By Staff Guide
These Podcasts Create Community Around
Mental Health Awareness
We discover solidarity in telling our stories. These podcasts offer listeners a safe space to learn about anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. They also deconstruct stereotypes and stigmas, gifting listeners practical tips for finding balance and healing.
The list below, while not comprehensive, highlights some of our very favorite mental health podcasts. Some shows are laugh-out-loud funny, others will make you cry, and one is even in Spanish. Listen, subscribe, and share.
1. The Lavendaire Lifestyle
Where To Tune In | iTunes, Spotify
Recommended Episode | Create Your Own Calm
We subscribe to The Lavendaire Lifestyle podcast for its empathetic tone, knowledgeable guests, and conversations about mental wellbeing. Hosted by YouTuber and entrepreneur Aileen Xu (don’t miss her channel), this podcast covers a range of personal growth and lifestyle design topics, we love the relatable episodes about mental and emotional health. While the show ended in early 2021, the archives are still offering us light and guidance.
Reviews | “I love listening to this podcast if I’m feeling down or if I’m just looking for something new to learn about. It is very helpful and inspiring! I look forward to every new episode!” – Megan W., iTunes Review
LISTEN TO THE LAVENDAIRE LIFESTYLE
2. Celeste The Therapist
Where To Tune In | iTunes, Spotify
Recommended Episodes | How to get unstuck, embrace change and make your next move
Celeste is a therapist from Boston (LMHC), and her goal is to help listeners escape negative thought cycles. She believes perspective is everything and that sometimes we just need someone to help us shift our view, to help clear the lens. That’s why she started Celeste the Therapist, a twice-weekly podcast with interviews, empowering messages, and practical tips for overcoming mental hurdles—because therapy is not always accessible, and sometimes a podcast may be the only option.
Reviews | “I love this podcast. Celeste brings on people from across industries and somehow manages to tie it all into mental health and wellness. This is a true testament to her understanding of what people need to live mentally happy and healthy lives across the spectrum. It’s amazing! “ – Dahyana P., iTunes Review
LISTEN TO CELESTE THE THERAPIST
3. The Hardcore Self Help Podcast
Where To Tune In | iTunes, Stitcher
Recommended Episode | Explaining Mental Health to Your Partner & Getting Out of a COVID Rut
Robert Duff (aka Duff the Psych) is a psychologist, author, and host of The Hardcore Self Help Podcast, a wildly popular show dedicated to answering common and not-so-common questions about anxiety and depression. Episodes range in content and include everything from interviews with other professionals to practical self-care advice. This show is one of our favorites for easy-to-digest expert advice—you won’t hear any psychobabble or elitist jargon here.
Reviews | “Duff ‘s podcast companions me weekly, and tackles [a] myriad [of] important subject[s] with a charming common sense expertise that makes it seem like having a psychologist best friend from college…The expert interviews address a wide array of subjects, and the answer to readers’ questions are sensitive and thoughtful.” – Jill S., iTunes Review
LISTEN TO THE HARDCORE SELF HELP PODCAST
4. Terrible, Thanks For Asking
Where To Tune In | iTunes, Spotify
Recommended Episode | For All The Caregivers
Terrible, Thanks For Asking began when the show host, Nora McInerny, started talking and writing about mental health after her partner died from brain cancer. She now guides others through life’s most challenging seasons—everything from death and divorce to anger and jealousy. A podcast that somehow makes us laugh and cry at the same time.
Reviews | “Tragedy has a way of isolating us from the world that just keeps on moving. However, this podcast, so beautifully and honestly told, cuts that loneliness. Because of this podcast I feel somehow connected to the cloud of unspoken tragedy and suffering that is all around us. Because of this podcast, I’ve learned it’s ok to not be ok.” – Ella G., iTunes Review
LISTEN TO TERRIBLE, THANKS FOR ASKING
5. Not Another Anxiety Show
Where To Tune In | iTunes, Stitcher
Recommended Episode | How Does Alcohol and Caffeine Affect Anxiety?
Not Another Anxiety Show is a podcast for everyone, “from the always anxious to the occasionally overwhelmed to the painfully panicked.” Hosted by Kelli Walker, a mental health coach who has personal experience with anxiety, panic, and OCD, this podcast is brimming with great content. One of our favorite episodes addresses social drinking pressures and the effects of alcohol on mental wellbeing—a hard but necessary conversation. You can also expect to hear a lot of jokes and friendly banter with doctors and health care professionals.
Reviews | “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this show. I have suffered from anxiety and panic attacks since I was small. Growing up I didn’t understand anxiety and felt lonely. This show makes me feel that I am not alone and that anxiety can be managed” – Leslie P., iTunes Review
LISTEN TO NOT ANOTHER ANXIETY SHOW
6. Stories of Stigma
Where To Tune In | iTunes, Soundcloud
Recommended Episode | Laughing Matters
The Stories of Stigma podcast removes the shame and silence associated with mental illness in South Asian communities. Hosted by the MannMukti organization, a website with mental health resources for South Asians, each episode has the same mission: to eradicate taboos associated with mental illness. Discussing topics through open dialogue and interviews, listeners can anticipate conversations with health care professionals about everything from anxiety to navigating the world of therapy. Stories from those with lived experiences round out each season.
Episodes air sporadically, so follow MannMukti on social media for updates.
Reviews | “Stories of stigma is such a fantastic podcast. It is a great blend of accurate educational material from professionals in the mental health field as well powerful stories from individuals in the South Asian community who have experienced mental health concerns.” – Kristin R., iTunes Review
LISTEN TO STORIES OF STIGMA
7. Latinx Therapy
Where To Tune In | iTunes, Spotify
Recommended Episode | Immigrant’s Youth Mental Health
Hosted by Adriana Alejandre, LMFT, LatinX Therapy is a weekly podcast that discusses mental health topics related to the Latinx community. With interview-formatted episodes featuring mental health professionals, writers, entertainment figures, and more, this show successfully demystifies all the stereotypes and stigmas associated with mental health in Latin culture. We especially love that episodes air in both English and Spanish.
Reviews | “[This podcast] really helps me to realize things about my own identity growing up Latinx, but also what it will be like going back into our communities and working through the negative stigmas of mental health most of us grew up with.” – Belle G., iTunes Review
LISTEN TO LATINX THERAPY
8. Motherhood Sessions
Where To Tune In | Spotify
Recommended Episode | Imposter Syndrome
A Gimlet podcast and Spotify original, Motherhood Sessions invites listeners into the reality of motherhood—and what it looks like beyond diaper changes and sleepless nights. Hosted by Dr. Alexandra Sacks (a renowned reproductive psychiatrist), the podcast explores identity shifts, career uncertainty after having a baby, and more. While this podcast is no longer in production, we find ourselves returning to the archives time and time again.
Reviews | “I love Motherhood Sessions for the heartbreaking specificity of each conversation and for the ways that these brave women’s stories reflect the lonely contradictions, crippling joys, and impossible pressures that all mothers experience.” – Katie Runde, PodcastReview.org
LISTEN TO MOTHERHOOD SESSIONS
9. The One You Feed
Where To Tune In | iTunes, Spotify
Recommended Episode | Learning To Be Well
There are two wolves living inside each of us—one is a good wolf who represents kindness, bravery, and love, and one is a bad wolf who represents greed, hatred, and fear. The one who wins is the one you feed. The One You Feed podcast is about learning to feed your good wolf and learning how to change your relationship with your thoughts. Hosted by behavior coach and author Eric Zimmer, this podcast is teeming with quality conversations about creating a life worth living.
Reviews | “Love this podcast … have been listening for a few years now and I’m never disappointed in the interviews. Always something interesting and new and very applicable. Love Eric’s interviewing skills – he asks insightful questions and has the guest really dive deep into the topics they discuss. Def my favorite mental health and wellness podcast!” – Nineh M., iTunes Review
