On The Mend

This week’s guest is the entrepreneur and mental health advocate Dan Murray-Serter.

Dan has ten years’ experience of building up businesses but, also, of winding them down. He’s spoken publicly about his failures, as well as his personal experience with anxiety, insomnia, depression, burnout, body dysmorphia and bulimia. And the steps Dan took towards improving his own mental and physical health, led him to a new business in nutriti...

Gabby was the first female football anchor on terrestrial television and she’s perfected the art of asking great questions, while covering a wide range of international sporting events. 

In this episode, Matt turns the tables on Gabby, and she speaks with great honesty, sharing moments and insights from her life and career.

Sporty and very driven from an early age, Gabby competed at the Commonwealth Games when she was still a teenage...

This week Matt is sharing the top 3 books that have shaped his life and his journey as a recovered addict. He’ll be breaking down exactly why they mean so much to him – and why you should consider checking them out too!
Matt has sprinkled some bonus honourable mentions, plus some feedback from all of you lovely listeners! We recently asked Matt’s Instagram followers to recommend their life-changing reads, and boy did you guys de...

This week’s guest is Johann Hari, whose books and TED Talks on depression, anxiety, and addiction have reached millions of people.

His 2015 talk Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong had a huge impact on Matt, changing how he thought about his own recovery.

Matt then devoured Johann’s first book Chasing The Scream which looked at the war on drugs, through the story of Billie Holiday. While writing this book, Johann...

Matt dives into the world of hypnosis with the psychiatrist Dr David Spiegel.

In this episode, Matt finds out just how susceptible he is to hypnosis, with results that truly blow him away, and he gets some practical tips on how to reduce anxiety.

Dr Spiegel is the Director of the Center on Stress and Health at Stanford University School of Medicine and a leading authority on hypnosis. He has 50 years experience in this field and he u...

Matt chats to the BAFTA Award-winning YouTube star, and campaigner, Nikki Lilly.

At the age of six, Nikki was diagnosed with a high flow craniofacial AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation). A rare condition which causes life-threatening nose bleeds and extreme swelling. Since then, Nikki’s had almost one hundred medical procedures, as well as therapy, to help process the trauma and pain.

When Nikki started vlogging two years later, she was...

We’re 8 episodes into series 2 of On The Mend… and what a journey it’s been so far!

It’s about time we looked back on some of our best moments. So today, Matt is reflecting on the lessons his recent guests have taught him. Unpicking the key messages that have stuck with him for weeks on end – and are sure to stick with you too. 

We’re looking back on our chats with Geordie Queen Vicky Pattison, Alcohol-Free Advocate Andy Ramage, and ...

Matt speaks to his very own psychiatrist, Dr James Kustow, about adult ADHD.

James studied medicine, before training in psychiatry. He’s now a consultant who specialises in ADHD and has trained further in psychotherapy and nutrition. 

But being an expert is only half of the story. Because, like Matt, James was also diagnosed with ADHD as an adult.

In this wide-ranging conversation, the pair talk about ADHD symptoms, diagnosis, the cor...

This week we're getting personal! 
Matt is upping the vulnerability scale, as he lets the closest people in his life – colleagues, friends, and even his wife – fire a round of constructive criticism his way.
Getting feedback about your flaws is extremely scary. But it's a powerful way to identify the things you need to work on. And if Matt can do it, so can all of you listening!
Wherever you are in your addiction r...

This week’s guest is Ruby Wax. A comedian, writer, and mental health advocate, who has wisdom to spare.

When she was younger, Ruby often felt lonely - like she didn’t fit in - and she turned to comedy. A reinvention that gave Ruby a taste for attention and led her to drama school, and eventually her own television show in which she met the biggest celebrities of the day.

After 25 years in television, Ruby reinvented herself once aga...

Matt is putting himself in the hot seat for today’s episode! We’ve rounded up some of your most pressing questions for an honest, judgment-free Q and A session, where Matt shares some of his own personal experiences in hopes that some of you guys will resonate.

We’re diving deep into the aspects of sobriety nobody talks about, how to deal with anxiety, managing family life, and much more.

If you have a question that Matt didn’t cover...

Matt meets Andy Ramage, a footballer who became a commodities broker, when injury ended his career. 

While Andy's career was a success, something was missing. He felt broken. And so ten years ago, he embarked on a journey to transform his life.

Andy realised that alcohol was impacting how he felt, and his ability to get things done. So, he set his sights on a 90 days booze-free challenge. And he’s never looked back.

If you need a ...

Matt is braving it for a solo episode this week! He’s stepping out of his comfort zone for a candid chat about a big part of any addict’s recovery: mental health.

It’s a topic lots of our listeners have been asking Matt to open up about. So today, he’s breaking down the day-to-day practices that have helped him the most – and can help you too.

Some of these habits Matt developed early on in his recovery journey. Others he’s only begi...

Matt Willis returns for a second series of On The Mend. His first guest is Vicky Pattison, a Jungle Queen, whose feet haven’t touched the ground since she first appeared on our screens in 2011. 

Geordie Shore was a baptism by fire, at a time when reality television was “a bit like the Wild West”. Vicky was only in her early 20s, she was unprepared for the spotlight, and she created a caricature of herself to hide the vulnerable pers...

Matt Willis is joined by podcaster, charity founder and cancer activist, Lauren Mahon (and her dog, Ray).

Lozza, as she likes to be called, talks to Matt about breaking the taboos around cancer, talking more openly about illnesses and death and how friends and family can really help in dark times.

They discuss her own breast cancer diagnosis, which she got aged 31, her activism, her overactive brain and why sometimes you ju...