The Front Page podcast: Why just listening is a powerful tool in our mental health battle

Philip McDonald on Takapuna Beach, Auckland. McDonald is well again after suffering from depression. Photo / Doug Sherring

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's what we can all do to help those in mental distress. Hosted by Frances Cook.

It's no secret that New Zealand has a mental health problem, but many of us can feel paralysed if a friend tells us they're having trouble.

Especially if we're not entirely sure what they're going through; while many of us have heard of depression, there's much less talk about what it's like when you're dealing with OCD, or psychosis.

So journalist Juliette Sivertsen decided to find out what it's like for people going through different types of challenges, and the support that actually helped them in their dark moments.

She talked to people who have gone through mental distress, and their support people, for the new podcast Just Listen.

Juliette came on the Front Page podcast to talk about why the series was important, anything that surprised her while working on it, and the duty of care journalists have when working on such subjects.

For the interview, listen to the podcast below.

If you have questions about Herald investigations, or want to stay up to date on social media, you can find host Frances Cook on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.

You can subscribe to this podcast on the podcast apps, including iHeartRadio here, Apple podcasts here, Spotify here, and Google podcasts here.