Here Now Podcast: Insights on Mental Health & Growth

Watch the Latest Episodes

Episode 1: Common Myths About Mental Health

With Leona Buhenzire “Tura”, a clinical psychologist with nearly 20 years of experience, to explore mental health within the Ugandan context.

Episode 2: How Underage Drinking Turned Into Addiction

Bill Bekunda, Founding Member of Safe Places Uganda Rehabilitation Program, shares how academic expectations, peer pressure, and the environment around him during his teenage years contributed to his early relationship with alcohol.

Episode 3: The Role of Faith & Culture on Mental Health

In this conversation, Rev. Stephen Bamutungire opens up about the role of faith in mental health, the responsibility of church leaders, and why healing must include both spiritual and emotional care.

Episode 4: Breaking the Cycle of Abuse

Parent-child relationships shape us in ways we often don't realize. In this deeply personal episode, actor and writer Aaliyah Viola Nantabaazi opens up about her childhood experiences and how she turned past trauma into a powerful force for growth, creativity, and change.

Episode 5: Mental Health Series Finale

This wrap video looks back on the first season of the Here Now Podcast Mental Health Series, filmed right here in Uganda. From honest conversations to stories that hit close to home, thank you for every view, every share, and every kind word. Your support made this series possible and meaningful.

Episode 6: What Teens Wish Parents Knew About Self-Worth

This episode is a love letter to every teenager navigating peer pressure, image issues, and self-worth struggles. I want it to feel like validation and a safe space — a reminder that you are not alone, and whatever you're going through is temporary.

Episode 7: What Is Self-Worth and How Does It Impact Motherhood and Relationships?

I know for a fact that a lot of women can resonate with this statement. This is a topic that is close to my heart because I've lived it. The experience of losing yourself to motherhood and relationships can be quite scary, and sometimes it happens so slowly you don't even notice until you're staring at someone you don't fully recognize anymore.

Episode 8: Love Yourself First Before Seeking Love with Sunjohn Nwose

In this episode, we explore topics that many people think about but rarely talk about openly: Why healing before finding love matters, setting healthy boundaries in relationships, the realities and complexities of polygamy , co-parenting and its lasting impact on children, and learning to love yourself before asking someone else to love you.

Episode 9: Did faith or religion shape your parenting? What about non believers?

For many parents, religion shaped more than Sunday routines. It influenced how they understood right and wrong, love, discipline, and even themselves. Now, as parents, many are deciding what parts of that upbringing they want to carry forward and what parts they’re mourning. In this conversation, pastor, speaker, husband, and father Xavier Maryland joins us to talk about faith, parenting, grief, and mental health with honesty, humor, and vulnerability.

Episode 11: The Protector Who Needs Protection

What happens when the man everyone relies on needs support himself?

In this episode of Here Now with Stella, former athlete and police officer Brandon Herron opens up about PTSD, depression, anxiety, and rebuilding after injury. He and Stella explore the pressure to stay strong, the experience of asking for help, and the role faith and vulnerability played in his healing.

An honest conversation about men’s mental health and giving the protector room to receive care, too.

Watch the full conversation.

Here Now with Stella

It really resonated with me. I agreed with what was being discussed, especially about being mindful of the words we use with our children when we’re upset. As African parents raising kids in the diaspora, I think we’re constantly trying to balance the way we are raising our children.