Mental As Anyone

Interview with Melbourne Producer and ex-Comedian Sam Petersen. Sam recently released a documentary called Lady O’Loughlin about Comedian Fiona O’Loughlin, and he also has a weekly podcast called Confessions of the Idiots. Sam particularly enjoys having conversations about mental health and getting people to talk more about how they are feeling. Big thanks to Sam for allowing us to record in his studio for the first face-to-face MAA recording in a while. We discuss: Everyone having a battle with something that you don’t know about, using comedy and then therapy to assist his own mental health, issues with alcohol and being a workaholic, the danger of bottling things up vs the benefits of talking about issues, recognising panic attacks as a sign to take time out for self-care, accessing bulk-billed counselling via Medicare, the importance of finding a supportive friendship group to share with, the pressure-cooker analogy of mental health, the impact of the pandemic and the resurgence of communication by teleph