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Challenging the mainstream, negative stereotypes of people with a mental illness, Brainwaves actively engages those living with a mental illness as researchers, interviewers, performers and program designers while promoting community mental health awareness.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Brainwaves turns mental health advocacy into candid community-radio conversations shaped by lived experience, creative practice and the search for purpose.
Brainwaves lets lived experience set the terms of its mental health conversations. The 3CR interview format gives guests room to describe loneliness, suicidal ideation, violence, creative work, career-ending injury and youth support without forcing those experiences into a neat…
An AFL player calls his career unsuccessful; you get a more useful conversation than a comeback montage.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A stark, personal discussion of how violence changes suicidal thoughts, vulnerability, and the need for self-protection.
Amelia McSherry's upcoming performance piece, I Want to Die, But Not at the Hands of a Man, gives Brainwaves a hard subject in a stark physical frame: McSherry says the work places her completely naked in a glass box.
Paul Guyton links writing, acting, mental health, and unfinished creative work in a thoughtful conversation about creative practice.
Paul Guyton joins Mark for a reflective conversation about creativity, confidence, and the realities of living and writing with mental health challenges.
A thoughtful conversation about loneliness, suicide, hope, and the everyday activities that can help give life purpose.
Brainwaves treats loneliness as more than a mood; it becomes a force that can shrink a person's sense of what comes next. Nathan Bell brings the conversation into painful territory, speaking about personal tragedy, persistence, and the fragile work of holding on when…
A lively conversational portrait of Byron's fame, exile, writing, and dangerous reputation.
Dr. Paul Fern's new book gives this Brainwaves conversation a brisk route into Byron's public reputation: a poet who became famous almost overnight, traveled in an extravagant coach, and kept writing through exile.
A former AFL player's injuries open into a grounded conversation about failure, emotion, and work with young people.
Watts thought his AFL career might run for 15 years. Instead, it ended after four, following a broken, dislocated and ruptured left ankle and 12 operations across 18 months.
Jonquilyn Hill chases one listener question per episode to the experts who can answer it.
Three hosts and psychologist Dr Emily talk vulnerability, therapy, and imperfection with guests.
Fearne Cotton interviews guests like Boy George and Bryony Gordon about mental health and identity.
Dr. Joy Harden Bradford pairs therapy insight with Black TV recaps, maternal health, and history.
Amelia McSherry speaks on Brainwaves about an April performance piece, "I Want to Die, But Not at the Hands of a Man," at Shopfront 740 on 11 April.
An interview with author Katie K.
Host Flick Manning interviews musician Simone Dow about using music as a tool for mental and physical health advocacy.
Interview with Simone Dow from Voyager discussing chronic migraine, mental health, and the therapeutic role of music.
An interview with therapist Jana Firestone about grief, trauma, and mental health awareness.
An interview with an outdoor educator about a book addressing key issues affecting children and adolescents today.
This episode explores the history and evolution of the elegy as a poetic form, from ancient Greece to its influence on popular music.
An interview about music therapy as an evidence-based practice for mental health, hosted by a community radio show.
Host Slick Manning interviews Megan Del Varello, founder of We Are Emerson, about the meaning of mental health and challenges faced by female entrepreneurs.
Brainwaves host Emma and team member Kaylin interview Dr.
Evan interviews Fergus Watts, former AFL player and CEO of Reach, about the organization's work in youth mental health prevention.