Athlone man's podcast reaches one-year milestone

An Athlone man's podcast about mental health has recently hit its one-year milestone, something which he had set out to achieve when he first started.

Mark McCormack, from College Park, says that when he first created The Clockwork Junkie Podcast he looked as far ahead as having the podcast reach the ten-year mark.

"When I started I did think that it was going to get to a year old, and even as far as ten years old," Mark said.

"I thought about it long and hard before I started and I decided that it was what I wanted to do as a job."

Originally recording on his phone in his car, Mark has since increased the podcast to twice weekly and now puts between forty and fifty hours into it each week.

"Funnily enough, I had a message on LinkedIn saying congratulations on the podcast being one year old and I looked at my bio which I had written before I even recorded the first podcast and I had all these goals in it that I wanted to reach. It was very presumptuous on my part!

"My goal was to start the podcast, be consistent and get good guests on. When I say 'good guests' I don't mean somebody famous; it's absolutely irrelevant to me if they're famous. I just want someone on who can have a good conversation about anything with no airs or graces, and if they happen to be well-known then that's great."

Mark originally started the podcast after suffering with his mental health and seeing that there was little in the media to help people in his situation.

"On TV or in the papers everything was so negative, and I didn't hear too many stories about people overcoming their difficulties. Then when I did hear about mental health it was from professionals who never had difficulties themselves or genuinely knew how people like me felt.

"I said if I ever get better that I was going to be that voice. I worked on myself and got to that stage, lost my job due to Covid, and just started it then."

Past guests include cervical check victim Lynsey Bennett, comedian Alison Spittle and cancer survivor and SWAT negotiator Terry Tucker, with one of last week’s guests including English television presenter Anthea Turner.

"I asked Anthea Turner to come on and she asked for some of the questions before, but I didn't have any questions for her. Everybody knows that she got divorced and that she has stepchildren and that she had a big row with Piers Morgan.

"I didn't want to talk about any of that, and she just came on for a chat. She ended up bringing up some of that stuff. I want people to see that everybody is normal, to be honest."

With last week being International Men's Health Week, Mark was doing a two-podcast special in partnership with Athlone Family Resource Centre, with the first guest being Maclean Burke who people may know as Damien in Fair City.

"He lost loads of weight and suffered with his mental health so I just messaged him on Instagram to see if he wanted to come on and he said yes.

"He tells all in this podcast, and that's what I like: real conversations about real life."

Looking back on the year, Mark says that the one thing he has learned about people is how resilient they can be.

"I've talked to people who have had brain haemorrhages, who have been abused all their life, who have suffered from depression, and the one thing that I've learned the most is that people are resilient," he said.

"They really are warriors when they need to be. I think there’s nothing better than when people are able to come on a podcast and talk about their vulnerabilities and still be strong while doing so.

"Also, in a world where it seems that everybody is supposed to hate each other online, and with instant gratification, people are still sound. They’re really nice and genuine. I talk to guests before and after the podcast, and a lot of the time we stay in contact."

Looking to the future, Mark wants to keep up the quality of the podcast, and eventually get into public speaking.

"One of the goals that I have is to do public speaking about mental health, but in my voice. I don't have a degree in psychology or any qualifications in mental health.

"My qualification is having lived with it for ten years and getting out the far side.

"Now that the podcast is going well, I don't want to think that the hard work is done because it’s only beginning. I still feel like I did my first podcast last week even though I've done over a hundred now, but I also feel like I've been doing it for ten years!"

The podcast can be found on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts, with more content available on: www.clockworkjunkiepodcast.ie