Mental Health TV (#mhTV) is a weekly online television and podcast series facilitated by Nicky Lambert (from Middlesex University), Vanessa Garrity (who coordinates WeMHNurses) and Dave Munday (a Lead Professional Officer in Mental Health at Unite the union).

#mhTV has been broadcasting since May 2020, to foster network and debate, and combat the ways in which the pandemic has functioned to cut us off from one another.   It is aimed primarily at mental health nurses but is growing a wider audience.

Episodes are recorded via Zoom, shown on a YouTube channel, live streamed to Facebook, then turned into podcasts which can be downloaded.

The MadZines team (Hel, Jill and Tamsin) joined Nicky and Vanessa on 3 March for a discussion about Radical Mental Health Zines: from 35 years of Asylum to Madzines.

The episode opened with a discussion of Asylum magazine which is 35 years old this year [5.51]. We moved on to talk about zines and zine culture [14.35] and to introduce the MadZines project [22.40] .  A lively discussion touched on the unfinished and ambiguous nature of zines and – in response to a question [30.21] – how they can function to challenge ‘echo chambers’ in mental health professions.  We responded to other questions and reflected on our own experiences of making zines, their use of humour and subversion and the ways in which they can act as a counterpoint to social media. Tamsin spoke about her PhD project [50.51] and we ended with encouragement for people to get in touch and help to shape the project..

This was the team’s first venture into broadcast media!  You can watch the episode here along with a fascinating range of broadcasts on other topics.