In this episode of Design and Religion – Look for the Helpers, Van and Pastor Nate welcome Dan McGarvey Esq., a criminal youth defense attorney in Colorado.

Dan works daily with children charged in the juvenile system—and sometimes prosecuted as adults. He explains the profound gap between how the legal system treats youth and what neuroscience tells us about adolescent brain development. The brain, he notes, is not fully formed until at least age 25, sometimes later. Yet teenagers often face adult consequences for decisions made in moments of immaturity, impulsivity, and fear.

The conversation leads beyond legal mechanics into moral tension. Dan describes the layered realities behind many juvenile cases: unstable homes, trauma, addiction, neglect, poverty, and mistrust of court-appointed attorneys. He pushes back against the “single story” narrative that flattens young defendants into nothing more than “the crime they committed.” Every child has context. Every case has a backstory.

Dan closes with what sustains him: small wins. Getting a case transferred back to juvenile court. Protecting constitutional rights. Recognizing colleagues’ victories. The work is heavy, but it matters.

This episode refuses easy answers. Instead, it asks listeners to see more clearly—and to stop flattening children into a single story.

Send us a text message letting us know what you think of this episode!

We envision a world where design and religion work together to spread love, empathy, and charity faster than divisiveness, selfishness, and hate. To achieve this, we aim to bring the stories of those driving this change—both big and small—into the spotlight, allowing ideas for positive transformation to spread quickly and reach those who need them most.

Nate is the Head Pastor at Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church https://rccpc.org/

Van is a Service Designer and Illustrator, and his work can be found at https://www.vansheacreative.com/

In this Look for the Helpers episode, Van and Pastor Nate sit down with researcher and social scientist Julie Krohner, who defines her work simply: helping people cultivate self- and other-empathy.

Julie’s premise is: Safety and attention can create transcendence. When order enters the nervous system, it frees cognitive bandwidth. That’s when people feel expansion, unity, and source-connection. It doesn’t require supernatural causation to be sacred. There is only one “you,” and yet you share an emotional life with billions of others. Humans are far more alike than different

And it requires the humility to admit: we are more similar than we pretend.

Send us a text message letting us know what you think of this episode!

We envision a world where design and religion work together to spread love, empathy, and charity faster than divisiveness, selfishness, and hate. To achieve this, we aim to bring the stories of those driving this change—both big and small—into the spotlight, allowing ideas for positive transformation to spread quickly and reach those who need them most.

Nate is the Head Pastor at Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church https://rccpc.org/

Van is a Service Designer and Illustrator, and his work can be found at https://www.vansheacreative.com/

In this episode of Design and Religion: Helpers, we sit with Jason Baxley, a police lieutenant, tactical flight officer, and paramedic whose work exists at the intersection of authority and compassion.

Baxley describes a nontraditional path into law enforcement, beginning in medicine rather than criminal justice. That decision shaped how he approaches crisis. Not as a problem to control, but as a human moment that demands judgment, restraint, and care under pressure. In the aviation unit, he often holds multiple roles at once: law enforcement officer, medical responder, teacher, and teammate. Sometimes all within minutes.

The conversation explores the moral tension of service. How do you act decisively without becoming detached? How do you care deeply without losing command? Baxley explains that real courage is rarely dramatic. It’s often procedural, quiet, and invisible. Training matters. Trust matters. And so does knowing when not to act.

We also discuss public misunderstanding of emergency work, the limits of certainty in high-stakes decisions, and the unseen cost of service borne by families. Baxley reframes heroism away from individual acts and toward systems of preparation, shared responsibility, and collective resilience.

This episode doesn’t resolve the tension between compassion and authority. It sits with it. And in doing so, it offers a clearer picture of what helping actually looks like when there’s no applause, no clarity, and no rewind button.

Send us a text message letting us know what you think of this episode!

We envision a world where design and religion work together to spread love, empathy, and charity faster than divisiveness, selfishness, and hate. To achieve this, we aim to bring the stories of those driving this change—both big and small—into the spotlight, allowing ideas for positive transformation to spread quickly and reach those who need them most.

Nate is the Head Pastor at Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church https://rccpc.org/

Van is a Service Designer and Illustrator, and his work can be found at https://www.vansheacreative.com/