The OoRITE! Podcast – Episode 2 #BrumTogether

The OoRITE! Podcast – Episode 2 #BrumTogether

The OoRITE! Podcast is a new series in which four people have real conversations online using Zoom, discussing how they’re doing at the moment during the pandemic. For the next month The Active Wellbeing Society and C4 will collaborate on episodes with different guests every week!

C4 grew up in Birmingham, and has been creating music and art from a very young age, performing on the likes of BBC 1xtra, Radio 1 and other major radio station playlists for the past 10 years

We want to shed light on the highs and lows of lockdown experience, showcase some of the positive work taking place in Birmingham during this time and discuss ways we, as a community, can connect with each other and stick together going forward.

This week we welcome guests Tarju & Anastasia who share their experiences and talk about their own coping mechanisms. They also discuss ideas on how to help others make their current isolation a little bit easier. They then go on to talk about the future of large gatherings and music events and what they are looking forward to most.

Tarju is a producing artist from Birmingham and a full-time artist and mentor with partnerships including Birmingham Hippodrome, National Youth Agency and other educational companies. He has been developing a documentary series around his creative processes during lockdown and how his mental health has been suffering since a lot of his paid music opportunities were cancelled and he started isolating. Tarju speaks openly how creating music has been a great channel of energy and doing 1:1 sessions with students has felt rewarding.

Anastastia is clinical hypnotherapist, mindfulness teacher and coach working in Birmingham. She’s also a Spring to Life associate which is a social enterprise with charitable objectives. Their aim is to provide support to individuals and communities and help people access wellbeing therapies and other services. Most recently, Anastasia participated in the COVID-19 counselling response to support people and key workers affected by self-isolation and stressful working conditions. She is also supporting therapies for anxiety management as well as a horticultural therapy project to repurpose green waste which is not collected by Birmingham City Council.

Anastasia specifically highlighted that if you feel anxious, or concerned about your mental health – do not be afraid to pick up the phone as there are specific services available for you.

To hear more about how the lockdown has impacted this episode’s guests, their coping mechanisms and their own personal struggles and individual experiences on the impact of social distancing then listen to episode 2 of the podcast here: