A dad of eight turns late-night lyrics into lifelines while caring for a partner living with bipolar, BPD, chronic pain, and severe asthma. How do you hold a household together when the carer is running on empty? John—dad of eight, full-time carer, and aspiring songwriter—opens up about school bullying, quiet grief, and the strain of supporting a partner through bipolar disorder, BPD, chronic pain, and severe asthma. We talk men’s mental health, the pressure of social media, and why ten minut...
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A dad of eight turns late-night lyrics into lifelines while caring for a partner living with bipolar, BPD, chronic pain, and severe asthma. How do you hold a household together when the carer is running on empty? John—dad of eight, full-time carer, and aspiring songwriter—opens up about school bullying, quiet grief, and the strain of supporting a partner through bipolar disorder, BPD, chronic pain, and severe asthma. We talk men’s mental health, the pressure of social media, and why ten minut...
A dad of eight turns late-night lyrics into lifelines while caring for a partner living with bipolar, BPD, chronic pain, and severe asthma. How do you hold a household together when the carer is running on empty? John—dad of eight, full-time carer, and aspiring songwriter—opens up about school bullying, quiet grief, and the strain of supporting a partner through bipolar disorder, BPD, chronic pain, and severe asthma. We talk men’s mental health, the pressure of social media, and why ten minut...
What happens when the thing that saved you becomes the thing you have to leave behind? At six years old, Matt Power was told he’d never ride a bike. Instead, he fought his way into the world of combat sports — MMA, K1, Muay Thai, and boxing — chasing televised highs, adrenaline, and purpose. But one fight changed everything: a brain injury, small vessel disease, and a year spent mostly in bed. Without the gym’s rhythm, the silence got loud — loss, gaslighting, and PTSD turned sleep into a bat...
A “bad back” that wasn’t. A silent diagnosis that changed everything. In this powerful episode, Martin opens up about surviving two cancer battles — testicular cancer in his early twenties and later lymphoma that reached his spine — and how each fight reshaped his understanding of strength, masculinity, and mental health. He speaks honestly about the first surgery he told no one about, the loneliness that followed, and why the hardest part wasn’t treatment — it was breaking years of sil...
It starts in a garage. Not the cool, Top Gear kind — more the “don’t touch that wire or you’ll see Jesus early” kind. One flickering light, a half-working soundboard, and a host trying to sound professional while his neighbour starts a leaf blower. Welcome to Definitely Not Therapy, where deep chats meet dodgy electrics. We kick off with laughs — bad dad jokes, worse life choices — before rolling straight into the heavy stuff: grief, co-parenting, and that glorious myth of the “proper job.” Y...
🎧 Sneak Peek – Out Now! What happens when The Smithy Family trade viral fame for a flickering light and a half-working soundboard? Welcome to Garage-Level Real Talk — laughs, chaos, and confessions you’d never see on the highlight reel. They talk grief, co-parenting, creative burnout and what it’s really like when real life crashes through your feed. It’s raw. It’s real. It’s definitely not therapy. 🔥 Full episode drops tomorrow! 10am 📩 Got a story too real for social media? Email...
A breakup two days before Christmas. A father on the floor as paramedics burst through the door. A man left staring at the ceiling, wondering what comes next. This is Wayne’s story — and it’s not clean, polished, or packaged for comfort. It’s the story of a man who fell hard, and then slowly, painfully, built something worth standing on again. In this episode, Dan sits with Wayne to unpack what happens when the floor disappears — and how you find your footing again through honesty...
This episode includes open conversations about suicidal thoughts, emotional abuse, and traumatic brain injury. If you are struggling, please reach out for support. In the UK, contact Samaritans on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org. You are not alone. What happens when the thing that built your identity — your body, your sport, your fight — is suddenly gone? This week, we meet Matt, whose story redefines what strength really means. Diagnosed with dyspraxia at six, he pushed throug...
A breakup two days before Christmas. A father on the floor as paramedics burst through the door. A man left staring at the ceiling, wondering what comes next. This is Wayne’s story — and it’s not clean, polished, or packaged for comfort. It’s the story of a man who fell hard, and then slowly, painfully, built something worth standing on again. In this episode, Dan sits with Wayne to unpack what happens when the floor disappears — and how you find your footing again through honesty...
This week on Definitely Not Therapy, Dan Lawrence sits down with Natalie, a woman whose journey through endometriosis, mental health struggles, and chronic pain reveals both the heartbreak and the heroism behind survival. Natalie’s story begins long before most people even understand their own bodies. At just nine years old, she was already dealing with severe period pain, cramps so excruciating they left her unable to stand. While her friends played carefree, Natalie learned early what it me...
Trigger warning: This episode contains open discussions around suicidal thoughts, alcoholism, divorce, and mental health struggles. Episode Summary In this deeply raw and honest conversation, Adi shares the battle that nearly ended his life — and the hope that saved it. After 12 years in the military, Adi found himself trapped in a cycle of deployment after deployment, using the next mission as an escape from the pain he couldn’t face at home. But no matter how far he ran, the weight of his m...
Trigger warning: conversation contains discussion of suicidal thoughts. Episode summary: Craig tells the story of how Andy’s Man Club saved his life — from a breakdown at his first meeting to eventually becoming a facilitator who now helps others stay alive and connected. Full summary: In this emotionally honest episode Craig opens up about rock-bottom loneliness after a relationship breakdown, vivid memories of driving to the edge of a tall bridge with the urge to steer off, and...
This week on Definitely Not Therapy, I sit down with Richard – a man whose passion for teaching runs deep, but whose journey has been anything but straightforward. Richard opens up about the darkest chapter of his life: losing his job, battling depression, and the heavy weight of providing for his four children while feeling like the world had turned against him. He shares the raw truth of what it’s like when you’re told to “be honest” only for that honesty to be used against you—costing him ...
Episode Snapshot This episode hits deep. I sat down with Olly from Angels United FC, a football-based support group formed by dads who found traditional therapy didn’t cut it. They used the pitch - not the couch - to process grief after losing a child during pregnancy. Olly bravely shares his heartbreak: losing twins Dottie and Poppy. But through the darkness, a rainbow baby arrived. His story? A reminder you’re never truly alone. Instead of sitting and mourning, Olly went to watch his belove...
In the most vulnerable moment of his life, Dan Lawrence takes Definitely Not Therapy beyond the studio and straight into the heart of London — live at Andy’s Man Club’s “Longest Conversation”, a 12-hour event symbolising the 12 men lost to suicide every single day in the UK. What unfolds is raw, redemptive, and deeply human. Before a live audience, Dan opens up about the night everything fell apart — the unbearable thought of losing time with his daughter, the loneliness that followed, ...
What if courage isn’t about lifting the heaviest weight, staying silent, or pretending you’re fine — but about saying four simple words: “I’m struggling right now.” In this episode of Definitely Not Therapy, host Dan Lawrence sits down with another Dan — just twenty-two years old — whose story is painfully familiar to thousands of young men who’ve been told to “man up.” His journey takes us from teenage bullying and emotional isolation to the quiet resilience of learning how to ask for help i...
When life breaks you, what happens next? In this raw and unfiltered episode of Definitely Not Therapy, Dan Lawrence sits down with Ian — a dad, life coach, and specialist driving instructor for neurodiverse learners — whose story is one of collapse, survival, and rebuilding from the ashes. Once caught in the spiral of addiction, suicidal thoughts, betrayal trauma, and broken relationships, Ian reached the edge of life itself. But what pulled him back was one moment — a vision of his son...
Ever looked in the mirror and thought, “I can’t do this anymore”? Alan did – and then he proved himself wrong. Once over 20 stone and struggling with addiction, alcoholism and his mental health, Alan woke up one day and did what most addicts think is impossible! HE QUIT! It took incredible will power, cutting life long friends out of his life. He had to lose his old friends to save himself. Alan purposely went from sociable to completely isolated, but he found a lifeline in Andy’s Man Club....
A young dad in a new city. A mother fading from cancer. A mask of happiness hiding a mind in free fall. Steve Williams opens the door on the years when life made no sense — when grief became anger, when paydays decided where he slept, and when acting “fine” was easier than admitting he was breaking. What followed wasn’t glamorous, but it was real. A random daytime TV segment gave him words for his pain. A last-minute London Marathon entry became therapy in motion. Step after step, Steve disco...
This week on Definitely Not Therapy, we’re bringing you a powerful, emotional, and incredibly honest mental health conversation with Steve, a man I once worked with—but who’s walked one of the hardest journeys imaginable. At one point, Steve was living in complete isolation—alone in a cramped bedsit, struggling with depression, no family or friends to lean on, and no hope for tomorrow. Like many men battling mental health issues, he didn’t have the language to describe his pain, let alone as...
In this gripping and emotionally honest episode of Definitely Not Therapy, Dan Lawrence is joined by DJ Stuart — a man who nearly lost everything to addiction but made the courageous choice to change his life. 🔥 Addiction Nearly Took His Life... Stuart shares how his party-fueled lifestyle spiraled into a dangerous cycle of substance abuse. One terrifying moment — passing out after accidentally making and taking a drug close to crack cocaine while his children were just upstairs — became the...
A dad of eight turns late-night lyrics into lifelines while caring for a partner living with bipolar, BPD, chronic pain, and severe asthma. How do you hold a household together when the carer is running on empty? John—dad of eight, full-time carer, and aspiring songwriter—opens up about school bullying, quiet grief, and the strain of supporting a partner through bipolar disorder, BPD, chronic pain, and severe asthma. We talk men’s mental health, the pressure of social media, and why ten minut...
