EP #257: Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Rita Stevens' Mission to Support Special Needs Families

What makes Rita Stevens with Silent Voyces a good neighbor?

What happens when a parent's struggle to find resources for their special needs child transforms into a mission to help others? Meet Rita Stevens, founder of Silent Voyces, who turned her personal challenges into a powerful force for good in the special needs community.

Rita shares how Silent Voyces emerged from her own journey parenting her son Bryson. After years of difficulty finding appropriate resources, she created a nonprofit organization that focuses on four critical areas: healthcare, nutrition, community events, and education. Working alongside local organizations, Silent Voyces hosts respite events and resource fairs while providing valuable information to parents who often feel overwhelmed navigating systems of care.

"Be patient with yourself," Rita advises fellow parents of special needs children. "You will not know everything, nor are you supposed to know everything, but it will all come in time." Her second powerful tip speaks to the heart of advocacy: never be afraid to ask questions about your child's care. This wisdom comes from lived experience that has helped Rita grow in communication, advocacy, patience, and understanding.

Beyond her nonprofit work, Rita reveals she's completing her first book, "Unexpected Patterns of Purpose," scheduled for release this spring. Her multifaceted approach to supporting the special needs community stems from a service-oriented philosophy: "Service is at the heart of what we do." This genuine desire to connect families with the right resources makes Silent Voyces a beacon for parents seeking support.

Learn more about Silent Voyces through their website (silentvoyces.org), Facebook group, Instagram (@SilentVoyces), or YouTube channel (Inspired Voices). As Rita reminds us, the "Y" in Voices symbolizes that every parent has a voice in their child's care—an empowering message for families navigating the complex world of special needs support.

To learn more about Silent Voyces go to:

https://www.silentvoyces.org/

Silent Voyces 

469-922-5308

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a nonprofit?
Well, one may be closer thanyou think.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
rita Stevens, with Silent Voices.
Rita, how are you today?
I'm doing really good.
Thank you for asking Good, well, I'm so glad to hear it.

(00:30):
So, rita, we're excited tolearn all about you and your
business.
Can you tell us a bit aboutyour company?

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Absolutely so.
Silent Voices is a nonprofitorganization that provides
advocacy and support for specialneeds children and their
families, and we do that in fourkey areas.
So we focus on healthcare,nutrition, community events and
education.
And how we do that is weactually partner with local

(00:59):
organizations by providingrespite events, resource fairs,
and we also do interviews withdifferent providers so that we
can provide parents with theinformation they need so that
they can actually support theirchildren.
We hope to, in the future, beable to provide funding for
educational and healthcareservices as well healthcare

(01:29):
services as well.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Wow, Rita, what a lovely business idea.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
So I understand you're the founder.
How did you get into thisbusiness?
Absolutely so.
I too am a parent of a specialneeds child and his name is
Bryson, and so we, you know, formany years we struggled to just
find the right resources, and Ithought, man, it should not be
this difficult to find the rightresources for your children,
and so Silent Voices was born.
A lot of the information that Ifound.

(01:54):
I have decided to share thatwith other parents as well, so
we just wanted to lighten theload a little bit for other
parents.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Amazing.
So, rita, what is the mostcommon myth or misconception in
your industry?

Speaker 3 (02:10):
I think that most parents do not understand or
know the different types ofresources that nonprofits can
assist them with and once giventhat information, they are able
to really make the rightconnections.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Understood.
What about your target clients?
Who are they?
And in terms of marketing?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
how do you attract them?
So our target audience isparents that have special needs
children between the ages ofzero to 18.
And a lot of that marketing isreally organic.
It is through the differentevents that we host with other
organizations.
We've also had organizationsand parents that have referred
people to us and then it's justby word of mouth.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
And outside of work.
Rita, what do you do for fun?

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Well, I'm glad you asked.
So, outside of doing SilentVoices, I also enjoy writing and
I'm also I enjoy speaking aswell.
So I'm actually finishing up onmy first book and it is
scheduled to be released thisspring, so I'm super excited
about that.
It's actually called UnexpectedPatterns of Purpose and outside

(03:24):
of that I just kind of spendtime with my family.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, it sounds like you certainly have a full
schedule.
I do let's go ahead and switchgears.
Can you describe a hardship orlife challenge you overcame and
how it made you a better andstronger woman today?
What comes?

Speaker 3 (03:47):
to mind for you.
Absolutely, I would say.
The most difficult hardship forme really has been to accept a
new life with a special needschild.
It is not something that Ianticipated and it's definitely
not something that I asked for,but it was something that I
needed.
It has helped me grow incommunication, advocacy,

(04:09):
patience and definitely myunderstanding with other people.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Well, sometimes even in chaos, God works all together
for our highest good.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
That's amazing.
And, rita, do you have any tipsfor other parents who also have
special needs children to helpthem navigate those challenging?

Speaker 3 (04:35):
times, absolutely, I would say.
The first thing that I wouldshare with most parents is be
patient with yourself.
You will not know everything,nor are you supposed to know
everything, but it will all comein time.
The second tip that I wouldprobably share with them is be
open to asking questions.

(04:56):
Never be afraid to ask thequestions that you want to ask
for your child, and remember, itis your child, so it is okay to
ask those questions.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
So, rita, please tell our listeners one thing they
should remember about segmentvoices, absolutely our listeners
.
One thing they should rememberabout Second Voices.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Absolutely.
The one thing I want you guysto remember about us is that
service is at the heart of whatwe do.
Sorry, Absolutely.
Okay, we genuinely want tosupport you, we genuinely want
to help you and we want toconnect you to the right
resources, and that is what it'sabout.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
It's about us serving the community and serving
others, and when can ourlisteners go to learn more about
silent voices?

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Sure, you can reach out to us on our website, which
is wwwsilentvoicesorg.
We also have a Facebook groupcalled Silent Voices.
We have Instagram at SilentVoices and then our YouTube
channel.
Now, our YouTube channel issomething a little bit different
.
It's called Inspired Voices.
But remember all of thosevoices with a Y, because we want

(06:12):
you to remember that you have avoice in your child's care.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, Rita, I really appreciate you being on the show
.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPFriscocom.
That's GNPFriscocom, or call469-221-9345.
© transcript Emily Beynon.