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.
Episodes
105 episodes
Antidepressants Didn't Work for Me, with Erik Peers
Most of us assume antidepressants are there to help. For many people, they do.But for Erik Peers, the experience was very different.In this deeply personal conversation, Erik shares how he was prescribed antidepressants during a s...
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The Men We Think Are Fine... But Aren't, with Alfie Ruffell
From the outside, many of the men Alfie Ruffell knew looked like they were doing just fine. They were working, laughing with their mates and getting on with life. But behind the smiles, some were carrying struggles no one else could see. Sev...
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The Conversation We Never Thought We'd Have, with 'Friends in Low Places' podcast
What do men really talk about when they're together?In this special crossover episode, I'm joined by the four hosts - Sean, Aaron, Mike and Niall - of the Friends in Low Places (FILP) podcast to have a candid conversation about to...
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Why Do Men Lose Themselves In Retirement? with George Jerjian
For most of our lives, we're known by what we do. Our work shapes our identity, gives us purpose and often becomes the measure of our self-worth. But what happens when that chapter ends? When the career finishes, the business is sold or retirem...
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Why Does My Past Still Control Me? with Paul Drugan
In this episode, we talk to Paul Drugan, who carried the emotional scars of growing up with a father who, behind closed doors, was controlling, violent and emotionally abusive. From the outside, his family looked successful and respectable. Ins...
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I've Got Everything I Wanted so Why Am I Not Happy? with Bill Williams
Many men spend decades chasing the next thing. The next promotion. The next pay rise. The next business success. The next milestone. The belief is simple: once I get there, I'll finally be happy.But what happens when you get there and so...
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The Shame of Starting Over at 40, with Ryan McGuigan
In this episode, I'm joined by Ryan McGuigan, whose life, from the outside, looked like a success. He had built a thriving business from scratch, was engaged to be married, enjoyed financial stability, and seemed to be living the life many men ...
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What If The Drinking Isn't The Problem? with Brad Hill
In this episode, we hear from Brad Hill. For most of his life, from the outside, it looked like he was coping, functioning, working, getting on with life. But underneath, he was carrying things he had never really dealt with: a father who wasn'...
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How Long Can You Keep Escaping Yourself? with Tom Jenkins
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.&nb...
Refusing to Accept a Terminal Diagnosis with Samuel Shepherd
When Samuel Shepherd was diagnosed with a rare terminal blood cancer, doctors told him there was no treatment, no cure, and possibly very little time left. For many people, that would have been the end of the story. For Samuel, it became the be...
Is It Too Late To Fix My Health? with Jack Clifford
At 47, Jack Clifford was told he had a 100% blocked LAD “widowmaker” artery and needed emergency triple bypass surgery. Instead, he walked out of the hospital. Partly because he didn’t feel like the kind of man this was ...
What If Some Days You Just Want Out? with Graham Noble
This episode contains an open and honest conversation about suicidal thoughts. We've chosen not to shy away from the reality of what that experience feels like because we believe that hearing it spoken about directly can help people feel...
What If Life Doesn’t Go the Way You Planned? with Seejai
Seejai was a Division I basketball player with a professional future in his sights.Then, without warning, his body started telling a different story.What he thought were manageable breathing issues became a serious heart condition...
Am I Sleepwalking Into A Health Crisis? with Dr. Kenneth Ro
Most men know something is wrong before anything goes seriously wrong. The sleep getting worse. The energy is not quite there. The body that used to be forgiving and now isn't. The sense that somewhere along the way, you stopped being a priorit...
How Far Would You Go To Fix Your Life? with Cam Cordin
Most men are good at one thing: Keeping going. Through stress.Through pain.Through things not quite working. Until eventually, it all starts catching up. In this episode, I’m joined by Cam C...
My Life Is Fine… So Why Am I Not? with Kenyada Meadows
What if nothing is wrong in your life… but you don’t feel anything anymore? Some men don’t break down. They just go numb.They keep working, providing, showing up… but inside something has quietly switched off.
Why I Kept Trying to Make It Work, with Simon Verhage
Some men don’t just go through one difficult relationship. They find themselves asking a harder question: Why do I keep ending up in the same situation with different people? In this episode, Simon Verhage ...
When You Know Something Has to Change, with Dr James Rouse
In this episode I talk with Dr James Rouse, author of "No Days Off", about what that moment looked like for him. Growing up around alcohol, instability, and pressure to just get on with things, he followed a path a lot of men fall into: ...
How to Let Your Body Release Stress, with Richmond Heath
Most men deal with stress the same way: push through, stay in control, and keep going.But what if the body already has its own built-in way to release stress, and we’ve simply been taught to suppress it?In this episode I speak wit...
The Price of Playing the Tough Guy, with Jacob Butchoff
This is a difficult and honest conversation. For years, Jacob played the tough guy. Violence, intimidation, and control became a shield against something he could not face in himself. The price was prison, addiction, fra...
Feeling Like I’m From Mars: Late Autism Diagnosis, with Gary Hawkins
What happens when you grow up feeling like you don’t quite fit, and you spend decades assuming the problem is you?In this episode, I speak with Gary Hawkins, a long-serving NHS clinician who was diagnosed as autistic later in life...
Hard Choices, Easy Life, with Jerzy Gregorek
You won’t hear many life stories like this.Jerzy Gregorek’s life spans teenage alcoholism and suicidal thoughts, elite Olympic-level weightlifting, political exile from communist Poland, serious injury and paralysis, underground resistan...
Growing Up in Chaos with Lee Greenhough
What happens when you grow up in chaos and just learn to get on with it?In this episode, I talk with filmmaker and speaker Lee Greenhough about growing up around loss, addiction, and instability and how those early years quietly shape th...
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Why Intimacy Starts to Fade, with Dr Dan Sneider
A lot of men don’t think they have a problem with intimacy. They just feel a bit distant. A bit shut down. Less connected than they used to be to their partner, to sex, or to themselves. This episode goes right into that space.I’m joined...
How To Rebuild A Life That Fits, with Michael Rice
In this episode, I’m joined by Michael Rice, a bioarchitect and the founder of Mentorus. Michael approaches men’s lives the same way he approaches buildings: by looking at foundations, structure, and whether what’s been built is a...
