Hello I’m Michelle Thomas and welcome to My Shit Therapist, the podcast pick of the week in The Times! The actual Times! I’m so happy and proud. I’m a one woman band, and sometimes it can feel like I'm chucking stuff out into the void. It’s hard to make an impact with no marketing budget and a full time job, so I’m really glad to have a bit of recognition, and I’m really glad you’re here. And if you want to spread the word you can leave a lovely 5 star review and subscribe , and I’ll be your friend forever. Today I’m speaking with Hywel Harrington, a trainee therapist from South Wales who now lives in Bristol. Just a heads up, when I spoke to Hywel he was recovering from top surgery, and we’re going to talk a little bit about the details of that, we’re also going to touch on gender dysphoria, substance abuse, and a suicide attempt, so as ever if you’re not feeling up to it today, come back another time.  Having said that we do laugh a lot in this episode, and Hywel is incredibly charming and funny and wonderful, you’re going to love him.You can find Hywel’s Instagram account @howl.skellington because it’s spooky season. Thank you so much for listening, until next time take care and take your meds xx

Hello hello! I’ve been quiet for a couple of months.I love doing this podcast, but I work full time and I’m planning to write another book, a follow up to My Sh*t Therapist and other mental health stories, and doing ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIMES during, y'know, The Apocalypse is a lot So from now’ll be releasing a new episode of My Sh*t Therapist every month. And I’m very excited abut some of the sexy stuff I’ve got lined up for you fo the next six months. Let’s get into it. For this episode I spoke with the luminescent author Caroline O’Donoghue. Caroline is the author of Scenes of a Graphic Nature, which is a beautiful dark stormy jewel of a book that I loved last summer. We talked about her on off relationship with talking therapy, why Freud and Jung are like the Jets and the Sharks, sexy 70s names, books, tarot, catholicism, and coping with grief.I love her and I think you’re going to love this. 

No guest this week, so here's a quick run down of what I've been up to, including making a BBC documentary and seeing a new therapist x

In this episode I’m takng to mental health author Kate Lucey. If you enjoy my book, My Sh*t Therapist and other mental health stories, I think you’ll really like her book, Get a Grip, Love. It’s a chatty, accessible, no-nonsense book about her experience with depression, medication, therapy and more.  She’s a fellow Welsh lass, - shes’s from the South, I’m from the North: we have our differences at home but across the border we present a united front.  We also spoke at a time when her brain was acting like a dickhead so I'm particularly thankful that Kate took the time to have a chat. I know how easy it is to push the world away when your brain tells you no one wants to hear what you have to say.  You can follow her @katelucey on Insta and Twitter. 

Amanda Prowse is one of the most prolific novelists working today – she’s published 27 novels, many of which have been best-sellers all over the world including An Ordinary life, The Girl In The Corner, and The Coordinates Of Loss.  She has co-written one non-fiction title, The Boy Between, with her son Josiah (Josh) Hartley about his suicidal depression. We talk very candidly about Josh’s suicide attempts and self-harm. Please only listen if you’re feeling up to it, if you think it’s going to trigger you, give it a miss. I loved this conversation because it’s the first time I’ve spoken to a mother and child about their collective experience of one person’s illness, and they both absolutely radiate with love for each other. So although parts it are very, very painful, the love that exists in spite of and because of that pain, is a privilege to witness.  If you have a mental health story and you’d like to be a guest on the podcast, email me at myshittherapist at gmail.com or follow me on twitter @michelletomos or @myshittherapistpod  The Boy Between is out now, Amanda is @mrsamandaprowse on Instagram and Josh is @josiahhartley97.  Thank you for listening, until next time take care and take your meds  

In this episode I’m taking to the brilliant, incisive and wise Nell Frizzell. Nell is the author of the book The Panic Years which explores that tumultuous period the late twenties and early forties when women (and men) are faced with weighty, life-changing decisions about parenthood, careers, relationships. She also hosts a podcast of the same name which is ace. Nell’s been in therapy for about 9 years and after chatting about th do's and don'ts of choosing a therapist (do trust your instincts, don't go by Google images alone), we fell into talking about how we can examine our relationship with our fathers and how that’s perceived in women and men.  You can follow Nell on twitter @nellfrizzell. You can email me at myshittherapist at gmail.com 

SIDEBAR: This week I appeared on a mental health panel for Amazon UK with Laura Thomas and Amanda Prowe. Watch it anytime in March on Amazon.co.uk/IWD  Gemma Sherlock is a journalist and the co-host of not one but two mental health podcasts: No, Really, I’m Fine, and Mind over Money.  We discuss her experience with panic attacks, and depression, and suicidal ideation. We also talk about what Gemma calls anticipatory grief as her Mother is currently receiving palliative care for terminal cancer. As ever if you’re not feeling up to listening to this episode, tap out for now, and come back to us another time.  Follow Gemma on Twitter @Gemmasherlock2. She is currently raising money for Cancer Research UK, find out more at https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/gemmas-walk-all-over-cancer-fundraising-page-398

CONTENT WARNING: Suicidal and homicidal thoughtsHello and welcome to this very special episode of My Shit Therapist And Other Mental Health Stories with me Michelle Thomas  The paperback version of my book, also titled My Shit Therapist And Other Mental Health Stories is out on Monday 8th March. So you can have my words in your eyes for less. Do give it a whirl, you’ll like it I promise. Available now at all good bookshops and all bad multinational corporations. I’m also publishing an epilogue in the e-book (not the paperback) explaining what happened when today’s guest Laura got in touch with me to communicate, very gently and lovingly, how I’d got something wrong in my book.  I made a mistake and Laura very graciously gave me the opportunity to first of all sincerely apologise for the very legitimate hurt I’d caused her personally, and learn and make amends and I’m very thankful to her for that. You’ll hear more about that in our talk.  This episode comes with a Class 1 trigger warning – we’re doing to be discussing in graphic details  Laura’s experience with suicidal thoughts, and homicidal thoughts that were directed at her husband and baby. If you have any reservations about listening to this today, please feel free to tap out and join us another time.  As bleak and as painful as Laura’s experience is, her resilience and the love that radiates from her towards her husband and now almost teenage daughter is an absolute joy and privilege to witness having heard what she had to fight through to get where she is today. I hope you love it. I’d to hear your thoughts - tag me at myshittherapist on twitter or email my shit therapist at gmail.com. For advice about post-natal mental health, search PANDAS Foundation UK.   

TW: Suicide, alcoholism After Ross McPhail lost his 18-year-old brother Jake to suicide, their Mum set up a charity to help families in similar situations. Ask For Jake offers peer-to-peer support and free suicide prevention training resources in their local community. Search Ask for Jake to find out more about their work. 

Emma is a YA author who writes under the name E. L. Norry.  She was born in Cardiff, grew up in care, was sent to boarding school to Devon, and eventually moved to London.  Emma was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a manic episode that started during a visit to New York’s Ground Zero, the site of 9/11. Her illness manifested itself in visual and aural hallucinations and mania.  When she arrived home she was sectioned, first in an NHS ward, then in the Priory, a famous private rehab clinic in the UK.  You can find Emma on twitter @elnorry_writer As ever, if you have a story to share, pop me an email at myshittherapist at gmail.com I think you’re going to love this episode. Let’s get into it.