Bedbound. Hopeless. Then This Happened…

Why would a Black teenager seek acceptance among people who hated the colour of his skin? Behind that question is a powerful story of childhood abuse, racism, football violence, prison & the desperate search for belonging. This episode explores how someone can become so disconnected from their identity that acceptance comes at the cost of themselves. From a young offenders institution to mentoring vulnerable young people… What actually helps someone change? What does accountability look like beyond regret and how do you become the adult you needed as a child? Watch for an honest exploration of identity, shame, recovery & second chances.

The people who were supposed to protect him abused & tortured him. Then, foster home showed him what love could feel like… but when promises were broken as well as little Davey’s heart, he was lost again. Then came a stabbing… he died for approximately 15 minutes! In this powerful conversation, Davey, shares his journey through abuse in care, the devastating loss of a loving foster home, & the violence he later survived. He also shares how he discovered a love of boxing & found a purpose he now passes on to others. Today, he’s a boxing trainer & actor who dedicates his life to using his coaching skills to improve other people’s lives, because Davey is a man who knows how much it can matter to have someone in your corner. This episode explores childhood trauma, belonging, survival, second chances & the human connection that can help someone find a way forward. Listen to Davey’s story, subscribe for more powerful conversations & share this episode with someone who needs to know their past doesn’t have to decide their future.

What happens when your body survives the impossible, but your mind is left to make sense of everything you’ve lost? Special Forces veteran, plane crash survivor, motivational speaker & bestselling author Jamie Hull joins me on The New Mind Podcast for an EXTRAORDINARY conversation about survival, psychological trauma, identity & the long journey back to life!!! In 2007, Jamie was completing a flying course in Florida when an engine fire broke out during a solo flight at 1,000 feet. Trapped inside a burning cockpit, with flames melting his flesh around him, Jamie had approximately 45 seconds to bring the aircraft down, climb onto its wing & leap towards the ground. He sustained third-degree burns across 63 per cent of his body & was given just a five per cent chance of survival. Jamie spent six months in a coma in the United States. His body endured renal failure, kidney dialysis, pneumonia, septicaemia & devastating internal injuries. After returning to the UK, he faced a further 18 months of hospital treatment & eventually underwent 61 operations. But surviving the plane crash was only the beginning….. Jamie speaks with remarkable honesty about the dark years that followed, the psychological impact of catastrophic injury & the disorientation of waking up in a body he no longer recognised. He explores what it means to lose the identity you once knew, how trauma alters your relationship with safety & the enormous courage required to trust your body again. With the support of the charity Blesma, The Limbless Veterans, (https://blesma.org/) Jamie continued reclaiming his life through scuba diving, skydiving, horse riding & Race Across America. His recovery wasn’t about returning to the man he’d been before the accident. It was about discovering who he could become after it. In this deeply moving episode, we explore survival instinct, medical trauma, post-traumatic stress, grief, body identity, resilience, courage & post-traumatic growth. We discuss why physical survival doesn’t automatically create psychological safety, why recovery can feel more frightening than the crisis itself & what it truly takes to rebuild a meaningful life after unimaginable adversity. Jamie is now a motivational speaker & the author of Life on a Thread, an unflinchingly honest account of the 45 seconds that changed his life & the years of determination that followed. This isn’t simply a story about surviving a burning plane. It’s a story about what happens after survival. About learning to inhabit your body again, facing the places fear has taken from you & understanding that resilience isn’t the absence of pain. It’s the decision to keep meeting life from within it.

This week Huel co-founder James Collier joins the podcast. Before Huel became a global phenomenon, James experienced childhood bullying, the devastating loss of his mother, depression, destructive anger and a life-threatening spinal infection that left him immobile and psychologically at rock bottom. James is a registered nutritionist, author and former NHS dietitian with more than 30 years of experience. He also developed Huel’s original nutritional formula…Huel subsequently grew into a global brand! We discuss critical-thinking & why he grounds his life in honesty, rigour, compassion and humility. We also examine our emotional relationship with food. Why does nutrition become so tribal? Why are people drawn towards extreme health claims? Is all ultra-processed food inherently harmful? Can food provide convenience without replacing connection? And what responsibility do influential wellness brands have when communicating health information? James also introduces the philosophy behind his book, Well Fed: How Modern Diets Are Failing Us and What We Can Do About It… and explains why nutrition must account for more than calories, protein or body weight. His approach brings together physical health, mental wellbeing, sustainability, ethics and the deeply human importance of eating together. This is not simply a conversation about building a business & a brand. It’s a conversation about what we build inside ourselves when life strips away our sense of certainty, how our earliest wounds can shape our drive, and why genuine success means very little if our minds cannot allow us to experience it. The New Mind Podcast is hosted by Ella McCrystal, psychotherapist, trauma specialist, TEDx speaker, author and founder of The Neurolectrics Method™️. Please like, comment and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Thank you

In this episode, I’m sitting down with a man whose work helped expose one of Britain’s darkest & most disturbing truths. Mark Williams-Thomas is a former police detective, award-winning investigative journalist, television presenter & private investigator. He is best known for the groundbreaking ITV documentary that exposed Jimmy Savile’s decades of sexual abuse & helped trigger Operation Yewtree. Throughout his career, Mark has investigated missing-person cases, sexual crimes, unexplained deaths & some of the most complex crimes to capture public attention. But today, we’re going beyond the headlines. We’re exploring the man behind the investigations, the experiences that shaped him, the psychological skills required to uncover the truth & the personal cost of spending a career confronting deception, exploitation & human darkness. This is a powerful conversation about trauma, justice, intuition, accountability & what it truly takes to give survivors a voice. Mark is a truly amazing man!