I’m honored to be back behind the microphone with my Podcast buddies and Mental Health Advocates Wes, from AudioRising.com and Mike from MikesOpenJournal.com, for another awesome episode of what we like to call the Mental Health Megacast.

In case you’ve not heard about this event before (how that would be I have no idea! 🙂 ), consider this your indoctrination into the world of 3 dudes sitting around discussing advocacy and mental health awareness.  The 3 of us get together once every 5 weeks or so, which is a challenge in itself, and just enjoy sharing, catching up, and talking about being a survivor of trauma, living with depression, or in recovery from addiction.

We basically got started doing this in mid 2016, when the 3 of us connected on twitter after stumbling across each other’s podcasts, and figuring it would be a cool idea for 3 dudes who are also advocates, to get together and combine our platforms into a unique space of raising awareness.

Wes is the unofficial-official ring leader of this group. Mike and I bestowed on him, this prestigious title because…well, neither of us wanted it.  Plus he’s got a hell of a radio voice.  His podcast, Audio Rising, focuses on Anxiety, Sobriety, Scripture, and Mental Health.  His podcast is the first one I ever listened too surrounding Mental Health, and he inspired me to start my own podcast. Wes is a great dude, and an advocate for all who are trying free themselves from the chains of addiction.  Be sure and follow him on Twitter and check out his podcasts.

Mike is the dude with the cool accent who joins us from across the pond, over in the UK. His podcast, Mikes Open Journal, focuses on his thoughts and feelings of dealing with Depression, along with other topics such as Lifestyle, Health, Relationships, Reviews, and more! He also has a number of guests joining him on his show, including bloggers, authors, advocates, and experts in mental health and wellness. Both Wes and I would usually rather just sit back and let Mike talk, not only because of that cool accent, but also because we like to live vicariously through him and his adventures.  You can find Mike on Twitter and on his website.

And of course, Surviving My Podcast, the show that I started to help share my story as a childhood sexual abuse, narcissistic abuse, and bullying survivor. Along that way it morphed into a podcast that features many special guests, including authors, coaches, advocates, clinicians, bloggers, and anyone who wants to share their story to help inspire others on their healing journey. The podcasts and all aspects of Surviving My Past, are in support of all who have survived the trauma of abuse, so that every survivor knows that they are validated and never alone.

In this particular episode we share about what we’ve been up too, and just spend some time catching up since it had been about 2 months since we’ve gotten together.  We talk about our lives now, and the future plans for each of our podcasts and blogs. Along those lines, we cover the struggles that we are facing as not only podcasters, bloggers, and advocates, but as just regular people trying to find our way through life.

You learn how each of us started our podcasts, and how things have changed from that very first episode or blog post, evolving into what we do now.  We tie that into how our own personal lives have changed and what speaking out and being advocates has done in our every day life as well.

This whole survivor and recovery journey truly is a process, and you learn so much about yourself when you begin speaking out in a vulnerable way. All 3 of us have found remarkable healing in sharing our story, and we hope that you walk away from this show and each of our podcasts with a feeling of being encouraged, validated, and the affirmation that you are never alone.

I’m honored, truly and sincerely, to call Wes and Mike my friends and fellow advocates.  I hope you’ll continue to support all 3 of our podcasts and stay tuned for upcoming episodes of the Megacast.

Oh and if you have any show topic suggestions for us, just hit any one of us up on Twitter. We’d love to hear from you!  And if you ever want to get us each a christmas gift, a world clock would be a great idea (listen to the podcast to find out why). Oh and don’t forget to remind Wes that this was episode 5! 🙂

Thanks again guys, it’s always an amazing time and I’m looking forward to the next one!

Check out the playlist below of all Megacast Episodes to date.

-Matt