Mental health

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Features

‘Hundreds of paper cuts’: The mounting struggles of being trans in Bristol

With long waiting lists for treatment, negative media coverage and rising transphobia, everyday life is becoming harder for Bristol’s trans community

Being vulnerable is a strength

Listen: Bristol Unpacked with Heather Williams – trauma, community and healing in south Bristol

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Features

‘Find your people, find your space’: Lawi Anywar on Bristol’s arts scene

The Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist discusses mental health, masculinity and the challenges of thriving in a precarious creative sector

The Big Story

Hurt people, hurt people: The hidden lives of children behind bars

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Opinion

Bristol needs better access to talking therapies

Project helping new dads cope with parenthood faces uncertain future

Dad Matters, set up in 2024, has been supporting men across Bristol to navigate the tricky challenges of early fatherhood – but the council is now working out if it can continue funding the service.

Listen: Bristol Unpacked, with former Lord Mayor Paul Goggin on homelessness, mental health and the struggle for south Bristol votes

'It's been eventful', says Paul Goggin, of a life that has featured both rough sleeping and local politics. He joins Neil Maggs to talk housing, faith, and whether Labour should fear Reform in wards like Hartcliffe and Withywood.

Revealed: Bristol Uni plans to cut student wellbeing services are ‘reckless’, staff warn

Proposals are to reduce the number of staff in the student wellbeing service, despite concerns about impact on student mental health.

‘The most liberating feeling’: how an ADHD diagnosis changed one Bristol business owner’s life

After her own personal journey, Lisa Whitehouse is determined to spread awareness and help others through her work.

A home for the ‘Hypochondriac, Mad and Distracted’: remembering the ‘madhouses’ of Fishponds

For more than 100 years, a family firm profited handsomely from running mental health facilities in Fishponds – sometimes using shocking and bizarre practices. A new book uncovers the startling history of ‘Mason’s Madhouse’.

Listen: Bristol Unpacked with filmmaker Aodh Breathnach on surviving being stabbed – and documenting its impact on him

With knife crime a tragically common part of life in Bristol and other cities, Neil talks to Aodh about the psychological trauma of being the victim of an attack, and the process of recovery.