Member Article

Podcast series launches to help people understand their mental health during lockdown

Myndr, a mental health and wellbeing start-up based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has today launched a brand-new series of podcasts to help make sense of our mental wellbeing under lockdown.

Aiming to provide a space for listeners to reflect and unwind, the 10-minute stories meditate on current mental health issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Written and read aloud by Myndr’s co-founder Lizzy Hodcroft, the first podcast in the series, titled ‘Releasing Guilt During Lockdown’, explores the uncertainty, anxiety and mental exhaustion that many people are currently feeling, offering insightful ideas for how we can be kinder to ourselves in isolation.

Speaking on the podcast’s conception, Lizzy Holdcroft, said: “The ten-minute podcast came from the extra time I had to reflect and write under lockdown. The more I wrote, the more I realised that I wanted to share the stories. I wanted to give others the opportunity to create some space to think and reflect.

“Some people may not have as much downtime as myself during this period; perhaps they have kids or they are a key worker. Having something that offers ten minutes to relax and unwind can be very valuable.”

The short episodes explore a diverse collection of topics, including creativity, guilt, shame, success, happiness, body confidence and OCD, offering personal perspectives and reflective provocations that aim to get the listener thinking and asking questions about their own wellbeing as well as larger societal issues surrounding mental health.

Myndr hopes to continue the series with personal stories from people of all walks of life and are calling on the general public for poems and short essays about their own experience under lockdown to be read aloud in future episodes.

Lizzy added: “The podcast is for anyone that is looking for space in their day. We describe them as meditations mixed with ASMR plus a little bit of soul searching.

“After sharing a couple of early releases with a friend who was struggling with sleeping, I was thrilled to hear that after listening to the first episode before bed, she had a full night’s sleep and didn’t wake with anxiety at all.

“I feel we have created something so special and so needed and that’s also why we want to get others involved in writing pieces that can be read out by myself and shared.”

“The experience of creating the podcasts is very healing. I am working through thoughts and worries as I write and always leading myself to a better solution, even if that is just accepting what is happening and showing myself grace and gratitude for making it this far.

“It’s a very cleansing feeling to share the stories with the world and have people connect so strongly to them.”

Myndr will be streaming an episode every weekday for the next 10 days from 5 pm via its social media channels @wearemyndr and its website https://myndr.co.uk/ten-minute-pods/

To submit your story for inclusion in a future episode, please email Lizzy at lizzy@myndr.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jon Corbett .