MENTAL HEALTH 101: What “well” actually looks like (and how we measure up)

LATE BLOOMERS

Rich & Rox Pink

Self-improvement, Education

5.0 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ever wonder if your brain’s thriving or just surviving? In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rox and Rich dive into Nancy McWilliams’ 10 qualities of mental health and grade their own messy minds. From secure attachment to zest for life, nothing’s off limits as they swap stories of Rox’s chaotic boozy uni days and Rich’s deer-in-headlights youth.

Their scores? A wild mix of wins and “still growing.” Rox finds safety with Rich but still wrestles with self-esteem, while Rich loves their purpose-driven life but questions his grit when things crumble. Along the way they tackle why ADHDers and neurodivergents often feel “less than,” and how therapy, love, and environment can change the soil you’re planted in.

Raw, funny, and painfully relatable, this episode isn’t a perfect checklist—it’s a no-shame checkup. If you’ve ever wondered “Am I actually okay, or just really good at faking it?” this one’s for you.

Transcript

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0:00.0	How do you actually know when you're mentally well?
0:03.4	If you're listening to this podcast, chances are you've been on a bit of a self-healing journey.
0:07.8	But does it go on forever?
0:09.0	Or do we ever get to look at our lives and go, we're doing well?
0:12.9	We're quite healthy.
0:13.8	We're going to be talking about the 10 qualities of mental health.
0:18.6	Welcome to late bloomers, where we are getting our lives together and mentally well.
0:22.5	Eventually.
0:23.7	Right. So where did you get this from?
0:25.1	Because we are not the role models for this.
0:28.3	We are not the yardstick for what mentally well looks like.
0:32.4	I've taken this from the amazing Nancy McWilliams.
0:36.1	Nancy is a lecturer at Rutgers University and she is also the author
0:40.5	of the psychoanalytic diagnoses book. Of course it's got something to do as psychoanalytic,
0:47.6	your current hyperfixation. Psychoanalysis is the original psychotherapy. It's what so many therapies are based on. It's pretty
0:57.1	much regarded as the gold standard. It is long-term psychoanalytic therapy. And yeah, these are
1:04.0	ten things that Nancy McWilliams has basically stated as what good mental health looks like. So we're going to go through these and then like
1:13.0	what honestly judge how we feel like we are. Yeah. So see out how messed up we are. Quick note to
1:19.6	our listeners, if you listen to this and you aren't passing many or you're feeling like you
1:25.3	having a tough time, this isn't about shaming or making
1:27.9	you feel bad. It might just be a kick in the bum that maybe you need a bit of help and to look
1:32.7	into therapy. It's not about shame. It's just about self-illumination, baby. Well, I don't reckon
	...

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