“Get out of my head,” says podcaster Justine

Justine Fortin is a PhD candidate in neuropsychology at the University of Montreal. She is a published author of mysteries with a psychological twist and co-creator of the podcast Sors de ma Tête (Get Out of My Head). Check it out here

Gaby: Could you tell me more about what made you decide to study psychology, and what you plan on doing with that?

Justine: What made me want to study psychology dates to my childhood. That’s when I realized that my grandfather and my great grandfather had been in the military. My great grandfather fought in World War II and my grandfather fought in the Vietnam War. I was really intrigued that they didn’t react the same way to a common event, that being war. That’s when I realized that there were many different mechanisms that cause people to react differently to the same stressful or even traumatic events. I decided to study psychology to deepen my knowledge of the human being, the human brain and cognition.

Gaby: I see the connection! I know that you’ve written two books, both murder mysteries titled Monstres and Folies du coeur. What made you want to write in that genre? And how did the plots for them arise?

Justine: My inspiration for writing my novels comes from my personal interests. So, when I write novels, I like to delve into the psychological aspect of my characters and that is not surprising because that’s what I’m doing as a future professional therapist. I always try to convey a message through my stories. So, you can see in my first novel that it’s about an investigation led by a psychologist. I wanted to show that even psychologists can have difficulties with their own mental health because a lot of people tend to think that the fact that we’re helping other people with their mental health means that our own mental health is automatically protected because we have good tips and good coping strategies. But it’s not always the truth. A lot of psychologists go to see their own therapists which is why I wanted to put that in my book.

Gaby: I enjoy a good murder mystery, especially at the end. The title of your podcast, “Get Out of My Head,” is amazing! It’s very fitting for the topic of mental health. Could you talk a little bit more about how the idea of creating a podcast came about and why on mental health?

Justine: It came from a Quebec granting agency who had launched a contest for students in 2020 to counter misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. In my research lab, we conduct studies on post-traumatic stress disorder and it happened that we had developed a study to better understand the different psychological reactions of the international population. My colleagues and I took the initiative to submit the podcast project to the competition to see if we could receive ten thousand dollars to present our findings to the general population. Our project was selected and that’s how we started the podcast. Currently, they have expanded the focus of our podcast beyond the pandemic. The first season is only on the pandemic and now we go through different techniques that can be applied to mental health. We continue to release four podcast episodes per year to educate young adults about mental health.

Gaby: Why do you think having a podcast that primarily focuses on mental health is crucial especially now? What are some things you think we can do to help those struggling get the resources they need?

Justine: It’s a big answer, but I think that the COVID-19 pandemic has identified that there are a lot of gaps in society. I will talk about Quebec’s society because it’s where I lived during the pandemic. We saw that people tended to focus more on physical health issues and forget about mental health issues during their decision making regarding the pandemic. For them it was okay to isolate ourselves to stop attending sport or social activities or to wear masks or to respect a curfew to protect ourselves from the virus. These decisions were made for physical health. On the other hand, these same rules corresponded directly to the criteria for diagnosing depression. When you want to diagnose someone for depression, you will see that this person is isolating themselves from social gatherings, doesn’t participate in activities they enjoy doing, and I think that the problem with that is that nobody took that into account when making decisions. The point I’m trying to make is not that we should focus more on mental health than physical health, but that they are equally important in times of crisis while making decisions to protect the population’s health. The consequence of this decision making is that now that the virus is fading, which is great, we are still living in the post-pandemic mental health crisis.

Gaby: Exactly! During the pandemic, many of us shut down, which is not good for our mental health. What does your podcast contribute to the field of mental health that is unique or sets it apart?

Justine: We were the first in Quebec to do a podcast where we invited a mental health expert, and a celebrity influencer known by our target population (18–30 years old). The researcher brings knowledge supported by science, while the celebrity or influencer keeps the discussion less academic. As he or she shares personal experiences with mental health issues, often people will identify more with the celebrity or influencer which will ensure that more people can hear our main message regarding the mental health issues that we’re living with today. This is how our podcast sets it apart and makes it unique. In Quebec, we can see that my demographic 18–30 years old no longer watch traditional television but, rather, will go watch TV on streaming platforms like Netflix or Disney+. Mental health awareness commercials that we can see on traditional TV are not getting the message across to younger crowds. So social media, like Instagram, TikTok or other platforms, are more often used as a communication channel by the younger generation. We also put important video clips from the podcast on Instagram and TikTok so people can also see clips of the podcast instead of listening for an hour to people talking as we take the tips, the strategies, the experience and make little video clips so that more people from our demographic will hear the message.

Gaby: Listening to your podcast, I learned how important it is to know that you are not alone and that even though asking for help can be difficult, it’s crucial to be able to know the resources available, so that you can get the help you need.

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