Outreach With Reggie | Community Advocacy & Mental Health

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Why Foster Youth Voice Matters: Beyond Being Heard

What happens when we stop talking about foster youth and actually start listening to them?

In Episode 44 of Outreach With Reggie, Reggie Holloway explores Foster Youth Voice Month, lived experience, youth advocacy, child welfare, mental health, and what it really means to give young people a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their lives.

Being invited into the room isn’t necessarily the same as having a voice.

Being heard isn’t necessarily the same as being listened to.

And giving someone a microphone isn’t necessarily the same as giving them influence.

This episode takes an honest look at youth participation, youth voice, tokenism, decision-making, advocacy, and the importance of closing the feedback loop when young people share their experiences and ideas.

Reggie also discusses the role of Selfless Love Foundation, which spearheads Foster Youth Voice Month each October, and its efforts to create opportunities for young people impacted by foster care to contribute to policy and child welfare conversations.

Drawing from his own lived experience in foster care and years of youth advocacy, Reggie reflects on why lived experience belongs at the table—not simply as a powerful story, but as a meaningful source of insight that can help shape programs, policies, and solutions.

This episode asks:

What happens when young people disagree with the adults in the room?

Are we actually listening—or simply looking for agreement?

What power are we willing to share?

And perhaps most importantly:

What changes because a young person spoke?

Foster youth are more than their case files, placement histories, and experiences with the child welfare system.

They are thinkers. They are leaders. They are advocates. They are creators. They are people with ideas about what should come next.

Foster Youth Voice Month isn’t just about amplifying young people’s voices.

It’s about creating spaces where those voices can matter.

Because awareness is a starting point.

Action is where the work begins.

🎙️ Outreach With Reggie Conversations that challenge systems and call communities to show up.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

What if therapy isn’t failing you—you’ve just been receiving the wrong dose?

In this episode of Outreach With Reggie, Reggie sits down with Dr. Stacey Krauss for an honest conversation about what happens when someone is doing the work in therapy but still feels stuck.

Sometimes the problem isn’t a lack of effort. The type, frequency, or intensity of treatment may simply not be meeting the needs of the person receiving it.

Together, Reggie and Dr. Krauss explore what it means to feel stuck in therapy, how to recognize when traditional outpatient therapy may not be enough, and where higher levels of care such as Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) and Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP) can fit into a person’s mental-health journey.

They also unpack the stigma that can come with seeking more intensive support, the importance of advocating for yourself, and why needing additional help should never be viewed as a personal failure.

Because getting stuck isn’t the same as failing.

Sometimes getting better means recognizing that you need something different—and having the courage to ask for it.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Healing Your Inner Child: Learning to Listen to the Younger You

What if healing your inner child isn’t about going back and changing what happened—but about learning to listen to the younger version of yourself?

In Episode 42 of Outreach With Reggie, Reggie explores inner-child healing, childhood experiences, emotional regulation, self-compassion, boundaries, reparenting, relationships, identity, and the ways our early experiences can continue to shape how we see ourselves and connect with others.

What did you learn about love, safety, vulnerability, asking for help, and being worthy when you were younger? What did you have to become in order to feel accepted, protected, or loved?

This episode takes a deeper look at the parts of ourselves we may have learned to ignore—the child who needed reassurance, affection, protection, validation, or simply someone to listen.

We also explore what it means to reparent yourself, create healthier boundaries, recognize familiar patterns, give yourself permission to rest and play, reconnect with childhood joy, and become the adult you needed when you were younger.

Because healing doesn’t mean pretending the past didn’t happen. And it doesn’t mean blaming yourself or staying trapped in what happened.

Sometimes healing begins with attention.

What does the younger version of you need from you today?

Maybe your inner child isn’t asking you to go backward.

Maybe they’re asking you to finally listen.

You are allowed to grow without hating who you used to be. You are allowed to understand your past without being trapped in it. And you are allowed to become someone new without abandoning who you were.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

What if what you thought you wanted wasn’t actually what you needed?

In this episode of Outreach With Reggie, we take an honest look at intimacy, sex, love, emotional connection, boundaries, vulnerability, and the ways we learn to understand relationships.

Sometimes we think we’re looking for sex when what we’re really looking for is affection, reassurance, emotional safety, companionship, connection, or simply someone who will hold us.

Reggie explores what happens when we confuse being desired with being loved, physical access with intimacy, and sexual connection with emotional safety. The conversation also examines emotional regulation, childhood experiences, early exposure to sexualized content, healthy boundaries, the power of saying no, and the different forms intimacy can take in romantic relationships, friendships, families, and communities.

This episode also asks an important question for men: What happens when emotional intimacy is treated as weakness while sexual intimacy is treated as the only acceptable form of closeness?

And then there’s the intimacy audit:

If sex disappeared from your relationship tomorrow, would there still be intimacy?

This isn’t a conversation about shaming sex or desire. It’s about understanding what we’re actually seeking—and learning that connection doesn’t always have to involve physical or sexual access.

Because sometimes…

you didn’t need somebody to want your body. You needed somebody to know your heart.

Outreach With Reggie continues the conversations we’re sometimes afraid to have—centered on mental health, relationships, lived experience, community, healing, and what it means to genuinely show up.

Access isn’t intimacy. Desire isn’t love. And needing connection doesn’t make you weak.

Sometimes… you just need to be held.

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Season 4, Episode 3 — “Are You Really Here: The Power of Being Present”

What does it actually mean to be there for someone?

September is Suicide Prevention Month, but this conversation goes deeper than crisis intervention. In this episode of Outreach With Reggie, we explore the loneliness that can exist even when you’re surrounded by people, the lost art of meaningful conversation, the privilege of community and family, and what happens when someone doesn’t feel seen, heard, chosen, or loved.

Through the lens of my own experience in foster care, we talk about what it means to grow up with relationships that can change, people who can come and go, and the importance of having someone who doesn’t simply occupy a place in your life—but is truly present in it.

We explore the difference between being physically present and emotionally present, why “How are you?” isn’t always enough, the importance of being prepared for the real answer, recognizing changes in someone’s behavior, having difficult conversations about suicide, and knowing when to help someone connect with professional support.

But this conversation isn’t only about being present for others.

It’s also about being present for yourself.

What happens when you’re the person everyone depends on, but nobody checks on? What does it mean to listen to your own warning signs? To rest instead of constantly performing? To stop living entirely in the past or waiting for the future and actually be where you are?

Because sometimes prevention starts long before a crisis.

Sometimes it starts with a conversation.

A phone call.

A second question.

A person who notices.

A person who follows up.

A person who stays.

You don’t have to save everybody. But you can help somebody feel less alone.

So, before you leave this episode, I want you to sit with three questions:

Who was there for you? Who are you there for? And… are you really here?

If you or someone you know is struggling or experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. If there is immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.

Outreach With Reggie — conversations about the experiences that shape us, the communities that hold us, and the work it takes to keep showing up.

BPD-s84vrznxqurt

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Grief doesn’t follow a schedule.

It doesn’t arrive on a convenient day, and it doesn’t disappear simply because you think you should be feeling better.

In Season 4, Episode 2 of Outreach With Reggie, we take an honest look at grief and the many forms that loss can take—not just losing someone we love, but losing relationships, dreams, expectations, opportunities, stability, and even the future we once imagined for ourselves.

We explore why grief isn’t linear, what happens when multiple losses collide, the physical and emotional weight of grief, functioning while hurting underneath the surface, escapism, the domino effect of loss, and the importance of giving ourselves grace.

We’ll also talk about community—what it means to lean on others when we’re grieving, what happens when we don’t have a support system, and what asking for help can actually look like.

Most importantly, we’ll explore a difficult truth:

You don’t only grieve what you lost. Sometimes you grieve what you thought you were going to have.

Healing doesn’t mean forgetting. Moving forward doesn’t mean what happened didn’t matter. And having a good day doesn’t mean you’ve stopped grieving.

Sometimes healing is simply learning how to carry the memories, the pain, and the beauty into whatever comes next.

Grief doesn’t follow a schedule.

BPD-s84vrznxqurt

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Who told you that your dream was too big? That you weren’t capable? That you were behind? And just as importantly—who told you that you could?

In the Season 4 premiere of Outreach With Reggie, Reggie explores the voices, experiences, relationships, beliefs, and moments that shape the way we see ourselves and our potential.

This episode dives into the psychology of unfinished and completed goals, the power of words, early inspirations, support systems, constructive criticism, self-belief, faith, patience, atomic success, and the hidden cost of chasing a dream.

We talk about what it means to stay rooted and grounded while protecting the flame that keeps your passion alive—and why success isn’t always a straight line.

Most importantly, we’re asking a question that may change the way you look at your goals:

Are you pursuing your dreams because you believe in them—or because you’re still trying to prove somebody else wrong?

You don’t have to have everything figured out. You don’t have to have everyone’s approval. And you don’t have to wait for confirmation before taking the next step.

Sometimes, you just have to believe before anyone else does.

Make it personal. Not to prove them wrong, but to prove yourself right.

Welcome back to Outreach With Reggie.

Season 4 starts now

BPD-s84vrznxqurt

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Who are you when no one is watching?

We spend so much of our lives performing.

For our jobs. For our families. For our communities. For social media. For the expectations placed on us by the people around us. We become the strong one, the reliable one, the funny one, the successful one—until the role we’ve been playing starts to feel more familiar than the person underneath it.

In this deeply reflective episode of Outreach with Reggie, Reggie Holloway explores the tension between public identity and private authenticity. Why do we seek validation? How much of ourselves do we sacrifice to belong? What happens when the applause stops, the phone goes silent, and we’re left alone with our own thoughts?

Together, we’ll unpack the hidden cost of performance, the weight of carrying expectations, the danger of living for approval, and what it truly means to become your authentic self—both publicly and privately.

This isn’t an episode about having all the answers.

It’s an invitation to ask a better question.

Who are you without an audience?

If this conversation challenged or encouraged you, share it with someone who may need the reminder that they don’t have to perform to be worthy.

Topics Covered:

• Public identity vs. private identity
• Performance vs. authenticity
• The search for validation
• The pressure of expectations
• Relationships and emotional labor
• Learning to be alone with yourself
• Rebuilding after rock bottom
• Becoming your authentic self

Hosted by Reggie Holloway Outreach with Reggie | Season 3, Episode 9

BPD-s84vrznxqurt

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Men are often told to “man up,” stay strong, and push through life’s challenges. But what happens when the pressure becomes too much?

In recognition of Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, host Reggie explores the growing conversation around men’s mental health and the rise of the “soft life” movement. Is the soft life truly about healing, or can it become a form of escapism? Can men prioritize peace and mental wellness while still pursuing purpose, responsibility, and calling?

In this episode, we discuss:

✔️ The history and importance of Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month

✔️ What mental health really means

✔️ The “boys will be boys” culture and its impact on emotional wellness

✔️ The pressures and responsibilities men carry

✔️ Mental health stigma among men

✔️ Unique challenges facing Black men

✔️ Emotional regulation and healthy coping mechanisms

✔️ Safe spaces for men to have honest conversations

✔️ Rest vs. responsibility

✔️ Escapism vs. healing

✔️ Is softness a privilege?

✔️ When it’s time to ask for help

This episode is an invitation for men to be honest about where they are mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically—and a reminder that seeking help is not weakness, it’s wisdom.

💙 If this episode resonates with you, share it with a friend, brother, father, mentor, son, or someone who may need this conversation.

BPD-s84vrznxqurt

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

In this powerful episode of Outreach With Reggie, Reggie explores what it truly means to create healthy spaces and have honest conversations in a world where connection can often feel surface-level and performative.

“Can We Talk?” challenges listeners to reflect on the environments, relationships, and conversations shaping their lives. Are the spaces you occupy helping you heal and grow — or are they simply familiar places you’ve learned to survive?

This episode dives into the difference between healthy and unhealthy spaces, the impact of performative relationships, the importance of emotional safety, mental health conversations across communities, and how to recognize when it’s time to fight for a space, walk away, or build one of your own.

Drawing from lived experience, advocacy, and community leadership, Reggie offers honest insight on vulnerability, accountability, friendship, inclusion, and the courage it takes to create spaces where truth can exist without fear.

This week’s challenge: Ask yourself — Are you in a healthy space… or just a familiar one?

Because healthy spaces don’t just exist. They are built.