Tonic Talk

Claire Snowdon-Darling is the visionary founder of Balanced Wellness. She is a Senior Practitioner and her practice is based at the head office clinic in Havant, Hampshire. Having been involved in alternative health since 1993 Claire is an expert with a vast amount of knowledge and experience and has helped literally thousands of people to achieve their goals. Claire’s work is unique. She offers cutting edge hormone and digestive protocols that bring together the modern advances in nutritional science with highly effective, effective, specialist Kinesiology techniques. She is renowned for her clarity and wisdom which, combined with her extensive training in a variety of modalities allows her to pinpoint issues and support her clients to transform their lives both physically and emotionally.

Having taught Kinesiology from foundation to advanced levels since 2009, Claire is a Senior Lecturer at Balanced Wellness and is the head of The College Of Functional Kinesiology as the creator of both “Functional Kinesiology”, a four phased approach to working with clients utilising trademarked protocols and methodologies which are now taught to practitioners and “Holding Space” an emotional qualification for therapists to support clients emotional transformation.

Claire is an inspirational speaker and often gives talks on nutrition, emotion and health, both in the UK and Internationally. These dynamic and fascinating talks are highly informative, providing the attendees with tips and techniques they can easily add in to their lives and they are punctuated with both her maverick humour and her deep wisdom and experience. Both her popular blog for The Huffington Post and the podcast “Consciously Healthy” that she co-hosts with Laura Knowles on iTunes and YouTube are regarded by many as thought provoking and entertaining.

This week on Tonic Talk we introduce you to Redwood (Ellie Williams) is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist strategically based between Mid Wales the West Midlands. Known for her powerful, haunting vocals and perfect harmonies, Redwood has been performing on the independent circuit for the last couple of years, stirring up a name for herself. She has shared stages with Quill (Bev Bevan), Dodgy, Nigel Clark and has appeared at numerous festivals such as Mello Festival, Worcester Music Festival and Tenbury Music Festival among others. Her songs have received national and regional airplay on BBC6 Music, BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester, BBC Introducing Shropshire and BBC Introducing West Midlands.

Redwood (Ellie Williams) takes you on a journey of self discovery talking how she got into music at only 6 years old, her process for writing and her own struggles with mental health at such a young age, we also experience what it means to be Redwood, from silky vocals and dreamy melodies encapsulate Redwood’s song 'The Radio', combining soulful indie-pop styles to create a foot tapping musical masterpiece. Redwood’s catchy lyricism and twangy instrumentals create the perfect mellow ambience, with her lyrics capturing the essence of melancholic feeling, and how music provides an escape.

​’The Radio’ is an upbeat pop song about feeling down! It’s a song about wanting to drown out my negative thoughts by turning the music up on my radio. When I originally wrote it, it started off as a slower song, but then I started playing around with a couple of the notes in the chords on guitar and it sounded so much better in a more upbeat tempo! I got to record this song at Rockfield Studios in South Wales, which was such an amazing experience as the studios have a huge amount of history with other musicians and artists creating music there.” - Ellie Williams

On, this week Tonic Talk - Special Edition 100 Days of Mental Health. We go transatlantic to New York joined by Jim Shoopack who's goal is to save as many lives as he can and eradicate the stigma of mental illness. Jim is a teacher and inspiration for people trying to get back what mental illness has taken from them. He speaks about the hardest 100 days of his life and how he wants to eventually run 100 marathons. He is also fluent in Spanish and has his Doctorate. 

Jim's journey with Mental Health began in February 2001, I started to have the symptoms of clinical depression. The challenge is, for 100 days I didn’t know that how I felt at the time had an actual name. That I could combat it. That I could do something about it. Until I did. Join us has Jim Shoopack takes us through his process over 100 day's, how he took up running, learn about his dog Sonny who he credits with helping to overcome and have the courage to beat his Mental Health. As with all animals, the unconditional love he gave Jim was so necessary and definitely helped …………..A lot. 

The story doesn’t end there, learn about how Jim Shoopack has now completed 21 marathons. Lean why this is so important? Find out about his long term goal long to complete 100 full marathons. Each one 26.2 miles. I want to get the 100 days of life I lost while depressed back. I see a marathon as living two days in one. Is it really? No. But symbolically, you better believe it is.  This week's episode is a must-listen, packed with motivation, optimism, and confidence. We hope more people will talk about their experiences, just like Jim Shoopack always understand, because it truly is ‘Ok Not To Be Ok', particularly if you are a man suffering from mental health issues.

Lily Walford - Behavioural Profiler, Relationship & Dating Coach, NLP Master Practitioner & Hypnotherapist joins us on this week's episode of Tonic Talk to explore dating, love, and finding your ideal partner. Relationships have such a huge part to play in our lives, which makes it so important for us to meet the right person to create the right foundations with, to share memories with and to live a loving life with. At, Tonic Talk we firmly believe Love Promotes Emotional and Mental Wellbeing, no matter what form it comes in, helps people incorporate safer behaviors into their everyday lives, reduces anxiety (worry, nervousness), and lowers the chance of developing depression or another form of mental illness. "Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only with what you are expecting to give, which is everything." -  Katharine Hepburn We might also go so far as to suggest that anyone that has ever suffered from mental illness knows that love and mental health are closely intertwined, whether we realise it or not. By definition, no one has ever been gravely mentally ill without also suffering from a profound lack of affection at some stage. This week's episode also explores the subject of love, including how to find the right person and how to recover from our worst mental health experiences. It's also important to note that you can't love someone else until you love yourself, but the argument holds a lot of validity. The healthiest relationships are those between two individuals who are both dependent on each other and self-sufficient. They care about one another, but they also care about and respect themselves. Just as you would your partner, be kind and compassionate to yourself. Allow yourself to be forgiven, but still focus on self-improvement.  We, close this episode on a very special story of a random act of kindness, from The Tonic Health Family. We, also share more details of Tonic Health 100 raising awareness for men’s mental health in conjunction with Tonic Health Spalding Men's Shed. We are calling on our communities to walk with us in unison towards 100 - miles in honour of Sir Captain Tom Moore.      

Charlie Russell has joined the Tonic Health Family & Friends this week. He's a Lincolnshire-based singer-songwriter and all-around nice guy. We invited him into this week's episode because he's a man who's not afraid to talk about his feelings, particularly for songwriting, and how emotionally he arrives at a place where he can connect and express himself. During this episode of Tonic Talk, we find out about how Charlie Russell, a regular performer with Spalding Amateur Dramatic Operatic Society (SADOS), came second in the BBC Song for Lincolnshire, after entering the competition for the first time with his song 'Red, Green, Gold and Blue'. He also won the 'best performance' award.

We explore the mental health benefits of singing and songwriting, as well as how music helped during lockdown. Music is an easy way to change your mood or alleviate stress. People use music to control, improve, and reduce negative emotional states in their daily lives (e.g., stress, fatigue). We delve into his musical style, inspirations, and how composing new songs is crucial to his success and creative process. We, discuss his upcoming new album 'A Light In The Dark' acoustic EP released on 30th April, how he feels about retuning to live gigs after such a long time since hospitality and venues had to unfortunately close due a global pandemic.

In this episode, we discuss men's mental health once more, as well as the importance of being open and honest with family and friends about how we're feeling. During lockdown, he would often call his best friend to talk or simply go online to stay in touch. We'll wrap up the episode with a special acoustic song from Charlie Russell 'Future Memories' album called 'Whistle In The Rain.' He's also planning to release three new EPs in 2021, and if you're in the area from April 12th, you can catch him performing live at The Imaginarium in Spalding.

This week, Barbara Mehew of Phoenix Business & Training Consultancy Ltd joins Amber Sinclair on Tonic Talk to discuss furlough, redundancy, and, most importantly, men's mental health in the United Kingdom. Barbara Mehew's wealth of expertise and experience make this podcast a must-listen; in this week's episode, we explore why we need men to start being more accessible and talking about their overall mental health, which is one of the most urgent issues of our time. With men aged 40 to 49 having the highest suicide rates in the UK, it's time for men to stop being a statistic and start talking. In this episode, we'll  also look at why mental health is no longer a taboo topic, explaining why mental health and well-being should be a number 1 priority for everybody. We also welcome back Aaron Berry, who performed two live music sessions for us during our Tonic Health Music Festival over Lockdown. To close out Tonic Talk, Aaron Berry has provided us with one of his brilliant songs, ‘It's Ok To Cry.' Pull up a chair, grab a drink, and prepare for another informative journey into topics of mental health and well-being. 

We recognise the importance of raising awareness for World Autism Awareness Week at The Tonic Health Family & Friend's. We have some exciting news: we've posted an extra special podcast called "Let's Talk Autism" as a bonus episode on Tonic Talk this week. It's a short episode by our very own Callum Brazzo called "Why We Should Make Mountains Out of Molehills." Hello everyone. My name is Callum Brazzo and I am an autistic man living in Spalding, Lincolnshire. I suffered from severe anxieties and depression. I was misunderstood and bullied. However, I have never suffered from my natural brain wiring. I was late to receive this trio of formal diagnoses which are as follows: AUTISM OCD TOURETTES None of these diagnoses make me or anyone else inhuman. I believe in facilitating and participating in community conversations. I want to achieve this by maximising the potential of all neurodivergent people such as people with ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspaxia and Autistic People. Poetry in its written form was my outlet to express myself. Writing my feelings down was therapeutic and, with an alternative education and the right people involved in my life beyond my difficult mainstream schooling, I was able to flourish.  I am more confident due to my creative catharsis and I now perform poetry borne out of the adversity of my past as well as pieces that look forward to my future. My poetry captures my journey and the journeys of others that I've not necessarily taken but feel empowered and privileged to share. Nowadays, I have a self-published book called Movement: Performance Poetry Written Down available exclusively on Autistic Empire, a social organisation for and RUN BY autistic people. Buy it now on the Autistic Empire page!  I also run an autistic adult support group called Autistic Led in Spalding, Lincolnshire. Ciao for now, ​Callum.

Welcome to Tonic Talk, where our host Amber Sinclair we'll chat about how a global pandemic has reshaped our local community in rural Lincolnshire over the last 12 months in a feature-long episode, as well as what the future holds in a post-pandemic environment. This week we are joined by Ruth & Laura from Tonic Health Safe Places - Spalding providing a vital insight on how a local community has seen an increase in loneliness, isolation, and mental well-being challenges during Lockdown. Find out more about Tonic Health Safe Places - Spalding, what it means to be a safe place, and what services they offer, we discuss how Tonic Health Safe Places - Spalding changed the way they provided vital services shifting to an on-line support model using video chat, social media & technology helping to stay connected with their local community over the last 12 months during the lockdown. During this episode, we discuss what challenges we will face as we come out of hibernation and what the new normal will look like going forward, the challenges we are likely to face, and how vital the local community & charities will play a huge part in re-building after the unprecedented events we have all gone through.  We also highlight other services, such as the NHS, that can help support people across Lincolnshire and the wider UK. Most importantly, we want to demonstrate that nobody has to suffer in isolation, that there is help for everybody, and that it's okay not to be okay. It's all about engaging with people and lending a helping hand when they are in need. Closing out our very first episode we are lucky to include a poem written by local poet & The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008, Benjamin Zephaniah is a novelist, political activist, and musician, called 'People Need People' at Tonic Talk we could not agree more during this current period of uncertainty we most differently need people to support each other as we move forward.