164. Teenager Therapy's Gael Aitor on Gen Z Mental Health Resources, Starting a Podcast, and How to Feel Less Alone

Oct 15

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Today's guest is Gael Aitor— the creator and co-host of Teenager Therapy—the biggest teen mental health podcast in the world. Teenager Therapy has been featured in the New York Times, Teen Vogue, and has had guests like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. He is also the co-founder of Astro Studios, a podcast studio aiming to help Gen Z feel less alone. We discuss what made him want to start Teenager Therapy and why this podcast was so unique, the pressures and responsibilities of being so vulnerable on a podcast with a such large audience, the process of choosing guests, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, to be on Teenager Therapy, common themes that teenagers are struggling with today and advice he most frequently gives on those topics, how his mental health has evolved from his teenage years until now, what’s next for him after wrapping Teenager Therapy, and his advice for teens who want to start their own podcasts.

Gael's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gaelaitor/

Mentioned In The Episode…

+ Teenager Therapy Instagram

+ Astro Studios Instagram

+ Teenager Therapy's final episode

+ Teenager Therapy's episode w/ Prince Harry & Meghan Markle

SHOP GUEST RECOMMENDATIONS: https://amzn.to/3A69GOC

About She Persisted

After a year and a half of intensive treatment for severe depression and anxiety, 20-year-old Sadie recounts her journey by interviewing family members, professionals, and fellow teens to offer self-improvement tips, DBT education, and personal experiences. She Persisted is the reminder that someone else has been there too and your inspiration to live your life worth living.

Sadie: Welcome to She Persisted. I'm your host, Sadie Sutton, a 19 year old from the Bay Area studying psychology at the University of Penn. She Persisted is the Teen Mental Health Podcast made for teenagers by a teen. In each episode, I'll bring you authentic, accessible, and relatable conversations about every aspect of mental wellness.

Sadie: You can expect evidence-based, teen approved resources, coping skills, including lots of D B T insights and education in. Each piece of content you consume, she persisted, Offers you a safe space to feel validated and understood in your struggle, while encouraging you to take ownership of your journey and build your life worth living.

Sadie: So let's dive in this week on She persisted.

Gael: It's interesting because we would do a lot of polls on our episodes and so we would ask questions like, are you happy? Are you lonely? How do you feel about your life?

Gael: Do you love yourself? And, unfortunately, the overwhelming response was usually more on the negative side for any question asked. And so, really, it gave me a very interesting first hand data on what exactly were the issues that were pressing and most urgent amongst teenagers and those really being loneliness, , family, and mental health struggles.

Sadie: Hello, hello. And welcome back to She Persisted. As I'm sure you saw from the title, we have a very special guest today. We have Gael from Teenager Therapy on the show today. And it's exciting because this has been a dream interview of mine since I started the show. So, if you're in any way... involved in the teen mental health space, especially in the podcasting world.

Sadie: I'm sure you've heard of Teenager Therapy. They really disrupted the space and the industry. They blew up as a teen mental health podcast and have interviewed some incredible individuals like Prince Harry, Meghan Markle,

Sadie: the U. S. Surgeon General.

Sadie: And they've been featured in the New York Times, Teen Vogue, and a number of other publications. So, an incredible resource, to put it in his own words, it is a coming of age story told in real time, a culmination of mistakes and growth, and a reminder that you're not alone. Teenager Therapy is such a unique show in the podcasting niche.

Sadie: It's not your typical interview style show. It's sit down, authentic, vulnerable conversations between teens, and what they've done with the show is just incredible. So, we are picking Gael's brain today. We are talking about Growing Teenager Therapy, the resource that they created with over 250 episodes, everything he's learned from hosting the show. They just wrapped after over five years. And,

Sadie: of course, a very popular teen question. Or maybe I'm just in the podcasting space. But advice for starting a podcast, sharing your story, and what is next for Gael and Teenager Therapy. So, I hope you enjoy this conversation. Again, so exciting to have him on the show. And let's dive in.

Sadie: Well, thank you so much for joining me today on She Persisted. I'm so excited to have you on the show. I think that every single listener that's tuning in today will have at least heard of Teenager Therapy because whenever you mention teen mental health in podcasts, people always go to Teenager Therapy.

Sadie: So I'm so honored to have you on the show today and talk about that resource you've created and your process there and then what's next. Thank you. I'm

Gael: so excited to be here, Sadie.

Sadie: So I want to take listeners back to the story of starting teenager therapy, which I'm sure you have told many, many, many times, but especially for parents who maybe haven't tuned in before.

Sadie: I think it's a really unique process and also helpful for listeners to understand because it sounds like from what I've heard you tell before, a lot of your thought process was really similar to what a lot of teens go through. So talk to me about starting teenager therapy years ago. Yeah,

Gael: so it's been almost five years since I started teenage therapy.

Gael: Came to the idea of it. It was after an experience I had listening to another podcast called couples therapy, which is by Candace and Casey Neistat. And in their podcast, what they do is they talk about the issues in their relationships in a very open and vulnerable way. And sometimes you'll see this couple fighting on the podcast, talking about issues in their marriage and their life and their responsibilities.

Gael: And I remember even as a sophomore in high school feeling like, wow, I can relate to a lot of these topics more than I thought I would. Even though they are decades older than me. And so, I started thinking, you know, what if there was somewhere where this was something that could exist for teenagers? And instead of having older people talking about these issues, it's people as young as me.

Gael: That are talking about the issues that I've also gone through and I searched it up on the web There was nothing like it and I really wish something like that existed. So I thought I'll just do it myself and I came to some of my friends. I asked four of them. Do you want to start a podcast with me? It's just gonna be us talking about our issues and friendships and everything we go through because we have a lot of problems And so ask them to do it and that's how teenage therapy was born

Sadie: What I think is so unique about, , the show, and I think you'll hear this also when you're listening and it's very different in the mental health space, is that it's not curated or super cookie cutter, like, this is the process that every episode follows, , I feel like even I do this at some points with She Persisted, where it's like, you have this conversation, you ask these questions, and teenager therapy is so different from that.

Sadie: It's just these really authentic and vulnerable conversations that aren't overproduced. There's not an agenda. Why do you think that was so unique in the podcast space, especially for teens, even though teens are known to not really have lots of

Gael: filters? Yeah, it was, I think, due to a couple of reasons.

Gael: One, when we started, like I said, there wasn't much out there like this, especially to come across a podcast that aimed at young people. Teenagers specifically, that was rare. But now to see the podcast hosted by other young people it was virtually unheard of, and if there was, it was maybe a very you know, inconsistent low produced podcast that did maybe one or two episodes before they stopped.

Gael: And so clearly no one was doing it for whatever reason and I think, well actually it's likely because it's just hard to start a podcast, do it consistently and it's not exactly the most rewarding medium and so there's not that instant gratification.

Gael: , but also I think our podcast specifically resonated because of the format. I mean, it really was just a group of five kids. In their bed, not just talking about, you know, drama or gossip or whatever other superficial topic you would expect teens to talk about, but we were talking about very real issues about our struggles with depression, anxiety, friendship.

Gael: And because of that, I think it resonated with an audience that typically hadn't heard that before. Usually when you think of teen content, it's very much comedy. It's not exactly crying in your bedroom, listening to you talk about some of the really dark thoughts you've had. And so I think that really struck a chord with people who had never heard anything like that before.

Sadie: Yeah, before we dive into the content of those episodes in your story, I want to talk about the podcast blowing up and you guys have a really strong community, you have a lot of people that tune in really consistently, and I think it must have been a shift from when you guys first started to then once you started doing this for years and you had that audience, Was there a different level of pressure and kind of mentally, was it more challenging to just sit down and be vulnerable in these episodes knowing so many people were listening and they might have different opinions or they might feel differently and all that kind of

Gael: stuff?

Gael: I think it definitely added a little bit of pressure. I know my co host really felt it from the beginning and when people started listening and really exacerbated that sensation of, whoa, there's a responsibility here, there's a pressure to say the right thing, to look good. To not say something that could upset people and I think for me personally, I never Truly felt it to the extent that they did but there was definitely a sense as more people started listening that I had to watch my words a little bit more.

Gael: I had to make sure that I wasn't saying something that could put someone at risk, that could harm someone, that could be hurtful, or alienating towards anybody. And it made it difficult because sometimes our own experiences won't apply to everyone, and our own opinions aren't necessarily going to be accepted by everyone, and so it made it hard , to, to balance the line between being, whether it was politically correct, or sensitive, or whatever it might be to issues, as opposed to just telling our raw stories and emotions and experiences.

Gael: And I think as the longer we did it, the more years, I also began to feel a sensation of as much as I was helping others, the podcast was helping me. It was a release for my own emotions. It was a release for me to process my own feelings and thoughts and experiences. And eventually, I think with that, there naturally started to come to a point where I did think that the conversations we had started also being affected and dwindling in the.

Gael: And I guess the vulnerability of it, I think when I look back at episodes that we did when we were really young, I'm honestly shocked because we really had no filter. We were fully criticizing each other on the show, asking like, why do you do that? Why do you think like that? Like that doesn't seem right.

Gael: And whether it was because you're just unaware of social cues or how to be caring and sensitive to other people's emotions or not. I think the older we grew, we started being a little bit more careful and how we approached criticizing another member on the show or talking negatively. And while that probably came with a lot of good, just for our own friendship, I'm sure it left a lot of really meaningful and important discussions on the table.

Sadie: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think another thing that's interesting about that, as you mentioned, conversations that were left on the table is creating a platform for others and who you decide to have on the show, because you guys have done so many, I'm going to call them like solo episodes, even though they're not solo episodes, because you guys have multiple hosts, but you have all these incredible conversations.

Sadie: And then upon occasion, you guys have other individuals on, you did an interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and have had on other guests in the past. Yeah. Yeah. I know how many inbound requests there are for podcast guests and to have this person on or share their story. How did you guys approach that?

Sadie: , especially knowing that your audience was teens that wanted to either talk about mental health, listen to stories of mental health, , and the people you chose to have on were kind of like directly impacting that.

Gael: It's always been a struggle to figure out the guest strategy. I think when we started it was really kind of...

Gael: The playbook of the more influencer guests you have, the higher your views, the better content, engagement, and I think, you know, some of our team members sometimes kind of guided us in that direction. We tried it out, but I think we very quickly realized that our podcast was not for influencer guests. It wasn't really.

Gael: met for that, you know, I really, every time we had a guest on, I asked myself, why am I doing this? Why are we the ones to do it? Is this serving our audience? And over time we started doing less and less guests because we really came to the realization that the power of our show was in the conversations between each other and not necessarily in the people that we brought on.

Gael: And so we started doing it a lot less and being more selective. And really the only times we started bringing on guests after that was for experts on an issue that we might not have experience with or know exactly what advice to offer. For example, we did an episode on where we brought on an expert guest and an educator and a researcher who was able to explain the complexities of the topic and offer guided advice in a way that was way more qualified than if we were to have tried to approach the episode just by ourselves.

Gael: And so, because of that, we really leaned away from influencer guests because that just wasn't our role. And we started really taking on guests that had a higher impact, such as the U. S. Surgeon General, or Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who are all advocates for youth mental health. And even then, whenever we did do guests, we tried to take a very personalized approach to the types of questions that we asked.

Sadie: Definitely. Speaking of those conversations that you guys had, between hosts when there wasn't guests on the show, I think what's really unique about the Teenager Therapy community is it's almost like a conversation. Like, you guys obviously have these recordings, you guys share your experiences, but people are also really engaged in sharing their thoughts after the episodes come out or being like, I experienced that also, or this is something I've gone through, which is really unique and really incredible.

Sadie: And I, yeah, I imagine that that gives you a really strong pulse on what teens are feeling and what they're struggling with and what is universally true and what's also really cool about the timing of this conversation is that you guys have just wrapped Teenager Therapy and so you have this huge collection of episodes and all these different topics that you've covered that teens can now go back and listen to , but having had all those conversations and the community got to weigh in and and listen to those What do you find to be these common themes that teenagers are struggling with across the board, consistently being like, me too, that's what's happening, I'm in the same spot, , all

Gael: of that?

Gael: Well, for one, I think it would not really come as a shocker that one of the main ones is loneliness. Episodes, that we would do on, you know, listen to this when you feel alone, or how to make friends, or dealing with loneliness. Those were always some of the most well received episodes because it really highlighted the fact that, yeah, we are in a loneliness epidemic and you see that reflected in the popularity of those topics.

Gael: Apart from that, family was another one that really affected teenagers, unsurprisingly. A lot of our episodes on family and growing up in an immigrant household or with unsupportive parents or having issues with siblings, those episodes did well. It always came as no surprise that, Loneliness, so friendships, relationships, family issues, , and lastly mental health were always the top three topics.

Gael: It really seemed like those were the ones that performed the best. And it's interesting because we would do a lot of polls on our episodes that would allow the audience to engage with us on a deeper level. And so we would ask questions like, are you happy? Are you lonely? How do you feel about your life?

Gael: Do you love yourself? And, unfortunately, the overwhelming response was usually more on the negative side for any question asked. And so, really, it gave me a very interesting first hand data on what exactly were the issues that were pressing and most urgent amongst teenagers, and those really being loneliness, , family, and mental health struggles.

Sadie: What pieces of advice, , and insights did people resonate with most, , and for you people that are listening to this episode, you said that the majority of teens were struggling with those things. So it's likely that people are tuning in and feeling lonely or trying to make new friends or having, , challenges with their family relationships.

Sadie: What advice do you give there now having had all these conversations, , and gotten to hear different perspectives, , from different hosts and then also the experts you guys brought on as well?

Gael: Thank you. I think over time, we've really came to the realization that the cliches are true. We really like to emphasize that in so many episodes because we'll be in the midst of figuring out an issue, but we're not quite there yet.

Gael: We don't really know how we feel about it ourselves. And then maybe a, a day or two later, you know, some couple episodes later, we do an episode on the same topic and we're distant a little bit. You know, it's a little farther apart from when we were experiencing that issue and we're able to offer...

Gael: Slightly more refined thoughts and usually it comes down to just whatever cliche was most applicable to the issue that we were facing that was the answer. That really, it really boils down to that and that's something that we really left our audience with is that look, at the end of the day, things are very simple.

Gael: It's just about believing it and , understanding that a lot of the things that people say are most likely true like take care of your health, to exercise, really like have a routine. Practice self affirmation. A lot of these things and about self love, , and having a good mindset, and like, to not lose hope.

Gael: A lot of that is what we leave our audience with, that, look, it gets better, you've seen our own journeys throughout these years, and now I can tell you that I was in your spot once, and these cliches sounded stupid and unrealistic, but once you get through it, you start to realize that was the answer, and that was the key all along.

Sadie: I love that. I just aligned with what you said, shifting gears from the podcast, which a lot of people probably tuned in because they've listened before, they've heard of it, they've known of it as a resource to now your own experience in your story. , and then also what you're doing next. So you talked a little bit about why you started, , teenager therapy, but especially from a mental health perspective, you mentioned mental health challenges, depression, and obviously.

Sadie: Being a teen is just really tough. It's a really overwhelming time. I think everyone struggles with some degree of mental health challenges during those years. So what was that self growth like and your experience, , as a teen? Because now we're both obviously right out of the teen years. , but also alongside teenager therapy as well, which I think is really unique because you got to document that.

Gael: Yeah. Well, it's been... It's been so interesting to see. I think in a lot of the recent episodes, , some of our last episodes, personally speaking, my mental state was in a very different state than it was when we first started. Sometimes for the worst. I In, in some recent episodes, I was very much reminiscing on the confidence and the naiveness of I can do anything and I can do everything without worry in the world and just doing because I can and not worrying about career prospects or if this is used for this is the best use of my time or if I was the one to do it and in a lot of ways throughout the podcast, you've seen my confidence kind of go from a high to a lower to a high to a low and it's just been a very big fluctuation.

Gael: , of what it means to be a young, naïve kid who thinks he can do anything and then suddenly getting hit with the realization that you're an adult now and There's different things that are expected of you, and with that, there can be a sense of wavering confidence if you don't keep an eye on it.

Gael: And for me personally, that's been probably the most prominent pattern that you've seen throughout the episodes, is that I think I started off with a really great mindset and then over time for whatever reason it kind of started to dwindle a little bit and now I'm on this path to try to find some of the values that I really loved about myself years back.

Gael: And bring them back to my present self.

Sadie: Mm hmm. So, what does that process look like now that you guys have wrapped Teenager Therapy? I know you guys did a full episode, , if people want to go listen to that. But what is next for your journey and also, , the Teenager Therapy world? Because you guys have more projects in the works and more resources for people to listen to.

Sadie: So, what is next?

Gael: Yeah, that's a good question. What is next? I think... You know, we ended Teenager Therapy, and this has been a podcast that has been a constant in our lives for five years. It's the longest thing we've ever done consistently, even longer than high school was, or any other, you know, institution.

Gael: And so it's been really odd to let that go now, and I'm still kind of in the midst of processing it all. It's only been a couple weeks, you know, that I have had this routine broken. One of the things that I really want to do now is... One, realize that I have time. I think throughout my teenage years, there was very, it was very much a sprint to do everything and do as much as possible, whether it was for college admissions or for my own self of achievement, because it feels like things are more important if you do it while you're young.

Gael: And now that you're in this new decade, it feels like you don't need to rush as much anymore. You can take your time. You have a lot of time. You can fail multiple times. You can restart and start new journeys. And that's something that's been really exciting. And I think at the moment, one is, I recently, you know, a couple months ago, I launched Astro Studios, which is the podcast network that I'm building alongside my co host, now co founder, Kayla.

Gael: And with that, I really want to create what I hope will become a sort of Sesame Street for teenagers. A way to expand access to youth mental health resources to comfort through these warm conversations and using the power of audio to create podcasts that really help young people feel less alone. So very much in that same spirit of teenager therapy.

Gael: And apart from that, I also want to scratch that itch to go to school and go to college. , when I graduated high school, I decided to not go to school because the schools I got accepted were far away and I thought, you know, I'm going to lose focus. It's probably not doable. Let me just focus on the podcast full time.

Gael: But I've always loved education. I've always wished I could go to college and I think now I have the flexibility and the freedom to pursue that. And so, hopefully I'll be applying to colleges and trying out education for a little bit and see how that feels. And then after that, just figuring out how I can help young people feel less alone.

Gael: That will always be my bigger mission. Right now, I've been doing a lot of that through media, but I hope one day I can expand that towards physical spaces and creating more third spaces outside of school, outside of work for young people to gather and exist in.

Sadie: I love that. I want to also pick your brain about starting podcasts because teens love starting podcasts.

Sadie: It is crazy how many people I have met on the Instagram podcast corner of the world that have shows that they've just started or they've been around for 20 episodes, 30 episodes, whatever it is, , because it takes a while to have your show build traction, , and build that community. And there are so many podcasts out there.

Sadie: It's crazy. So. For people that are tuning in and want to start a podcast and look up to what you guys have built, , as teens as well, which is what's really incredible and cool, what is your advice to someone that is starting from ground zero?

Gael: Well, one is, I would say if you can find a co host, that makes the process much easier.

Gael: Having people that you see every day, that you bond with, that are equally as invested in the project, I think is one of the main reasons I was able to do it consistently for so long. It's very much possible to do a solo show, and I'll probably be starting my own solo show soon, but I think having people with you is always much nicer.

Gael: , apart from that, on a more technical side, video's important. If you can add a video component to your show, it really does a great deal in expanding the reach. You could upload it to TikTok, you could upload it to YouTube, Spotify as well now, and that's been, that's going to be likely how you will have most of your growth.

Gael: But apart from that is, if you have a niche show, if there's a specific niche that you feel your show really encapsulates and serves, go on Instagram, go on TikTok, go on Twitter and find accounts that are also in that same niche and message them and ask them. If they're willing to promote your show, whether for free or for a small fee, and make a graphic, make a clip, whatever you think represents your show best, and ask them to spread it.

Gael: That was one of the main reasons that Teenager Therapy was able to be so successful right off the start was because we had a very clear niche, and we really tapped into a lot of different accounts for support. And when we launched, it worked out because we were posted, and thousands of people were able to see us all at once.

Gael: And so, really my two biggest tips is be consistent, Tap into whatever niche you are, and upload your show in various formats, in short form, in medium form, in long form. All of that really helps your show build traction.

Sadie: For consistency and podcasters that struggle with that, you mentioned when you looked up other shows in the space, you were like, there's one or two episodes, and they just kind of dropped off.

Sadie: How did you guys, , Navigate that because five years is a long time to host a show and you guys were incredibly consistent with episodes Was that something that was challenging? To keep up with and maintain or was it something that yeah, because you guys were balancing roles. It was very

Gael: seamless Oh, it was definitely challenging, especially when you're trying to keep together your sophomore group of friends throughout five years There's a lot of growth and it's not necessarily pleasant.

Gael: There were so many times where we had internal conflicts with one another, and we really were like, how, like, we just went through this incredibly hurtful time, experience, and now we're just expected to come back and gather the next week and be vulnerable with one another and share emotions? That was really hard.

Gael: A lot of it was just pure grit and tenacity and, , our co host kind of saying like, look, I don't want to be here. I would much rather not do this today, but I believe in the mission. I know we owe our audience an episode and I want to do this for them. And so I think a big part of our motivation was our audience and knowing that we were helping people and that's what really allowed us to overcome even times where we weren't on good terms with one another.

Gael: And yeah, the conversations were definitely affected. You could tell there's a weird energy. It's kind of like not flowing as well, but we thought like we, we want to make sure we do it. We want to be consistent. And so I think at the end of the day, if you have a strong why, if you have a strong mission, it really allows you to persevere and be consistent in your uploading.

Gael: I love

Sadie: that. For listeners that want to follow Astro Studios, they want to be aware of when you launch your new show and continue to watch what you do next, where can they find you?

Gael: Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram at Gael Aitor, G A E L A I T O R. Of course, the Add Teenage Therapy Instagram is still live.

Gael: If you want to check out everything that we have uploaded over the last five years, and if you want to keep up with everything that's next with my new company, you can go to at astrostudios. xyz on Instagram. And see everything that we're up to there.

Sadie: Amazing. I will put all that in the show notes. Thank you so much.

Sadie: This was a pleasure. Thank you, Sadie.

Sadie: Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of she persisted. If you enjoyed, make sure to share with a friend or family member, it really helps out the podcast. And if you haven't already leave a review on apple podcasts or Spotify, you can also make sure to follow along at actually persisted podcast on both Instagram and Tik TOK, and check out all the bonus resources, content and information on my website.

Sadie: She persisted podcast.com. Thanks for supporting. Keep persisting and I'll see you next week.a note: this is an automated transcription so please ignore any accidental misspellings!

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