The Just Checking In Podcast

Reel Stories - Jude Vause-Walsh

• The Just Checking In Podcast by VENT

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:01:36

In this episode of our Reel Stories series, we checked in with Jude Vause-Walsh. 

Jude is a voiceover actor and coach.

Jude’s career started out after she completed her university degree, where she began carving out an acting career. 

She landed some roles in small films and TV work and then she saw an advert looking for traffic and travel radio presenters. She applied and became a radio presenter for 15 years, working at Virgin Radio, Real Radio and Century Radio, in what is now known as Greatest Hits Radio. 

She mainly worked on the Breakfast Show so had to have a regular 3am alarm clock set. However, she had plans to start a family, and wanted to adjust her work life to match her new life as a working mum, and voiceover work seemed like a natural fit.

In this episode we chart that journey, her favourite roles she’s done and ones she’s seen others perform, the stigma that can exist around voiceover work compared to on-screen work, the art of being a voiceover artist and the creative process behind inhabiting a character that no one can ‘see’.

We also talk about the mental health impact of seeing her clients thrive after working with her and landing voiceover work themselves. 

For Jude’s mental health journey, we discuss the solitary life that comes with being a voiceover artist, her mother’s dementia which she was diagnosed with three years ago at time of recording, and Jude’s diagnosis of breast cancer five years ago, which was thankfully caught early, treated with surgery and she has recovered from it. 

We discuss how the breast cancer has shaped her attitude towards gratitude and given her greater perspective on life, career and family. 

As always, #itsokaytovent

You can find out more about Jude's work here: https://www.voiceovercoach.uk/.

You can follow Jude on social media below: 

Support Us:


SPEAKER_04

Hi Venters and welcome to another episode of Real Stories. This is a theatre and art series hosted by me, Freddie Cocker, as part of the Just Checkin' In podcast and presented to you by Vent. Vent is a place where everyone, but especially men and boys, can open up about their mental health issues, break down stigmas, and start conversations. In each episode of Real Stories, we discuss my special guests' theatrical careers, the pieces of work that have meant the most to them, what the stage gives them, and their mental health journeys. This is Real Stories. In this episode of Real Stories, I'm checking in with Jude Voss Walsh. Jude is an actor, specifically a voiceover actor and coach. I came across Jude through her brilliant Instagram account where she posts behind-the-scenes videos of famous voiceover actor performances in films or TV shows, showing her audience why they are so good at what they do and the skills they use to convey emotion, feel, and the characters they are playing just by their voice alone. Some of you listeners will know how much I love doing voices and impressions myself, and this podcast is a bit of a personal one for me too. Jude's career started out after she completed her university degree, where she began carving out her career as an actor. She landed some roles in small films and TV and then saw an advert looking for traffic and travel radio presenters. She applied and became a radio presenter for 15 years, operating on Virgin Radio, Real Radio, and Sentry Radio in what is now known as Greatest Hits Radio. She mainly worked on the Breakfast Show, so she had a regular 3M alarm clock set, but she had plans to have a family and wanted to adjust her work life to match her new life as a working mum. So, voiceover work seemed like a natural fit. However, she didn't have any connections nor professional training in it either. So she got some coaching first of all and had to figure out how to put herself out there and in front of the right people. She drew up a list of all the radio commercial producers and began reaching out to all of them and was as proactive as possible as she could be. From there, she has built a successful career as a voiceover artist and has now extended that into coaching the next generation of voiceover artists too, whilst also supplementing her income as well. In this episode, we chart that journey, her favourite roles she's done, and ones she's seen others perform. We talk about the stigma that can exist around voiceover work compared to on-screen work, the art of being a voiceover artist, and the creative process behind inhabiting a character that no one can see, and the mental health impact of seeing her clients thrive after working with her and when they land voiceover work themselves. For Jude's mental health journey, we discuss the solitary life that can come with being a voiceover artist, and how she manages and counteracts it with positive mental health tools. We also talk about her mother's dementia, which she was diagnosed with three years ago at time of recording. And we finish by discussing Jude's diagnosis of breast cancer five years ago, which was thankfully caught early, treated with surgery, and she has recovered from it. We discuss how the breast cancer has shaped her attitude towards gratitude going forward and given her greater perspective on her life, her career, and her family. So get yourself comfy and have a listen as I give you Jude Vos Walsh's Real Story. Jude, welcome to Real Stories and the Just Checking In podcast. Thank you so much for coming on and letting me check in with you. I have to say, I have been so excited for this episode, much more than my usual episodes, because of the work you do and the subject matter. So I'm going to try very, very hard not to do any impressions or voices on this podcast and really try and train my brain, but we'll see how we go. How are you on this Saturday morning?

SPEAKER_02

Really good, thank you. And I'm really disappointed you're not actually going to do any impressions or voices because I would expect that, Freddie.

SPEAKER_04

Please, please don't tempt me, please, for the love of God. Now my brain's had permission, it's gonna do at least one during this podcast, but we'll see. Ever since I came across your Instagram account, I have been delving into all the other content. I've been absolutely fascinated with all of it, and it's really reignited, I guess, my love for voice over acting myself and my desire to do one or become one, I should say. So watch this space in the future. Without further ado, are you ready to start the show and talk all about your amazing journey?

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04

Let's start your podcast and any real stories episode I do by talking about your acting journey. Because before you were a voiceover artist, you were an actor in your own right, dude. You were an on-screen actor too. So tell me back to the beginning. What first made you fall in love with acting, theatre, and the arts more generally?

SPEAKER_02

I was a young teenager, and I remember being obsessed by Michael Jackson's thriller back in those days, and not only just the actual mini-movie that was created, but behind the scenes I thought was fascinated. And I just remember watching that over and over again and thinking, oh God, I love to do that. I love to dance, I love performance, I love acting. And it was only then that I realized, oh, actually, maybe you can actually do this for a job. And I guess that just kind of really ignited the fire for me.

SPEAKER_04

You graduate from university and you want to give acting a go for your career. So how did that part of your journey develop? And what were your kind of first steps, really?

SPEAKER_02

I didn't know anybody in performing arts. My family were a real kind of northern working class Manchester family, and nobody had gone to university, nobody had gone into the arts, so it was totally alien. There was no help available, there was no money available. So I just kind of had to really dig deep and carve this path. So for me, it was about getting to university. That's what I believed was the best way for it, meeting lots of different people, opening my eyes up to the industry and really taking it from there. So that was the first step for me at uni.

SPEAKER_04

You then have a rest period from the industry, but then you see a job advert for a radio presenter in traffic and travel. So what made you apply in the first place and change your career, I guess, irrevocably from that moment onwards?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So after uni, obviously I went into acting, you know, and I did quite a bit of TV work and some theatre work in the West End and a couple of small movies. And then, yeah, that period of resting just got me really nervous. You know, I was in my twenties then and I thought, God, I don't want to not be working for a few months. So I I saw this particular ad and I don't know. I just thought, let's just give it a go. And I applied and didn't think I'd get it, and I got it, and they trained me up, and I became a traffic and travel presenter for what they used to call the eye in the sky, which meant that you would go around in a small aeroplane. People thought it was just sound effects of an aeroplane. It wasn't, it was a real aeroplane, and you would take off from Manchester Airport twice a day, and we'd circle across all the motorway network and report on the traffic and travel. I mean, that was a hair-raising time with us not closing the door properly to a mini fire on the plane, and it was, yeah, it was terrifying, but wonderful, and live radio, and so yeah, it was quite exciting. From there, I then actually worked my way up to being a radio presenter. So I loved that and did that for a good few years.

SPEAKER_04

Wow, you were like pipping and come outside, it was with the plane. You mentioned being from Manchester there, you're a proud mancunian Northwest resident. And class is something I talk about a lot on this series, Jude, and across the podcast more generally, actually, something I'm very, very passionate about. And many classically trained actors, as you'll know, with regional accents, especially from the kind of 70s and 80s, slowly sort of ameliorated their regional dialects over time. You know, the likes of the legend Brian Blessed, the legend Sir Patrick Stewart, Surian McKellen. And sometimes when you hear them doing interviews with someone that they might trust a little bit more, or maybe they've had a few drinks, especially McKellen, is his Lancastrian comes out a little bit more strongly. How much did you balance not succumbing to maybe any accentism in the industry, but also polishing your voice for radio?

SPEAKER_02

That's a really good question. You're exactly right. You know, when I was at uni, it was, you know, I spoke probably a little bit more Manchester like that naturally, and that had to be shaved off me. Not really, obviously, but you know, I guess over time, the people that you're mixing with, you're realising you don't sound like them, and I probably need to sound like them. So that was probably shaved off me a little bit during university. And then when I went into the traffic and travel as well, interesting that when I went into radio, they wanted me to get rid of that. They wanted my regional accent because it was a regional radio station. They wanted you to sound like the people that you were talking to. So we didn't want any of this neutral RP nonsense. They wanted real people with real voices and real accents. So I almost had to get rid of that kind of RP nuts and move back to more of a regional accent.

SPEAKER_04

We're in 2026 now, and I think the picture in acting when it comes to social class, in some places is better, and in some places is a lot worse. And I think the actors I've mentioned have have spoken about that and how they got grants back in the day from arts councils and their local councils to be able to have the opportunity to give acting as much of a go as possible, and then they make it right. And very sadly, why it's becoming so much harder is because the rich kids have that time, they have the safety net, whereas the kids from more working-class backgrounds simply don't have as much time to keep giving it a go and keep earning not a lot before they eventually get that big break or get that ability to be a working actor. What do you think needs to change then?

SPEAKER_02

I think the grant system, me personally, I wouldn't have been able to go to university if it wasn't for the grant system. Obviously, you know, that's very different now. But back in the day, I was, I think, one of the last years to be able to get a grant to go to university. So that wouldn't have happened for me. Also, I remember being 15 and getting a place at a really prestigious drama school, Alden Theatre Workshop. And my mum at the time didn't have a car, so I couldn't go because I couldn't actually physically get there. So, you know, there were so many things that I didn't have access to that I could have really helped me blossom. So it's so important. I mean, I think, you know, you know, without getting too political, you know, governments are really squeezed in, it's a very difficult time. But the arts is so important in particular, because, you know, if people say, Oh, you need to go into an engineering or teaching or law or doctor or medicine or whatever, that's fine. But everybody accesses the arts, whether they realise it or not. Every time you switch on a TV or you listen to the radio or you watch a movie at the cinema, or you know, so many other iterations of that, but certainly the arts impacts everybody's life, and it really shouldn't be something that only the elite or certain classes can access because we need all classes from all backgrounds, all ethnicities to be able to work in any kind of industry.

SPEAKER_04

Coming back to radio now, you were a radio presenter for 15 years, a huge part of your life. So, what were some of your favourite moments in that chapter of your career?

SPEAKER_02

Oh gosh, it was back in the day when you didn't have to be quite so careful what you said. And when I think now, the things that we did and said and got away with, it was another world, quite rightly for many reasons, but no catch-up either. But you know, it was loads more fun, to be honest. You know, I remember us doing a naked breakfast show one time where we got a load of the listeners in, all naked sat in the studio. It's like you just wouldn't do that, and it was radio and we didn't have webcams, so what was the point of that? It was just the most madest thing. We had a lot of celebrities in as well. You know, we'd get all the celebs in coming and plugging their music, so it was just, you know, whether it's playing pool with Robbie Williams or swapping shoes with Kylie, it was just a mad time where just anything went and it was just unscripted, very un PC, but also a lot of fun as well at that time.

SPEAKER_04

You've done radio presenting and on-screen work or presenting, right? And they're two very different skill sets. So, for example, radio presenting hinges almost entirely on one's voice rather than their look. Although the look obviously helps with some people if they want to branch out, shall we say. And now, with the greatest respect to Steve Wright, God rest his soul, and Kem Bruce. Their voice is what made them magical. In this new age of social media clips of radio shows, maybe that balance is changing, right? So, what did you learn about radio presenting that was key to you succeeding and staying in the industry for as long as you did?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think radio, I think, you know, bringing on webcams and being able to see inside radio studios, whilst it's interesting and it's important now, I think it's really changed things, not necessarily for the better. So I think people are so aware of how they look or how they're being observed and coming across. And I think it does make you filter yourself a little bit. So I think that's a little bit of a shame actually. It helped me actually because I was always very, you know, you've got to be aware of your facial expressions, you've got to be aware of your physicality. And I've always been a very expressive person as well. If the camera was off, I would still be as expressive, you know. So I think it's just about as a performer, just being really expressive physically actually really helps your voice be very expressive, which is one of the most important things about voiceover as well.

SPEAKER_04

Specifically, your radio presenting shifts were on the breakfast shows, right? As you said. So your alarm was pretty early, maybe 3 a.m., 4am, your work-life balance was challenging to say the least. Then you want to start a family, and clearly 3am starts isn't conducive for a newborn baby unless you're literally feeding them. So, how did you take that desire and begin to change your career from radio presenting and transition into voiceover acting?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I'd started fallen out of love really, probably about six months before when I got pregnant with radio. I felt like I'd done all the radio shifts you could do, all the different time slots you could do. I'd gotten to a point where I was sick of talking about myself and what I'd done that weekend and oh, what had happened on the way to Tesco and all the lots of little stories you've got to come up as a radio presenter. I felt a little bit wrung out by it. And I just thought, I'm just getting too old for this. So when I got pregnant, it was like, this is an absolute sign that this is time for me to stop doing this. But I need to do something that's creative, earn a good wage, be flexible, allow me to be a mum at home, really enjoy what I do. And that's where, you know, I went tick, tick, tick, tick, voiceover's the answer.

SPEAKER_04

Having that idea is one thing, making it a reality is another, right? So, like you said previously, when you entered radio presenting, you didn't have any connections or industry ins. Same situation for voiceover, right? As you told me off air. So you're literally starting from scratch again. You're not in your early 20s where you've got that energy to just go out and take all those risks and maybe annoy people where you shouldn't be. But how did you go about building this new career? Because that's a massive leap to take. And you've got to do the same kind of things again, be persistent, be a bit annoying, and piss a few people off just to kind of get your foot in the door.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I was really naive. I thought voiceover, well, I use my voice and I'm an actor, and so I'll just say I'm a voiceover and this career will appear. And obviously, that is not the case. You know, I needed to train myself first of all vocally to get out of being a radio presenter, because it's very much a different set of skills. I need to be a bit more expressive than I was as an actor, because an actor relies on physicality, not just the voice. So there was a period of training. You know, I had to get my demo sorted, I had to get my studio set up, you know, I had to do all the research for that. I'm not the world's most technical person or I can manage, but it doesn't come naturally to me. So that was really overwhelming. So I just kind of took it one step at a time. And really, I just thought, okay, I'm just gonna have to make it work. I gave up my job in radio. I was four months pregnant when I left. I knew I had a period of a few months to get this career cemented, ready, up and running, before I then took a few weeks' mat leave. And so I absolutely had to make it work. So despite me not being in my 20s, I still had to bang on the doors. I still had to travel around with donuts to try and bribe people to use me. You know, I still did all of those same things just to forge this career from nothing to something, you know, really worthwhile and workable.

SPEAKER_04

I'm hoping that there are voice actors or even actors at their early stages in their career who listen to this podcast and take loads of things from what you've been saying, Jude. So, what is the one piece of advice that you would maybe give a fellow voiceover artist in a similar position to you back then, knowing what you do now?

SPEAKER_02

It's not just about the voice. The voice is important, but it's also the business of voiceover that you've got to really educate yourself on because you could have the most amazing voice, great talent, wonderful demo, you've got your own studio, but if nobody's going to hear you, if you're not able to put yourself out there and market yourself and look for the work and look for the opportunities, it's all kind of wasted. So the business of voiceover is really, really important. And I was naive and I teach other people now, so they know straight away that the business side of it is really important to kind of nail and have a real grip on.

SPEAKER_04

And when you had finished training and you got that first voiceover job, given the work you'd put in to get there and the risks you've taken, how did you feel?

SPEAKER_02

It was it was very exciting. My first job I earned five pounds.

SPEAKER_04

Umflation means there's a lot more now.

SPEAKER_02

It was only 15 years ago, so we barely bought a copy then or two coffies. But I was so excited because what that was, it was concrete proof that somebody is gonna pay me to do this. It's like, oh my god, this is a thing. I can speak, I can read a script, and someone's going to pay me for what I do with that script. So that could have been a pound, it could have been five pounds, it could have been 500 pounds, it was a fiver. I framed that invoice and I kept it on my office wall for a few years. And that was my inspiration that you only need one client. That client boosts your motivation, your confidence to go, okay, now I need to look for another client and another client and another client. And it's just start small, start with one step, one job, and then build it from there.

SPEAKER_04

I want to dive into the art of voiceover work now, and you've mentioned it a little bit already, and we'll discuss as well how you help your own clients in a bit. So, what are the differences and similarities between on-screen acting or on stage versus voiceover acting, given that you've done both in your career?

SPEAKER_02

So, what I find with actors, and I was guilty of this as well, is that they rely so much on the physicality to convey the emotion. With voiceover, you can move and you can be really expressive, and it's important to do that, but that movement is not going to convey through a mic.

SPEAKER_04

That's for you, really. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you've still got to bring it through the voice. That's the big difference. What I find is some actors are almost too subtle. They don't give me enough voice expression. So it's learning that balance of we are only listening to your voice. So the voice is the most important thing, but add some physicality in it as well to help you express yourself through your voice.

SPEAKER_04

We spoke about this off-air. I spoke to you about this perception that I thought existed in some circles that voice overacting is, I'm doing air quotes here, easy by comparison to on-screen, even the idea that it's not even proper acting, for example, at this most extreme. And I think maybe that comes from the fact that lots of stage actors they can do these jobs if they're kind of taking a bit of a break from stage work or something like that. Why do you think that's emerged and why is it wrong in your opinion, as you told me?

SPEAKER_02

I think because people think that just because I've got a voice and just because I can read, it means I can be a voice actor. And it's just like saying, well, just because I've got eyes and I've got hands, I can be an amazing artist. Or just because I've got a hammer, that means I'm a plumber, or whatever. You know, just because you've got the tick tick for it, it doesn't mean that you're able to use it as a professional would do. There are a lot of similarities between stage and screen acting and voice acting, absolutely. But they are really quite different disciplines because, you know, stage and screen rely heavily on the physicality. Voice acting relies heavily on the voice, and they are two very different instruments. There's lots of crossover, but they are different instruments. So you will get some voice actor, sorry, you will get some stage and screen actors that go, oh, I've got a day off, I'll just do a little bit of voiceover work. And yeah, absolutely, they've got a lot of the credentials for it. But when they come into the studio and you go, actually, you need to give me more there, or your diction isn't clear on that, or I don't know what emotion you meant by that word. You didn't bring it through in your voice. They go, Oh, there's so much more to it than I thought there would be. So it's just that nice mutual respect, I think, that's needed to go between stage and screen and voice acting.

SPEAKER_04

Something I find really wonderful in voice overwork, and it and there's similarities in on-screen stuff too, is the timeless element of voice overwork, right? And its legacy is almost permanent. So, for example, Oswald Lawrence, prominent voice behind many London Underground Mind the Gap and sort of automated railway announcements, he died in 2007 and his voice was gradually replaced. But his wife, Dr. Margaret McCollum, put out a public plea to TFL and his voice was returned to one station, which is in Bankman, and you can still hear that today. There's something quite beautiful in that, isn't there?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. You know, when somebody's got such a Distinctive voice, or they're recognized for one particular part of voice overwork. It's linked with real nostalgia, like anything. So, yeah, the nostalgia of voice overwork and the fact that your voice can live on forever is such a wonderful thing. You know, I'm sure he would have never known at the time, just recording a couple of lines of mind the gap, or this, and you are now arriving at you just would never have thought, you know, the impact that's going to have many years later. It's so cool.

SPEAKER_04

We've come to my favourite part of this podcast, which is about your favourite roles that other voiceover actors have done. So when you were learning your craft, what were some of the favourite ones that you saw or you took inspiration from from a career perspective, especially when you saw them performing BTS or behind the scenes and putting them on your Instagram account as well?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean, that's weird actually. That's only something I've I've started to do recently. When I started my own voiceover journey, I was a little bit tunnel vision. So I didn't look to anyone else. You know, I wasn't a particular fan inverted quotes of voiceover work. I just knew that I wanted to do it. So it wasn't like I'd listened to the greats and gone, oh, I wanted to do that. Like I watched Michael Jackson dance and go, oh, I want to do dance or drama. I very much just kind of carved my own path and then was just aware of other voice actors as well. I mean, certainly now, you know, it's only when I've been in it for a long time you really realize just that the genius of such as Jim Cummings as well, the voice of Winnie the Pooh and many Disney characters. Even Colleen O'Shaughnessy as well. He's just one of my favourite female voice actors. She does the voice, for example, for Tales in Sonic the Hedgehog, you know, and she's just got the most otherworldly animated voice that she can create. Very childlike, great energy. So I think it's only in the last few years that I've started to really appreciate other voice actors as I've kind of delved into it myself.

SPEAKER_04

I've got so many of my favourite voiceover roles, largely because I've got impressions of all of them. So Simpsons, Edna, Mould, Aristokat's, Futurama. Recently, my Instagram explorer is just the Muppets now and just like Elmo memes. So that's for taking up most of my feed. I'm not gonna do the Muppets voices. But there are some voice actors going deeper who have basically shaped like most of my generation's childhoods, and they'll never recognise them on the street. So you think of someone like Tom Kenny who's SpongeBob and he's done loads of voiceover roles in like other Cartoon Network shows. You've got like Tara Strong who plays Timmy Turner in Fairly Odd Parents. I imagine one of the beautiful things for them is that they've had this impact on so many kids and given them so many magical memories, but selfishly, they can probably stay pretty anonymous too, most of the time. Is that quite a benefit, do you think?

SPEAKER_02

Totally. I have to say that you're far more of a voiceover geek than I am, actually. So I think we've worked that out pretty quick. I should be interviewing you. But yeah, totally. It's it's surely one of the coolest things, you know. The fact that you can say to someone, I did the voice for that, and they'll go, Well, you don't sound anything like that. No, you didn't. It's like, well, no, that's because I'm an actor and I can make my voice sound really different. But the anonymity is just a brilliant balance of being able to perform creatively and then still walk around Hazda. It's just ideal, and it's such a cool little buzz that you still get, and I still get now. When I walk around someone or I listen to the radio or walk around a shopping centre or anything and hear my voice and go, Oh, that's me.

SPEAKER_04

That's crazy to me. I'd feel so weirded out.

SPEAKER_02

It's so weird.

SPEAKER_04

You must get used to it though.

SPEAKER_02

You do, but because you're in a studio recording it and you don't often hear it fully produced with the music effects and in context. It's only when you actually hear it in situ that you go, Oh, that's what they did with it. Oh, that sounds pretty cool. Yeah, so it's it's always a nice surprise.

SPEAKER_04

Let's talk about some of your favourite voiceover roles that you've done in your career so far. So tell me, kind of, maybe two or three that have really meant a lot to you.

SPEAKER_02

Gosh, I remember playing a blueberry for a children's TV series, and that was great fun. And then just to get a script that says, You are a blueberry, and you think, oh wow, that's why I went to university in drama school. Okay, let my oh, deep breath, let me really get into character here, you know. But you know, just the weirdest, wildest jobs are always fun for an actor. You know, some voiceovers are just straight voiceovers, you know, and they'll do the straight commercial reads like that. But as an actor, I love the really fun creative things. So I love it when it says, you know, Barbara the blueberry, for example, and I go, okay, bam, I can make this character whatever I want to make. Can anyone say, I'm so sorry that doesn't sound like a blueberry? No, they can't. So you can never be wrong. That's the thing. So any kind of weird animated characters, you know, when it comes around to, you know, gosh, Easter, you know, you've got lots of different little bunny voices that you're doing. So I love the seasonal changes. I'm a big horror fan, so anything Halloween as well, anything dark, creepy, and really kind of spooky. I love doing all those kind of seasonal voices as well. And then I think one of my favourite ones was I did the continuity for Sky TV for a long time, a good couple of years, good few years. And so doing that work which married with the presentation, radio presenter work, Sky continuity voiceover as well, they married really nicely together, and I really enjoyed doing that as well. But every day's different. You can be doing 15-20 scripts a day, and every single script's different. So you've done so many over the years.

SPEAKER_04

I imagine Barbara the Blueberry was a children's TV character. So given you're a mum now, does that make it extra special, those roles? Not just giving joy to your own kids when they were little, obviously. I imagine they're a bit older now, but potentially thousands of other children too.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolutely. I think when you're a new parent, they're the jobs that you want. And a lot of my students now who are new parents, that is their dream to be able to be a voice in an animated TV series because they know they're going to be watching it with the kids and the kids are going to think it's so cool. My daughter now is 14, you know, she's totally cringed out by every single thing that I do in life. So it's totally different despite her being a voiceover and doing a lot of voiceover work herself now. But yeah, I think as you go through stages of your life, you know, particularly if you're younger and you know, you've got young children, then that's the kind of work that you want to be involved in because it's just so cool to play and listen to with them.

SPEAKER_04

Let's talk about coaching now. So, when did you decide you wanted to add this string to your bow and become a voiceover coach, not just a voice-over actor from a personal perspective and also a career perspective?

SPEAKER_02

That was totally organic and was never expected or part of the plan. And that just came about because I was just helping out a few people, just really casually. They heard and saw what I did as a career, and they wanted a piece of it. They wanted to be able to do it for themselves, and they didn't know where to start, and they wanted to know if, you know, did they have what it takes. And so I started helping them out really casually, and and it just happened more and more and more. And I just thought, actually, I think I need to formalise this as opposed to just spend a lot of time doing it, but not really calling it anything. So again, that just happened quite organically, and I decided to set up officially the coaching arm of my business about eight years ago.

SPEAKER_04

You spoke earlier about the work that you do with some of your clients, and maybe some might be coming into it a little bit naive about the work they need to put in. But what are the range of clients you work with here? You know, obviously you don't have to reveal any names, but like are some relative beginners, are some very, very seasoned actors, and maybe a couple famous names. And how do you tailor your offering based on their experience and skill set?

SPEAKER_02

Totally wide as a as a range. So brand new beginners, you know, and and people that come from very what you would say non-creative backgrounds. So a lot of my students are in the medical industry, in the tech industry, teachers, even lawyers, and realize that they love doing something really creative when they were at school and college, and then took a path that wasn't quite so creative and are now potentially regretting it or regretting the fact they didn't carry on. So they want to do something really creative with their voice, something fun, something they could potentially just do on the side, not even necessarily give up their career. So they're really starting from scratch. I will also work with actors that have been acting TV, movies, mo cap for years and are just delving into voiceover. And again, they know that it's a different discipline, so they've done a little bit of research. But the process is always the same. You're starting someone right from the bottom and you're training them up. So by the time I've finished with someone, I can take a lawyer who's never looked at a voiceover script or an actor who's just come from a West End. I'm just working with someone who's just come, I won't name him, but he's just come out of the West End. He's a seasoned actor who's done so much musical theatre as well. But I'm still starting him at the same point as I'm starting the lawyer in London, you know, because you've got to learn your skills from the ground up to have the best possible chance of really kind of making it work.

SPEAKER_04

And when they reach the end of their time with you and you can see the growth they've made from the beginning to the end, how does that make you feel as a coach and a person, especially when if they are a beginner, for example, they land that first voiceover job themselves?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, it's so cool. I get emails every single day from clients and students that have just booked their first job. I love seeing, and they don't realise it at the start, but I always am very aware, I love seeing the huge leap in confidence that they have from the very first nervous session. And it doesn't matter if they're a seasoned actor or being on stage or never been behind a microphone or on stage, they're always nervous on that first session. And even within, you know, four or five sessions, just seeing their confidence, skill technique soar is so exciting. And then very nicely, I firmly push them out of the nest and go, you're ready. You're better than I was when I started. You've got the skills of the industry now, you've got voiceover skills, we've got a plan of action, you've got your demo. Go, go do it. And then when they'll get in touch and say, I've just put my first audiobook job, or I've just done my first radio commercial, or I've just been shortlisted for this video game, it's like they're so giddy. And for me, that's what I live for, really, because seeing their success is as cheesy as it is, is like totally my success as well.

SPEAKER_04

Let's reflect on this journey now, Jude. So, first of all, what's been your proudest achievement on it, either as a on-screen actor, presenter, voiceover actor, or a coach?

SPEAKER_02

Oh gosh. Um voiceover work is so easy for me now in that I do it with my eyes closed, and I've done it for a long time. So I think for me, the coaching is just where I really come alive, really seeing other people's passion starting from the seedling and really growing. So I really enjoy that. TV wise, something that lives on for me. I don't know if you've ever heard of the cult TV show A League of Gentlemen.

SPEAKER_04

I have indeed, yes.

SPEAKER_02

I was in all of those series and we didn't know it at the time, that was a long time ago. My wife. I know that was a long time ago, and we didn't know it at the time because it was such a weird situation set up and filming, it was so random. And now, even every single month, I'll get a check from the BBC, and that was, I think that was like 30 years ago when I did that. And again, looking back now for such a random night on the moors pushing this pram with these strange men, who would have thought that it kind of turned into this mark thing now that people still talk about today. So that was a really cool thing that I didn't realise at the time, actually.

SPEAKER_04

And as a final question before we move on, what has this journey also taught you about yourself?

SPEAKER_02

Determination, perseverance, you know, going back to coming from a family that didn't have any industry knowledge or didn't have the money to be able to put me through university or buy me any options. You know, it was exactly the same with voiceover. Yes, I have more resources, yes, I've built myself up as a professional. But at the end of the day, it comes down to your own motivation, it comes down to your own determination. If you haven't got that, I don't really know how you're gonna get on in this business. Talent is important, but it's not the most important thing, actually. There were people better than me when I started. I was ruthless, I was determined, I was persistent, and that's what kind of got me those clients. So I think that's the skill that has really kind of seen me still working today.

SPEAKER_04

We've talked about your amazing career as an actor, radio presenter, voiceover artist, and coach. Now I want to go deeper and talk about your own mental health journey, Jude. So I ask all my special guests on this topic this question first. Took me back to early life in Manchester, teenage years, and looking back, were there any early mental health experiences? If any, who's the Jude we meet here?

SPEAKER_02

In terms of going back years ago, I know my parents split up when I was young, and they never got on anyway throughout my whole childhood. And that really did affect me actually, so much so that for many, many years I never wanted to get married or have children because I didn't want to put them through what I guess we went through. So, you know, probably not realizing it at the time, and mental health was not talked about at all. You just had to deal with it, get on with it. It was never mentioned, it was never talked about. So, yeah, I think that was probably my earliest memory of, oh, this is really affecting me mentally and not in a good way, when I was probably about 13, 14, I think.

SPEAKER_04

Coming back to voiceover work, this is something you wanted to talk about from a mental health perspective, Jude. Now, unless you're working on a film or TV show where you might be in a room with one, two, three, four people for, you know, a period of three months or six months, right? And six hours a day, most of it, I imagine, is very solitary. Like you've said, you're in a studio, you've got your own studio, you're recording 10, 15 scripts a day, sometimes at one point. So that can be pretty isolating, I imagine, if it's just day after day after day. Like, for example, I work two days in the office at the moment. I don't think I could do five days remote. I think I would go insane. I live on my own, I live in a small flat, I speak to people on calls, and that's it, right? So you've obviously got a family, but how do you stave off that isolation? Keep the enjoyment and love for the craft, but also put in some day-to-day tools, shall we say, as well to help?

SPEAKER_02

So I actually really love the isolation now. I'm not saying I wanted to do it.

SPEAKER_04

Just my notes just chucked in them in.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but yeah, my 20s and 30s, you know, would have been different. You know, I wanted to be out there, maybe even 40s as well. But certainly the isolation that voiceover brings me, I actually really enjoy. I don't often like being around people, I've realized as I've got older. So this is an amazing balance that I get to talk to other people like you today, or a producer that's directing me, or a client or a student. But I actually like the isolation. I actually really enjoy it. I like my work to be my work and I like to shut the studio door. But you do need other people, you do need to mix with other people in the real world. What voiceover has given me is great flexibility. So, you know, I'll go meet us like a coffee, we'll go and have a little walk together, nights out with friends are really important, you know, date night with husband, you know, all sorts of busy stuff. Exercise is really important for me. I love strength training. So I've got a gym at home and I do that five, six times a week. And then if I've not got out for a walk at least twice a week, I know I start to feel it. I need that fresh air, I need a podcast on, and I just need to escape and move my body.

SPEAKER_04

This work is obviously great for parents like yourself who want that flexibility, but just for mums specifically, have you found that you've been giving more tailored advice to some of the mums that you've got clients with, or maybe they're expectant mums, or maybe they're thinking about starting a family. You can say, Well, this is a really great career for you to if you want to reduce your hours, or you don't want to kind of go into the office and have that corporate life, this can still give you everything, but without taking away from you being a great a great mum.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolutely. I think you know, some people that are looking for a voiceover coach or looking to do something voiceover-wise, and they find me, and there's a little bit about that on my website, just in my bio, about kind of my own journey. Uh, obviously they would go, okay, well, that's kind of exactly what I want, you know. I want to be at home, I want to be at home with the baby, but I still need to earn money and I still want to do something fun and something for myself. So, you know, it ticks all the boxes. And so if I get a client or a student that fits that mold, then hopefully they see me as a inspiration for the fact that it absolutely can be done to whatever level you might want it to be as well.

SPEAKER_04

I want to move on to something a bit deeper now, and it's something that's provided a lot of mental health challenges, sadly, for you, Jude, in the last few years, which has been your mum's dementia diagnosis. And she received this around three to four years ago. She was around 73 to 74 years old. So take me back to the beginning. When did you start to notice things weren't quite right?

SPEAKER_02

It's so weird actually. I think it's only when you get the diagnosis and you're a little bit further along the line that you start to then trace your steps back with something like that. And things that you just thought was somebody being in a bit of a mood or somebody just changing or being a bit off, or why are they being different with me? It's only when you now start to piece everything together and look back that you go, oh, oh, that was linked with that actually. So it only starts making more sense now looking back to some things over, you know, five years ago, even.

SPEAKER_04

And when she was officially confirmed as having dementia, how did you feel in that moment? How did it impact your mental health, your mums, and and your families too? Because it affects whole families, it affects networks when a person goes through this, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. The actual diagnosis was almost nothing to me. And and she retained it and then had forgotten it the next day anyway. So it was almost nothing to her as well. That's the irony, is a diagnosis is important, but actually it doesn't really mean a huge amount to the person and also the family as well, because we knew my brother was potentially in a little bit of denial and didn't believe it was really dementia. But I'd done a lot of research and I felt very sure it was. And so it really didn't come as a surprise. And actually, I felt my mum slipping away years before, actually. So the actual diagnosis only confirmed it and didn't really change how I felt about it.

SPEAKER_04

It's really interesting you say that because I've spoken to several guests now, many guests actually, who've had family members suffer from dementia. Now, in the case of Friend the Pod, Christian Hugo, amazing journalist in his own right, his mum was relatively young when she was diagnosed. And what was worse was that her decline was incredibly rapid compared to someone in their 80s and even 70s. And one of the commonalities I find is that people very often grieve for the person their loved one was whilst they're still alive. Is that something you shared as well?

SPEAKER_02

Totally. It's the weirdest thing. You never expect that to happen. My mum never looked after herself. She always had terrible health, you know, overweight, smoked, didn't eat great food, no exercise. So I thought it was going to be something else that would get her, you know, the obvious heart attack, cancer, or anything like that. And so when it was dementia as well, it's just a real surprise. And it is just slowly losing your parent over a period of years, you realise that your relationship has changed over a period of time, which is weird to look back on. And again, just that thought of the fact that you are grieving somebody that is not there, it kind of feels wrong. But I look back over my childhood and how much she did for me and what a dedicated mum she was. And I look at the woman now, and it's like they are, she looks the same, but they're two different people. It's the most surreal kind of experience, really.

SPEAKER_04

There's so many emotions to unpack there for people because I touch wood, I hope I never have to go through it with my mum or my dad, and I don't know how I would react, to be honest, with the relationship I have with my parents. And a lot of people react very differently, you know, especially if they have to put that parent in a home because they just can't simply live independently anymore. Some people might just not see them because if they go to see them, that person doesn't remember who they were anymore, and then that just increases the division and the separation, right? Some people might go to see them every day and it's still very hard, and it's just that daily weight put on them. And it's not anyone's fault, but it's just them not remembering the person anymore, right? So, given what you've gone through, is there any advice that you would give to someone who's listening to this podcast who may have a parent or a loved one who's just received a diagnosis or is on that decline. Maybe that person is aware of the decline happening, which is even worse sometimes. And just any advice that you would give to maybe just help them manage that experience, essentially?

SPEAKER_02

I think it's really tough and it's really individual. And I think you will get some people, you know, and I remember hearing things over the years of, oh gosh, I could never put my mum in a home, and oh gosh, no, I'd never do that to her, and you know, I'd have a living with me. So then you feel that guilt of when your parent does go in a home, is it because you've not loved them enough or you don't want to care for them enough? And it really isn't that. So I would say my only advice would be everybody's journey is different. You cannot judge anybody else's journey. You really don't know the circumstances. It can be outwardly looking like that family is coping really well, and actually they're really struggling. So a lot of the struggles are silent, and so not to, you know, question anyone else's decisions and what they've done. They've done it for the best reason, they've done it with a good heart, and maybe they've done it, you know, because they couldn't cope any other way. So just to be compassionate and understanding of other people.

SPEAKER_04

And before we reflect, five years ago, you yourself had quite a serious health scare when you were diagnosed with breast cancer, Jude. So just take me back to that period and when you noticed something was wrong in yourself.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean, I again I'd always been a pretty healthy person, so it kind of caught me by surprise. It was one time I was watching TV in the living room and I dropped the remote control and I leaned over. And I just felt this. Ooh, what was that? And felt like a little lump in my chest. Brushed it off. And it was over Christmas. And it was my husband that said, you shouldn't get that checked out. I was like, no, it'll be fine. There's no breast cancer in the family. It's all fine. Anyway, he nagged at me, thank God. And then I went to go and check that out. And the doctor was saying, no, it'll just be a cyst. It'll be fine. You're healthy. You've got none in the family. And so when I went for my biopsy that they send you for, it was a real shock because I'm not one to worry about something until I need to worry about it. So I'm not one that worries about the outcome. Oh God, what if I've got breast cancer? It's like, well, I've not been told I have. So until I've been told I have, then we'll deal with it then. So it was a big shock because I really kind of wasn't expecting it.

SPEAKER_04

Well, thank God it was caught early and you had surgery to remove the cancer. So how did you recover from that from a physical point of view and then your physical health, but also your own mental health? As I know, similar to testicular cancer for men, but obviously there are differences, losing a breast can provoke its own issues around self-esteem, confidence, and femininity for a lot of women, I imagine, as well.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So the surgery, it was a tough surgery. It all happened very quickly. I was diagnosed, and then my surgery was in like within two weeks. And it was just as we came out of COVID as well. So it was the first time they'd done that particular operation since COVID, because obviously a lot of the operations had to stop. It was a long op, it was 10 hours. It was very invasive. The recovery time was quite a long time, but I only took two weeks off work. Quite proud of that. Because I'm in the studio doing voiceovers and I wanted to distract myself. Slowly but surely, you know, you get stronger, you think you're never going to get stronger, you think you're never going to recover, but you do. You just take it one day at a time. I felt incredibly lucky as I went for my appointments. I saw women that weren't as lucky as me, women that were going through horrendous chemotherapy. Thankfully, I never had to do that because it was caught early. So whilst I went through a very, very difficult time, I was also incredibly grateful and lucky that it was caught and treated well. And then from then it was my responsibility to look after my body and be as healthy as I can. So, you know, for me, that was cutting out sugar, don't eat any refined sugar. I didn't really drink much alcohol, but cutting down even more on alcohol, moving my body, being physically very fit, trying to be mentally fit as well. So I thought the doctors have done their thing. Now I need to make sure I take responsibility for my own health and do whatever I can do. Who knows what happens in the future? You know, the all-clear is brilliant, but when you've had a diagnosis, you know, I'd be lying if I said that it goes out of your mind. I think it always lives there. You're always waiting for the is it gonna come back? So all I can do is be grateful for what I have and be as healthy as I can have and kind of work from there, really.

SPEAKER_04

Approximately 55,000 to 56,5,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer annually in the UK, Jude, making it the most common cancer in women, with roughly one in seven females developing it in their lifetime, and over 80% of those cases occur in women over 50. So this might be an obvious question, but for any women listening who might be worried about a lump or like the hero that your husband was, might notice something off or someone discloses to them, for example, something off, having treatment and come out the other side. What advice would you give them from your experience?

SPEAKER_02

I mean, gosh, you know, you might say I'm I wasn't lucky, I feel very lucky. And I know because I remember my oncologist telling me that if I'd have left it any longer, it wasn't invasive at that time, so it was caught early with surgery, extensive surgery, but still it was caught and I didn't need chemo. But they said any longer and it would have broken out, it would have become invasive, and then we'd have gone to another stage of cancer and we'd have gone to the chemotherapy and all the rest of it, radiotherapy. So if I'd have waited, you know, they didn't put a timeline on it, but they said if you'd have waiting any longer, we'd have been in a very different situation. And so I'm so grateful that Mike pushed me, my husband, to go and get it sorted because I think I would have gone. Do you know what? It'll just be like fatty lump, you know, women get these in their boobs, it would have been a cyst, it's my age, whatever. I could have easily brushed it off. Thank God I didn't. So gosh, any advice. It's the advice that everybody gives, especially when they've been through it. If you feel anything, you know, I'm not one for going to the doctors. I don't like taking up doctors' times. I'm not a hypochondriac. Forget all that. Just get it checked out, and if it's a no, you'll be able to sleep at night.

SPEAKER_04

No, 100%. I've spoken very openly about the fact that I had cysts on some sensitive areas a couple of years ago, and that was very scary for me. Thankfully, they weren't cancerous, but I was thinking the worst for that whole period. I had to have surgery at one point, which was incredibly emasculating, and the recovery process was very emasculating as well. It really changes your attitude to a lot of things, and it really makes you, like you've said, grateful for everything, really. Sometimes you do forget it from time to time, but you practice it a lot more, don't you? How has that shaped your own attitude towards gratitude, Jude?

SPEAKER_02

You totally do, actually. You know, that I remember coming out of surgery and recovering and just listening to the birds singing, like how ridiculous does that sound? Like, going, oh, that bird, oh, doesn't that sound lovely? Or oh, look at that flower, because it was springtime. It's like, oh, how gorgeous is that. And I just felt myself getting really soppy and sentimental. And you try and carry that with you, and I think that is with me. Don't get me wrong, I will get annoyed and stressed about the most ridiculous small things sometimes. But I try and talk myself off the ledge and go, come on, will this matter in six months' time? Will this matter in a year's time? And that's how I try and just kind of recalibrate myself. And my husband is an incredibly positive person. So when I dip into the negative, he's always there to go, come on, you need to get a grip of yourself here and realize what we've got. And he's absolutely right.

SPEAKER_04

Let's reflect on your mental health journey now, Jude. So, similar question as before. What has this mental health journey firstly taught you about yourself?

SPEAKER_02

I think just you hear the word cancer and you think it's going to be really scary and you're never going to be the same person, and it's going to really change you and it's going to really challenge you. I actually think there's a positive side of it as well. I actually wouldn't change me going through having that diagnosis because I think it really taught me a lot about how strong I can be, how resilient I can be. You know, we've all got stories to tell, mental health stories, we've all got things that have happened to us. You can't go live without some big things happening to you. And it's all just part of our story and our tapestry and shit happens, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_04

And as a final question, if you could go back and talk to that 21-year-old dude, fresh out of university and taking her first steps into acting, the dude in her 30s taking this big, bold career change into voiceover work, or the dude who had just been diagnosed with very early stage breast cancer, what would you say to her, knowing what you do now, if anything at all?

SPEAKER_02

Do you know what? I think I would say, you know, you're gonna be all right. Like you'll work it out, you know, whether it's the acting, thinking I don't fit into this world because I don't speak a certain way and my parents haven't got this money, to the radio world, thinking, God, how am I blagging this? This has been years, how am I still doing this? To the voiceover world of, you know, a brand new industry I know nothing about, but I know I've got ambition. It's like, you know, I'm quite a process person. I like to go through steps and stages and just go keep your head in the game, have a plan in mind. You will be all right.

SPEAKER_04

We've come to our final topic of conversation, Jude, and it's one I try and have with all of my special guests if we have time. It is a general natter and quick fire chat about our mental health. So, firstly, how would you say your mental health is out of 10?

SPEAKER_02

Today, yeah. I guess I think it fluctuates, doesn't it, every day? Certainly as a woman with hormones as well. I'm feeling pretty good today. I'm gonna go for an eight. Yeah, I didn't sleep brilliant last night, so I can tell I'm a little bit jittery, maybe. I I know I need to get out and do some exercise. I'm kind of itching for that. But I'm gonna go for a seven or eight, which is good.

SPEAKER_04

What age were you when you became self-aware of your mental health and you realised that the feelings you were having weren't physical and they were actually in your mind?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, what a brilliant question. Probably later than I probably should have, I guess. I don't know. Maybe late 30s, early 40s, even. So yeah, really quite late.

SPEAKER_04

Well, there's no right or wrong age, but was it a eureka moment or a gradual process?

SPEAKER_02

I would say definitely a gradual process. Yeah. I think it's something that slowly dripped through and then you're doing research and you're talking to other people, and it's a little bit of a drip-drip thing.

SPEAKER_04

If you can remember, what was the first or the most important conversation you've ever had with someone about your mental health? So if you can, who was it with? What did you say, and how do you look back on it? Did it feel like this big moment and weight have been lifted, or on the other hand, something quite easy, natural, and normal to do?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think I'm not good at being vulnerable. I'm not good at talking about my emotions, really. So I've always found that a little bit different and maybe put that down to childhood, and that was talked about. So I don't like to have those conversations. I like to keep a lot in actually. I have to feel really, really kind of comfortable with someone to really open up as well emotionally. So those conversations were always a bit tricky for me. It would have been with my husband, probably. We've been together 23 years, and it was probably maybe around us wanting to try and get pregnant, and that didn't happen as quickly as we wanted it to happen. And that just really kind of affected me more than I thought it would have done, and the realization of that, I think.

SPEAKER_04

What things do you find in life, if any, that trigger your mental health? So it could be things people say, it could be a sound, a smell, a taste, a sensation, or have you not figured all of them out yet?

SPEAKER_02

Definitely not figured because I think it's it's just an ongoing thing. But for me, anything to do with my daughter, you know, my daughter's 14 now, and you know, I've just signed up to a couple of courses myself where I'm trying to separate my emotions from her emotions, which is different. Uh difficult, sorry, because we are very close. I know that I get tangled up in her emotions a lot, and I want to kind of separate that. So I'm trying to work on that as a parent. So if she's had a bad day, if she's struggling mentally, if there's something going on with her, I know it can definitely impact me and I would like it to not. That is my aim. So so yeah, I think I take on some of her stresses and anxiety as well, which is uh obviously a new thing because then it means that you've kind of doubled your own stress and anxiety, really, if you like.

SPEAKER_04

What positive tools, conversely, do you use to improve your mental health or help you feel better? Which ones have worked and maybe which ones that you've tried but haven't?

SPEAKER_02

Exercise is the number one exercise. I'm really pretty strict on diet as well. Not that I diet as such, but I try and eat really good whole foods. I eat six times a day. I eat three snacks, three meals, loads of protein. I feel like it balances my hormones, it gives me good energy, it makes me feel like I'm fitter, stronger, healthier. Exercise, lack of processed sugar is definitely what I use. Going for a walk, and I do like a bit of a shop as well, a physical shop. Online makes me feel a bit sad, but I like physically walking to the Trafford Centre and sniff around Selfridges for a real treat.

SPEAKER_04

What is the best book, or as I call it, mental health Bible you've read for your mental health? Now it can be mental health or self-help related, but it doesn't have to be. It can be fiction, and if you can't think of a book, album, play, any piece of popular culture.

SPEAKER_02

Book Mel Robbins The Let Them Theory.

SPEAKER_04

Ah, book I've read and offered to many guests, and it's come off a lot.

SPEAKER_02

It's uh, you know, a relatively new book. I pick it up now, and I'm not a big reader, I think because I read scripts for a living. I don't actually read many books. So when I read a book, I really read it, and and it's the one that I gift to friends, and it's the podcast that I tell people to go and listen to, apart from your own, of course, as well. Thank you for that. But yeah, I just love her and I love that book. That book has helped me with so many relationships and friendships in my life, even in the last couple of years. It's helped me deal with my mum's situation, friend's situation, how I feel about myself. It's just it lifts such a weight off your shoulders. So for sure, that one.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it's like uh detachment theory for beginners, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's brilliant. And it's said simple to listen to and bite-size and quick and all the rest of it. So yeah, it's a no-brainer.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it's amazing. I also read a book by Karen Casey called Let Go Now, which was also really important for me for detachment theory as a as a people pleaser in recovery.

SPEAKER_02

Good, I'll check that out. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04

If there was a mantra in life that summed up your mental health, what would it be and why?

SPEAKER_02

Um this is weird, this is something I saw on an Oprah TV show.

SPEAKER_04

You get a cuckle cluck.

SPEAKER_02

I think it was about 20 years ago, but I remember her saying, and it has always stuck with me, will it matter in two weeks? Will it matter in six months? Will this matter in a year? Will this matter in five years? And I think whenever you can feel yourself getting wound up, stressed, upset, or whatever, triggered by something like that, I try as much as I can to ask myself that question. And then I let it go. I got a parking ticket yesterday. It really annoyed me, and then I stopped and went, Do you know what? It's okay. In the grand scheme of things, it's nothing. Move on. But you know, it took up a little bit of space in my head for a few minutes, and then I just went, Will this matter in six months? Of course it won't. So that actually just kind of really sits in my brain, and I find that really helpful.

SPEAKER_04

What do you love about yourself?

SPEAKER_02

Um, I think I'm a hard worker. I think I'm compassionate. I like that about myself. I'm very determined, I'm very focused. Sometimes that can be a negative, not always a positive. I'd like as I've gotten older, I'm a lot more honest. You know, definitely would have been a people pleaser, maybe like you might have been years ago. I definitely don't care about people pleasing these days. I've probably gone the opposite way. And I quite like that. I quite like living in that era at the moment.

SPEAKER_04

And as a final question, Jude, you can answer it any way you want. What more do you think we have to do to ensure people from all backgrounds, all social classes, all walks of life feel comfortable and safe in opening up about their mental health issues or just their general mental health, if most importantly, they want to do it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think it's it's so important. You know, we talk about mental health in our own family. We've got a lot of neurodiversity in our family as well. So we talk about mental health a lot. And I feel so grateful that we're able to do that because years ago that wouldn't have been the case. And it didn't mean that people didn't struggle, they just struggled in silence. So if people are gonna have a hard time, that's probably not gonna change. But at least if you can talk to somebody about it, at least if you can try and access some help or feel like you're not alone by watching somebody's reel on Instagram, by listening to a podcast, by talking to a friend, it's surely a good thing. So I think it's so important to talk, to find a safe person, to find a person that you can relate to that you feel like has been through something that you're going through. So you don't feel alone is so important.

SPEAKER_04

Drew, this has been one of my favourite podcasts in a long time, and I've only done two impressions, so I'm very impressed with myself. Thank you so much for coming on, Real Stories and the Just Checking In podcast and talking to me.

SPEAKER_02

I just want one final impression before you go, Freddie.

SPEAKER_04

Oh God, which one do I do now? There's so many, you put me on the spot.

SPEAKER_03

Uh my go-to is always Clans where you're gonna say, excuse me, Mr. Frammerman. I promised my Shannon he could tip over his first cow at Tamacco. There you go.

SPEAKER_02

Have you got a voiceover agent? Let's talk.

SPEAKER_04

Hey, I need the cash, so well, that's all we've got time for on this episode of Real Stories. I want to say a big thank you to Jude for telling me her real story and for letting me check in with her. I'll provide some links to where you can follow Jude's amazing Instagram account on social media and find out how you can become coached by her in voiceover acting in the show notes. As always, thank you to all the vendors who've tuned into this episode. Remember, if you've liked what you've heard, please give it a share on social media. Tell your friends or work colleagues about it. If you're feeling generous, write us a review and give us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to support what we're doing here at Vent even further, you can go to patreon.com slash vent helpuk or make a one-off donation to our PayPal. All of those links are on our link tree. That's linktr.ee slash vent helpuk. Stay tuned for the next episode of Real Stories. And remember, guys, it is always okay to venture.

SPEAKER_00

I just want to be a big teacher. I'm just born in the eye.

Contributor

Freddie Cocker

Host