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Mid-life Men: the mental health podcast
Have you ever felt like you’ve become lost in your own life?
Many men struggle to talk about their problems and mental health and grew up believing that to do can be perceived as a sign of weakness or failure. There is also a lack of open discussion in society around men’s mental health, especially aimed at mid-life men. As a result, at times many men can feel alone and lost in their own lives.
In this podcast series, I talk to mid-life men about their stories; the challenges, the turning points, and the support received to help them find their way so that others who may be suffering in silence or don’t know what to do next, realise that they are not alone and there is help available.
Stories will cover a whole range of challenges faced by mid-life men mainly relating to the causes of mental health issues including feelings of isolation, depression, job dissatisfaction, addiction, PTSD, and long-term illness.
The podcast is NOT a replacement for professional support and we signpost to organisations and their contact details by episode.
If you have a story you would like to share or any feedback on the podcasts, please email me: midlifemen01@gmail.com.
Mid-life Men: the mental health podcast
How Long Can You Keep Escaping Yourself? with Tom Jenkins
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Tom Jenkins looked functional from the outside. He held down jobs, travelled the world and kept life moving forward. But underneath, he was trapped in a cycle of binge drinking, gambling, shame, self-destruction and trying to outrun himself.
In this brutally honest conversation, Tom talks openly about:
- blackouts, cocaine and waking up in places he couldn’t remember
- the loneliness and low self-worth driving his behaviour
- erectile dysfunction, porn and why so many men suffer in silence
- why “having fun” slowly became a way of escaping himself
- the moment he realised he couldn’t keep living this way
But this episode isn’t just about addiction. It’s about the deeper question underneath it all: What are men really trying to numb, avoid or hide from?
Tom also shares how he slowly began rebuilding his life through honesty, changing his environment, self-reflection, healthier habits and eventually exploring psychedelics and ayahuasca in a controlled setting.
This is a raw conversation about shame, masculinity, loneliness, self-forgiveness and what recovery actually looks like when you stop pretending everything is fine.
You can find Tom’s book 'The Drunk Gambler with Erectile Dysfunction: Searching for Something More' on Amazon and through other online retailers. If you want to contact Tom, you can do so via his website: https://www.thedrunkgambler.com/.
