Into the Fold: the Mental Health Podcast

More than eighty years ago, Ima Hogg had a remarkably simple idea. She believed mental health wasn't something that belonged only in hospitals or clinics. It belonged in schools. In neighborhoods. In workplaces. In homes. It belonged wherever people lived their lives. At the time, that was a radical way of thinking. Today, it feels remarkably modern.

Throughout this season of Into the Fold, we've explored what it takes to build bridges—to rebuild trust, strengthen partnerships, rethink policy, and test new ideas that make mental health systems more responsive and more equitable. For this season-closing episode we pose some final questions: What have we actually learned? And perhaps even more importantly, what should we do with those lessons?

Today we're joined by three leaders who have spent their careers asking those very questions: Dr. Angelique Harris, professor at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine at Boston University and member of the Hogg Foundation's National Advisory Council; Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director of the Hogg Foundation and professor of psychiatry at Dell Medical School; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, C.N.H Long Professor of medicine and public health at the Yale School of Medicine.

Community-Based Solutions: Grassroots Mental Health Innovations That Work

The Future of Recovery

They're known as "third spaces" - e.g. libraries, parks, community centers, coffee shops, and other hangout spots that are broadly accessible and publicly available. But they’re also something more. In a time when loneliness and disconnection are rising, these spaces may be more essential than ever — not just as amenities, but as part of our mental health infrastructure. In this episode Simone Till, Disability Access Specialist at Galt, and Hannah Terrell, executive director of Austin Public Library, join us to explore how these spaces function not just socially, but psychologically — and what it means to design them intentionally.

In schools across Texas, educators are being asked to support learning while also responding to rising levels of anxiety, trauma, and emotional distress among students. But what if schools weren’t just responding to these challenges, but designing new systems to meet them? In conversation with Beth Hines, principal of Arp Elementary School in East Texas, we explore how educators can become architects of change — building environments where social-emotional well-being is part of the foundation of learning.

This episode closes out the Policy arc of our season, an arc focused on how systems change happens, and how mental health policy is shaped not just by moments of urgency, but by sustained leadership. Today’s conversation looks at what it takes to avoid ‘reform whiplash’ — the cycle where systems lurch forward during crisis, only to stall or regress once public attention shifts.

Austin City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who represents District 2, has been deeply involved in shaping policies related to housing stability, public safety, and community well-being — areas where mental health intersects with nearly every decision. She gives her perspective on what it means to govern after a crisis — and how to turn short-term responses into long-term, people-centered systems.

In a special bonus segment, Hogg Foundation policy fellow Maddie Garza, along with returning guest Ayaan Moledina of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), discuss the Lived Experience Storytelling Primer, a toolkit designed to encourage people with lived experience to engage in advocacy while using a trauma-informed lens to take care of themselves and their stories. 

Rising Voices: Telling Your Story

Three Things to Know About Meeting with Policymakers

This episode is the second of the Policy arc of our season, an arc focused on how systems change happens, and how mental health policy is shaped not just by moments of urgency, but by sustained leadership. Today’s conversation looks at how lived experience becomes a catalyst for advocacy. We’ll explore how young people — and really, anyone — can use their personal story to shape systems, influence policy, and make their communities stronger.

Our guests are Aurora Harris and Kasey Corpus of Young Invincibles, a national organization that amplifies young voices to influence policy on health, higher education, and economic opportunity. Through their deep understanding of the power of storytelling, they help young people turn experience into impact.

In a special bonus segment, Hogg Foundation policy fellow Maddie Garza, along with returning guest Ayaan Moledina of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), discuss the Lived Experience Storytelling Primer, a toolkit designed to encourage people with lived experience to engage in advocacy while using a trauma-informed lens to take care of themselves and their stories. 

Rising Voices: Telling Your Story

Three Things to Know About Meeting with Policymakers

When most people hear the word "policy", they think of lawmakers, bills, or political debates — not necessarily something that affects their day-to-day life. But policy is everywhere. It shapes the jobs we can get, the healthcare we can afford, and the communities we call home. And for young people, understanding and influencing policy isn’t just about civic engagement — it’s about shaping the future they’ll inherit.

Our guests for today are Cameron Samuels, co-founder and executive director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, (SEAT), an organization dedicated to increasing youth visibility in policymaking, and Ayaan Moledina, SEAT's federal policy director. These two leaders share their insights on how to help young Texans turn awareness into action, and frustration into advocacy. 

Children of Change: Supporting Youth Mental Health in an Uncertain World

Public Policy for Building a Resilient Future

Some Good News in Public Policy

In rural communities, distance shapes everything - e.g. distance to the nearest hospital; distance to a licensed counselor; or distance to broadband access. When it comes to mental health care, those distances can become barriers.But what if distance didn’t mean disconnection? What if partnerships could stretch across counties and communities — aligning resources so that rural Texans don’t have to navigate care alone?”

Recently, the Hogg Foundation launched its Strengthening Mental Health in Rural and Rural Border Texas Communities initiative designed to strengthen access to care in rural Texas communities. Two of the grantee sites were co-funded in partnership with the Amarillo Area Foundation and the Bivens Foundation — organizations deeply rooted in the Texas Panhandle. Joining us for a conversation about this initiative and what it means for the rural Panhandle are Lara Escobar of the Amarillo Area Foundation and Kathryn Wiegand of the Bivens Foundation, along with Hogg Foundation senior program officers Rick Ybarra and Tammy Heinz.

Libraries Supporting Community Mental Health

Arts and Humanities Research Grants for Early Career Faculty

Moore Fellowship for Doctoral Research

Strengthening the Mental Health of Rural and Rural Border Communities

Grassroots Mental Health Innovations That Work

When someone leaves a state hospital and returns to their community, recovery doesn’t pause — it becomes more complicated. Housing, connection, medication, transportation, stigma, isolation — the real work of healing often begins outside the hospital walls. In this episode, we explore the question: What if discharge isn’t an endpoint — but a handoff? What if care doesn’t end at the hospital door, but expands into a community network designed to sustain recovery? Colleen Gallion of NAMI Central Texas and Stacy Mendelson of Friends of Austin State Hospital discuss how their organizations' partnership is building a bridge between inpatient care and community life.

For generations, churches have been more than places of worship. They’ve been gathering spaces, support systems, sources of strength in moments of uncertainty and crisis. In African American communities especially, faith institutions have long been trusted partners in health and healing, often filling gaps where systems fall short.

Today's episode explores what becomes possible when that trust is paired with intentional partnership across faith, community, and mental health systems. Our guest is Pastor Rev. Dr. Daryl Horton of Mount Zion Baptist Church in East Austin, Texas.

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The Caregivers Perspective: Coping with the Loss of Mental Health and Faith