Voices for Voices®

Unmasking the Myths Around Medication and Healing | Episode 194

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 194

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Stigmas, Medications, and the Right to Choose: A Light-Hearted Look | Episode 194

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Dive into a heartfelt exploration of mental health stigma and the effects it has on individuals seeking support in our latest episode. We share personal stories that illuminate the challenges faced when navigating mental health medications while confronting societal expectations. With a focus on the importance of choice, we encourage listeners to consider the implications of stigma and its influence on mental health, and to advocate for a better understanding of this complex subject.

This discussion doesn't end with understanding. We challenge listeners to engage with the conversation, to share their experiences, and to reflect on their beliefs surrounding mental health medications. By creating space for these topics, we can begin to foster a community where individuals feel supported and valued, regardless of their mental health journey.

Join us in this vital conversation, and together we can strive towards reducing stigma, empowering those who need it most. Tune in and connect with us—let’s make a difference together.

Conversations on stigma can be uncomfortable, yet they serve as a necessary discussion on mental health and the medications that aid individuals daily. This episode dives deep into overcoming stigma, highlighting personal narratives and systemic issues that influence our understanding of mental health.

• Breaking down stigma surrounding mental health
• Personal stories and experiences of medication use
• The importance of support from community and donations
• Discussing the right to choose regarding mental health medications
• Exploring how societal perceptions affect individual choices
• Future conversations on mental health and stigma

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Justin Alan Hayes:

Welcome to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Thank you for joining this episode. Thank you for your support and the love that you've given us at the outset of starting this organization to well over 190 episodes today, and we will be hitting a total of at least 300 episodes by the end of 2025. So thank you trusting us with with your time and being able to come to you, whether this is your first episode or whether this is every episode that you've been with us, we can't do it. You, if you could do us a big favor at any point, give us a big thumbs up like share and then, if you're able to, again, we are a 501c3 nonprofit and we accept donations, sponsorship. You can head on over to voicesforvoicesorg and right at the top you'll see a spot where it'll say support our show. And there is costs. There are costs, many costs that go into producing this show and putting it together and getting it to the point where it's able to be presented in a manner that gets it to as many platforms as many people here in North America, northeast Ohio and across the world. We're at 50, 52 countries just on the audio side, 550 plus cities across the world and we couldn't do that without you having that demand for this content, and we bring a variety of content to you and to those who choose to tune in at any given point in time. Big goal of helping three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. We do, from time to time, partner up, support other organizations to span our net, to tap into new audiences, as well as having those organizations tap into our audiences and our supporters and donors. So the topic of the show for this particular episode really comes in the form of well, we'll just call it what it is. It's called a stigma, and a stigma can be around mental health, it can be around anything really, and for one reason or another, it's like a classification, if you want to think of it that way. People may be for it, may be against it, may have a lot of information, may have very little information about a particular topic, but that's the topic that we're talking about. Topic, but that's that's the topic that we're talking about, and you will have seen by now a video that we put out talking about the new administration here in the United States, trump and in his, and we fully support everyone in our administration. We want to see our country not just survive, we want to see it thrive.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Know the health side of things, rfk, jr coming in, as many of the, the new administration, the new cabinet members when they come in they usually want to take a good look at what's. What's been happening. So right, how, how are things going? Yeah, and really we can think of a almost like a SWOT analysis S for strength, w for weakness, o for opportunity and T for threat. So strength and weaknesses are things internally. So internally, what can, what are we doing well and where are there opportunities where we can grow that we know of? Internally, opportunities, how can we get better? Threats, competitors, and we think about country, other countries, other governments, other militaries can be thought of in that respect from a competitor side of thing or a threat. And so when we look at, you know, rfk and the health side of things, we agree as an organization again, we want to be as healthy as possible. We want everybody to have the same opportunity, to have that longevity in life, to live as long as humanly possible and have the years lived be years that aren't like being in a vegetative state where not not able to move around very well, or we're able to be active as a way to think about that. So our okay comes in and he's, you know, looking at a lot of things. You know I have vaccines he's looking at. You know red dye, I think's already been banned, so that should be coming out of foods here in the United States, which I believe that is something that should have happened a while ago, but you know that's water under the bridge at this point.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And then there is the let's say, like the you know, the medication side of things, right, the pharmaceuticals we want to see. Right. We want to see fair pricing for everybody, whether you're a congressman, the president of the United States, or whether you're you and I am me, you and I am me. And if we have medications, we have prescriptions to fill. That pricing is, in an ideal world, it would be the same over the course of the whole country, no matter who you are, where you're living and what your demographic is, how much money you're worth or not worth, and so how that really ties into to stigma is when we look at individuals, right, we have preconceived notions, maybe by the way we were brought up or things that we've learned, and so we feel a certain way for a certain reason or reasons, and that's okay and that's real human nature an individual who is a consumer of mental health, mental illness pharmaceuticals, as somebody who takes them morning, noon, night.

Justin Alan Hayes:

The part where we're looking at is we don't want to be in a position where, if an individual has been diagnosed in a certain way and a prescription has been offered as a way to cope and help the situation, and if that individual wants to go down that road, we believe that they should be able to. And we also believe that if an individual doesn't want to do that, that they should have that right and not to be judged on that, not to be given different pricing or treated differently than somebody that is a consumer of the medication, that is a consumer of the medication. And so I think the the stigma really comes in when we're looking at who's taken mental health medication and who's not. And the easy thing to do is to lump everybody together as a human being, and there are lots of things that make us very, very similar and there are things that may make us a little bit different, and so the chemistry of our brain, the makeup and dopamine and all these different chemicals that are running through our body, and so do we believe that everybody who is diagnosed with a certain mental illness again that they have to take the medication no, they want to. That will be offered, the prescription will be written, and if they don't want to do that, then that that's okay.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Where I am, personally, I am, since 2017 to November, again been on medications mental mental health, mental illness medications day in and day out from november 2017, and so some of you may be wondering, oh well, you didn't have to take that medication or you should have been able to stop at a certain point. And again, I we appreciate, we appreciate feedback, but we also believe that individuals to me, mental health wise that that choice of do we want to go ahead with the medication and don't we? And at my lowest in 2017, in November 2017, I don't know how close I was to death and I don't say that lightly as in oh wow, yeah, look at me, I'm just putting that aside I would not be as passionate about what, the what's, what, the organization and and trying to help as many people as we can and to just be literally transparent with my life and then, as an organization, how all this kind of comes together, and so I really, you know, at the outset, in November 2017, maybe I wasn't in the position to make an informed, as informed decision about medication that I am now going on seven years later Well, actually going on eight. Actually, time's really, really flying. But as I sit here today, as I've sat here time and time and time again, stood and sat in a studio, mission trips, reentry everywhere I am in a better position to make a call about the medication.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And again, for me, I'm only going to speak about myself. Would I still be alive now if I didn't voluntarily admit myself into the psych ward in Akron General Hospital? Maybe, maybe not, I don't know. I've hashed that out in the past and I'll continue to bring that in as content warrants. But really, to just get to the heart of the matter, I believe that, first off, you have to have a spiritual side. So I have that relationship with Jesus. That's me. So I have that relationship with Jesus. That's me. You may or may not have a religious tie, and that's okay. Again, I'm talking about me.

Justin Alan Hayes:

I'm filming the show on behalf of the organization Voices for Voices, so that's how I share. I share in first person when I'm talking about these types of topics, I'm in a much better position to make a decision, and the decision I made is I want to continue taking the medications that I've been taking. So what does that mean? And how does that tie into RFK and the new administration or any government administration? Well, it ties in, because I don't want to be at a point where do I agree about this topic and that topic.

Justin Alan Hayes:

We can all agree to disagree about certain topics, but with the medications I'm taking, with the guidance I've been given, with results, the fact that, again, organization-wise, the things that we have done up until this point and that we're going to continue to do here in 2025 and beyond, I would be having panic attack after panic attack after panic attack, like, oh man, can't do this, no, how am I going to do that? They're like oh man, can't do this, no, how am I going to do that? As I come to you on this episode, I come as in peace as one can be. Yeah right, nobody is perfect. If you think you're perfect, you're not. There was a lot of time where I thought I was perfect. I thought that I could solve all my problems and I couldn't. So that's, that's that.

Justin Alan Hayes:

So the I want to be able to make that call, if I want to continue or if I want to stop, and so to have, you know, rfk or anybody from his staff or the administration, have some sort of mandate where these medications the ones specific to me and maybe specific to you or somebody that you know, or maybe you're studying in the field and you're hearing names of medications, you know generics and name brands, et cetera Because I don't want to be in a position where the medications aren't available, and that's the true heart of the discussion I want to talk about here in this episode. Nobody wants to be in a position where they're they have two choices, one's bad and the other one's worse. You want to, as much as possible, as healthy as possible, as ethically, as legal as possible. We want to be able to go through and make those decisions, and so we really want to be able to continue that under this administration. And again, I've uh with with the, the, the video, uh put out a little bit on this matter.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Uh, prior to this episode coming, coming out, uh have uh made the invitation that I'd be more, more than willing, made the invitation that I'd be more than willing to come speak with Congress, come speak with President Trump, rk Jr, have congressional testimony and talk about my experiences and again, not just as somebody who's the head of an organization, somebody who is living day to day with these conditions, and we want to be able to have that, that to continue, not continue. When it comes to that In my life. I say I'm at peace after the nerves of getting ready to film, as I'm now in the filming inside the episode. I'm at peace with what I'm talking about, because what I'm talking about is my real life, and when you're talking about your real life, that should put you a little bit at peace, because you're the expert on you, I'm the expert on me, because you're the expert on you, I'm the expert on me, and that's the way things go.

Justin Alan Hayes:

So we don't want a stigma to be extended which would mean that mental health meds would not be made available, or only certain ones, based off of what a government would say, and so that would continue. That stigma of well, my feeling would be is like oh well, here's just another hoop, I got to jump through another hurdle, I have to pass over, and I do that every day, and you may do it every day, and that's where the stigma comes in, where we are as raw as raw can be for content. You can find a whole lot about my life Again, some good, some bad On our shows throughout the years, media appearances, articles and the like. And I do realize I say words over and over again. I say like, sometimes I roll my eyes in a certain way, but that's just me, I can't help it, that's just how I speak. And again, everybody can have their opinion, but I'm not going to judge you on anything because I'm in no position to speak. I don't have particular magic powers or superpowers, supreme empowers, uh, to to do that, uh, you know, only god can do that, uh. And so I do realize that, with as many episodes and as much public speaking and many times of episodes, it's just how it is. And so that's another part of what brings us to you in a raw form and we're not sugarcoating anything.

Justin Alan Hayes:

We're talking about topics as they are at the time of filming and the stigma is out there. It's still out there. And around mental health and if we talk about these prescriptions and are we saying that all pharmaceutical companies are ethical? Absolutely not. Whenever there's a person running something, there are going to be mistakes to be made, and so, no, we're not lobbying, we're not being paid by a pharmaceutical company to say these things. I'm talking purely on my experience with myself and where I'm at and and that's where that stands. And so, yeah, the the stigma is still out there, mental health-wise, and I really hope that RFK and the powers that be in this instance because it impacts me and probably impacts you or somebody you know and some people we don't know about because it impacts me and probably impacts you or somebody you know and some people we don't know about so we're not alone. There's other people at the same table as us, whether it's similar, a little bit different, and I learned that in 2017, but I'm I'm not alone. You're not alone. So do what you need to do to continue on, and that's what I'm gonna continue on and our organization is gonna continue on.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And then, lastly, how that stigma really comes into play. We actually actually, we're going to come back with a uh, kind of a second half, second part of this, uh, this stigma conversation, because I don't want to rush going through uh, the the next aspect I want to cover because's a couple tiers and levels to it that I'm going to give justice to those I don't want to just gloss over. I think it's time to continue that stigma conversation Again. We make ourselves available, you know, to DC, wherever we need to be. We do it remotely to share our experience. And's what we want to do.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And that's really where all this stems from, where it stems from my heart and mind and my thought is that's probably why you have stuck with us as long as you have, and that we're continuing to see explosive growth across the nation, across the world, audio video TV. We're just grateful to be in this position to come to you. So I'm looking at a camera and it's just in a little bit of a way, crazy that the camera I'm looking into is really going to branch out to households, apartments, condos, governments, militaries, all across the world. It's it's this kind of blows my mind to have that opportunity and it really shows, I guess, the gravity of the content that we're talking about, that it's that important that we want to share, share with you. So we have a catalog of episodes. If you're tuning in for the first time, welcome voicesforvoicesorg. If you're able to make a monetary donation, support the show comes up right there after you go to voicesforvoicesorg or, if you're on venmo, voices for you, can make a fully tax-free donation as we are a 501c3. Voices for Voices. So thank you for hanging with us this episode. We'll be coming back to continue this conversation.

Justin Alan Hayes:

The episode might not be numbered right after this episode. So if this is episode 195, the stigma kind of the second part, second half, might not be the very next number, because we're coming with a lot of content. We're coming with a lot of content, a lot of good stuff. So just make sure that you're taking a look at those descriptions and those titles. If you're going through, Best thing you can do is just download them all. That way you're able to just scroll through the episodes. That's what I do with my favorite podcast TV shows. So until next time, please be a voice for you or somebody in need.

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