Send us a text What happens when a car accident stops life in its tracks — leaving you facing pain, uncertainty, and a future you never imagined? In this powerful episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with José Argudo — husband, new dad, volunteer, and trauma survivor. Just two weeks into a new job, having recently moved house and with a baby on the way, José’s life changed overnight when he was rear-ended by a van on the motorway. The crash left him not only with a broken back, but wi...
All content for Shoulder to Shoulder by With-you is the property of With-you and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Send us a text What happens when a car accident stops life in its tracks — leaving you facing pain, uncertainty, and a future you never imagined? In this powerful episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with José Argudo — husband, new dad, volunteer, and trauma survivor. Just two weeks into a new job, having recently moved house and with a baby on the way, José’s life changed overnight when he was rear-ended by a van on the motorway. The crash left him not only with a broken back, but wi...
Send us a text What happens when a car accident stops life in its tracks — leaving you facing pain, uncertainty, and a future you never imagined? In this powerful episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with José Argudo — husband, new dad, volunteer, and trauma survivor. Just two weeks into a new job, having recently moved house and with a baby on the way, José’s life changed overnight when he was rear-ended by a van on the motorway. The crash left him not only with a broken back, but wi...
Send us a text Debbie brings a rare mix of lived experience, professional insight, and deep empathy to the world of suicide prevention. She became a carer at a time when support was scarce, patchy, and hard to navigate — and those early years shaped her determination to make sure other families aren’t left alone in the dark. In this conversation, Debbie talks about the emotional reality of caring for someone at risk of suicide: the fear, the responsibility, and the instinct to hold everything...
Send us a text Fiona Lobban has spent her life at the intersection of mental health, research, and lived experience. Growing up in the North East, she applied to Oxford “almost on a whim” — and walked straight into a culture shock that left her struggling, isolated, and without support. Her own mental health collapsed during her degree, and she later spent a year working in a drug rehabilitation clinic in Liverpool, witnessing the realities of distress up close. Fiona eventually returned to O...
Send us a text Louise Christie leads the Scottish Recovery Network and has spent over a decade shifting power from systems to people with lived experience. She came into mental health from housing, regeneration and social enterprise — an outsider who saw how medicalised services miss what people actually need. We talk family and identity, and the moment peer support moved from theory to practice. Louise explains how SRN pivoted from being “the experts” to conveners and amplifiers — backing gr...
Send us a text Claire Kendall has spent three decades at the BBC and watched the job shift from fast hits to long, immersive reporting. The stories go deeper. So does the emotional load. When she saw that weight landing on reporters — and on the people they film — Claire helped build a peer support network that now counts 300 trained volunteers across the organisation. In this conversation we talk about duty of care, boundaries, and what “looking after your contributors” really requires when ...
Send us a text When Rob lost his arm in a motorbike crash — and was left fighting to save his leg and shoulder — and Cat nearly lost her leg while out running, neither imagined their recoveries would become intertwined. In this moving episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Rob Hope and Cat Neill, two survivors of catastrophic injury whose lives were transformed by the power of peer support. Rob faced months of vulnerability and adaptation after his accident. Cat spent five m...
Send us a text What happens when your life changes in an instant — and nothing feels familiar anymore? In this moving episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Emily Sole, a trade union professional, trainer, and peer support volunteer, about her ongoing recovery following a catastrophic head-on collision in early 2024. Left with life-threatening injuries and facing a long, uncertain road ahead, Emily discovered the power of one-to-one peer support through Day One Trauma Support,...
Send us a text What happens when a single moment changes everything — your body, your identity, your future? In this moving episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Ryiah Beesley-Gibson — a mental health practitioner, trauma survivor, and now a passionate peer supporter. Just weeks before starting a new job in crisis mental health care, Ryiah sustained a catastrophic hip injury while travelling in Bali - setting off a long, painful recovery and a complete reimagining of her life. Now...
Send us a text In this inspiring episode of the podcast, we sit down with Ruth Hannan and Hannah Webster, co-founders of Care Full Economy, to explore how personal experiences as carers shaped their mission to transform the UK’s approach to care. Ruth and Hannah share their personal journeys into the world of unpaid care, opening up about the emotional, practical, and political realities of supporting loved ones. From there, we dive into the origins of Care Full—launched in 2023 to chal...
Send us a text In this episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Ian Smith, a former Rugby Super League referee turned mental health advocate with the charity State of Mind Sport. After officiating over 300 professional matches, Ian’s unexpected exit from the sport led to a personal mental health crisis and a deep loss of identity. In this honest and powerful conversation, he shares how peer support helped him rebuild — and why he now works to support others through State of Mind’s ed...
Send us a text What does it mean to become a carer — and how does it change the course of your life? In this powerful episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Matthew McKenzie, a carer, poet, author, and nationally recognised advocate for unpaid carers. Drawing from his personal experiences caring for his mother (diagnosed with schizoaffective psychosis) and his two autistic brothers, Matt opens up about the emotional toll of caring, the importance of peer-led support, and the power ...
Send us a text In this episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Georgie Lazzari — Peer Support Development Worker at Derbyshire Healthcare — whose inspiring career shift from marketing into mental health shows how lived experience can drive real, lasting change. Since receiving peer support herself, leaving her job in marketing and then joining Derbyshire Healthcare as a Peer Support Worker in 2021, Georgie has supported people across a wide range of mental health challenges. Now, in...
Send us a text In this episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Matt - a Peer supporter and Assistant occupational therapist in Hertfordshire’s mental health crisis team. After nearly two decades working in the water industry, Matt made a bold career change following his own experience of living with OCD. He shares what that transition was like, how his diagnosis shaped his outlook, and why peer support plays such a vital role in recovery. You’ll hear how Matt uses lived experience t...
Send us a text What does it mean to bring lived experience into the heart of public services — not just as a voice, but as a driver of real change? In this episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Pete Fleischmann, Director of Co-production Works, who shares how his own experience of mental health challenges — and disillusionment with traditional psychiatric care — led him to champion co-production and peer support across health and social care. With roots in the mental health surviv...
Send us a text In this powerful episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, we’re joined by writer and mental-health advocate Lyndsay, whose lived experience has shaped her deep belief in the power of peer support. From the impact of a kind word during crisis to the everyday resilience built through shared understanding, Lyndsay opens up about what it really means to walk alongside someone on a mental-health journey. We explore the moments that changed her life and the tools that helped her heal. That i...
Send us a text In Neurodivergent Voices, peer specialist William Gallini-Pool brings his lived experience of ADHD and Autism, along with years of frontline work in youth mental health, into powerful and thoughtful conversations. From psychiatric units to classrooms, William has worked across the mental health system to centre young people's voices, challenge outdated practices, and advocate for neurodiverse-friendly support. This podcast explores how peer support can change lives, how service...
Send us a text In this episode, we’re shining a light on something truly transformative — The Peer Worker Apprenticeship, delivered by Paragon Skills in partnership with With-you. As someone who has lived through life’s toughest challenges and come out the other side with empathy, strength, and a fierce sense of purpose, Nicky brings not just experience, but lived experience to the forefront of everything she does. You’ll hear about how this apprenticeship is empowering people with their own ...
Send us a text Welcome to this special two-part episode, where Nicky shares her deeply personal journey into Peer Support training. In this first episode, Nicky takes us through the pivotal moments of her life—ones filled with love, loss, resilience, and self-discovery. Born in Sheffield as the middle child of three, she always felt she had to work harder to achieve her dreams. From childhood imaginings of owning a rock shop on the east coast to building a successful career in hairdressing an...
Send us a text Imagine starting your career at 16, climbing the corporate ladder for over 20 years, only to pivot completely in search of a more meaningful path. That’s exactly what Nicky did. After the birth of her daughter in 2006, she built a career that revolved around creativity, flexibility, and supporting others—whether through running her own businesses, coaching women, or helping small business owners amplify their voices. But behind the success was a silent struggle. Growing up in a...
Send us a text What happens when a car accident stops life in its tracks — leaving you facing pain, uncertainty, and a future you never imagined? In this powerful episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with José Argudo — husband, new dad, volunteer, and trauma survivor. Just two weeks into a new job, having recently moved house and with a baby on the way, José’s life changed overnight when he was rear-ended by a van on the motorway. The crash left him not only with a broken back, but wi...
