We Share How Merch And Publishing Fuel Mental Health Support For Millions | Episode 382

We Share How Merch And Publishing Fuel Mental Health Support For Millions | Episode 382

Big goals don’t start big—they start consistent. We’ve crossed hundreds of episodes and expanded to daily live streams because one simple truth keeps proving itself: when people feel seen, they keep going. Today we open the hood on how our community powers mental health support across platforms, how our publishing arm is growing, and why even a single beanie can carry a message of warmth and belonging.

We talk through four featured titles that meet listeners in different moments of life. The House of You: Workforce Preparation Tips for a Successful Career gives practical guidance for resumes, interviews, and career transitions, while The House of You: Prescription for Living traces Justin’s mental health journey with tools for coping, therapy, and resilience. We also introduce two stories from David Solomon: The Atalan comic book, a first for him with art by Cooper Saunders, and The Young Siren Born, a chapter book for readers eight and up that blends adventure and empathy. When purchased through our nonprofit channels, The House of You books ship signed and personalized, turning a helpful resource into a keepsake.

Transparency is central to how we work. Purchases through https://www.voicesforvoices.org/shop or our TikTok shop flow through our 501(c)(3), directly fueling programming, outreach, and support. Retail orders through Amazon.com, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, or IngramSpark run via The House of You, our for‑profit partner; same great content, different processing, clearly explained. And yes, the merch has a mission: our embroidered beanies come in multiple colors, built to last, and every order helps fund mental health initiatives. We’re adding a purple option soon to match our brand palette.

Community keeps the engine running. Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, X, Threads, Facebook, YouTube, and Rumble, and join the Mythical Creatures Around the World group on Facebook—led by David Solomon—for a creative space that inspires new stories and projects. Beyond the updates and links is a simple promise: therapy is strength, life is worth living, and you are not alone. If you’re ready to help us reach at least three billion people over time, here are easy first steps: subscribe, share with a friend, pick up a book, or grab a beanie.

If this resonates, hit subscribe, leave a review, and share the episode with someone who needs hope today. Your action could be the nudge that changes a life.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome And Global Mission

1:12 Live Streams And Audience Growth

3:09 Four Books In The Voices for Voices TikTok Shop

9:25 Nonprofit Vs For‑Profit Transparency

11:26 Social Platforms And Subscribes

14:39 The Beanie Story Begins

18:20 How To Buy The Embroidered Beanie

21:15 Colors, Pricing, And Details

26:45 Donations And Tax Deductibility

28:45 Expanding Publishing And Creative Partners

33:00 Share, Subscribe, And Holiday Gifting

36:40 Mythical Creatures Community

40:00 Big Goals, Unity, And Hope

#MentalHealthSupport #MerchForACause #PublishingImpact #SupportThroughArt #MentalWellnessMatters #CreativeExpressionHealing #MindfulMerchandise #ArtAndMentalHealth #CommunityCareInitiatives #EmpowerThroughCreativity #WellnessThroughWords #PositiveVibesOnly #SocialImpactMerchandising #InspiringChangeThroughArt #FundraisingForMentalHealth #justiceforsurvivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #Jesusaire #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices382

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Global Mission
• 1:12 Live Streams And Audience Growth
• 3:09 Four Books In The TikTok Shop
• 9:25 Nonprofit Vs For‑Profit Transparency
• 11:26 Social Platforms And Subscribes
• 14:39 The Beanie Story Begins
• 18:20 How To Buy The Embroidered Beanie
• 21:15 Colors, Pricing, And Details
• 26:45 Donations And Tax Deductibility
• 28:45 Expanding Publishing And Creative Partners
• 33:00 Share, Subscribe, And Holiday Gifting
• 36:40 Mythical Creatures Community
• 40:00 Big Goals, Unity, And Hope

Transcript

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: 0:02

Hey everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining with us on this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. We are over 380 episodes. This is, I believe, episode number 382. It's just incredible. Thank you for all the love, all the support you've given us from the very beginning to uh where we're at today. We absolutely couldn't do it without you. There wasn't an audience, viewers, listeners, followers, subscribers, giving us the big thumbs up. We would not have a show. So thank you very much for joining us. A lot has happened. And so you may or may not have seen uh an uptick in Voices for Voices, TikTok lives, uh, Facebook lives, and uh Instagram lives. Mostly the TikTok lives are where we've really just turned up, you know, two, three notches where we uh we're trying to uh just get out to the masses about voices for voices, about our voices for voices TV show and podcast, which you're watching and listening to right at this very time, knowing that reaching 90 countries, a thousand cities, a hundred countries, a thousand cities across the world. And it's just awesome. And we are sharing that and continuing to share that in in different ways in different areas. Uh to uh again, we got this big goal of helping uh at least eight, at least eight, at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. And uh because of your help, your generosity, support, your love, your prayers, uh, we're well on that way to to doing that. So thank you so much. I I I'd like to share that at the at the beginning and the end, because it truly is the reason we have a show, the reason why we're able to come to you on a consistent basis with content uh with our TikTok lives. If you've checked those out in the recent, let's say the recent the last week or so, uh, you will have seen uh we are uh heavy on the promoting and marketing of our books under the Voices for Voices Publishing, uh, which is uh the ones that we we have for sure that we're able to use in our TikTok shop, meaning we we're able to uh fulfill on our on our own. And and those are so there's four of them, if you haven't uh checked that out. The first one is the house of you five workforce preparation tips for a successful career. The second one is the house of you prescription for living, the first the house of you with the workforce prep. So those are that's about workforce preparation, transitioning, uh jobs, careers. The second one, prescription for living. That one is my mental health journey. Both of those you purchase off of our uh Voices for Voices TikTok shop. You get autograph, both of them. So either or no matter how many you purchase of each of those, uh, you get those signed by the author in those two books I wrote, Justin Allen Hayes. Uh so I sign it with the big beautiful uh gold Sharpie, and I personalize uh before we send out uh for shipment. So uh we we usually uh get that information from an extra field when you're uh when you're going through the sale process, the purchasing process. And if we don't get any information, we usually use like the first name and last name that are included on the on on the order. Uh because we we want to have and we are having that kind of white glove approach of wanting to do something over and above uh what what we're required to do. Um so not only are you getting two great books there, but again, you're getting both of them signed and both of them personalized. The other two books that we have today, tonight, tomorrow, on our TikTok shop, our voices for voices TikTok shop, is The Atalan, the comic book, which the artwork is done by Cooper Saunders. The story is uh written by the hottest author of this time, and that is David Solomon, and those are brought to you. Uh, that particular book uh is brought to you by Voices for Voices Publishing, so we have branched out, and then uh so that particular book that is not only uh the first crossover uh that David Solomon has done, he has never written comic books before, so that's his first one, and so we're recommending that you purchase a couple copies because they're gonna be worth something uh in a in a in a very short period of time. Unfortunately, we don't have any signed copies of The Atalan or The Young Siren Born, which is that second book that makes that total four. So we have the two, The House of You, then we have The Atalan comic book, and then we have The Young Siren Born. So that's a uh a children's book, but it's not a picture book, it's a chapter book. It's best for ages eight and above. And David Solomon not only did uh write the the novel, the the story itself, but also did the uh front cover and back cover of that that story as well. So all four of those are uh we don't have signed copies at this time of the young siren born. Uh but we're we're we're we're trying to do that. We're trying to get get some signed copies so that as you order, then signed copies come out your way. Uh we're gonna have them. It it's just a matter of matter of time. So those are the four books that we have now under the uh the main voices for voices uh organization. The house of you, the term you heard me use for the first two books. Uh, those uh are a those come from a brand called the House of You that we have the uh registration, so the R with a circle around it, and so we're federally protected uh from people copying uh our content. Uh so the House of You came earlier, a couple years earlier, than Voices for Voices. So the way we do things, just to kind of be totally transparent, is when books are purchased through Voices for Voices, so from our TikTok shop, from our voices for voices.org uh shop, uh we run those through the nonprofit for you know the uh the financials. If those books are purchased on another platform, like Amazon, number one, you're not those cop we don't sign those copies. We don't have really an easy way, uh easy ability to do that right now, so you don't get it signed copies, uh, and then those go through the House of You organization, which is a for-profit, a regular company, is uh what you would be familiar with. So we we go about the tax situation very clear, very transparent. If books are purchased through Voices for Voices means, then they go through the nonprofit 501c3 uh process. If they are purchased on you know through Ingram, Spark, uh, Walmart, Barnes Noble, uh Amazon, then uh those run through the sales and the costs and all that run through the house of you, which is a separate entity, but we're offering them on both uh kind of both platforms. So the House of View platform and platforms, as well as the Voices for Voices platforms. So I wanted to share that. That's one of the big areas we've been sharing on our TikToks, TikTok Lives, our uh Facebook Lives, our uh Instagram lives, and uh we uh we invite you to you know tune in, follow uh all of our social media platforms. We're on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Threads, and then of course all the streaming audio platforms and streaming apps like Spotify and iHeart, to name a few, you can watch on our Voices for Voices YouTube channel and or our Voices for Voices Rumble channel. So there's quite a variety, as you may already know, but if this is the first episode you're tuning into, uh thank you so much for joining us. Uh, we're glad to have you, and so we just want to share that information and we ask if you're able to do us a favor, no matter what platform, if you can subscribe, hit that subscribe button, you can give us thumbs up, follow, share, uh like, uh comment, you know, keep the comments clean. Uh we we do from unfortunately on our TikTok lives, uh somehow we we we attract some some pretty not not kind comments. So uh just want to let you know that that we report those to TikTok. We try to get those taken down, um taken, you know, blocking indiv individuals and the screen names. But we can only do what we can. We can only ask for that. Uh we don't own TikTok, we don't own any platforms, so uh just wanted to share that in case you hop in and you're like, whoa, this is this is a bit bit much. Because it is, it is a bit much. So very happy to be with you. What I want to share also, so not only do we have you know the TikTok shop as something that is fairly new, and we're still learning our ways of how to work through that uh as far as you know how we pin you know one book or two books and and try to get all that sorted out. But we have, and I don't have it on right now, so you probably have seen me at some point in time, if you have if you're able the ability to to see uh or somebody share uh share with you. I sometimes, especially now here in when when the weather gets a little cooler, uh I I tend to wear a uh a black with white voices for voices, stitching beanie, so a beanie that is the color black, and then on the front it says voices for voices, and it has the has the hands, just like just like this uh ESTD uh uh established in 2020. Uh and we were on a TikTok live earlier this week and I had a good question. Uh one one of our uh one one of the individuals that came to our our show said, Hey, where can I get that beanie at? Where can I, you know, where can I purchase that at? And I didn't have a good answer because uh I just didn't. And and so when I bought it, when I bought the one I have, uh which I don't have on, not wearing at this moment, uh actually when I f bought the first one, it was a couple years ago, and I was at a family member's house, and they had a uh uh they had somebody to is from the trades that they they had look at their I think it was their air conditioner or their heat heater, their furnace, and that individual, I had the beanie on, and he said, Where can I get that? And so you'd have thought that like between that time and and and you know just recently, I would have or we would have been able to find find a way to make those available in a seamless way to our followers, our fans, uh whether it's uh you know somebody wants to wear their unisex, so you know guys, girls, males, females, transitioning, whatever anybody can wear them. Uh and if that's that's something. And we also, it's not just black with the white. We are now offer uh like it's royal, there's a royal blue, so a darker blue with the white lettering, there's a gray with the white lettering, a red with the the the white lettering stitched in. Uh so you know, uh flipped the page back, and so I just gave the hat off my head to the gentleman that was what working uh at at a family member's house. Because I I didn't have another way, and uh so that's what I did. I just literally said, All right, well, yeah, uh I don't have we don't have a way. We were weren't thinking about a merch shop or making merchandise available. We're a very small organization. So that happened. So then I bought a new one, which is the one I've been wearing, and then the question came in earlier this week, and so I I I did a lot of research and uh to to make things as seamless as possible. And so what I am gonna do is I'm gonna do a screen share. Uh, so for those watching, you're gonna be able to be able to actually see it, but I'm gonna read out what the URL is that you can uh head over to where you can buy and purchase your very own voices for voices Beanie, and we'll go through the different color options that are available. So I'm gonna start a screen share. Uh okay, so screen share and then we're going to Okay, I think I gotta Okay, here we go. So let's do this first. Let me make sure I have that pulled. There we go. Okay. There's that. I just had to make a couple adjustments here because I had a couple or have a couple different windows open, so I want to make sure that as I flip over that it is a smooth transition. Okay, so here we go. Share. So anybody who's interested interested in a Voices for Voices embroidered beanie. Uh so these aren't you know what you would think about as you know the logo, you know, being ironed on these are stitched, and and so we we uh we have a big belief that we want high high quality items uh if we are gonna provide merchandise to our followers, our fans, uh somebody wants to stay warm, somebody wants to uh wear uh as an accessory, and so If you're watching on uh YouTube, Rumble, or another video platform, you will be able to see this URL here that I have highlighted. And so, yeah, you kind of have the https://www.voices for voices.org/ shop/p/ embroidered-beanie. So if you are watching, uh this is the URL that takes you to the site. So if you're not watching, if you're just listening and you are interested, I'm just gonna read from beginning to end, just starting with the WW all the way to the end. So you you can uh you you can do uh you know pull that pull that up and uh and that is so if you are looking for an embroidered Voices for Voices beanie the price is twenty-four ninety nine and you can find it at https://www.voicesforvoices.org/shop/p/embroidered-beanie. So that https://www.voicesforvoices.org/shop/p/embroidered-beanie. So for those that are watching uh and as as those of you who are listening uh come to this landing page, you will see a human that is wearing the black beanie like I have, uh not wearing at this very moment, uh, but the one that I have is is black and then it has the white embroidery stitching. And so the colors are so there's the black with the white embroidering, there is the red with the white embroidering of the voices for voices logo. There is a I guess it's like a hunter green, so like a darker green with the white embroidery of the voices for voices logo. There is gray with the white embroidery, and so those are the five options. There's the black and white, so the black beanie, white embroidery, there's the red with the white embroidery, there is the darker green or hunter green with the white embroidery, there is the gray beanie with the white embroidery of the voices for voices logo, and those are the five choices, and you can get your very own for $24.99, or there are four interest-free payments of six dollars and twenty-five cents with Clarma, that's the uh financing uh partner that we have, and so a little bit about the beanie. The perfect beanie has arrived. This embroidered beauty has a snug fit that ensures you're going to feel cozy and warm whatever you're doing. This is sixty percent cotton, forty percent acrylic. It is a breathable cotton blend, form fitting shape, and one size fits most. So again, www dot voices for voices dot org forward slash shop, forward slash P, forward slash embroidered dash beanie. So that is a hot item since we have uh started to make that uh make that available just a couple days ago, uh, as soon as soon as I was able to find a solution, uh that was something that we made sure we were to get up on our voicesforvoices.org website. Uh, and it's a seamless process. You do all your uh you know, your selecting of your the color of the beanie uh and you you you do that and you select the quantity, so it's good stocking stuffer, and it helps fund mental health support, which is who we are voices for voices. We're grateful for any and all purchases, any and all donations, all donations are federally tax-free. Uh because we are a 501c3 nonprofit charity organization, and the best way you can make a donation, there's not a donation, monetary donation that is too small or too large, and we thank you in advance. If you would like to make a uh monetary donation here for voices for voices to help fund mental health support, which is what our main pillar of our organization is, you can go to lovevoices.org. So that is if you would like to make a donation, it's federally tax deductible. You can head on over to lovevoices.org. That's lovevoices.org. Thank you in advance, and thank you for all who have and are supporting us currently, have in the past, and will in the future. Thank you so much. We can't thank you enough, and we are just grateful to be able to bring this show to you. Uh, and we're able to you know talk through uh the beanie, the four TikTok shop books that we have available. If you check out Amazon, you're you're you're seeing more and more books that are getting added under the Voices for Voices Publishing House. And the same thing with Ingram Spark. Uh, more and more are gonna be showing up uh as the days go by, like that Keith Urban song, Days Go By. So as the days go by, more and more books that are original, that the House of You books that I wrote, Justin Allen Hayes, the other two books that we have on our TikTok shop, the Young Siren Born and the Atalan comic book, David Solomon, the hottest author of our our day, wrote the stories for both of them. He did the artwork for the front cover and the back cover of the Young Siren Born chapter book, best for ages eight and up. And he did the story for the Atalan comic book, first comic book David's ever written. He's written for TV shows, written for um mega artists, uh like Justin Bieber, One Republic, uh Imagine Dragons, and uh and the list kind of goes on. Uh and and so that the Adelaide Cooper Saunders did the artwork on the outside, uh, so the front cover as well as in inside at the comic. So we're very, very excited to be sharing these with you. So uh please check them out. Please follow our voices for voices social media pages. Please smash that subscribe button for our voices for voices TV show and podcast. Uh, so you don't miss a thing. And share, share, share. Please share, share, share, please share, share, share this voices for voices TV show and podcast, and also grab a few of our books, grab a beanie or two with upcoming holidays, and even if you don't celebrate holidays, that's just okay too. Uh, you may live in a climate where it's a little bit cooler, so the beanie is still a perfect choice. Nothing's perfect, but it's close to perfect, uh, that is gonna be useful, so it's not something that's just gonna lay around. It's gonna be used and can be used with throughout the family. Uh we've even had teams, so coaches and and and teachers, bulk order uh for their their classes and for theirs their their students, their uh their players, their individuals are playing athletics, and you know, pastors have uh it's just incredible. I I didn't realize that there was gonna be quite this many people that were gonna be so interested, uh and and so we're we're happy. Uh we're happy to help others, and that's where the money goes. So that's that's the big thing. Uh we're sort of keeping people warm. Uh can also wear it as an accessory to a night out, to just just chilling with your friends. Uh there's just so many, so many ways, and that's why we offer uh five different colors. So uh if you like the the purchase couple different colors that go with different outfits, you have that option as as well. We will be getting, and I wanted to make sure I add this we will be getting a purple beanie with the white lettering. So as you see behind me uh in our our logo, uh, we we use a lot with uh shades of purple. Uh so we are working tirelessly to get a sixth color of Beanie to be the color purple with the white lettering. So thank you very much. Again, follow us, check us out, start from the beginning. We have 381 plus episodes of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I'm your host, Justin Alan Hayes, founder of Voices for Voices. Uh, again, download all the episodes and listen to them or watch them at your leisure. And we also recommend if you have Facebook to follow Mythical Creatures Around the World. That's mythical creatures around the world. And one more time, mythical creatures around the world. That is uh a group, an organization that we we now have under Voices for Voices, and David Solomon is the leader of that uh that that organization, that Facebook group, where a lot of the uh story, uh the the the the characters uh for the the stories and for production are gonna uh that are they're gonna be coming from. And again, we're if if you're not not never heard of that before, mythical creatures around the world is a Facebook group. It's free to join. Uh, just like it's free to hit that subscribe button for the voices for voices TV show and podcast. Free to give us the thumbs up, like, follow, share, share, share, share, share, share, share, share, share, share. We can't say it enough. And check out uh those voices for voices beanies and those five colors. Grab a few for uh if you're in a cooler climate, or you just want to be styling, or if you want to be golden, that that would uh uh probably uh help as well. So we just may be having a golden version of our voices for voices beanies. So uh a lot of excitement around the organization, a lot of activity. Thank you for everything. Uh and we will see you on another episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Please be a voice for you or somebody in need, and just know that we're praying for everyone across the world, whether they're our enemies, they don't like us, or whether they do. Uh we're all human beings, we're all in this together. Uh, so we're we're praying for uh everybody. We we want everybody to have a prosperous life, whatever that looks like for them, and whatever that uh that that they're looking to have, that you know, living their best life, what whatever that means to them. And so that would make us happy if every single person on earth was able to do that. Um, so we are praying and we pray every night for everybody across the world, and we have a huge goal of wanting to help in one way or another, uh, at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. Huge goal, huge goal, huge feat. Uh, but we're we're gonna do it, though. We have big goals here, uh, but we also we have big dreams, but we also have big desire, a big uh uh trying to think of the right words. Uh we we just have a big appetite to help and to do as much as we can to get enough information out to help somebody step back from that ledge uh to realize life is worth living, that uh uh they're not alone, that don't listen to the the negativity that's out there. Um there's always gonna be negativity. So we just we just focus on doing the best that we can at the pace that we can, and that's all we can do as human beings. Uh the less we judge, the better we feel, and uh hear at Voices for Voices. We are working to bring unity and togetherness. That's what we're we're working to bring. Unity and togetherness, not division and divisiveness. We want to bring and we are bringing unity and bringing people together through voices for voices, voices for voices, publishing, voices for voices, production, etc., through mythical creatures around the world, Facebook group, close to a hundred thousand followers. Help help us hit that goal. That would be just amazing here to close out the end of the calendar 2025, and we're going to hit at least 400 total voices for voices, TV show, and podcast episodes. We're gonna at least hit that number 100 before January 1st rolls around 2026. I promise you that our goal was we were gonna hit 300. That was the goal that we originally set out. Uh, we're over 80 above that right now, and we're gonna eclipse that original goal by at least 100. So that should tell you the uh the work ethic that we have of wanting to share and help and give back and help support mental health care and mental illness support. So until next time, I'm your host, Justin Al Hayes, Voices for Voices. Grab yourself a beanie or two, grab yourself a book or two, and we'll see you on a future episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast and a future TikTok live, Facebook Live, Instagram Live. You got it. We're here for you. We love you. So if anybody tells you that nobody loves you, you can tell them the Voices for Voices and Justin Allen Hayes and David Solomon, they love me. And it's okay to love yourself. We have to love ourselves so we can project out that. So if you think nobody loves me, we love you. Your life is worth living. Like Dan Reynolds from Imagine Dragons has said over and over and over again. Therapy is not a bad thing. It shows strength, not weakness. Thank you so much, and we'll see you next time. Take care, everybody. We love you.