The first episode of Mental Wealth, Newstalk’s brand new podcast series, is now live.

The series explores people’s mental health experiences and the tools of recovery in a lively and engaging format. This month’s episode features poet, writer and comedian John Moynes, who speaks candidly about his journey with depression.

John explains that it was a great relief to him to finally get a diagnosis and subsequent treatment.

“For the first time in years I was capable of feeling hope, because I thought, ‘There is an alternative to all this. I could be better and I’d love to find out what better feels like,’” he says.

Mental Wealth is a series which takes a fresh approach to mental health discussion. Rather than lingering on a suffering-centred dialogue, this podcast strives to focus on the road to recovery, featuring helpful advice from those who have been through the condition.

John feels that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was very helpful for combating his depression.

“It was remarkable how quick the turnaround was in my life when I started the cognitive behavioural therapy. It took about six months to utterly change the universe I was living in,” he explains.

Listen to the full podcast below.