Talking Taboos: The Podcast

Talking Taboos: The Podcast Through honest discussions with people who have lived through taboo experiences - and those working to open up conversations about them - we explore what helps people speak, what keeps them silent, and what we can learn from both. Each episode looks at how taboos are impacting people and the different ways we can support each other in the things we find hard to talk about. WAIT... ...what is a taboo? Taboos are social norms that prevent people from talking about uncomfortable topics. They create shame, inhibit open conversation, increase isolation and get in the way of the support people need. ...what topics are taboo? Since 2023, our research has unearthed a range of urgent taboo topics that people feel uncomfortable talking about: Unmentionable mental health (Psychosis related symptoms) Shameful sex (STI's) Unruly bowels </

Talking Taboos: The Podcast is a society podcast hosted by Talking Taboos, with 10 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Talking Taboos hosts Talking Taboos: The Podcast, a society show with 10 episodes published.

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  Episode #11

  Talking Taboos: Today's Taboos from 2025 (Part 2)

  Oct 2, 202634 minS1

  Welcome back to part two of our Today's Taboos launch event from 2025. If you haven't listened to part one yet, that's where we unveil the year's four taboos - silent suicidal thoughts, surviving child sexual abuse, body bias, and shamed SEND parenting - we'd recommend starting there. In this second half, our director Flo and chair of trustees Louise are joined by Benji Kusi, inclusion and wellbeing consultant, author and content creator, for a conversation about what needs to change, followed by a live audience Q&A. Benji reflects on the resurgence of restrictive body ideals online, the specific barriers men - and particularly men navigating multiple intersecting identities - face in talking about suicidal thoughts, and what it means to hold your ground when you're publicly criticised. Flo and Louise pick up threads from part one on gaslighting within the SEND parenting experience and the emotional toll of "helpful" content that quietly reinforces guilt. The conversation then opens out to the audience, who bring some of the hardest questions of the evening: how to balance privacy and openness when supporting survivors of sexual violence, how to reach people who aren't already receptive to these conversations, the power of storytelling and representation, gender identities in taboo experiences, and - in the final question - whether empathy has limits, including for people who cause serious harm. Please note that this episode includes discussion of suicidal thoughts, body image and weight stigma, child sexual abuse, and sexual violence, including reflections on empathy for perpetrators of these harms. There are links to support in the show notes. Please listen with care. Closing Statement / Signposting Thank you for joining us for part two of our Today's Taboos launch. If any of what's been discussed has resonated with you, please know you're not alone, and there is support available. If you want to learn more about the taboos we covered last year there are episodes from our events on Silenced Suicidal Thoughts, Suviving Child Sexual Abuse and SEND parenting available. If you're in immediate danger, please call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. For support around suicidal thoughts, Samaritans are free to call, any time, on 116 123, or you can contact CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, at thecalmzone.net. For support specifically around men's mental health and wellbeing, you can reach Future Men at futuremen.org. For support around surviving child sexual abuse or other sexual violence, you can contact The Survivors Trust at thesurvivorstrust.org, or Rape Crisis at rapecrisis.org.uk. If you're worried about your own thoughts or behaviour towards children, confidential support is available through Stop It Now on 0808 1000 900, or at stopitnow.org.uk. For support around body image, weight stigma, or an eating disorder, you can contact Beat, the UK's eating disorder charity, on 0808 801 0677, or at beateatingdisorders.org.uk. You can also contact Obesity UK at obesityuk.org.uk. And for support around SEND parenting, you can contact the National Autistic Society at autism.org.uk, or IPSEA at ipsea.org.uk for advice on SEND and EHCPs. All of these links and details are in the show notes.

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  Episode #10

  Talking Taboos: Today's Taboos from 2025 (Part 1)

  Sep 25, 202632 minS1

  In this episode of Talking Taboos: The Podcast, we're taking you inside our annual Today's Taboos launch event from 2025, where we revealed the four taboos our research identified as needing the most urgent attention for the year. Every year, Talking Taboos sets out to answer a strange question: what are people not talking about? Our directors Flo Nolan, Kat Jennings and chair of trustees Louise take us through the research process behind the year's report - from long-listing and expert interviews to public opinion polling - and reveal the four taboos for that year: silent suicidal thoughts, surviving child sexual abuse, body bias, and shamed SEND parenting. Along the way, they share some of the data behind why these particular topics rose to the top - including the striking gap between how many of us are personally affected by these taboos and how few of us have had a meaningful conversation about them - and reflect on what ties all four together: a lack of language, a lack of empathy, and a culture that's often quicker to judge than to understand. This episode is part one of two from the night. Part two picks up with a panel discussion and audience Q&A, continuing in next week. Please note that this episode includes discussion of suicidal thoughts, child sexual abuse, and body image and weight stigma. Links to support are shared in the show notes. Please listen with care. If any of the topics raised in this episode have resonated with you, please know you're not alone, and there is support available. When life is difficult you can call Samaritans for free, any time, on 116 123, or find support from Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) at thecalmzone.net . https://www.thecalmzone.net/guides/body-image For support around surviving child sexual abuse, you can contact The Survivors Trust at thesurvivorstrust.org. For support around SEND parenting, you can contact the National Autistic Society at autism.org.uk, or IPSEA at ipsea.org.uk for advice on SEND and EHCPs. Links and details are in the show notes. Part 2 of this episode continues next week.

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  Episode #7

  Talking Taboos: Why silent suicidal thoughts need to be said out loud

  Sep 10, 20261h 7mS1

  In this episode of Talking Taboos: The Podcast, we're taking you inside a live event held the day after World Suicide Prevention Day 2025. We brought together lived experience, mental health expertise and community voices to talk about one of our most silenced taboos: suicidal thoughts. When life is difficult, Samaritans are here, day or night, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org to find your nearest branch. The conversation is chaired by Dr Yansie Rolston. Yansie is an incredible facilitator and trainer who designs, implements and evaluates actionable strategies on health equality and community cohesion. Her work covers Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean. Where she co-creates culturally appropriate health and social care projects for marginalised communities. She's joined by Merrick Joseph, a London firefighter and grandfather of one., Merrick shares his own experience and talks about the culture shift happening within the fire service around mental health and stigma. Lynette Charles, CEO of Mind in Haringey, Chair of Mind in London and Black Thrive Haringey Lead, also joins Yansie and Merrick. W Lynette brings both her professional experience and an important personal lens to the conversation. Together Yansie, Lynette and Merrick unpack the difference between having a suicidal thought and having a plan, the role guilt and shame play in keeping people silent, and why so many of us - whether we're firefighters, parents, or just exhausted by daily life - hold these thoughts alone rather than risk saying them out loud. Along the way, they talk about what actually helps: naming the thought, finding ‘your reason,’ noticing behaviour change in the people around you, and building spaces - whether that's a fire station mess table, a barber shop, or a living room - where honesty doesn't feel like a risk. Please note that this episode includes discussion of suicidal thoughts and suicide. Please listen with care. Closing Statement / Signposting If anything raised in this episode has affected you, please know you're not alone, and there is support available. If you're in immediate danger or are worried about someone else who you think is, please call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. For support any time, day or night, Samaritans are free to call on 116 123. You can also text SHOUT, for free and confidential support, on 85258. CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, are available from 5pm to midnight on 0800 58 58 58, or you can find them online at thecalmzone.net . And if you're under 35 - or you're a parent or carer worried about a young person - Papyrus HOPELINE247 is there for you on 0800 068 41 41. If you work in a high-pressure environment, like the emergency services, Mind's Blue Light Programme offers mental health support built specifically for you — that's mind.org.uk/bluelight . And for local support, including crisis cafés, Mind in Haringey is open nine till ten, seven days a week, you'll find them at mindinharingey.org.uk . If there's one thing to take from tonight's conversation, it's this: find your mess table. Whether that's a colleague, a friend, or a stranger on the other end of a phone line, talking to someone, anyone, makes it lighter to carry. All of these links and details are in the show notes.

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  Episode #7

  Talking Taboos: Shame and SEND Parenting (Part 2)

  Sep 3, 202649 minS1

  Welcome back to part two of our conversation on shame and SEND parenting. If you haven't listened to part one yet, we'd recommend starting there. A quick explainer of the words we use here - SEND is the acronym used for Special Education Needs and Disability which relates to the support for children who have extra learning needs or disabilities. In these two episodes we’re joined by Lisa (ASD with G&T), author of Raising the Semi-Betweeners and mum to two autistic children; Lucy Dunlop-Simpson, a social worker and founder of Parentnet, who coaches parents through diagnosis and school breakdown; and Mark Allen, host of the Neuroshambles podcast and father to three neurodivergent children. Together Lisa, Lucy and Mark talk openly about their parenting experiences and what has helped them to break down taboos around SEND. In part one, we talked about masking, judgement, and the guilt of not always staying regulated as a parent. In this second part, the conversation goes further into what happens when parents aren't believed - by schools, by local authorities, even by hospital staff - and just how much energy goes into simply being taken at your word. We hear about the fight for EHCPs (that’s Education, Health and Care Plans) and funding. We also talk about the language used around neurodivergent behaviour and why words like "aggressive" and "school refusal" do real damage, and what it actually means to advocate for a child who can't yet advocate for themselves. The episode closes with a Q&A, where our panel answers questions from the live audience - including how to support siblings through difficult behaviour and suicidal ideation, how to advocate for a high-masking child starting school, and what parents can do when a school insists a distressed child must still be brought in. Please note that this episode includes discussion of self-harm, disordered eating, suicidal ideation, distress, shutdowns, meltdowns, anger, and child-to-parent violence. Please listen with care. Closing Statement Thank you for joining us for both parts of this conversation on shame and SEND parenting. If any of what you've heard has resonated with you, please know you're not alone - so much of this experience happens in private, but there is support out there. For information and support around autism and neurodivergence, you can contact the National Autistic Society at autism.org.uk , or the PDA Society at pdasociety.org.uk . For advice on SEND, EHCPs and navigating the education system, you can contact IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) at ipsea.org.uk . For general support for parents of disabled or additional needs children, you can contact Contact at contact.org.uk , and for support around young carers and siblings, you can look into your local authority's Young Carers service. If you or your child are struggling with distress, self-harm or suicidal thoughts, you can call Samaritans for free on 116 123, or contact Young Minds at youngminds.org.uk for support around a child or young person's mental health. If you believe a child is at immediate risk, please call 999.

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  Episode #6

  Talking Taboos: Unruly Bowls and breaking the silence on poo

  Aug 14, 202649 minS1

  In this episode of Talking Taboos: The Podcast, we're live from the Unruly Bowels event that we ran back in 2024. It brought together lived experience, health expertise and industry to talk about one of the most universal taboos… a topic that makes many of us very uncomfortable to talk about: poo! Taboos aren't just difficult topics, they are systems of silence, sustained by embarrassment and shame, that isolate people from the people around them and from the help they need. As our guests explain, when it comes to bowel health, that silence can be the difference between an early diagnosis and a late one. We hear first from Kat, Director of Talking Taboos and Priscilla, a lived experience advocate, sharing their stories of real life with invisible chronic illnesses, the years of normalising symptoms, the fear of what a Google search might reveal, and the moment a friendship opened up simply because they finally had the right words to describe what they were going through. We're then joined by Amy from Cancer Research UK, who unpacks why shame and judgement keep people from speaking to their doctor about their symptoms , and why "don't be embarrassed" is often exactly the wrong message to send. Claire and Matt from the Andrex marketing team talk us through their "Get Comfortable" campaign and why a brand best known for a cute puppy and loo roll decided it had a responsibility to help the country talk more openly about its own body. And finally, Nena, a functional medicine health coach,talks about how she can better help her clients when they talk more openly about poo and makes the case for the Bristol Stool Chart as one of the simplest, most accessible tools for understanding your own health. Together, we explore why the lack of everyday language around bowel symptoms is a real barrier to getting support and early diagnosis, and why more open, honest conversation could help more people with their health. Please note that this episode includes discussion of bowel symptoms, incontinence, bleeding, and cancer diagnosis. Please listen with care. https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Bristol-stool-chart-for-carer-web-version.pdf https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/bowelbabe-planning-your-fundraising If anything you've heard today feels familiar, if you've been putting off a conversation you have thought you need to have, with a doctor, a friend, or just yourself - let this be your sign to say it out loud. It gets easier the moment you do. For information and support on bowel cancer, you can contact Bowel Cancer UK on their helpline or at bowelcanceruk.org.uk , or Cancer Research UK at cancerresearchuk.org . For information and support on Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, you can contact Crohn's & Colitis UK on their helpline or at crohnsandcolitis.org.uk . For general gut health and nutrition support, you can find guidance through Guts UK at gutscharity.org.uk .

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