How do you manage your mental health when you cannot control the direction of your mind?

Director of Me follows three people with diagnosed mental health conditions through a month in their lives. Each episode pivots around self-recorded audio diaries as they reflect on what it's like to inhabit and manage their minds.

The programmes incorporate specially composed music, worked up in collaboration with each person to illustrate how they experience their mental health conditions.

In episode one, we meet Darren, aged 57. He's a father, a friend, a husband and son. He is a motorbike enthusiast, a jazz man and retired solicitor. Darren lives with Bipolar, having been diagnosed in 2017 despite having experienced symptoms since his 20s.

“I live with my wife, two children, a deranged dog and a crafty cat. I also live with another beast, a beast called Bipolar; the artist formerly known as manic depression.”

This episode was recorded by Darren.

Producer: Catherine Carr
Assistant Producer and Composer: Maia Miller-Lewis
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree

With thanks to Bipolar UK for their support.

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4 Show less