Today, I'm speaking to Rachel Kelly, a mental health campaigner and writer who in her early thirties was diagnosed with severe depression and suffered from two major depressive episodes. These two episodes have become the defining events of her life. Since then, she's written about the condition and her recovery and books have been read by tens of thousands of people. Her memoir about her experience of life threatening depression. Black Rainbow: How Words Healed Me, My Journey Through Depression was a Sunday Times best seller in 2014 and has resonated ever since.

Rachel is also a huge advocate for food, being a part of our mental health toolkit and co-authored a book called The Happy Kitchen Good Mood Food, which is full of recipes that helped her to feel more energised, less anxious and more balanced. Since recovering from depression, Rachel speaks publicly about her experience to help educate others and to break down the stigma around mental health. She also shares evidence based strategies on how to stay calm, which is incredibly important in today's upside down world. I hope this conversation will help you all to see how small lifestyle changes can have a huge impact.

Find Rachel:

Website: https://www.rachel-kelly.net/about-rachel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelfkelly/

Books: https://www.rachel-kelly.net/books

Follow Hurt to Healing on Instagram: @hurttohealingpod

A big thank you our wonderful charity partner Shout. Shout is the UK's first 24/7 mental health text support service so if you’re struggling or in need of someone to talk to, please remember to text Shout to 85258.

Thank you to our corporate supporter, Brown Advisory, a global investment management firm which is passionate about raising awareness of mental health challenges in order to help people thrive in an ever-changing world.

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Rachel Kelly on being struck down with life threatening depression