Katie Pendergrast joins the podcast with Erin Nasmyth from Adoption Support Alliance. They discuss areas of their work where they help adoptive families through the challenges of building their forever families. ASA provides adoption-competent counseling, support groups for adoptees and adoptive families, classes to educate pre and post adoption and hosts community building events for adoptive families, with a vision to ensure that all adoptive families get the support they need to thrive.

Dr. Vanessa Drew-Branch, Assistant Professor at Elon University and the Owner of VLDrew Consulting Inc., joins the podcast to share about her work in end-of-life care and doula services from a multicultural and culturally inclusive perspective. She also speaks to the importance of mental health care and managing grief, and loss from a holistic perspective.

Will Jones has devoted his career to child welfare, juvenile justice and behavioral health services in residential- and community-based programming. He joins the podcast today to share insight into how to address the social determinants of health across a wide domain of human services work.

Markia Hearst, Kelli Wood, and Jasmine Warren from Pat's Place join the podcast to discuss the impact of child abuse and neglect on the health and wellbeing of children, and offer examples of how we can support children as they navigate a complex system of social care. The conversation continues with an engaging conversation on choosing a career in the helping professions and taking time for self-care.

Award-winning investigative reporter and author Paul Cuadros joins the podcast to discuss migration and the experience of newcomers in the United States. He discusses much of the reporting outlined in his fantastic book, “A Home on the Field: How One Championship Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America,” which tells the story of Siler City, N.C., as it copes and struggles with Latino immigration through the lives of a predominantly Latino high school soccer team.

North Carolina State Representative Graig Meyer joins the podcast to offer examples of legislative solutions that address the social determinants of health across North Carolina. He describes his work across micro and macro levels, using skills to work both with individuals while also bringing a systemic perspective about how policy impacts the health and wellbeing of people. He also encourages social workers and helping professionals to be engaged in the political process and describes how promoting community health is inextricable from engaging in the public sphere.

Shantiqua Neely, Executive Director, and Delana Murdock, Grants and Data Associate of A Child's Place join the podcast to discuss the social determinants of family homelessness. Using examples from their practice and evaluation data, Shantiqua and Delana challenge common perceptions of family and child homelessness and encourage listeners to examine root causes and the social and contextual factors that put families in positions of housing insecurity - while offering avenues for positive support and intervention.

Dr. Travis Hales of the UNC Charlotte School of Social Work joins the podcast to talk trauma-informed care. Dr. Hales provides a brief history and current research on trauma-informed care and shares findings from his research on how organizations can become more trauma-informed.

Federico Rios, the International and Integration Manger for the City of Charlotte, NC, joins the podcast to talk about the structural challenges facing the immigrant community and new strategies to support the health and wellbeing of immigrant communities.

Willie Abel, PhD, joins The Helping Hand Podcast to discuss her nursing research and practice in reducing cardiac disease among Black women with hypertension. In this episode, we'll discuss how high blood pressure can be prevented with lifestyle changes and how social determinants like stress play a critical role in health and wellbeing.

Tianca Crocker, PhD, joins the Helping Hands podcast to share her work and expertise on Digital Inclusion. In this episode, we'll explore how the internet can serve as a tool for inclusion and health promotion, as well as how there remain barriers in access to emerging web-based technologies.

In this opening episode, cohosts Roger Suclupe and Drew Reynolds talk about the BRAND NEW podcast, "The Helping Hands of Our Community: Addressing the Social Determinants of Health". In this episode, Roger and Drew provide an introduction to the social determinants of health framework and discuss how this theme will be explored in future episodes. To learn more about the podcast and to view information about our guests, navigate to thehelpinghandspodcast.com. And remember, strong always, always strong.