New digital literacies and practices have been emerging and constantly evolving, demanding new research approaches to literacy, language, and their teaching. Given these considerations, there is a pressing need to focus on the role of posts on websites through genre analysis and qualitative methods. The dissertation uncovers the role and function of non-academic blogs and their components, namely mental health blog posts. Utilizing genre analysis, combining the framework of rhetorical genre analysis (RGS) and English for specific purposes (ESP), this dissertation identifies the genre characteristics of mental health blogs and their communicative purposes. To accomplish this goal, this project analyzed the communicative purposes and the rhetorical move structures of 533 mental health blog posts and their comments from seven mental health organizations’ websites encompassing seven mental health conditions. Additionally, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recall with ten bloggers and two editors of the blogs were conducted to corroborate the findings of the genre analysis. The moves analysis revealed consistent rhetorical patterns across blog posts, with writers commonly using moves such as sharing personal experiences, providing advice or resources, and inviting reader engagement through questions or calls to action. These moves functioned together to create a supportive, informative, and interactive space, connected with the communicative purpose of helping others and themselves deal with mental health struggles. Hyperlinks and images enhanced the blogs’ rhetorical strategies while comments enabled reciprocal support and ongoing discourse between the bloggers and readers. These insights contribute to genre analysis by demonstrating how digital genres function dynamically across text, media, and audience interaction. The pedagogical implication section includes practical resources and materials for English language educators who are seeking to increase language learner autonomy through critical engagement with digital literacies (Jiang, 2023) and public discourses. The implications for public health highlights how mental health blogs democratize access to mental health knowledge and support especially individuals who experience conditions that are highly stigmatized in the society and the traditional healthcare systems. The research implications highlight the need for further investigation into multimodal discourse, including various types of blogs and social media platforms, through the analytical frameworks of ESP and RGS.