Welcome to Church
Latest Episode:
The Church of Heavy Metal Therapy is part podcast part radio show, where we discuss all things to do with heavy metal and mental health, and play some great music. It’s not church in the religious sense, but a place to gather and reflect, we named it after our ‘inner circle’ meetings which were inspired by “biker church”. It is an extension of Heavy Metal Therapy ideas, in that we ask people with lived experience of mental health ‘stuff’ to chat with us and share their favourite metal tracks. Hosted by Kate Quinn – Psychologist & founder of Heavy Metal Therapy, Ben Ryan – Ex-Mental Health Nurse and HMT Roadie, and Philthy, producer of the show & mental metal fan. We have a range of guests who come to share their experiences and music choices, on a number of mental health themes. All the track lists for the episodes will be published here.
Episodes:
The Book of HMT – Phil, Ben and Kate introduce the Church of HMT and play some of their favourite metal
The Book of Dan– Dan from Dan in the Lion’s Den, and Danny from the band All Demons have Disciples come to talk to us about living with Tourette’s and ADHD.
The Book of Despair – Maarten joins Kate and Phil to discuss how art and music help him to manage low mood. Recorded during the Covid Pandemic
The Book of Malli – This episode we talk to Malli “Metalhead” Malpass, from the show Ranganation, tiktoker and mental health advocate. Topics include low mood, addiction, ADHD and the birth of Nu Metal.
The book of Doom. We are joined by Martyn and Jon from Doom Metal band Swamp Coffin. CW on this one for discussion of suicide, mental health hospital, some political views, strong language and ABBA
The Book of Voices: Phil, Kate and Danny (aka HMT’s Chief Metalcore Advisor) talk about the experience of hearing voices. They discuss some myths about voice hearing and how metal music both references and might sometimes help with voices.
The Book of Death: We talk to journalist and author of the book “Death Metal”, T Coles, and metal scholar David Burke. We discuss the ugly beauty of death metal and the psychoanalytic concepts related to why extreme music draws some of us to love it.
The Book of Noise: Wee chat with Stu from the Noisy Brain – a place where musicians create songs from the mental health writings submitted to them. Stu talks about creating the Noisy Brain and what it’s all about. We are also joined by blogger/metal encyclopedia Matt Sweeney, who writes for Heavy Metal Therapy and the Noisy Brain. Themes of the episode are on the power of journaling, creativity and sharing stories. We also discuss sobriety in the lived experiences of Stu and Matt.
The Book of Masking – In this episode we talk to Adam about his experience of being autistic. We discuss topics of masking (acting as if neurotypical), sensory processing, executive function, “meltdowns” and special interests – and play some awesome music as ever. Adam runs metalheads of Coventry: https://instagram.com/metalheadsofcoventry?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
The Book of Clown – In this special festive episode we talk with Australian musician, broadcaster, TV personality and wonderful human Dylan Lewis. We touch on ADHD, low mood and imposter syndrome, and as usual play some awesome tunes. Trigger warning on this episode for references of suicide and there is A LOT of swearing.
The Book of the Void – In this episode social care worker Andy talks about how having a late diagnosis of ADHD helped him to understand some of his childhood struggles, and how metal and weight lifting have supported his recovery journey. He shares how and why he got sober, and talks us through his chosen tracks, from nu metal legends Korn, to Joy Division.
The Book of Badass – our first new style church episode on YouTube. Verity Oliver talks to us about how metal helped her overcome the impact of childhood trauma.
Disclaimer: The podcast contains discussion of mental health themes that may be distressing, has swearing and plays extreme music. It does not constitute professional advice and all views expressed are people’s own (and not representative of HMT). The podcasts are recorded sometimes several months in advance of release so may refer to past incidents in this context.
Heavy Metal Therapy 