What Young People Need Most

What Young People Need Most

From Voices of Compassion by CHC

May 20, 2026 · 39 min · Season 6 · Episode 19

About this episode

The episode discusses the importance of relationships in youth development with Ben Houltberg from Search Institute.

What if the most powerful thing an educator can do has nothing to do with curriculum? Search Institute has spent over 60 years studying what helps youth thrive – and the answer keeps coming back to one thing: relationships. In this conversation with President & CEO of Search Institute, Ben Houltberg, PhD, LMFT, we unpack the science of developmental relationships – a specific, research-backed framework that goes far beyond simply "being nice" to students. We explore how a single teacher relationship can reshape a young person's trajectory, and how to shift from a deficit mindset to a strengths-based one – even when you're running on empty. Because it turns out, the small things aren't small at all. Resources: CHC Online CHC’s Catherine T. Harvey Center for Clinical Services CHC's Resource Library Learn more about Ellis Sign up for our Virtual Village email list to receive our latest episodes and recent CHC updates. Visit Voices of Compassion online for full show notes including additional resources. Find us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and LinkedIn and visit our YouTube channel for videos. Subscribe and leave us a review wherever you listen! We love to hear from you…

People in this episode

Host: CHC

Guest: Ben Houltberg, PhD, LMFT

Topics covered

  • youth development
  • educational relationships
  • strengths-based mindset
  • teacher impact
  • mental health

Keywords

  • youth thrive
  • developmental relationships
  • educator impact
  • strengths-based approach
  • mental health

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Search Institute, CHC, Catherine T. Harvey Center for Clinical Services, Voices of Compassion

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