『Resilient Voices & Beyond』のカバーアート

Resilient Voices & Beyond

Resilient Voices & Beyond

著者： Michael D. Davis-Thomas Aka MDDTSpeaks
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 Resilient Voices & Beyond is a podcast that amplifies the voices of those who were once silenced and aims to empower a new generation of foster care alum leaders. Through conversations with community partners, leaders, advocates, and activists, this podcast educates listeners on reforms, policies, and advocacy related to foster care, adoption, kinship, CCIs, JJ, and the child welfare system. The podcast challenges stigmas and labels surrounding these topics and creates a dialogue on reform and advocacy that is already happening or needs to happen. The core values of Resilient Voices & Beyond include empowerment, inclusivity, education, collaboration, authenticity, and innovation. The mission of the podcast is to create a platform for silenced voices to be heard and received, while the vision is to inspire and empower a new generation of leaders committed to making a positive change in the world.Michael D. Davis-Thomas/MDDTSpeaks 心理学 心理学・心の健康 衛生・健康的な生活
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  • " She believed she could, so she did ”

    " She believed she could, so she did ”
    2025/09/11
    🎙️ Episode 52 — “She Believed She Could, So She Did”

    Guest: Faith M. Keen | DHHS Intern • FSM Contractor • LEx Policy Advocate • TLE Member • BSW
    Candidate • Future MSW
    Podcast: Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast — Season 3
    Host: Michael D. Davis-Thomas Episode Description:

    In this powerful and soul-baring conversation, host Michael D. Davis-Thomas is joined by rising advocate, policy shaper, and lived experience leader Faith M. Keen, for an episode that feels more like a mirror than a mic. Titled “She Believed She Could, So She Did,” this dialogue is a tender, tenacious, and truth-filled journey through the harsh realities of childhood adversity—and the radical self-determination it takes to rise from it.

    Faith doesn't just speak her truth—she lives it. From a chaotic upbringing marked by instability, addiction, and displacement, to finding belonging through advocacy, higher education, and a fierce belief in the power of lived experience, Faith’s journey is a living testimony of what resilience looks like when nurtured in community and courage.

    Together, Michael and Faith dive into:
    • The emotional toll of caring for others when no one cared for you
    • Reframing trauma as purpose without glamorizing the pain
    • The role of policy advocacy in restoring dignity to foster youth
    • The nuance of self-care in a space that demands our pain for progress
    • Navigating healing while still showing up as “the strong one”
    • The balance between being a voice for the voiceless and being heard yourself

    As she shares deeply personal stories—from driving her mother while under the influence to being adopted by extended family who didn’t always understand her worth—Faith unpacks the layers of survival and silence, of grief and grit, that so many foster youth carry but rarely have safe space to process. She and Michael explore how systems often force youth to perform wellness while still bleeding, and how real change must include not just policies—but peace.

    Faith’s work with Fostering Success Michigan, Michigan’s Team with Lived Expertise (TLE), and her continued advocacy through public speaking and youth engagement is helping reshape how the state and nation see system-impacted youth—not as broken, but as brilliant. Her upcoming pursuit of an MSW at the University of Michigan is yet another step in becoming the change she needed as a child.

    This episode isn’t about triumphalism. It’s about truth. It’s about community. And it’s about choosing healing—even when no one taught you how.

    📣 Because believing in yourself isn’t cliché when you’ve survived systems designed to make you forget how.

    🔗 Connect with Faith M. Keen
    📸 Instagram: @keen.faith.210
    📘 Facebook / 🔗 LinkedIn: Faith Keen

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube, and all major streaming platforms.

    📢 Support the Podcast
    Venmo: @MDDTSpeaks | CashApp: $MDDTSpeaksInc | PayPal: MDDT1
    Email: mddtspeaks@gmail.com for sponsorships, collaborations, and donor inquiries.
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    1 時間 5 分
  • "Still waters run deep"

    "Still waters run deep"
    2025/08/01
    🎙️ Episode 51 — “Still Waters Run Deep”

    Guest: Sylvia Monica Parrott | National Foster Care Advocate, Public Speaker, Lived Experience Leader

    Podcast: Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast — Season 3

    Episode Description:

    Still waters don’t mean still souls. In this soul-stirring episode of Resilient Voices & Beyond, host Michael D. Davis-Thomas sits down with the quiet force that is Sylvia Monica Parrott—a woman whose strength is not in how loudly she speaks, but in how deeply she feels, how faithfully she leads, and how consistently she shows up for a system she survived. "Still Waters Run Deep" isn’t just the title of this conversation—it’s a prophetic description of the life Sylvia has lived and the legacy she’s building.

    From entering Rhode Island’s foster care system at the age of five to navigating abusive placements, isolation, and reentry at 17, Sylvia’s story is anything but surface-level. She shares with unwavering clarity the silent storms of trauma, abandonment, sexual violence, and mental health struggles—alongside the quiet rebellions of mentorship, faith, advocacy, and healing that helped her rise. This episode is not a tale of pity or performative triumph; it is a sacred reckoning with the reality that not every survivor roars—but every survivor matters.

    Together, Michael and Sylvia explore:
    • The emotional toll of being system-impacted from early childhood
    • The invisibility of introverted advocates in noisy advocacy spaces
    • The crisis of mental health in group homes and transitional housing
    • The trauma of institutionalization and the weight of being “too strong for too long”
    • The spiritual grounding and self-forgiveness it takes to lead from a wounded place
    • How Sylvia is quietly, persistently, disrupting the status quo without needing to shout
    From testifying before legislators to co-authoring op-eds, from guiding youth at Foster Forward’s Drop-In Center to speaking on national stages, Sylvia is redefining what leadership looks like for foster alumni. Her work is not driven by ego—but by empathy. Not polished performance—but prophetic presence.

    Michael, moved by Sylvia’s radical vulnerability, speaks candidly about the podcast’s journey, the cost of advocacy, and the urgent need for community-funded sustainability. As they close the episode, Sylvia offers words of truth to anyone feeling broken, burned out, or silenced in their struggle: “Don’t doubt yourself. You have so much to offer the world.”

    This episode is a mirror for those who’ve learned to lead while still healing—and a mandate to make space for the still waters among us.

    🕊️ Listen deeply. Share widely. Honor the stillness that runs deep.

    🔗 Connect with Sylvia Monica Parrott
    Instagram: @sylviamonica_
    LinkedIn: Sylvia M. Parrott

    🎧 Available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube, and all major platforms.

    📣 Support the Podcast
    Your donations help keep the mic on for truth-tellers like Sylvia.
    Venmo: @MDDTSpeaks | CashApp: $MDDTSpeaksInc | PayPal: MDDT1
    Email: mddtspeaks@gmail.com for sponsorship and partnership inquiries.
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    57 分
  • Your story is the message. Your story is your legacy

    Your story is the message. Your story is your legacy
    2025/07/30
    🎙️ Episode 50 — “Your Story Is the Message. Your Story Is Your Legacy”

    Featuring: Tamara L. Dillard | Author, Clinical Social Worker, Therapist, Foster Care Advocate, Foster Alumni

    Podcast: Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast — Season 3
    Host: Michael D. Davis-Thomas

    In this milestone 50th episode and the Season 3 of the Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast, host Michael D. Davis-Thomas sits down once more with powerhouse advocate and returning guest, Tamara L. Dillard, to discuss her emotionally searing and transformative debut memoir, “Letters to the Village.” This isn’t just a conversation—it’s a reckoning.

    With honesty that cuts and compassion that heals, Tamara invites us into the sacred corridors of her lived experience in Kentucky’s foster care system—where pain and policy intersect, where community was both absent and found, and where healing arrived not as a gift but as a decision. Her memoir, structured as a series of unfiltered letters to the helpers, hurters, and bystanders in her life, challenges us to consider: What kind of villager have you been? What kind will you choose to become?

    Together, Tamara and Michael explore what it means to write from wounds, not for pity but for purpose. They unpack the emotional labor of storytelling while managing PTSD, and they speak to the burden—and blessing—of advocacy as foster care survivors. Michael reflects on the bystander effect within systems and communities, while Tamara calls for intentional, systemic, and personal accountability. It’s a bold, layered conversation about trauma, memory, forgiveness, authorship, and the audacity of telling your truth when silence would be easier.

    Tamara’s voice is prophetic, measured, and fierce. Her writing process wasn’t linear—it was sacred warfare. She shares how “Letters to the Village” nearly broke her but ultimately rebuilt her—chapter by chapter, truth by truth.

    In closing, Michael reflects on the growth of Resilient Voices & Beyond through its third season, emphasizing the continued need for listener support, community sponsorship, and sustainability as he carries this labor of love forward. This Episode isn’t the ending—it’s an altar call for justice, truth-telling, and restorative storytelling.

    Because your story is the message. And your story—yes, yours—is your legacy.
    📚 Read “Letters to the Village” — Available now.
    📢 Support this podcast through donations, sharing, and ongoing engagement.

    Ways to Support

    • Venmo: @MDDTSpeaks
    • Cash App: $MDDTSpeaks
    • PayPal: MDDT
    • Book: Resilient Faith (available on Amazon)
    • Podcast: Resilient Voices & Beyond (available on all platforms)

    🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube, and all major streaming platforms.

    🔗 Connect with Tamara Dillard:
    📘 Facebook: Tamara LeeAnn Dillard
    📸 Instagram: @missdillardsroom
    🎵 TikTok: @missdillardsroom
    💼 LinkedIn: Tamara (Vest) Dillard
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    53 分
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