'I absolutely love it. It has helped my mental health a lot'

Photo: Derek Wheatley in his studio.

“Mental health is a subject dear to me because I have suffered poor mental health for a number of years now. It took me a long time to come to terms with it, but when I started a blog and became completely open about my struggles it was hugely beneficial.”

The candid words of Derek Wheatley as he introduced his new podcast, The Weekly Wheatley, earlier this year. From a studio in his bedroom in Cornafulla, he was determined to start a conversation about how to maintain your mental health and to help others start conversations with someone who might be struggling.

Now 40 episodes in, the weekly podcast has gained a lot of fans for its genuine discussions on the topic with a variety of guests from fitness gurus to a psychotherapist, a rapper, a burlesque dancer, and many more. He describes the podcast as a “stray conversation” between him and his chosen guest which starts with a chat about the person’s upbringing, and then moves on to when they first became aware of mental health.

“The first episode was in early February, I did a couple on my own. The first two was me and my mental health journey and the great thing is people started listening. We haven’t missed a week yet,” he told the Westmeath Independent recently, paying tribute to his friend John Francis for all his help and technical wizardry to get him on air.

“I absolutely love it; it has helped my mental health a lot. It’s very fulfilling. I was really bad around people before this. Now, I have people coming out here and the confidence I’ve got from that has blown me away. It’s been great for me,” added Derek, who agreed that podcasting has really come into its own in the pandemic.

Since our conversation, the podcast has moved from recording in his room to Zoom, something that means he can actually cast the net wider for guests outside the Midlands. Upcoming speakers including actress Lauren Coe and UFC fighter Aisling Daly.

Suffering from anxiety and depression since his teens, Derek is refreshingly open and honest about his own mental health struggles (episode 1 and 2) and how, for many years, he used alcohol to mask his problems before suffering a near collapse and thinking about suicide many years ago. With the help of friends and family, he kept going or plodded along as he said himself. Giving up drinking was a big turning point as was a diagnosis of Bipolar 2, and the professional help that came as a result.

Somewhere along the line he also discovered exercise, initially running, and then one day he called up Martin Hickey in Fusion Training Centre, told him his story and went in to start jujitsu. From there, he tapped into such a “great community” telling me that the gym and the podcast are the two best things he has done. Neither would have happened without the other.

While he said exercise is hugely beneficial, it was the change in the way of thinking in terms of eating, sleeping that was also really helpful. He advised people struggling with mental health to try something and find what works, noting he didn’t try anything for years because he was scared.

He starting writing a blog about his experience of mental health and exercise soon afterwards, and from that came the idea of a podcast which comes out on the major platforms every Wednesday at 10am.

“This podcast will give me confidence, a goal, a project, something to look forward to every week. I hope we can help each other and be positive,” Derek stated candidly to his audience in his first episode, saying he doesn’t have all the answers but by talking and sharing experiences, everyone can learn ways to maintain their mental health in tough times.

“Everyone has something to say about mental health and I find that fascinating,” added Derek, who believes the stigma around mental health is lessening as people open up, but there are others who are comfortable not knowing and not wanting to know about the subject so there is still plenty of work to be done, particularly for young people.

“One guest said it’s like a therapy session. When you do get a chance to just sit down and put everything on the table. It’s been very rewarding for me.”

Always creative - he writes short stories and plays guitar - Derek interestingly doesn’t see the podcast as creative; he believes it more important than that.

“It has led me away from the creative but not in a bad way. It’s constructive. I do think I’ve made my parents proud by doing this. Maybe this is what I was supposed to do,” he mused, saying it has brought him on a varied and interesting journey in self care.

Speaking about the pandemic and difficulties for anyone with mental health issues, Derek admitted that depression already has a brutal impact, so adding in the restrictions makes it very tough on people. However, he is happy for anyone to reach out to him, to talk or he can listen if they are struggling.

“The main thing I want people to know is that there are people out there suffering or have suffered the same things, and there are people out there willing to listen.”

Find that one person who will listen, be it family or friend, and then get professional help, he advised, saying that he has had some amazing therapists, but unfortunately the wait to see them is too long. His family and friends have been his rock through hard times.“I’m doing good now but it’s been a bit of a journey,” he ended.