The Happy Pod: The unlikely duo getting men talking about mental health

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the Apartment Bombs. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service.

0:49I'm Valerie Sanderson and in this edition... Reading all the comments of support on that first video showed me that I can make a change in this world. I can actually have an impact on people by doing this. focus on the bigger picture. It's a bad day, it's not a bad life. We meet a man who's helping millions of people with mental health issues with the support of an unlikely companion. A roaring success in India as lions make a comeback. How simple breathing techniques have dramatically reduced prison violence in Kenya. Also...

1:23The 11-year-old who's taught himself to play the piano in just five months. and sage advice for graduates from a frog. Life is better when we leap together.

1:42We start with the tale of an unlikely duo who've been helping people with mental health issues. 24-year-old Sid Batty has travelled the world with Quack, a cuddly toy duck, and what started as a simple way to cope with anxiety has turned into a global adventure. Sid has documented his travels on social media and gained millions of views for his honest and open conversations about mental health. He wants to break the stigma around men talking about the issue and encourage others to be open about their struggles. With Quack by his side, Sid spoke to the Happy Pod's Holly Gibbs. I was in my second year at university and a couple of years prior I'd been diagnosed with social anxiety, depression and OCD.

2:27and when I was at university in my second year it got quite bad I was going for a pretty rough period mentally and so one day I just decided to go to the local shops and buy something to make myself feel better something that I could like look at and it would remind me that everything will be okay and well I bought Quack. This is Quack and my name is Sid and to some people Quack might just be a stuffed animal but for someone who has been struggling with social anxiety depression. He was my symbol that everything would be okay no matter how hard things get and I kept him for about a year and a half without ever posting him.

2:58I brought him with me to just kind of make me feel less alone. Every place I went to around Europe initially, I kind of took pictures of him in every beautiful city I went to. Yeah, I guess I posted him for the first time when I was in Australia in December and it kind of just blew up from there really. This is the first Christmas that I'm not going to be with my family. In fact, I'm on the other side of the world. I'm currently in Sydney, Australia. And all I have with me is my duck that I travel the world with. He is unfortunately just an inanimate object. He can't speak. But it's more everything I've put into him and everything he means to me.

3:34A stranger down the street will just look at it and think he's just got a stuffed animal with him. But to me, he's helped me through all the tough times. I speak about him like he's a person, but he's constantly reminded me that things would be okay so it is more than just a stuffed animal and on a serious note you talk a lot on your social media about mental health and being open about the struggles that you face what do you hope to achieve by doing that i just i hope that people can see me and see me speak openly and and realize themselves that they're not alone i think me putting myself out there and being open enough to speak about it and speak about the things that help me i hope that that helps men in particular see that it's okay to not be okay.

4:17I actually had one of my friends took his own life and his name was Niall. And he was actually one of my biggest supporters when I first started the social media stuff. So that hit me quite hard, to be honest. And I guess that just kind of motivates me more to do something about it. And subconsciously, that has helped me. What's the feedback been on your social media? It's been incredible. I mean, I checked the video after the first day and it had about 2 million views and there was about 2 ,000 comments. And I was just sat there reading them and I had the biggest smile on my face because I thought the initial reaction was that it was going to be, it was really cringe and embarrassing and all of that.

5:00I thought I was going to have to take the video down. But reading all the comments of support on that first video showed me that, you know what, I can make a change in this world. I can actually have an impact on people by doing this. So the one that sticks out to me, I had a mother message me and she said that because of me, she's booked her first solo travel trip to help her mental health. And she's taking her daughter's teddy with her. The teddy has her daughter's ashes in so she can show her the world. And that gives me goosebumps every time I tell that story. Gosh, that's incredible that you've inspired somebody else to do the same as what you did.

5:35it's it's so overwhelming like i say but having that impact on people and like i said people telling you from the heart and taking the time out of their day to send you a message pouring their heart out telling you how much you've helped them and how much videos you make have helped them i can't put into words it's it's just overwhelming what would you say to people who don't know how to be more open with their feelings think about where you're going to be in five years time and try and act on that today. If you're struggling right now, the bad times won't last forever, believe me. I was going through the depths of it.

6:08I really was. I couldn't see light at the end of the tunnel, but I always thought, you know what? One day in a month, in a year, in five years, this is going to pass and I'm going to be happy. I think you just need to kind of think a bit long-term about it and focus on the bigger picture. You know, it's a bad day. It's not a bad life. Don't let other people's opinions dictate your life. Always follow your dreams and just remember that everything will be OK and do what makes you happy because it is your life at the end of the day. Sid Batty talking there to Holly Gibbs. And do you have an unlikely constant companion that makes your life better?

6:46Well, we'd love to hear from you. As ever, the address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. In the early 20th century, Asiatic lions were teetering on the brink of extinction, with numbers plummeting to around 20. Now it's a different story. As you may have heard in our global news podcast, their population in India has increased by more than a third in just five years. Isabella Jewell has been finding out why.

7:17They once roamed large parts of the earth, from Turkey across Asia to eastern India. But Asiatic lions were hunted to near extinction for sport in past centuries. Nowadays, the big cats are only found in the Ghir Wildlife Sanctuary and its surrounding areas, in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Compared to their African cousins, Asiatic lions are slightly smaller in stature, and the males tend to have shorter and darker manes. And they're an important symbol for India. Dr M.K. Ranjit Sinjala is a leading wildlife conservationist there. The lion has been very special to all of us. It has also been our national animal before it was thrown by the tiger.

8:01And it's a magnificent animal. We all are very proud of it. It is, as would one say, with the tiger, primus inter paris, the first amongst equals. There has been a real focus on conservation in recent decades and a census this month found that the numbers of Asiatic lions are rising and fast. Compared to the last count in 2020, the population has grown by more than a third, to 891. But what's behind the surge? Dr M.K. Ranjit Sinjala, who's from Gujarat, has been involved in lion conservation for decades. By better protecting the habitat, it was very evident to me very early on that the best hope, or in fact indeed the only hope, for the long-term survival of not just the wildlife but of nature is safe only in effectively managed protected areas, our national parks and sanctuaries, and community reserve with the cooperation of the local communities.

9:06There are five national parks and sanctuaries in the Gir region. By effectively protecting those parks and sanctuaries, the population reach carrying capacity of those areas and have spilt out. While they used to be limited to the Ghir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, they now roam 11 districts with sightings in sanctuaries like Pania, Gina and Bada, as well as in non-forested and coastal areas. There are some concerns. There could be increased risks to humans as the lion population grows and the lions are susceptible to diseases and forest fires if they remain an isolated group. Currently, there's a debate over whether some of the lions should be relocated to a neighbouring state.

9:50But Dr Jala believes these latest figures are a major win for all involved. It is to the credit of both the government and of the local people that they have put up with the lions and have taken care of them and looked after them. And that was the sound of an Asiatic lion. That was Dr. M.K. Ranjit Sinjala speaking there to Isabella Jewell. Next, her woman known affectionately in her native Chile as the Ice Mermaid. Barbara Hernandez was the first South American to complete the Ocean's seven, seven marathon open water channel swims and holds the record for the longest swim in Antarctica, covering a mind-boggling two and a half kilometres in water that was just two degrees Celsius.

10:36She'd grown up dreaming of swimming for her country but was teased at competitions because her parents could only afford second-hand costumes and she never felt she was good enough in the pool. Then, aged 17, Barbara discovered open water swimming. She's been speaking to Jane Chambers. I realised it didn't matter if I wasn't the fastest. I just needed to be the most persistent. I think when I did that first swim in the river, a little seed was sown where I asked myself if maybe I could be the first Chilean woman to do these big swims and inspire little girls and women to connect with the sea and enjoy swimming there.

11:18In 2014, she was invited to swim in Argentina, in a lake near the Perito Moreno Glacia. It was the first time I had ever seen it snowing. I was really scared because I just didn't know how my body was going to respond. And when I was in the water, I realized just how tough and strong I was because I've been swimming and training all my life. I've learned how to adapt to the cold and just keep swimming. And I came first, even out of men. It was amazing, feeling the water on my body and my hands. We wanted to do a near-impossible swim. No one had ever swum two and a half kilometers in the Antarctic before.

12:12My mother has a beautiful saying, which is, you mustn't be afraid of fear. I know you have to learn to live with fear, and I know it exists, but it can take over your life. The audio you can hear is Barbara swimming in deep grey, freezing cold water right by a wall of ice. Her team are speeding along beside her on two boats. Although I was concentrating on my swim and the boat, there were also some beautiful moments. The water was so transparent.

12:54I thought about my parents and my dogs and the little girl that I once was that was born in a city without the sea and now had the privilege of swimming in the Antarctic.

13:11The last 500 metres were tough. I felt heavier and heavier. But when I finally finished, It was amazing.

13:28I had severe hypothermia. So yes, I had managed it. But the most difficult part is the recovery.

13:39They were winching me up to the naval boat on my stretcher, and I saw this huge Chilean flag. And the whole crew waiting to see me. and I heard the song from Rocky, The Eye of the Tiger. And even though I was literally dying, I had this attack of giggles listening to that song.

14:00So why does she do it? For me, it's a different way of embracing life. For me, it's about the challenge. Being Chilean and a woman and a Latin American, achieving this makes me so proud. I want to show people what they can be capable of. I want to go back to Antarctica. We're planning our return. I miss the penguins. When I go for a long time without seeing the glaciers, I start dreaming about them. It's like they're calling to me, and a part of me has been left behind there. So I need to go back.

14:52And you can hear more from Barbara Hernandez on Outlook, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

15:02Coming up in this podcast... I'm quite happy to give my time away to try and help out the next generation, particularly for this island. The man who set up a new business just so he could give it away.

15:23Next to Kenya, where a simple idea has improved the lives of prison staff and inmates. Ten years ago, the country's largest high-security jail invited an expert to teach a session on mindfulness, using breathing and meditation to foster self-awareness and acceptance. Those who went started teaching others, and it's now spread to prisons throughout the country and beyond. Maya Anubi has been finding out more about the project, which started at Naivasha GK prison near the capital, Nairobi. Yeah, this is a mindful group with a song entitled Hopeful Master. Hopeful Master. Are you ready now? This is the somewhat unlikely sound of a group of inmates in a maximum security men's prison singing a song about mindfulness.

16:21So my name is Inma Darvest-Giorno. While in Kenya, they know me as Dr. Inma. I kept on saying that the response was well beyond my wildest dreams. The way in which they were transforming themselves from day one to even today too, it was just absolutely extraordinary.

16:44Joseph Mugada has been an officer at this prison for 15 years. As prison officers, you used to carry a button. It's part of your uniform because any time a chaos can erupt in this maximum security prison. So you have to be armed to defend yourself. She told us I'm here because I want to roll out a program which talks about the mind. Yes, the inner reflection, the inner soul. A big group of inmates and a few officers congregated together in a large room. She started to ask us, what is in your feeling? What is in your mind? Others gave anger, others uncertainty, others confused. She told us to write down what we feel and fold the paper.

17:30And then we meditate. What is the effects of what we have written in our body, in our soul? and she took all what we have written and she burned and she informed us you have brought it from your soul from your mind and now it is no longer with you afterwards they started talking about how to work with their minds they were taught to use different techniques like comparing their minds to something i really like a radio this radio you can choose the channel which is negative or the terminal which is positive. So the techniques were able to help us to understand ourselves. Those who received the training were invited to become what's called mindful leaders and share what they'd learned with others in the prison.

18:19Soon these simple lessons ended up spreading throughout the facility. Four years after the training began, an impact report published by the University of Exeter showed that violent incidents had reduced by 85 percent. Anger and stress among inmates and staff had also fallen and mindfulness training had led to a transformational change between guards and inmates. We were able to understand the inmates and the inmates were able to understand us and the discipline in the prison was able now to have a paradigm shift from the chaos that we used to have to a very calm institution. And today, thanks to inmates and committed officers like Joseph, the Mindful Leadership Program has spread to 17 other prisons across the country.

19:07And it's even spilled out beyond prison walls. Breathe in, breathe in. In a town in the west of Kenya called Kakamega, a former prisoner called David Okwemba is leading a session in mindfulness for young people living on the street. David served 13 years at Naiversha GK Prison. If you change your mind, positive, then all these negative things that are happening or what people think about you is not you. And from my experience, it is working. That's why I took it to the community. Some of them, they have lived to use drugs. They are not using drugs. I believe that the best investment is to the people, to the community, and it will never perish.

19:57So if I invest mindfulness in the community, it won't perish. It's something that will go on, will go on and on. Prison officer Joseph Mugada ending that report from Myra Anubi. And you can hear more on People Fixing the World wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Now, who doesn't sometimes dream of quitting the rat race and decamping to an idyllic island where life is slow and the sun is mostly shining? Well, that's what's on offer to one lucky young family with entrepreneurial spirit and a love of smoked salmon. A philanthropic businessman has spent the past few years setting up a salmon smokery just so he can give it away, and all to help boost the population of the Isle of Colonsay on the west coast of Scotland, which he has loved for decades.

20:43Richard Irving spoke to the BBC's Paddy Maguire. My life on the island is spent mainly running the smokery and just enjoying what is one of the most beautiful islands, certainly in Scotland, if not in Western Europe, if not the world. The island is very small. It's got eight miles of metalled road on it. it benefits from the Gulf Stream, so a relatively mild climate. Living in a small community like this brings you so much closer to how a society works. So I know the guys who empty the bins, I know the guys who fix the water, I know the guys who fix the electricity. Quite often you have to lend a hand in order to get something done.

21:28And that makes it, I think, a very balanced way to look at life and the joy of living on this planet. So you decided to set up a salmon smokery there. Can you tell me a bit more about that? I took my wife to this island on honeymoon 38 years ago. And we've been coming every year since with the kids and they love it. And we love it. On small islands like this, a reasonable ongoing population would probably be about 200 people because we've got 125 there are only four kids in the school which means we're teetering on the edge always of being a viable community having enough young people people of a working age to do things like run the ambulance service and the fire service so I thought what I can do is start a business that I can then give away to someone to entice them to come, a young couple to come and live on the island.

22:32I think we need more entrepreneurial spirit here. And now I've got back the money I had to put in in order to get the thing up and running. So now I would like to give it away to somebody who would like to build this and grow it and do something in a beautiful place like this, but who doesn't perhaps have the 50 ,000 or whatever you need to actually start up a business like this. You mentioned you're looking for a young couple. What qualities are you looking for in them? And what are the challenges that they're going to face if they took up this incredible offer? My ideal is we have a couple, say, where one of them could work remotely, may have a job that they could do remotely, And that would give them some income while they were building up the smokery business.

23:23They need to have young children because I want more children on the school roll. Once the school goes, that's it. You'll never get anybody to come and live on the island again. They have to be fairly entrepreneurial. It's a great opportunity for somebody to come and grow the business. How much interest or response have you had? Oh, my God. I had so far over 270 responses. is they are, as the New York Times put it, dreamers and schemers. You know, there are people who dream of moving to an island like this. It does have its challenges. But the other side of it is it is just the most beautiful island to live on.

24:00And I think if I was younger, if I was, you know, 30 years ago when I had small children, the opportunity to bring them up and go to a school where there are probably more teachers than there are pupils. You're going to, let's say, babysit the people who take it on. but you will also maintain your connection with this island that you've been in love with for decades. Yes yes absolutely absolutely I mean maybe I should think of another business that I could set up you know I'm I am a baby boomer part of that very fortunate generation and I think it's a lot harder for younger people these days and so if I can use some of my capital to help I don't want to give money away but I'm quite happy to give my time away to try and help out the next generation, particularly for this island.

24:46Richard Irving. For most of us, it's a skill that would take years of practice to perfect. But an 11-year-old boy here in the UK has taught himself to play the piano and pass the highest practical graded music exam available, grade 8, in just, wait for it, five months. Harvey Goodbody has been learning famous classical compositions by watching YouTube, and videos of him posted by his mum Jen have gained thousands of views. He's always loved music but he's kind of got into classical music the end of last year. Since then he just decided he wanted to start playing Beethoven so yeah out of the blue.

25:26Just taught himself, decided that's what he wanted to play and then since then he's been on there hours every day. I wanted to learn because I just found it therapeutic and it was really satisfying to play music like this.