Integrity Over Shortcuts: The Ethics of Helping | Episode 454

Integrity Over Shortcuts: The Ethics of Helping | Episode 454

One life can change fifty more—Justin Alan Hayes makes that case with candor, grit, and a clear call to lead with ethics. We open by thanking the community that’s carried Voices for Voices to 1,000+ cities and 100+ countries, then draw a bright line: mental health first, politics out. That clarity keeps space for real stories about trauma and recovery while protecting listeners from bait-and-switch agendas.

We walk through our guest standards and why some recordings never air. When a story arrives shaped by hidden motives, we hit pause. When it’s honest, owned, and responsible, we make room. Justin shares how teaching ethics informs the work: do your research, trust your instincts when something fails the sniff test, and accept the weight of decisions when stakes are high. The message is simple, not easy—integrity beats shortcuts, especially where well-being is involved.

Justin also gets personal about mental health. He talks about letting go of grudges, loosening the grip of other people’s opinions, and rebuilding trust after seasons of no-shows and empty praise. That shift fuels the consistency behind 450+ episodes built on transparency and plain speech. We highlight a core belief: helping one person ripples into families, teams, classrooms, and workplaces. The multiplier effect is how a zero-budget nonprofit grows global reach—through listeners who become upstanders and share resources with their circles.

If you’re looking for a space that respects story ownership, lowers stigma, and favors courage over performance, you’re home. Tap play, subscribe, and pass this along to 25 or 50 people who need it. Then tell us: who’s your “one” today? Leave a rating, share a takeaway, and help us keep the chain of care moving.

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*Voices for Voices is a 501c3 nonprofit charity. All donations are 100% tax deductible.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome And Global Mission

0:46 Audience Support And Reach Goals

3:31 Focus On Mental Health Over Politics

4:48 Guest Standards And No-Agenda Policy

6:01 Ethics, Integrity, And Teaching

8:21 Doing The Work And Hard Choices

11:21 Story Ownership And Free Speech

14:05 Letting Go Of Grudges For Mental Health

16:21 Trust, Boundaries, And Finding Your Lane

18:02 The Power Of Helping One Person

20:07 Transparency And Community Impact

22:07 Keep Showing Up And Share The Mission

24:31 Nonprofit Reality And Inclusive Invitation

26:00 Celebration And Closing

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Transcript

Welcome And Global Mission

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices 0:02

Hi everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us on another episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. It is uh it's a pleasure uh to be with you, whether you're watching, whether you're listening, whether you're in the United States or abroad in a uh another uh country, territory, province. Thank you. Uh you're what makes us go, what gives us the energy to put shows together, to do what we do to help people in need. And uh without you, we couldn't do this. So if you can give us a big thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, all those things are free to do, and it helps us um towards our ultimate goal of helping at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond, and to reach over 300 countries, territories, provinces, and over 3,000 cities across the world. Currently, we're at 1,100 and some change on the cities of who we've reached so far, and countrywide we are over 100 and 110 uh countries, territories, provinces that uh we have reached and we are helping people. Um, and that's what we set out to do from the beginning, and we're we're just continuing with that motto, that mantra. Um as basic as it is, uh, we we like to really focus on mental health, trauma, and recovery. That's how I built this organization. Uh, and our our shows uh reflect just that we talk about culture and little about politics. This is for everyone, doesn't matter what side of the aisle who you voted for, it doesn't matter. I don't care who you voted for. Uh we've had individuals that we've had on as guests on both sides of the aisle. So uh it doesn't bother us. And we're about something bigger than just a political party. Uh we're not alienating a percentage or anything like that of of the country or uh of the of the world. Um if you're able to, if you could reach out to 25 or maybe 50 uh contacts in your in your phone, share with them voices for voices, TV show and podcast, that would greatly help us uh continue towards our goal. And that goal is only what it is because of your demand, you're watching, you're listening, uh you're interacting with us, and that just shows us that we're doing something right. We've had a huge influx of individuals uh that are reaching out to be a guest on our show, and so we were just honored and grateful and thankful to have that because at the beginning of the show, you know, kind of at the outset, once we decided that we're gonna do voices for voices TV show and podcast, uh we were doing a lot of reaching out, and we still do reach out, uh, but we have we don't have to reach out as much because the notoriety of voices for voices in the show, the organization is such that again, individuals are reaching out, and so we we continue to ask if you're interested in being a guest on our show, please do reach out uh to us. Um the only thing we really look for, which might be a uh uh a non-qualifier, is if there's an agenda you know behind that being the guests of like okay, we're well, we're gonna talk about this and then be on the show, and then all of a sudden it's something totally different. So uh when that happens, we just don't air the show. That just it's as easy as that. We don't put the we don't air those shows, and uh it comes down to integrity, ethics all across the board. Uh just like there's quality, integrity, and ethics and and jobs and careers. Um I hammer home ethics and the classes that I teach to uh college, uh undergrad, graduate, in person, remote. I built courses from the ground up, and uh it's just it's just amazing how some organizations they and some people the ethics have really gone out the window, and it's uh very unfortunate. We know nobody is perfect, so I'm not over here preaching one way or the other. All I'm saying is you gotta have some kind of ethics, you gotta have some kind of moral backing in what you do. And if what you do is something that you know I I've heard doesn't pass the sniff test, or uh you know, like, okay, something about this, whatever this is, just doesn't feel right. Then what do we do? Well, we do research, and I know people don't want to do research, right? We want we want somebody to tell us, we want answers right now. We don't again, we want people to tell us the answers and want other people to do the work, but sometimes, depending on what it is, if it's something that's high stakes, high profile, uh, I don't know about you, but I I I'd want to be the person uh along with other persons that have, you know, what they say, skin in the game, meaning that whatever outcome comes, that the outcome is gonna affect the individuals that are making those decisions. So I've learned throughout the years that when it comes to ethics and integrity and a lot of other areas that it's nice to lighten the workload, helps us feel better, helps us lower stress. But there's just some things that we just have to do ourselves, and it might not be a popular decision, it may not be something that people would look at and go, oh my gosh, I can't believe they did this or they did that. Well, with our organization, with integrity and ethics and uh being what it is, we know nobody's perfect. And we've probably slipped a time or two or more. But it's our show, so I I'd remind you that if we do, if I do slip, ethically, the way I the way I'm notified is nobody or very little people will watch or listen to a particular episode. Right? And so the number it's it's all in the numbers and the analytics. Now, when we come out and we come out strong on a topic or in an area, and we do something that ethically people will nod their head like, oh yeah, that of course, of course we would do that. But and there's always a but, right? But when it comes down, when it comes down to making that decision, some people will back off and go, well, I I don't want to do that. I know it's wrong, I know it's not right, I know you know this could get negative press. So I'm just gonna go forward with, you know, they follow the sheep, follow like everybody else, almost everybody else. So when we get involved in topics and areas that that we talk about and share and events and experiences and in our guests experiences and their stories, then when we get involved, we we look things up, we have to be comfortable in that again. Doesn't mean we're perfect. So you know somebody reached out and was like, who gives so we've had a prior guest on before, who gives this particular guest the ability to to do this thing, and this thing is to tell their own story. So when they say, like, who did you get approval from? Well, if I'm telling my own story, I don't need to get approval from anyone because I'm telling my story, and so that message was interesting. We appreciate the feedback, we really do. You know, we read through the message, and uh so it's it's interesting. We shouldn't have to write, we talked about how hard life is to live in general. We don't need people going, well, who who did you get approval from to tell your story on a show? Well, if I go on a show and I'm asked to tell my story, you know who gives the approval? I give the approval. If that host doesn't want to air the show, which has happened a couple of times, where I don't know. Show's just never been aired. I'm cool with that, that's fine. I remember though. I remember. So if somebody wants to, you know, play that tit for tat. They're like, I'm gonna do this, and then and then you're gonna do that. Well, we have every right to do that. That's called the First Amendment. I might not like something you have to say, you might not like something I'm to say, you might not like something one of our guests has to say, I might not like something that one of your guests has has to stay, has to say. But you know what? Who cares? Life's too short then the to hold these types of grudges. You know, for a long time, that's what I would do. I would hold these grudges and they'd be in my mind. And it was like my mind was like a humongous library of all the things that I felt that I was wronged, or things that I could have done better, and I wasn't talking about them, and so this is where that mental health comes in. So ethically, for mental health for me, it's caused me to be more ethical than I had before. I don't know that I don't know why. I think it's because potentially that I just started not caring as much what others thought about me and what I do and and and endowing things like voices voices for voices. Voices for voices was you know at the outset. I don't want to say it wasn't popular. But there were a lot of people that were like, yeah, way to go. Doing such great things. But when it came time to volunteer and to do uh to do work ghosts ghosts, can't get a hold of them and then the whole trust thing that's been one of my big things mental health-wise is I have a trust problem, or I've had one. I have less of one now because that comes with the not caring as much about what other people think and go, okay, that's cool. You you got your your opinion, I got mine. That's fine. Turn to channel if you don't want to. I don't care. I'd rather you find something that is interesting to you uh and is informative, and if you don't feel that our show is, that's fine. It really is. Don't spend your life and your time arguing about some something, some show. Just find something else. And then just do it. You don't have to tell anybody like oh I'm doing it because of this and this and this. I don't I don't I don't mind it as much as I used to. And so while the the load of the work is mostly on my shoulders, I wouldn't have it any other way. See, when you can when when you start something from the beginning that you really believe in. Again, if it just helps one person, it's one less person that has to go through. Anything. Talk about, you know, somebody on the edge and contemplating ending their life. Help that one person. You can't tell me that we're not helping people. And I know we're helping a lot more each and every day, each and every episode, it's it's adding and multiplying minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, month by month, year by year. Folks, we have over 450 episodes. When I started out on this journey, voices for voices, I had no idea how many episodes we would have. I just got started. And then it made me feel good to be able to share my story. Maybe it can't maybe it clicks with you, maybe it doesn't. Maybe you know somebody that it it might click with. And again, one. It's a song by Creed, the band Creed. I think even Metallica might have one named One. Have a song named One. Sorry. But it's all about just one, and that's empowering to me to help one person. And we've talked about it before. We're not just helping the one person, we're helping the one person and their friends and their families and their loved ones, and uh their, you know, if they they play a sport, or if they're on the drama team, or they're in a play, or whether they're in a band, or whatever that may be, helping at one turns into helping maybe fifty people. So you can't tell me that oh, he's talking about helping one person, that's nothing. That's not changing the world. Oh yes, it is. Oh yes, it is. And we are. You may not like it, you may not be interested, that's fine. We can agree to disagree. Those are actually the most constructive conversations that I've had around the organization and what we do and and how we're helping and and what we share. We're just we're transparent. You don't get no BS with us. We just tell it like it is. And it's because of you. Thank you for being with us on this ride. We wouldn't have a show. We wouldn't have a re I wouldn't have a reason to put a show together if the demand wasn't there. So thank you for being a part of Voices for Voices. Even if you just tuned in for a millisecond or two, and you remember that logo, and when you see it somewhere else, it connects. You're gonna see the logo. You're gonna see the logo. You're gonna see the logo. Maybe in some unsuspect unsuspecting ways. And I go, oh wow. They're doing what? We're just helping people. We don't have another prerogative. We want people to feel better about themselves, feel better about what they do. Know that they're not alone. Lower that stigma meter. Let's just help one another. We see somebody that needs help. Let's not be a bystander. Let's be an upstander. Like one of our previous guests. So greatly mentioned. We can do this, people. We can do this. We're already doing it. That's I think the big thing. We're already doing it. So let's just continue. Let's just continue the helping. Continue tuning in. If you're able to give us the thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, reach out to 25 or 50 contacts in your phone and let them know about voices for voices. Have them subscribe, like, follow, share, all those things too. And then have them share. We can do this. And we're already doing this. We're already doing this. I in my wildest dreams, reaching and helping in one thousand cities in over one hundred countries across the world. I know we have goals, but when it actually happens, it's like, whoa crap. We're not just helping people in the United States, not just Canada, not just Mexico. We head over the pond, over the water, the oceans. It's just incredible. And we can't we can't do it without you. We are a nonprofit charity, a 501c3, too. So we're doing this on zero, literally zero funds. So come with us. Bring your friends, bring your family, bring your colleagues, bring your loved ones, bring your classmates, bring your bring your teachers, bring your superintendents, bring, bring everybody. Voices for Voices is for everybody. We hope you have a great day. And thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I've been your host, founder of Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes. Let's celebrate. Let's celebrate, let's celebrate the voices of everybody across the world. And let's be a voice for ourselves and somebody in need. We'll see you next time, everybody.