Mantality

Connected #1: Jacko, Mystic Meg and the mental fortitude of Leeds Utd...

Episode One - January 15th 
Paul and Danny meet every Wednesday for a pint after work. It has been a tradition for three years, and 2020 is no different. But 2020 is different. And as the weeks continue the reality of this new world dawns upon them both and we see how they react as the world starts to fall into chaos all around them… 
Paul and Danny are connected, and so are all of us. 
Connected was written by Chris O'Connor and Paul Fox, performed by Stevie Ward and Paul Fox, directed by Rod Dixon, with sound by Dom Smith and is produced by Red Ladder Theatre Company in association with Mantality. Music was composed and performed by Claire-Marie Seddon with lyrics by Chirs O’Connor.

#038 Cultivating Resilience During A Pandemic (with Dr Allan Johnston)

We are joined by top sports psychiatrist Dr Allan Johnston who is employed by the English Institute of Sport (EIS) supporting our Great Britain Olympic and Paralympic Athletes in preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Allan also works as a consultant performance psychiatrist for the LMA, supporting the mental health and well being of premier league and football league managers. We find ourselves in extremely uncertain and unprecedented times with the Covid-19 Pandemic. Mantality arranged a podcast with top sports psychiatrist Dr Allan Johnston who is employed by the English Institute of Sport (EIS) supporting our Great Britain Olympic and Paralympic Athletes in preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Allan also works as a consultant performance psychiatrist for the LMA, supporting the mental health and well being of premier league and football league managers. Allan shares with the Mantality listeners the models he uses with elite athletes to understand and cultivate resilience through tough times which can be used by listeners to help them find their own resilience through the Pandemic. Alan also gives listeners methods to help them create the ideal lockdown schedule as well as a method to help them cope with stress, worry and feelings of anxiety. Stevie and Allan also dive into the masculine identity, how the pandemic may be having effects on our Olympic and Paralympic athletes mental health and discuss Allan’s approach to being a leading sports psychiatrist. Allan’s methods and models will be on the Mantality website along with videos of Allan explaining how to work through them: manatalitymagazine.com/coronavirus

#037 From Rugby League to Hollywood (with Adam Fogerty)

Adam ‘Foggy’ Fogerty is an ex-professional boxer with 19 pro fights, a former rugby league player for Halifax and Saint Helens and is now currently an actor. Adam hung up his boots to pursue the big screen and is most known for his role as ‘Mouse’ in Mean Machine and ‘Gorgeous George’ in Snatch. He has starred in other major pictures including Stardust which also starred Ricky Gervais and Robert De Niro. ‘Foggy’ tells us behind the scenes stories from the acting world, including what it’s like to have an on-screen fight with Brad Pitt, some valuable lessons he learned from Tom Hardy’s acting process, and what happened on his trip to LA with Vinnie Jones. Stevie shared his own acting experience as they dive into how it all started for ‘Foggy’ on the big screen, as well as what it was like to transition from the rugby pitch to the red carpet. 
 
Support the work we do by visiting Patreon: www.patreon.com/mantality

#036 Rob Burrow - Rising To The Challenge

Rob Burrow, one of the greatest and most successful Rugby League players of all time. Winning 8 grand finals, 2 challenge cups and 3 world club challenges. Most importantly Rob is a true family man and a great friend of Mantality’s own, Stevie Ward. Rob went public with his diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease on the 19th December 2019. News that brought all of the sporting community together and Stevie was honoured to captain the Leeds Rhinos side for Jamie Jones Buchanan’s testimonial game which he shared with Rob Burrow to help raise funds for Rob’s treatment and family. This podcast is a chance to peek behind the curtain at two rugby league players friendship; made up with a dialect of ‘Office’ quotes and bizarre nicknames that have stuck. Hear Rob speak about the specifics of what he is going through with MND, his thoughts around death, his rise to success, and how different the Rhinos were back when Rob started, compared to 2012 when Stevie made his debut. 
 
If you enjoyed hearing Rob’s story please donate to his fund through this link: http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/robburrow.
 
Sponsored by Morris Infrastructure: https://www.morrisig.co.uk/

#035 Meeting Matt Lewis, The Man Behind The Character

In Episode #035 we were joined by actor Matt Lewis. Matt is most famous for playing Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films. He is a true Yorkshire lad and rugby league fanatic, supporting Leeds Rhinos. We get deep with Matt on a range of topics such as his acting career, being famous from a young age, his mindset, his experience with therapy, and some anecdotes from stag do’s with the Leeds Rhinos players. This was a really interesting conversation and a chance to see another, more personal side to one of the familiar faces many of us have grown up with. Support the work we do by visiting Patreon: http://patreon.com/mantality. Sponsored by Morris Infrastructure: https://www.morrisig.co.uk/

#034 Living Your Truth (with Neil Smedley pt. 2)

Neil Smedley returns to the Mantality podcast for a part 2, following on from our chat in Episode #022. Neil an incredibly interesting, articulate and philosophical individual, and has been doing a lot of work amongst male mental health and masculinity. Some topics in this podcast include: what makes you a ‘good’ man and what that means in today’s society, living your truth, emotions, mediation, along with challenging some of his beliefs discussed in episode 1. Another deep, raw and sometimes brutal conversation... We hope you enjoy the chat! 
 
Support the work we do by visiting Patreon: patreon.com/mantality 
 
Sponsored by Morris Infrastructure: www.morrisig.co.uk/

#033 Barrie McDermott

In episode #033, Stevie is joined by former professional rugby league player and Sky Sports pundit, Barrie McDermott. Barrie has been at the very top of British Rugby League for more than two decades. Starring for Oldham, Wigan and Leeds and earning caps for England, Ireland and Great Britain. He is often described as one of rugby's hardest men. After his playing career, Barrie initially worked in a community role at Leeds Rhinos before joining the Leeds coaching setup as Head of Youth Development. This is where Stevie and Barrie first crossed paths and Barrie would eventually coach Stevie in the academy team. Throughout the podcast, they talk about the mental toughness required to be a professional athlete, along with anecdotes about how Stevie grew up playing the game under Barrie's tutelage, dealing with injuries, Barrie's tragic accident causing him to lose an eye at 15 years old, the pressure of Sky Sports commentary and what it's actually like.
 
Support the work we do by visiting Patreon: patreon.com/mantality 
 
Sponsored by Morris Infrastructure: https://www.morrisig.co.uk/ 
 

#032 Living & Thriving With Motor Neuron Disease (with Dr Neil Verner)

This is a very special episode as we were delighted to be joined by Dr Neil Verner who has been living with Motor Neurone Disease for five years, despite being told that he would only live 18 months. Neil is incredibly inspirational, has developed a whole new purpose in life and completely re-evaluated what really matters. He has also put his intelligence to use in researching the disease thoroughly to slow down the symptoms as well as work on a cure. As you all know this is a topic close to the heart of the Rugby League world with the recent news about Rob Burrow so we really wanted to shed some light on a special person who had some valuable advice we can all take something from. It was also a pleasure to be joined by his amazing wife Sue, friend Jake Alleston and also our very own Natalie!
 
See Neil's GoFundMe video here: youtu.be/pMlzDKFdF1M 
 
Support the work we do by visiting Patreon: patreon.com/mantality 
 
Sponsored by Morris Infrastructure: www.morrisig.co.uk/

#031 Mental Health Management, Fear & Reflections On Malibu Beach (with Mark Whittle from the Take Flight Podcast)

On the latest Mantality adventure where Dom and Stevie decided to road trip down the West Coast of America, the boys caught up with Mark Whittle of the Take Flight Podcast. To date, Mark has released 68 podcasts and also runs events on mental health. After a collaboration with Mantality in 2018 (podcast episode #010), the boys got together for a catch-up in Malibu, before getting across to a Lakers game, to chat all things Take Flight and Mantality. Mark and Stevie talk really openly about their recent challenges, hurdles they have both overcome mentally through the past couple of years and how this contributes to what comes next for both Mark and Stevie. We hope you get a lot from this pod! 
 
Sponsored by Morris Infrastructure: https://www.morrisig.co.uk/. 
 
Support the work we do by visiting Patreon: patreon.com/mantality

#030 Just A Boy (with Richard McCann)

Today we sit down with author, motivational speaker and founder of the iCan academy, Richard McCann.
At the age of 5, Richard’s mum was the first victim of the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, who is more commonly known as the Yorkshire Ripper. We chat with Richard about dealing with a tragic loss at such a young age, how that impacted his life growing up into adulthood, how he came through adversity, leading up to now where he travels all over the world delivering keynote speeches about his journey.
——
Support the work we do by visiting Patreon: patreon.com/mantality
Follow us on…
Twitter: twitter.com/mantality
Instagram: instagram.com/mantalitymagazine
Facebook: facebook.com/mantalitymagazine