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What If I Ran For President A Candid Conversation · Voices for Voices®

• 0:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Hey everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices.
• 0:04
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• 0:07
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• 0:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thanks for joining us, and we're gonna hop right in.
• 1:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We're gonna talk about what if I ran for president?
• 1:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh, and we're gonna have a candid uh conversation about what if I ran for president?
• 1:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A candid conversation.
• 1:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So someone asked me the other day if I'd ever run for president.
• 1:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a flattering question, I guess.
• 1:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It suggests that on some level they see something in me, a sense of purpose, maybe a desire to serve, that they connect with the highest office in the land.
• 1:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But most people get a question like that.
• 1:42
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They probably think about policy, about the roar of the crowd winning or the chance to reshape history.
• 1:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Again, they might imagine the roar of the crowd, the weight of the resolute desk, the power to create change on a global scale.
• 2:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: My mind didn't go to any of those places.
• 2:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Not at first.
• 2:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: My first thought wasn't about the country, it was about survival.
• 2:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: My first thought was, could I survive it?
• 2:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And I don't mean that metaphorically, I mean it literally.
• 2:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: As a mental health advocate, as a man who, according to my own public accounts, has dedicated his life to recovery after a near-death incident brought on by my internal struggles.
• 2:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That question isn't just a hypothetical.
• 2:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a deep and personal look at what we demand from our leaders and what we're willing to sacrifice ourselves.
• 2:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a question that forces me to stare into the abyss of what that journey truly costs.
• 3:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It makes me ask whether the price of the presidency is a price anyone who has truly battled their own demons can or even should be willing to pay.
• 3:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This isn't a campaign announcement.
• 3:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is a confession.
• 3:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is whether a conversation about the invisible scars of leadership and whether our political system can even support a leader who has them.
• 3:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So part one, section one, the weight of the question, the personal toll.
• 3:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When the question was first posed to me, what if you ran for president?
• 3:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It landed with a thud.
• 3:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It wasn't a feather.
• 3:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It was a brick.
• 3:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For a second it felt like the air was sucked out of the room.
• 4:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Because to even entertain the thought is to invite an immediate and overwhelming inventory of what you'd have to give up.
• 4:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's to imagine in an instant the complete and total surrender of your private self.
• 4:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We see presidential campaigns on TV.
• 4:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We see the rallies, the debates, the handshaking.
• 4:27
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It all looks so polished and managed.
• 4:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But what we don't see is the relentless, soul crushing machine that operates just under the surface.
• 4:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a machine that runs on a currency of personal sacrifice.
• 4:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And it demands payment in full right up front.
• 4:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The first thing you sacrifice is your life.
• 4:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Not in a dramatic sense of taking a bullet, though that risk is always there, but in the slow, grinding erosion of your entire entire existence.
• 5:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A modern presidential campaign isn't a job, it's a complete consumption of self.
• 5:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We've all heard the anecdotal stories of twenty hour days, of sleeping in four hour four hour chunks on bumpy flights, of diets made up of cold pizza and lukewarm coffee.
• 5:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: These aren't just exaggerations for dramatic effect.
• 5:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I believe they describe a very real danger to one's physical and mental well-being.
• 5:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Your body becomes a tool, a vehicle to be pushed to its absolute limit, and then way beyond.
• 5:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Sleep becomes a luxury.
• 6:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Nutrition is an afterthought.
• 6:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The constant travel across time zones creates a state of perpetual jet lag, a fog that settles over your mind and makes clear thinking a Herculean task.
• 6:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Imagine making decisions that could affect millions of people while your body is screaming for rest and your mind is clouded with fatigue.
• 6:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We expect our leaders to be sharp, decisive, and wise, but we put them through a process that seems almost designed to degrade those very qualities.
• 6:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Then there's the sacrifice of privacy.
• 6:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is the one people think they understand, but the reality is far more invasive than most can imagine.
• 7:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's not just about paparazzi or news articles.
• 7:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's the idea that every aspect of your life, past and present, is considered fair game.
• 7:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: While it may be a rhetorical overstatement that every single email or relationship is scrutinized, the zone of privacy for a candidate is drastically shrunk.
• 7:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Opposition researchers dig into personal, professional, and financial histories, while legal and ethical lines still exist for things like medical records, the perception, and the threat of exposure are just as powerful as the exposure itself.
• 7:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Now the political machine, the political machine operates on insulation and leaks.
• 8:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is where I have to pause.
• 8:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a plausible speculation, not a certainty, that even the simple act of seeking therapy could become a political football if the appointment were discovered.
• 8:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A confidential therapy session if the appointment were discovered.
• 8:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Confidential therapy session is a cornerstone of mental health care, but the perceived risk that it could be weaponized is enough to create a chilling effect.
• 8:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's enough to make someone who has fought for their recovery think twice or three times before stepping into that arena.
• 8:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For me, this isn't an abstract concern.
• 8:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: My life is a testament to the power of reaching out, of admitting vulnerability, and of seeking help.
• 9:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: My journey of recovery, which I've written about in my book, The House of You Prescription for Living, is the foundation of who I am.
• 9:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's the source of my advocacy and the reason I founded Voices for Voices, to create a space where people can share their stories without shame.
• 9:34
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: To run for office would be to offer up that sacred and painful process, to be dissected, distorted, and maybe even used as a weapon against me.
• 9:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It would mean taking the very thing that gives my life purpose and letting it be twisted into a liability.
• 9:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And what about family?
• 10:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The presidency isn't a job one person takes on a loan.
• 10:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a sentence the entire family serves.
• 10:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I think of my wife, Charlene, and my daughter Rosemarie.
• 10:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their lives would be upended, their privacy obliterated.
• 10:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Every decision they make, every friend they have, every photo they post would be scrutinized through a prod through a political lens.
• 10:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They'd become props in a national drama they never auditioned for.
• 10:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their joys, their struggles, their very identities be swallowed by the campaign.
• 10:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: How could I, in good conscience, ask them to make that sacrifice?
• 10:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: How could I look my daughter in the eye and tell her that her childhood must now be lived in the public square, subject to the often cruel judgment of strangers?
• 11:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The presidential race, as I see it, demands a kind of personal annihilation.
• 11:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It asks you to sand down the complex, messy, beautifully human parts of yourself until you fit a pre-approved mold.
• 11:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It asks you to present a flawless, sanitized version of your life.
• 11:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A highlight reel with no outtakes.
• 11:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But my outtakes are where I learn my most vulnerable lessons.
• 11:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: My struggles are what forged my empathy.
• 11:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: My recovery is what taught me the true meaning of resilience.
• 11:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: To let that be erased or caricatured would be to erase the very essence of who I am.
• 12:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So when someone asks if I would run for president, my mind doesn't jump to the West Wing.
• 12:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It goes to a quiet room late at night after a twenty hour campaign day.
• 12:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It goes to the feeling of utter exhaustion, the gnawing anxiety, the weight of public scrutiny.
• 12:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It goes to my daughter's face and the life I want for her.
• 12:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And it asks a simple, terrifying question.
• 12:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What would be left of me and of the people I love when it was all over?
• 12:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Now let's look at the system we've built, a hostile environment.
• 12:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The personal cost of running for president is immense.
• 13:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But the problem isn't just about individual sacrifice, it's about the system itself.
• 13:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's my opinion, forged from years of advocating for mental health, that our political process isn't just indifferent to mental well-being, it's actively hostile to it.
• 13:27
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It seems designed to break even the strongest among us and to filter out anyone who openly acknowledges their own humanity, their own struggles, their own imperfections.
• 13:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: One could argue the modern campaign trail selects for a very specific and I would say narrow set of personality traits.
• 13:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It seems to favor relentless extroversion, the ability to be on at all times, in an aura of unshakable certainty.
• 14:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It rewards what's often called a thick skin, which, in my experience, is often a euphemism for a diminished capacity for empathy.
• 14:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This creates a powerful, if unspoken, bias.
• 14:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a system that, in my interpretation, appears to select for narcissism.
• 14:42
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The sheer audacity required to believe you and you alone are the person best suited to lead a nation of millions is staggering.
• 14:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The process itself seems to reward those who possess an almost superhuman level of self-regard.
• 15:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Those least likely to be troubled by self-doubt.
• 15:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It selects for those who see vulnerability not as a source of strength, but as a fatal flaw to be hidden at all costs.
• 15:27
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is where mental health stigma becomes a central political issue.
• 15:34
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Publicly acknowledging a struggle with anxiety or depression is still seen by many as a disqualifier for high office.
• 15:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Imagine a candidate on a debate stage asked about their greatest weakness.
• 15:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The standard answer is something like I work too hard.
• 16:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Now imagine if a candidate was honest.
• 16:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if they said my greatest challenge has been managing my anxiety?
• 16:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But I've learned effective coping strategies through therapy, and it's made me a more thoughtful decision maker.
• 16:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What would happen?
• 16:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Well, I'd like to believe the public would react with empathy.
• 16:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I'm skeptical.
• 16:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's plausible that opponents would frame it as instability.
• 16:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: News cycles will be dominated by questions of their fitness for office.
• 16:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Research on this complex, but it does suggest that stigma remains a powerful force.
• 16:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This creates a vicious cycle.
• 17:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Good people, people who have navigated profound personal challenges and emerged with wisdom are discouraged from running.
• 17:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They look at the political landscape and see a place where their lived experience would be treated as a liability.
• 17:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So they self-select out.
• 17:27
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And what are we left with?
• 17:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I believe we're left with a political class that is less representative of the true human experience.
• 17:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We're left with leaders who have either never faced significant adversity or have been masters at hiding it.
• 17:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And this has a profound societal cost.
• 17:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We're living in an age of unprecedented mental health challenges.
• 18:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: According to a 2023 CDC Center of Disease Control survey, two in five high schoolers, that's 40%, reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, defined as feeling that way for at least two weeks and stopping usual activities.
• 18:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: While this was a slight improvement from 2021, the overall trend is concerning.
• 18:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Other 2021, the 2023 data from the CDC indicates about one in five US youth reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety.
• 18:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Yet a significant treatment gap remains.
• 19:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: One 2021 analysis based on a national survey data suggested that about 60% of youth with major depression do not receive any mental health treatment.
• 19:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That is, about 60% of youth with major depression do not receive any mental health treatment.
• 19:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So how can we expect leaders who are never allowed to acknowledge their own struggles to effectively address this crisis?
• 19:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The message our political system sends is clear.
• 19:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: To be a leader, you must be invincible.
• 19:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I believe our country is crying out for an authentic one.
• 19:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The irony is that history is filled with leaders who struggled.
• 20:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: While we have to be careful with retrospective diagnoses, historians have long described Abraham Lincoln as a man who battled profound melancholy.
• 20:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In his own letters, at age thirty two he wrote, I am now the most miserable man living.
• 20:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth.
• 20:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Some historical accounts suggest friends worried about his suicidal ideation.
• 20:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Yet many historians now interpret that it was precisely this struggle that forged his extraordinary empathy and moral clarity, which allowed him to guide the nation through its darkest hour.
• 21:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Similarly, Winston Churchill famously spoke of his black dog, while historians debate the clinical nature of his condition and even the origin of the phrase, it's clear he experienced periods of intense despair.
• 21:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Yet some have argued that this familiarity with darkness allowed him to see the threat of Nazism with a clarity that others mirrored an optimistic appeasement lacked.
• 21:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: He knew what it was to face a Hopeless situation and find a reason to fight on.
• 22:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: He knew what it was to face a hopeless situation and find a reason to fight off.
• 22:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: These leaders weren't diminished by their struggles.
• 22:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They were deepened by them.
• 22:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But I have to ask, would a Lincoln or a Churchill be electable today?
• 22:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Or would their melancholy and their black dog be used to paint them as unfit and unstable?
• 22:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I fear I know the answer, and that to me is the fundamental tragedy of the system we've built.
• 22:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a system that purports to find the best among us, but may systematically exclude those who have the most to offer.
• 23:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The ones who have been broken and put themselves back together.
• 23:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This makes me wonder about you.
• 23:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Have you ever felt like you had to hide a part of yourself to be seen as competent or strong in your job or your family?
• 23:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Have you ever looked at our leaders and felt a sense of inauthenticity?
• 23:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I would be genuinely honored if you'd share your thoughts in the comments.
• 23:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This isn't just my story.
• 23:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a conversation about the kind of leadership we want and the kind of society we need to build to foster it.
• 23:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So a new vision, the leadership of the healed.
• 23:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So what's the alternative?
• 24:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If the current system, in my opinion, filters out empathy and resilience, how do we fix it?
• 24:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I don't think the answer is to simply find a better candidate who can withstand the meat grinder.
• 24:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I think the answer is to change the definition of what makes a candidate better in the first place.
• 24:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's about radical reframing of what we look for in a leader.
• 24:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We need to move away from the myth of the unbreakable hero.
• 24:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It embrace a new paradigm, the leadership of the healed.
• 24:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This isn't about celebrating victimhood.
• 24:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's about recognizing the immense strength that comes from navigating adversity.
• 25:04
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a concept psychologist Drs.
• 25:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Richard Tadeshi and Lawrence Calhoun call post-traumatic growth.
• 25:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their theory holds that people who endure psychological struggle can experience profound positive transformation.
• 25:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's not about bouncing back to who you were.
• 25:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's about bouncing forward into something stronger and wiser.
• 25:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I believe people who have been through that fire often emerge with a unique with a unique set of qualifications.
• 25:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They have a PhD in empathy, a doctorate in resilience.
• 25:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They understand in their bones what it means to suffer and to find a way through the darkness.
• 26:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Now, unacknowledged anxiety or depression can, of course, impair anyone's ability to make clear decisions.
• 26:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The risk of a leader being compromised by their internal struggles is real.
• 26:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But this is where we get the equation backward.
• 26:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The risk isn't the history of a struggle.
• 26:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The risk is the silence around it.
• 26:42
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The danger is a leader who is actively suffering, but feels they can't seek help because of the stigma.
• 26:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A leader who has been through treatment, who has engaged in therapy, who has developed strategies for managing their mental health.
• 27:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is not a weak leader.
• 27:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is a self-aware and responsible leader.
• 27:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their history of seeking help isn't a red flag.
• 27:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: To me, it's evidence of their character.
• 27:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It shows humility, courage, and a commitment to their own well being so they can effectively serve others?
• 27:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if a history of overcoming addiction was seen as a testament to incredible discipline?
• 27:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if a journey through depression was seen as the training ground for profound empathy?
• 27:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if seeking therapy was viewed with the same respect as seeking counsel from an economic advisor?
• 28:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This leads to a different idea of the presidency itself.
• 28:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The president is the commander in chief and chief executive.
• 28:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Those are formal rules, but maybe we need to add a new metaphorical role the healer in chief, the empath in chief.
• 28:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In a nation grappling with a mental health crisis and deep divisions, perhaps the most important role of a president is to channel our collective pain into a collective purpose.
• 28:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A leader who has only known success can't do this.
• 28:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A leader who has never known profound doubt can't do this.
• 29:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The healer in chief isn't someone who pretends to be perfect.
• 29:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They are someone who can stand before the country and say I see your pain because I have known my own.
• 29:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And I know we can get through this because I know what it takes to get through.
• 29:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's go back to that debate stage.
• 29:27
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The moderator asks, There are reports you sought treatment for depression a decade ago.
• 29:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: How do you respond to those who say this qual this this qualifies you?
• 29:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And the candidate looks into the camera and says, You're right, I did.
• 29:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Ten years ago, my life fell apart.
• 29:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And I did two things that I believe are the most important qualifications I have for this office.
• 30:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I asked for help and I did the hard work to get better.
• 30:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That journey taught me about resilience than any political victory ever could.
• 30:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It taught me more about resilience than any political victory ever could.
• 30:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It taught me empathy for the tens of millions of other Americans who are struggling with their own mental health right now.
• 30:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In 2022, there was over 59 million adults.
• 30:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So no, my experience doesn't disqualify me.
• 30:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I believe it is one of the things that most profoundly qualifies me to lead.
• 30:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I can only speculate, but I believe a moment like that would shatter decades of stigma.
• 31:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It would send a message to every person struggling in silence that they are not alone and that their struggles don't define their potential.
• 31:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is the leadership I believe we need.
• 31:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Recovery isn't always a finished state, and people with ongoing conditions can lead effectively.
• 31:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The point isn't to create a new hierarchy, but to value the journey itself.
• 31:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We should look for the story of resilience.
• 31:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We should look for leaders who have navigated hardship and emerged with greater empathy and a deeper understanding of the human condition.
• 31:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So what if I ran for president?
• 31:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The honest answer is under our current system, I don't believe I could.
• 32:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I don't think the person I am in the journey I've traveled will be allowed to survive the process.
• 32:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The personal cost to my recovery, my family, and my sense of self would be too high.
• 32:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But this personal conclusion leads me to a much more important public question.
• 32:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's not, what if Justin Allen Hayes ran for president?
• 32:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The real question is, what if we created a political system where someone like me or countless others with stories of recovery and resilience could run?
• 32:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if we as a society decided that empathy born from experience is a qualification, not a liability?
• 33:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if we decided that vulnerability is a sign of courage, not weakness?
• 33:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This isn't a political platform, it's a human one.
• 33:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: My work with Voices for Voices and the House of You is rooted in this belief.
• 33:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Every story has value, and sharing our struggles is the first step toward healing.
• 33:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So no, I won't be running for president, but I will, with every fiber of my being, continue to fight for a world where the next generation of leaders doesn't have to face the same impossible choice between serving their country and saving themselves.
• 33:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: I will continue to advocate for a future where the path to our nation's highest office is not a gauntlet that breaks the good, but a journey that honors the healed.
• 34:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for watching and listening.
• 34:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Please continue the conversation.
• 34:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Please continue this conversation.
• 34:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Talk to your friends and family.
• 34:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And the next time you look at a candidate, don't just look for their strengths.
• 34:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Look for their story.
• 34:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Look for their scars, because that I believe is where you will find the future of leadership.
• 34:42
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you so much for watching and listening.
• 34:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If you can give us a big thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, reshare, repost, word of mouth.
• 34:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If you don't have your phone out, and if you do have your phone out, please reach out to maybe 25 connections, contacts in your phone, and share the voices for voices podcasts with them.
• 35:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So until next time, let's celebrate all the voices in the world.
• 35:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And let's be a voice for not only ourselves, but those in need that may not be able to share their voice.
• 35:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We'll see you next time.
• 35:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We're sending our love and support to each and every one of you.
• 35:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for joining the Voices for Voices family.
• 35:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Bye for now.