In episode 282 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Holly Brencher.
Holly is a journalist and currently works as an AI Expansion Reporter at Newsquest.
We came across Holly through a very personal article she wrote on Newsquest about the death of her brother Billy, who tragically took his own life 6th November 2024.
The article was called a ‘Tribute to Welling’s Billy Payne – love, struggle and advocacy’.
In this episode we discuss how Holly got into journalism, through a chance workshop she saw on how to get into the industry after initially picking courses on script writing, despite her anxiety about going to university altogether.
We then discuss the three year journalism degree she did at News Associates, based in Twickenham and landing the job she is in now.
For industry issues, we discuss work-life balance and social class.
For Holly’s mental health, we discuss her experience of anxiety from an early age and her difficulties with it when she entered an all-girls school in secondary school. This included severe panic attacks which took her out of school for a year and a half.
We then discuss the life and death of her brother Billy, who is her half-brother biologically.
On that aforementioned day in November 2024, Holly and her mum were given the news that Billy had taken his own life in prison.
This is the first major grief Holly has gone through and she has been trying to process the news in the months following his death.
There has been an inquest into Billy’s death which is still ongoing at time of recording and hopefully once this has been completed, Holly and her family can have closure.
As always, #itsokaytovent
You can read Holly’s article in full here.
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TRIGGER WARNING: this podcast contains a deep discussion about grief, loss and suicide, which some listeners may find upsetting or distressing, so please listen with caution.
