Teen Host of Growing Mental Health Podcast

Her story began at her lowest. Now, she’s trying to help others escape their own lows.

By: Chloe Forssell

Sadie Sutton never expected her life to continue past her sixteenth birthday. Depression and anxiety made it hard to think about her future. Two years later, Sutton was inspired to share her struggles with other teens battling mental illness, hoping to aid them on their own journeys of personal growth.

“If I — someone who was so sad and so depressed for so long — can be happy, then anyone can do it,” said the 18-year-old. “I have got to tell people.”

The cover of Sutton’s podcast “She Persisted” is used on all social media and streaming platforms.

It was over the course of her year-and-a-half residence at a rural Montana boarding school that Sutton was able to apply Dialectical Behavioral Therapeutic (DBT) skills to transform her perception of herself and vastly improve her mental fitness. In the final few months in Montana, she reflected on her growth.

Sutton would ask her closest friends from the boarding school to sit down to talk about their struggles with mental health and record it on an approved iPod.

“I would ask them questions about their anxiety and their depression and how they got to the point where they felt like they had ‘made it’… because we had all believed that things wouldn’t ever change,” Sutton said.

Infographic made with Infogram and data sourced by NIMH.

Sutton’s recent collection of basic equipment she uses for a podcast recording session. Photo courtesy of @shepersisted on Instagram.

Today, Sutton’s life looks nothing like it did two years ago, sitting in her podcast studio instead of on her dorm floor. She has created a brand for herself under the umbrella of her podcast, “She Persisted,” currently attracting 10,000 monthly listeners. Sutton has platformed over thirty guests, including members of her family and mental health influencers.

Sutton was interviewed in March of 2021 by ABC 7 as part of a piece about teen mental health. Photo courtesy of @ABC7.

“She Persisted” has found listenership primarily with those looking to understand the struggles of their loved ones. In the growing list of over 5,000 mental health podcasts, Sutton’s is unique because of how she discusses her experiences.

Though they do not struggle with mental health themselves, said one Apple Podcasts listener wrote in a review, “this podcast has been so informative and eye-opening.”

Sutton shared on her Instagram many of the hundreds of audience comments and feedback she received in response to her episodes. Post featured on @shepersisted on Instagram.

While Sutton loves what she does, she also acknowledges that she lives in a reality where her life has become her brand, and that comes with a new set of challenges.

“I am trying to open up and show every single part of my raw life, making my content both shareable and savable as well as personal and vulnerable.” Sutton said, “I love looking at my feed and knowing that that is the essence of me.”

Sutton has branched out, starting to interview fellow creators to share the stories of others on her podcast. This is a cover to the recent episode featuring podcaster Alexis Haines who spoke to her experiences with mental illness at a young age. Photo courtesy of @shepersisted on Instagram.

Sutton’s father Jason Kilar is immensely proud of his daughter’s journey, but is let down by the world’s perspective on mental illness.

“There is so much joy in the journey of attaining physical fitness, people take a lot of pride in it.” Kilar said, “[But] the notion of mental fitness is still in some cases a hushed, quiet thing, when it is every bit as important and worthy as physical fitness.”

Sutton poses for the camera in a recent shoot for a new campaign, launching an upcoming partnership with sponsors of her podcast as she begins the journey of monetization. Photo courtesy of @shepersisted on Instagram.