive social and political change.
Along with the platform, Indigo takes time to share her own journey with Mental health, how creativity has been an outlet that has helped her through it and also how it was growing with other members at home struggling with mental health issues as well.
Trigger Warning: bipolar, anxiety, depression
Instagram: @creativebeingcollaboration
Cath is an educator joining me from Australia to share her experiences with mental health, the importance of mental health in the education system. This discussion really puts a mirror to society to understand how far we have come and how far we have to go.
With mental health, something else that’s VERY important to focus on is Boundaries.
There’s a certain amount of guilt that we carry when it comes to setting boundaries, we dive into this space as well.
Cath believes education from the grass roots is imperative for our growth and MindMatters couldn’t agree more.
Cath has her own initiative that works for the same
Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety
Instagram: @u_mattertoo
Lauren joins me from USA.
Lauren is the founder of The Behavior Hub and UPenn Professor. She was gracious enough to come on the podcast and discuss the importance of managing stress, the direct bearing it has on our mental health and ways to cope with them. Understanding how our mind works, how are head and heart tend to battle amongst themselves when it comes to making a decision- is important help understand ourselves and how we can react and cope with situations.
Please find the link to the hand signal discussed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcFAjKftbNQ And a blog post that explains it more: https://www.thebehaviorhub.com/blog/2020/10/12/the-brain-in-the-palm-of-your-hand-dan-siegels-hand-model
And you can find more about The Behavior Hub here: https://www.thebehaviorhub.com/
Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety, therapy
Darshana joins us from India and shares her experience with mental health that eventually led her to seeking treatment and how she had to deal with her family and society’s reaction to the same. A final year student currently specializing in Psychology, also reveals how her journey helped her choose her career and how she plans to grow the same and how important it is for her to incorporate the world of Art in mental health. She also got candid about self-harm, her own experience and her perceptions on it all and a little about her own attempt at creating a space to have conversations on mental health.
Instagram: @honestdayswithdarsana
Trigger Warning: depression, self-harm, bullying
Matisse sits down with me for a chat from USA.
Each individual has their own experience with their mental health and that’s the point of perspectives. Matisse joined MindMatters to share their perspective. They have taken the time to breakdown for us the the overlap of how the psychology behind LGBTQIA2S+ community and how it formed.
We had a discussion on gender identity and their personal experience with mental health.
We also discussed their work with the Trans Emergency Fund
We are grateful that Matisse took the time to chat with us, and share with us.
Instagram: @Matisse DuPont
Trigger Warning: ADD, ADHD
Lerato is joining us from South Africa.
Lerato is a passionate and dedicated human working hard to breakdown the stigma around mental health.
After her own personal journey she began Mental Matters.
She encourages those who have a voice to use it. She encourages you to use it for those who no longer have one, and for those still searching for theirs. She encourages you to no longer be ashamed of what you have been through; but be proud that you made it on the other side of victory! Be proud that the things that tried to kill you, you slayed them! Hold your head up high and shine on! Stand tall and raise your voice.
Instagram: @lerato_solomon
Trigger Warning: suicide attempts, self-harm, depression, medication
Yash is joining us from India and is someone I’ve never seen hesitate to talk about emotions and have open discussions on topics like this. I’ve personally had conversations with him about toxic masculinity as well and it’s refreshing to see his point of view and see someone comfortable talking about intense and emotional topics like this.
I will not lie, I have delayed releasing this episode because of how personal and close to the heart this discussion was. Having to go over the episode and edit it to be ready to release was something I avoided for a long time.
But alas, I cannot run forever.
Yash opens about losing one of his best friends at the age of 24. He reflects on the relationship he had with him and how his memories with him has helped his healing journey.
This is another special episode for me, because the best friend in picture is my older brother Sanjay.
Thank you Yash for being so honest and open and for sharing these stories.
Trigger Warning: Death, loss, grief, depression, toxic masculinity, alcohol
Lindsey joins us from USA on a very powerful and open conversation.
She is opening up about her journey and her experience of living with Emetophobia, OCD and her anxiety.
This is in fact the first time she’s opening up about her struggles with mental health but she’s never shied away from wanting to raise awareness of mental health.
She’s choosing vulnerability and opening about her struggles, her journey, her healing, all of it.
Lindsey is dedicated to breaking down the stigma around mental health and more than anything, she wants to help people. She wants to help people feel less alone and I don’t know anything more wonderful.
Thank you Lindsey for trusting me with your story.
Trigger Warning: OCD, Emetophobia, anxiety, therapy
Kady joins us from USA.
Kady isn’t a stranger to mental health but she also never shies away from talking about her story and her journey to raise awareness. Kady has lived with Bipolar and been in therapy for years. She opens up about her experiences with Therapy as well.
Kady also recently came out as Bisexual and opens about her journey figuring out her sexuality, how her experience was coming out and how it effected her relationships with her family and friends.
MindMatters is grateful for Kady taking time to talk to us and letting us hold space with them.
Trigger Warning: bipolar, depression, anxiety
Maverick joins me from Canada.
In this incredibly honest and open discussion, Maverick (they/them) opens about their journey with queerness, their gender identity and experience with Top Surgery. They share their journey with gender dysphoria and how getting the surgery and their reaction to the surgery wasn’t what they expected and how they navigated through those experiences.
Maverick also shares their relationship with their culture and how embracing their true authentic self affected other aspects of life which included their relationship with family and friends.
Maverick channeled their experiences and now conducts Queer Peer Support Groups. They are trying to create the space, conversations and the support that they believe will help others out there to find where they belong.
Incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to meet Maverick and share space with them and bring their story to you.
Trigger Warning: assault, abuse, toxic, depression
Steph joins us from Germany.
In this chat with this extraordinary human being, we talk about Steph’s journey with their mental health, the journey they’ve taken to embrace their true, authentic self and come into their queerness. We chatted about queer mental health and what we need more of and why community and chosen family is so important to us.
Steph is no stranger to adversities but has turned every experience into something beautiful. They have a light in them and they are using it to help others. Opening up about their own mental health struggles, their experiences- this conversation will teach you so much. Steph is one of those rare people you are fortunate enough to cross paths with. The ones that truly care for others and can do anything to help them.
They’ve had some intense experiences but they don’t want anyone to live through that pain and is dedicated to making everyone feel loved and less alone.
I know they’ve made me feel it.
Thank you for sharing this space with me.
Trigger Warning: abuse, rape, addiction, depression, anxiety, violence
Madisen joins us from USA.
Mental health conversations still have a long way to go and in some cultures, we’re miles behind. The Asian culture is definitely one of those. Madisen joined us for a chat opening up about her mental health journey and why it was important for them to share their story and to take action to stop this stigma around these conversations to pass on to the next generation. Madisen also opens up about their queerness journey and how she understood her true self and stepped into her authenticity but going hand in hand with her family, culture and upbringing. Therapy was a big part of her healing journey and she opens up about her experience with the same too. We delve into why we need more stories, more representation in the queer BIPOC community and hopefully help everyone out there feel a little more seen, little more loved and a LOT LESS ALONE!
Trigger Warning: depression, abuse, anxiety, therapy
——-END OF SEASON 1 ——-