Justin Gonzalez found success with his singing very early on in his career. Being invited as a headlining soloist across Europe as a teenager it seemed as though he was set for a career with a phenomenal upward trajectory. His health on the otherhand had other plans. Having grown up with his mother wheelchair bound through MS (multiple sclerosis) it always existed in the back of his mind that he may have the life altering condition too. Then one day after experiencing some serious problems with his vision, these fears were confirmed. Living with MS has forced Justin to adapt in many ways in order to continue his passion of singing and performing and his journey has not been without it's fair share of mental health difficulties too. However this man is an absolute warrior who is obsessed with human connection and interaction and now works tirelesly to connect with his audiences through music, comedy and storytelling. A true MS warrior and an absolute hero!

Master The Mind, Master Anything with Dave Cottrell

From Internationally Renowned Opera Singer to MS Warrior - with Justin Gonzalez

Dan Cleaver known more as the Beatboxer Beat Cleaver is someone who has lived with neurodivergence his entire life, but by being "different" himself he has been able to connect with so many others who the world consider different too. Having struggled at school, Beat stumbled into a job working with people with Autism and was exposed to many wonderful people who just could not communicate in the same way we consider to be "nromal" but had been labeled as not being able to communicate at all. As someone who had always liked to communicate in a different way - through the medium of music - beat was able to find different methods of communication that allowed him to connect with those who had been previously unconnected. Now as an international Beat Box artist and stream host he extends this same concept of new forms of communication to people accross the world, touching the hearts of many, including your humble podcast host!

Finding Different WaysTo Communicate with Beat Cleaver

I'm going a little bit Nike, or maybe even Shia LaBeouf today and screaming "JUST DO IT!" from the top of my lungs! But seriously I want to talk about why the first step really is the hardest and why we do need to get going if we ever want to overcome this.

Taking The 1st Step

We are going back to basics here and discussing stress, one of the most important concepts in mental health, that although is not the sole CAUSE for mental illness, is an exacerbating factor in all of them.

STRESS!

Lobow is someone who I had the pleasure of being on his podcast recently and you know when you just CLICK with a person? Well that was the case here. I found his approach to absolutely everything and his unique takes on many things to be extremely empowering so I just had to bring him to each of you. In this interview Lobow talks about how to get where he wanted in life he needed to figure out an alternative strategy from the one traditional school promotes and that is how he came up with the S.P.A.R.K. acronym. We laugh, we cry, we share stories and we HOPE together for a brighter future. If you enjoy this half as much as I did then you will love it!

The SPARK Process for Living with ADHD - With Lobow's Spark

Amy West at the time of publishing is a proud mother of a gorgeous 1 day old girl, but the path to get here was long, convoluted and often seemingly hopeless. Fertility is often something people take for granted, until struggles arise. For many people out there it is a difficult process and for others it is impossible. On this episode Amy - who is also a personal trainer and keen anti-diet culture advocate - talks about fertility, fitness and food and we draw some interesting comparisons with weight stigma/diet culture and people's entitlement to knowing the ins and outs of your family choices!

Fertility Isn't Always Straightforward - With Amy West

What is ADHD? Geraint Evans answers this question daily in witty and insightful ways, sharing his own lived experience with Neurodivergence. On this episode of the Mindset By Dave Podcast we get together and share stories of our neurodiverse experiences and talk about different ways which neurodiversity could be accomodated for.

ADHD is With Geraint Evans

Up 4 Mental Health is a Mental Health Charity with a difference. Aiming to create a series of resources that are helpful to people with their mental health but rather than pushing for a "one size fits all approach" acknowledging that what may be good for one person's mental health may not be for another. With a founder and team of trustees who all have their own lived experiences of mental health and have all learned different ways through life to manage their symptoms we aim to use that broad knowledge (and relationships with other mental health charities) to offer a diverse series of video resources for a diverse population of people who need them.

UP4 Mental Health - A New Mental Health Charity

Where's Dave? It's a very good question. Since relaunching the podcast I have seriously struggled with consistency. I want to explain why this is and explain where my mental health currently is in hope to once again normalise the conversation around mental health!

The latest Twist in My Mental Health Journey

On this episode of the Mindset By Dave Podcast I am talking about Understanding PARASOCIAL Relationships with Emory S Daniel Jr PhD Parasocial relationships are one sided relationships where a viewer/fan/follower of a person forms a bond through the other person's public actions. Think a person who feels closer to a celebrity than they are for example and you're along the right lines. However given the fact that it isn't just celebrities that live their lives in the public eye nowadays, parasocial relationships are on the rise, with people forming these kind of attachments with streamers, influencers, bloggers and more. As such we thought it would be a great idea to talk about parasocial relationships, to help define them and the discuss how to navigate them from either side of the aisle!

Understanding PARASOCIAL Relationships with Emory S Daniel Jr PhD

Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist and an author of some (if I do say so myself) rather good books! In this episode we get into mental health from a completely different perspective of the lived experience we have been speaking a lot of lately and now delve into the world of what is actually happening inside of our heads when we experience mental illness.

A Neuroscientist's Perspective on Mental Health with Dean Burnett

On today's episode I share a personal story, that of my life living with bipolar disorder. Throughout June I am raising money for Bipolar UK to help them help others struggling with this condition. I have struggled with it since 14 years old and it has been an ongoing journey of discovery learning how to live with it. Figuring out if I can control it, and trying not to let it control me too much. Here I will share bipolar disorder as experienced through my eyes!

Bipolar Disorder

It's REBRAND time! As you may have noticed there's been a little break from the podcast and I am using this time to shake things up a little. We are back now as The Mindset By Dave Podcast with renewed values and a renewed direction and I hope you will join me on this journey. In this episode we talk about crafting your life, asking your self what parts can I control, what parts can't I and what changes do I need to make to get the life I truly want?

Ep 182 - Crafting Your Life

RekItRaven is the guest on this episode and she delivers an interview that is both powerful and in places heartbreaking. Raven's life is a story of a woman who has faced death and now is no longer afraid to tackle the important issues head on. In this awesome interview she talks us through her experiences of mental health and racism and how the two have impacted each other. Our life experiences have an impact on our mental health, this is something most of us agree on, so it seemed very obvious to me that people who have lived with racism would be feeling this impact on their mental health too. But apparently that isn't obvious to a lot of people. When someone opens up about a trauma around abuse we sympathise, but when a person of colour opens up about trauma related to racial abuse they are routinely told to "shrug it off", "let it go" or "be a bigger person". We get into all this and more so get comfy as we maybe make you a little uncomfrtable as Raven shares her hard hitting truth. Be sure to go give Raven some love over on twitch as well as twitch.tv/rekitraven This interview was recorded live over at my channel twitch.tv/mindsetbydave where we have 1-2 guests everyweek on Tuesday daytime and Saturday evening UK time.

Ep 182 - Racism and Mental Health With Rek It Raven

We hear often that diet can impact your mental health and although the FOOD we consume is part of this I believe your "Mental Health Diet" is about everything you consume from corned beef to content!

Ep 181 - How's Your Mental Health Diet

Discussions, techniques and stories around mental health, mindset and personal development.

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Master The Mind, Master Anything with Dave Cottrell

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