Ken Huey 0:00

Welcome to the Voice of Hope, where bold leaders and healers share how they're building hope, not just talking about it. I'm Dr. Ken Huey. Let's meet the change makers transforming lives from the therapy room to the boardroom. Hello, and welcome to the voice of hope. Today's guest is James Todd Jr. He's the CEO of the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network and a nationally respected recovery leader who has spent his career advancing peer support, behavioral health systems, and community healing. With experience spanning executive leadership, clinical services, accreditation, and advocacy, he brings a rare mix of lived empathy, operational expertise, and hope-centered leadership. James, welcome.

James Todd Jr. 0:46

Ah, Dr. Ken, thank you so much. And it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to meet with you and to be able to share on this specific platform. So thank you. Thank you for having me.

Ken Huey 0:57

Yeah. So good to have you. People are hearing your story for the first time, some here. What led you into mental health advocacy, recovery leadership?

James Todd Jr. 1:07

Yeah, it's really great question. I like to say I did not seek after it. It saw after me. And I say that in a sense, I really feel like it's a calling for me, Ken. Like the ability to be able to stand up for the least of things, those that were overlooked, those that appeared that didn't have a voice. I didn't realize, Ken, honestly, that I was a part of that group until many years later, where I too felt voiceless and felt hopeless. And so I entered through that space, man. My very first job right out of college, I started managing what we call at that time ICF facility, an intermediate care facility. And I was over two facilities providing supports and supporting staff. Everybody was older than me. I was like 20, 21. Everyone was like, now, mind you, I'm a stubborner. And so growing up in the South, it was yes, sir, no, sir. And so it took me some shifting to be able to learn how to lead people that were older than me. But most so importantly, the mission of supporting individuals who needed support and the population that I was working with at that time was individuals who had intellectual developmental disabilities. Old terms they used to utilize was mental retardation, if you remember that, until we have, of course, language developed and it shifted. And that started me working in that space, working with families, assisting families with navigating the system, helping individuals reach areas of their lives of restoration and supports. And it continued to grow. It continued to expand. And I went to working primarily with community-based services, providing mental health supports in so many different ways. And it started at that macro level, that micro level. And it continued to expand to a macro level to where I'm now communicating with state representatives and sharing this good news of hope that people do recover, that people are we're human, and that systems have to be adaptable to meet the current needs of what's happening specifically in the state of Georgia.

Ken Huey 3:41

You lead the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network. What's the mission driving the organization?

James Todd Jr. 3:49

Oh, wow. So, Ken, we stand on the shoulders of giants here. And I would say I have the privilege, staying privilege of being able to lead such an amazing organization that's been providing advancing mental health recovery and wellness for over three decades throughout the state of Georgia. Our mission is so impactful in the sense of not just advancing mental health recovery and wellness, but it's lifting up the voice of peers. Individuals who have ordinarily not had a voice. It's carrying on that mission of this peer movement and sharing the hope that every time you meet a peer, you meet someone that has had the opportunity to change their lives and be able to reshape the trajectory of what people said they could not do. And so our mission is simple. We're advancing mental health recovery and, of course, wellness, and we do it through advocacy, education, employment, and peer support. Our organization is built primarily of individuals who use their lived experience to support and to guide others through their journey of recovery.

Ken Huey 5:04

James, what are the biggest gaps you still see in how mental health systems support people in crisis?

James Todd Jr. 5:11

Yeah, I think one of the greatest gaps that we see, not just here locally in the state of Georgia, but I think this is the national challenge, is that we have workforce shortages all across the country. We just don't have enough behavior health professionals to meet the demand and the needs. And that is a gap. That is such a gap. That means that every person, especially Georgians, especially here and even nationally, don't all have the same accessibilities that others do to get the help that they need. That's a gap that we have to be able to fill across industries in order to support people who may need support at some of the toughest times of their lives.

Ken Huey 5:59

What do you see as the reason for the gap of low numbers in those kind of entry-level positions? What are the big solves?

James Todd Jr. 6:07

Yeah, and that's a good question. I think there are several nuances to it. And I think there are several nuances to it for one. Not only is there a shortage, but there's a shortage primarily because we don't have enough individuals who are going back and getting degrees in specific areas of behavior health. We also have a lack of education, people understanding how to enter into the recovery and peer space. There's just people who don't know that they could utilize their lived experience, right? You don't have to go back to school for that. That they could utilize their lived experience, get training, use their lived experience to help others, that there's a pathway of utilizing their mess and turning into a message and supporting individuals who may have had challenges, no matter what kind of background they have. We have forensic peer mentors, these are individuals who have been just as impacted, right? Individuals who had challenges with substance use completely changed their lives, use their lived experience to help others guide them through that process. So there are many nuances also with compensation for individuals working on those front lines can and behavior health. The cost of living has really increased. And the truth is that many are able to get jobs and find other areas and means of to take care of their families on the main market. You can go get a job at some local restaurants. There's nothing wrong with working at a restaurant or even in the fast food industry, but we're finding that we're competing with a lot of these larger companies for frontline roles. And so I think our systems have to really invest in the infrastructure and the workforce in order if we're going to have a sustained workforce and to hopefully have individuals decide they want to be a part of this behavioral workforce.

Ken Huey 8:25

Yeah. The numbers we have to charge for treatment are really fairly impressive. And if we were to charge what we need to pay, call it 125% of the prevailing wage to our front line in order to get more applicants, it starts to get a little difficult to make the math work. That's what I hear you saying.

James Todd Jr. 8:44

Yeah, well, it is. But there are challenges. People have to take care of their families too. And so if I'm working 40 hours a week and I'm still poor, I still need support in order just to make ends meet. How justice that, right? And so what we're saying is we want a workforce that's able to be sustained. And in order for that to be sustained, we really need our systems to invest in those resources so that we can have a healthier, healthier communities, a healthier state. We want, and I would speak a reference towards Georgia, we want Georgia healthy. And in order for Georgia to be healthy, we need to have a workforce that can support the needs from rural Georgia to our metro Atlanta areas and metro cities. We want to make sure that we have a workforce that's prepared and that's willing to stay and be a part of this process. And that's just speaking towards our frontline workers, peer support specialists. We are frontlines. We stand in that gap, but we don't even have enough physicians to meet the needs that we have. You shouldn't have to drive over an hour just to see your doctor, right? You should be able to have local, you should have the right to have a local therapist in your community. You should have the right to have a local specialist in your community without having to drive in certain radius just to be able to get support. And so as I speak in that terms, I'm speaking as it relates to public health, because mental health is public health. And we want our system to be integrated, and we want to offer fair wages and supports so that we can recruit and retain this workforce.

Ken Huey 10:46

Think about a real just a player, somebody that just kills it as a peer support specialist. What's the difference between that person and somebody who's kind of average?

James Todd Jr. 10:58

Yeah, yes. I mean, I think there's a space for everyone, even if you are a peer specialist, whether you are on your A game or whether you are struggling in your mental health recovery, but you're still choosing to walk it out every single day. There is a space that for each person, whether you would consider them average or you would consider them, I think everyone brings something very unique to the workforce. I think everyone brings something very unique to the spaces of behavioral health that can be instrumental. It's helping people find their strengths, it's helping people to find their superpower. I may not be great in a lot of things, but the things that I'm good at, the my niche, my ability to support, connect with others is my superpower. And so I don't necessarily look at it in the sense of A players or B players. I look at it in the sense that we need the diversity of experience, lived experience, and individuals that can help in every different space and place in the recovery community.

Ken Huey 12:18

Speak to me, if you would, about trauma, childhood trauma, adult trauma, and how that plays into addiction, mental illness, long-term recovery.

James Todd Jr. 12:28

Oh, wow. Yeah. Trauma in so many different spaces, Ken, is really kind of a major root cause of a lot of the things that we see, which is one of the reasons why we try to walk in, be trauma-informed leaders. And that's very unique. Running a peer-run organization is because everyone that's in our workforce are in some form of recovery. So having a trauma-informed lens on how to support people who have had some form of trauma in their life is extremely important, right? And so trauma is one of those areas, especially we have so many that have had complex trauma that has stemmed into many different areas where you have families that are individuals who have struggled in their recovery because of unaddressed trauma. It's a major issue. I really see that as one of many areas, not many peers that are in this space that have not had some form of trauma. If somebody is struggling, but they're afraid to ask for help, what would you want them to hear? I would want them to know that they're not in it alone. They don't have to struggle alone. They don't have to go through this process alone, that there is help. And that's one of the reasons why we do our due diligence to combat stigma. I remember, and I'll say this, one of my greatest challenges was that it doesn't, mental health does not discriminate. Substance use addiction, it does not discriminate. None of us are exempt to this impact in our home, our families, which is one of the reasons why we advocate across the lifespan. Because what we're seeing even with older adults who are entering to these life transitions are struggling in their mental health. I have an older grandmother who is strong, she's 89, and loneliness, so many challenges of dealing with even the thoughts of death. It's troubling, it's distressful. Where we've had to get supports for her to support her through some of these things, health changes, shifts in her health. And so this is why it's so important that we advocate across the lifespan of a person, the lifespan, because we never know when we may be confronted with something. I can give you an example. I went through a heart-wrenching divorce. Heart-wrenching, and I tell you, men, when they go through, they take it a lot harder. It's a as I think the percentage is like 60%, even just as it relates towards going through any form of divorce for men, have some type of mental health challenge going through that process. But I say that to say I think we are at that space to where we are really developing a system and a voice to where people can get this help. And in order to combat that, it requires many people from all walks of life to say, you know what, I've struggled in one point in my life as well. I too have had challenges. And that it's okay to seek out for help. Seeking out for help is actually a sign of strength and not weakness.

Ken Huey 16:19

James, as you look back, you're still got you got plenty of years of your career left, but when you think about legacy, what impact do you hope your work leaves behind?

James Todd Jr. 16:32

Yeah, that's a question to ponder on, Ken. I think I've spent my life really trying to be an increase capacity of others, serving others in so many different spaces and places. But if I had to really examine or to say what I would want my legacy to be, it would be that I hope that systems become more human because we have lived experience at the table. I would hope that my legacy would extend to servanthood, that it opened opportunities and bridges for people to cross over to live the best life that they can. It is my hope that people will find that that space of refuge, help, support, whether it's spiritual, whether it's clinical, whether it's non-clinical, that there will be pathways and options for people to live their best life.

Ken Huey 17:34

James, really appreciate the depth of which you've considered what we're talking about and showing up to have this conversation with us. Really, thank you very much. Thanks for joining us on The Voice of Hope. If you were inspired, share the light. And remember, hope's not just a feeling, it's a force. We'll see you next time.