WEBVTT
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.040
First responders are an important part of our lives, whether we like it or not.
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:08.160
When you pick up the phone or ask for help, a first responder is showing up for you in that moment of need.
00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:14.320
And now that's your worst day, and they're experiencing that day in and day out, and day in and day out.
00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:17.679
We want to be there for our first responders on their worst day.
00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:21.199
We recognize what you guys and gals go through.
00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:23.039
Because raise your hand for help sucks.
00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:23.440
Yes.
00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:24.399
It's scary.
00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:26.000
Personally, I can relate to that.
00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:28.559
But I'm all the more better because of it.
00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:29.199
Sure.
00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.960
Because in retrospect, my life sucked even more before I went to treatment.
00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:05.840
Also the director of clinical operations here at First Responder Wellness.
00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:20.719
If you are not familiar with what First Responder Wellness is, we are a treatment organization dedicated to treating first responders here in Newport Beach for post-traumatic stress, addiction, and all the things that come with the stressors of being a first responder.
00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:28.239
Today, back by popular demand, we talked a little bit about the Ragnar run last time he was here.
00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:42.319
But Joel Edwards is here with us today to talk to us a little bit about who he is, uh why he does what he does, how he how it is that he does what he does, and a little bit about maybe some hopes and goals for the future of uh first responder wellness.
00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:43.920
So welcome back, Joel.
00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:46.239
Um yeah, it's good to see you.
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:48.719
Joel's fresh off the Ragnar race.
00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:52.319
So um, you know, he talked me into driving.
00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:58.879
So we talked a little bit about um the Ragnar race the last time you were here, and uh so he he he kind of convinced me.
00:01:58.959 --> 00:01:59.840
I get a phone call.
00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:03.840
On a scale from one to ten, he says, How happy would you be to drive?
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:05.599
And I'm like, So you need a driver.
00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:06.480
He's like, Yeah.
00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:10.560
So I agreed to do it, and immediately when I hung up, I was like, What have I done?
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:14.879
Like 36 hours of driving just does not sound like fun.
00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:18.159
Uh beats 36 hours of running.
00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:21.120
It does beat 36 hours of running because I was witness to that.
00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:25.759
But I tell you what, I see why it is that you're so passionate about doing it.
00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.039
Um, one, for the cause, you know, which is great.
00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:33.599
But two, uh, that's a pretty good kind of uh adventure there, man.
00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:43.039
Like there's a lot going on, there's teams running around everywhere, but it's a pretty cool community of people, you know, kind of putting that stuff together and doing what they're doing.
00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.879
So, you know, um I can see, definitely see why you do it.
00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:48.319
And uh I'm game, dude.
00:02:48.400 --> 00:03:02.000
I don't know if I'll be running or driving, but uh I definitely commitment here now not making a commitment here uh where you guys can rewind the video and be like you said, but I am committing to being involved next year for sure.
00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:13.280
Uh whether that's driving or running, I have not made up my mind, but that's definitely progress because at this point, up until this point, I have been absolutely like not not even considering it.
00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:17.599
But uh it was such a good time, and it was really for a great cause.
00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:19.280
I could see myself being involved.
00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:21.840
So um, how was it for you?
00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:22.639
Did you do well?
00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:23.520
Did you have fun?
00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:24.719
Yeah, I had a lot of fun.
00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.039
This is our fifth, fifth one.
00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:33.520
So we've got three roads and two trails, and so uh this was our biggest team, and we had 24 runners this year.
00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:35.439
400 miles.
00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:36.000
Yeah.
00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:38.479
What was it, 72 exchanges?
00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:41.360
Like we had a we had a good contingent of people out there.
00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:42.400
It was uh it was fun.
00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:51.840
My favorite part is uh all the people like you who I've been trying to convince to do this for years on you have every excuse under the sun if I'm not ready or whatever else.
00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:56.080
And it's like they get out there and leg one, they're like, okay, that was cool.
00:03:56.159 --> 00:04:00.000
Then leg two, it's you know, it's two o'clock in the morning, they're like, oh my god, I want to do this again.
00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:06.080
Leg three, they're like, I'm not coming back, and then yeah, Monday morning come to the office like, can I sign off the next one?
00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:26.720
Yeah, so it's cool to see people like go through that progression and do something they didn't think they could do, yeah, and have that kind of big win for themselves individually, but then also to see their van mates and the rest of the team kind of rally around them and hey dude, you can do this, and cheering on, you know, you know, the feedback I got from you is like hype man, right?
00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:28.959
Oh yeah, pipe them up, and that's all it takes.
00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:34.560
You just you know, three in the morning, you run down the PCH, and all of a sudden there's five of your van mates just hanging out the window yelling.
00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:35.920
Hooping and all oh yeah.
00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:36.480
You go.
00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.160
So that's cool, it's a great experience.
00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:44.639
Um, obviously the cause is amazing, but um yeah, just doing something like that's you know, it's not something that's on everybody's bucket list.
00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:50.480
No, it's not to go run for 36 hours, sleep in a van, yeah, maybe sleep, you know, like it's maybe sleep.
00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:52.800
Or we sleep this year.
00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:54.959
We say I slept in the grass park for about an hour.
00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.160
Yeah, I think I slept in a high school gymnasium for two hours.
00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:00.560
Yeah, it's yeah, it's part of it.
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:04.000
No, and it was and that is, it's the whole experience, right?
00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:06.480
Just I was just driving, which was really cool.
00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:16.560
Um, and just you know, getting to pick them up and drop them off and you know, get them waters and dust them off and hype them up and give them an attaboy and send them off on the next run.
00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:21.519
But um, you could just really see all of this community just kind of rallying around.
00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:31.439
I mean, you know, you go by other vans, they're honking, they're waving, you're seeing people, you know, when you're stopping for gas, whatever's going on, or at the next exchange, and everybody's just having a good time, you know.
00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.319
So it really was a really positive experience.
00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:36.319
My van crushed it, dude.
00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:39.920
They were just, you know, and you and I were kind of talking a little bit about it before.
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:45.759
It was like you do the the these big things with the wrong people, and you can just be miserable, you know.
00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:52.160
And dude, these guys and girls were just having a blast, and so it was really easy to to go along.
00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:53.360
So great experience.
00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:57.920
My share grind is like 100% something you kind of have in common with these people forever now.
00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.839
Like, hey, we did this together, and it's like this, it's yeah, it's cool.
00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.519
It's kind of like what are you gonna complain about?
00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:04.639
We're all miserable, dude.
00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:13.439
Like, nobody wants to haven't showered, having slept, living off, you know, protein bars and and uh hydration stuff.
00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:14.399
So it was great.
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:16.639
Yeah, it was uh it was a great experience.
00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.480
So so we're here today to learn a little bit more about you, right?
00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:28.319
You personally and kind of kind of who you are and and what it is that you, you know, what it is that drives you to do what it is uh that you're doing.
00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.600
So tell us a little bit about Joel Edwards growing up.
00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:33.439
All right, Joel Edwards growing up.
00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:36.959
I'm a NorCal kid, born and raised in Sacramento, California.
00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:43.199
Uh so you know, growing up, I was an outdoors kid.
00:06:43.279 --> 00:07:08.000
You know, I got a lot of my um life experiences through Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, camping, doing all the outdoor stuff, um, a couple with sports and those types of things, obviously running a little bit when I was a little bit younger, but you know, growing up in Northern California versus where I raised my child now here in Southern California is uh and for anyone from NorthCal, it's a hella hella different.
00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:09.600
Hella, that's right.
00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:13.360
So it's just different.
00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:17.279
You know, I like uh I love the slower pace that I had up there.
00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:29.040
Um yeah, growing up, I think I was your kind of standard latch key kid, you know, walk to school, come home to the babysitter after school at the you know, the neighbor's house, wait for mom and dad to come home from work, pick me up.
00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:29.600
Yeah.
00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:31.519
Just kind of did life like that.
00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:36.639
And um I realized early on I did not want to stay in Northern California.
00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:41.920
So uh when college time came around, I kind of worked my way down south.
00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:47.199
I wound up in San Luis Sabisville at Cal Poly, which thank God I went then because I could never get in now.
00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:52.399
But you know, it was interesting at that time you had like declare your major as a freshman, so I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do.
00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:53.439
So I've picked business.
00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:58.480
Business seemed easy-ish, seemed very general, something I could do with my life.
00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:10.079
So did the business route and um I did the college thing, the frat thing, all those things you're supposed to do, chucked all those boxes, including drugs and alcohol, and those things slowly took over everything else.
00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:12.879
But I managed to get out of college alive, so it was fantastic.
00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:24.319
Um, but I used that opportunity to uh do a lot of other things, and and by that I mean I kind of realized that um I wanted to retire before I went to work.
00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:37.039
So my four-year degree turned into a six-year degree, which included like a year living overseas in Europe and traveling and bartending and kind of experiencing other cultures, um, which I think helped prepare me for life when I came back.
00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:42.720
And then when I came back, I I was like, oh my god, I need like six more units and I'll get a second degree.
00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:44.480
So I stayed another year because why not?
00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:44.720
Right.
00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:49.360
And so I finally finally graduated with my degree in business and a degree in in industrial technology.
00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:50.799
And then I got the call.
00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:53.039
So I get a call from my buddy who graduated the year before.
00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:54.080
He's like, Hey dude, what are you doing?
00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:55.519
I said, Oh, I'm getting ready to graduate.
00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.759
And he's like, uh, you want to do something?
00:08:57.840 --> 00:08:59.360
I was like, Yeah, I always want to do something.
00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:03.360
He's like, Well, dad's settled his business and he wants to go sail around the world.
00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:04.240
Do you want to come with us?
00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:05.919
I was like, Yeah.
00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:10.320
So I had, you know, you talk about those like opportunity knocks, you gotta go calling.
00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:16.720
It's like, okay, can I graduate from college in June and go, you know, go start my career lacquer there, or can I go travel the world again?
00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:22.960
So I went and did that and I lived on a 50-foot sailboat for 10 months uh with my best friend and his dad.
00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:37.840
And we um sailed the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic and the Caribbean and just lived in flip-flops and board shorts and tan skin, and you know, I had my grizzly Adams beard back when it was all still brown and not gray anymore.
00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:44.960
And I just did that, and I just soaked up the culture and just chilling, kind of delaying real life for as long as humanly possible.
00:09:45.039 --> 00:10:03.600
And then fortunately I had the opportunity uh to bring my dad out while he was still alive, and he got to sail across the Atlantic Ocean with us, and that was being a dad now was a pretty um amazing experience to have happened, to spend that kind of time with your dad where he's no longer your dad, he's kind of like your on equal playing field.
00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:05.679
So that was really cool.
00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.879
Um so then it was like I came back and you know, reality set in.
00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:15.600
Back to Sacramento and like shaved my beard and put on shoes for the first time in almost a year.
00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:16.720
I was like, okay, now what?
00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:18.399
So I'm up here in Orange County.
00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:23.360
Orange County in the early 2000s was like the mortgage capital of the world.
00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:30.639
You know, subprime for those people that were alive and around back then was big, and so I, you know, went from flip-flops and board shorts to a suit and tie.
00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:31.679
Suit and tie.
00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:37.840
And did that for a while, which just fueled um my addictions, like a better term.
00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:42.399
I mean, I was 25 years old back then making six figures, making more money than my parents.
00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:48.960
Like it was just something that and it was par for the course with what you're doing, you know, drinking, partying, yeah.
00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:56.960
So that was only sustainable for so so long.
00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:02.480
Um and then in 2008 I basically just buried myself.
00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:05.279
Um and I wound up in rehab.
00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:08.720
So I checked into Hogue Hospital here in Newport Beach.
00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:13.200
Um and that's when like enough was enough.
00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:13.679
Yeah.
00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:21.919
I couldn't do alcohol anymore, I couldn't do cocaine, I was 250 pounds, my cholesterol was 300 plus, I was a disaster of a human.
00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:29.679
Um I was 28, 29 years old, and uh going nowhere fast, so I needed uh I needed the restart.
00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:36.799
Um went uh and did uh 60 days of treatment, then uh three or four months of sober living.
00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:37.679
Interesting.
00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:45.840
Did all the things you're supposed to do, got a sponsor, did AA, went and got my get well job and sales again, which was stupid, but whatever.
00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:53.919
Uh switched my addiction to diet Pepsi and ice cream uh because I missed the sugar.
00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:00.559
Yeah, and uh did that for a year and then got a phone call from my mom, who was uh a school psychologist.
00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:03.440
She's like, dude, you're almost 30, like, what are you gonna do?
00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.240
I was like, I have no clue.
00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:14.480
And she's like, Well, you know, let me take you back to your childhood and here's what you're good at and here's what you enjoyed, and you're always good with people.
00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:37.679
So at her kind of nudge slash push slash what else am I gonna do with my life, I went back to school, got my clinical credentials and substance abuse counseling, and um at the time down here in Orange County, I just called up every single treatment center and begged and pleaded for an internship, yeah, and finally got one and uh humbled myself and just started being addiction counselor.
00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:38.240
Nice.
00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:46.799
I was 30 years old, making 14 bucks an hour, yeah, right, earning my hours, just uh a life change.
00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:53.279
Um I was super grateful, and that's kind of also what spurred my health changes, you know.
00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:56.799
As I said earlier, I was a pretty heavy set kid, heavy set guy.
00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:19.440
So I started running, eating well, um, got in shape, and as I got in shape, my head got in shape, my career started to grow, and I started um thinking like I used to sit in this group that these people run and I used to be on the other side where this counselor was, and like at the time, what did I want to have done differently?
00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:24.720
And what brought me to joy as a kid that I stopped doing in my addiction.
00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:36.559
And I you know realized that it was outdoor stuff, being connected with nature, backpacking, but you know, fortunately down here you can be on the water up in Sacramento or down on the you're on the river.
00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:38.080
So it was those types of things.
00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:49.519
So I started thinking, okay, can I take my business degree and my clinical degrees and put those together somehow to make something different in the treatment center space?
00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:50.159
Yeah.
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:58.000
So I did what anyone would do, I guess, and I called up a bunch of wilderness programs on the East Coast to say, hey, can I fly out there and just shadow you guys for a while?
00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:05.600
And so I went out to three or four different wilderness programs on the East Coast and in Utah, and I just lived on the land with the patients out there in the middle of nowhere.
00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:11.039
And I said, Okay, I can take this model and bring it back here to Southern California.
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:17.519
And so I started the California's first um PHP program with wilderness therapy.
00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:18.240
Yeah.
00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:19.919
So we called it the adventure program.
00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:21.120
Adventure programs.
00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:27.840
And that in that that's pretty cool because for a lot of people, they they I mean, that's kind of a thing now, right?
00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:39.039
Like most programs, that is there, but the early 2000s, the the you know, late 90s, treatment was very sterile, it was very clinical, it was very by the book.
00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:41.440
You do the groups, you do the things, right?
00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:44.799
There was very little, you know, maybe you'll get an outing here or there.
00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:51.759
You guys will go to the movies or something, but there wasn't a lot of this experiential stuff that you brought into it, so that's pretty cool.
00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:57.759
I did want to ask, though, interesting enough, did you have any experience sailing before you jumped on that boat?
00:14:58.000 --> 00:14:58.399
Yeah.
00:14:58.639 --> 00:14:58.960
Okay.
00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:01.919
That's pretty brave, dude.
00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:03.600
My buddy sent me a book before we left.
00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:09.840
Over, and it was like the dummy's guide to sailing.
00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:10.399
Yeah.
00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:12.639
Uh, so that was my experience.
00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:18.080
Uh, and you know, there's a lot of nautical terms.
00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:18.799
Sure.
00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.159
And no, not really hit.
00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:21.360
So it's like, you know, grab the thing.
00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:22.399
So we had our own nautical terms.
00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:26.080
Grab the thing, Majig, you know, you go around another stairs, like, what the heck are you guys talking about?
00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:28.159
And for like, we know exactly what we're talking about.
00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:28.480
Yeah.
00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:29.360
And you figure it out.
00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:29.600
Yeah.
00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:32.320
Like anything else that I've done in life, you just kind of figure it out.
00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:35.840
Nice.
00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:37.120
Yeah.
00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.399
And so you you you battled through your own addictions, right?
00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:44.240
And then and kind of got to that place of like, which is very common, right?
00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:49.600
For uh those of us who who have uh taken our retirement on the front end and then burn our life down.
00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:54.399
Uh, you find yourself at 30 something years old looking out at the world, like, what's next, right?
00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:58.559
Like, I can't, I can't drink, I can't do drugs, like the party's over.
00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:01.600
Now I'm just a sad 30-year-old who's trying to hang around, right?
00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:03.600
It's kind of cool when you're in your 20s.
00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:08.720
Like it's a little it's a little more acceptable, it's easier to get away with, I should say.
00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.919
And there's not a lot of people going, hey man, you're 30 something years old.
00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:12.720
What are you doing?
00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:13.279
Right.
00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:15.360
And so now you kind of look at life.
00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:29.600
And uh, I also love the fact that you talked about as you furthered your own recovery, there was this progression of like, uh, because I don't know if a lot of people understand um early sobriety's rough, man.
00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:34.399
And you're, you know, you're just trying to, you're just trying to figure it out and survive.
00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:39.519
And you've taken away all of the the drugs and the alcohol, and many of us, right?
00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:40.799
I was very much the same.
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:42.159
I pick up the spoon, right?
00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:44.240
I put down the pipe, picked up the fork.
00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:46.879
Uh, so it was ice cream, you know, drugs no more.
00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:51.840
It was ice cream and cake and pizzas and whatever I could eat to kind of fill that hole.
00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:56.960
But there's this, there's this great point where you're miserable there too, right?
00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:02.159
And it's these points of misery that kind of keep pushing you forward to progress.
00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:06.480
And so you're looking at things and you're like, okay, what am I gonna do?
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:09.519
Mom says, Hey, you've always been good with people, this, that, and the other.
00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:10.240
Okay, great.
00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:16.480
All right, well, I'll be a substance abuse counselor, which is a very common route for people who have gone through, right?
00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:26.000
And then this idea of like, hey, I've always loved the wilderness and what brought brought me happiness, and then to have the forefront to think, how would I wanted treatment to be different?
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.480
You know, what did I want to do differently when I was in treatment?
00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:30.640
And then kind of put those things together.
00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:35.119
So, and again, that's pretty cool because that was not a thing, you know.
00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:46.000
Uh, it was AA, N A, and you know, Hoague, Betty Ford, like just your meetings, go to group, go to therapy, that's it, sponsor.
00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:46.640
That's it.
00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:52.319
There was no big community of let's go and have fun, let's do the hiking and the biking and all that stuff.
00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:53.359
So that's pretty cool.
00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:56.000
So you kind of merge those things together, right?
00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:00.480
So you go out to these wilderness programs and now you find yourself kind of doing that.
00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:02.720
So, how did that kind of progress from there?
00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:11.759
Well, I think if you uh if you take a look at traditional treatment back in the day, it was four walls in a room, six hours a day.
00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:13.359
A lot of cigarette smoking.
00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:15.359
Yeah, you do your stand, yeah, this is before vape.
00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:24.720
So you do your standard anger management, coping skills, blah blah blah, which had its thing back there, but you kind of had the same thing day in and day out.
00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:39.440
And that was great while you're in this little bubble, but it was like, what are we doing to expose people to coping skills that aren't necessarily clinical based that can help improve their life that get them connected with the outdoors?
00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:43.599
Because I'm a huge believer the outdoors is a very healing, very therapeutic, absolutely.
00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:45.440
Never had the opportunity to get out there.
00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:56.640
But for there's a lot of people like probably me and you that our early years we were well connected, and then drugs and alcohol took that away, and then we've got reintroduced to it.
00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:58.880
Yeah, and I was like, oh my god, I miss this.
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:00.000
I know why I love this so much.
00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:00.640
Very much, yeah.
00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.119
And then it becomes a part of our active and long-term recovery.
00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:17.759
So I think for me, noticing that path, I felt that there was probably a lot of other people like that, and the only way to get that into the treatment center kind of space was to just do it and see if it worked.
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:18.880
Create it, yeah.
00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:25.279
And so thankfully, where I worked, I had the support, the financial support, and the the resources to make that happen.
00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:39.680
And so we would, you know, I grabbed two therapists, a backpack full of UA cups, you know, we'd backpack around Catalina Island, backpack in the Grand Canyon, go whitewater rafting, and like you take these people out of the treatment environment for a week or two at a time.
00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:40.240
Yep.
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:53.680
Expose them this with the the support of a clinician and the support of you know a group around a fire pit and do those kinds of things, and you see someone wake up at five in the morning that's never seen a sunrise, right?
00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:58.799
Yeah, or you see someone go to bed and you wake them up at midnight so they can see the Milky Way for the first time.
00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.960
Or they challenge themselves and they're jumping out of a tree onto a zip line.
00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:03.519
Yeah.
00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:15.200
And the emotive responses they have, that anxiety of, oh my God, my heart racing, you know, you're getting to like kind of do a full-blown check-in while they're up there, like this is what this feels like.
00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:18.400
A lot of a lot of us, we were so numbed out, we would never felt that before.
00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:19.759
We already know what that feels like.
00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:20.079
Yep.
00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:28.319
But now you get an adrenaline hit, you get an adrenaline rush, you get all these things that happen, and it's like it's super powerful.
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:41.359
And so now there's something tangible, not that you have to go whitewater rafting every day for your recovery, but going outside and hugging a tree, going outside and going for a walk, going out and walking the beach and just looking at the ocean for five minutes.
00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:56.559
It's like those simple little things that we lost in our addiction, getting reintroduced to those, doesn't matter who you are, 26-year-old kid, first responder, you know, retired doctor, like there's that nature connection that's just so powerful.
00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:09.359
And so I really wanted kind of like with Ragnar, I wanted people to experience that the same way I did, not the same way, but have that experience and have it be for them, but really see their eyes open when I went and did that.
00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:10.880
And so it was really cool to say it.
00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:22.480
Yeah, and it's when you find something that you become passionate about because of the effect that it's had on you, that's the seed that you want to plant and grow so that other people can, right?
00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:27.920
So, and to your point, like the outdoors is so therapeutic, just those settings, right?
00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:33.200
I'm heavily involved with I have a really good friend uh who has a company called Off the Grid Therapy.
00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:44.720
Uh, and we take guys out for three, three days at a time, like three and a half days, and it's hiking, it's fishing, it's you know, pushing, pushing the limits, getting in cold water, right?
00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:56.079
Uh, but a lot of very therapeutic stuff just happens at night around those fires, just talking about life, man, and talking about what you're struggling with and getting the support.
00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.519
But there's something about being back out there in nature.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.839
Away from all of this stuff.
00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:10.640
So for you to s have that experience and see that early on and be able to plug that into the the uh the treatment center that you are working at is pretty cool.
00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:16.559
Yeah, and you know to your point, I think that there's the the individual experience of the outdoors, right?
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:27.119
But there's also like you just touched on the the communal aspect of the outdoors because full disclosure, I run a treatment program.
00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:28.400
You work in a treatment program.
00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:35.440
We can sit here and say all day that like the treatment program is what helps everybody, but you and I both know that it's a very small, small portion.
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:42.400
It's it's the community of the form outside of these out of this building, outside of this, that really is what it's all about.
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:43.599
We're just the catalyst.
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:52.880
So that for me, with the nature and the outdoors and and people sitting around and doing these shared experiences sitting around campfire, that's the healing power.
00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:54.640
And you can take that really anywhere.
00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:55.200
Yep.
00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:58.079
And it's such, it's such, and you've experienced this, right?
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:22.559
And well, I'll take 12 guys, uh, me and my buddy, and we'll take 12 guys that have never met each other, they don't know each other, we stick them in vans, we drive them out to you know, Bishop or wherever we're going, and now we're hiking together, now we're fishing together, you're getting up in the morning, and you're sitting around just talking about the grind, talking about what you're going through, talking about what sucks, what's hurting, you know, how your marriage is or isn't or whatever's going on.
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:24.960
If you've got addictions, we're talking about that stuff.
00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:26.880
And there's a huge process to that.
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:30.319
And then they build this community that they get to go on and do.
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:32.720
And I tell these guys this all the time.
00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:38.720
So they'll talk a lot about like um the community that we have here in our transitional living, right?
00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:43.759
And they'll say, you know, no offense to you guys, but a lot of the therapy for me really happens.
00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:46.160
And then no offense taken, it's does it's by design.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:47.279
Design of the whole thing.
00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:55.200
It's we do this in a social model so that you guys are kind of forced to get out of isolation, be around each other, and do those things.
00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:57.200
So yeah, there's huge benefit to that.
00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:01.920
And the community is what carries you through uh once you're done, too, you know.
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:08.480
And so it's pretty cool that you recognize that early on and and kind of created that for uh the treatment center you're working with.
00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:09.200
It was nice.
00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:09.599
Yeah.
00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:10.480
And that's it.
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:11.599
Yeah, I bet.
00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:13.119
Yeah, yeah.
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:16.160
It's a big uh far cry from what you're doing now.
00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:19.039
Uh so you're doing that for a while, and what's happening?
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:20.160
You're feeling good about things.
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:24.480
I think like anything else in life, like that was uh just another step on the path for me.
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:30.079
And as you become more and more successful, like you work your way up the corporate ladder, whatever you want to call it.
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:34.799
But for in my case, it was because of what I was doing there, it became really popular.
00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:36.720
And you mentioned earlier, people started to copy it.
00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:40.240
And so that I had to be out in the forefront, like talking about why we were good at it.
00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:44.720
So I became a director of marketing, and thankfully my business background is a market, so I didn't do that.
00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:49.680
Unfortunately, I had to have somebody else come in and take over the you know monthly outings.
00:24:49.920 --> 00:25:02.240
Um went on a couple just for quality assurance, but yeah, you know, you grow and you want new challenges because I wasn't gonna be an adventure guy the rest of my life as much as I would love to, but it's not it wasn't reality for me.
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:22.240
So that then I became the executive director of the program that I worked at, and I did that for several years, and through that I started making tons of connections in in our space down here in Southern California, and then um I had the opportunity to come to True Recovery uh through a mutual friend that was one of the owners here, and he said, Hey, here's where I'm at.
00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:23.920
I want to do this thing, and you want to come over?
00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:27.200
And I said, No, like I'm happy doing what I'm doing.
00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:29.440
He's like, Okay, well, how about you know we become partners?
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:33.039
I said, Okay, that sounds better to me because that's kind of the next natural step.
00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:38.640
So I came over to True Recovery and you know, brought a lot of those things with me.
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:49.440
And um, you know, about a year and I was like, okay, here we are in Southern California, one of 400 treatment programs licensed by the state of California, just in Orange County, right?
00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:52.480
Right next to South Florida, like those are the two hotels.
00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:53.680
Yeah.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:57.599
So it's like I we can be one of 400, or how do we become one of one?
00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:03.200
And so that became kind of the next focus for me is like, what do I need to do to stand out?
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:03.759
Yeah.
00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:04.240
Yeah.
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:17.599
Because when you're out there talking about treatment, you know, there's the buzzwords, and we all do, and we have we're all close to the ocean, and we all have you know great food, and we have great houses, and we all do individualized treatment, and we all do a couple of things.
00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:19.680
The latest and the greatest, the next thing.
00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:20.240
Yep.
00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:22.559
And so that's where I had the opportunity.
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:23.440
I met with uh Dr.
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:28.000
Odom, the chief clinical officer of first responder wellness, and at the time he owned um Simple Recovery.
00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:28.400
Yep.
00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:35.440
And over the course of a couple meetings, it was like, hey, like, what do you think about combining our programs?
00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:40.000
He at the time had a little track of first responders, four or five guys.
00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:42.240
They're probably all there on scholarship, if I recall correctly.
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:47.839
It was like, you know, you were there, you remember what it was like, and I was like, okay, uh, this could be it, right?
00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:48.160
Yeah.
00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:51.599
And so again, like anything else, it was like, let's do it.
00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:52.079
Yeah.
00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:53.519
What's the worst that's gonna happen?
00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:59.200
Yeah, we're not gonna fail, just we're gonna maybe not succeed on the first responder spot, but yeah, it will or it won't.
00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:00.559
We need to do treatment regardless.
00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:01.119
Exactly.
00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.160
So we joined our organizations and we spent the next two years.
00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:07.839
Uh, you know, you're a big part of that, our other partner, Devin, was a huge part of that.
00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:19.039
Is you know, we started taking our non-first responder program and using the resources that kicked off to grow the first responder side of stuff.
00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:25.599
And so that was all the outreach that we spent two years doing, building the trust of the departments that we now work with.
00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:48.640
And it was our team going out there and talking about what we do and clients that came through the first responder program going back and being our biggest advocates and saving lives and rebuilding families and getting guys and gals back to work and not having them medically retire, not have them go out of work complicated, getting them back to where they had always wanted to be.
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:52.640
Um and we had some interesting challenges.
00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:55.359
Obviously, we had the pandemic, and we had all kinds of stuff, man.
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:55.839
It was crazy.
00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:05.039
Defund the police and all the anti-first responder stuff that happened, but in spite of all that, you know, the need in the first responder community continued to grow.
00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:05.519
Yeah.
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:09.839
Um stigma went down.
00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:13.200
It became okay to ask for help.
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:15.200
It was still a challenge to accept help.
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:15.519
Sure.
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:25.039
But um we just really focused on creating a space and a place where first responders could come in and be authentic.
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:30.400
And it was weird because we had a first responder program downstairs in this building, and upstairs we had the traditional program.
00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:31.759
We were very mindful of the overlap.
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:33.119
That was the greatest.
00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:36.799
You couldn't tell who's a first responder who wasn't when I was in uniform.
00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:41.920
Yeah, you know, usually tell who someone were because they had the mustache, but that was really about it.
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:42.160
Yeah.
00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:43.039
The big trucks.
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:48.480
But aside from that, it was everyone kind of realized like we're all kind of the same.
00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:50.319
It's all the same stuff, yeah.
00:28:50.720 --> 00:29:00.240
Um and so I think that novelty finally was like, okay, we're at the point in in early 2021 where it was like, if we're gonna do this, now's the time.
00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:00.960
We gotta do it.
00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:07.680
So we decided as an organization to shut down our traditional program, we're fur out all of our clients.
00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:11.279
And it was like, here we go, it's make the break time.
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:15.519
Yeah, and out of that grew firstborn of wellness as it is today.
00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:15.920
Yeah.
00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:23.440
And so we've gone from four or five guys on scholarship to eighty or ninety people in treatment on any given day.
00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:32.319
We've got, you know, programs up in Washington, we've got all these other things that we're doing now because of that desire back then to help.
00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:32.960
Yeah.
00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:37.920
And it's really cool to see because you take two visionaries such as yourself and Dr.
00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:42.960
Odom, and you know, I'm a firm believer in God.
00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:47.519
God brings you guys together, and this whole thing starts to emerge, right?
00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:54.079
And so you have two very passionate people about recovery in in specific, right?
00:29:54.160 --> 00:30:13.759
Like both of you guys were really, and I've been working with him since 2014, and so I've always known to your point, like we know how to do treatment, like, and so putting lives back together, putting families back together, after you know, having walked through that stuff yourself, there's just there's a huge reward in that, right?
00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:20.240
And so if you're blessed enough to be able to have that also pay your bills, it's a great thing, you know.
00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:29.039
And so to put these two companies together and then have first responder wellness born out of it is really cool.
00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:33.119
Um, and yeah, it there were some trials and tribulations for sure, man.
00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:42.559
I mean, there were, you know, there was the pandemic, there was try trying to run two programs at the same time, um and there was a lot that was happening, but you know what?
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:51.759
I think everybody at the core had the mission in, you know, had the same mission in mind, and I I feel like that's really what kind of drove everything.
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:54.640
Um Well, you know Devin O'Day, our chief development.
00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:56.000
I certainly do.
00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:02.720
You know, in the early days, I used to go to his office and I'd be like, hey bro, uh, you only got five admas this month.
00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:03.440
What are you doing?
00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:06.480
You're not paying the bills, like shut the program down.
00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:09.519
And I would like in the back of my head be like, oh my god, I hope this isn't true.
00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:12.640
And I'd be like, dude, you got like 90 days to turn around.
00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:15.039
And he would be like, I got this, dude.
00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:15.519
I got this.
00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:21.599
And like Devin had this firm belief, and it tells you to talk to like the power of like positive thinking, right?
00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:24.400
Yeah, we're gonna do this, we're gonna make it.
00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:29.440
And he and his team just set forth and built so many relationships.
00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:37.519
And then, you know, Michael, our executive director, was very much the like, if we're gonna grow this, we need to grow it systematically and have the systems in place.
00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:41.599
So he like has just has all these chess pieces together to make sure that everything happens.
00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:42.160
And Dr.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:47.440
Owen with his clinical oversight, like, we're gonna focus on the trauma, focus on the trauma, focus on the problem.
00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:48.880
Because who really cares if you get sober?
00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:52.400
If you address internet mental health issues, who cares, right?
00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:56.799
So it was that that trauma focus, and then you were like the man of the people, right?
00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:59.920
Yep, you're in with these guys and gals every single day.
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:07.440
Yeah, and that's like like that that combined effect of you know, four or five people with that common mission is what has made us successful.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:08.000
100%.
00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:10.400
And we brought in a lot of other people along the way, like Shannon R.
00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:15.519
Druckford Missions, who's just super passionate and can talk to any family member or client or anything and talk to them.
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:22.000
Like, we just have these people that got introduced to the organization that have fallen in love with what we do.
00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:26.000
Yeah, and you know, they speak to the stuff on the wall, they're confidential, trusted, and effective.
00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:28.160
Like we do all those things and we stand behind it.
00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:41.440
And it's been cool to see where that has led first responder wellness, the counseling team, yeah, shift, our health, now the foundation that does right, all these things tell first responders.
00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:42.319
It's really cool.
00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:48.799
It's and it's it's it's so I don't know, it's really difficult to explain.
00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:57.599
I mean, I've always had a pride in being somebody who's come through uh my own addictions and then been able to help people.
00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:03.599
Like there was always a very good belief and a feeling that came with that, right?
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:12.240
But for whatever reason, when it was brought to me that this was the population that we were gonna help, I had two thoughts in mind, like, what?
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:30.000
And then, you know, and then the second thing was as the more I learned about it, and the more I understood how difficult it is for them to actually get quality help, get any help, first off, quality help, uh, ask for help and all of those things.
00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:38.079
And it only it was a very short period of time in working with them that I realized, like, yeah, this is.
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:47.440
And I remember being at Paisley Um and coming home and my wife saying, like, you know, how's everything going?
00:33:47.519 --> 00:33:48.640
What do you, you know, what do you think?
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:50.799
And I said, This is where God wants me right now.
00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:58.559
I said, I'm telling you right now, this is the thing, this is this is the the thing that is going to propel our lives forward.
00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:01.920
And I knew it in that moment for whatever reason.
00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:04.400
Um and it has been.
00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:18.719
It has been the thing that has propelled me to grow so much in you know, in my personal life, in my professional life, um, and it's just this want to help this population.
00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:30.000
And there's so much pride that comes with, you know, it's like I've always been grateful to to do treatment, but for whatever reason, you know, when you sit back and people go, you do what?
00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:32.000
Like that's really cool, you know.
00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:41.599
And then the gratitude that they have for what it is that we've been able to put together and provide them, it's just like this, like nothing else, you know.
00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:50.400
I mean, helping a 20-something-year-old kid get back to life, listen, there's some pride in that, and they'll give you a hug and be like, hey, but these guys are like, dude, you literally saved my life.
00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:51.679
Like, you have no idea.
00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:57.440
You know, I had a gun in my mouth three months ago, and I have every want and need to live today.
00:34:57.519 --> 00:34:58.639
And you guys are a huge part of that.
00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:02.159
It's a phone call I got yesterday from one of the alumni that did the Ragnar run with us.
00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:10.719
He's like, hey, you don't know this, but a year ago when you guys reached out, someone on our team reached out for me to run, and I literally had a gun in my mouth because I was ready to kill myself.
00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:14.880
Yeah, and I went up calling the admissions line instead of doing Ragnar.
00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:24.000
Spent you know, three or four months at the treatment center, and now I got the phone call again this year from the alumni coordinator about a volunteer run, it's the best thing I could have ever done because now I've come full circle.
00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:24.400
Yeah.
00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:25.920
I was like, dude, that's pretty cool.
00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:27.840
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:28.719
Yeah.
00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:40.239
So what do you feel like for you has been kind of your I mean, I know you love all of it, but what is the one, like, what is your favorite part of this whole journey?
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:43.760
What is your favorite part of like what it is that you're doing now?
00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:48.239
I think what I'm able to take a moment step back, right?
00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:50.239
Like, I'm not the face of this organization.
00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:51.760
That's you, that's Dr.
00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:53.119
Odom, that's Devin.
00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:56.559
They're the people that are out there in the front, and I have no desire to be that person.
00:35:56.639 --> 00:35:58.239
That's not who I am as a human.
00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:06.000
But I take pride in ensuring that as an organization we can deliver on all the things that we say we're going to do.
00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:26.960
You know, it's my job, for lack of better term, to make sure that there's meals, there's gas in the vans, that we've got enough housing to take care of everybody, that we're paying our people enough to keep good town around, that you know, when the departments have an issue, I'm there to fix it or solve it for them or make it right or wherever else it might be.
00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:32.800
So kind of like the behind the scenes person that keeps it all afloat so no one has to worry about anything else.
00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:38.239
Like the clinicians can take care of our clients and not have to worry about anything else.
00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:47.360
Yeah, the support staff can support our clients and take care of them because as we mentioned earlier, that's where all the healing happens, is outside of this place, right?
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:53.360
You know, the finance team can do their job and make sure we get paid so we can continue to take care of people, right?
00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:58.639
Like my pride is in making sure all that stuff happens, yeah, and it works.
00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:10.880
And then, you know, at the end of the day, I love hearing the success stories of us returning people to work or you know, dropping in a family program and seeing lives change, but yeah, I don't need uh recognition or those kinds of things.
00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:12.480
It's like my wife's like, you know, how's your day?
00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:13.440
Oh, it's pretty good.
00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:14.960
What does that mean?
00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:16.239
That means a lot actually.
00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:17.840
I just don't really know how to explain it.
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:28.559
And they're like, I don't really talk about work too much, but they people hear like what like you said, like they hear what you actually do, and it's like, oh my god, like yeah, and so now here we are.
00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:31.440
The first part of Wells really started in 2020, we shut everything down.
00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:38.159
Here we are five years later, and to look at where we were then that's crazy, and where we are now, yeah, and where we want to go.
00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:41.039
Yeah, that's pretty cool, dude.
00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:42.639
Yeah, I don't know how to explain it.
00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:43.519
No, it's amazing.
00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:44.880
Like, I can't explain it, I guess.
00:37:45.039 --> 00:37:46.480
Yeah, no, it really is.
00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:51.039
And it's uh what has seemed like 20 years, you know, on some level.
00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:57.119
And I I know you can understand that doing what's what it is five years ago, it's all ground.
00:37:57.440 --> 00:37:57.679
Yeah.
00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:11.039
Um, and then to see it, you know, and to know like, okay, man, there this is this is a real thing, and we're doing some some real uh work here, and it's benefiting so many people across the board.
00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:29.679
So, you know, whether or not you're the face of this thing or the guy who's in the background, I deeply appreciate what you do and how it is that you do it, because it it is that confidence in you that gives me the confidence to be able to step out there and say, no, this is who we are and this is what we're doing.
00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:33.840
Because with this population, that there's so much to be said about that.
00:38:34.400 --> 00:38:40.559
You have to be transparent, and you have if you don't show up and do the things that you said you're gonna do, you're done.
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:42.239
Yeah, you're done, you're gonna sink the ship.
00:38:42.320 --> 00:38:49.760
And so, me knowing that, hey, I can confidently say from the top down, this organization is exactly what it says it is 100%.
00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:54.239
And so I appreciate you doing the things that you do, the way that you do it.
00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:59.760
Um, you know, I wasn't quite sure in the beginning how it was gonna go.
00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:04.559
You know, I don't know if you remember kind of some of those early conversations.
00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:14.719
Um, but it was kind of like, you know, I said, hey, if you're gonna take this thing away from me, man, don't rip it out of my hands because I feel like I've I've you know I've I've built this thing, you know, a big part of it.
00:39:14.960 --> 00:39:30.559
And um, you know, to see where our relationship is today, I deeply appreciate you and how it is that you've done things, and I have such a a different respect for who you are and what it is that you do, and um how it is that you've you know put all of this together and been a big part of that.
00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:32.320
So I appreciate that.
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:45.440
Um for those of you that don't know, every morning about 6 30 a.m., I get a half-naked video of Chris Logan on my cell phone because I'm part of a men's coal plunge group.
00:39:45.599 --> 00:39:58.480
So I've met every morning for accountability of Chris in 35, 34 degree water in his backyard, basically dunking his head with steam coming off of his head and saying, let's F and go.
00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:00.239
And that's like the wake-up call.
00:40:00.320 --> 00:40:02.480
So the relationship has grown a little bit.
00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:03.519
Yeah, we're good.
00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:07.440
Yeah, I mean, you're doing it now, right?
00:40:07.519 --> 00:40:10.320
Like, yeah, I get listen, that's a two-way street.
00:40:10.480 --> 00:40:12.400
Like, it's not just me sitting in half naked pictures.
00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:16.159
Yeah, he's a late you're a late grinder.
00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:16.719
Yeah.
00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:22.639
Um, but yeah, so it it's you know, it's it's really cool to see how how things have transpired.
00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:30.079
And you know, again, it's just this wonderful confidence in in who we are and what we're doing, and you're a huge part of that.
00:40:30.159 --> 00:40:54.320
And so I think it's important for people to see see you and know who you are and what it is that you do, you know, even if it's not out there in the front, that it's important that people understand, you know, the quality of people that are behind this organization, you know, because the reality is that treat the treatment industry is a very grimy industry, you know, and a lot of a lot of people want to say that, but it's unfortunate.
00:40:54.400 --> 00:41:05.519
It doesn't mean that every treatment center is bad, but unfortunately there are, you know, here in Florida are the Mecca for treatment centers, and there's a treatment center on every corner that opens up and gets shut down because they're doing the wrong things.
00:41:05.599 --> 00:41:20.880
And so um, when you can look at the people that are that are behind what it is that we're doing, some really top-notch people, you know, who come with a lot of experience, which I think again speaks volumes to how it is that we're able to do the things that we're doing.
00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:30.079
So um what do you foresee if you can share anything and kind of some of the hopes and futures for what it is that we're doing?
00:41:30.480 --> 00:41:36.719
So I think the biggest thing is you know, the last several years have very much been is this sustainable?
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:37.599
Yeah.
00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:39.599
Can we move the needle?
00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:42.079
And by that I mean can we help reduce stigma?
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:43.760
Can we make it okay to ask for help?
00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:48.320
Can we prove that how we do treatment actually works?
00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:50.000
Are clinical outcomes strong?
00:41:50.159 --> 00:41:54.400
Are we returning people to you know a better quality of life than when they got here?
00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:55.679
Are we rebuilding families?
00:41:55.760 --> 00:41:57.360
Are we getting people back on the job?
00:41:57.599 --> 00:41:58.320
All those things.
00:41:58.400 --> 00:42:01.679
And I think we've taken this very cautious and slow approach.
00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:10.559
We easily could have gone out there and opened up a bunch of programs and all that stuff, but it was like, let's get really good at what we do before we do what's next.
00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:18.239
It took us five years to open up our first out of state location in Seattle late last year, like slow, methodical, right?
00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:21.280
Make sure we have the process in place, just like anything else.
00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:23.760
You build too fast, you scale too fast, you implode, right?
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:27.599
So we didn't want to we don't want to do that, nor have we done that, knock on wood.
00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:32.320
So I think as we look over the next five years, it's where is the need?
00:42:32.480 --> 00:42:34.880
Well, we've been very West Coast heavy.
00:42:35.199 --> 00:42:37.760
So we look at the Midwest and we look at the East Coast.
00:42:37.840 --> 00:42:42.880
And if you look at the US population, 60% of the US population is on the East Coast, right?
00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:46.320
Like so, with that also means there's a big first responder population.
00:42:46.480 --> 00:42:48.719
So where can we do the most good next?
00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:50.400
And what does that look like?
00:42:50.880 --> 00:42:52.559
Is it more residential programs?
00:42:52.719 --> 00:42:54.239
Is it outpatient or outpatient?
00:42:54.719 --> 00:42:57.280
It's kind of a combination of those, those, those things, right?
00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:02.719
Like I think here in Southern California we're pretty much as big as we want to be at this point in time.
00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:09.840
But you know, we're starting to look at where to go on the East Coast, where to go in the Midwest, and kind of in the next couple of years, what does that look like?
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:10.239
Yeah.
00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:14.239
And as we do that, what other kind of services can we bring?
00:43:14.480 --> 00:43:23.519
How can we still be good at what we do, but also be innovative and embrace the change that's happening across the first bundle organizations nationwide.
00:43:23.679 --> 00:43:24.000
Yeah.
00:43:24.400 --> 00:43:34.320
So I think there's a lot to s be seen where we're gonna go, but I could see another two residential programs in the next five years and three or four more outpatient programs.
00:43:34.400 --> 00:43:38.960
That's kind of on the on the star charts, if you will, are where we want to be.
00:43:39.199 --> 00:43:39.679
Yeah.
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:41.599
Yeah, no, and that's good, you know.
00:43:41.679 --> 00:43:43.920
And I think Oh, and a bunch of more Ragners.
00:43:44.320 --> 00:43:44.880
Bunch more Ragnars.
00:43:45.119 --> 00:43:45.760
Bunch more Ragners.
00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:46.559
Bunch more Ragners.
00:43:46.880 --> 00:43:48.000
How many of those things they run a year?
00:43:48.320 --> 00:43:48.880
They're all over the place.
00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:49.519
They're everywhere.
00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:50.079
Oh geez.
00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:52.320
I said I I said I have another year.
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:55.199
This guy might send me an invite for three weeks.
00:43:57.679 --> 00:43:59.119
I heard those ones are really cool.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:03.920
Girls that were in the van were like, dude, it's it's a different, it's a different kind of vibe.
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:04.960
So I might be interested.
00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:06.320
It's camping.
00:44:06.480 --> 00:44:07.599
Yeah, that's what they said.
00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:10.079
So that might uh we might have to talk about that.
00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:17.280
So if there's anybody out there watching this video and uh you wanted to give them some sort of message, what would that be?
00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:22.079
You know, I think that's that's a two-sided thing.
00:44:22.159 --> 00:44:32.079
I think for people that are non-first responders, it's recognizing that first responders are an important part of our lives, whether we like it or not, right?
00:44:32.239 --> 00:44:42.559
And I don't care what your political affiliation is or which way you lean, but on your worst day, when you pick up the phone or ask for help, a first responder is showing up for you in that moment of need.
00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:44.000
And they're there for you.
00:44:44.159 --> 00:44:44.400
Yep.
00:44:44.559 --> 00:44:50.960
And now that's your worst day, and they're experiencing that day in and day out, and day in and day out.
00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:58.719
On the treatment center side of what we do, we want to be there for our first responders on their worst day.
00:44:58.800 --> 00:44:58.960
Yeah.
00:44:59.199 --> 00:45:01.599
Hopefully, it doesn't get to their worst day, hopefully we can intervene before them.
00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:05.920
But if and when that first worst day comes, we want to be that resource for them, right?
00:45:06.639 --> 00:45:15.280
And then for the first responders that are watching this, it's life happens, shit happens, you can beep that out, whatever you want.
00:45:15.360 --> 00:45:21.440
But like we recognize what you guys and gals go through.
00:45:21.679 --> 00:45:22.000
Yeah.
00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:25.920
I don't have to be, I'm not a first responder, I don't pretend to be a first responder, I don't know exactly what it's like.
00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:30.800
I just hear the stories and I talk to the guys and gals when they come here so I can relate a little bit, but I don't actually know.
00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:32.800
I just see what happens when they get here.
00:45:32.880 --> 00:45:33.519
Yeah.
00:45:33.760 --> 00:45:37.199
And I can see the the trials and tribulations they've taken to get through.
00:45:37.280 --> 00:45:39.519
I can see the roadblocks they've had to get through, yeah.
00:45:39.679 --> 00:45:45.039
Whether it's from their family or their department or whatever else, just to get the help once they've raised their hand.
00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:47.119
Because raise your hand for help sucks.
00:45:47.280 --> 00:45:48.559
Yes, it's scary.
00:45:48.719 --> 00:45:51.599
Yeah, especially if no one supports you in it.
00:45:51.679 --> 00:45:51.760
Yeah.
00:45:52.079 --> 00:45:53.360
Going out alone, right?
00:45:53.519 --> 00:45:55.599
So it's okay to ask for help.
00:45:55.840 --> 00:45:59.199
And it's okay when someone tells you you need help to accept that help.
00:45:59.360 --> 00:45:59.679
Yeah.
00:46:00.159 --> 00:46:01.440
And it's gonna suck.
00:46:02.639 --> 00:46:04.320
Yeah, coming to treatment sucks.
00:46:04.880 --> 00:46:05.519
It sure does.
00:46:05.760 --> 00:46:07.199
I mean, personally, I can relate to that.
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:08.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:46:08.639 --> 00:46:12.480
It sucked going to treatment, yeah, but I'm all the more better because of it.
00:46:12.880 --> 00:46:13.199
Sure.
00:46:13.599 --> 00:46:16.880
Because in retrospect, my life sucked even more before I went to treatment.
00:46:17.039 --> 00:46:17.199
Yeah.
00:46:17.360 --> 00:46:23.679
And so for anybody watching, like take the opportunity to get well, take the opportunity to get better.
00:46:23.840 --> 00:46:24.480
Yeah.
00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:27.840
It will get better if you put in the work.
00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:28.960
Yeah.
00:46:29.199 --> 00:46:30.159
And start running.
00:46:30.400 --> 00:46:31.360
And start running.
00:46:31.440 --> 00:46:31.840
Yeah.
00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:34.000
And it will get better if you put in the work.
00:46:34.079 --> 00:46:40.000
I mean, the reality is cultivating and creating change when you're in such turmoil sucks.
00:46:40.159 --> 00:46:46.639
It's it's a difficult thing to pause your life and to look out at it and think it's come off the tracks, man.
00:46:46.880 --> 00:46:48.960
And uh something has to be done.
00:46:49.039 --> 00:46:50.960
You know, nobody ever wants to take a look at that.
00:46:51.039 --> 00:46:52.400
And but that's the reality of it.
00:46:52.480 --> 00:46:54.960
And I think there's an added layer as a first responder.
00:46:55.039 --> 00:46:57.519
So it will get better if we do the work.
00:46:57.760 --> 00:47:00.239
Um, you know, thank you so much for taking the time.
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:01.440
I know you're a busy man.
00:47:01.519 --> 00:47:05.760
Thank you for sitting down with us, letting us get to know you, sharing a little bit of your knowledge.
00:47:05.840 --> 00:47:06.800
So we really appreciate that.
00:47:07.760 --> 00:47:08.159
Yeah, man.
00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:11.280
You got the finally official invite.
00:47:11.360 --> 00:47:15.280
I had to send him an official invite, but this is actually your second time.
00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:17.280
So uh, and maybe we'll make it a third time.
00:47:17.360 --> 00:47:19.360
So, again, thank you so much for being here.
00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:23.360
Um, and that will uh wrap us up, ladies and gentlemen.
00:47:23.440 --> 00:47:27.360
Don't let the stigmas keep you sick and stay resilient.
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.040
First responders are an important part of our lives, whether we like it or not.
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:08.160
When you pick up the phone or ask for help, a first responder is showing up for you in that moment of need.
00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:14.320
And now that's your worst day, and they're experiencing that day in and day out, and day in and day out.
00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:17.679
We want to be there for our first responders on their worst day.
00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:21.199
We recognize what you guys and gals go through.
00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:23.039
Because raise your hand for help sucks.
00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:23.440
Yes.
00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:24.399
It's scary.
00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:26.000
Personally, I can relate to that.
00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:28.559
But I'm all the more better because of it.
00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:29.199
Sure.
00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.960
Because in retrospect, my life sucked even more before I went to treatment.
00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:05.840
Also the director of clinical operations here at First Responder Wellness.
00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:20.719
If you are not familiar with what First Responder Wellness is, we are a treatment organization dedicated to treating first responders here in Newport Beach for post-traumatic stress, addiction, and all the things that come with the stressors of being a first responder.
00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:28.239
Today, back by popular demand, we talked a little bit about the Ragnar run last time he was here.
00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:42.319
But Joel Edwards is here with us today to talk to us a little bit about who he is, uh why he does what he does, how he how it is that he does what he does, and a little bit about maybe some hopes and goals for the future of uh first responder wellness.
00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:43.920
So welcome back, Joel.
00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:46.239
Um yeah, it's good to see you.
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:48.719
Joel's fresh off the Ragnar race.
00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:52.319
So um, you know, he talked me into driving.
00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:58.879
So we talked a little bit about um the Ragnar race the last time you were here, and uh so he he he kind of convinced me.
00:01:58.959 --> 00:01:59.840
I get a phone call.
00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:03.840
On a scale from one to ten, he says, How happy would you be to drive?
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:05.599
And I'm like, So you need a driver.
00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:06.480
He's like, Yeah.
00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:10.560
So I agreed to do it, and immediately when I hung up, I was like, What have I done?
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:14.879
Like 36 hours of driving just does not sound like fun.
00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:18.159
Uh beats 36 hours of running.
00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:21.120
It does beat 36 hours of running because I was witness to that.
00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:25.759
But I tell you what, I see why it is that you're so passionate about doing it.
00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.039
Um, one, for the cause, you know, which is great.
00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:33.599
But two, uh, that's a pretty good kind of uh adventure there, man.
00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:43.039
Like there's a lot going on, there's teams running around everywhere, but it's a pretty cool community of people, you know, kind of putting that stuff together and doing what they're doing.
00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.879
So, you know, um I can see, definitely see why you do it.
00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:48.319
And uh I'm game, dude.
00:02:48.400 --> 00:03:02.000
I don't know if I'll be running or driving, but uh I definitely commitment here now not making a commitment here uh where you guys can rewind the video and be like you said, but I am committing to being involved next year for sure.
00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:13.280
Uh whether that's driving or running, I have not made up my mind, but that's definitely progress because at this point, up until this point, I have been absolutely like not not even considering it.
00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:17.599
But uh it was such a good time, and it was really for a great cause.
00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:19.280
I could see myself being involved.
00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:21.840
So um, how was it for you?
00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:22.639
Did you do well?
00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:23.520
Did you have fun?
00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:24.719
Yeah, I had a lot of fun.
00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.039
This is our fifth, fifth one.
00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:33.520
So we've got three roads and two trails, and so uh this was our biggest team, and we had 24 runners this year.
00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:35.439
400 miles.
00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:36.000
Yeah.
00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:38.479
What was it, 72 exchanges?
00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:41.360
Like we had a we had a good contingent of people out there.
00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:42.400
It was uh it was fun.
00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:51.840
My favorite part is uh all the people like you who I've been trying to convince to do this for years on you have every excuse under the sun if I'm not ready or whatever else.
00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:56.080
And it's like they get out there and leg one, they're like, okay, that was cool.
00:03:56.159 --> 00:04:00.000
Then leg two, it's you know, it's two o'clock in the morning, they're like, oh my god, I want to do this again.
00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:06.080
Leg three, they're like, I'm not coming back, and then yeah, Monday morning come to the office like, can I sign off the next one?
00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:26.720
Yeah, so it's cool to see people like go through that progression and do something they didn't think they could do, yeah, and have that kind of big win for themselves individually, but then also to see their van mates and the rest of the team kind of rally around them and hey dude, you can do this, and cheering on, you know, you know, the feedback I got from you is like hype man, right?
00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:28.959
Oh yeah, pipe them up, and that's all it takes.
00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:34.560
You just you know, three in the morning, you run down the PCH, and all of a sudden there's five of your van mates just hanging out the window yelling.
00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:35.920
Hooping and all oh yeah.
00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:36.480
You go.
00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.160
So that's cool, it's a great experience.
00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:44.639
Um, obviously the cause is amazing, but um yeah, just doing something like that's you know, it's not something that's on everybody's bucket list.
00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:50.480
No, it's not to go run for 36 hours, sleep in a van, yeah, maybe sleep, you know, like it's maybe sleep.
00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:52.800
Or we sleep this year.
00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:54.959
We say I slept in the grass park for about an hour.
00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.160
Yeah, I think I slept in a high school gymnasium for two hours.
00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:00.560
Yeah, it's yeah, it's part of it.
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:04.000
No, and it was and that is, it's the whole experience, right?
00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:06.480
Just I was just driving, which was really cool.
00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:16.560
Um, and just you know, getting to pick them up and drop them off and you know, get them waters and dust them off and hype them up and give them an attaboy and send them off on the next run.
00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:21.519
But um, you could just really see all of this community just kind of rallying around.
00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:31.439
I mean, you know, you go by other vans, they're honking, they're waving, you're seeing people, you know, when you're stopping for gas, whatever's going on, or at the next exchange, and everybody's just having a good time, you know.
00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.319
So it really was a really positive experience.
00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:36.319
My van crushed it, dude.
00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:39.920
They were just, you know, and you and I were kind of talking a little bit about it before.
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:45.759
It was like you do the the these big things with the wrong people, and you can just be miserable, you know.
00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:52.160
And dude, these guys and girls were just having a blast, and so it was really easy to to go along.
00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:53.360
So great experience.
00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:57.920
My share grind is like 100% something you kind of have in common with these people forever now.
00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.839
Like, hey, we did this together, and it's like this, it's yeah, it's cool.
00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.519
It's kind of like what are you gonna complain about?
00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:04.639
We're all miserable, dude.
00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:13.439
Like, nobody wants to haven't showered, having slept, living off, you know, protein bars and and uh hydration stuff.
00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:14.399
So it was great.
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:16.639
Yeah, it was uh it was a great experience.
00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.480
So so we're here today to learn a little bit more about you, right?
00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:28.319
You personally and kind of kind of who you are and and what it is that you, you know, what it is that drives you to do what it is uh that you're doing.
00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.600
So tell us a little bit about Joel Edwards growing up.
00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:33.439
All right, Joel Edwards growing up.
00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:36.959
I'm a NorCal kid, born and raised in Sacramento, California.
00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:43.199
Uh so you know, growing up, I was an outdoors kid.
00:06:43.279 --> 00:07:08.000
You know, I got a lot of my um life experiences through Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, camping, doing all the outdoor stuff, um, a couple with sports and those types of things, obviously running a little bit when I was a little bit younger, but you know, growing up in Northern California versus where I raised my child now here in Southern California is uh and for anyone from NorthCal, it's a hella hella different.
00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:09.600
Hella, that's right.
00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:13.360
So it's just different.
00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:17.279
You know, I like uh I love the slower pace that I had up there.
00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:29.040
Um yeah, growing up, I think I was your kind of standard latch key kid, you know, walk to school, come home to the babysitter after school at the you know, the neighbor's house, wait for mom and dad to come home from work, pick me up.
00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:29.600
Yeah.
00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:31.519
Just kind of did life like that.
00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:36.639
And um I realized early on I did not want to stay in Northern California.
00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:41.920
So uh when college time came around, I kind of worked my way down south.
00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:47.199
I wound up in San Luis Sabisville at Cal Poly, which thank God I went then because I could never get in now.
00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:52.399
But you know, it was interesting at that time you had like declare your major as a freshman, so I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do.
00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:53.439
So I've picked business.
00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:58.480
Business seemed easy-ish, seemed very general, something I could do with my life.
00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:10.079
So did the business route and um I did the college thing, the frat thing, all those things you're supposed to do, chucked all those boxes, including drugs and alcohol, and those things slowly took over everything else.
00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:12.879
But I managed to get out of college alive, so it was fantastic.
00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:24.319
Um, but I used that opportunity to uh do a lot of other things, and and by that I mean I kind of realized that um I wanted to retire before I went to work.
00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:37.039
So my four-year degree turned into a six-year degree, which included like a year living overseas in Europe and traveling and bartending and kind of experiencing other cultures, um, which I think helped prepare me for life when I came back.
00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:42.720
And then when I came back, I I was like, oh my god, I need like six more units and I'll get a second degree.
00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:44.480
So I stayed another year because why not?
00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:44.720
Right.
00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:49.360
And so I finally finally graduated with my degree in business and a degree in in industrial technology.
00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:50.799
And then I got the call.
00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:53.039
So I get a call from my buddy who graduated the year before.
00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:54.080
He's like, Hey dude, what are you doing?
00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:55.519
I said, Oh, I'm getting ready to graduate.
00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.759
And he's like, uh, you want to do something?
00:08:57.840 --> 00:08:59.360
I was like, Yeah, I always want to do something.
00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:03.360
He's like, Well, dad's settled his business and he wants to go sail around the world.
00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:04.240
Do you want to come with us?
00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:05.919
I was like, Yeah.
00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:10.320
So I had, you know, you talk about those like opportunity knocks, you gotta go calling.
00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:16.720
It's like, okay, can I graduate from college in June and go, you know, go start my career lacquer there, or can I go travel the world again?
00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:22.960
So I went and did that and I lived on a 50-foot sailboat for 10 months uh with my best friend and his dad.
00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:37.840
And we um sailed the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic and the Caribbean and just lived in flip-flops and board shorts and tan skin, and you know, I had my grizzly Adams beard back when it was all still brown and not gray anymore.
00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:44.960
And I just did that, and I just soaked up the culture and just chilling, kind of delaying real life for as long as humanly possible.
00:09:45.039 --> 00:10:03.600
And then fortunately I had the opportunity uh to bring my dad out while he was still alive, and he got to sail across the Atlantic Ocean with us, and that was being a dad now was a pretty um amazing experience to have happened, to spend that kind of time with your dad where he's no longer your dad, he's kind of like your on equal playing field.
00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:05.679
So that was really cool.
00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.879
Um so then it was like I came back and you know, reality set in.
00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:15.600
Back to Sacramento and like shaved my beard and put on shoes for the first time in almost a year.
00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:16.720
I was like, okay, now what?
00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:18.399
So I'm up here in Orange County.
00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:23.360
Orange County in the early 2000s was like the mortgage capital of the world.
00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:30.639
You know, subprime for those people that were alive and around back then was big, and so I, you know, went from flip-flops and board shorts to a suit and tie.
00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:31.679
Suit and tie.
00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:37.840
And did that for a while, which just fueled um my addictions, like a better term.
00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:42.399
I mean, I was 25 years old back then making six figures, making more money than my parents.
00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:48.960
Like it was just something that and it was par for the course with what you're doing, you know, drinking, partying, yeah.
00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:56.960
So that was only sustainable for so so long.
00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:02.480
Um and then in 2008 I basically just buried myself.
00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:05.279
Um and I wound up in rehab.
00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:08.720
So I checked into Hogue Hospital here in Newport Beach.
00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:13.200
Um and that's when like enough was enough.
00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:13.679
Yeah.
00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:21.919
I couldn't do alcohol anymore, I couldn't do cocaine, I was 250 pounds, my cholesterol was 300 plus, I was a disaster of a human.
00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:29.679
Um I was 28, 29 years old, and uh going nowhere fast, so I needed uh I needed the restart.
00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:36.799
Um went uh and did uh 60 days of treatment, then uh three or four months of sober living.
00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:37.679
Interesting.
00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:45.840
Did all the things you're supposed to do, got a sponsor, did AA, went and got my get well job and sales again, which was stupid, but whatever.
00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:53.919
Uh switched my addiction to diet Pepsi and ice cream uh because I missed the sugar.
00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:00.559
Yeah, and uh did that for a year and then got a phone call from my mom, who was uh a school psychologist.
00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:03.440
She's like, dude, you're almost 30, like, what are you gonna do?
00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.240
I was like, I have no clue.
00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:14.480
And she's like, Well, you know, let me take you back to your childhood and here's what you're good at and here's what you enjoyed, and you're always good with people.
00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:37.679
So at her kind of nudge slash push slash what else am I gonna do with my life, I went back to school, got my clinical credentials and substance abuse counseling, and um at the time down here in Orange County, I just called up every single treatment center and begged and pleaded for an internship, yeah, and finally got one and uh humbled myself and just started being addiction counselor.
00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:38.240
Nice.
00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:46.799
I was 30 years old, making 14 bucks an hour, yeah, right, earning my hours, just uh a life change.
00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:53.279
Um I was super grateful, and that's kind of also what spurred my health changes, you know.
00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:56.799
As I said earlier, I was a pretty heavy set kid, heavy set guy.
00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:19.440
So I started running, eating well, um, got in shape, and as I got in shape, my head got in shape, my career started to grow, and I started um thinking like I used to sit in this group that these people run and I used to be on the other side where this counselor was, and like at the time, what did I want to have done differently?
00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:24.720
And what brought me to joy as a kid that I stopped doing in my addiction.
00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:36.559
And I you know realized that it was outdoor stuff, being connected with nature, backpacking, but you know, fortunately down here you can be on the water up in Sacramento or down on the you're on the river.
00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:38.080
So it was those types of things.
00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:49.519
So I started thinking, okay, can I take my business degree and my clinical degrees and put those together somehow to make something different in the treatment center space?
00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:50.159
Yeah.
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:58.000
So I did what anyone would do, I guess, and I called up a bunch of wilderness programs on the East Coast to say, hey, can I fly out there and just shadow you guys for a while?
00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:05.600
And so I went out to three or four different wilderness programs on the East Coast and in Utah, and I just lived on the land with the patients out there in the middle of nowhere.
00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:11.039
And I said, Okay, I can take this model and bring it back here to Southern California.
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:17.519
And so I started the California's first um PHP program with wilderness therapy.
00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:18.240
Yeah.
00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:19.919
So we called it the adventure program.
00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:21.120
Adventure programs.
00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:27.840
And that in that that's pretty cool because for a lot of people, they they I mean, that's kind of a thing now, right?
00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:39.039
Like most programs, that is there, but the early 2000s, the the you know, late 90s, treatment was very sterile, it was very clinical, it was very by the book.
00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:41.440
You do the groups, you do the things, right?
00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:44.799
There was very little, you know, maybe you'll get an outing here or there.
00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:51.759
You guys will go to the movies or something, but there wasn't a lot of this experiential stuff that you brought into it, so that's pretty cool.
00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:57.759
I did want to ask, though, interesting enough, did you have any experience sailing before you jumped on that boat?
00:14:58.000 --> 00:14:58.399
Yeah.
00:14:58.639 --> 00:14:58.960
Okay.
00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:01.919
That's pretty brave, dude.
00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:03.600
My buddy sent me a book before we left.
00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:09.840
Over, and it was like the dummy's guide to sailing.
00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:10.399
Yeah.
00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:12.639
Uh, so that was my experience.
00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:18.080
Uh, and you know, there's a lot of nautical terms.
00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:18.799
Sure.
00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.159
And no, not really hit.
00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:21.360
So it's like, you know, grab the thing.
00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:22.399
So we had our own nautical terms.
00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:26.080
Grab the thing, Majig, you know, you go around another stairs, like, what the heck are you guys talking about?
00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:28.159
And for like, we know exactly what we're talking about.
00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:28.480
Yeah.
00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:29.360
And you figure it out.
00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:29.600
Yeah.
00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:32.320
Like anything else that I've done in life, you just kind of figure it out.
00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:35.840
Nice.
00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:37.120
Yeah.
00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.399
And so you you you battled through your own addictions, right?
00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:44.240
And then and kind of got to that place of like, which is very common, right?
00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:49.600
For uh those of us who who have uh taken our retirement on the front end and then burn our life down.
00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:54.399
Uh, you find yourself at 30 something years old looking out at the world, like, what's next, right?
00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:58.559
Like, I can't, I can't drink, I can't do drugs, like the party's over.
00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:01.600
Now I'm just a sad 30-year-old who's trying to hang around, right?
00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:03.600
It's kind of cool when you're in your 20s.
00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:08.720
Like it's a little it's a little more acceptable, it's easier to get away with, I should say.
00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.919
And there's not a lot of people going, hey man, you're 30 something years old.
00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:12.720
What are you doing?
00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:13.279
Right.
00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:15.360
And so now you kind of look at life.
00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:29.600
And uh, I also love the fact that you talked about as you furthered your own recovery, there was this progression of like, uh, because I don't know if a lot of people understand um early sobriety's rough, man.
00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:34.399
And you're, you know, you're just trying to, you're just trying to figure it out and survive.
00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:39.519
And you've taken away all of the the drugs and the alcohol, and many of us, right?
00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:40.799
I was very much the same.
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:42.159
I pick up the spoon, right?
00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:44.240
I put down the pipe, picked up the fork.
00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:46.879
Uh, so it was ice cream, you know, drugs no more.
00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:51.840
It was ice cream and cake and pizzas and whatever I could eat to kind of fill that hole.
00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:56.960
But there's this, there's this great point where you're miserable there too, right?
00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:02.159
And it's these points of misery that kind of keep pushing you forward to progress.
00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:06.480
And so you're looking at things and you're like, okay, what am I gonna do?
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:09.519
Mom says, Hey, you've always been good with people, this, that, and the other.
00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:10.240
Okay, great.
00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:16.480
All right, well, I'll be a substance abuse counselor, which is a very common route for people who have gone through, right?
00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:26.000
And then this idea of like, hey, I've always loved the wilderness and what brought brought me happiness, and then to have the forefront to think, how would I wanted treatment to be different?
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.480
You know, what did I want to do differently when I was in treatment?
00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:30.640
And then kind of put those things together.
00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:35.119
So, and again, that's pretty cool because that was not a thing, you know.
00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:46.000
Uh, it was AA, N A, and you know, Hoague, Betty Ford, like just your meetings, go to group, go to therapy, that's it, sponsor.
00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:46.640
That's it.
00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:52.319
There was no big community of let's go and have fun, let's do the hiking and the biking and all that stuff.
00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:53.359
So that's pretty cool.
00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:56.000
So you kind of merge those things together, right?
00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:00.480
So you go out to these wilderness programs and now you find yourself kind of doing that.
00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:02.720
So, how did that kind of progress from there?
00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:11.759
Well, I think if you uh if you take a look at traditional treatment back in the day, it was four walls in a room, six hours a day.
00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:13.359
A lot of cigarette smoking.
00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:15.359
Yeah, you do your stand, yeah, this is before vape.
00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:24.720
So you do your standard anger management, coping skills, blah blah blah, which had its thing back there, but you kind of had the same thing day in and day out.
00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:39.440
And that was great while you're in this little bubble, but it was like, what are we doing to expose people to coping skills that aren't necessarily clinical based that can help improve their life that get them connected with the outdoors?
00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:43.599
Because I'm a huge believer the outdoors is a very healing, very therapeutic, absolutely.
00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:45.440
Never had the opportunity to get out there.
00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:56.640
But for there's a lot of people like probably me and you that our early years we were well connected, and then drugs and alcohol took that away, and then we've got reintroduced to it.
00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:58.880
Yeah, and I was like, oh my god, I miss this.
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:00.000
I know why I love this so much.
00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:00.640
Very much, yeah.
00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.119
And then it becomes a part of our active and long-term recovery.
00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:17.759
So I think for me, noticing that path, I felt that there was probably a lot of other people like that, and the only way to get that into the treatment center kind of space was to just do it and see if it worked.
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:18.880
Create it, yeah.
00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:25.279
And so thankfully, where I worked, I had the support, the financial support, and the the resources to make that happen.
00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:39.680
And so we would, you know, I grabbed two therapists, a backpack full of UA cups, you know, we'd backpack around Catalina Island, backpack in the Grand Canyon, go whitewater rafting, and like you take these people out of the treatment environment for a week or two at a time.
00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:40.240
Yep.
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:53.680
Expose them this with the the support of a clinician and the support of you know a group around a fire pit and do those kinds of things, and you see someone wake up at five in the morning that's never seen a sunrise, right?
00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:58.799
Yeah, or you see someone go to bed and you wake them up at midnight so they can see the Milky Way for the first time.
00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.960
Or they challenge themselves and they're jumping out of a tree onto a zip line.
00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:03.519
Yeah.
00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:15.200
And the emotive responses they have, that anxiety of, oh my God, my heart racing, you know, you're getting to like kind of do a full-blown check-in while they're up there, like this is what this feels like.
00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:18.400
A lot of a lot of us, we were so numbed out, we would never felt that before.
00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:19.759
We already know what that feels like.
00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:20.079
Yep.
00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:28.319
But now you get an adrenaline hit, you get an adrenaline rush, you get all these things that happen, and it's like it's super powerful.
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:41.359
And so now there's something tangible, not that you have to go whitewater rafting every day for your recovery, but going outside and hugging a tree, going outside and going for a walk, going out and walking the beach and just looking at the ocean for five minutes.
00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:56.559
It's like those simple little things that we lost in our addiction, getting reintroduced to those, doesn't matter who you are, 26-year-old kid, first responder, you know, retired doctor, like there's that nature connection that's just so powerful.
00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:09.359
And so I really wanted kind of like with Ragnar, I wanted people to experience that the same way I did, not the same way, but have that experience and have it be for them, but really see their eyes open when I went and did that.
00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:10.880
And so it was really cool to say it.
00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:22.480
Yeah, and it's when you find something that you become passionate about because of the effect that it's had on you, that's the seed that you want to plant and grow so that other people can, right?
00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:27.920
So, and to your point, like the outdoors is so therapeutic, just those settings, right?
00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:33.200
I'm heavily involved with I have a really good friend uh who has a company called Off the Grid Therapy.
00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:44.720
Uh, and we take guys out for three, three days at a time, like three and a half days, and it's hiking, it's fishing, it's you know, pushing, pushing the limits, getting in cold water, right?
00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:56.079
Uh, but a lot of very therapeutic stuff just happens at night around those fires, just talking about life, man, and talking about what you're struggling with and getting the support.
00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.519
But there's something about being back out there in nature.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.839
Away from all of this stuff.
00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:10.640
So for you to s have that experience and see that early on and be able to plug that into the the uh the treatment center that you are working at is pretty cool.
00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:16.559
Yeah, and you know to your point, I think that there's the the individual experience of the outdoors, right?
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:27.119
But there's also like you just touched on the the communal aspect of the outdoors because full disclosure, I run a treatment program.
00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:28.400
You work in a treatment program.
00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:35.440
We can sit here and say all day that like the treatment program is what helps everybody, but you and I both know that it's a very small, small portion.
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:42.400
It's it's the community of the form outside of these out of this building, outside of this, that really is what it's all about.
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:43.599
We're just the catalyst.
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:52.880
So that for me, with the nature and the outdoors and and people sitting around and doing these shared experiences sitting around campfire, that's the healing power.
00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:54.640
And you can take that really anywhere.
00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:55.200
Yep.
00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:58.079
And it's such, it's such, and you've experienced this, right?
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:22.559
And well, I'll take 12 guys, uh, me and my buddy, and we'll take 12 guys that have never met each other, they don't know each other, we stick them in vans, we drive them out to you know, Bishop or wherever we're going, and now we're hiking together, now we're fishing together, you're getting up in the morning, and you're sitting around just talking about the grind, talking about what you're going through, talking about what sucks, what's hurting, you know, how your marriage is or isn't or whatever's going on.
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:24.960
If you've got addictions, we're talking about that stuff.
00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:26.880
And there's a huge process to that.
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:30.319
And then they build this community that they get to go on and do.
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:32.720
And I tell these guys this all the time.
00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:38.720
So they'll talk a lot about like um the community that we have here in our transitional living, right?
00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:43.759
And they'll say, you know, no offense to you guys, but a lot of the therapy for me really happens.
00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:46.160
And then no offense taken, it's does it's by design.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:47.279
Design of the whole thing.
00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:55.200
It's we do this in a social model so that you guys are kind of forced to get out of isolation, be around each other, and do those things.
00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:57.200
So yeah, there's huge benefit to that.
00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:01.920
And the community is what carries you through uh once you're done, too, you know.
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:08.480
And so it's pretty cool that you recognize that early on and and kind of created that for uh the treatment center you're working with.
00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:09.200
It was nice.
00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:09.599
Yeah.
00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:10.480
And that's it.
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:11.599
Yeah, I bet.
00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:13.119
Yeah, yeah.
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:16.160
It's a big uh far cry from what you're doing now.
00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:19.039
Uh so you're doing that for a while, and what's happening?
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:20.160
You're feeling good about things.
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:24.480
I think like anything else in life, like that was uh just another step on the path for me.
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:30.079
And as you become more and more successful, like you work your way up the corporate ladder, whatever you want to call it.
00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:34.799
But for in my case, it was because of what I was doing there, it became really popular.
00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:36.720
And you mentioned earlier, people started to copy it.
00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:40.240
And so that I had to be out in the forefront, like talking about why we were good at it.
00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:44.720
So I became a director of marketing, and thankfully my business background is a market, so I didn't do that.
00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:49.680
Unfortunately, I had to have somebody else come in and take over the you know monthly outings.
00:24:49.920 --> 00:25:02.240
Um went on a couple just for quality assurance, but yeah, you know, you grow and you want new challenges because I wasn't gonna be an adventure guy the rest of my life as much as I would love to, but it's not it wasn't reality for me.
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:22.240
So that then I became the executive director of the program that I worked at, and I did that for several years, and through that I started making tons of connections in in our space down here in Southern California, and then um I had the opportunity to come to True Recovery uh through a mutual friend that was one of the owners here, and he said, Hey, here's where I'm at.
00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:23.920
I want to do this thing, and you want to come over?
00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:27.200
And I said, No, like I'm happy doing what I'm doing.
00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:29.440
He's like, Okay, well, how about you know we become partners?
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:33.039
I said, Okay, that sounds better to me because that's kind of the next natural step.
00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:38.640
So I came over to True Recovery and you know, brought a lot of those things with me.
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:49.440
And um, you know, about a year and I was like, okay, here we are in Southern California, one of 400 treatment programs licensed by the state of California, just in Orange County, right?
00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:52.480
Right next to South Florida, like those are the two hotels.
00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:53.680
Yeah.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:57.599
So it's like I we can be one of 400, or how do we become one of one?
00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:03.200
And so that became kind of the next focus for me is like, what do I need to do to stand out?
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:03.759
Yeah.
00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:04.240
Yeah.
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:17.599
Because when you're out there talking about treatment, you know, there's the buzzwords, and we all do, and we have we're all close to the ocean, and we all have you know great food, and we have great houses, and we all do individualized treatment, and we all do a couple of things.
00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:19.680
The latest and the greatest, the next thing.
00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:20.240
Yep.
00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:22.559
And so that's where I had the opportunity.
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:23.440
I met with uh Dr.
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:28.000
Odom, the chief clinical officer of first responder wellness, and at the time he owned um Simple Recovery.
00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:28.400
Yep.
00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:35.440
And over the course of a couple meetings, it was like, hey, like, what do you think about combining our programs?
00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:40.000
He at the time had a little track of first responders, four or five guys.
00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:42.240
They're probably all there on scholarship, if I recall correctly.
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:47.839
It was like, you know, you were there, you remember what it was like, and I was like, okay, uh, this could be it, right?
00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:48.160
Yeah.
00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:51.599
And so again, like anything else, it was like, let's do it.
00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:52.079
Yeah.
00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:53.519
What's the worst that's gonna happen?
00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:59.200
Yeah, we're not gonna fail, just we're gonna maybe not succeed on the first responder spot, but yeah, it will or it won't.
00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:00.559
We need to do treatment regardless.
00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:01.119
Exactly.
00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.160
So we joined our organizations and we spent the next two years.
00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:07.839
Uh, you know, you're a big part of that, our other partner, Devin, was a huge part of that.
00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:19.039
Is you know, we started taking our non-first responder program and using the resources that kicked off to grow the first responder side of stuff.
00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:25.599
And so that was all the outreach that we spent two years doing, building the trust of the departments that we now work with.
00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:48.640
And it was our team going out there and talking about what we do and clients that came through the first responder program going back and being our biggest advocates and saving lives and rebuilding families and getting guys and gals back to work and not having them medically retire, not have them go out of work complicated, getting them back to where they had always wanted to be.
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:52.640
Um and we had some interesting challenges.
00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:55.359
Obviously, we had the pandemic, and we had all kinds of stuff, man.
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:55.839
It was crazy.
00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:05.039
Defund the police and all the anti-first responder stuff that happened, but in spite of all that, you know, the need in the first responder community continued to grow.
00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:05.519
Yeah.
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:09.839
Um stigma went down.
00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:13.200
It became okay to ask for help.
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:15.200
It was still a challenge to accept help.
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:15.519
Sure.
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:25.039
But um we just really focused on creating a space and a place where first responders could come in and be authentic.
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:30.400
And it was weird because we had a first responder program downstairs in this building, and upstairs we had the traditional program.
00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:31.759
We were very mindful of the overlap.
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:33.119
That was the greatest.
00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:36.799
You couldn't tell who's a first responder who wasn't when I was in uniform.
00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:41.920
Yeah, you know, usually tell who someone were because they had the mustache, but that was really about it.
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:42.160
Yeah.
00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:43.039
The big trucks.
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:48.480
But aside from that, it was everyone kind of realized like we're all kind of the same.
00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:50.319
It's all the same stuff, yeah.
00:28:50.720 --> 00:29:00.240
Um and so I think that novelty finally was like, okay, we're at the point in in early 2021 where it was like, if we're gonna do this, now's the time.
00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:00.960
We gotta do it.
00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:07.680
So we decided as an organization to shut down our traditional program, we're fur out all of our clients.
00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:11.279
And it was like, here we go, it's make the break time.
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:15.519
Yeah, and out of that grew firstborn of wellness as it is today.
00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:15.920
Yeah.
00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:23.440
And so we've gone from four or five guys on scholarship to eighty or ninety people in treatment on any given day.
00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:32.319
We've got, you know, programs up in Washington, we've got all these other things that we're doing now because of that desire back then to help.
00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:32.960
Yeah.
00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:37.920
And it's really cool to see because you take two visionaries such as yourself and Dr.
00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:42.960
Odom, and you know, I'm a firm believer in God.
00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:47.519
God brings you guys together, and this whole thing starts to emerge, right?
00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:54.079
And so you have two very passionate people about recovery in in specific, right?
00:29:54.160 --> 00:30:13.759
Like both of you guys were really, and I've been working with him since 2014, and so I've always known to your point, like we know how to do treatment, like, and so putting lives back together, putting families back together, after you know, having walked through that stuff yourself, there's just there's a huge reward in that, right?
00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:20.240
And so if you're blessed enough to be able to have that also pay your bills, it's a great thing, you know.
00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:29.039
And so to put these two companies together and then have first responder wellness born out of it is really cool.
00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:33.119
Um, and yeah, it there were some trials and tribulations for sure, man.
00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:42.559
I mean, there were, you know, there was the pandemic, there was try trying to run two programs at the same time, um and there was a lot that was happening, but you know what?
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:51.759
I think everybody at the core had the mission in, you know, had the same mission in mind, and I I feel like that's really what kind of drove everything.
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:54.640
Um Well, you know Devin O'Day, our chief development.
00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:56.000
I certainly do.
00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:02.720
You know, in the early days, I used to go to his office and I'd be like, hey bro, uh, you only got five admas this month.
00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:03.440
What are you doing?
00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:06.480
You're not paying the bills, like shut the program down.
00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:09.519
And I would like in the back of my head be like, oh my god, I hope this isn't true.
00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:12.640
And I'd be like, dude, you got like 90 days to turn around.
00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:15.039
And he would be like, I got this, dude.
00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:15.519
I got this.
00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:21.599
And like Devin had this firm belief, and it tells you to talk to like the power of like positive thinking, right?
00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:24.400
Yeah, we're gonna do this, we're gonna make it.
00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:29.440
And he and his team just set forth and built so many relationships.
00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:37.519
And then, you know, Michael, our executive director, was very much the like, if we're gonna grow this, we need to grow it systematically and have the systems in place.
00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:41.599
So he like has just has all these chess pieces together to make sure that everything happens.
00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:42.160
And Dr.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:47.440
Owen with his clinical oversight, like, we're gonna focus on the trauma, focus on the trauma, focus on the problem.
00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:48.880
Because who really cares if you get sober?
00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:52.400
If you address internet mental health issues, who cares, right?
00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:56.799
So it was that that trauma focus, and then you were like the man of the people, right?
00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:59.920
Yep, you're in with these guys and gals every single day.
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:07.440
Yeah, and that's like like that that combined effect of you know, four or five people with that common mission is what has made us successful.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:08.000
100%.
00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:10.400
And we brought in a lot of other people along the way, like Shannon R.
00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:15.519
Druckford Missions, who's just super passionate and can talk to any family member or client or anything and talk to them.
00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:22.000
Like, we just have these people that got introduced to the organization that have fallen in love with what we do.
00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:26.000
Yeah, and you know, they speak to the stuff on the wall, they're confidential, trusted, and effective.
00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:28.160
Like we do all those things and we stand behind it.
00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:41.440
And it's been cool to see where that has led first responder wellness, the counseling team, yeah, shift, our health, now the foundation that does right, all these things tell first responders.
00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:42.319
It's really cool.
00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:48.799
It's and it's it's it's so I don't know, it's really difficult to explain.
00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:57.599
I mean, I've always had a pride in being somebody who's come through uh my own addictions and then been able to help people.
00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:03.599
Like there was always a very good belief and a feeling that came with that, right?
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:12.240
But for whatever reason, when it was brought to me that this was the population that we were gonna help, I had two thoughts in mind, like, what?
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:30.000
And then, you know, and then the second thing was as the more I learned about it, and the more I understood how difficult it is for them to actually get quality help, get any help, first off, quality help, uh, ask for help and all of those things.
00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:38.079
And it only it was a very short period of time in working with them that I realized, like, yeah, this is.
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:47.440
And I remember being at Paisley Um and coming home and my wife saying, like, you know, how's everything going?
00:33:47.519 --> 00:33:48.640
What do you, you know, what do you think?
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:50.799
And I said, This is where God wants me right now.
00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:58.559
I said, I'm telling you right now, this is the thing, this is this is the the thing that is going to propel our lives forward.
00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:01.920
And I knew it in that moment for whatever reason.
00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:04.400
Um and it has been.
00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:18.719
It has been the thing that has propelled me to grow so much in you know, in my personal life, in my professional life, um, and it's just this want to help this population.
00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:30.000
And there's so much pride that comes with, you know, it's like I've always been grateful to to do treatment, but for whatever reason, you know, when you sit back and people go, you do what?
00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:32.000
Like that's really cool, you know.
00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:41.599
And then the gratitude that they have for what it is that we've been able to put together and provide them, it's just like this, like nothing else, you know.
00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:50.400
I mean, helping a 20-something-year-old kid get back to life, listen, there's some pride in that, and they'll give you a hug and be like, hey, but these guys are like, dude, you literally saved my life.
00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:51.679
Like, you have no idea.
00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:57.440
You know, I had a gun in my mouth three months ago, and I have every want and need to live today.
00:34:57.519 --> 00:34:58.639
And you guys are a huge part of that.
00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:02.159
It's a phone call I got yesterday from one of the alumni that did the Ragnar run with us.
00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:10.719
He's like, hey, you don't know this, but a year ago when you guys reached out, someone on our team reached out for me to run, and I literally had a gun in my mouth because I was ready to kill myself.
00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:14.880
Yeah, and I went up calling the admissions line instead of doing Ragnar.
00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:24.000
Spent you know, three or four months at the treatment center, and now I got the phone call again this year from the alumni coordinator about a volunteer run, it's the best thing I could have ever done because now I've come full circle.
00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:24.400
Yeah.
00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:25.920
I was like, dude, that's pretty cool.
00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:27.840
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:28.719
Yeah.
00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:40.239
So what do you feel like for you has been kind of your I mean, I know you love all of it, but what is the one, like, what is your favorite part of this whole journey?
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:43.760
What is your favorite part of like what it is that you're doing now?
00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:48.239
I think what I'm able to take a moment step back, right?
00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:50.239
Like, I'm not the face of this organization.
00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:51.760
That's you, that's Dr.
00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:53.119
Odom, that's Devin.
00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:56.559
They're the people that are out there in the front, and I have no desire to be that person.
00:35:56.639 --> 00:35:58.239
That's not who I am as a human.
00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:06.000
But I take pride in ensuring that as an organization we can deliver on all the things that we say we're going to do.
00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:26.960
You know, it's my job, for lack of better term, to make sure that there's meals, there's gas in the vans, that we've got enough housing to take care of everybody, that we're paying our people enough to keep good town around, that you know, when the departments have an issue, I'm there to fix it or solve it for them or make it right or wherever else it might be.
00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:32.800
So kind of like the behind the scenes person that keeps it all afloat so no one has to worry about anything else.
00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:38.239
Like the clinicians can take care of our clients and not have to worry about anything else.
00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:47.360
Yeah, the support staff can support our clients and take care of them because as we mentioned earlier, that's where all the healing happens, is outside of this place, right?
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:53.360
You know, the finance team can do their job and make sure we get paid so we can continue to take care of people, right?
00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:58.639
Like my pride is in making sure all that stuff happens, yeah, and it works.
00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:10.880
And then, you know, at the end of the day, I love hearing the success stories of us returning people to work or you know, dropping in a family program and seeing lives change, but yeah, I don't need uh recognition or those kinds of things.
00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:12.480
It's like my wife's like, you know, how's your day?
00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:13.440
Oh, it's pretty good.
00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:14.960
What does that mean?
00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:16.239
That means a lot actually.
00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:17.840
I just don't really know how to explain it.
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:28.559
And they're like, I don't really talk about work too much, but they people hear like what like you said, like they hear what you actually do, and it's like, oh my god, like yeah, and so now here we are.
00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:31.440
The first part of Wells really started in 2020, we shut everything down.
00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:38.159
Here we are five years later, and to look at where we were then that's crazy, and where we are now, yeah, and where we want to go.
00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:41.039
Yeah, that's pretty cool, dude.
00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:42.639
Yeah, I don't know how to explain it.
00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:43.519
No, it's amazing.
00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:44.880
Like, I can't explain it, I guess.
00:37:45.039 --> 00:37:46.480
Yeah, no, it really is.
00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:51.039
And it's uh what has seemed like 20 years, you know, on some level.
00:37:51.119 --> 00:37:57.119
And I I know you can understand that doing what's what it is five years ago, it's all ground.
00:37:57.440 --> 00:37:57.679
Yeah.
00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:11.039
Um, and then to see it, you know, and to know like, okay, man, there this is this is a real thing, and we're doing some some real uh work here, and it's benefiting so many people across the board.
00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:29.679
So, you know, whether or not you're the face of this thing or the guy who's in the background, I deeply appreciate what you do and how it is that you do it, because it it is that confidence in you that gives me the confidence to be able to step out there and say, no, this is who we are and this is what we're doing.
00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:33.840
Because with this population, that there's so much to be said about that.
00:38:34.400 --> 00:38:40.559
You have to be transparent, and you have if you don't show up and do the things that you said you're gonna do, you're done.
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:42.239
Yeah, you're done, you're gonna sink the ship.
00:38:42.320 --> 00:38:49.760
And so, me knowing that, hey, I can confidently say from the top down, this organization is exactly what it says it is 100%.
00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:54.239
And so I appreciate you doing the things that you do, the way that you do it.
00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:59.760
Um, you know, I wasn't quite sure in the beginning how it was gonna go.
00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:04.559
You know, I don't know if you remember kind of some of those early conversations.
00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:14.719
Um, but it was kind of like, you know, I said, hey, if you're gonna take this thing away from me, man, don't rip it out of my hands because I feel like I've I've you know I've I've built this thing, you know, a big part of it.
00:39:14.960 --> 00:39:30.559
And um, you know, to see where our relationship is today, I deeply appreciate you and how it is that you've done things, and I have such a a different respect for who you are and what it is that you do, and um how it is that you've you know put all of this together and been a big part of that.
00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:32.320
So I appreciate that.
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:45.440
Um for those of you that don't know, every morning about 6 30 a.m., I get a half-naked video of Chris Logan on my cell phone because I'm part of a men's coal plunge group.
00:39:45.599 --> 00:39:58.480
So I've met every morning for accountability of Chris in 35, 34 degree water in his backyard, basically dunking his head with steam coming off of his head and saying, let's F and go.
00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:00.239
And that's like the wake-up call.
00:40:00.320 --> 00:40:02.480
So the relationship has grown a little bit.
00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:03.519
Yeah, we're good.
00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:07.440
Yeah, I mean, you're doing it now, right?
00:40:07.519 --> 00:40:10.320
Like, yeah, I get listen, that's a two-way street.
00:40:10.480 --> 00:40:12.400
Like, it's not just me sitting in half naked pictures.
00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:16.159
Yeah, he's a late you're a late grinder.
00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:16.719
Yeah.
00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:22.639
Um, but yeah, so it it's you know, it's it's really cool to see how how things have transpired.
00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:30.079
And you know, again, it's just this wonderful confidence in in who we are and what we're doing, and you're a huge part of that.
00:40:30.159 --> 00:40:54.320
And so I think it's important for people to see see you and know who you are and what it is that you do, you know, even if it's not out there in the front, that it's important that people understand, you know, the quality of people that are behind this organization, you know, because the reality is that treat the treatment industry is a very grimy industry, you know, and a lot of a lot of people want to say that, but it's unfortunate.
00:40:54.400 --> 00:41:05.519
It doesn't mean that every treatment center is bad, but unfortunately there are, you know, here in Florida are the Mecca for treatment centers, and there's a treatment center on every corner that opens up and gets shut down because they're doing the wrong things.
00:41:05.599 --> 00:41:20.880
And so um, when you can look at the people that are that are behind what it is that we're doing, some really top-notch people, you know, who come with a lot of experience, which I think again speaks volumes to how it is that we're able to do the things that we're doing.
00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:30.079
So um what do you foresee if you can share anything and kind of some of the hopes and futures for what it is that we're doing?
00:41:30.480 --> 00:41:36.719
So I think the biggest thing is you know, the last several years have very much been is this sustainable?
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:37.599
Yeah.
00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:39.599
Can we move the needle?
00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:42.079
And by that I mean can we help reduce stigma?
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:43.760
Can we make it okay to ask for help?
00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:48.320
Can we prove that how we do treatment actually works?
00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:50.000
Are clinical outcomes strong?
00:41:50.159 --> 00:41:54.400
Are we returning people to you know a better quality of life than when they got here?
00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:55.679
Are we rebuilding families?
00:41:55.760 --> 00:41:57.360
Are we getting people back on the job?
00:41:57.599 --> 00:41:58.320
All those things.
00:41:58.400 --> 00:42:01.679
And I think we've taken this very cautious and slow approach.
00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:10.559
We easily could have gone out there and opened up a bunch of programs and all that stuff, but it was like, let's get really good at what we do before we do what's next.
00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:18.239
It took us five years to open up our first out of state location in Seattle late last year, like slow, methodical, right?
00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:21.280
Make sure we have the process in place, just like anything else.
00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:23.760
You build too fast, you scale too fast, you implode, right?
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:27.599
So we didn't want to we don't want to do that, nor have we done that, knock on wood.
00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:32.320
So I think as we look over the next five years, it's where is the need?
00:42:32.480 --> 00:42:34.880
Well, we've been very West Coast heavy.
00:42:35.199 --> 00:42:37.760
So we look at the Midwest and we look at the East Coast.
00:42:37.840 --> 00:42:42.880
And if you look at the US population, 60% of the US population is on the East Coast, right?
00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:46.320
Like so, with that also means there's a big first responder population.
00:42:46.480 --> 00:42:48.719
So where can we do the most good next?
00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:50.400
And what does that look like?
00:42:50.880 --> 00:42:52.559
Is it more residential programs?
00:42:52.719 --> 00:42:54.239
Is it outpatient or outpatient?
00:42:54.719 --> 00:42:57.280
It's kind of a combination of those, those, those things, right?
00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:02.719
Like I think here in Southern California we're pretty much as big as we want to be at this point in time.
00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:09.840
But you know, we're starting to look at where to go on the East Coast, where to go in the Midwest, and kind of in the next couple of years, what does that look like?
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:10.239
Yeah.
00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:14.239
And as we do that, what other kind of services can we bring?
00:43:14.480 --> 00:43:23.519
How can we still be good at what we do, but also be innovative and embrace the change that's happening across the first bundle organizations nationwide.
00:43:23.679 --> 00:43:24.000
Yeah.
00:43:24.400 --> 00:43:34.320
So I think there's a lot to s be seen where we're gonna go, but I could see another two residential programs in the next five years and three or four more outpatient programs.
00:43:34.400 --> 00:43:38.960
That's kind of on the on the star charts, if you will, are where we want to be.
00:43:39.199 --> 00:43:39.679
Yeah.
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:41.599
Yeah, no, and that's good, you know.
00:43:41.679 --> 00:43:43.920
And I think Oh, and a bunch of more Ragners.
00:43:44.320 --> 00:43:44.880
Bunch more Ragnars.
00:43:45.119 --> 00:43:45.760
Bunch more Ragners.
00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:46.559
Bunch more Ragners.
00:43:46.880 --> 00:43:48.000
How many of those things they run a year?
00:43:48.320 --> 00:43:48.880
They're all over the place.
00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:49.519
They're everywhere.
00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:50.079
Oh geez.
00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:52.320
I said I I said I have another year.
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:55.199
This guy might send me an invite for three weeks.
00:43:57.679 --> 00:43:59.119
I heard those ones are really cool.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:03.920
Girls that were in the van were like, dude, it's it's a different, it's a different kind of vibe.
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:04.960
So I might be interested.
00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:06.320
It's camping.
00:44:06.480 --> 00:44:07.599
Yeah, that's what they said.
00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:10.079
So that might uh we might have to talk about that.
00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:17.280
So if there's anybody out there watching this video and uh you wanted to give them some sort of message, what would that be?
00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:22.079
You know, I think that's that's a two-sided thing.
00:44:22.159 --> 00:44:32.079
I think for people that are non-first responders, it's recognizing that first responders are an important part of our lives, whether we like it or not, right?
00:44:32.239 --> 00:44:42.559
And I don't care what your political affiliation is or which way you lean, but on your worst day, when you pick up the phone or ask for help, a first responder is showing up for you in that moment of need.
00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:44.000
And they're there for you.
00:44:44.159 --> 00:44:44.400
Yep.
00:44:44.559 --> 00:44:50.960
And now that's your worst day, and they're experiencing that day in and day out, and day in and day out.
00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:58.719
On the treatment center side of what we do, we want to be there for our first responders on their worst day.
00:44:58.800 --> 00:44:58.960
Yeah.
00:44:59.199 --> 00:45:01.599
Hopefully, it doesn't get to their worst day, hopefully we can intervene before them.
00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:05.920
But if and when that first worst day comes, we want to be that resource for them, right?
00:45:06.639 --> 00:45:15.280
And then for the first responders that are watching this, it's life happens, shit happens, you can beep that out, whatever you want.
00:45:15.360 --> 00:45:21.440
But like we recognize what you guys and gals go through.
00:45:21.679 --> 00:45:22.000
Yeah.
00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:25.920
I don't have to be, I'm not a first responder, I don't pretend to be a first responder, I don't know exactly what it's like.
00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:30.800
I just hear the stories and I talk to the guys and gals when they come here so I can relate a little bit, but I don't actually know.
00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:32.800
I just see what happens when they get here.
00:45:32.880 --> 00:45:33.519
Yeah.
00:45:33.760 --> 00:45:37.199
And I can see the the trials and tribulations they've taken to get through.
00:45:37.280 --> 00:45:39.519
I can see the roadblocks they've had to get through, yeah.
00:45:39.679 --> 00:45:45.039
Whether it's from their family or their department or whatever else, just to get the help once they've raised their hand.
00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:47.119
Because raise your hand for help sucks.
00:45:47.280 --> 00:45:48.559
Yes, it's scary.
00:45:48.719 --> 00:45:51.599
Yeah, especially if no one supports you in it.
00:45:51.679 --> 00:45:51.760
Yeah.
00:45:52.079 --> 00:45:53.360
Going out alone, right?
00:45:53.519 --> 00:45:55.599
So it's okay to ask for help.
00:45:55.840 --> 00:45:59.199
And it's okay when someone tells you you need help to accept that help.
00:45:59.360 --> 00:45:59.679
Yeah.
00:46:00.159 --> 00:46:01.440
And it's gonna suck.
00:46:02.639 --> 00:46:04.320
Yeah, coming to treatment sucks.
00:46:04.880 --> 00:46:05.519
It sure does.
00:46:05.760 --> 00:46:07.199
I mean, personally, I can relate to that.
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:08.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:46:08.639 --> 00:46:12.480
It sucked going to treatment, yeah, but I'm all the more better because of it.
00:46:12.880 --> 00:46:13.199
Sure.
00:46:13.599 --> 00:46:16.880
Because in retrospect, my life sucked even more before I went to treatment.
00:46:17.039 --> 00:46:17.199
Yeah.
00:46:17.360 --> 00:46:23.679
And so for anybody watching, like take the opportunity to get well, take the opportunity to get better.
00:46:23.840 --> 00:46:24.480
Yeah.
00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:27.840
It will get better if you put in the work.
00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:28.960
Yeah.
00:46:29.199 --> 00:46:30.159
And start running.
00:46:30.400 --> 00:46:31.360
And start running.
00:46:31.440 --> 00:46:31.840
Yeah.
00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:34.000
And it will get better if you put in the work.
00:46:34.079 --> 00:46:40.000
I mean, the reality is cultivating and creating change when you're in such turmoil sucks.
00:46:40.159 --> 00:46:46.639
It's it's a difficult thing to pause your life and to look out at it and think it's come off the tracks, man.
00:46:46.880 --> 00:46:48.960
And uh something has to be done.
00:46:49.039 --> 00:46:50.960
You know, nobody ever wants to take a look at that.
00:46:51.039 --> 00:46:52.400
And but that's the reality of it.
00:46:52.480 --> 00:46:54.960
And I think there's an added layer as a first responder.
00:46:55.039 --> 00:46:57.519
So it will get better if we do the work.
00:46:57.760 --> 00:47:00.239
Um, you know, thank you so much for taking the time.
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:01.440
I know you're a busy man.
00:47:01.519 --> 00:47:05.760
Thank you for sitting down with us, letting us get to know you, sharing a little bit of your knowledge.
00:47:05.840 --> 00:47:06.800
So we really appreciate that.
00:47:07.760 --> 00:47:08.159
Yeah, man.
00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:11.280
You got the finally official invite.
00:47:11.360 --> 00:47:15.280
I had to send him an official invite, but this is actually your second time.
00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:17.280
So uh, and maybe we'll make it a third time.
00:47:17.360 --> 00:47:19.360
So, again, thank you so much for being here.
00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:23.360
Um, and that will uh wrap us up, ladies and gentlemen.
00:47:23.440 --> 00:47:27.360
Don't let the stigmas keep you sick and stay resilient.
