Latest / Voices for Voices® / Unmasking the Myths Around Medication and Healing | Episode 194

Transcript

Unmasking the Myths Around Medication and Healing | Episode 194 · Voices for Voices®

• 0:02
  Justin Alan Hayes: Welcome to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast.
• 0:08
  Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for joining this episode.
• 0:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for your support and the love that you've given us at the outset of starting this organization to well over 190 episodes today, and we will be hitting a total of at least 300 episodes by the end of 2025.
• 0:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: So thank you trusting us with with your time and being able to come to you, whether this is your first episode or whether this is every episode that you've been with us, we can't do it.
• 1:01
  Justin Alan Hayes: You, if you could do us a big favor at any point, give us a big thumbs up like share and then, if you're able to, again, we are a 501c3 nonprofit and we accept donations, sponsorship.
• 1:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: You can head on over to voicesforvoicesorg and right at the top you'll see a spot where it'll say support our show.
• 1:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: And there is costs.
• 1:39
  Justin Alan Hayes: There are costs, many costs that go into producing this show and putting it together and getting it to the point where it's able to be presented in a manner that gets it to as many platforms as many people here in North America, northeast Ohio and across the world.
• 2:06
  Justin Alan Hayes: We're at 50, 52 countries just on the audio side, 550 plus cities across the world and we couldn't do that without you having that demand for this content, and we bring a variety of content to you and to those who choose to tune in at any given point in time.
• 2:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: Big goal of helping three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond.
• 2:48
  Justin Alan Hayes: We do, from time to time, partner up, support other organizations to span our net, to tap into new audiences, as well as having those organizations tap into our audiences and our supporters and donors.
• 3:08
  Justin Alan Hayes: So the topic of the show for this particular episode really comes in the form of well, we'll just call it what it is.
• 3:31
  Justin Alan Hayes: It's called a stigma, and a stigma can be around mental health, it can be around anything really, and for one reason or another, it's like a classification, if you want to think of it that way.
• 3:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: People may be for it, may be against it, may have a lot of information, may have very little information about a particular topic, but that's the topic that we're talking about.
• 4:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: Topic, but that's that's the topic that we're talking about, and you will have seen by now a video that we put out talking about the new administration here in the United States, trump and in his, and we fully support everyone in our administration.
• 4:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: We want to see our country not just survive, we want to see it thrive.
• 4:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: Know the health side of things, rfk, jr coming in, as many of the, the new administration, the new cabinet members when they come in they usually want to take a good look at what's.
• 4:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: What's been happening.
• 5:00
  Justin Alan Hayes: So right, how, how are things going?
• 5:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, and really we can think of a almost like a SWOT analysis S for strength, w for weakness, o for opportunity and T for threat.
• 5:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: So strength and weaknesses are things internally.
• 5:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: So internally, what can, what are we doing well and where are there opportunities where we can grow that we know of?
• 5:31
  Justin Alan Hayes: Internally, opportunities, how can we get better?
• 5:35
  Justin Alan Hayes: Threats, competitors, and we think about country, other countries, other governments, other militaries can be thought of in that respect from a competitor side of thing or a threat.
• 5:54
  Justin Alan Hayes: And so when we look at, you know, rfk and the health side of things, we agree as an organization again, we want to be as healthy as possible.
• 6:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: We want everybody to have the same opportunity, to have that longevity in life, to live as long as humanly possible and have the years lived be years that aren't like being in a vegetative state where not not able to move around very well, or we're able to be active as a way to think about that.
• 6:46
  Justin Alan Hayes: So our okay comes in and he's, you know, looking at a lot of things.
• 6:51
  Justin Alan Hayes: You know I have vaccines he's looking at.
• 6:54
  Justin Alan Hayes: You know red dye, I think's already been banned, so that should be coming out of foods here in the United States, which I believe that is something that should have happened a while ago, but you know that's water under the bridge at this point.
• 7:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: And then there is the let's say, like the you know, the medication side of things, right, the pharmaceuticals we want to see.
• 7:31
  Justin Alan Hayes: Right.
• 7:31
  Justin Alan Hayes: We want to see fair pricing for everybody, whether you're a congressman, the president of the United States, or whether you're you and I am me, you and I am me.
• 7:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: And if we have medications, we have prescriptions to fill.
• 7:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: That pricing is, in an ideal world, it would be the same over the course of the whole country, no matter who you are, where you're living and what your demographic is, how much money you're worth or not worth, and so how that really ties into to stigma is when we look at individuals, right, we have preconceived notions, maybe by the way we were brought up or things that we've learned, and so we feel a certain way for a certain reason or reasons, and that's okay and that's real human nature an individual who is a consumer of mental health, mental illness pharmaceuticals, as somebody who takes them morning, noon, night.
• 9:16
  Justin Alan Hayes: The part where we're looking at is we don't want to be in a position where, if an individual has been diagnosed in a certain way and a prescription has been offered as a way to cope and help the situation, and if that individual wants to go down that road, we believe that they should be able to.
• 9:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: And we also believe that if an individual doesn't want to do that, that they should have that right and not to be judged on that, not to be given different pricing or treated differently than somebody that is a consumer of the medication, that is a consumer of the medication.
• 10:24
  Justin Alan Hayes: And so I think the the stigma really comes in when we're looking at who's taken mental health medication and who's not.
• 10:32
  Justin Alan Hayes: And the easy thing to do is to lump everybody together as a human being, and there are lots of things that make us very, very similar and there are things that may make us a little bit different, and so the chemistry of our brain, the makeup and dopamine and all these different chemicals that are running through our body, and so do we believe that everybody who is diagnosed with a certain mental illness again that they have to take the medication no, they want to.
• 11:28
  Justin Alan Hayes: That will be offered, the prescription will be written, and if they don't want to do that, then that that's okay.
• 11:42
  Justin Alan Hayes: Where I am, personally, I am, since 2017 to November, again been on medications mental mental health, mental illness medications day in and day out from november 2017, and so some of you may be wondering, oh well, you didn't have to take that medication or you should have been able to stop at a certain point.
• 12:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: And again, I we appreciate, we appreciate feedback, but we also believe that individuals to me, mental health wise that that choice of do we want to go ahead with the medication and don't we?
• 12:42
  Justin Alan Hayes: And at my lowest in 2017, in November 2017, I don't know how close I was to death and I don't say that lightly as in oh wow, yeah, look at me, I'm just putting that aside I would not be as passionate about what, the what's, what, the organization and and trying to help as many people as we can and to just be literally transparent with my life and then, as an organization, how all this kind of comes together, and so I really, you know, at the outset, in November 2017, maybe I wasn't in the position to make an informed, as informed decision about medication that I am now going on seven years later Well, actually going on eight.
• 13:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: Actually, time's really, really flying.
• 14:01
  Justin Alan Hayes: But as I sit here today, as I've sat here time and time and time again, stood and sat in a studio, mission trips, reentry everywhere I am in a better position to make a call about the medication.
• 14:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: And again, for me, I'm only going to speak about myself.
• 14:32
  Justin Alan Hayes: Would I still be alive now if I didn't voluntarily admit myself into the psych ward in Akron General Hospital?
• 14:43
  Justin Alan Hayes: Maybe, maybe not, I don't know.
• 14:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: I've hashed that out in the past and I'll continue to bring that in as content warrants.
• 14:58
  Justin Alan Hayes: But really, to just get to the heart of the matter, I believe that, first off, you have to have a spiritual side.
• 15:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: So I have that relationship with Jesus.
• 15:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: That's me.
• 15:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: So I have that relationship with Jesus.
• 15:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: That's me.
• 15:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may or may not have a religious tie, and that's okay.
• 15:22
  Justin Alan Hayes: Again, I'm talking about me.
• 15:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: I'm filming the show on behalf of the organization Voices for Voices, so that's how I share.
• 15:33
  Justin Alan Hayes: I share in first person when I'm talking about these types of topics, I'm in a much better position to make a decision, and the decision I made is I want to continue taking the medications that I've been taking.
• 15:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: So what does that mean?
• 16:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: And how does that tie into RFK and the new administration or any government administration?
• 16:06
  Justin Alan Hayes: Well, it ties in, because I don't want to be at a point where do I agree about this topic and that topic.
• 16:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: We can all agree to disagree about certain topics, but with the medications I'm taking, with the guidance I've been given, with results, the fact that, again, organization-wise, the things that we have done up until this point and that we're going to continue to do here in 2025 and beyond, I would be having panic attack after panic attack after panic attack, like, oh man, can't do this, no, how am I going to do that?
• 16:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: They're like oh man, can't do this, no, how am I going to do that?
• 17:02
  Justin Alan Hayes: As I come to you on this episode, I come as in peace as one can be.
• 17:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah right, nobody is perfect.
• 17:15
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you think you're perfect, you're not.
• 17:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: There was a lot of time where I thought I was perfect.
• 17:22
  Justin Alan Hayes: I thought that I could solve all my problems and I couldn't.
• 17:27
  Justin Alan Hayes: So that's, that's that.
• 17:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: So the I want to be able to make that call, if I want to continue or if I want to stop, and so to have, you know, rfk or anybody from his staff or the administration, have some sort of mandate where these medications the ones specific to me and maybe specific to you or somebody that you know, or maybe you're studying in the field and you're hearing names of medications, you know generics and name brands, et cetera Because I don't want to be in a position where the medications aren't available, and that's the true heart of the discussion I want to talk about here in this episode.
• 18:35
  Justin Alan Hayes: Nobody wants to be in a position where they're they have two choices, one's bad and the other one's worse.
• 18:44
  Justin Alan Hayes: You want to, as much as possible, as healthy as possible, as ethically, as legal as possible.
• 18:54
  Justin Alan Hayes: We want to be able to go through and make those decisions, and so we really want to be able to continue that under this administration.
• 19:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: And again, I've uh with with the, the, the video, uh put out a little bit on this matter.
• 19:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: Uh, prior to this episode coming, coming out, uh have uh made the invitation that I'd be more, more than willing, made the invitation that I'd be more than willing to come speak with Congress, come speak with President Trump, rk Jr, have congressional testimony and talk about my experiences and again, not just as somebody who's the head of an organization, somebody who is living day to day with these conditions, and we want to be able to have that, that to continue, not continue.
• 20:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: When it comes to that In my life.
• 20:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: I say I'm at peace after the nerves of getting ready to film, as I'm now in the filming inside the episode.
• 20:30
  Justin Alan Hayes: I'm at peace with what I'm talking about, because what I'm talking about is my real life, and when you're talking about your real life, that should put you a little bit at peace, because you're the expert on you, I'm the expert on me, because you're the expert on you, I'm the expert on me, and that's the way things go.
• 20:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: So we don't want a stigma to be extended which would mean that mental health meds would not be made available, or only certain ones, based off of what a government would say, and so that would continue.
• 21:21
  Justin Alan Hayes: That stigma of well, my feeling would be is like oh well, here's just another hoop, I got to jump through another hurdle, I have to pass over, and I do that every day, and you may do it every day, and that's where the stigma comes in, where we are as raw as raw can be for content.
• 21:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: You can find a whole lot about my life Again, some good, some bad On our shows throughout the years, media appearances, articles and the like.
• 22:10
  Justin Alan Hayes: And I do realize I say words over and over again.
• 22:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: I say like, sometimes I roll my eyes in a certain way, but that's just me, I can't help it, that's just how I speak.
• 22:25
  Justin Alan Hayes: And again, everybody can have their opinion, but I'm not going to judge you on anything because I'm in no position to speak.
• 22:44
  Justin Alan Hayes: I don't have particular magic powers or superpowers, supreme empowers, uh, to to do that, uh, you know, only god can do that, uh.
• 23:00
  Justin Alan Hayes: And so I do realize that, with as many episodes and as much public speaking and many times of episodes, it's just how it is.
• 23:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: And so that's another part of what brings us to you in a raw form and we're not sugarcoating anything.
• 23:23
  Justin Alan Hayes: We're talking about topics as they are at the time of filming and the stigma is out there.
• 23:33
  Justin Alan Hayes: It's still out there.
• 23:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: And around mental health and if we talk about these prescriptions and are we saying that all pharmaceutical companies are ethical?
• 23:48
  Justin Alan Hayes: Absolutely not.
• 23:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: Whenever there's a person running something, there are going to be mistakes to be made, and so, no, we're not lobbying, we're not being paid by a pharmaceutical company to say these things.
• 24:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: I'm talking purely on my experience with myself and where I'm at and and that's where that stands.
• 24:23
  Justin Alan Hayes: And so, yeah, the the stigma is still out there, mental health-wise, and I really hope that RFK and the powers that be in this instance because it impacts me and probably impacts you or somebody you know and some people we don't know about because it impacts me and probably impacts you or somebody you know and some people we don't know about so we're not alone.
• 24:55
  Justin Alan Hayes: There's other people at the same table as us, whether it's similar, a little bit different, and I learned that in 2017, but I'm I'm not alone.
• 25:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: You're not alone.
• 25:06
  Justin Alan Hayes: So do what you need to do to continue on, and that's what I'm gonna continue on and our organization is gonna continue on.
• 25:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: And then, lastly, how that stigma really comes into play.
• 25:24
  Justin Alan Hayes: We actually actually, we're going to come back with a uh, kind of a second half, second part of this, uh, this stigma conversation, because I don't want to rush going through uh, the the next aspect I want to cover because's a couple tiers and levels to it that I'm going to give justice to those I don't want to just gloss over.
• 25:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: I think it's time to continue that stigma conversation Again.
• 26:08
  Justin Alan Hayes: We make ourselves available, you know, to DC, wherever we need to be.
• 26:16
  Justin Alan Hayes: We do it remotely to share our experience.
• 26:22
  Justin Alan Hayes: And's what we want to do.
• 26:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: And that's really where all this stems from, where it stems from my heart and mind and my thought is that's probably why you have stuck with us as long as you have, and that we're continuing to see explosive growth across the nation, across the world, audio video TV.
• 27:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: We're just grateful to be in this position to come to you.
• 27:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: So I'm looking at a camera and it's just in a little bit of a way, crazy that the camera I'm looking into is really going to branch out to households, apartments, condos, governments, militaries, all across the world.
• 27:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: It's it's this kind of blows my mind to have that opportunity and it really shows, I guess, the gravity of the content that we're talking about, that it's that important that we want to share, share with you.
• 28:02
  Justin Alan Hayes: So we have a catalog of episodes.
• 28:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you're tuning in for the first time, welcome voicesforvoicesorg.
• 28:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you're able to make a monetary donation, support the show comes up right there after you go to voicesforvoicesorg or, if you're on venmo, voices for you, can make a fully tax-free donation as we are a 501c3.
• 28:38
  Justin Alan Hayes: Voices for Voices.
• 28:39
  Justin Alan Hayes: So thank you for hanging with us this episode.
• 28:44
  Justin Alan Hayes: We'll be coming back to continue this conversation.
• 28:51
  Justin Alan Hayes: The episode might not be numbered right after this episode.
• 28:56
  Justin Alan Hayes: So if this is episode 195, the stigma kind of the second part, second half, might not be the very next number, because we're coming with a lot of content.
• 29:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: We're coming with a lot of content, a lot of good stuff.
• 29:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: So just make sure that you're taking a look at those descriptions and those titles.
• 29:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you're going through, Best thing you can do is just download them all.
• 29:25
  Justin Alan Hayes: That way you're able to just scroll through the episodes.
• 29:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: That's what I do with my favorite podcast TV shows.
• 29:33
  Justin Alan Hayes: So until next time, please be a voice for you or somebody in need.