Max is a long time volunteer turned employee for mindyourmind as a Youth Outreach Assistant. He enjoys blogging, cats, and the state of Utah. Check him out on Twitter: @maxamilli

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of a Podcast, it is this place where one person (or a group of people) can come together and have a conversation and discuss things. I’ve also always loved talk radio so the fact that it could now be had whenever I wanted on the internet, it served as an exciting new platform.

I recently came across a podcast hosted by comedian Paul Gilmartin called The Mental Illness Happy Hour. While Gilmartin does come from a world of comedy (and that is almost always evident in the episodes when he cracks a joke or giggles with his guest) this podcast is coming from a world of understanding, of deep feelings. He digs deep into his own self-awareness about anxiety and issues he has face throughout his life, while also getting the same from the myriad of guests that he has on.

We often hold celebrities and artists in this high regard, as if nothing can happen to them. But this podcast is really exploring the idea that they are just like us, they go through issues and trials and really we should be able to relate to them.

To quote Gilmartin from one of his blogs on the site:

“I have never found any profound, lasting peace from recognition or adulation, but our media keeps making it look so awesome.

I’ve found peace by connecting to people; by laughing about how alike we really are and how ridiculous we look trying to prove otherwise.”

Check out the podcast here: mentalpod.com