Part 8: How Giving Back Can Make You Feel Less Alone 

We're back with another installment of our How To Not Be Lonely In LA series. 

Today, we're talking about volunteering your time to a cause, and how doing so can make you feel a lot less alone. 

Call it selfish, but doing some community service is a really great way to create connections, broaden your perspective of life, and ultimately give you a greater sense of belonging. 

Producer Megan Botel is at Growing Hope Gardens in Santa Monica to get her hands dirty in some soil and talk about the benefits of volunteering. 

Guests: Carolyn Day, founder and executive director of Growing Hope Gardens; Eleu Navarro, garden and farm team coordinator; Cat Moore, director of belonging at USC. 

Some places to volunteer around the city: 
Heal The Bay
Downtown Women's Center
Pico Union Project

Part 8: How Giving Back Can Make You Feel Less Alone 
We're back with another installment of our How To Not Be Lonely In LA series. 
Today, we're talking about volunteering your time to a cause, and how doing so can make you feel a lot less alone. 
Call it selfish, but doing some community service is a really great way to create connections, broaden your perspective of life, and ultimately give you a greater sense of belonging. 
Producer Megan Botel is at Growing Hope Gardens in Santa Monica to get her hands dirty in some soil and talk about the benefits of volunteering. 
Guests: Carolyn Day, founder and executive director of Growing Hope Gardens; Eleu Navarro, garden and farm team coordinator; Cat Moore, director of belonging at USC. 
Some places to volunteer around the city: 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://healthebay.org">Heal The Bay</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://downtownwomenscenter.org/volunteer/">Downtown Women's Center</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.picounionproject.org ">Pico Union Project</a></li>
</ul>

Growing up, I was taught to say that I was “ok” when I really wasn’t. Mental health just wasn’t something that anyone in my family or community talked about or even had access to. Yet pretty much everyone was affected by it. 

Today, young people of color are disproportionately affected by mental health issues and are not getting the resources they need, and I want to change that.  

And this is why this podcast exists.

Yeah No, I’m Not Ok, my new podcast made in collaboration with LAist Studios, is here to open up the conversation about mental health. Every week we will explore issues that youth face all over the world (addiction, depression, anxiety, suicide, radical self love, and much much more) through conversations with friends, colleagues, activists, artists and health care professionals, all people who have gone through something life-changing and are now healing from it. 

We want to start a mental health revolution. A movement that can start by talking about how we feel. One where we’re not ashamed of our own human experience. 

What will feel like simple conversations among friends will really become a complex narrative of what is happening right now, especially to young people of color. With a real and emotional sound and few easy answers, Yeah No, I’m Not Ok will hopefully become a critical show in a critical time, a place for you to bring your complicated feelings and spend time with people who are rooting for you.

– Diane Guerrero

This LAist Studios podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and our listeners get 10% off their first month of online therapy at BetterHelp.com/LAist

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.

This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Growing up, I was taught to say that I was &ldquo;ok&rdquo; when I really wasn&rsquo;t. Mental health just wasn&rsquo;t something that anyone in my family or community talked about or even had access to. Yet pretty much everyone was affected by it.&nbsp;
Today, young people of color are disproportionately affected by mental health issues and are not getting the resources they need, and I want to change that.&nbsp;&nbsp;
And this is why this podcast exists.
Yeah No, I&rsquo;m Not Ok, my new podcast made in collaboration with LAist Studios, is here to open up the conversation about mental health. Every week we will explore issues that youth face all over the world (addiction, depression, anxiety, suicide, radical self love, and much much more) through conversations with friends, colleagues, activists, artists and health care professionals, all people who have gone through something life-changing and are now healing from it.&nbsp;
We want to start a mental health revolution. A movement that can start by talking about how we feel. One where we&rsquo;re not ashamed of our own human experience.&nbsp;
What will feel like simple conversations among friends will really become a complex narrative of what is happening right now, especially to young people of color. With a real and emotional sound and few easy answers, Yeah No, I&rsquo;m Not Ok will hopefully become a critical show in a critical time, a place for you to bring your complicated feelings and spend time with people who are rooting for you.
&ndash; Diane Guerrero
This LAist Studios podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and our listeners get 10% off their first month of online therapy at&nbsp;<a href="http://betterhelp.com/LAist" data-stringify-link="http://BetterHelp.com/LAist" data-sk="tooltip_parent">BetterHelp.com/LAist</a>
Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

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