This podcast is part of Dr Sofia Vougioukalou’s British Academy Innovation Fellowship ‘Creative Ageing and Social Prescribing: Bridging the gap between diverse service users, service providers and policy makers in Wales’. In this episode Dr Ricky Hellyar is joined by Sofia and three project participants to discuss the role of creativity in their lives and the different forms and meanings it takes across the lifespan, health conditions and cultures. Eirwen Malin is a Parkinson’s patient, a storyteller and the founder of SParky Samba, a samba drumming group for people with Parkinson’s. Kalpana Natarajan is the President of the Wales Tamil Sangam is helping the Tamil communities in Wales maintain their cultural heritage through songs and their traditional dance, Bharatanyam. Joy Findlay is an elder at Shiloh church and an accomplished Gospel singer who looks after her mother who has dementia and connects with her through song.

We are catching up with Stuart Davies in Portugal from his boat.  Stuart got involved with healthcare research after having Prostate cancer several years ago.  Stuart wanted to make a positive difference and help people. 

We are talking with Bami.  Bami is an author, a non-executive director, a patient advocate, and really interested in equity.  She also works as a visiting lecturer with Cardiff University.  She has a family history of breast cancer, both as a patient and family members.  Bami is from Swansea, so has good local knowledge to share.

In this podcast we are talking to Rashmi Kumar, from an Asian background who is full-time carer for his elderly mother.  Rashmi’s experience has helped him understand some key health issues, and the challenges faced by patients and families.

In this episode, Ffion gives us an insight into Sexual Health and explore how we can challenge associated taboos.

In this episode Rebecca Ferriday talks to Carolyn Harris MP about her campaign to better educated the world about menopause and make improvements at a national level, Carolyn also talks about her own experiences of menopause. There is then a round table discussion with Rebecca, Joanne Owen and Cath Dunn (Cardiff University) about their own experiences and of how varied the menopause can be. We then conclude the episode with an interview with Jayne Forrester-Paton, an advanced menopause specialist, by Wayne Cole and Peter Smith (Cardiff University) to help them better understand and support their friends and loved ones through their menopause journey. Produced by Peter Smith and Rebecca Ferriday

In this episode Diana De interviews Kendra-Jean Nwamadi and Dr. Sarju Patel about the importance of Vitamin D, we also hear from visitors, volunteers and organisers of the Vitamin D Grangetown awareness event. We then hear from Dr. Ricky Hellyar who interviews Beth Hellyar, a health visitor working in the Grangetown community. Thanks to Cardiff university student Zixuan Liu for her interviews with Sarju Patel and Dr Kofi.

*Warning - includes content which some people might find upsetting. In this Student/ Staff collaboration, Dr. Ricky Hellyar speaks to Tim about his experience, including physical and mental health implications. Narrated by our final year nursing student Connor, the podcast explores Tim's story and how he survived an out of hospital cardiac arrest. Produced by Peter Smith, with assistance from William O'Neill and Wayne Cole. 

In this Episode Lara Cowpe talks to Kat about her experience of living with Autism, her diagnosis as well as her work with the Autistic community. 

In this episode Lara Cowpe speaks with Kirsty about her experience of living with Hypermobility spectrum disorder.  We also her from Clare Sinton, a healthcare professional with experience of managing HSD, who shares her knowledge of the condition.