Patient conversations for difficult inner weather.
Open Journal makes room for careful conversations about mental illness, wellness, stigma, and support. Recent episodes sit with grief, anxiety, self-care, flexible workplaces, sobriety, and the small gestures that help people feel less alone.
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Open Journal is a mental health interview show with a quiet confidence in ordinary conversation. It treats illness, wellness, stigma, grief, and support as lived experiences rather than abstract themes. The show often begins from the simple fact that many people are struggling while the people around them do not know what to say. That gives the conversations their shape. Mike listens closely, reflects back what guests have said, and follows the thread toward practical moments that matter in real life. A recent two-part conversation with Dan spends time with bereavement, cancer, therapy, and the complicated value of friends, acquaintances, and colleagues who keep offering a doorway back into social life. The episode is careful about how support works. It recognizes that people can disappear out of fear of intruding, even when a small invitation may be the brightest part of a month. Other episodes widen the frame. Adam's story connects anxiety, sport, fitness, education, and the wish to be useful across different parts of life. Bruce's return centers on day crafting, saying no, self-care, happiness, and purpose. Janey's conversation brings sobriety and wellness into focus, especially the importance of support, accountability, and noticing what is being gained rather than only what is being stopped. Fiona's episode looks at flexible workplaces and the limits of one-size-fits-all wellbeing advice. Alex's episode brings a lighter, creative note through talk of shows, reviews, overwhelm, and shared effort. The show is warm without being sentimental. It can be grave when suicidal thoughts, grief, or mental illness enter the room, but it stays grounded in language people actually use. Its recurring promise is modest and strong: safer talk makes further talk possible. For PlayNext users browsing mental health and grief shows, Open Journal offers reflective interviews that value presence over quick fixes.
Made for: Open Journal suits listeners drawn to reflective mental health conversations rooted in personal experience, grief, recovery, and support. It is especially relevant for people who value gentle interviews over advice-heavy wellness talk.
What sets it apart: The show stands out through its patient, validating pace and its attention to the small mechanics of support: invitations, check-ins, routines, work habits, and permission to speak. It keeps mental health grounded in lived detail rather than turning it into slogans.
Open Journal Podcast (part of the BlogCast) focuses on the many aspects of mental health; including illness, wellness, stigma and support and the lives affected by mental health. Mike and his guests discuss a range of topics including: health, relationships, education, local events and product reviews.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Mike connects personal mental-health stories to the practical conditions that make care, disclosure and everyday support more workable.
Open Journal turns lived experience into patient conversations about anxiety, grief, alcohol, support networks and access to mental-health services. Mike gives guests room to describe what helped, then asks how care and everyday relationships could respond better.
Mike makes a colleague's invitation after a loss feel like your cue to keep reaching out.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A conversation about inviting someone who is grieving to talk and feel included.
During the month or so before a funeral, a drink with someone from work became one speaker's brightest memory. It was a simple invitation, but it gave them a chance to be social, to talk, and to feel included. They could also decide for themselves whether to go.
Dan discusses grief, overthinking, and his problem-solving approach to therapy.
Dan talks about learning that someone close to him had stage four cancer and losing her in January 2024. He describes himself as reflective and prone to overthinking, and says the experience gave him insights.
A candid mental-health conversation about suicidal thoughts, isolation, and the relief of being given room to speak.
Open Journal sits with the point where mental illness becomes harder to keep hidden: men needing to talk, others sensing that something is wrong, and the relief that can arrive when someone makes room for honesty.
A plainspoken episode about sobriety, mental health, and the small gains that make change feel possible.
Open Journal approaches mental illness, suicidal thoughts, and sobriety as everyday realities that need plain speech more than polish. The episode is at its best when it stays close to connection and accountability, particularly around the moment a well-meaning partner offers…
Workplace flexibility starts with finding out what helps each person and changing what does not.
Workplace flexibility can become another box to tick when a team settles on one idea of well-being. The speakers bring the question back to the people involved. Virtual Thursday drinks may suit some colleagues; for others, they can feel forced.
A candid look at how mental health progress can coexist with stigma that still keeps people quiet.
The episode keeps its focus on the uneasy space between public progress on mental health and the private fears that still linger. It notes how conversation has opened up in recent years, while older associations with asylums, hospitals, being locked up, restraint, and poor care…
A clear, humane conversation about mental-health stigma, suicidal thoughts, and support that feels safe enough to accept.
Open Journal keeps its focus on the hard space between private distress and public silence. The conversation takes in suicidal thoughts, the familiar dismissal of depression as "all in your head," and the quiet relief that can follow when someone is given room to say what has…
Jonquilyn Hill chases one listener question per episode to the experts who can answer it.
Hard conversations, patiently held, with room to laugh.
Care, culture, and the choices shaping Black women's lives.
Root-cause health, explained plainly.
Hope, tested in real conversation.
Adam shares his lived experience with trauma, depression, and stress, and discusses how music and physical challenges like climbing mountains and running marathons have helped him cope.
James explains how he talks back to his anxiety, which he calls 'Derek', to separate the illness from his identity.
Emily shares the most common dismissive statement she hears about depression: 'It's all in your head.'
The host returns to discuss mental health, sharing personal struggles and the importance of open conversations to reduce stigma and provide support.
Open Journal's Ep311 with Dan focuses on grief, support networks, and the gap between what people offer and what grieving people actually need.
Dan says turning 30, his stepdad’s death, and Lucy’s stage four triple negative breast cancer all collided around late 2022.
Open Journal brings on Adam, also known as the Anxiety Blogger, for a discussion that starts with February half-term, a cat called Daisy, and a move into mental health story sharing.
Bruce discusses the importance of prioritizing self-care, managing boundaries, and having open conversations about mental health, especially for men.
Open Journal with Alex tracks how “Bluffing Your Way in Ballet” moved from Edinburgh Fringe performances to future tour planning, with “six shows” and three glowing reviews.
"Focus only on what you're gaining" is Janey's core rule for quitting alcohol.
Open Journal host Mike interviews Fiona Wiley about flexible workplaces, hybrid working, new parents, and practical mental-health support.
Emily returns to discuss neurodivergence and mental health, sharing personal experiences and insights on the importance of open conversations.
Johnny discusses his book 'Match Fit' and the importance of talking about mental health in football, sharing his own experiences with depression and anxiety.
Chantelle discusses her journey from counselling to coaching and the importance of open conversations about mental health, particularly for men.
Emily shares her lived experience with mental illness, discussing her work with Beat charity, co-authoring a book, and using her story to support mental health services.