A Mental Break with Taylor Simpson

I have two members from the band Discontinuity on the pod! Jack and Roger open up about their mental health journey's and share how important it is to spread mental health awareness! We talk about their music and many other things on this awesome episode, thanks for listening! Make sure to check these guys out, they are awesome dudes! 

My awesome friend Shannon from the band Housecat is on the pod! We have an in depth discussion on her journey through her mental health and adversities she's had to overcome. Was so lovely having her on and for her to share her story! 

Ian Fragomeni the GOAT himself, is on the pod! I did his pod, Flat 5, a few years ago, so I'm excited to have him on A Mental Break! Ian and I go way back as we share stories from our past and how we've crossed paths in this crazy Ontario music scene. Ian talks about his mental health and opens up about the years he battled with finding balance. Stoked to have Ian on the show, show him some love! 

My wonderfully talented friend and fellow artist Daniel Monte joins me on the show! He opens up about his journey through his mental health struggles throughout the years and we get vulnerable together. Make sure to show all the guests some love, including Daniel! 

Mr Truffle himself is on the show! A wonderful friend and an amazing concert photographer! Leo and I sit down and chat mental health, music stuff and photography. Hope you enjoy the episode! Be sure to spread the love! 

I have one of my best buds on the show, Tom Thomas! We discuss his story and battle with his mental health throughout the years, among plenty of other things! Tom is an amazing photographer, videographer and artist! Hope you enjoy this episode and keep spreading the awareness about mental health discussions! 

I have my pal and fellow musician Alyssa Messina on the show! We have an in depth chat about mental health and music. She opens up about her life and shares some vulnerable stories. Hope you enjoy the episode!

We're back!! First episode in a long time! I'm so happy to have my long time friend Phil Hirst on the show! Hope you enjoy our chat about mental health. 

I had the absolute pleasure of having Josh Bradford, one of the guitarists from my favourite band of all time Silverstein, on the show! It was lovely to get to talk to him openly and honestly about mental health and his experiences dealing with his own struggles. Just want to thank him once again for taking the time to come talk to me and thank you to my listeners/viewers for your continued support on this podcast and pushing more mental health conversations forward!  

The amazingly talented Tiffany Williams is on the show this episode! She is a producer, engineer, artist, multi instrumentalist, content creator and all around great friend! Her and I made a song together, meeting through Tik Tok of all places. We've stayed friends ever since and we had a wonderful and open conversation about Tiff's mental health and the hurdles she's had to overcome in her life. She elaborates on some dark times she's suffered through and many ways of dealing with the darkness to find the light over the years. Hope you enjoy and help spread the good word about the podcast and mental health awareness!

On this episode I have the wonderful and lovely Cristina! She is now my manager at the time of this release oddly enough. The birth of our work relationship started from having this conversation. I had a great time sitting down and talking with Cristina about her experiences dealing with mental health and how she's coped with things in her life. Very open and vulnerable moments throughout. Hope you enjoy our conversation!

My great buddy Nash is on this episode! He is a drumming wizard and all around super talented individual! So grateful to have him on and discuss his battle with mental health and the adversities he's had to face throughout the years. We did a lot of great bonding and discovered a lot of new things about each other during our conversation. Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!

My lovely friend and fellow City and Colour lover Shannon is on the show! She opens up and is beautifully vulnerable about her struggles with mental health, also dealing with the trials and tribulations she's dealt with along the way. Was an absolute honour having her on and I really enjoyed getting her perspective on things. Please go support her and her band! 

Sunny is on the pod for this episode! My new pal and bandmate! It's been really great getting to know Sunny more and more throughout these last couple of months. To have him agree to be on the show and open up about his life and mental health related struggles, has been an honour. Great episode, really enjoyed our conversation, hope you guys do to! 

I sit down with my pal Kicksie to kick off season 2 of the podcast! Kicksie is a fellow musician from Toronto! Kicksie opens up about her mental health in the episode and discusses all the things she does to combat them. So excited to have Kicksie as my first guest back and it feels good to be back. Thank you to everyone for the support on my podcast and the guests that come on! 

That's a wrap everyone! Season 1 comes to a close! Thank you so so so much for your support on this podcast! Everyone who listened and tuned in every week and watched the video format, you guys are incredible! To all the guests who came on in season 1, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I was so honoured and humbled that you opened up and shared your story with everyone and helped me push the message of the podcast to have open and honest conversations about mental health. Love you all! Season 2 coming soon!! Peace out for now!

On this weeks episode Taylor grabbed questions from YOU and answered as honest as possible. He also did a Self Assessment/Self check in questionnaire. Feel free to try it for yourself here:  https://positivepsychology.com/mental... . Thank you so much as always for your continued support on this podcast! Thanks to all of you who asked questions as well! 

We have my beautiful, talented and lovely friend Cj on the show this week! We discuss her struggle dealing with generalized anxiety, ADHD and manic depression. Cj opens up about her past and the battle she's faced dealing with her mental health throughout the years. The challenges she's had to face in regards to her anxiety and manic depression episodes, plus battling with vices to cope with them. Cj elaborates more towards the end about a very interesting coping mechanism she's used to help herself gain more control over her mental health illnesses. Great conversation, thanks to Cj so much for coming on and sharing her story with all of us! Trigger warning to those who are sensitive to this subject matter. As always please listen with respect. Peace and love to all of you who keep listening/watching and supporting this podcast!

This week we have my dear friend Michael on the show! Michael and I have been friends for a little over 4 years now. He's a very talented drummer, mixing/mastering engineer and mental health advocate. We discuss his struggle dealing with social anxiety, bouts of depression, his cancer story and his road to recovery until now. Was very nice to catch up with him and I'm very thankful to him for coming on and sharing his story! Please be respectful while listening/watching and as always thank you so much for all your support on this podcast!! 

No guest this week, just Taylor discussing where he's at mentally and a little podcast update. Thanks so much for your support as always! New episodes with guests coming in the next few weeks! Until then, enjoy this little chat with Taylor.

We have Leena back on the show this week! Leena and Taylor give an update from where they left off in the last episode they did. Coming out of the second lockdown, hitting a milestone in their friendship and discussing all of the changes and steps Leena is taking to improve her mental health as we're getting back into the world. Great conversation, lots of jokes, lots of love and support. Thank you so much for your continued support on the podcast and for the love and respect you show towards the guests. 

On this episode, Taylor has his long time friend Mike Dent on the show! Mike and Taylor have been friends for years and the two sit down to discuss some things that Mike has never really discussed before. We talk about Mike being on the autistic spectrum, anger management issues and his battle with depression throughout the years. Mike dives deep in himself and brings up stories and memories that relate to his mental health. He gets vulnerable and opens up about how all of this is new to him and he's learning to understand being emotionally aware. Please listen with respect for Mike, this is a brave new step for him and Taylor is very proud of Mike for being on and opening up about his life on a deeper emotional level. 

This week's guest is Clemi! She's a wonderfully talented artist, an incredible activist and a mental health advocate! We discuss her battle with mental health, how it's effected her, her perspective on dealing within certain areas of the mental health world and the healing process and connections we make to help us out of the dark times. A great conversation with a great friend! Please listen with respect for the guest and as always thank you to everyone who continues to support this podcast!! 

The fantastical Jonah joins us on the pod this week! He's the frontman of the funk rock group called Numb Tongues and an all around amazing dude. We take a dive into Jonah's mental health and everything he's dealt with along the way to attribute to it. We also discuss the love of music and how important of a role it plays in his life. As always please listen with respect for the guest and thank you to everyone who continues to listen/watch the pod, your support helps tremendously!

On this episode of A Mental Break, I have fellow musician and mental health advocate Jonathan on! We talk about his story and experiences dealing with his mental health. From his battle with anxiety, to his focus issues and some drinking issues in the past, we cover a wide range of Jonathan's mental health illnesses he's suffered with over the years. Plus we discuss his great project coming out soon, a Mental Health Coaching Service! We later address some great tactics to avoid facing a crisis before it happens and wrap it all up with some amazing techniques/coping mechanisms that Jon uses to help deal with his mental health illnesses. Please listen with respect for the guest and thank you so so much for your continued support!Check out Jonathan's Mental Health Coaching Service!www.thejournalthattalksback.com

On this episode of A Mental Break we have the lovely and talented Morgan Dunbar! Taylor and Morgan have been friends for a few years now and are both musicians. The two have played many shows together, had a few drinks together and lots of dance battles together! Morgan dives deep into his mental health for the first time in awhile and opens up about dealing with his social anxiety, generalized anxiety and various phobias. The two explore more about what happened to Morgan throughout his life dealing with certain triggering situations. They also focus on where he's at now and what methods or coping mechanisms he's used along the way to help him get through dark times. As always, please listen with respect and kindness to the guest, as they are opening up about very personal issues. Thank you to everyone who continues to support this podcast and the guests that come on! 

Jairo is on this weeks episode of A Mental Break. Taylor and Jairo became friends in college studying music together. The two have played shows together and have followed along each others journeys ever since. Jairo opens up about his mental health struggles and illnesses that he battles on a regular basis. Starting from when he moved to Canada from Columbia when he was young, having to re adjust his whole life to living in a foreign country. Then following along his life from there, throughout the struggles of being in school, losing relationships, feeling lost in his life and trying to figure out what he wants to achieve. Again I ask that you listen with respect to our guests stories, as it is sometimes hard for people to speak about certain details of their lives that involves mental health. Thank you very much for all the support on the podcast and on helping Taylor and his guests create a positive and safe community around discussing mental health openly.

Alex and Taylor, old middle school and high school pals, sit down to discuss Alex's story and experience with her mental health. We dive into dealing with her parents divorce at a young age, being in an abusive relationship and battling with her ongoing anxiety/stress throughout the years. The two share some wonderful insight on solutions in coping with such things later in the episode and end on a lighter note with some funny banter and messages of hope. Again, thank you so much for listening and supporting this podcast! Remember that this is a safe and vulnerable space and as always a trigger warning to those who are sensitive to this subject matter.

Caleb Thompson joins Taylor on this episode of A Mental Break! A fellow musician and podcaster! The two discuss Calebs battle with his anxiety and frustration/anger problems. Caleb dives into his ordeals over the years in dealing with his bouts of mental health illnesses. We have video now! So follow along with us in this nice in depth conversation over on our Youtube page! Remember to be respectful and trigger warning to anyone who can't handle listening to heavy subject matter. Thank you as always for the support! 

Long time pal Kat has an in depth and vulnerable deep dive with Taylor on this episode of A Mental Break. The two tackle a lot of Kat's past and mental health illnesses. Trigger warning for anyone unable to handle listening to the topics covered in this episode. Kat expresses a lot of emotions, battles, triumphs and advice for anyone dealing with similar things. Please listen with respect to me and my guests. Thanks so much as always for the support and love shown for this podcast!

Nicole and Taylor hangout over zoom to discuss Nicole's experience and perspective dealing with her mental health illnesses and struggles throughout the years of her life. Trigger warning, it gets heavy and real in some parts, as Nicole discusses some serious traumatic events that happened in her life. Please listen with respect and understanding as this can be sensitive subject matter for people to talk about. Nicole opens up and is very vulnerable in this episode. Please feel free to support Nicole, she's an amazingly talented musician. 

Taylor has his long time pal and musical partner in crime Adriano Loparco on the show. Adriano opens up about his experiences dealing with his own mental health, along with his perspective on seeing his loved ones and friends go through their mental health struggles. Follow along in this deep and thoughtful conversation the two have, while they open up and rediscover some things within themselves. 

Taylor has his first guest on the show! None other than one of his best friends/sister Leena Rodriguez! (aka from her musical project MBG). The two discuss her life and her trials and tribulations facing her mental illnesses and struggles throughout the years. She lends her perspective on how she's dealt with everything and gives her own advice on how to manage what she's been dealing with.  Follow along on this in depth conversation about mental health from Leena's point of view. Make sure to rate the podcast, like and share, leave a comment! All feedback is welcome, lets build this positive community!! :)

Taylor discusses the effects that this pandemic has had on not only himself but others as well. He talks about his perspective on things over the year. Overall just discussing the ties between mental health and the pandemic. Changes he would like to see in the future in terms of mental health care and support. Feel free to comment your thoughts and opinions and the conversation. Taylor hopes that as a collective we can build a positive, caring and open community that supports everyone battling mental health issues through the podcast. Thanks for any support!

Taylor welcomes you to the beginning of this journey! He talks about his experiences with mental health, a little bit of a personal background, the goals for the podcast and help from you guys! Thanks for listening and any support is greatly appreciated