Always Here

4.7 (8K) · SOCIETY & CULTURE · UPDATED WEEKLY

Mental health conversations without the platitudes. Host Jordan Ellis talks to survivors, therapists, and researchers about what recovery actually looks like.

5D AGO

Treatment-Resistant Depression: When the Standard Treatments Don't Work

Psychiatrist Dr. Carlos Zarate on treatment-resistant depression — what it means, how common it is, and the emerging treatments (ketamine, psilocybin, TMS) that are showing real results for people who haven't responded to conventional antidepressants.

12D AGO

The Medication Question: Why Mental Health Drugs Are So Hard to Get Right

The process of finding the right psychiatric medication is slower, more painful, and more trial-and-error than most doctors explain up front. Jordan and a clinical pharmacologist walk through why — and what patients can ask their doctors to make the process less brutal.

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Jordan's Story: A Full Account of the Year That Changed Everything

Jordan has shared pieces of their recovery story across many episodes. This is the complete version — recorded in a single four-hour session with their therapist present. Raw, difficult, and ultimately the reason this show exists.

26D AGO

Therapy Isn't Working: What to Do When You're Doing It Right and It's Not Helping

Not all therapy is effective therapy. Clinical psychologist Dr. Steve Hayes on how to evaluate whether your therapy is actually working, when to push back on your therapist, and the specific signs that it might be time to find someone different.

33D AGO

The Grief That Never Ends: Living with Complicated Bereavement

Complicated grief is distinct from ordinary grief but rarely diagnosed. Dr. Katherine Shear on the specific features that distinguish it, why it responds poorly to standard grief therapy, and the evidence-based treatment that actually helps.

40D AGO

Burnout: Not a Character Flaw, Not an Attitude Problem

Burnout researcher Dr. Christina Maslach on what burnout actually is at the neurological and social level — and why framing it as a personal failure rather than an organizational one is not only wrong but actively harmful to recovery.

47D AGO

PTSD Beyond the Battlefield: Complex Trauma in Everyday Life

C-PTSD — complex post-traumatic stress disorder — develops from prolonged, repeated trauma rather than single events, and it responds differently to standard PTSD treatment. Trauma therapist Dr. Pete Walker on what it looks like and what actually helps.

54D AGO

Crisis Planning: Making Decisions Before You Need To

A psychiatric advance directive is a document that describes what care you want when you're in crisis and unable to make decisions. Dr. Elyn Saks on how to create one, why most people who would benefit from one don't have one, and what it actually looks like in practice.

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Hosts & Guests

Jordan EllisHost

4.7

out of 5

8K Ratings

The mental health podcast I've been waiting for

Jordan doesn't flinch from the hard stuff and doesn't pretend recovery is linear. The treatment-resistant depression episode is worth more than years of the inspirational-content mental health industry has produced. Essential.

MentalHealthSurvivor · Mar 5, 2026

Honest in a way that helps

The therapy episode changed how I talk to my therapist. The C-PTSD episode helped me understand something about myself that I'd been misunderstanding for a decade. This show does real good in the world.

TherapyGoer · Feb 19, 2026

Jordan is one of a kind

The full story episode is one of the most courageous things I've heard in podcasting. Jordan's willingness to share everything — including the parts that don't resolve neatly — is what makes this show different from every other mental health content out there.

AlwaysHereFan · Feb 4, 2026

About

Always Here is an independent mental health podcast hosted by Jordan Ellis, a journalist and suicide attempt survivor who turned their recovery into a mission. The show is refreshingly honest about the messiness of mental illness and recovery — the setbacks, the medications that don't work, the therapy sessions that feel useless, and the slow, nonlinear process of actually getting better. Jordan interviews therapists, psychiatrists, researchers, and most importantly, other survivors about what has actually helped them. The show never pats its listeners on the head or reduces complex mental illness to inspirational quotes. It is the mental health podcast for people who are tired of mental health content that makes the subject feel manageable when it isn't.