(upbeat music) - Welcome to "Forum 360."

I'm Mark Welfley, your host today.

Thank you for joining us for our global outlook with a local view.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members."

As a society, how are we measuring up to Mahatma Gandhi's words?

Today, we'll take an in-depth look at one organization that is working with our most vulnerable population.

The organization Voices for Voices assists those with mental health concerns, physical disabilities, and accessibility and inclusion challenges, guiding them through with encouragement, tools, counseling, and more to help them become more productive members of society, with a special focus on career advancement.

How are they doing it?

Well, let me introduce Justin Alan Hayes, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices.

Welcome, Justin.

- Thanks for having me, Mark.

- You're welcome.

I'd like you to start, if you would, by giving me your definition of mental health.

- Mental health to me, so not a Wikipedia, not a Webster's Dictionary, is everything that's inside of us.

So our thoughts, our feelings about what's happening currently, what we think may happen in the future, and things in the past that have happened.

Relationships, ball teams, others that may have passed on from our time on Earth that we hold inside.

So we can't see it.

We can only just understand that we all have it, that mental health is like physical health.

We all have it.

- Is it how we process those many experiences in our minds that makes mental health kind of what it is?

- It does.

You're processing what's happening.

The weather's gonna be cold today, so what should I wear?

Where are my clothes at?

Do I need to wear a jacket?

Do I need to wear a pair of winter boots?

Do I need to shovel snow?

Those things are happening inside of us, so it is a processing of information.

- Okay.

So Voices for Voices, your non-profit organization, can you tell me how it was founded and its mission?

- Yeah, Voices for Voices organization started as an event.

I wanted to have an event like Citizens Aid or Live Aid where you can bring together people from all walks of life.

They don't have to be celebrities.

And they're able to share their voice.

Now, whether that is their spoken word, whether that is art that they compile, whether that is sign language interpretation, music, gymnastics, body interpretation and movement, bringing together individuals from all walks of life that can share their voice with others.

And give them an opportunity to be on a stage in front of others, not only in person, but livestream it as well.

- Can you give me an example of a few individuals who participated at your live event?

- Yeah.

Our most recent live event was our second annual live event, the A Brand New Day Live Charity Event, which we had a great sponsor in Redwood Living.

And a few of the things and people that we had was we had a special needs band that came in and played.

So they have various challenges that they're working through that some of us, we're not dealing with and working through.

So there's maybe a little bit of developmental disability and delay that's happening.

But these individuals, there was a total of 14 band members that played, and it was awesome.

They played music anywhere from the Barenaked Ladies to Neil Diamond, and it was fantastic.

And then we also had speakers.

We had a speaker where she spoke about her son and his unfortunate of taking his own life.

And so she wanted to share her son's story, his voice.

So whether the person is alive or not, she was still able to, with the Voices for Voices platform, share her voice of her son's with others to let them know what a great human being he was.

And she was able to bring some of his fantastic art that he had, as well as a book that she wrote to try to just share with others some of the warning signs to look out for if an individual has to go to an impatient stay, that, looking back, she thought was key to maybe some of the unwinding of the unfortunate event that took place.

- So the Brand New Day Event, I think your third one was next year.

- Our second one here in 2022, and then, yeah, and our third one.

- In October, right?

- Yeah.

- The event was essentially the genesis of Voices for Voices, where the event then spawned your thinking into the creation of a non-profit organization called Voices for Voices, right?

- Absolutely.

So yeah, how that evolution took place in my mind, which tends to run at 1,000 miles an hour, the event happened, the first annual event happened, and after the completion, I just felt a need and a strong passion to do something more throughout the year, not just a one-time thing, a one-time event.

While the event was a great success and has only grown in the two years that we've had it so far, I wanted to do more.

And so what I decided to do was to create a nonprofit using the Voices for Voices name, if that was available, which it was, again, to bring a voice to everybody no matter what their situation, no matter if a caregiver has to share their voice, whether if it's a sign language interpretation, whether it's a poem, whether it is art, whether it's playing an instrument.

And went through the paperwork, created the organization.

And now, with the full-blown organization as we sit today, we also have the A Brand New Day Event.

We have a podcast.

Today, we have 21 episodes, which we're continuing to record for the 2022-2023 year.

And then our organization, I wanted to also have an action organization, not just an organization that shares information, which is fantastic, and many organizations do a great job.

That is an element of Voices for Voices, but what I want is an organization that is able to help others.

And we'll talk a little bit later about my mental health journey and kind of what led to really the forming of Voices for Voices.

But it was really that story of taking a long time to be seen by the right professional, to accept it for myself as a human being, and put that all together and want to be a better person, want to be alive.

Not wanting to be burnt out all the time, not wanting to not have energy to do fun things like going to concerts and spending time with families.

And that genesis is really what catapulted Voices for Voices in my mind and really as we sit here today.

- So your outreach includes those with mental health concerns, physical disabilities.

- Yes.

- And then on your mission statement and on your website, you mention accessibility and inclusion.

Like, who are these people?

And maybe you could tell me what what that means.

- Absolutely.

Accessibility, so I learned from one of my board members, James Warnken, who has a visual impairment.

And what he had brought to my attention was, through his experience, for instance, websites, webpages, there's certain fonts, certain size graphics, certain ways of explaining a particular picture.

So the picture could be of a heart, but there is an option to put what they call alt text.

So somebody who might not be able to see what that picture is, they're able to say, "Oh, this is a picture of a heart."

And the accessibility expands from anything digitally from a website to our phones to printed materials that are able to be seen, braille.

Any way that an individual can potentially be in a situation where life is tougher for them instead of elsewhere.

Where they have to do an additional thing of expand the size of the screen, make the picture big, or change the size of the font.

And that's where the accessibility comes into play, as well as the inclusion, where bringing individuals that may have been born with only maybe a couple of fingers.

And so the way that they're brought into the world, they have to take extra time and extra energy to go through life.

And so to make things easier for them, whether it is on a phone or a website, but then also have the ability to join organizations and/or a band that they're able to express themselves.

That if you wanna play the bells, it doesn't matter how many fingers you have.

If you don't have any fingers, you can hold it, hold the bell close to you, and play.

And so that's where, initially and currently, our accessibility and inclusion stands.

But as we're evolving as an organization and where the services are happening to individuals, we also want to bring individuals from all walks of life no matter what their thoughts, what their beliefs are.

And so that's an area our organization is planning to continue to grow, not only with our board and volunteers, but getting the community at large involved.

- So if an individual who has a need for accessibility or inclusion calls you, there is an intake or perhaps an interview process, and then you make recommendations and direct them to websites and things to give them the tools they need to be included and to have the accessibility, correct?

- Absolutely, that's correct.

- Okay, great.

So is there also an educational outreach to web designers and to TV producers to educate them on how they can best design sites and put programming together that can help those in need of accessibility and inclusion?

- Yeah, especially with this program here, you know, captioning what we're saying, the words that we have.

That's really what our board member, James Warnken, what he does, kind of his full-time job, is reaching out to organizations and all industries.

And it's a hard job because there's so many people, so many organizations, talk to the right people.

- [Mark] Yeah, where do you start?

Sure.

- And so that's one of the areas that I'm just so thankful to have him on the board to bring that because I wouldn't have known by myself of how important putting captions in a TV interview or a show or the podcast that we have.

When we livestream, that if somebody watches the hour-long or 30-minute-long interview, that they might not be able to listen or really see, but they're able to, you know, have somebody share those words to them if they're not able to visually see themselves.

- Awesome.

If you've just joined us, thank you for joining us.

My guest today is Justin Alan Hayes.

He is the founder and executive director of an organization called Voices for Voices.

It's a non-profit organization that works with our vulnerable population in Northeast Ohio.

And I would like you, if you would, to tell me, share with me a success story from Voices for Voices.

- Yeah, I'll share it with one of my board members, James, 'cause it's the most vivid in my mind and from my professional life of teaching, as well as nonprofit.

So I had James at Walsh University as a student.

And first day in class, he came up to me and was sharing his accessibility challenges to make sure that the class was gonna offer what he needed to be successful.

Initially, just as an individual, his resume was better than many, many students and many recent grads.

And I said to kind of myself, I was like, "This is a real go-getter, somebody who just wants to advance, whatever that looks like to them.

They're ready to go."

And throughout the course, did very well.

After the course, I needed a website built for one of my other organizations, and he came forward and said, "Hey, I'll help you."

And that was when he started to incorporate some of the accessibility traits to the website, not knowing on my end that James had also gone through a tough life and tough upbringing that had lots of trauma, which many of us do in just different forms.

And I didn't realize that he had those traumas.

And he didn't really share with them to me until probably a couple years later, which as we sit in the year 2022, as we're taping this, it was probably 2021 when he started to share, and I started to see some posts from him really stepping outside and taking leadership roles about where he's come from and things he's overcome in like Voices for Voices, in our event, the A Brand New Day, where he's overcoming things and wanting to just help in ways to help other people see a website, see things differently.

And so he was our 2022 Voices for Voices Ambassador of the Year because of what he had done in the classroom, out of the classroom.

But then at our event in October 2022, he shared his life story of the battles that he went through as just an individual, and how growing up in certain instances and experiences that him growing up had went through.

And that was huge for me to give somebody else the platform.

A lot of my followers, they say, "You know, there's all these posts about, you know, what Justin's doing, what the founder is doing, what Voices for Voices is doing.

What about the other people?

How are they helping others?"

And that was just so big to have him be able to get on a stage in front of a live audience, as well as livestream.

We've had just over 200 people view the livestream, which is at a run rate much faster than where we were last year.

As well as give him an award and say, "Hey, you're doing awesome.

Keep doing what you're doing."

And the goal is, looking into a camera, that he was able to share with somebody sitting at home on their couch or at a watch party, hey, you know, I'm going through this, or I know somebody that's gone through this.

And look at this person.

He got up there, and he's sharing that.

And that's where the inspiration really is in my heart and the passion for Voices for Voices, in wanting the organization to be bigger than me, to be a 100-year organization instead of 100 day.

And by impacting positively the lives of others, whether they're on my board or whether they're in the community, is the biggest goal we have.

- Yeah.

Can you take a minute, if you would, and share your own personal mental health journey?

Maybe tell us how it has informed your creation and your operation and direction for Voices For Voices.

- Sure.

30, 35 years of my life, substance abuse, alcohol abuse, not valuing family and relationships, being the narcissistic person.

Everything's for myself.

I don't care how other things and outside people, how they're being impacted by events that I'm doing.

And what I wasn't realizing in all these situations, all these experiences, while I was getting past them in the physical sense, because I was moving on day to day to day, I was keeping those all balled inside.

And I came to wrote the culmination, which I ended up writing down.

I think it was 138 different things that I felt guilty about in my life up until that point, when I was starting to find that maybe I need to be seen by a professional.

Maybe Google, maybe a vitamin is not gonna help me.

That I might need help.

And I don't need to worry about the stigma, I don't need to worry about anything else.

That I might not be here if I don't seek help.

So at least, and this is what I can kind of count on today, is at least 15 different family doctor visits, as well as ER visits where I was having elevated heart rate, and then it would settle.

Holter monitor for my heart.

All kinds of blood tests.

On and off, different antidepressants.

That the family doctor has experience, but they don't have that specialized experience.

And so I had known up until that point that the family doctor I go to get my yearly physical.

And so that's who I go to be seen by.

So all these things, from the substance abuse to taking relationships for granted and these 138 things, culminated to, in November of 2017, I ended up in the Akron General emergency room.

I was given a clean bill of health, but then I was also, which was different from the other visits, the psych staff came in and said, "We can let you go.

You're not dying right now.

You might feel like you are with your panic attacks.

And you're not eating, so that might be part of it, that your body isn't able to metabolize these situations."

And so I was given those two options of I could either leave and be okay to the staff, not knowing how I would make it, or I could voluntarily admit myself into one of the psych orgs.

And so I was very scared.

I didn't want to be one of those people.

And that was in my mind.

And I think that's part of what society is trying to get over.

But as I sit here today in any type of public or private conversation, being admitted was probably one of the best things that happened in my life.

Because instead of me taking a situation in my life into my hands, I was giving that to a team of people.

So my life went from I to we, to my psychologists, my psychiatrist, my therapist, joining a men's group at church.

And so those were areas.

And medication as well.

I didn't want to be a person that had to take medication, but I accepted it at that point 'cause life just wasn't going in a positive way.

So fast-forward to today and how those situations and that situation has really built and laid the foundation for Voices for Voices, really, it took, and has taken, the energy that I had, that I was taking advantage of relationships, that I was abusing substances, partying till 3:00 in the morning, not worrying about what's gonna happen tomorrow, if I was gonna be alive in the morning, and I'm using that energy, and I'm doing what I feel are positive things and helping others.

Where as opposed to a Friday night where I would be pre-gaming and getting ready to go out to a bar and those things, now I'm happily married.

I have a 3.5-year-old daughter.

And Voices for Voices has really given me a platform to help others in those situations.

And so maybe I'm that person of, hey, like, he went through some crappy things.

You know, I'm going through some crappy things.

Or, maybe I know somebody that's going through some things.

And that's what I want to be.

That if I can help one person overcome a situation, that's the key.

And then celebrate the individuals that are doing that with the RockAbility special needs band, with my board member, James Warnken, by telling others that there is a brand-new day at that point in the tunnel.

That let's take where we're at today, and let's try to build on that.

- Yeah, inspirational.

Thank you, thank you.

- Thank you.

- Great motivational words for us.

Can you share with our viewers and listeners like, how they can get ahold of you, whether they want to be part of the organization, or they know someone who might be able to use your services?

Just like some numbers and websites or Facebooks, or just share how people can communicate with you, please.

- Absolutely.

voicesforvoices.org is our foundation.

So you'll find everything from events, past events, upcoming events.

As we are a 501c nonprofit, we rely and survive on donations and sponsorships.

So the option is the podcasts.

You're able to see those and view those and listen to those.

There's a link on our website for the Voices for Voices podcast.

It's not only on our website, but whether you have Apple or Google products, Spotify, iHeartRadio.

Phone number.

I give my personal cell phone because that's how it is.

That I want to give an individual the same care that I would hopefully be given if I was dialing an organization.

And so that is 330-417-1902, or, and in conjunction, depending on how somebody wants to contact, you're able to reach out to me at Justin, J-U-S-T-I-N, my middle name, Alan, A-L-A-N, and my last name, Hayes, H-A-Y-E-S, all together, no spaces or dots, @gmail.com.

As well as we are very busy on social media, whether that's Instagram, Facebook.

We're at Voices for Voices.

Spell the word F-O-R. And you'll be able to find everything that you need.

And please share with those that may just wanna see an uplifting story.

- Thanks.

When we aspire to be our best selves, we make our world a better place.

When we aspire to help someone else become their best, we can change their world.

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "See the good in people, and help them."

I want to thank Justin Alan Hayes and Voices for Voices for being here today.

Good luck.

And thanks to all of you for watching and listening.

Let's keep our minds open and our ears open until next time on "Forum 360."

- [Narrator] "Forum 360" is brought to you by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Akron Community Foundation, Hudson Community Television, The Rubber City Radio Group, Shaw Jewish Community Center of Akron, Blue Green, Electric Impulse Communications, and "Forum 360" supporters.