5 Mental Health YouTube Channels You Need To Follow
YouTube is a mystical land of funny cat videos, catchy songs about shoes and off-the-wall conspiracy theories. Maybe it’s even a place, where you started your own channel as a teenager in the hopes of becoming the internet’s next big star. (Did anyone else spend hours creating stop-motion music videos with sticky notes, or was that just me?)
But did you know YouTube is also a useful tool for educating yourself on mental health? From professional therapists to mindful thinkers, there are dozens of YouTubers who promote mental health and wellness with videos you can watch while you chow down on your morning breakfast.
Here are five mental health YouTube channels you need to follow.
1. Kati Morton
What better way to learn about mental health than from a real-life therapist? Kati Morton, a licensed therapist, creates 10- to 20-minute videos every Monday that discuss the ins and outs of mental disorders. From tips to prevent burnout to signs of borderline personality disorder (BPD), Kati covers everything you need to know about mental health.
2. Rowena Tsai
Compassionate, inspiring and relatable, Rowena Tsai is a YouTuber who makes videos about the transformative powers of mindfulness and how it can improve your outlook on life. Sharing simple self-care habits you can do every day, her videos are both calming and life-changing. In fact, Rowena’s channel is where I first heard the saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time,” which has changed the way I approach large tasks and goals.
3. Psych2Go
If your attention span is the size of a peanut, then Psych2Go is the YouTube channel for you.
Psych2Go is a mental health organization that posts bite-sized educational videos about mental health and relationships. Equipped with simple animations and a calming voiceover, each video is packed with information that’ll keep you binge-watching for hours.
Suck at relationships? Matthew Hussey is the love guru you’ve been looking for.
Although his YouTube channel features videos that are mainly about relationship advice, relationships can affect your mental health, and it’s important to understand the differences between a healthy relationship and a not-so-healthy relationship.
Plus, Matthew chats a lot about developing your relationship with yourself. From transforming your pain into growth to learning how to be less afraid, he’ll show you everything you need to know to become the best version of yourself.
5. Anna Akana
What do you get when you mix comedy with deep chats about life? You get Anna Akana, your next personal growth mentor. As an actor, writer and director, Anna’s 3- to 4-minute videos are full of jokes about challenges young adults face every day. She talks about serious topics, such as therapy, self-love and comparison, in a way that’s both entertaining and informative.
As you dive into YouTube’s world of self-help, it’s important to note that watching videos on personal growth can be inspiring — but if you want to find inner peace, you must take these lessons to heart and make real changes in your life, like going to therapy. Even then, it might take years of practice to see the results you’ve been looking for.
Until that happens, let these YouTube channels be a nudge in the right direction.
A version of this article was previously published on the author’s blog.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash