Radio X has teamed up with Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) to create a series of podcasts offering mental health support. Radio X’s Mental Health Tool Kit with CALM - exploring grief and bereavement, anxiety, depression, financial stress and ways to seek help - launches today (Monday 14th December) on Global Player or wherever you get your podcasts.
The podcasts have been voiced by some of the nation’s best-loved artists, comedians and broadcasters. Each host will explore an area of mental health, guiding listeners through the advice, support and expertise offered by CALM, with some reflecting on their own personal experiences.
Comedian and Love Island star Iain Stirling will speak about anxiety, whilst host of The Mash Report & comedian Nish Kumar will talk to listeners about financial stress. Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil will speak about grief and bereavement, and former elite Special Forces soldier and ‘SAS: Who Dares Wins’ instructor Jason Fox will host a podcast on the topic of depression. Podcaster, comedian and host of Sunday mornings on Radio X, Ed Gamble, will present an episode entitled ‘Your Mental Health’, speaking about how listeners might be feeling and exploring ways they can seek help from other resources available. Each podcast is under 10 minutes with a succinct and accessible format.
All five podcasts are released today, with Radio X’s Chris Moyles launching the Mental Health Tool Kit on air this morning.
Radio X’s Mental Health Tool Kit with CALM launches at the end of an incredibly challenging year and at a time when CALM's life-saving services are needed more than ever. Since the first UK-wide lockdown, the CALM helpline has answered 99,186 calls and chats and directly prevented 323 suicides. That’s over 16,800 hours talking to people and 934,481 chat messages exchanged around topics such as isolation, anxiety, relationship concerns, health worries, and financial stress.
Matt Deverson, Managing Editor of Radio X, said: “We are incredibly proud to launch our Mental Health Tool Kit in partnership with Campaign Against Living Miserably today. We know that in an extraordinarily challenging year, many listeners have turned to radio and podcasts for support, and so our aim is to amplify the conversation around mental health and to share the resources that organisations like CALM can offer with our audience. These podcasts are accessible, open and supportive, and we are very grateful to CALM and to Iain, Nish, Ed, Jason and Simon for having this very important conversation with our listeners.”
Simon Gunning, CEO of CALM, said: “It is predicted that 10 million people – almost a fifth of the population in England - will need mental health support as a direct consequence of COVID-19. This is a national issue that needs everyone’s attention. Our partnership with Radio X will enable us to reach more people who may need support before they reach the point of crisis, wherever they are, no matter what. And in doing so we can continue to play an important role in challenging the stigma surrounding mental health and take another step in creating long-term cultural change.”
Radio X’s Mental Health Tool Kit launches today – all podcasts are available now at radiox.co.uk, Global Player or wherever you get their podcasts.
