103 Free Outlets – Part 3: Mental Health — WordsByEkta🌿
🌿103 Free Submission Outlets for Personal Essays and More — Part 3: Wellness, Mental Health & Spirituality
Some of our most powerful writing begins in the quiet — during a sleepless night, a meditation, or a moment when grief and grace sit side by side. Whether you're sharing about anxiety, burnout, spiritual awakenings, chronic illness, or simply navigating a gentler path through life, these platforms welcome writing that heals — both reader and writer.
🌿 Part 3 of the Series: 103 Free Places to Submit Your Writing — Wellness, Mental Health & Spirituality
🧘♀️ Who This Is For
Writers exploring:
- Mental health, therapy, healing journeys
- Chronic illness, invisible pain, or resilience
- Mindfulness, minimalism, and self-discovery
- Spiritual practices, faith, or transformation
- Personal stories that hold both ache and awakening
You don't need to have all the answers — just honesty, intention, and a voice that cares.
📝 What These Outlets Typically Look For
- First-person essays about healing, loss, or clarity
- Reflections on self-worth, inner work, or quiet growth
- Thoughtful takes on burnout, motherhood, body image, or recovery
- Grounded spiritual writing — not necessarily religious, but real
Most of these are open to new writers and accept pitches or submissions directly via email or Submittable.
💡 Wellness, Mental Health & Spirituality (13)
Each outlet below welcomes personal essays on healing, mental health, spirituality, or inner growth. I've included what makes each one distinct — so you can match your piece to the right home before you pitch.
- Mindful Magazine
Mindful publishes personal essays and reported features on mindfulness, meditation, and living with greater awareness. They're drawn to writing that is grounded and practical — not abstract or preachy. If you've had a concrete experience with a mindfulness practice that changed something real in your life, this is a strong fit. They welcome new contributors and regularly publish first-person narratives alongside expert-led content. - Spirituality & Health
One of the longest-running wellness publications in print and digital, Spirituality & Health covers the full spectrum from secular mindfulness to deep religious practice — without judgment. They're looking for essays that hold complexity: pieces where the writer hasn't quite resolved the question they're sitting with. If your essay lives at the intersection of body, spirit, and meaning, this is a thoughtful home for it. - Invisible Illness
Invisible Illness is a Medium publication dedicated to writing about chronic illness, disability, mental health, and the experiences that don't show up on the outside. They actively seek voices from people who live in bodies and minds that the world often overlooks. First-person narratives about diagnosis, fatigue, grief, or the invisible weight of surviving are exactly what this publication was built for. - Hope in Action
Hope in Action focuses on stories of resilience, recovery, and the quiet turning points that shift a life. They welcome essays about mental health challenges, addiction recovery, trauma, and the long, nonlinear road to healing. What they're looking for isn't a tidy before-and-after story — they want the messy middle, the moment of decision, the small act that held everything together. - The Manifest-Station
Founded by Jennifer Pastiloff, The Manifest-Station is a deeply human literary space for essays about grief, recovery, body image, motherhood, trauma, and transformation. The editorial tone is raw and generous — they want writing that doesn't flinch. If your essay is the kind you were afraid to write, this is likely the right home. They're especially welcoming to emerging writers and those writing from the edges of their own experience. - Happiful Magazine
Happiful is a UK-based mental health and wellbeing magazine that takes a warm, accessible approach to difficult topics. They publish personal essays, interviews, and features on anxiety, depression, therapy, self-care, and emotional wellbeing. Their tone is supportive rather than clinical — they write for the person sitting on the couch at midnight wondering if what they're feeling is normal. International submissions are welcome. - Dorothy Parker's Ashes
Dorothy Parker's Ashes is a literary journal with a feminist sensibility, publishing personal essays by women and nonbinary writers on topics ranging from grief and desire to identity and health. The writing here tends to be smart, a little wry, and emotionally honest. If your wellness or mental health essay has a literary quality — if it's as concerned with how it's written as what it says — this is a publication worth exploring. - The Mighty
The Mighty is one of the most widely-read platforms for writing about mental health, disability, and chronic illness. They publish thousands of personal essays a year and are one of the most accessible entry points for writers who are newer to submitting. What The Mighty values above all is authenticity — a real experience told plainly. If you've been through something difficult and want your story to reach others who are in the middle of something similar, this is the place. - MindBodyGreen
MindBodyGreen bridges wellness, science, and spirituality. They publish personal essays and expert-informed pieces on mental health, gut health, sleep, relationships, and conscious living. Their readership is broad and health-conscious — they're drawn to essays that connect personal experience to evidence-based insight. If your piece weaves your own story with something you've learned or researched, this is a good home for it. - Thrive Global
Founded by Arianna Huffington, Thrive Global focuses on the intersection of burnout, performance, and wellbeing. They're particularly interested in personal essays about stress, overwork, redefining success, and the practices that help people sustain themselves in demanding lives. If your essay is about what you had to unlearn in order to function — or what slowing down taught you — Thrive Global is a natural home. - SELF
SELF publishes personal essays on health, body, fitness, mental wellness, and identity. Their first-person section features stories that are emotionally direct and culturally aware — writing that meets readers where they are. They're particularly open to essays on mental health access, therapy, anxiety, and navigating wellness as someone who doesn't see themselves in mainstream wellness content. Pitches with a clear hook and a specific story tend to do well here. - Real Healing
Real Healing is a space for writing that takes trauma, recovery, and emotional health seriously — without sanitizing the experience. They publish essays by survivors, caregivers, and people in the middle of healing who want to write honestly about what that actually looks like. If your essay holds grief, anger, or ambivalence alongside the hope, this publication welcomes that full truth. - The Cut – Voices
The Cut's Voices section publishes first-person essays on identity, mental health, relationships, and modern womanhood. It's one of the most widely-read personal essay platforms in digital media, and they actively look for stories that feel urgent and specific — pieces that capture a cultural moment through a single, lived experience. The bar is high, but so is the reach. If your essay has a strong hook and a clear cultural angle, it's worth the pitch.
📬 Stay in the Loop
This is Part 3 of a 5-part series. Want the other parts?
The story you’re holding might just be the one someone else needs to breathe easier. Don’t wait for perfection. Submit with heart.
✍️ Written by WordsByEkta
🖋️ Emotional Storyteller | Writing what hearts never say aloud
💌 If you connected with my way of saying hard truths — often overlooked but deeply felt — explore one of my free letters:
wordsbyekta.gumroad.com
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