Don’t Weight To Change!

Empathy is a choice, a vulnerable choice because to connect with someone in emotional pain you have to let go of your ego and attempt to put yourself in the place of your loved one, significant other or friend who is struggling.  Rarely, if ever, does an empathetic response begin with ‘at least’.
So how do we support those we love who our struggling?  
In today’s episode, we discuss how emotional support means acknowledging the perspective of our loved one’s trauma, staying out of judgement, recognising their emotions and responding accordingly.
Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived, researched and specialist informed experience of an eating disorder and mental health trauma to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.   
Contact Us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

As our listeners know by now, we are all about celebrating life wins, especially as a clapback to mental health adversity, and how magnificent life can look on the other side of overcoming trauma and mental health challenges.    
In today’s episode we speak to our inspiring guest, Great British Bake-off’s, Amos Lilley, who bravely shares his experience of appearing on the show, as well as how he whips (pun intended!) his mental health challenges into shape.
Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived, researched and specialist informed experience of an eating disorder and mental health trauma in our aim to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.   
Thank you to our amazing listeners for joining in our candid discussions and supporting our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

In today’s episode, we speak to our inspiring friend and mental health advocate, Yasmin Langdon.  Yasmin shares her brave battle on how she overcame the cycle of trauma she experienced from bullying and how she has replaced it with the life success she now embraces.
Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived, researched and specialist informed experience of an eating disorder and mental health trauma in our aim to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.   
Thank you to our amazing listeners for joining in our candid discussions and supporting our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

Today’s episode looks at bureaucracy and how, as attested to by the philosopher Hannah Arendt, some ‘bad actors’ can be seen to manipulate society by inundating it with technical administration so as to cover up institutional inaction.
Please remember we are not clinicians or ED specialists, but share our lived experience of an eating disorder, and the research and specialist advice we have gathered over a decade, to contribute to the wider understanding in how to best support and improve mental health care services.   
Thank you to our amazing listeners for joining in our candid discussions, and supporting our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

Today’s episode is informed by work carried out by Ross Sonnenblick into male eating disorders.  
Following his battle with anorexia, Ross decided to pursue a PhD in male eating disorders to contribute to the tragically unresearched study in this area, which he discusses with Amy Geckl on The Eating Disorder Diaries (found here: 'Goal #4: Daily ED Education – Anorexia in Boys and Men with Ross Sonnenblick'). 
Thank you for joining our candid discussions, informed by our personal experience and research, in our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.
 
Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

Today’s episode is looking at anxiety.  Although anxiety is an unavoidable emotion, helping us to prepare for potential threats and challenges, excessive and persistent exposure to anxiety can lead to a host of complex mental and physical conditions. So, what is anxiety and how do we embody it?  How does anxiety compel us to outsource our feelings of self to external objects instead of facing feelings of discomfort which can, in the words of Kierkegaard, enable us to experience a more fulfilling sense of self? 
Thank you for joining our candid discussions, informed by our personal experience and research, in our aim to encourage all aspects of positive life change.Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

June is men's mental health awareness month and on this episode, we are grateful to have the phenomenal advocate for men's mental health awareness, Andy Hill.  Andy is the founder of the incredible u-turnbacktobasics initiative which provides nature walks, team building, survival, and wild camping retreats to those who are struggling with mental health issues.  
Today, Andy shares his brave story of how he turned his adversity into the phenomenal u-turnbacktobasics asset which so crucially supports others.  
Thank you for joining our candid discussions, informed by personal experiences, opinions and research in our aim to encourage the aspects of positive change which can enhance our lives.
Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

On today’s episode, we are grateful to have the qualified instruction of yoga, meditation and breathing techniques teacher, Johanna Nye.  
As discussed on other episodes, Harry has reached a fork in the road with the recovery techniques being imparted through conventional psychotherapy and, as a result, has decided to pursue alternative traditional ways to alleviate the stress and intrusive thoughts he still battles.  Johanna thus provides vital guided breathing techniques which stimulate the Vagus nerve to reduce stress and anxiety, alongside additional benefits such as enhancing cognitive ability and aiding the immune system.      
Thank you for joining our candid discussions informed by our personal experiences and opinions, and helping us, and others, contemplate the various aspects of positive change that enhance our lives.Contact Us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

Following on from our last ‘what is perfect’ episode, we discuss how this translates into our sense of self when it comes to education, and consideration of how the arbitrary definition of intelligence might be redefined.  
Thank you for joining our candid discussions informed by our personal experiences and opinions, and helping us, and others, contemplate the various aspects of positive change that enhance our lives.
Contact Us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com

In today’s episode we discuss the modern idea of perfect dictated by social media and the need to help our children become more media literate and to question the dangerous ideals of perfectionism they see online.
Thank you for joining in our discussions around mental health informed by our experiences and those of others, and helping us to encourage and reinforce the message that positive change can come at any point in our lives.
Contact us: dontweighttochange@outlook.com