E31 – When Words Aren't Enough: Poetry, Mental Health, and the Healing Power of Art

In this episode of BrainSTEM, Dr. Hilary Marusak sits down with Alex Sheehan — spoken word poet, mental health advocate, and member of the One Mind Lived Experience community — for a conversation that takes the podcast somewhere a little different. Not just what's happening inside the brain, but what happens when art becomes the medicine.

Alex's story is one of finding language where language felt impossible. Long before he had terms like "social prescribing" or "arts in mental health," he was using poetry and creative expression to navigate depression, anxiety, mania, and suicidality — discovering after the fact that what saved him had a name, and a growing body of science behind it. He has written and performed beautifully about the intersection of creativity and healing, and about the expanding global movement to recognize arts engagement as a genuine health behavior — not just a hobby.

Like Dr. Marusak, Alex is connected to One Mind, a leading mental health nonprofit championing this work through initiatives like Apollo & Psyche, an evening of art, music, storytelling, and dance in support of mental health research and community. Oh — and we recorded this one on his birthday!

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt that their suffering didn't fit neatly into clinical language. And for anyone who has found — or is still searching for — their own version of creative healing.

🔗 Topics Covered

• How spoken word poetry became a lifeline before Alex had words for what he was going through

• What it feels like to discover that what saved you has a name — and a science

• Why open mics and poetry slams can be so powerful for mental health

• The WHO and the growing research on arts engagement as a health behavior

• Social prescribing: exciting frontier or risk of losing something essential?

• How to find your own creative outlet — even if you don't think of yourself as an artist

• Alex's experience with suicidality and what he wishes the mental health system had offered

• What the neuroscience of arts and mental health looks like from a lived experience perspective

• One Mind's Apollo & Psyche and what it means to see a major organization invest in this space

• A message for anyone who is struggling and searching for a way through

🌿 Tune in for a courageous, creative, and deeply human conversation about mental illness, survival, and the unexpected places healing can be found.

📢 Follow us on Instagram @brainstempodcast to submit your questions for future episodes.

🎧 Available now on Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts!

📄 From Alex Sheehan:

• One Mind blog — "Down the Rabbit Hole I Go: Learning the Language I Didn't Know I Wished I Knew": https://onemind.org/lived-experience-blog/down-the-rabbit-hole-i-go-learning-the-language-i-didnt-know-i-wish-i-knew/

• Spoken word poem (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHHAED-NYu0

• SocialRx: https://www.socialrx.com

❤️‍🩹 Help is available 24 hours/day at the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988.

🧠 BrainSTEM is hosted by neuroscientist Dr. Hilary Marusak. Production and social media by Amanpreet Bhogal, Manmeet Bhogal, Gabby Maramag, and Natalie Thurston.

This podcast is made possible by the generous support of the Society for Neuroscience and the Michigan Society for Neuroscience.

🎙️ Subscribe, share, and follow us! Visit: www.brainSTEMpodcast.com. Full video episodes are also available on YouTube.