The NottAlone Podcast
Real talk about mental health with Dr Orlaith Green and Dr Maddi Popoola
Series one wrap-up: Reflecting on series one of The NottAlone Podcast
Episode description
That’s a wrap! Dr Maddi Popoola and Dr Orlaith Green look back on series one of The NottAlone Podcast and share their highlights.
This series has been all about young people’s mental health, from infants to teenagers, with real conversations, personal experiences and expert advice aimed at busy parents and professionals, including teachers, who are working with children and young people.
If you’ve enjoyed this series, please remember to subscribe for future episodes and leave us a comment, rating or review wherever you listen to help us reach more people to join in the conversation.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this season and any suggestions on what you want us to cover next! You can get in touch by leaving us a comment, on our social media or by emailing nottalone@nottscc.gov.uk.
Remember, whatever you’re going through, you are not alone.
Transcript of episode
Music: Whatever you’re going through, I hope you know you are not alone…
Maddi: Ey up! Welcome to the NottAlone podcast. I’m Maddi.
Orlaith: And I’m Orlaith.
Maddi: We are the co-founders of NottAlone. We’re both also educational psychologists and we’re both parents. We are so thrilled that you’ve clicked onto this podcast to join us as we delve into all things mental health and wellbeing.
Orlaith: Let’s face it, we all encounter challenges and tough times in our lives. So, we want to talk about these experiences in the hope it helps others and reminds you it’s okay to not be okay. No matter what you’re going through, you are not alone.
Maddi: Orlaith Geen. So, series one of the NottAlone podcast complete. I know. I’m so proud of it, you know? I’m so proud of it
Orlaith: Yeah. Are you?
Maddi: Yeah, yeah, I am. I feel like we set out on a mission to get a message out there about mental health, about having these open, honest discussions about different topics. And so far, so good. What’s your highlight?
Orlaith: I’ve really enjoyed it. A couple of times we’ve been having these conversations and I’ve forgotten I’m on a podcast. I’m just listening to the guest. I really loved when Elayne came in and she talked about infant mental health and parents’ mental health. And there was a couple of moments in there she talked about when you’re in the trenches of doing nappies and feeds for babies, that every time you do it, there’s a magical moment where you’re teaching your child that they’re cared for and they’re loved. That really resonated with me. I thought, you’ve got to remember that. And it really helps me on a daily basis. And I think there’s something in that, isn’t there? Even as a psychologist, you can always learn from another human about what they do and their advice.
Maddi: Definitely. And my favourite bits have been those moments, exactly, where I feel like I’ve imported something either from you or from one of the guests about their lived experience, their life experiences, and how…how pertinent things felt for me. So, there was one that we did when we were talking about how to talk to young people, to teenagers. And I think you were talking about conversations by someone’s side rather than kind of, you know, the communication, being alongside them rather than direct and how you can often get a lot better responses in those circumstances. And, you know, since then, so my daughter comes into my room like half 10, 11 every night and she’ll come and sit on the bed alongside me. And I have learned that they are the best times to have the real and hard conversations with her. And that. That really resonated with me, you saying that. And then Charlotte, when she came in to talk about school attendance as well. I think I really enjoyed a lot of the conversation there about parental anxiety and transference from parental anxiety onto, onto the child and vice versa as well, and the relationship and how that plays out around school anxiety.
Orlaith: I liked when Rachel came in and we talked about neurodiversity and strengths-based on ways of understanding our children who are neurodivergent. And I liked the way she talked about the humanness of that work, because there’s a lot of language and controversy and specialisms. And she just talked about what it’s like to be someone who’s autistic, what it’s like to be the parent of an autistic child. What helps. And she made it so real and so human. And I thought that. I really enjoyed that conversation as well.
Maddi: That whole session for me was a real eye opener. I think that one I’ve thought about so many times after we had the conversation, because it’s. It’s one of the hardest things for me. I think, as a psychologist, working with children is really trying to get yourself to understand that, the brain or the experiences of somebody else. And that a lot of the stuff she said really resonated with me, just about how, how many challenges there are already in the world, and then, you know, how many more there might be based on the way that your brain’s working and perceiving things. So, yeah. And then do you know what’s been really amazing is I think that every guest who’s come on have really shared their own personal experiences. Like, I, don’t know if you remember the conversation with Simon where, he was talking about his experience of school, of growing up. I think we welled up at one point. It got quite emotional. But I just wanna, I want to thank all our guests. I want to say, you know, anybody who comes on to talk to us, I think they’ve really opened up and shared their personal experiences. And I think for people who are listening, you know, if you’ve resonated with anything that’s been said, if you’ve learned anything from the conversations, if you’ve picked something up and used it as a strategy or a tool in, you know, your work or your parenting or whatever that is, then that is it. That’s the whole point of this. So, fingers crossed that’s the impact that it’s had.
Orlaith: Yes. I think my highlights are when we’ve had tips and ideas and that’s been some of the best feedback I’ve heard from listeners. That they said, I listened to this episode and you said this and then that gave me an idea of how to help my child or how to help a child in my class or how to help the people I work with. And I think that is what you and I are all about, isn’t it? Bringing our work to life, getting it to people in a more accessible way. Bringing messages to people who might not, you know, read an academic paper or they might not even go onto a website and read all our information, but they might listen to a podcast and get some ideas.
Maddi: Yeah, exactly. And, on that note, we’ve had quite a few listeners emailing in with ideas for different topics for moving forward. Series two is in the making, isn’t it? So, series two is going to be a focus on adult mental health. We’ve got a range of different topics that we have got ideas around covering. But if you are listening and you would like a topic covered, please message us, get in touch on the socials, email us. We would absolutely love to hear about what you want to talk about and we will do our best, won’t we, to cover everything. So, yeah, thank you so much for listening. Thank you for joining us for our conversations and please tune in for series two.
Orlaith: Thanks, everybody. We’ll see you next season.
Maddi: Ey up Notts and beyond. This is Dr. Maddi. I want to take a minute to say a massive thank you for tuning into The NottAlone podcast. It really means so much to have you listening and with us on this journey. However, I have a small favour to ask. If you’re enjoying the episodes, we’d love your support in helping us reach more and more listeners. Whether it’s leaving a quick review on Spotify or Apple or wherever you listen to your podcast, sharing an episode with a friend, a family member or a colleague, or just drop a comment wherever you listen, it all really helps make a big difference. Thank you.
Music: Unlock that which I bottle up inside when I want to hide from everyone for my own protection When I spot the signs know I’m not alone and the answer there lies in connection. Whatever you’re going through, I hope you know you are not alone…I hope you know you’re not alone…
