In episode 361 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Jenny Tomei.

Jenny is the Founder and CEO of JenUp C.I.C.

JenUp is a social enterprise specialising in training teachers on how to spot the early signs of an eating disorder. It also provides workshops for students on eating disorder awareness and body image.

Jenny has lived experience of eating disorders herself, when she developed anorexia when she was 19 years old. She struggled with the anorexia for over 10 years, and in her words, should have been admitted to hospital as an in-patient in 2009 when her BMI dropped to just 14.

At 23 she was forced into treatment but wasn’t ready to recover. She then moved to Australia, ended a toxic relationship she was in at the time, and went travelling.

However, she came back and relapsed.

It was only when she was around 27/28 years old that her first steps of recovery began.

She then relapsed again aged 29 years old, before finally overcoming it in 2020.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, she had to close her personal training business and in the ashes of that, she founded JenUp in 2022.

Since then, she has spoken in secondary schools about her journey of recovery, has qualified as a nutritionist and is in the last year of her qualification to become a specialist eating disorder recovery therapist.

We discuss this journey from crisis to recovery and now advocacy, the impact she has had on young girls and boys she’s spoken with and her goals and ambitions for JenUp going forward.

As always, #itsokaytovent

You can find out more about JenUp here: https://jenup.co.uk/.

You can follow Jenny on social media below:

• Instagram
• TikTok

TRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains discussions about eating disorders, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.

Support Us:

• Patreon
• PayPal
• Merchandise

In episode 360 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Tom Maberly.

Tom is now a decade into managing his own business, &Friends, a content studio servicing global clients with content strategy, creative, production and delivery.

He is also CEO of a second business, Cavalry, a Contingent workforce management system, servicing marketing, creative and production agencies, and inhouse teams.

Tom founded &FRIENDS alongside two business partners, Matt and Julian.

In 2018, Julian wanted to move his family to Australia as his wife is Australian, so Tom and Matt came together and agreed to buy his share of the business out. Matt became Head of Business development and Tom became Managing Director.

The business continued to grow fast, and their success was recognised with a holding group’s offer to buy them - they got close to a deal but pulled back.

They were then approached by an Australian based business, Cavalry freelancing, who had offices in Sydney and Singapore, about the prospect of a merger, and they agreed, with &FRIENDS acquiring Cavalry in March 2022, taking on the Cavalry proprietary tech.

It wasn’t plain sailing after the merger and it was a big learning curve for both Tom and Matt.

Unfortunately, during this period, Matt’s mental health was also beginning to decline severely.

Tragically, on April 16th 2023, Matt took his own life. It was a huge shock for Tom and the whole organisation. Tom as MD had to steady the ship, support his team whilst also grieving himself.

Just two months before that, on February 16th 2023, Tom’s brother had also taken his own life.

In this episode we discuss Tom’s professional journey and the events around his brother’s and Matt’s deaths.

We then compare the experience of the two griefs as Tom’s brother had a history of mental illness, whilst Matt didn’t.

We talk about how he processed the two deaths and why Matt’s death, in his words, gave Tom an ‘excuse’ to take action on his mental health, where previously he felt too stigmatised to do so without it and take those first steps on the road to recovery.

As always, #itsokaytovent

TRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion about grief, loss and the impact that losing a loved one to suicide can have, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.

Support Us:

• Patreon
• PayPal
• Merchandise

In episode 359 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Kenny Bartonshaw.

Kenny is the Founder and Director of Headspace FC C.I.C.

Headspace FC is a weekly football group for adults (18+) who want to stay active, meet people, and take a break from the daily grind.

Their mantra is: Play. Connect. Support.

Based in Stoke-On-Trent in Staffordshire, Headspace FC began as a kickabout in April 2024 with Kenny and a group of 8-10 male friends who were either playing in veterans teams or hadn’t played in many years due to life commitments.

The group grew from there and in June 2025, Headspace FC became a Community Interest Company or C.I.C.

In 2025, they secured £9,000 in funding from Sports England which they used to hire more facilities and pitches. They grew from 1 session a week with 8 people to 3 sessions a week with up to 60 people taking part.

With players ranging from 18-60 years old, Headspace FC is strengthening community bonds in the area and building bridges. Even Kenny’s wife has made connections and friends through its creation!

In this episode, we discuss the genesis of Headspace FC and its journey from the first kickabout to now, the rapid growth of it and how Kenny balances it alongside his full-time job as an assistant headteacher of a primary school, and being a father of three children.

For Kenny’s mental health journey, we discuss his career in football coaching and teaching.

Kenny left college and did an apprenticeship at Stoke City FC to become a full-time football coach.

He worked as a coach for around 10-12 years as a senior community coach. He also ran coaching clubs and achieved an UEFA B licence too.

However, he was working very long hours and for very little pay so at 22 years old, he left Stoke City and transitioned into teaching after his wife, who also works in teaching told him about a role for a SEND Teaching Assistant job at the secondary school she worked at and told him he should apply for it.

He successfully applied and combined his job in teaching alongside completing a degree in Sports Coaching and Management with a module in child studies at the Open University.

After two and a half years at that school, he moved into primary school teaching, completed his degree and then underwent his teacher training through Schools Direct and has worked at the role he is in for over 11 years, working his way up to the role of Assistant Headteacher.

We discuss this journey, the role his mentor provided in giving him the confidence to become a teacher and stick with it, a negative experience he had at another football club, and how he reflects on that journey now.

We finish by discussing his mum’s cervical cancer diagnosis when he was in his early 20s, her death from it in 2008, and the impact that had on his mental health as a young man.

We also discuss the grief of losing his best friend in 2018, also from cancer, when Kenny was 32 years old and the impact that had on him too.

As always, #itsokaytovent

You can find out more about Headspace FC C.I.C here: https://headspacefc.co.uk/.

You can follow them on social media below:

• Instagram

TRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion about grief and loss, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.

Support Us:

• Patreon
• PayPal
• Merchandise

In episode 358 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Martyn James.

Martyn is a freelance journalist, broadcaster, presenter and consumer rights expert.

He has over two decades of experience working for the UK’s leading newspapers and broadcasters and at time of recording has done over 14,000 TV and radio appearances, conducting 15-20 a week.

His weekly newspaper columns feature in The Times, the Mirror and his syndicated column appears in over 100 newspapers and magazines around the UK, from The Scotsman to the Eastern Daily Press.

He has been a guest presenter on over 25 television programmes across all of the main channels in the UK, including BBC One's Rip Off Britain for over a decade and is a regular guest on some of the nation's most popular shows, from Morning Live to The One Show.

In this episode we discuss his journey into journalism, broadcasting, presenting and how he landed on his speciality as the consumer rights expert in the UK.

We explore what opportunities that’s brought him, the issues he covers and amplifies for UK consumers through a mental health lens and how his personal life has also intersected with the issues he covers too.

For Martyn’s mental health journey, we discuss his experience of suicidality when he was at school, being bullied for his sexuality as a gay man, and the context of coming out in the 1980s amidst high levels of homophobia.

We also talk about the death of his brother David from suicide in June 2020. He was just 38 years old at the time.

We explore all of the emotions around this grief, including stigmatised ones like anger, the impact his suicide had on Martyn’s family, and how they’ve moved forward as a family in the last six years.

As always, #itsokaytovent

You can find out more about Martyn's work here: https://martynjamesexpert.co.uk/

TRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion of grief, loss and the impact that losing a loved one to suicide can have, which some listeners may find distressing or upsetting, so please listen with caution.

Support Us:

• Patreon
• PayPal
• Merchandise

In this episode of Behind The Mic we checked in with Tyler Shea.

Tyler is a singer/songwriter, currently based in Cornwall and is a mutual friend of friend of the pod Lily Ward.

After writing his first album at the age of 14/15 years old, Tyler took the leap to become an artist in 2019 with his Tyler Shea project.

Since then, he has released his debut EP, ‘Still Not Over You’ in 2025 and is looking to define his pop-based sound going forward.

In this episode we discuss his music journey, growing up in a musical household, studying for a degree in music production and sound engineering at university, and taking his first steps as an artist.

For Tyler’s mental health journey, we discuss his struggles in school in making friends and never quite truly fitting into any social group he was in.

We also discuss how he learned to come out of his shell, why music was key to it, and the deliberations he has had in moving to London to further his career.

As always, #itsokaytovent

You can listen to Tyler on streaming platforms below:

• Spotify
• YouTube

You can follow Tyler on social media platforms below:

• Instagram
• TikTok

Support Us:

• Patreon
• PayPal
• Merchandise

In episode 357 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Miles Spencer.

Miles is a business leader and entrepreneur with over 30 years’ experience in the industry.

He has started, built, and led three unique companies and ‘exited’ from them, which means a founder, owner, or investor has sold their stake in a company, effectively cashing out their investment.

Today, he is the Co-Founder and CEO of an AI company called Reflekta.

Reflekta is an AI-powered ‘digital legacy platform’ in the company’s words, and their goal is to help families preserve voices, stories, and wisdom for generations.

So far, Reflekta have enabled over 20,000 stories with their customers, and their goal is to reach 1m of these by the end of 2026.

In this episode, we chart Miles' journey in business, the achievement of exiting from three different businesses, his business failures and what he learned from them, and how the art of storytelling has shaped his career, life and values.

We then do a deep dive into the work he does with Reflekta, why they employ grief counsellors and hospice workers as advisors at the business to shape their work, why they aren’t therapy, and why he views it as important to state that, in his words, ‘we are not reincarnating people’.

For Miles’ mental health journey, we discuss some mental health challenges he had in 2025 when several people close to him came close to death, the life and death of his father, who died 8 years ago and his own personal use of Reflekta too.

As always, #itsokaytovent

You can find out more about Reflekta here: https://reflekta.ai/

Support Us:

• Patreon
• PayPal
• Merchandise

In episode 356 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with David Maywald.

Born and raised in Australia where he resides today, David has worked in finance for over two decades as an investment professional, holding roles of Research Analyst and is a top-quartile Portfolio Manager.

He currently works as a governance specialist and holds a portfolio of board roles across the fields of health, education, families, active lifestyles, infrastructure, investment, and sustainability.

He is also a father and the author of the book ‘The Relentless War on Masculinity: Does It Ever End?’.

In this episode, we do a deep dive into the book, the themes he explores, who is waging this war on masculinity and why.

We also talk about the process of publishing the book, which he had to do self-published, why his financial situation allowed him the freedom of expression to write without fear of cancellation, and the reception of the book.

For David’s mental health journey, we discuss fatherhood and a couple of periods where he has been depressed in his life, due to his employment situation and being isolated from his social networks.

As always, #itsokaytovent

You can follow David on social media below:

• X

Support Us:

• Patreon
• PayPal
• Merchandise

In episode 355 of The Just Checking In Podcast our Founder Freddie flew solo to remember a very special woman who sadly died last year.

We interviewed a woman called Claire Johnson on JCIP #66 all the way back in October 2021, where we discussed her incredible life, from dating the lead singer of 1970s rock band Deep Purple, to working in the Police service during the Yorkshire Moor murders, to the London 2012 Olympics and finally, becoming a mental health advocate.

Prior to that, in JCIP #45 in July 2022, we checked in with Sam Thomas, a mental health advocate who has been working in this space for even longer than me!

In Sam's pod we discussed his very severe mental health crisis as a result of an alcohol addiction in 2018, where he was admitted to hospital as an in-patient for the second time and an incredible, kind and supportive person called Claire Johnson supported Sam through that crisis.

Claire was very well known on Twitter in the mental health space for her tireless support of mental health advocates, and was always on hand to send a supportive message or reply to a tweet when anyone disclosed publicly they were struggling.

Fast forward four years and tragically, last year we were informed by Sam that Claire was very seriously ill and implied she didn’t have long left to live.

Then, on 12th June 2025, Claire very sadly died. Initially we had planned to have a conversation with Sam about Claire’s life and death on the podcast but unfortunately, he wasn’t ready to do that, which is absolutely fine.

However, we still wished to celebrate Claire’s life in this podcast, and we obtained permission from Claire’s son to tell you the listeners about it.

In a world today where the inter-generational divide in the UK is bigger than ever, young men and women are becoming more and more politically polarised and people have increasingly little empathy online, we need more Claire’s in this world who will approach everyone with kindness, empathy and love, whatever their situation is.

If there were more people like Claire in this world, I am 100% sure it would be an infinitely better place.

As always, #itsokaytovent

You can listen to Claire's JCIP below:

• JCIP #66 - Claire Johnson: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595459/episodes/18686157

You can also listen to Sam's episode below:

• JCIP #45 - Sam Thomas: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2595459/episodes/18686194

Support Us:

• Patreon
• PayPal
• Merchandise