Latest / Voices for Voices® / How To REALLY Improve Your Mental Health | Episode 70

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How To REALLY Improve Your Mental Health | Episode 70 · Voices for Voices®

• 0:01
  Justin Alan Hayes: Welcome to the Voices for Voices podcast sponsored by Redwood Living.
• 0:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for joining us today.
• 0:08
  Justin Alan Hayes: I am Justin Alan Hayes, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, host and humanitarian.
• 0:16
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• 0:28
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• 0:29
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• 0:39
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• 0:56
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• 1:11
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• 1:15
  Justin Alan Hayes: Are you or somebody you know looking for a volunteer opportunity?
• 1:20
  Justin Alan Hayes: If so, you can reach out to us today via email at president at VoicesforVoicesorg Now.
• 1:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: I founded Voices for Voices to provide a platform for folks to share their stories with others as we work to break the stigma around mental health, accessibility and disabilities, helping people get the help they need while also helping transition them or prepare them for the workforce with the Voices for Voices Career Center, where we connect talent with opportunity for both job seekers and employers alike, from coast to coast and in every industry and job level.
• 2:06
  Justin Alan Hayes: And who can forget about merchandise?
• 2:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: The Voices for Voices merch shop is finally up and running at VoicesforVoicesorg forward slash shop, where shipping is always free and, again, all donations are 100% tax deductible.
• 2:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: In studio with us today is an attorney with over 20 years of experience.
• 2:32
  Justin Alan Hayes: She is an author and a fierce mental health and social justice advocate.
• 2:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller driven, who splits her time between Northeast Ohio and Washington DC, where our guest attorney, corey Minor Smith, was appointed by President Biden as senior counsel for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also referred to as HUD in the Office of General Counsel.
• 3:07
  Justin Alan Hayes: On the appointment, the Reverend Al Sharpton is quoted as saying Corey quote brings a wealth of experience and a sterling record of social justice advocacy, especially for those faced with mental health challenges.
• 3:23
  Justin Alan Hayes: End quote.
• 3:24
  Justin Alan Hayes: So please join me in welcoming to the show Attorney Corey Minor Smith.
• 3:31
  Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for joining us today.
• 3:34
  Corey Minor Smith: Thank you for having me today.
• 3:35
  Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, you're very busy and so lucky to get you on the on the schedule so much to talk about and you are such a fierce advocate of mental health.
• 3:48
  Justin Alan Hayes: Can you maybe walk through for viewers and listeners how mental health was introduced into your life?
• 3:56
  Corey Minor Smith: Wow, that's a powerful question and it makes me think about someone's post that I read one day and it said it was a quote and said my introduction was to mental illness was my mother leaving me in Texas.
• 4:10
  Corey Minor Smith: And when I read that quote I didn't realize that it was my statement.
• 4:16
  Corey Minor Smith: The person had quoted me expressing and describing the situation that occurred where my mother and I lived in Houston, texas, and she left me in Texas.
• 4:27
  Corey Minor Smith: So I was a part of the introduction of my mother's behaviors and symptoms related to her diagnoses and really just the start of me understanding, trying to understand and voluntarily, what was going on and what led to the different experiences that we have had together.
• 4:45
  Justin Alan Hayes: Wow.
• 4:46
  Justin Alan Hayes: So family is important and family sometimes on the, on the support side of the, I'll say the non-individual, with the, with the mental illness.
• 4:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: Sometimes it's it's tough to put themselves into that person's shoes.
• 5:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: I know with with my wife and with myself going through my mental illness journey.
• 5:10
  Justin Alan Hayes: At the outset it was it's very tough for her saying at times just you know, just power through it, stop crying, just why is this happening?
• 5:23
  Justin Alan Hayes: Just get through it.
• 5:25
  Justin Alan Hayes: I'm wondering with that introduction and the multiple times having to move as a, as a child and as you were growing up, to how, how did you cope and how did you help your, your mom?
• 5:41
  Justin Alan Hayes: For those that may be listening and watching and wondering, how can I help?
• 5:49
  Corey Minor Smith: yeah, that's an excellent question.
• 5:52
  Corey Minor Smith: It's important to just continue to learn.
• 5:55
  Corey Minor Smith: It's not going to be something that you know right off the bat and everyone's symptoms are different.
• 6:01
  Corey Minor Smith: So it's important to just take the time to learn and understand what may be going on with your loved one, acknowledging that mental illness is real and that people do experience symptoms related to severe mental illness.
• 6:14
  Corey Minor Smith: For example, sometimes they're brushed off as just wanting attention or on drugs or maybe drinking too much.
• 6:21
  Corey Minor Smith: But mental illness is real and it's important for us to read about symptoms that our loved ones may exhibit and to see how we can develop strategies within our households, within our families, within our community, in addressing or encountering some of the symptoms that we may see with our loved ones and, most importantly, just understanding that there may be times where you just have to take a step back and not be the one directly involved with that person's treatment or engagement at that time, or even trying to de-escalate the situation.
• 6:56
  Corey Minor Smith: You know it may be important for professionals at that time to be involved, but if they are not knowing what you can do for yourself and knowing what you can do for yourself, I believe that NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is instrumental in providing essential information for anyone who has a person in their life that lives with mental health conditions that significantly impact their daily lives.
• 7:23
  Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, that, and for our viewers and listeners.
• 7:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: Corey was the keynote speaker at the annual NAMI Summit County annual luncheon earlier today and did a absolutely fantastic job walking through her her experience of being a human being, going through the process, and then how that overlap with the professional life and and then we'll.
• 7:51
  Justin Alan Hayes: We'll close, hopefully not stealing anything from from from your speech with this episode of your motto, which I think will resonate with a lot of people, definitely resonated with me how important so getting on the, the housing inside the equation, how important is stable housing for a person's mental health?
• 8:15
  Justin Alan Hayes: Stable housing or housing in general might not be thought of as a symptom or something that is related to mental health and how that can affect the person's mind.
• 8:27
  Justin Alan Hayes: They might just think of the anxiety or the conversations, but having housing is very important to an individual stability.
• 8:38
  Justin Alan Hayes: And ask somebody who moved a lot earlier in your life I would think you have a lot of experience with that and how that, how you were able to manage that that process so long with just growing up and being a teenager right well what I know now as an adult environmental injustices are real.
• 8:56
  Corey Minor Smith: There are a lot of places where people are to live that are in toxic areas or very close to toxic areas that are impacted today, and we are expected to live in these areas and not be concerned about any toxicity that may be in our systems that may impact our children.
• 9:14
  Corey Minor Smith: You know, lead pain is one thing, but the environmental factors in far as the air quality, even just what's in a neighborhood we have so many areas of lack no grocery stores within a reasonable distance from where a person lives or other essential services like medical care being in it.
• 9:32
  Corey Minor Smith: Close proximity to where a person lives.
• 9:34
  Corey Minor Smith: But just the quality of the home is important as well, and it makes me recall a time where a place where my mother and I live, we shared a bedroom and the ceiling caved in while I was in the bedroom and I thank God I was not injured because I was reaching under the bed to get my shoes at that time.
• 9:52
  Corey Minor Smith: But what happened with the ceiling falling in it did cause us to have to move.
• 9:57
  Corey Minor Smith: We could no longer live there, and I bring that story up because that building is still in existence now and people live there now and it's on the demolition list for the jurisdiction where it is located.
• 10:11
  Corey Minor Smith: So it brings the question you know, how is it possible for people to be able to live there?
• 10:16
  Corey Minor Smith: It's on the demo list.
• 10:18
  Corey Minor Smith: Clearly there are habitation habitable issues related to that property, and I know what happened when I lived in that property, and so it's just disturbing to know that there are poor quality areas, poor quality homes that people live in, and it's not their fault, right, it's where they can afford to live and I believe that it's important for our country to provide high quality housing for everyone.
• 10:44
  Corey Minor Smith: Everyone deserves that, and it just because you, you know, make a certain dollar amount shouldn't put you in a poor quality home.
• 10:52
  Corey Minor Smith: So with that, it's essential for our health and it's essential for our physical health.
• 10:56
  Corey Minor Smith: You know we can be plagued by depression or anxiety and those symptoms being exacerbated by living in a poor quality home.
• 11:06
  Justin Alan Hayes: So yeah, it's, it's incredible.
• 11:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: How did you just, on a personal, how did you handle moving so much?
• 11:15
  Justin Alan Hayes: I I know growing up, but for for myself, just finding friends and people you can relate to and talk to and play with those things were tough enough not having to move, and for you to have moved, regardless of the reason why, how, how was that?
• 11:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: Growing up, just on that child, children's level, as you were progressing and going to school and meeting people, and then having to move and then redo that all over again?
• 11:49
  Corey Minor Smith: that's a great question as well, and I have asked both of my parents like who made these decisions of when I was going to move to where, because I really don't know who made that decision or why decisions were made in the middle of a school year, for example, but to go to at least 14 schools.
• 12:06
  Corey Minor Smith: These are the ones that I remember.
• 12:07
  Corey Minor Smith: In one of the schools I went to twice Patterson Elementary in Vallejo, california but I don't know what caused all of the moves, other than my parents living in different places.
• 12:19
  Corey Minor Smith: My mother moved a lot and you know in a particular area, and so that created a situation of being in a different school district each time that I moved, up until the time that I live with my grandmother, where I was able to matriculate through high school at one school, whereas all the previous years I average maybe a year at a school, if that, but usually I was moving in the middle of the year.
• 12:44
  Corey Minor Smith: What attributed to a more healthy social life?
• 12:47
  Corey Minor Smith: I guess it was being personable and having friends established in some area.
• 12:53
  Corey Minor Smith: So if I return to a particular area, while I may not have gone to the same school, it may have been in the area where friends knew me and were able to introduce me to other people, things that of that nature.
• 13:05
  Corey Minor Smith: But I don't recall ever having challenges in meeting people and just kind of fitting into whichever environment.
• 13:13
  Corey Minor Smith: I've had to learn to adapt in households as well as school and just social life period.
• 13:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: So that brings up a good topic of communication and being personable, whatever everybody thinks doesn't matter just kind of what we we feel ourselves, but with how jobs are in different industries.
• 13:39
  Justin Alan Hayes: How important is that interpersonal communication, to be able to communicate an interest for a job, for a profession, to maybe shadow somebody, to apply and to have your resume come to the top and not have it just disappear?
• 13:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: How important over the course of your professional career is that, and can you maybe speak to that on the career level for any job seekers or individuals looking to maybe change industries?
• 14:12
  Corey Minor Smith: Sure, interpersonal communication skills are essential and I believe it starts, you know, in school, when we may not like it but when our teachers call on us and to answer a question.
• 14:22
  Corey Minor Smith: That's helping to develop your communication skills, kind of put you on the spot, but it's helping you to develop whatever skills you need to process your thoughts, to be able to communicate with your thinking and to think critically about whatever the subject matter is that you were called upon to answer.
• 14:39
  Corey Minor Smith: I think it's important I could say it is now as an adult looking back but I think it's important for children, students, to take the opportunity to have the oral presentations.
• 14:50
  Corey Minor Smith: I know it's scary, sometimes it can cause a lot of anxiety, but you know addressing those fears or anxious thoughts in order to learn how best to speak to people before people.
• 15:05
  Corey Minor Smith: Some people is just not their thing and they find other ways to communicate better.
• 15:10
  Corey Minor Smith: Some people are more effective in their writing skills or you know others with oral arguments.
• 15:15
  Corey Minor Smith: So you have to learn yourself.
• 15:18
  Corey Minor Smith: You have to know your strengths and your weaknesses and, if you're willing to, to work on your weaknesses, if that is a part of preventing you from doing presentations in front of people and if you find yourself having difficulties communicating and speaking clearly to other individuals.
• 15:35
  Corey Minor Smith: Sure.
• 15:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: You spoke in your keynote speech earlier today.
• 15:42
  Justin Alan Hayes: One of the areas was about gifts and how we all have gifts, and so I think that really plays a little bit into some people, or more the extroverted that personal type and things come easier in that sense, and there's others that don't.
• 16:02
  Justin Alan Hayes: And can you maybe talk about how you started to realize what your gifts were and then how you started to capitalize on them once you started to hone in through your experience?
• 16:15
  Corey Minor Smith: I remember being involved in an organization I think we were doing some type of activity on campus and I served as the MC and I just remember feeling something about that Like I enjoyed doing it.
• 16:28
  Corey Minor Smith: I was comfortable in front of the audience and that was like an initial step towards public speaking.
• 16:36
  Corey Minor Smith: When I was asked to speak for the first time in terms of sharing my lived experience, it was for like an in-service day for educators and I recall putting a presentation together, not thinking about mental health or my mother or anything of that nature, but just how students are misdiagnosed or misread or just misinterpreted in terms of the behaviors that they exhibit and we're so quick to label them and it's labeling them in a negative way which causes disciplinary actions and things of that nature.
• 17:08
  Corey Minor Smith: But from there I had individuals hear me speak and invite me to other places.
• 17:17
  Corey Minor Smith: But when it became impactful was a little girl in an elementary school class presentation and I talked about my story as I knew it at that time and I used to just say that my mother was sick and could no longer take care of me, not really even understanding myself what was going on.
• 17:36
  Corey Minor Smith: I just knew my mother was sick, but someone a little girl asked what was wrong, what happened to your mother, and it caused me to take a moment to actually think about that.
• 17:47
  Corey Minor Smith: Well, what did happen?
• 17:48
  Corey Minor Smith: And once I was able to put it into words and articulate the things that had happened thus far, I was able to understand mental health and that it was a mental illness, and sharing that for the first time and the response that was received from sharing specifically talking about mental illness was very impactful for the audience.
• 18:13
  Corey Minor Smith: It helped people who were in the same and similar situation, and I knew from that that I needed to understand this more in order to be more effective in my speeches if I was going to talk about mental illness.
• 18:30
  Justin Alan Hayes: On that topic of taking that step back and thinking kind of a 3,000 foot view.
• 18:39
  Justin Alan Hayes: As a teacher at Walsh University I found maybe it's just a thing, but there was a particular time when I started talking about my own self and there was a student.
• 18:54
  Justin Alan Hayes: This was before I hit rock bottom and my 5 day inpatient stay.
• 18:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: The class was giving presentations and one student was just having a tough time and was stuttering and just was very anxious.
• 19:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: And after the class he came back up to me and all the students had left and said I'm sorry, I just got very anxious.
• 19:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: That's not normally me and I started to kind of tear up because I was like I understand, because I'm a teacher I'm going through something.
• 19:32
  Justin Alan Hayes: I don't know exactly what it is, but I know it can happen to anybody whether it's a teacher, whether it's somebody in another leadership position, that we're all human.
• 19:43
  Justin Alan Hayes: And then once I kind of came back on the other side of the mental health crisis and I started talking more about my mental health as it related to students and going through test, anxiety or relationships and being away from home, and I started to get a better reception about talking about those things than almost the topic of marketing itself, and that was when it really started to click that, oh my gosh, we should talk about this as human beings, not instructors and students and somebody in one position and not another.
• 20:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: We should just talk about it as human beings and as we're all human.
• 20:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: We all have health, we have mental health and physical health, and not talking about it in the way stigma is.
• 20:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: So I just wanted to relate to how it kind of tied into what you were sharing and mental health is health right?
• 20:43
  Corey Minor Smith: Like anyone who has a brain, you have a mental health status of some sort.
• 20:48
  Corey Minor Smith: So what is the status?
• 20:50
  Corey Minor Smith: I think about forms.
• 20:51
  Corey Minor Smith: When I practice domestic relations and doing divorces, there would be an affidavit that the parties had to fill out and, as far as health, you had to pick a status right, whether it was excellent, good, okay or poor.
• 21:04
  Corey Minor Smith: So what is your mental health status?
• 21:07
  Corey Minor Smith: It's important for us to be proactive with that and even with our children.
• 21:10
  Corey Minor Smith: I was very pleased when my son was younger my youngest son was younger because he's 20 now, but much younger and going to the pediatrician and they did mental health inventories for children and that was a critical step in a child's development can be, anyway, being proactive.
• 21:26
  Corey Minor Smith: You don't have to wait until someone is exhibiting symptoms that you don't understand.
• 21:30
  Corey Minor Smith: You're able to have the opportunity for your child to answer questions, and without you being present or hovering over them, because many times they don't tell us what's going on right.
• 21:41
  Corey Minor Smith: They can be bullied and we don't know it, but they can experience all kinds of things once they hit the school bus and once they go into that school building that they're not sharing when they come home so that mental health inventory helped to identify things, you know, maybe lack of sleep, maybe nightmares again that the parent may not know and that child doesn't want to tell the parent yet.
• 22:01
  Corey Minor Smith: But it's important for us to know what is the condition, what is the status of our overall health.
• 22:08
  Corey Minor Smith: Is it excellent, is it good, is it okay, is it poor, and why, and what can you do to get to excellent or the best condition that you can, and not be ashamed of seeking whatever that treatment is?
• 22:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: Excellent.
• 22:22
  Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for sharing that.
• 22:24
  Justin Alan Hayes: Now, switching gears, talking about crisis intervention teams and law enforcement one piece of that, I think, is a department deciding that it's important enough to use funds to utilize that aspect in whatever way that they decide.
• 22:45
  Justin Alan Hayes: And then, two, how they're doing and making sure that the training's up the par, up the task and that everybody is feasible, possible, can get trained on that.
• 22:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: How important with your knowledge and working with law enforcement are crisis intervention teams and what do you think can be done or worked on for departments thinking about it?
• 23:10
  Justin Alan Hayes: We do have areas here in Northeast Ohio that don't have them and maybe wanting to know, as well as across the country, there might be somebody in a state or jurisdiction that doesn't think about that.
• 23:25
  Justin Alan Hayes: That's possible.
• 23:27
  Corey Minor Smith: Yes, I believe that the crisis intervention teams are critically important to the overall treatment opportunities, the overall wraparound services, the overall services period that are available in the community and helping to address mental health conditions of citizens that are in our communities, whether we want to acknowledge that or not.
• 23:50
  Corey Minor Smith: And it's important as first responders whether it's the fire department or the police department, law enforcement, any first responders that they have some level of training in terms of engaging a person who may be in a mental health crisis.
• 24:05
  Corey Minor Smith: At the time.
• 24:05
  Corey Minor Smith: It's important for them to know how to de-escalate with non-lethal force.
• 24:11
  Corey Minor Smith: And I say that because our mental health professionals are not necessarily trained to engage a person who may be a tad bit or fully combative.
• 24:21
  Corey Minor Smith: But our law enforcement officers are trained, whether it's through OPADA here in the state of Ohio or in general, not just in a mental health situation.
• 24:35
  Corey Minor Smith: But how do you de-escalate?
• 24:36
  Corey Minor Smith: If you're coming into a scene where people are fighting?
• 24:39
  Corey Minor Smith: How do you de-escalate that it's not just pulling out a weapon necessarily?
• 24:43
  Corey Minor Smith: There are ways to de-escalate.
• 24:45
  Corey Minor Smith: So it's essential that they also know how to address a matter when there may be a mental health crisis going on.
• 24:56
  Justin Alan Hayes: I just recently learned that here in Ohio, in Northeast Ohio, specifically speaking with some individuals at the Summit County Department of Public Health, that not all departments across the Summit County, just in specific, utilize that for one reason or not.
• 25:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: So I want to make sure that I have at least one of the officers and the case manager come in and be on an episode to talk about what that's like, because I think that's important.
• 25:30
  Justin Alan Hayes: I didn't know it existed.
• 25:32
  Justin Alan Hayes: I kind of in the back of my mind, was hoping that those types of things were in play and that there were visits after an overdose and those types of things, and didn't know that there were decisions that had to be made Like yes, we're going to go forward with it, and then comes the dollar amount and the funding and what do we take funding away from?
• 25:52
  Justin Alan Hayes: So I 1000% agree that we need to just be talking about human beings at the end of the day and not specifically about one area or not, Just okay, if you were in that position, as an officer, as a firefighter, how would you want to be treated?
• 26:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: And I loved how you talked about some individuals should go to potentially a hospital or be seen versus cuffs and how that distinction is made and that certain crimes and certain things may not have happened if the individuals were treated as such.
• 26:33
  Corey Minor Smith: Absolutely Help, not handcuffs.
• 26:35
  Corey Minor Smith: Help not yes.
• 26:37
  Corey Minor Smith: So it's very important and also, as a member of NAMI Stark County, I am a trained facilitator to do the family to family course and I'm very honored to have that opportunity to do it.
• 26:49
  Corey Minor Smith: But I also have taken the time to be a part of the training with law enforcement and going to share my story.
• 26:55
  Corey Minor Smith: So it would be a panel of individuals who are involved with NAMI that would go to the in-service training sessions with law enforcement to share some suggestions on how to interact with someone.
• 27:06
  Corey Minor Smith: It's also important for loved ones, those who are in the mental health services, that they can help families to establish relationships with first responders, whether it's the paramedics, police departments because our family members, our loved ones, are out in the community and they are living independently the best that they can and they may have a mental health crisis while they're out in the community.
• 27:29
  Corey Minor Smith: So it's important if we could establish those relationships, again being proactive and explaining things and being the one or having someone designated to receive calls to be able to help if our loved one is out and may exhibit some mental health crisis.
• 27:46
  Justin Alan Hayes: Right Switching gears, again Talking about the profession of being an attorney, what that entails, the school, the testing but prior to that, what brought your interest in law?
• 28:02
  Justin Alan Hayes: Was there one situation, one experience that happened?
• 28:07
  Justin Alan Hayes: Or was it just a culmination of things that occurred?
• 28:10
  Justin Alan Hayes: And then you had that mind because I think I understand there's a lot of reading and some people like myself wouldn't do.
• 28:20
  Justin Alan Hayes: Well, I haven't ever read so much and this is not a great comprehend or I can share about what's happening and or my experience, but that read a case study and then share wouldn't be my best suit.
• 28:33
  Justin Alan Hayes: But if somebody out there has an interest in law might be watching a show on Netflix or TV and go okay, I want to do that.
• 28:43
  Justin Alan Hayes: That seems interesting.
• 28:44
  Justin Alan Hayes: Can you make sure some of that experience?
• 28:47
  Corey Minor Smith: Sure.
• 28:47
  Corey Minor Smith: So law school is three years, or you can go part time for four years, and it's important to research to school to see if it has the types of classes that you want to take.
• 28:59
  Corey Minor Smith: There are core classes in order to earn a Juris Doctorate, but it takes three years and then you would study for and take the bar.
• 29:07
  Corey Minor Smith: So first part is the degree.
• 29:10
  Corey Minor Smith: You would first have to have an undergraduate, a four year degree, from an accredited college or university, then apply to law school, which would be three years, and then to actually practice law, you would have to take the bar exam in whichever state that you want to practice and pass the bar, and then you would be, after you take your oath, you would be a licensed attorney in that state.
• 29:32
  Justin Alan Hayes: And so then your interest kind of in that what?
• 29:36
  Corey Minor Smith: Yeah.
• 29:36
  Corey Minor Smith: So that's a very interesting question, because I do have three things.
• 29:39
  Corey Minor Smith: But the one thing that I will share is in terms of the first time that I was in court at least that I knew of and that was for my own juvenile case, when I was being removed from the home and placed with my grandmother my paternal grandmother I, for whatever reason, was so excited to go to court that day, like I looked forward to it.
• 29:57
  Corey Minor Smith: I wanted to see the courtroom, not for the reasons that we were going, but I just had some interest in the court.
• 30:04
  Corey Minor Smith: I wanted to see the person in the black robe, the people in the suits, like what do they do?
• 30:08
  Corey Minor Smith: How does all of this work?
• 30:11
  Corey Minor Smith: But that day my family and I were not called into the courtroom.
• 30:16
  Corey Minor Smith: We just sat in the hallway and ultimately my case worker at the time came out and just said they're going to let you live with your grandmother.
• 30:23
  Corey Minor Smith: So whoever presented information, whatever testimony that was taken I wasn't a part of that and ultimately the decision was just relayed by the case worker.
• 30:32
  Corey Minor Smith: But that made my interest peak even further, because it's like oh, I didn't get to see this day what happened?
• 30:38
  Corey Minor Smith: I really want to know.
• 30:39
  Corey Minor Smith: So, as a high school student, there was a summer program called Jobs and Training Partnership and I was assigned to the Kent Municipal Court and there I worked directly with the judge in the judge's chamber and learned the inner workings of the court, got to see what the people in the black robes do, all of the people in the suits, and what they do, and I knew then that I wanted to become a lawyer.
• 31:01
  Justin Alan Hayes: Wow, that's fascinating to learn Now.
• 31:06
  Justin Alan Hayes: Where you live now in Washington DC, is there a separate bar?
• 31:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: You spoke about different states having exams to be able to practice.
• 31:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: How does Washington DC work?
• 31:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: Related to that, You're really testing my skills on this one.
• 31:24
  Corey Minor Smith: No, but with Washington DC it does accept state bars from other states I should say, well, actual states, since DC is not a state but Washington is the city.
• 31:35
  Corey Minor Smith: But at any rate, if you are licensed in another state, then you are able to practice in DC.
• 31:40
  Corey Minor Smith: There are some other rules and things of that nature that I'm not able to explain at this point, but they have a process of like waving in, where you would be able to practice before that court there, whichever one you may need to go to.
• 31:54
  Corey Minor Smith: But I encourage people to learn what the rules and procedures are in any applications that they may need to complete, in addition to any filing fees that may be associated with that.
• 32:04
  Corey Minor Smith: But I'm licensed in Ohio and Georgia, so I don't need another license in order to do the work that I do in Washington DC.
• 32:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, great, and this may we may have covered a little bit of this, but if we didn't, how did being a former public and subsidized housing resident maybe help shape your future personal and professional passion?
• 32:33
  Corey Minor Smith: Well, my current position is pretty germane to all that I have done previously.
• 32:39
  Corey Minor Smith: I did not understand all of the work that I have done housing related work that I have done, starting essentially at birth, because the first home that I lived in was a public housing unit when my mother and I lived with my grandmother, and then in assisted housing, which would be privately owned housing, but it is assisted by federal government funds, whether it's through a voucher or some type of housing subsidy, where the person's rent may be based on a income scale right and they pay a portion and then the other portion is subsidized by some type of federal funds or state funds, something of that nature.
• 33:17
  Corey Minor Smith: So a lot of my younger years I did live in either public housing or assisted housing, and most recently, when I was in law school, I lived in assisted housing.
• 33:27
  Corey Minor Smith: My senior year in college I had my first son and so I was eligible for this housing property that was in the city where I lived and I later learned that that was assisted housing, then working as a tester.
• 33:42
  Corey Minor Smith: Testers are essential to many fair housing cases where, for example, you may have heard of a person going to look at a unit that was available and they send a black person to go look at that unit and they send a white person with the same credentials, same qualifying things on their credit report, things of that nature and the unit is available as far as the marketing for it and everything when the black person goes is not available.
• 34:11
  Corey Minor Smith: When the white person goes, it is available and they're scheduled to move in and all of those things that can be foundational information for a fair housing complaint based on race, depending on other facts being involved.
• 34:23
  Corey Minor Smith: So I worked as a tester, again not knowing the full scope of it and also my moot court experience in law school was based.
• 34:31
  Corey Minor Smith: It was a civil rights moot court team and we were arguing for and against a housing development and a neighborhood that did not want this particular property to be built in their neighborhood.
• 34:42
  Corey Minor Smith: All of these things were leading me down to ultimately being general counsel for the same public housing authority that provided housing for my mother and I and now working for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds most all of these types of properties public housing authorities and the properties they own, as well as assisted properties.
• 35:04
  Corey Minor Smith: So full circle, I would say.
• 35:07
  Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, and I think that a little bit of a testament.
• 35:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: While you've talked about goals earlier and gifts, I think coming full circle and talking about dreams also, because you did, you came full circle of being a resident at a very, very young age and I'm kind of sure of all the aspects and then going through the education and trying I would say trying cases in law school, but whatever process that you go through and then now to be where you're being appointed by President Biden, that should really show an individual that dreams can happen and that they should continue to dream while there's craziness that goes on in society and in general, some people might be discouraged about that.
• 36:06
  Justin Alan Hayes: So I think it's healthy to hear your story and your experience about, yeah, you're able to attain it and you're doing it.
• 36:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: It's not, oh, I wanna do this Like, okay, well, I did all these steps and so there was a point in time where I was at one of these steps, but right now I've really come full circle and you as an individual as a human being you can go after your dreams.
• 36:30
  Corey Minor Smith: Absolutely, and I just it's not easy.
• 36:33
  Corey Minor Smith: It's not easy without the support and love and encouragement prayers from family and friends.
• 36:39
  Corey Minor Smith: I definitely would not have made any of these goals or accomplishments, whether I achieved them on my own or when nobody knew what I wanted to do next, or I voiced what I wanted to do next and people directly helped me.
• 36:55
  Corey Minor Smith: But I know that I would not be where I am without the love and support, prayers, care, encouragement of my family and my friends.
• 37:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: So faith, how important is faith to you?
• 37:09
  Corey Minor Smith: Oh, it's number one priority.
• 37:10
  Corey Minor Smith: It's one of my five principles faith, motivation, determination, preparation and action and I strongly believe that we have to have faith.
• 37:18
  Corey Minor Smith: You know, whatever your religion is, whatever your belief system is, there is some level of a higher power outside of yourself that helps to guide you through this thing we call life.
• 37:30
  Corey Minor Smith: For me, it's God, lord and Savior, jesus Christ, and I do believe that the power of prayer is effective and I really appreciate all of those who pray for me when I did not know to pray for myself and then, once I learned that they still continue to pray.
• 37:49
  Corey Minor Smith: Like my grandma used to say you know, I'm praying with you and for you.
• 37:52
  Corey Minor Smith: I appreciate all of that, you know, because life is trying for anyone at any given time and it's just important to know you have support.
• 38:00
  Justin Alan Hayes: Great, if you don't mind, would you be able to share your motto for your life fight.
• 38:08
  Corey Minor Smith: Yes, yes, my life's motto.
• 38:09
  Corey Minor Smith: I must just give a little context.
• 38:11
  Corey Minor Smith: I had an educator.
• 38:13
  Corey Minor Smith: She was not ever my teacher directly, but she would use study halls or after school to help students to fill out college applications and scholarship applications.
• 38:21
  Corey Minor Smith: Her name is Norma Washington and she helps me to understand my story, if you will.
• 38:29
  Corey Minor Smith: She knew more about me at that time, my senior year in high school, than I knew about myself, and she encouraged me to write about the things that I had experienced at that time.
• 38:40
  Corey Minor Smith: Thus far and I'm telling you it's important to me, because I didn't even understand what had happened at that point.
• 38:47
  Corey Minor Smith: But doing that exercise helped me to understand at least where I was at that point.
• 38:53
  Corey Minor Smith: And for the first time, when I first wrote about, however, I chose to write my essay.
• 38:57
  Corey Minor Smith: She had encouraged me because, she said, scholarship boards, panels, whoever's reviewing these applications, they like to see a person who shows tenacity, who shows that they can overcome obstacles, because college is hard, and they want to invest in someone who's not gonna give up easily because college is hard and who has it in them to continue to fight to get to the goal that they want.
• 39:21
  Corey Minor Smith: And so I wrote for the first time, and that was the first time I received a scholarship, and I just learned how to share my story in an effective way, with the goal and the hope that it is helping other people.
• 39:36
  Corey Minor Smith: And with that I'll share my life's motto, because she told me that I had undesirable circumstances and she encouraged me to write about my undesirable circumstances.
• 39:49
  Corey Minor Smith: So I took that two word phrase and created my life's motto, which is don't allow undesirable circumstances to be excuses for you to fail, but allow them to be reasons for you to excel.
• 40:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, so perfect it's taking.
• 40:08
  Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, because life is gonna throw curveballs and there's gonna be things.
• 40:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: I tell my four-year-old daughter I was like don't, don't do this, because you might might slip or she's like, no, like I'm not going to because I don't want to yeah, well, sometimes things happen even if we don't want to.
• 40:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: If there's ice and we try to be careful, we still might slip.
• 40:30
  Justin Alan Hayes: So it's definitely taking things and I think that's we're having.
• 40:35
  Justin Alan Hayes: The belief in yourself Was able to maybe help propel and keep you, give you that momentum to keep going where at different points, you could have said, okay, well, I Can't do this, or I don't want to, or maybe I go a different route and not be as as passionate.
• 40:52
  Justin Alan Hayes: So what does Passion to you?
• 40:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: What?
• 40:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: What keeps you?
• 40:58
  Justin Alan Hayes: What keeps you waking up every day, wanting to do the work that you do?
• 41:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: And how important is that emotion, empathetic side, besides the dollars and the titles and Well, before it has changed right.
• 41:15
  Corey Minor Smith: So, as a mother of two sons, a lot of my Priority, a lot of my focus in my earlier parts of my career was on them, you know, and what got me up each day when the difficult times like when I was going through my divorce was them.
• 41:28
  Corey Minor Smith: And now, understanding severe mental illness, understanding that that is what my mother is living with and that it is not going to go away, you know there's the periods of recovery or periods where she is lucid, but there are periods where not, and it's not going to go away, as this describes schizophrenia, specifically in thirds.
• 41:50
  Corey Minor Smith: You know, one third of the people May have one bout with symptoms and never experience it again.
• 41:56
  Corey Minor Smith: The second third are individuals who may be in and out of hospitals for the rest of their lives, on and off the medication, in and out of jails for the rest of their lives, and I believe that's where my mother is.
• 42:07
  Corey Minor Smith: The third group of individuals Living with severe mental illness are those that may be untreated or significantly Undertreated and they may live unsheltered and they are likely to die at the hands of someone else or just the environmental circumstances of where they live at that time.
• 42:27
  Corey Minor Smith: So with all of that I had.
• 42:29
  Corey Minor Smith: I understand that my story is more than just about me and my mother, but a whole population of people throughout this country and throughout this world because mental illness, illness does not discriminate, um and who need voices To come together, to be voices for other voices, the voices that may not be heard as much, and to amplify those voices so that we can understand their needs for treatment, for services and, most importantly, for laws that are just and righteous for them.
• 43:03
  Corey Minor Smith: We hear this phrase about dying with their rights on, but in reality that it's.
• 43:08
  Corey Minor Smith: It's very hurtful for families to Be in a position where they cannot help their loved one because of how our laws are Implemented in many states, and that is causing a lot of people to live Unsheltered the people that we may see against the building, on a sidewalk, in the parks, on a park bench, on a bus stop bench.
• 43:29
  Corey Minor Smith: It is not because their families do not care about them and it's not because they don't have loved ones that care and love and want to support them.
• 43:37
  Corey Minor Smith: Many times, because of how the laws Operates, there is only so much that anyone, anyone, can do, quite honestly, so with that.
• 43:47
  Corey Minor Smith: That's where my passion lies and at the same time, I understand you have to keep your passion in check, because they can take you outside of yourself and you could be overwhelmed and Not be effective in your own life.
• 44:02
  Corey Minor Smith: So you have to learn how to balance it.
• 44:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: Excellent.
• 44:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: So you're an author of the bestseller driven what.
• 44:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: What gave you the idea of wanting to go into that realm of Writing?
• 44:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: Because I know it's a process to go through it, it that's doesn't happen overnight and so, having that wherewithal, I'm wanting to have that tenacity and that motivation and to not give up.
• 44:32
  Justin Alan Hayes: How, how did that process Unfold?
• 44:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: And you know, somebody may want to write a book, that that's watching, listening, and Not that we have to go through all this stuff.
• 44:45
  Justin Alan Hayes: But just that that mental process of like, okay, yeah, I'm gonna do it.
• 44:49
  Corey Minor Smith: Yeah, and that's just it.
• 44:50
  Corey Minor Smith: You got to just do it.
• 44:51
  Corey Minor Smith: But hashtag driven is a work that took a lot of years.
• 44:57
  Corey Minor Smith: I remember I was 16 when I first said that I was going to write a book and it was right after Moving from Houston, texas, to Canton, ohio and I told my cousin, perry, I'm writing a book.
• 45:07
  Corey Minor Smith: Didn't know my story at that time, didn't know what I was going to talk about, but I knew I had some kind of story.
• 45:13
  Corey Minor Smith: I knew from All that I had experienced at that point there was something that I needed to share.
• 45:18
  Corey Minor Smith: So it took me on this life journey of learning.
• 45:22
  Corey Minor Smith: What is this that I'm supposed to share?
• 45:24
  Corey Minor Smith: And the person who wrote the forward to the book, les Brown, motivational speaker, renown motivational speaker.
• 45:30
  Corey Minor Smith: He heard, or actually I had given him Information about me.
• 45:35
  Corey Minor Smith: A story was written about me in the local newspaper and I'd given my resume.
• 45:39
  Corey Minor Smith: I used to do that for anybody that I thought was of note, that might be able to, you know, help, lead or guide or be a mentor in my career.
• 45:46
  Corey Minor Smith: And he actually had called me that night and said you have a story to share with the world.
• 45:52
  Corey Minor Smith: And I didn't know what to do with that statement, but ultimately I knew that I needed to just write.
• 45:59
  Corey Minor Smith: Just write down whatever my thoughts are, whatever my memories were, and that's what I encourage people to do Just write.
• 46:05
  Corey Minor Smith: Don't worry about the grammar, don't worry about the punctuation.
• 46:09
  Corey Minor Smith: You know you can edit later, but just get out, pour out what you think you want your book to be about, and that can help guide you to formatting, to a publishable work.
• 46:20
  Corey Minor Smith: Ultimately, whether you self-publish or seek out a traditional publishing house, so the book is available everywhere.
• 46:29
  Corey Minor Smith: Yeah, so it's available on Amazon hashtag driven by Corey Miner Smith, and it was published in 2019.
• 46:36
  Corey Minor Smith: I used my 45th birthday as my book launch, and so think about that from 16 to 45.
• 46:42
  Corey Minor Smith: And so, with that, I say never give up, right, you want to write a book?
• 46:46
  Corey Minor Smith: It can come.
• 46:47
  Corey Minor Smith: You do have to dedicate time to do it, and at one point, I did have to just sit down and say this is what I'm going to do, maybe having an accountability partner that's going to help you stay on track and then reward yourself.
• 47:00
  Corey Minor Smith: You know, after I write a hundred words, I'll do this.
• 47:04
  Corey Minor Smith: You know, give yourself some little treats, a little something to look forward to and ultimately get to a manuscript that you can share with others to help you to get to the editing process and, however, you're going to get it published.
• 47:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: Great.
• 47:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: So how can our audience learn more about you and follow your future successes?
• 47:27
  Corey Minor Smith: Well, thank you, future successes.
• 47:29
  Corey Minor Smith: Yes, coreyempowerscom is my website.
• 47:33
  Corey Minor Smith: It gives all the information, even a link to purchase the book, if you would like to purchase the book.
• 47:37
  Corey Minor Smith: And then I am on most social media platforms, so I encourage people to go to Instagram, at Corey Empowers, and on Facebook, I'm Corey Miner-Smith, and also at Corey Empowers and on Twitter, corey Miner-Smith.
• 47:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: Great and I invite everybody share Corey Miner-Smith's information.
• 47:56
  Justin Alan Hayes: Share her book hashtag driven.
• 47:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: Check it out.
• 48:01
  Justin Alan Hayes: She is, as you see and as you hear, very hard work and tenacious, persistent person that doesn't stop at the end of the nose.
• 48:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: I'm going to continue to go because this is how I feel like I'm being called and, as you mentioned, you were 16 when you started the thought process of just getting the thoughts out.
• 48:32
  Justin Alan Hayes: You never know when that was going to be when the book was going to come out, but if you hadn't started then, then it may not have some of the content that's in there and the writing is probably a little cathartic as well.
• 48:48
  Justin Alan Hayes: Besides having something to share literally with the world, it probably helped get some things that might have been in your head and in your mind.
• 48:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: I know that's how I feel, that even when I go for my therapy which I should go tomorrow and people hear the word therapy and think, okay, it's this taboo thing and I don't want to go to the therapy, I don't want a therapist and that's a conversation for another day but just the thought process of what actually happens, like I literally just talk about what I've done and what's on my mind and they listen, they'll jump in, something appears out of the ordinary and I feel like writing and journaling and having even just two or three things a day and being grateful for, like I am grateful for and writing those things out that the less that's in our mind, the more our mind can focus, maybe on things that like that creative process.
• 49:52
  Corey Minor Smith: Yes, being mindful.
• 49:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: Being mindful.
• 49:54
  Justin Alan Hayes: Well, corey, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 49:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: It's been an absolute treat to have you in studio in person, to have listened to and watch your speech earlier at the Nami Summit County annual luncheon, and congratulations on all your past successes, and wish you not but the best of luck and look forward to following you on your social media channels what's to come.
• 50:23
  Corey Minor Smith: Thank you very much.
• 50:24
  Corey Minor Smith: It's a pleasure to meet you and I appreciate you coming to the luncheon.
• 50:27
  Corey Minor Smith: I know you go to them anyway, but it was a pleasure to meet you in person and I truly appreciate the invitation and joining you today.
• 50:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: Absolutely yeah, and I also want to give a big thank you to you, our audience, our listeners, our viewers for joining us on this episode.
• 50:43
  Justin Alan Hayes: The Voices for Voices Now TV show and podcast Did a little rebranding because there's a TV show, not just a podcast.
• 50:51
  Justin Alan Hayes: And a big thank you also to our guest attorney, corey Miner Smith, for spending some time with us today and until next time, I am Justin Allen Hayes and I hope you have a great day and be a voice for you or somebody in need.