This episode is the second of the Policy arc of our season, an arc focused on how systems change happens, and how mental health policy is shaped not just by moments of urgency, but by sustained leadership. Today’s conversation looks at how lived experience becomes a catalyst for advocacy. We’ll explore how young people — and really, anyone — can use their personal story to shape systems, influence policy, and make their communities stronger.

Our guests are Aurora Harris and Kasey Corpus of Young Invincibles, a national organization that amplifies young voices to influence policy on health, higher education, and economic opportunity. Through their deep understanding of the power of storytelling, they help young people turn experience into impact.

• Policy: What's In it For Me?

• Rising Voices: Telling Your Story

• Three Things to Know About Meeting with Policymakers

When most people hear the word "policy", they think of lawmakers, bills, or political debates — not necessarily something that affects their day-to-day life. But policy is everywhere. It shapes the jobs we can get, the healthcare we can afford, and the communities we call home. And for young people, understanding and influencing policy isn’t just about civic engagement — it’s about shaping the future they’ll inherit.

Our guests for today are Cameron Samuels, co-founder and executive director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, (SEAT), an organization dedicated to increasing youth visibility in policymaking, and Ayaan Moledina, SEAT's federal policy director. These two leaders share their insights on how to help young Texans turn awareness into action, and frustration into advocacy.

• Children of Change: Supporting Youth Mental Health in an Uncertain World

• Public Policy for Building a Resilient Future

• Some More Good News in Public Policy

• Some Good News in Public Policy

In rural communities, distance shapes everything - e.g. distance to the nearest hospital; distance to a licensed counselor; or distance to broadband access. When it comes to mental health care, those distances can become barriers.But what if distance didn’t mean disconnection? What if partnerships could stretch across counties and communities — aligning resources so that rural Texans don’t have to navigate care alone?”

Recently, the Hogg Foundation launched its Strengthening Mental Health in Rural and Rural Border Texas Communities initiative designed to strengthen access to care in rural Texas communities. Two of the grantee sites were co-funded in partnership with the Amarillo Area Foundation and the Bivens Foundation — organizations deeply rooted in the Texas Panhandle. Joining us for a conversation about this initiative and what it means for the rural Panhandle are Lara Escobar of the Amarillo Area Foundation and Kathryn Wiegand of the Bivens Foundation, along with Hogg Foundation senior program officers Rick Ybarra and Tammy Heinz.

• Hogg Funding Opportunities:

  • Libraries Supporting Community Mental Health

  • Arts and Humanities Research Grants for Early Career Faculty

  • Moore Fellowship for Doctoral Research

  • Strengthening the Mental Health of Rural and Rural Border Communities

• Grassroots Mental Health Innovations That Work

• Hogg Foundation Well-being in Rural Communities initiative

When someone leaves a state hospital and returns to their community, recovery doesn’t pause — it becomes more complicated. Housing, connection, medication, transportation, stigma, isolation — the real work of healing often begins outside the hospital walls. In this episode, we explore the question: What if discharge isn’t an endpoint — but a handoff? What if care doesn’t end at the hospital door, but expands into a community network designed to sustain recovery? Colleen Gallion of NAMI Central Texas and Stacy Mendelsohn of Friends of Austin State Hospital discuss how their organizations' partnership is building a bridge between inpatient care and community life.

• Austin State Hospital: The First Step in Building a Continuum of Care
• Dialogues on Mental Health Records
• From Struggle to Strength: Exploring Journeys to Recovery
• Designing for Mental Health

For generations, churches have been more than places of worship. They’ve been gathering spaces, support systems, sources of strength in moments of uncertainty and crisis. In African American communities especially, faith institutions have long been trusted partners in health and healing, often filling gaps where systems fall short.

Today's episode explores what becomes possible when that trust is paired with intentional partnership across faith, community, and mental health systems. Our guest is Pastor Rev. Dr. Daryl Horton of Mount Zion Baptist Church in East Austin, Texas.

Related Links:

• The Caregivers Perspective: Coping with the Loss of Mental Health and Faith

• Reflections from Grantees of the African American Faith-Based Initiative

On a summer morning in July 2025, floodwaters swept through Burnet and Llano counties in Central Texas, turning quiet roads into rivers. Homes were lost. Families displaced. Older adults had to be rescued from a HUD apartment complex. An RV park was destroyed. Over the chaotic weeks that followed, Community Resource Centers of Texas, working with the Texas Housing Foundation, mobilized to help people find more stable housing, rebuild connections, and restore a sense of hope.

Our guest for this episode is Dawn Capra of Community Resource Centers of Texas, an organization that provides essential services and disaster relief in rural Central Texas communities. Though Dawn may not use the phrase mutual aid to describe her work, the organization’s story perfectly captures the spirit of community solidarity that mutual aid represents.

Related Links:

• Climate Anxiety and Young People
• Southern Smoke: Mental Health in the Restaurant Industry
• Relieving Holiday Stress and Hurricane Trauma

All across Texas, people are showing that you don’t have to wait for change from the top down — you can build it from the ground up. And when local efforts succeed, they don’t just transform a workplace, a neighborhood, a classroom — they offer a template for reimagining the system itself.

In this episode Larissa Minner, an expert on disability research and universal design, joins us for an exploration of how small-scale changes to everyday practice can catalyze deeper change not only to lives, but to systems.

Related Links:

• Designing for Mental Health
• Shared Inquiry: A Better Way to Learn
• Community-Based Participatory Research

Every system of care — whether it’s education, health, or justice — is built on trust. Trust that when we reach out for help, we’ll be treated with respect and fairness. But for too many Texans, that hasn’t always been the case.

People with disabilities and those living in poverty have too often been left out or let down by systems that were meant to support them. Just as obviously, there are people working to change that — to repair relationships, rebuild credibility, and make care systems worthy of the people they serve. Andrew Hairston, Education Justice Director at Texas Appleseed, and Yulissa Chavez, Public Policy Specialist Fellow with the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, join us to take a hard look at what it means to confront inadequacies and repair harm within the very systems designed to help us.

Related Links:

• Building Access with Intention: Reflecting on National Disability Employment Awareness Month

• Public Policy for Building a Resilient Future

• Mind of Texas: Mental Health in Texas Public Schools