Rising Together: Mental Health, Identity, & Radical Healing

StorytellingNewsPodcast
Written By The Phoenix Empowered

Mental Health News Radio Podcast (2025)

José joins host Kristin Walker for a courageous conversation about what it means to heal in a world not built for many of us. Together, they explore how identity, community, and cultural wisdom reshape the mental health landscape—and why rest, joy, and radical healing are forms of resistance.

Drawing from his own lived experience as a queer, disabled person of color, José discusses the importance of shifting language from “marginalized” to “minoritized,” supporting those impacted by criminalization and systemic oppression, and embracing neurodivergence as a source of insight and compassion. He also shares updates on The Phoenix Empowered and his vision for more inclusive mental health storytelling.

A powerful reminder that collective healing begins when every voice is honored.

Watch / Listen to the conversation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrzc8Bu6IRI

The Phoenix Empowered

The Phoenix Empowered is a storytelling-and-education organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of minoritized communities and advancing inclusive mental-health conversations. We believe in the power of connection, creativity, and community to inspire change. Through our platform, we invite individuals to share their stories, explore identity, and engage in vulnerability with no stigma attached. Our work is rooted in the philosophy that “taking stock of who we are gives us power.”

Whether through personal narrative, art, discussion, or activism, The Phoenix Empowered meets individuals where they are — and rises together.

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The Phoenix Within: Radical Healing and the Power of Community with José Rosario
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Storytelling as Medicine: Decolonizing Therapy