Optimistic Voices

About Optimistic Voices

Vital voices in the fields of global health, global child welfare reform and family separation, and those intent on conducting ethical missions in low resource communities and developing nations. Join our hosts as they engage in conversations with diverse guests from across the globe, sharing optimistic views, experiences, and suggestions for better and best practices as they discuss these difficult topics.

Publisher

Helping Children Worldwide; Dr. Laura Horvath, Emmanuel M. Nabieu, Yasmine Vaughan, Melody Curtiss

Category

science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Jun 2022

Latest episode

21 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

76 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Oct 2026

   Systems Thinking That Works

   Send us Fan Mail In this episode, our co-hosts explore how the smartest move for engaging in global alliances in child welfare, health, and economic development might be asking a better question, not funding a bigger fix. We talk with David Peter Strohl, internationally recognized systems thinking expert and author of *Systems Thinking for Social Change*, about why entrenched challenges in child welfare, global health, and international development can stay stuck even when everyone means well...

2. 

   22 Apr 2026

   Radical Courage - 3 Women Willing to Pay the Price to Put Children First

   Send us Fan Mail A lot of people want to help vulnerable children, but few of us stop to ask the hardest question: what if we are the problem? Our support of children in adversity could be fueling family separation and making the situation worse. Dr. Laura Horvath sits down with Dr. Rebecca Nhep (Better Care Network) and Elli Oswald (Faith to Action Initiative) to unpack “radical courage” in global child welfare and care reform. Our guests discuss how embracing truth required us to chan...

3. 

   8 Apr 2026

   Home Before The War - Nab's Journey Begins With Family

   Send us Fan Mail Home can disappear in a single night but the memory of it can keep you alive for years. We sit down with Emmanuel Mohammed Nabieu, known as Nabs, to begin a multi-part Child’s View journey that starts before conflict, before separation, and before survival becomes the only goal. Nabs takes us to Sami, his small village in Sierra Leone, where everyone is family, children learn by working and playing side by side, and nights are filled with laughter and stories under the moonli...

Who has been a guest on Optimistic Voices

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Reverend Olivia Fonney
• Stephen Usembe
• Phil Aspergren
• Stephen Ucembe

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

44,616

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 60 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

65

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

60

Contact Optimistic Voices

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.