Mental Health: How to Care for It — with bestselling author & mental health campaigner Rachel Kelly
Fri Feb 06 2026
What does it actually mean to care for your mental health — not in theory, but in real life? 🌿🧠In this honest and thoughtful conversation, bestselling author & mental health campaigner Rachel Kelly shares lived experience, clear perspective, and practical insight into staying grounded when life feels demanding, uncertain, or overwhelming 🌊🧘♀️From grief and anxiety 💔😔 to self-compassion 🤍, connection 🤝, and the pressure to constantly achieve 📈, this episode explores mental health as an ongoing practice — not something to “fix,” but something to tend to with care 🌱💛
🎧🔥❤️🔥 FULL EPISODE LISTEN HERE ❤️🔥🔥🎧🔗 https://linktr.ee/thekollectiveinstituteofideas
In this episode, we explore:🧠 Why mental health is a lifelong process, not a one-time solution 🔁🌱 How everyday habits like sleep 😴, food 🍽️, movement 🚶♀️, and breathing 🌬️ affect how we think and cope⚖️ The hidden cost of achievement-driven thinking 🏆 — and how to redefine success more sustainably🤍 Practical ways to stay steady ⚓, present ⏳, and kind to yourself 💬 through life’s inevitable ups and downs 🎢
Rachel Kelly is a bestselling writer ✍️, public speaker 🎤, and mental health advocate 🧠, as well as an ambassador for leading charities including SANE and Rethink Mental Illness 🤝.Her books include the memoir Black Rainbow 🌈, which chronicles her experience of severe depression, alongside practical and hopeful guides such as Walking on Sunshine ☀️, The Happy Kitchen 🥗, and Singing in the Rain 🎶, offering tools to stay calm and well.Her latest books, You’ll Never Walk Alone: Poems for Life’s Ups and Downs 📖 (Hodder, 2022) and The Gift of Teenagers 💬, continue her work supporting mental health with insight and lived experience — learn more at https://rachel-kelly.net/about-rachel🌐
🔥 Fireside chat🔥
☕ Three things that give you joy?My first cup of coffee in the morning ☕, sunshine ☀️, and getting a lovely text from my husband 💬
♻️ One unusual thing that gives you pleasure?Clearing things out — being orderly, recycling, and giving things to charity shops. I love clearing stuff out. 🧺
📚 A favourite book, film, or artist that isn’t obvious?The novel I go back to most is Middlemarch by George Eliot — for its reflections on society and the value of ordinary, unacknowledged lives. 📖
🧳 One thing you could add to your bucket list today?More conversations, more connection — I love having these chats. 🤝
🕊️ What would you say to your 18-year-old self?You are lovable. You’re lovable and you’re loved. 💛
🔄 What’s ‘in’ for you right now?Eating breakfast 🍳, exercising every morning to music 🎶, going deeper, reflecting, reading more, and creating conversations and spaces rather than feeling pressure to produce. 🌱
🚫 What’s ‘out’ for you right now?Being results-driven, feeling competitive with others, and believing there isn’t enough space. What I want instead is spaciousness, time, and room for reflection. 🌬️
🎁 Listeners get 10% off using the code thekollective10 at audreyschocolates.co.uk 🛍️
WANT MORE OR TO SUPPORT?👉 Become a patron and get exclusive access & behind-the-scenes perks:www.patreon.com/TheKollective828 💎
Mentions: The Times, SANE, Rethink Mental Illness, King’s College London, René Descartes,Oscar Wilde,Irish writer, Richard Branson, Alcoholics Anonymous, Monocle, Lake District, Buddhism, Bible, Middlemarch, George Eliot
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What does it actually mean to care for your mental health — not in theory, but in real life? 🌿🧠In this honest and thoughtful conversation, bestselling author & mental health campaigner Rachel Kelly shares lived experience, clear perspective, and practical insight into staying grounded when life feels demanding, uncertain, or overwhelming 🌊🧘♀️From grief and anxiety 💔😔 to self-compassion 🤍, connection 🤝, and the pressure to constantly achieve 📈, this episode explores mental health as an ongoing practice — not something to “fix,” but something to tend to with care 🌱💛 🎧🔥❤️🔥 FULL EPISODE LISTEN HERE ❤️🔥🔥🎧🔗 https://linktr.ee/thekollectiveinstituteofideas In this episode, we explore:🧠 Why mental health is a lifelong process, not a one-time solution 🔁🌱 How everyday habits like sleep 😴, food 🍽️, movement 🚶♀️, and breathing 🌬️ affect how we think and cope⚖️ The hidden cost of achievement-driven thinking 🏆 — and how to redefine success more sustainably🤍 Practical ways to stay steady ⚓, present ⏳, and kind to yourself 💬 through life’s inevitable ups and downs 🎢 Rachel Kelly is a bestselling writer ✍️, public speaker 🎤, and mental health advocate 🧠, as well as an ambassador for leading charities including SANE and Rethink Mental Illness 🤝.Her books include the memoir Black Rainbow 🌈, which chronicles her experience of severe depression, alongside practical and hopeful guides such as Walking on Sunshine ☀️, The Happy Kitchen 🥗, and Singing in the Rain 🎶, offering tools to stay calm and well.Her latest books, You’ll Never Walk Alone: Poems for Life’s Ups and Downs 📖 (Hodder, 2022) and The Gift of Teenagers 💬, continue her work supporting mental health with insight and lived experience — learn more at https://rachel-kelly.net/about-rachel🌐 🔥 Fireside chat🔥 ☕ Three things that give you joy?My first cup of coffee in the morning ☕, sunshine ☀️, and getting a lovely text from my husband 💬 ♻️ One unusual thing that gives you pleasure?Clearing things out — being orderly, recycling, and giving things to charity shops. I love clearing stuff out. 🧺 📚 A favourite book, film, or artist that isn’t obvious?The novel I go back to most is Middlemarch by George Eliot — for its reflections on society and the value of ordinary, unacknowledged lives. 📖 🧳 One thing you could add to your bucket list today?More conversations, more connection — I love having these chats. 🤝 🕊️ What would you say to your 18-year-old self?You are lovable. You’re lovable and you’re loved. 💛 🔄 What’s ‘in’ for you right now?Eating breakfast 🍳, exercising every morning to music 🎶, going deeper, reflecting, reading more, and creating conversations and spaces rather than feeling pressure to produce. 🌱 🚫 What’s ‘out’ for you right now?Being results-driven, feeling competitive with others, and believing there isn’t enough space. What I want instead is spaciousness, time, and room for reflection. 🌬️ 🎁 Listeners get 10% off using the code thekollective10 at audreyschocolates.co.uk 🛍️ WANT MORE OR TO SUPPORT?👉 Become a patron and get exclusive access & behind-the-scenes perks:www.patreon.com/TheKollective828 💎 Mentions: The Times, SANE, Rethink Mental Illness, King’s College London, René Descartes,Oscar Wilde,Irish writer, Richard Branson, Alcoholics Anonymous, Monocle, Lake District, Buddhism, Bible, Middlemarch, George Eliot