What if the most important way to protect LGBTQ+ youth isn’t legislation or policies, but how we care for their mental health?

In the final episode of July’s “Safety” series, Heather Hester gets to the emotional core of LGBTQ+ protection: supporting what’s happening inside our kids. Backed by powerful data and grounded in lived experience, this conversation unpacks what mental health safety really means, and why your presence, listening, and affirmation matter more than ever.

• Understand the life-saving impact of being one accepting adult in an LGBTQ+ young person’s life
• Learn how to create emotional rituals of safety and resilience at home, from check-ins to therapy
• Discover how modeling emotional honesty and curiosity (not correction) creates lasting trust and well-being

Press play to learn how you can become your LGBTQ+ child’s safety net from the inside out with tools, presence, and powerful compassion.

RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT

Mental health support:

• The Trevor Project
• Trans Lifeline
• National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network
• Inclusive Therapists
• Psychology Today
• To Write Love On Her Arms

Hi, I’m Heather Hester, and I’m so glad you’re here!

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At the heart of my work is a deep commitment to compassion, authenticity, and transformative allyship, especially for those navigating the complexities of parenting LGBTQ+ kids. Through this podcast, speaking, my writing, and the spaces I create, I help people unlearn bias, embrace their full humanity, and foster courageous, compassionate connection.

If you’re in the thick of parenting, allyship, or pioneering a way to lead with love and kindness, I’m here with true, messy, and heart-warming stories, real tools, and grounding support to help you move from fear to fierce, informed action.

Whether you’re listening in, working with me directly, or quietly taking it all in—I see you. And I’m so glad you’re part of this journey.

More Human. More Kind. formerly Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen is a safe and supportive podcast and space where a mom and mental health advocate offers guidance on parenting with empathy, inclusion, and open-minded allyship, fostering growth, healing, and empowerment within the LGBTQ community—including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals—while addressing grief, boundaries, education, diversity, human rights, gender identity, sexual orientation, social justice, and the power of human kindness through a lens of ally support and community engagement.