You can listen to Episode 15 with therapist, Brian Thomas, here!
There’s loads of ways you can listen to our MENTAL HEALTH podcast, including: Anchor FM (via which you can find us on lots of other platforms), Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

'There Is No Pass Or Fail in Therapy' | The Power of Communication with Therapist, BRIAN THOMAS (AKA Papa Ferrero) – The Invisible Cabaret Podcast: Mental Health & The Arts
No doubt, over the last few months, you’ve heard the rumble in the jungle, you’ve heard the brain cogs turning… Well, the time has come: Rochelle’s Dad is finally on our creativity & mental health podcast! Not only is it nice to be family-centric in this festive season, but Brian is a top-notch CBT therapist with decades of experience under his belt. It was such a joy to grill him about the ups and downs of therapy, what it’s like from the other side of the desk, and some tips and tricks about how to get the most out of your therapy experience.
Some useful links for mental health issues mentioned in this episode: how to find a CBT therapist; Mind’s latest report on men’s mental health; this great post from the Blurt Foundation about reducing stigma around medication.
⚠️ CW: light conversation about therapy for OCD (6:56 – 7:50); working with sectioned patients, psychosis and violent mental illness (18:17 – 21:25); PTSD and trauma (26:20 – 28:24).

Photo by Richard ‘The Burly Photographer’ McKenzie
Things mentioned in the MENTAL HEALTH podcast:
- What is CBT? (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
- Our episode with Richard ‘The Burly Photographer’ McKenzie
- Psychosis
- Our episode with Elyssa on PTSD
- EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)
- Yoga with Adriene
- Troupe member Miss Mustardseed’s episode on our podcast
- Socratic questioning
- Long Covid symptoms
- Darron Brown on Soul Central Radio (Sunday Breakfast Show)
- Find a therapist with BetterHelp or via the BACP directory
If you’re affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please do not be afraid to seek support. Help is available. The NHS website has a great directory to get you started.

Medication is a fantastic support, but it won’t fix everything in terms of… so some people who are on medication for a long long time may feel lots of benefits from it, but maybe, just maybe, they need something else on top of that as well, along with that support, so it’s like a balance. Medication’s fantastic to get someone to get their head in a space to think, ‘Wow, my motivations lifted a little bit. Yeah, maybe I will try this therapy,’ and, ‘I’ve heard some stuff about it, I’ll give this a go.’
Brian Thomas
Be on a future episode of the invisible cabaret podcast
Tell us what you’re grateful for. We always end our shows with what has inspired gratitude in us this week, and we’d love to include your thankful thoughts too. Tweet, message us on Facebook or DM us on Instagram with what you’re grateful for, whenever the mood takes you. You can also email us: invisiblecabaret@gmail.com. Or – better still – send us a voice message!
Are you an artist (of any description) with a mental health story to tell? We are always on the lookout for future guests. Email invisiblecabaret@gmail.com for more details about how to be a future guest on the podcast.
Edited and mixed by Matt Ennis, www.mennismixing.co.uk
Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod, available under license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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