Inside the Hard Rock Artist Lounge at Audacy's 'Stars and Strings,' this year's lineup made space to talk about mental health to support the 'I'm Listening' initiative because talk has the power to save lives.

"I think continuing to have open conversations about mental health is so important because it shows that you're not alone in the things that burden you in your head. You feel like your world is ending because of something's happening and you realize, 'oh my god there's so many people around me that are struggling with depression and anxiety,'" says Dasha. "I go to therapy every week. I have to talk things out a bit, and so sometimes she just listens the whole time, but I yap and then I leave the session. I feel so much better. So having a therapist or a friend or a parent that you can really talk things out with is a very important tool."

Inside the Hard Rock Artist Lounge at Audacy's 'Stars and Strings,' this year's lineup made space to talk about mental health to support the 'I'm Listening' initiative because talk has the power to save lives.

"I think opening that door for your friends and stuff is the best way that you can help people, and I know it's important to me," admits Nate. "For my own mental health, what helps me a ton is, I go to YouTube and I do this guided 5-minute meditation... I do the 5-minute meditation anytime I'm kind of feeling like I need to chill out my nervous system, because typically what I find is it's your nervous system needs a little reset. Everything's just like overly fired up and stuff, so you calm that thing down, that helps a lot. And then, you know, prayer. I think prayer and getting in my Bible and worshiping God, I think helps me a ton too."

Inside the Hard Rock Artist Lounge at Audacy's 'Stars and Strings,' this year's lineup made space to talk about mental health to support the 'I'm Listening' initiative because talk has the power to save lives.

"Everyone's going through the same thing, you know, at once," says Hudson. "Everyone's living life and I feel like even when you're on the road or whether it's college or whether it's missing home, anything that it might be, I feel like it's important for everyone to understand you and know where you're at."

Inside the Hard Rock Artist Lounge at Audacy's 'Stars and Strings,' this year's lineup made space to talk about mental health to support the 'I'm Listening' initiative because talk has the power to save lives.

"I think the more we are open about it, the more people that go through a similar thing can embrace those people that are going through something, whether it's long-term or in the moment and talking about it is the first step," shares HARDY. "My stuff is pretty much all rooted in anxiety. I'm doing tremendously better over the past two years. Number one, if you've never done it and you have any sort of mental health, anything, anxiety, depression, OCD, whatever, go to a therapist and get your stuff worked out because it's very important. And then once you do that, my biggest thing is distraction, in the form of anything at all, listening to music, even like focusing on like your breath, or reading a book."

Inside the Hard Rock Artist Lounge at Audacy's 'Stars and Strings,' this year's lineup made space to talk about mental health to support the 'I'm Listening' initiative because talk has the power to save lives.

"You don't need to be having some existential crisis in your life to need to talk to someone and get something off your chest. I think there's a lot of little things that stack up and add up and end up weighing people down," says Zach. "It's better if people can come to the realization that everybody else [has] got something going on too and you're not some, special case of sorrow or depression or something. We're all going through this and it's better if we can all kind of go through it together."

Inside the Hard Rock Artist Lounge at Audacy's 'Stars and Strings,' this year's lineup made space to talk about mental health to support the 'I'm Listening' initiative because talk has the power to save lives.

"I know as a songwriter, one of the greatest things I get to do is write songs with other people, and before we even start writing songs, we'll be in the room just kind of talking about our life, talking about things we're going through, struggles, and I feel very fortunate in that regard to have a group of people, also my hockey team, before we even go on the ice, just a lot of conversation," says Dierks. "So just that conversation is so important, that dialogue with friends and family, just to kind of just to talk about it, just to get it out there in the open."

This week during a special presentation from Audacy's 'I'm Listening,' AFSP Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Christine Moutier talks with Audacy's Katie Neal about mental health during the holiday season.

While joyful, the holidays come with unique stress, including high expectations, a long task list, potential family trauma, and an accentuated sense of loneliness or isolation for some.

"I think there can be just a plain old mismatch between the expectations that society kind of presents, or maybe we even build up in our own head about how they're gonna feel, how we're gonna feel during the holidays, and so even under the best of circumstances it can just be, you know, taxing and and extra stressful," shares Dr. Moutier.

"I think also in this time frame, not just being the holidays but just thinking about the last several years and where we are as a society," she adds. "I almost feel sometimes like we haven't fully recovered in our brain health, our just, ability to breathe and be grounded and be present and thinking of others and have grace and sense of humor. All of those resilient parts that are part of all of our makeup, they got taxed on in a new way during those COVID years."

"For me it's a personal call to action for myself and for all of us to just kind of take a minute, reflect on that, because to be honest I think each person has it within themselves, their own knowledge of what works for them, to bring them back to a real sense of center grounding, to actually affirm our own identity even with the hardships that might be going on in in our lives."

"I do feel that maybe it'll for some of us be a time where we can actually make that extra moment because again it's not necessarily about the time it would take, it's the intentionality to just figure out our little plan for just taking a moment, breathing, connect with that person who you know is a positive influence. Instead of a passive, letting the status quo of life kind of run the show, a little more proactivity on our parts."

To hear more about managing mental health through the holidays, and how our nation's veterans sometimes struggle with navigating their own mental health, listen to the full episode above.

It’s okay to not be OK. We know the power of talk can save lives. Audacy's 'I’m Listening' aims to share valuable resources for those who need to connect, heal, and share their own stories. To those who are dealing with mental health issues, understand you are not alone. If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, know that someone is always there. Additionally, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 988.

During a recent Audacy Check In, Louis Tomlinson talked about his experience navigating public life and the music industry, and the tools that he uses to protect and support his mental health.

When asked about the systems he has in place, Louis was quick to admit it's "communication."

"It's just really talking about how you're feeling and talking about your feelings and not being afraid of doing that, cause it's rarely not rewarding if you're brave enough to actually tell someone how you're feeling," he shares. "It doesn't always have to be something massive, you know, it can be something small as well."

"If you're brave enough to communicate and you've got friends, family that you can lean on, those things are, at least for me, are vital."

It’s okay to not be OK. We know the power of talk can save lives. Audacy's 'I’m Listening' aims to share valuable resources for those who need to connect, heal, and share their own stories. To those who are dealing with mental health issues, understand you are not alone. If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, know that someone is always there. Additionally, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 988.