We are really excited to launch our new training in partnership with Next Chapter Scotland The voice of those involved with the criminal justice system is often silenced and yet the value their contri...

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Lived experience roles are an integral part of a recovery focused mental health workforce. How can this be developed and what is needed for…

This episode stands as a living testament to what it means to survive, to rebuild, and to reclaim identity beyond what systems, statistics, and suffering attempted to define. In this deeply reflective and unfiltered conversation, I sit with Jennifer Tai, MSW, ASW, PPSC, whose life embodies both the weight of trauma and the discipline of healing. Jennifer does not offer a polished narrative. She offers truth. She walks us through her lived experience in foster care, the instability that shaped her early identity, and the internal battles that continued long after she exited the system. She names grief, abuse, loss, and the quiet realities that rarely make it into policy conversations but live in the bodies and minds of those impacted every single day. This conversation moves beyond storytelling into formation. Jennifer articulates how community, higher education, and intentional support systems became anchors in her healing journey. She challenges the deficit-based narratives placed on foster youth and confronts the harm embedded in low expectations, systemic gaps, and performative support structures. Her voice carries both clinical precision and lived authority. As a mental health therapist and foster care alum, she bridges two worlds that often remain disconnected. She brings clarity to trauma-informed care, identity development, and the long-term implications of aging out without sustained support. She speaks to the reality that resilience, while often celebrated, is frequently misunderstood and over-assigned to those who deserved protection, not pressure. The title of this episode is not symbolic. It is earned. After the storm is when the flowers bloom. Not because the storm was necessary, but because growth refused to be denied. This episode addresses: • The intersection of foster care experience and identity formation • The long-term impact of trauma, grief, and systemic instability • The truth about resilience versus survival • The role of higher education as both opportunity and burden for system-impacted youth • Mental health realities behind visible success • The necessity of chosen family, mentorship, and community • The ongoing nature of healing and the discipline it requires • The systemic failures surrounding aging out and lack of extended support Jennifer speaks directly to those still in the storm. She affirms that your current reality does not hold authority over your future trajectory. She grounds hope in lived evidence, not empty language. About the Guest: Jennifer Tai is a clinical social worker, mental health therapist, and former foster youth who integrates lived experience with clinical practice to support foster youth and alumni. Her work centers on trauma-informed care, identity development, and systemic advocacy within higher education and mental health systems. She currently serves at San José State University Counseling and Psychological Services and as a mental health liaison for the Guardian Scholars Program. She also provides trauma-focused therapy in private practice and contributes nationally through advocacy, public speaking, and authorship. Ways to Connect with Jennifer Tai: Instagram: @totallyjenni4ever LinkedIn: Jennifer Tai Facebook: Jennifer Tai Bio and Work: https://bio.site/JenniferTai This episode is not background noise. It is a mirror, a confrontation, and a call to rebuild what systems failed to sustain. If this conversation stirred something in you, sit with it. Reflect. Then move toward what healing requires.

🎙️ 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: https://instagram.com/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: for sponsorships, collaborations, and donor inquiries.

🎙️ 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: https://instagram.com/sylviamonica_ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sylvia-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: for sponsorship and partnership inquiries.