In the past few decades, the discussion of mental health, especially pertaining to teenagers, has expanded and opened up greatly. 

More resources are becoming readily available for those who are in need of assistance with their mental health, whether it’s professional help or resources that allow you to connect and talk with others who may be going through the same thing. 

Annandale sophomore Filimon Meaza, wanting to join in on this crucial discussion, decided to start his own podcast centered around the mental health of teenagers called The Brief Dive. 

“I started this podcast because I wanted to find a way to help high school teens out there who need some sort of idea of what they are going through emotionally and mentally,” Meaza said. 

For many teens like Meaza, the topic of mental health is a very prominent and prevalent issue that people are always trying to further educate themselves about. 

“Mental health is something that I am very passionate about,” Meaza said. “I love expressing my psychology knowledge and would like to share that with others.”

Although there are many methods to become a part of this discussion of mental health, Meaza ultimately settled upon creating a podcast. 

“During these uncertain times I found podcasting to be the best outlet to share my knowledge with others and help teens as a supplementary resource while everyone is at home,” Meaza said. 

With his podcast, Meaza hopes to help listeners in regards to their mental health and provide a space for them to better understand the topic as a whole. 

“I hope to motivate others and enlighten them with my words and knowledge,” Meaza said 

“I don’t want anyone my age to go through life in confusion of what they are going through mentally and I hope that my podcast helps everyone know that they are not alone.” 

With his pursuit of this podcast, Meaza recognizes that he is not a licensed therapist or professional on the topic, but hopes that along with helping people understand mental health, he hopes to encourage listeners to pursue professional help if needed. 

“As a non-professional, my goal is to achieve as many listeners as possible who need help,” Meaza said. “So that they can get some supplementary insight to teenage perspective mental health and influence them to reach out for help.” 

When it comes to creating the episodes of his podcast, Meaza goes through an extensive planning process to make sure his episodes come out well and are satisfactory for his listeners.

“I create an outline of all of my ideas of episodes to develop and then from there select the ones that I would like to record for the month,” Meaza said 

“For each idea I come up with, I plan out a script and put some research notes together.”

Meaza then records, edits and publishes the episode.

As of right now, Meaza doesn’t plan to have any guests on his podcast but hopes to speak and share his insights as a guest on other podcasts sometime in the future. 

As Meaza continues to create episodes for his podcast, he has several goals in mind that he wants to complete. 

“My goal for this podcast is to help people become the best version of themselves and gain as many listeners as possible with my knowledge and personal experience.”

Along with those goals, comes Meaza’s ultimate message that he hopes listeners can take away from every single episode of his podcast.

“Mental health is not an easy subject to shed light on,” Meaza said. “I would like to make it easier for teenages to open up to others and seek help.”

If you are interested in learning and listening more about mental health, The Brief Dive is available on Spotify, the iHeart Radio app and Apple Podcasts with new episodes every Wednesday.