We Have Been Abandoned - 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth within Behavioral Health with Arc Telos Saint Amour (they/them), Executive Director of Youth MOVE National

Thanks for tuning into the expanding access podcast. Ready to take your knowledge, network, and experience to the next level? Then join us at the BHT Conference in San Diego on November 11-13. Join thought leaders, practitioners, policymakers, and payers focused on expanding access and improving outcomes in mental health, behavioral health, substance abuse, and IDD.Save $100 on your registration ⁠here ⁠by using your podcast promo code “Podcast100” The most powerful solutions in behavioral health often come not from professionals, but from peers who’ve walked the same path. In this episode, Arc Telos Saint Amour (they/them), Executive Director of Youth MOVE National, shares their lived experience navigating child welfare, houselessness, the justice system, and behavioral health from birth. As a queer, trans, disabled person of color, Tay reflects on how their identity and history shaped their lifelong mission to transform care for systems-impacted youth. They explain how peer support, rooted in trust, agency, and love, offers a life-saving alternative to broken institutions, and push back on narratives that blame social media, arguing it can be a vital source of safety and connection for marginalized young people. Tay also challenges widespread misunderstandings about peer support, its grassroots origins, its essential equity lens, and how it's often co-opted or commodified, offering a bold call to see youth not as problems to fix, but as people to trust, support, and uplift. Tune in and learn what it means to truly listen to youth, challenge systems, and support healing through the power of peers! Resources: Connect with and follow Arc Telos Saint Amour (they/them) on LinkedIn. Follow Youth MOVE National on LinkedIn and explore their website.  Email Tay directly here.