Former Cincinnati Sports Reporter now champions 'The Mental Game'
Dec 16, 2024
Who is the face of mental health? The answer absolutely everyone. But sometimes, people who appear "okay" are very much not.Brandon Saho is a former Cincinnati television personality who says if you're struggling youre not alone.Smiling and successful, Saho said he was suffering in silence."I faked a smile on TV for a long time when I was struggling behind the scenes. As soon as I would get done reporting on the Bengals and I tossed back to the studio, I was right back to that depressed, sad person," he said.Saho was recently back in Cincinnati and reflected on his roots."I'm a west-sider. I went to La Salle, went to UC and my dream was to be a sports reporter and to cover my favorite teams, like the Bengals, the Reds, UC, Xavier, everyone in Cincy that I grew up rooting for," he explained. Scoring a job as a sports reporter fulfilled Brandons childhood dream but also helped him hide in plain sight."Behind the smile, behind the sports reporting, I really didn't want to live anymore and no one knew that," he said, "I hid my mental health struggles from 14 to 28 years old. So that's a long time. That's 15 years. And then when I finally hit rock bottom, I just had to be open, because I was suicidal every single second of every day for three months." Thats when Brandon says he knew he had to reach out for help."I had those nights on the bridge that I didn't want to be here anymore. And after so many of those, it just got to a point where I couldn't do it alone. And so at 28 [years old] I went to my mom and I said, 'Hey Mom, look, you don't know this. No one knows this, but I don't want to live anymore.'"It was at that moment Saho's new life began. He walked away from his job. He quit drinking. And focused on healing."It was one of the best turns I ever made," he said. Saho recently shared his story on X. He spoke about the bridges and the nights he fought suicidal idealization.Now, he wants people walking across those same bridges to know they are not alone, by posting signs and mental health resources.Saho says being alive is bigger than any success an idea he promotes on his podcast The Mental Game. "The Mental Game is a mental health podcast where I interview athletes, musicians and celebrities, to try to break the stigma and save lives. Because the biggest thing with mental health is this feeling of being alone, but relatability and sharing our stories with each other can save lives," he said. From his home studio in Los Angeles Saho uses the podcast as a platform to break through the stigma of mental health. He hopes his story inspires listeners from all over the world to ask for help, saying if we connect with each other together we can cross that bridge and have important conversations when we get to them.To help raise money for signs on area bridges, Saho has started a GoFundMe campaign.