Mind Brew

In 2019, 498 New Zealand men took their own lives. Globally on average, one man dies by suicide every minute of every day. We have a silent pandemic that’s killing our boys and men. All of us, whether you're male or female, young or old, has a role to play in turning those statistics around. In this episode, host Jacqui Maguire speaks with Dr Zac Seidler; a clinical psychologist, researcher and leading men’s mental health expert.

What is the relationship between nutritional intake, gut health and our mental health? Jacqui Maguire is joined by Professor Julia Rucklidge, is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Canterbury, to pursue this fascinating and emerging area of mental health. Julia was named in the top 100 Most Influential Women in New Zealand in 2018. Her interests are centred on the role of nutrition in the expression and treatment of mental illness, from ADHD to depression, to stress following natural disasters. Her 2014 TEDx talk has been viewed nearly 1.3 million times. Julia leads the Mental Health and Nutrition Lab, whose aim is to find nutritional interventions that are effective in treating psychiatric/psychological illness. The Lab hosts free online courses, which you can check out here. Julia has also just released a book ‘The Better Brain: How nutrition will help you overcome anxiety, depression, ADHD and stress’. This can be found online and in all good bookstores.

Clinical Psychologist Jacqui Maguire speaks to Shirley Pastiroff, author of The Mindful Parent. In over-scheduled and frantic lives many parents have lost touch with their intuition around how to bring up their kids. Mindful parenting helps parents realise that their expertise to parent well is already within them, they just need to rediscover it. This episode takes an incredibly complex but hugely important subject and turns that into simple tools we can all understand and apply. Link to The Mindful Parent: https://renewyourmind.co.nz/themindfulparent/

On October 17th New Zealanders will hit the polls to vote on the End of Life Choice Act. If passed this referendum will represent a significant change to life, and how ends, as we currently know it. This episode features Dr Miguel Ricou, a Portuguese clinical psychologist that has specialist knowledge in ethics and euthanasia. This episode has not been produced from the 'yes' or 'no' camp. It is a balanced discussion that raises key issues New Zealanders should clearly think through before they vote. It's encouraged that you read through a summary of the Act before you listen to this episode: https://www.referendums.govt.nz/endoflifechoice/summary.html

The pursuit to achieve a rich and meaningful life is often misinterpreted as a quest for constant happiness, or avoidance of anything painful and unpleasant. But life doesn’t work that way. In this episode Jacqui Maguire speaks with Dr. Russ Harris about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Instead of trying to rid unpleasant thoughts and feelings, learn to perceive them as transient and harmless.

Jacqui Maguire explores the power of 'Grit' with distinguished Professor of Psychology Angela Duckworth and NZ teacher Kelly Layton. Grit can be described as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, and has been linked to high achievement. This episode explores the benefits of grit, and discusses how NZ's dedicated teachers are cultivating this strength in our children.