On The Mend
Matt Willis
Recent Episodes
This week’s guest is the musician, actor, writer, and podcaster Jordan Stephens.
Jordan’s probably best known for Rizzle Kicks, the chart-topping duo he formed with his friend Harley Alexander-Sule, back in 2008.
He's since released music as a solo artist, starred in various TV and film projects, published a children’s book, and now he’s written a memoir: Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak and Dogs.
In this conversation the pair discuss education, the impact of overnight success, ADHD, medication and self-medication, as well as their shared interest in psychedelics and Jordan’s journey towards healthier relationships.
For more information on some of the subjects Jordan mentioned, there are links below (including more on Professor Nutt and that toad venom).
And Jordan WILL return to On The Mend. These two just have too much in common.
Related links:
Jordan’s website
Rizzle Kicks on Instagram
Matt’s interview with Jordan on MTV Faces
BRIT School bursaries
Alan Watts on education
The Anxious Generation by Joanthan Haidt
Johann Hari’s episode of On The Mend
Professor David Nutt and drug classification
A 2002 overview of the link between football hooliganism and ecstasy
The effects of the inhalation of dried toad secretion containing 5-MeO-DMT
The ongoing study at King’s College, London
The Esther Perel quote was incorrectly attributed but she’s a fan of the person who said it, Terry Real: “Under patriarchy, you can be connected, or you can be powerful, but you can't be both at the same time because power is power over, not power with, it’s dominance. So, if you move into power, you lose connection. If you move into accommodation, you lose your power. I want to break that binary.”
Donna Lancaster & The Bridge Retreat
(01:02) Jordan’s childhood
(05:28) BRIT School and creative education
(11:48) Rizzle Kicks, Busted and dealing with overnight success
(16:36) ADHD: from voice notes to diagnoses (plural)
(20:34) ADHD: medication and self-medication
(27:40) Pattern recognition and relationships
(29:07) Sobriety and overcoming writer’s block
(30:54) Managing social media use
(35:52) Psychedelics (including dried toad secretion)
(45:43) Pressure to achieve vs connection
(47:02) Educating the next generation about relationships
(54:15) Matt’s conclusion
Matt is back with another social media special episode! Since so many of you resonated with Part 1 (episode: My Honest Thoughts On Social Media) we're bringing you a Part 2, where Matt is diving deeper into his relationship with his mobile phone.
Matt spills some details on why he feels the need to take a break from social media, how he's doing it, and why others should consider it too.
Plus, since so many of you had your own ideas and experiences to share, Matt sat down in the second half of this episode to answer some questions from listeners! We hope you all enjoy and would love to hear your thoughts. Do leave a comment or review!
Useful links:
Part 1: My Honest Thoughts On Social Media
Chanel 4 documentary: Swiped: The School that Banned Smartphones
(0:00) Intro
(0:13) Daily gratitude
(3:15) Matt is currently in a good place!
(4:53) Taking a break from social media
(5:12) Matt’s TikTok obsession on tour
(6:43) Matt’s detox from his mobile phone
(8:00) The importance of boredom
(9:13) Song writing with Busted
(10:16) Answering your questions about social media
(27:15) Introducing the burner phone
(29:15) Outro
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 nutrition and supplements.
Dan and Matt get quite deep in this conversation, which covers spirituality, mental health, ayahuasca. and much more.
Related links:
The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Height
(01:28) The benefits and joy to be found in a regular walk
(04:43) A few of Dan’s favourite non-fiction books
(06:10) Finding fulfillment and embracing spirituality
(11:18) Dan on his upbringing and what he learned from his father
(18:44) Living in the present and getting the balance right as an entrepreneur
(20:26) Dan’s own mental health history (including insomnia)
(24:02) Dan’s life-changing visit to a dietician
(33:51) Dan’s experience with bulimia
(42:38) Assisted psychedelic therapy and ayahuasca
(56: 02) Finding your purpose (with a small p)
(01:02:28) Managing comparison and social media
(01:07:09) Matt’s outro
The secret is out… Matt Willis and his wife, Emma, are currently on a 3-week long social media break. They’re doing this alongside a group of year 8 students, whose experiment will be the star of an upcoming Channel 4 documentary.
But what does Matt really think of all of this?
Before the experiment, we caught up with Matt to ask his honest opinion on social media. Is it a good thing? Bad thing? What’s Matt’s personal experience with it? And how can we start to nurture a healthier relationship with social media?
Let’s see how Matt’s opinions change over the course of the experiment. Stay tuned as we find out more in 3 weeks!
We hope you enjoy the episode, and if you’d like to share your own thoughts on social, please leave a comment or review!
Useful links:
Chanel 4 documentary: Swiped: The School that Banned Smartphones
Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
(0:00) Intro
(0:44) Daily gratitude
(5:14) Matt’s weird relationship with social media
(7:03) Do I need to know what’s trending?
(8:58) Insecurities and social media
(9:42) Social media is not real life
(11:59) Engaging with followers
(12:45) Social currency
(14:21) Life is precious, so how are you using your time?
(16:17) Kids don’t want social media
(18:15) This is a real addiction we’re not taking seriously
(19:05) So what can we do about it?
(20:48) Outro
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 teenager. But when her gymnastics career came to an abrupt end, she had to find a new direction. And this big change was followed by the shocking loss of her brother Daniel, when he was just 15 years old.
Gabby talks about the impact of grief on her family and how she found the support to deal with her own. She shares how she found confidence as a broadcaster and learned to accept the competitiveness that was forged in a sporting environment.
Gabby also reflects on the challenges and the joy she’s experienced raising her own family; and the wisdom and life-changing lessons she’s gained through her own podcast, The Mid.Point.
(01:40) Gabby’s sporty childhood
(04:01) Owning competitiveness
(07:24) British self-deprecation vs. the mentality in the US
(09:06) Honesty vs. brutal honesty
(10:28) Gabby’s love of order and finding compromise as a family
(12:33) Gabby’s gymnastics career (and finding a new direction when it was gone)
(15:27) The death of Gabby’s brother, Daniel, when he was just 15
(18.28) The impact on Gabby’s family (and varied ways of dealing with grief)
(21:30) The negative consequences of avoiding grief
(26:35) Her father’s self-destructive behaviour and the challenge of providing support
(38:26) Gabby’s mentor Ed Percival, NLP, and finding confidence at work
(44:06) Meeting her husband Kenny
(45:16) Wim Hoff and trying cold water therapy on Freeze The Fear
(48:03) Gabby’s podcast, The Mid.Point
(53:14) The importance of exercise and being truly present at family time
(55:34) Writing The Midpoint Plan
(56:44) Matt’s outro
Related links:
The Mid.Point: The Prostate Episode, with Kenny Logan
NHS guidance on prostate cancer
Gabby’s new book: The Midpoint Plan
Gabby’s memoir: The First Half
Gabby takes the plunge on BBC One’s Freeze The Fear
The Sports Agents podcast