SEATTLE — On the left side of your radio dial, you’ll find Seattle’s Home for Dance, C89.5 from techno to EDM, the format has been a staple for decades.
Also in the station’s studio, high school senior Gavin Muhlfelder is recording a different podcast.
“Welcome to Coping 101, a student-led series destigmatizing mental health,” Muhlfelder said into the microphone.
C89.5 is based out of Seattle’s Nathan Hale High School, and the students like Muhlfelder produce the podcast tackling sensitive topics. While they might feel like odd audio booth mates, podcast club advisor Gavin Reub said mental health discussions pair well with dance music.
“This is an arena that historically has kind of been everybody from the popular to the the queer and more traditionally neglected kind of communities, and so you think of it as this very upbeat, outgoing kind of thing,” Reub said. “But reality is, there’s people in every walk of life dealing with issues of mental health.”
Students have recorded dozens of episodes for Coping 101, tackling issues of depression, anxiety, self-harm, bullying and homelessness.
“I do feel drained after, I’ll say pretty much every single episode, but I always have that enthusiasm to come back, to hear more,” Muhlfelder said. “And it’s a great feeling because you know you gave everything to that podcast, that person also did, and you just know so much about each other and about the world around you.”
An upcoming episode focuses on the Well-Being Center and how they support families. The podcast is a unique way to for the center to reach teenagers.
“Everybody’s listening to podcasts all the time in their cars and their gardens doing the dishes,” said Stephanie Soarantos, from the Well Being Youth and Family Center. “I like it because it’s sort of formal, but it’s also a conversation.”
The podcast shares information and resources, but one of its main goals is to destigmatize mental health.
“People want to know how people are dealing with their own issues, what resources they can go to if they run into theirs, and there’s no more important population I think that high schoolers,” Reub said.
The podcast won’t end the many pressures and challenges teens face, but as the name says, it can help them learn how best to cope.