Welcome to Recovery Catalyst!
May 2, 2026

Military Service to Mental Health Advocate

Military Service to Mental Health Advocate

In this episode, Host Cat York speaks with Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and addiction specialist Kevin Odom about his personal journey—from serving in the U.S. Army National Guard to clinical care—and his recent kidney donation. They discuss the philosophy of the One Moment Podcast and explore critical topics like common misconceptions in addiction and mental health, trauma-informed and person-centered care, relapse prevention, and patients’ rights. The conversation is framed by hope and the belief that one moment can change a life, and provides practical resources for seeking help.

Kevin Odom, a Certified Supervisor in North Carolina, applies his diverse, ethical expertise to behavioral health quality assurance, a background that includes 3.5 years as an Army National Guard diesel mechanic.

To learn more about Kevin & his Podcast please visit his Linktree below:

Kevin Odom - One Moment

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00:00 - Introduction & Podcast Purpose

01:21 - Guest Introduction — Kevin Odom

02:20 - Kevin’s Background: Military to Counseling

04:31 - One Moment Podcast Meaning

07:40 - Hope & Healthcare Challenges

10:17 - Kevin as Media Creator & Therapist

13:18 - Kevin’s Kidney Donation Story

16:26 - Common Misconceptions in Addiction & Mental Health

26:06 - Treating Co-occurring Disorders: Where to Start

30:11 - Importance of Human Connection in Care

36:16 - Relapse & Relapse Prevention

42:40 - Navigating Healthcare, Rights & Complaints

48:41 - When Someone’s in Crisis — Advice for Families

55:02 - Self-care & Personal Life

56:27 - Final Advice & Closing

01:02:27 - Outro & Resources Reminder

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Hello, and welcome to the Call Her Cat podcast, the show dedicated to honest conversations

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about addiction, recovery, and finding the strength to break the cycle.

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I'm your host, Cat York, and this is where we get real about the messy, complex, and

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often unspoken truth of what it means to heal.

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If you're working to redefine your story, searching for connection, or simply need to

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know you're not alone, you've come to the right place.

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My mission is to hold space for the raw, direct stories of people who have walked this path.

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We dive into the generational trauma, personal battles, and the profound lessons we've learned

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along the way.

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The views expressed here in this podcast are those of the host and the guests.

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This content is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and is not intended to be professional

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advice.

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Please consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your situation.

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Today we are joined by Kevin Odom, M.A., L.C., M.H.C., L.C.A.S.

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Kevin is a licensed clinical mental health counselor, addiction specialist, and certified

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supervisor in North Carolina.

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He is the owner of One Moment P.L.L.C. and the co-founder of the One Moment podcast.

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Kevin brings a diverse and ethical expertise to behavioral health, which includes work

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at Novant Health's inpatient unit and prior service in the U.S. Army National Guard.

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Kevin, welcome.

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Thank you for being here with me today.

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Thank you for allowing me to be here.

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It's a privilege and an honor.

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Is there anything I missed that you'd like to add in your bio?

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No, I think you've basically covered everything.

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So you have a very diverse background from working in the Army National Guard to being

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a mental health counselor and addiction specialist.

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Was there a specific moment or experience that led you from the Army National Guard

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to now working as a mental health counselor and addiction specialist?

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Yeah, I'd probably say there's a direct connection and a direct link between what I did in the

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military versus what I do now.

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You know, a lot of people, you know, say congrats on your service, man.

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Thank you for serving.

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And, you know, man, I had a blast serving.

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I had a blast.

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I had an absolute amazing time serving.

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But I ended up getting out because of my own struggles with certain things.

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And when I had a change of life, I knew what I wanted to do and where I was going to put

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my career at long term and short term.

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And I proceeded to go that route.

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And so, you know, I don't, you know, it didn't take away from my experience of being in the

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service.

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I think it added to and it gave me a unique experience of being, you know, in the Army

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National Guard.

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If I didn't do the stuff that I was doing, would I still be in the service?

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Absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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I'd probably have served, you know, a couple of tours overseas, probably been stationed

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all over the world just because I love to travel.

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But my experience in makes me who I am today.

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Now what is, I love the name that you chose for your podcast, One Moment.

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What is the, what's the, is there a story behind that?

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Actually there is.

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And I do appreciate that.

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So One Moment podcast, there's currently 86,400 seconds in a 24 hour day.

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Now on the average people stay awake for about 12 to 15 hours a day, roughly, give or take,

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or some even, some science shows even 16 hours.

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So if you look at 16 hours, and you wouldn't, that brings us out to approximately 57,600

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seconds in 16 hours.

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Well, in every single second we have the opportunity to make a decision.

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And if you really think about what one moment is, it's a second, right?

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We have all these moments to make a decision in our lives.

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And if you look at Eminem's hit song, Lose Yourself, you know, when he sings at the very

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beginning, you know, one moment, you know, again, you know, you have, you know, what,

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what decision do you make when you think about suicidal attempts and substance use and relapse

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and, you know, deciding in mental health, not to take your medication when you have

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that moment to make that decision, do you keep going down the path that you're on?

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Or do you make the decision to, you know, relapse, you make the decision to attempt

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to die by suicide, you know, same thing with publishing, right?

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And if it's, you know, publishing, I've had women authors and male authors on our show

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too, in that moment, do you make the decision to write the book and publish?

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Or do you not?

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The same thing with minority issues.

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You know, if you look at Dr. Martin Luther King, he spent every waking moment to fight

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for the rights of others and, you know, whether you were African American, Native American

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or what have you, he fought for the, you know, he stood up and advocated for the rights of

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all, every, every single moment counted.

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Unfortunately, he was assassinated, but every single moment counted.

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Every single moment.

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It doesn't matter what it is.

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We all have approximately the same amount of time and life is really short.

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Think about how short it is, the average lifespan is 70 to 75 years or something of that sort.

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We sleep a third of it away.

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What does that leave us out to be?

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Every moment that we have in life counts and I think our ultimate goal, our ultimate

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legacy is to make every single moment count to the best of my ability.

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I think I was listening to some episodes of your podcast and I love the conversations

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that you bring because the common theme that I, at least I take away from what I was listening

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to was that you try to, and you can tell me if I'm wrong, is bring people hope.

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Is that a correct observation?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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It's, it's, it's bringing people hope.

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I mean, how many countries still criminalize and penalize suicidal ideations and suicidal

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thoughts and suicidal attempts?

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About a dozen.

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You can't even go to your therapist and say, you know, or a therapist or somebody you trust

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and say, Hey, I'm thinking about dying by suicide today or I'm thinking about harming

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myself.

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It's sad.

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You know, so many people have a, you know, feel like they don't have a voice.

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Over 75% of Americans report that currently in our healthcare system that they do not

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deserve, that they do not get the healthcare that they deserve or need.

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That tells me that we have, you know, our focus in healthcare is not where it needs

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to be.

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And so my hope is, and my goal is, is to challenge the current healthcare system in our country

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and not just in our country, but around the world, you know, provide a, you know, be,

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be a voice for the voiceless, provide a resource where, you know, there is none.

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Um, I mean, even if that's given hope, if you look at what Viktor Frankl said in, uh,

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wrote in one of his books, he was a Holocaust survivor.

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He talks about the importance of maintaining hope, you know, and, and throughout adversity,

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right?

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And that hope is what keeps us alive.

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And he, uh, theorized and, uh, you know, that throughout that Holocaust was that this is

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one of the things, again, he theorized several things, but this is one of them that those

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who maintain their hope were most likely to live till the end of the Holocaust and survive

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those camps versus those who didn't.

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And hope, if you look at it in research is very critical and crucial to survival of the

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human species is very critical and crucial to recovery from whatever you want to add

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to it, whether it's medical surgery, whether it's cancer, whether it's, uh, you know, suicidal,

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you know, concerns, whether it's substance use, what have you.

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Hope is one of the most important things, concepts that we can strive to achieve and

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maintain and hold on to and even adapt it if need be.

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How do you feel, um, hosting your own podcast, stepping into the role of a media creator

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complements the work as you do, that you do as a, as a therapist?

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Well, you know, for me, I think it goes back to, I need to do something different than

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what my career is.

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And when I'm on camera and I'm doing all this stuff, uh, I don't know, I mean, for me, I

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think it just goes back to enjoying the, enjoying the field, uh, enjoying the ability

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to serve others.

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You know, I think, you know, regardless of any major religion that you study, you know,

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Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Protestantism, uh, Taoism or Taoism, however

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you pronounce that, um, even in your, and even when you go back to your Eastern cultures

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and Eastern practices, uh, our main goal in, in life, I think it's to serve one another.

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Right.

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Um, and, and so I look at the podcast that, that through that lens as, as it's one way

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of serving humanity is given hope is given, you know, faith is, it's, it's, it's given

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as being a resource for people, uh, and that's really what it's about.

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And so I feel like, you know, it really compliments the, the, the work I do as a therapist.

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I don't do my job for money.

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I don't, I don't care about the money, but the money, I mean, I get paid decently, uh,

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and I take my raises and I give it back.

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I use my raises for things in the community so that I can continue to do things that I'm

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doing for people.

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And so I think it really compliments because if I, I've seen so many people in so many

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organizations get wrapped up in treating patients as dollars or people as dollars, not, not

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patients, but people as dollars, or they're just another dollar sign, whether it's a tax

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write off insurance concern or what have you.

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And I think for me, it goes back to, this is a person who was struggling for help, you

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know, when I'm on, when I'm, when I'm working in, in, in, in providing therapeutic services

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to people and the same thing with the podcast, I am, uh, serving people.

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I don't do it for money.

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I don't get paid for the podcast.

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Nobody on the podcast gets paid for it.

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Like nobody, we don't get paid for video editing.

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We don't do none of that.

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Like we don't get paid for none of it.

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We do it because we enjoy it.

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I haven't been able to do much editing in the last couple of weeks, but that'll be okay.

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Well, you, um, can we, can, can we talk about something special that you did?

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Um, yeah.

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Um, and, well, why don't you, why don't you tell what you did?

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Are you talking about what happened in February?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So in February the 26th, I had the opportunity to, uh, go under the knife and go into surgery

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and have a kidney snatched out of me or cut out of me and then put into somebody else.

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That was a freaking awesome experience.

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Uh, started that process in November and, uh, it's, it's, you know, again, I think it

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goes back to the idea of serving others, you know, we are, you know, we are social creatures

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and you know, part of being a social creature is, you know, I think our duty is to serve

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one another.

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And so when I was presented with that opportunity to, to do that, uh, I walked that path and

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I'll put one foot in front of the other, followed up with automatical professionals, um, like

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everybody and I proceeded to do what, you know, what they said, um, and the individual

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to this day is three and a half weeks off of dialysis has been an absolute privilege

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and honor being able to be a part of that.

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And he lived, he was on dialysis for six years, average lifespan on dialysis is about seven

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to 10 years.

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Okay.

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And so he, he was at six, six years, a little over six years, about six and a half ish.

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And so today he's been off of dialysis for three and a half weeks.

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This Thursday will be four weeks and the kidney, you know, so three things can happen when

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you do a kidney donation.

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One is the kidney can be outright rejected.

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Even if y'all are matched, perfect match, you can still be rejected.

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Number two is it can take a couple of weeks to a couple of months for them to jumpstart

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it.

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Then the individual will have to go through dialysis for a little bit longer.

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Or the third one was when the kidney could immediately could work as soon as they put

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it in.

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Right.

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And out of all three of those options, my kidney started working once I put it in.

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That's beautiful.

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No, no, I didn't do it for accolades.

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I didn't do it for none of that when I did it because this world needs more love and

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needs more care and it needs more hope and needs more faith in humanity and more trust

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between people.

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The guy was a 47 year old Hispanic guy.

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I'm a Caucasian dude.

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We were 100% match from the beginner.

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I can't even imagine what that moment was like for both of you, you know, to know that

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you changed the course of his life and that now he had literally a second chance at a

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longer life.

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You know, that's beautiful that you that you did that.

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I appreciate it.

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And I think you are right that this world needs more love and kindness and understanding

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across all races, religions, all of it.

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Now, what do you something that affects everybody, no matter their race, their religion, their

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gender is addiction and mental health.

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And what are some common misconceptions that that you see in your work that maybe you'd

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like to see changed?

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Oh, that's a great one.

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Oh, man, there's so many.

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So we have like three hours of recording.

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There's so many.

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One of the ones I get quite a bit is there's no such thing as mental health.

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And I remember being on the phone with a family one time and, you know, dealing with the individual

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who was a schizophrenic, right.

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And the family says something I know such thing wrong is mental health.

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There's no science to even support mental health, this, that, and the third.

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I'm like, OK, so I'm just curious, do you believe in schizophrenia?

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And I can't make this up, listen, I'm not from religion by any means when I say this.

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But that individual said, serious as a heart attack here, they said, no, I don't believe

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in schizophrenia.

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If they have they have the devil inside of them, and if they were to get Jesus Christ

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into their life, they wouldn't have the devil inside of them.

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Well, fortunately and unfortunately, depending upon one's perception, schizophrenia is a

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actual true diagnosis.

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You can look at it in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.

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You can also see, you can also pull up research and see changes in the brain, the structural

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changes in the brain.

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You can also see how methamphetamine use long term, how the damage from methamphetamines

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actually mirrors the structural changes in schizophrenia.

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Both of them are very similar as far as the structural changes that happens.

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And so that's a huge misconception, is mental health and substance use do not exist and

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that they need some form of religion in their life.

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I disagree with that idea.

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Mental health and substance use is an actual real issue.

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Another issue I think is, you know, substance use is a brain disease.

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That's a huge myth.

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And I say that because you have for a whole decade or so plus, and I think you would probably

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agree, is we pushed on, we ran on this idea, all treatment programs, regardless of where

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it was located, ran on this idea, well, I say most treatment programs, let me say most,

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ran on this idea that substance use is a brain disease and they taught from the brain

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disease model.

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Well, my question is, is looking at that 15 years later, did we make the problem of addiction

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worse or better?

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And I think most people would actually answer that we've made it, that substance use has

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gotten worse.

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Well, we threw everybody or almost a whole population of substance use under this one

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theory of brain disease model of addiction.

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We completely forgot about and did not, you know, I shouldn't say completely forgot, but

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we did.

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We, you know, theoretically speaking, we forgot about all the other modalities, right?

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Cognitive behavioral therapy, existential therapy, narrative therapy.

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Now you even have a lot of your theorists from, you know, the feminist movement that

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happened in the psychology field in the, you know, sixties and, you know, during all

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of that, the big rights movement, you know, back when we have, I mean, there's so many

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theories out there, right.

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That actually fit too.

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Um, and so that's a huge myth because you can't throw everybody under one umbrella.

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That's like saying, okay, and to treat trauma, we have to have EMDR.

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Well, no, you have CPT, you have CBT, you have EMDR, right?

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You can't throw everybody under the same or on the same bus and say, this is the way

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you have to do it.

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Another thing that is a, uh, a huge issue is you'll have people in recovery who work

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in substance use field and their whole, and let's say they got sober through the 12 step

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program.

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Well, their whole deal is to push the 12 step program, push the 12 steps, 12 step, 12 step,

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12 step, 12 step.

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And it's like, dude, what are you doing?

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Right.

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And it's like, and you see a lot of it with people in recovery.

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And so that is a huge problem, especially in, um, especially in the substance use field

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is, you know, these people are trying to push just one theory or one idea.

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Like what worked for you might not work for all these other people.

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You can't throw the next thousand to 10,000 people under the same umbrella and say, Hey,

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this is the only way that works.

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Recovery is an individual thing.

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So how I, how I get and stay sober, it might not work for you.

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You might need harm reduction.

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You might need a 48 hour rapid detox.

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You might need something right.

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Or some people got sober through, gets over through a church and that's okay.

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They have to figure out what, you know, is the therapist's job to help the patient figure

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out what works versus what doesn't work.

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Uh, I know, uh, um, there's a treatment program in Hawaii.

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They have actually come in here and integrated Eastern and Western practices, you know, or

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Eastern and Western medicine.

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And they do a lot of, you know, cultural, ancient cultural practices and their relapse

293
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rates or have, uh, they have reduced the relapse rate significantly in the state of Hawaii.

294
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Medicaid actually pays for the ancient practices now through the, through the, you know, uh,

295
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in the state, which is a beautiful thing.

296
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They are the first state to have to come here and say, okay, yeah, we'll pay for, I

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don't know.

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I'm going to use for an example.

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Yeah.

300
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We'll pay for acupuncture.

301
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Right.

302
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We'll pay for this Eastern practice right here or that Eastern practice, like we literally

303
00:22:30,979 --> 00:22:36,020
have changed up the healthcare system in the state of Hawaii.

304
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And so it's another myth that I say, you know, needs to be, you know, is a huge barrier to

305
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providing services.

306
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Um, uh, uh, uh, a lot of folks think that in substance use, the best therapist is somebody

307
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in recovery.

308
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I disagree.

309
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I've actually seen the best therapist I know of was not in recovery, never was in recovery.

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And this guy can, I mean, he has touched thousands upon thousands upon thousands of lives throughout

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his 30 year career.

312
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And I mean, every, all the patients, most of the patients he meets loves them, you know,

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they gave them high ratings.

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He's got some of the highest ratings in the field of the substance use field.

315
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Um, you know, another myth is, and this is, I think is amongst the, I think amongst the

316
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healthcare population itself, not patients on the, you know, but going back to people

317
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like myself, I've heard so many times that the healthcare system is good, that we just

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need to do this.

319
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And, you know, we're not over-regulating and, oh, the system's not broken.

320
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It's just a piece of cake.

321
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Where the, are you at?

322
00:23:51,660 --> 00:23:57,699
Like, when you look in my eyes, research suggests, as I said earlier, that over 75% of Americans

323
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don't agree with our current status of, of healthcare.

324
00:24:02,380 --> 00:24:09,020
Like that's not me saying it, I'm agreeing with 75% of America and we have 350 million

325
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people, roughly, you know, in the U.S. right now, 75% of that 350 million agree that we

326
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have some of the worst healthcare in the history of the U.S.

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My job is to go with the research and to treat people as they are people and not numbers.

328
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And, and I mean, there's so many myths, there, there, there's so many myths and we can keep

329
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going.

330
00:24:35,260 --> 00:24:38,020
You know, I can tell you so many myths right now.

331
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You know, people think that LGBTQ population, a lot of their issues is based on trauma.

332
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Well, I actually showed it on my show.

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I asked a, a young lady who was part of the, actually, I think I asked two people.

334
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One of them was transgender.

335
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One of them was a lesbian.

336
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And I said, Hey, do you have any history of trauma?

337
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You raped as a, you know, basically, you know, without asking where you raped as a child,

338
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that was basically the way I asked, do you have any history of trauma?

339
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Some said, no, there wasn't a history of trauma.

340
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So, okay.

341
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So, I mean, that's another myth.

342
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There's so many myths out there that we can, I mean, we can keep going down.

343
00:25:16,900 --> 00:25:21,859
It's going to, do you have three hours to talk about all of this?

344
00:25:22,180 --> 00:25:28,579
No, I like that you highlighted, you highlighted an interesting point.

345
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And I tend to agree with you that not every counselor or addiction specialist that you

346
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talk to has to be in recovery.

347
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And I, I've, I say that from experience where that has worked against me having someone

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in recovery, because I have found that often in my experience that it, it swayed their

349
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decision on which way I should go.

350
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And you know, I don't think I agree that you don't need to be in recovery to treat those

351
00:26:01,660 --> 00:26:06,579
who are, are fighting addiction.

352
00:26:06,579 --> 00:26:14,459
And you mentioned that addiction and mental health often go hand in hand.

353
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How do you, what, what piece do you begin to treat first?

354
00:26:19,660 --> 00:26:25,420
Because that's a complicated, you're dealing with two complicated issues or challenges.

355
00:26:25,420 --> 00:26:31,300
Like, how do you even start when you're dealing with someone who is dealing with addiction

356
00:26:31,300 --> 00:26:33,300
and mental health issues?

357
00:26:33,300 --> 00:26:35,979
That's a great question.

358
00:26:35,979 --> 00:26:39,900
I think, you know, a lot of people ask that question to this day.

359
00:26:39,900 --> 00:26:44,380
I mean, and I think the answer isn't really a simple answer because it's like, hey, which

360
00:26:44,380 --> 00:26:45,660
came first, the chicken or the egg?

361
00:26:45,660 --> 00:26:47,619
Well, you got to have chickens in order to have eggs.

362
00:26:47,619 --> 00:26:49,660
Well, where did the egg come from?

363
00:26:49,660 --> 00:26:51,780
Or where did the chicken come from?

364
00:26:51,780 --> 00:26:55,739
I mean, and you're going, working yourself in circles, right?

365
00:26:55,739 --> 00:27:01,819
Same thing with, you know, tomatoes, tomatoes, potatoes, potatoes, it doesn't really matter.

366
00:27:01,819 --> 00:27:03,900
It's the same thing, right?

367
00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:06,020
And I think it just depends on the individual.

368
00:27:06,020 --> 00:27:11,780
I think it's an individualistic case because I've seen it where I have worked one-on-one

369
00:27:11,780 --> 00:27:17,380
with an individual who they had his diagnoses backwards, where it was a trauma, I mean,

370
00:27:17,380 --> 00:27:22,500
it was a substance use that happened first, and then it was the addiction.

371
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Or excuse me, it was a substance use that happened first, and then it was a trauma.

372
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And then I've had, you know, and I found out in my work with that individual that it actually

373
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wasn't that way.

374
00:27:33,819 --> 00:27:36,739
It was a trauma first, then it was a substance use.

375
00:27:36,739 --> 00:27:40,579
And we were treating the substance use, but it wasn't getting better.

376
00:27:40,619 --> 00:27:45,140
You know, the individual was not getting better, the individual was getting worse.

377
00:27:45,140 --> 00:27:52,500
So during the middle of a session, I challenged the idea, you know, pulled up the drug screens

378
00:27:52,500 --> 00:27:56,859
and everything, like, dude, what in the world is going on?

379
00:27:56,859 --> 00:28:03,500
And come to find out it was the trauma of what happened in Nam or Vietnam.

380
00:28:03,500 --> 00:28:08,540
You know, people say Nam for short, but Vietnam and Desert Storm, and it was like all of those

381
00:28:08,540 --> 00:28:11,339
things that happened.

382
00:28:11,339 --> 00:28:21,579
And when the individual and I talked about the situation or the situations, it was something

383
00:28:21,579 --> 00:28:25,979
that was clinically miraculous, and I say clinically miraculous because I think that's

384
00:28:25,979 --> 00:28:27,979
the best scripture of it.

385
00:28:27,979 --> 00:28:34,459
The individual's substance use had gotten significantly better once the trauma was discussed,

386
00:28:34,780 --> 00:28:37,979
explored, emphasized, and treatment was provided.

387
00:28:40,540 --> 00:28:47,739
Now, again, as an individualistic case, there's this idea in the field now that, you know,

388
00:28:47,739 --> 00:28:55,660
when people go into treatment, then the treatment should, again, be person-centered and, you

389
00:28:55,660 --> 00:28:58,859
know, it should be integrated.

390
00:28:58,859 --> 00:29:01,579
Trauma-informed care is what they're calling it now.

391
00:29:02,380 --> 00:29:06,699
Regardless if it's substance use or whether it's, you know, treatment for bipolar disorder,

392
00:29:06,699 --> 00:29:10,140
it's still, you know, if there's trauma, it should be trauma-informed care.

393
00:29:10,780 --> 00:29:13,739
So I think, you know, I think it just really depends on the individual.

394
00:29:15,339 --> 00:29:21,020
And there's not a single, you know, there's not a single simple answer.

395
00:29:21,020 --> 00:29:23,420
It's more of an individualistic answer.

396
00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:34,380
That's got to be difficult because I imagine when you're dealing with someone who's dealing

397
00:29:34,380 --> 00:29:40,140
with trauma from something as complicated and as devastating as Vietnam, that's not

398
00:29:40,140 --> 00:29:43,180
something they're going to easily want to share, right?

399
00:29:44,459 --> 00:29:48,380
And depending how deep that trauma is and if there's other trauma, they might not even

400
00:29:48,380 --> 00:29:50,540
be able to distinguish kind of what came first.

401
00:29:50,939 --> 00:30:00,780
So that leaves you in a very challenging situation to really have to take a lot of time, really

402
00:30:00,780 --> 00:30:07,180
get to know the person and their history, to know where to almost really start to treat

403
00:30:07,180 --> 00:30:08,540
and what to really start to treat.

404
00:30:11,579 --> 00:30:17,579
And that's got to be at times quite hard to know even to where to start.

405
00:30:17,579 --> 00:30:18,300
Is that accurate?

406
00:30:20,859 --> 00:30:27,500
Well, yeah, and I think a lot of therapists, they get into this idea, especially some of

407
00:30:27,500 --> 00:30:32,939
your newer therapists and because I've seen and I work with a lot of, you know, I mentor

408
00:30:32,939 --> 00:30:38,300
a lot of college students and I do some supervision with some people too.

409
00:30:38,300 --> 00:30:46,699
And I think the biggest thing that they, that I think people should remember when you are

410
00:30:46,699 --> 00:30:52,060
a healthcare worker, and this is regardless of, right, healthcare worker itself, you know,

411
00:30:52,060 --> 00:30:59,900
whether you're a nurse, you know, a psychiatric practitioner, nurse practitioner, whether

412
00:30:59,900 --> 00:31:04,060
you're a doctor, whether, you know, whatever, whatever your title is in healthcare.

413
00:31:06,300 --> 00:31:09,020
So remember that it's the person first, right?

414
00:31:09,020 --> 00:31:10,219
It's the human first.

415
00:31:10,219 --> 00:31:14,380
I need to be able to connect with the individual on a human to human connection, right?

416
00:31:15,020 --> 00:31:18,219
Without that connection, I have no therapeutic relationship, right?

417
00:31:18,219 --> 00:31:19,900
There's no therapy that's being provided.

418
00:31:21,420 --> 00:31:25,420
That human to human connection is just like you and I talking right now.

419
00:31:25,420 --> 00:31:26,380
It's just as simple as that.

420
00:31:26,380 --> 00:31:27,979
There's no therapeutic work that's being done.

421
00:31:27,979 --> 00:31:30,619
I'm not giving you therapy and you're not giving me therapy.

422
00:31:30,619 --> 00:31:34,540
You're not telling me, well, I want you to go home and work on the CBT worksheet, right?

423
00:31:35,099 --> 00:31:36,459
You're not telling me that.

424
00:31:36,459 --> 00:31:40,780
The human to human connection, I think is the most important piece of any therapeutic

425
00:31:40,780 --> 00:31:49,979
relationship in, as it relates to healthcare persons, doctor, NP, PA, LPN, RN, even those

426
00:31:49,979 --> 00:31:54,300
who work in the healthcare industry and they work more in the admin positions.

427
00:31:55,420 --> 00:32:00,459
We've gotten, I think for a good part of the healthcare field is we've gotten away

428
00:32:00,459 --> 00:32:01,579
from that ideal.

429
00:32:02,780 --> 00:32:08,939
Once we get, and that's what I keep into my, into the forefront of my brain is my

430
00:32:08,939 --> 00:32:09,739
ultimate goal.

431
00:32:10,300 --> 00:32:15,660
Number one goal in any relationship when I meet people is to connect with them one-on-one,

432
00:32:15,660 --> 00:32:16,780
human to human.

433
00:32:18,300 --> 00:32:19,180
It doesn't matter.

434
00:32:19,180 --> 00:32:20,859
Like, you know, there's no title involved.

435
00:32:20,859 --> 00:32:23,979
There's no like, you know, I'm, you know, don't, don't call me mister.

436
00:32:23,979 --> 00:32:24,619
Don't call me sir.

437
00:32:24,619 --> 00:32:28,140
Like, you know, I am a person just like you.

438
00:32:28,859 --> 00:32:31,660
I have thoughts and emotions just like you.

439
00:32:31,660 --> 00:32:38,140
Once I can connect on that level, then I can start to build a, build trust.

440
00:32:39,819 --> 00:32:44,060
And I, and if you look at a lot of what happened, like during the COVID era, well, there's a

441
00:32:44,060 --> 00:32:47,660
huge lack of trust in the field, huge lack of trust in the field.

442
00:32:48,540 --> 00:32:53,900
And if you go back to even what happened to Tuskegee syphilis study, right?

443
00:32:53,900 --> 00:32:59,420
No wonder there's lack of trust between people in the government, people in healthcare because

444
00:32:59,420 --> 00:33:01,099
of how we treated people.

445
00:33:01,099 --> 00:33:04,859
You know, we gave them syphilis and didn't even provide them with the freaking medications

446
00:33:04,859 --> 00:33:06,060
to cure it or even treat it.

447
00:33:06,780 --> 00:33:07,500
Right.

448
00:33:07,500 --> 00:33:09,420
Like, no wonder there's lack of trust.

449
00:33:10,140 --> 00:33:15,099
And my number one goal is to, or number, number two goal after the human connection is to

450
00:33:16,140 --> 00:33:19,819
build that level of trust with that person.

451
00:33:20,859 --> 00:33:24,699
And that's where I think the two pieces that I think healthcare is missing.

452
00:33:24,699 --> 00:33:30,140
See, when I was a patient over there at Methodist hospital in San Antonio, they didn't care

453
00:33:30,140 --> 00:33:33,260
about the, like, yeah, they cared about the insurance, about the individual's insurance,

454
00:33:33,260 --> 00:33:36,140
but they treated me most importantly as a person, as a human being.

455
00:33:36,939 --> 00:33:37,439
Yeah.

456
00:33:38,140 --> 00:33:43,020
They literally said, uh, I got denied on something for financial, whatever the first

457
00:33:43,020 --> 00:33:45,180
time for like financial assistance.

458
00:33:45,180 --> 00:33:49,500
And they literally called me up and they said, Hey, you got denied on this, this amount of

459
00:33:49,500 --> 00:33:50,939
money, blah, blah, blah.

460
00:33:50,939 --> 00:33:53,420
Uh, do you still want to move forward with the donor, with the donation?

461
00:33:53,420 --> 00:33:54,219
I said, absolutely.

462
00:33:54,219 --> 00:33:55,020
Come on now.

463
00:33:55,020 --> 00:33:55,900
They were like, really?

464
00:33:56,540 --> 00:33:57,099
Yeah, really?

465
00:33:57,099 --> 00:33:58,540
Come on, let's, let's, let's do it.

466
00:33:59,260 --> 00:34:02,219
And so they treated me as a person.

467
00:34:02,859 --> 00:34:03,180
Right.

468
00:34:03,180 --> 00:34:03,579
Yeah.

469
00:34:03,579 --> 00:34:08,139
They didn't discriminate against myself against my substance use history from 15 years ago,

470
00:34:08,139 --> 00:34:12,379
or however long ago, 13, 14, 15 years ago, they didn't discriminate based on anything

471
00:34:12,379 --> 00:34:12,620
else.

472
00:34:12,620 --> 00:34:14,379
They just treat, they treated me as a person.

473
00:34:15,260 --> 00:34:19,739
You know, they asked me, have I ever spent 70, 72 hours incarcerated?

474
00:34:19,739 --> 00:34:20,540
I said, sure.

475
00:34:20,540 --> 00:34:24,780
They were like, when I said like 15, 20 years ago, they were like, when you worried about

476
00:34:24,780 --> 00:34:25,500
that?

477
00:34:25,500 --> 00:34:31,260
It was, you know, they, because they looked at what I am doing now, what I am doing today.

478
00:34:31,260 --> 00:34:31,500
Right.

479
00:34:32,219 --> 00:34:35,020
I was, went in on a Thursday, released on a Friday.

480
00:34:35,020 --> 00:34:37,500
I was readmitted on a Saturday morning at 2.30.

481
00:34:38,139 --> 00:34:42,139
And what I did is I took the pain medication with me back to the hospital.

482
00:34:42,139 --> 00:34:44,620
Not once did they say that I was overtaking medication.

483
00:34:44,620 --> 00:34:46,620
Not once did they discriminate me.

484
00:34:46,620 --> 00:34:48,699
Not once did they deny me services.

485
00:34:48,699 --> 00:34:53,340
In fact, they readmitted me and said, you're not going to leave here until you, you know,

486
00:34:53,340 --> 00:34:55,500
until your bowels get up and working, right?

487
00:34:55,500 --> 00:34:56,379
Basically what they said.

488
00:34:57,260 --> 00:35:02,300
And even the whole process of that, they still treated me as a person.

489
00:35:03,979 --> 00:35:04,219
All right.

490
00:35:04,860 --> 00:35:07,260
They never once said, no, you can't come back.

491
00:35:07,260 --> 00:35:09,340
No, they never discriminated against me.

492
00:35:09,899 --> 00:35:10,540
None of that.

493
00:35:10,540 --> 00:35:13,260
They said, hey, sometimes this happens with people.

494
00:35:13,260 --> 00:35:17,020
It takes a moment for their body to get up to work and their insides.

495
00:35:17,020 --> 00:35:20,060
So I, they explained to me, I asked questions.

496
00:35:21,820 --> 00:35:22,939
Was not an issue at all.

497
00:35:23,500 --> 00:35:24,780
They never once shunned me.

498
00:35:24,780 --> 00:35:26,300
They never made me feel shunned.

499
00:35:26,300 --> 00:35:27,340
None of that.

500
00:35:27,340 --> 00:35:29,020
Absolutely none of it.

501
00:35:30,060 --> 00:35:33,899
Even when my follow-up, when I went back, I tried to take pictures with a few people.

502
00:35:33,899 --> 00:35:34,699
They didn't.

503
00:35:34,699 --> 00:35:36,219
And they didn't feel comfortable with it.

504
00:35:36,219 --> 00:35:38,219
And they were like, nah, I don't want to go on social media.

505
00:35:38,219 --> 00:35:38,459
All right.

506
00:35:38,459 --> 00:35:39,260
That's cool.

507
00:35:39,260 --> 00:35:41,020
Well, other than that, they still were respectful.

508
00:35:41,020 --> 00:35:47,820
They treated me again as out as a human being first and then a patient second.

509
00:35:48,620 --> 00:35:48,860
Yeah.

510
00:35:49,820 --> 00:35:52,540
And that's what we're missing in the field.

511
00:35:52,540 --> 00:35:54,219
That's a, that's a huge thing.

512
00:35:54,219 --> 00:35:58,540
And I think that once we, once we get back to the human to human connection,

513
00:35:58,540 --> 00:36:03,739
once we establish that first and foremost, you know, the, the disclosure is going to come.

514
00:36:03,739 --> 00:36:05,020
People are going to trust.

515
00:36:06,060 --> 00:36:06,300
Yeah.

516
00:36:06,300 --> 00:36:09,340
I did this in Vietnam or yeah, I did this in desert storm.

517
00:36:09,340 --> 00:36:09,580
Yeah.

518
00:36:09,580 --> 00:36:11,179
I did this over there in Iraq.

519
00:36:11,899 --> 00:36:12,139
Yeah.

520
00:36:12,139 --> 00:36:14,540
I did this in Kuwait or yeah.

521
00:36:14,540 --> 00:36:16,540
Hey, this happened to me when I was five years old.

522
00:36:16,540 --> 00:36:17,340
My daddy beat me.

523
00:36:17,340 --> 00:36:23,020
And you know, my, my, my, my daddy was raping me as he was quote biblical scriptures out

524
00:36:23,020 --> 00:36:26,300
the Bible, you know, whatever, whatever the situation is.

525
00:36:27,179 --> 00:36:33,419
But if I don't have a human connection, you think, do you think a woman or a guy

526
00:36:33,419 --> 00:36:37,739
is going to tell me as their therapist or even their medical provider that, Hey,

527
00:36:37,739 --> 00:36:41,659
yeah, my dad was raping me and it's quoting biblical scripture at the same time.

528
00:36:44,860 --> 00:36:48,060
No, you gotta have a deep level of trust to share something like that.

529
00:36:49,500 --> 00:36:51,500
Yeah, absolutely.

530
00:36:52,300 --> 00:36:54,699
And that's what it, that's where it all starts.

531
00:36:54,699 --> 00:36:57,899
Without that, then there's no, there's no healthcare.

532
00:36:57,899 --> 00:36:58,860
There's no services.

533
00:36:58,860 --> 00:37:01,419
There's nothing, none of nothing can be provided.

534
00:37:02,300 --> 00:37:06,699
You, then you're talking about untreated mental health, untreated substance use, untreated.

535
00:37:07,580 --> 00:37:08,139
What have you.

536
00:37:11,820 --> 00:37:16,780
Something that comes up a lot when you're dealing with addiction, whatever the substance may be

537
00:37:17,820 --> 00:37:19,659
is, is relapse.

538
00:37:20,620 --> 00:37:24,939
And a lot of people will say, well, that's just part of recovery.

539
00:37:26,379 --> 00:37:30,459
Where do you stand on relapse prevention or even relapse in general?

540
00:37:32,620 --> 00:37:33,739
Oh, that's a great question.

541
00:37:33,739 --> 00:37:35,500
I haven't been asked that question yet ever.

542
00:37:35,500 --> 00:37:43,419
I don't think relapse doesn't have to be a part of recovery, but it can be.

543
00:37:44,939 --> 00:37:45,580
It can be.

544
00:37:46,139 --> 00:37:49,659
Um, and I say that because a lot of people, you know, there's a lot of people that come in

545
00:37:50,379 --> 00:37:52,780
and recover and they don't relapse and get it the first time.

546
00:37:52,780 --> 00:37:56,860
But then there's also the other people who, you know, if you look at William James,

547
00:37:56,860 --> 00:38:02,300
William James is a huge spiritual experience guy, very spiritual, very recovery based guy.

548
00:38:02,300 --> 00:38:06,699
And he talks about spiritual experiences and how there's two forms, right?

549
00:38:06,699 --> 00:38:08,219
One is the burning bush form.

550
00:38:09,020 --> 00:38:11,260
The other one is educational variety.

551
00:38:11,260 --> 00:38:17,580
And so some people have to relapse a couple of different times in order for them to really

552
00:38:17,580 --> 00:38:20,699
process what is going on for them to grasp it.

553
00:38:21,260 --> 00:38:27,260
Um, and I've seen both, I've seen both sides here and for my relapse prevention folks,

554
00:38:27,260 --> 00:38:32,139
you know, way I typically work with people is I take an existential approach and I help

555
00:38:32,139 --> 00:38:37,659
people to understand a very, you know, it's existential, but it's more of a mixed approach

556
00:38:37,659 --> 00:38:42,780
to help people understand on, you know, go back to your relapse and see what you were

557
00:38:42,780 --> 00:38:46,780
doing well at and see what you were not doing well at, see what you needed to change and

558
00:38:46,780 --> 00:38:54,219
improve that where those areas of improvement of change, not where you were doing well at,

559
00:38:54,219 --> 00:38:56,459
cause we can always improve across the board, right?

560
00:38:56,459 --> 00:39:01,580
But the areas where you needed to improve it, maybe that's where you needed to hang

561
00:39:01,580 --> 00:39:04,219
your hat at, maybe hang your hat in Texas on that one, right?

562
00:39:05,020 --> 00:39:10,300
Uh, and, and go from there where I think the song says, hang, hang my hat in Tennessee.

563
00:39:10,300 --> 00:39:13,500
So maybe you need to hang your hat in Tennessee on that right there, right?

564
00:39:14,699 --> 00:39:20,699
Focusing on that area, maybe improving that area, or at least in one or two of those areas,

565
00:39:21,580 --> 00:39:24,139
you know, cause it, everybody's different.

566
00:39:24,139 --> 00:39:32,300
So I, that's the way I take, you know, the, the, the relapse prevention approach, you

567
00:39:32,300 --> 00:39:35,260
know, let's look, let's explore some of these relapses.

568
00:39:35,260 --> 00:39:36,139
What was going on?

569
00:39:38,459 --> 00:39:39,260
What changed?

570
00:39:39,260 --> 00:39:39,979
What happened?

571
00:39:39,979 --> 00:39:41,100
What did you stop doing?

572
00:39:41,100 --> 00:39:42,139
What did you not do?

573
00:39:42,780 --> 00:39:44,219
What did you need to do, but didn't?

574
00:39:46,219 --> 00:39:50,459
Cause if you explore that and you ask those simple questions, you know, individually,

575
00:39:50,459 --> 00:39:51,659
I mean, you're going to get the answer.

576
00:39:53,340 --> 00:39:56,860
And that's why I say relapse can be a part of recovery.

577
00:39:56,939 --> 00:40:02,780
It's not a, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's not the idea that it doesn't,

578
00:40:03,500 --> 00:40:07,340
you know, that it's not a part of, no, no, it can be a part of recovery.

579
00:40:08,540 --> 00:40:12,300
And I think, you know, with these people that says that recovery is not a part of

580
00:40:14,379 --> 00:40:16,060
relapse is not a part of recovery.

581
00:40:16,060 --> 00:40:19,419
I think they need to probably go back to school, getting them a little bit more education.

582
00:40:19,419 --> 00:40:25,659
That's my challenge to them because maybe they don't know what relapse is maybe, or

583
00:40:25,659 --> 00:40:30,860
maybe their experiences with relapse doesn't align with somebody else's, you know, the,

584
00:40:30,860 --> 00:40:34,540
the issue that I think we have is, oh my God, CBT worked for me.

585
00:40:35,260 --> 00:40:37,179
You need CBT, honey,

586
00:40:40,139 --> 00:40:44,300
God, you know, the 12 step program and be a Wilson works.

587
00:40:44,300 --> 00:40:45,419
Oh, it'll work for you.

588
00:40:47,419 --> 00:40:51,899
Like the program preaches, get the hell out of here.

589
00:40:52,620 --> 00:41:00,860
You know, and, and, you know, it's, it's, you know, people in the field who work as

590
00:41:00,860 --> 00:41:04,860
substance use therapists, primarily, you know, I think they, I think it's time to

591
00:41:04,860 --> 00:41:06,540
reign some of these ideas back.

592
00:41:06,540 --> 00:41:11,100
You know, what works for one doesn't work for all, you know, same thing with compliance,

593
00:41:11,100 --> 00:41:14,300
you know, just because you want to push compliance on one chart doesn't mean it

594
00:41:14,300 --> 00:41:17,739
needs to be compliance across the board, you know, or this heavy focus.

595
00:41:17,739 --> 00:41:23,979
And I've always said this and I'll say it, you know, uh, to the day I die, you know,

596
00:41:23,979 --> 00:41:28,939
you can talk to me, Jayco or freaking car for whoever the state of North Carolina can

597
00:41:28,939 --> 00:41:32,860
talk to me about compliance, compliance, compliance, compliance, compliance, compliance.

598
00:41:33,419 --> 00:41:35,739
And they're my response to them.

599
00:41:36,459 --> 00:41:38,780
At least the fucking chart won't relapse.

600
00:41:42,860 --> 00:41:43,020
Yeah.

601
00:41:43,020 --> 00:41:45,899
Cause you're not, you're dealing with, yeah, you lose sight of the person.

602
00:41:46,860 --> 00:41:47,179
Right.

603
00:41:48,060 --> 00:41:48,620
Absolutely.

604
00:41:49,739 --> 00:41:50,379
Absolutely.

605
00:41:53,100 --> 00:41:58,060
Now you highlighted something, um, kind of touched on a little bit like, you know,

606
00:41:58,060 --> 00:42:00,620
paperwork and compliance and all that.

607
00:42:01,419 --> 00:42:08,540
And when someone's really struggling, they're in crisis, you know, it's, it can be get

608
00:42:08,540 --> 00:42:15,899
very complicated and almost impossible trying to find the right help wade through all the

609
00:42:15,899 --> 00:42:22,300
paperwork, insurance claims, you know, all this other things, you know, fill out a thousand forms.

610
00:42:23,899 --> 00:42:33,979
You know, what is, how, how important is it for somebody to really in recovery,

611
00:42:33,979 --> 00:42:41,260
to really understand their rights, um, that, and the laws that are there to protect them.

612
00:42:42,300 --> 00:42:48,540
Um, cause so many times I've seen people, um, you know, just not get help because they just

613
00:42:48,540 --> 00:42:50,139
didn't understand how it worked.

614
00:42:50,139 --> 00:42:55,419
Like they just, they're, they're, they're deep in their addiction or mental health struggles,

615
00:42:55,419 --> 00:42:56,939
or just don't even know where to start.

616
00:42:57,419 --> 00:43:02,699
You know, how important is it that they do the research or have someone help them do their

617
00:43:02,699 --> 00:43:03,260
research?

618
00:43:04,860 --> 00:43:11,419
Well, I think it's crucial number of reasons because why number one, we work in a healthcare

619
00:43:11,419 --> 00:43:14,379
system that is, uh, I mean, I get it.

620
00:43:14,379 --> 00:43:21,179
It's supposed to be a socialized, you know, form of medicine in, in Western civilization.

621
00:43:22,139 --> 00:43:27,979
I get that part, you know, very socialistic or, you know, you know, I think it's people

622
00:43:27,979 --> 00:43:30,620
shy away from using the word communistic or communism.

623
00:43:30,620 --> 00:43:38,860
And I agree with that, but it's very socialized and I get that part, you know, and the reason

624
00:43:38,860 --> 00:43:44,540
I say that is because as we've been talking about, you know, people in healthcare have

625
00:43:44,540 --> 00:43:47,580
gotten away from treating people as people, right.

626
00:43:48,379 --> 00:43:52,459
And it's all about a dollar sign number, dollar sign number, dollar sign number, dollar

627
00:43:52,459 --> 00:43:53,179
sign number.

628
00:43:53,979 --> 00:43:57,580
And, you know, people can make complaints.

629
00:43:57,580 --> 00:43:59,739
This patient's rights to make a complaint.

630
00:43:59,739 --> 00:44:02,459
This patient's rights to do this, this patient's rights to do that.

631
00:44:02,459 --> 00:44:02,939
Right.

632
00:44:02,939 --> 00:44:04,860
I guess that is a huge part of healthcare.

633
00:44:05,419 --> 00:44:11,500
But once patients start making complaints, then people in healthcare get all butthurt.

634
00:44:11,500 --> 00:44:13,500
Oh my God, this person is just annoying.

635
00:44:13,500 --> 00:44:15,340
This person is just freaking aggravating.

636
00:44:15,340 --> 00:44:16,860
This person's just blah, blah, blah.

637
00:44:17,500 --> 00:44:20,540
Shut the F up, bruh.

638
00:44:20,540 --> 00:44:23,820
Like that's what I've been wanting to tell, you know, some of these people that work in

639
00:44:23,820 --> 00:44:24,780
healthcare.

640
00:44:24,780 --> 00:44:28,860
Reason being, I made a mistake, you know, a couple of years ago, ended up working, I was

641
00:44:28,860 --> 00:44:30,139
working for this program.

642
00:44:30,139 --> 00:44:31,340
We got federal funding.

643
00:44:32,860 --> 00:44:38,300
So the way I started operating, because they said it would take two weeks, you know, approximately

644
00:44:38,300 --> 00:44:42,699
two weeks for the individual to be approved for federal funding.

645
00:44:43,419 --> 00:44:49,580
So the way I implemented it at the facility level was once we submit you, you pay for

646
00:44:49,580 --> 00:44:50,219
two weeks, right?

647
00:44:50,219 --> 00:44:55,899
You're, you as a, you as the patient cap would pay for two weeks until you're approved, you

648
00:44:55,899 --> 00:44:57,580
know, in the system, right?

649
00:44:58,939 --> 00:45:03,419
And then once you're approved, then we'll, you know, then you're, you're, you're good

650
00:45:03,419 --> 00:45:03,979
to go, right?

651
00:45:04,939 --> 00:45:08,860
Well, and this is what I love about patient's rights, right?

652
00:45:09,659 --> 00:45:13,580
And once you become knowledgeable on you use patient's rights and complaints to better

653
00:45:13,580 --> 00:45:14,219
yourself.

654
00:45:14,860 --> 00:45:21,179
I had an individual that transferred from nice, from another program.

655
00:45:22,699 --> 00:45:28,860
And I, you know, we, you know, the individual and I sit down, we do all the documentation

656
00:45:28,860 --> 00:45:32,860
and I told him the same thing, look, you got to pay for two weeks, blah, blah, blah, blah,

657
00:45:32,860 --> 00:45:33,500
blah, and so forth.

658
00:45:33,500 --> 00:45:35,580
They said, Kev, that ain't the way it works.

659
00:45:35,580 --> 00:45:38,060
I'm like, well, it is the way it works right now.

660
00:45:38,780 --> 00:45:39,659
This moment.

661
00:45:39,659 --> 00:45:43,580
Well, Kevin, I'm telling you, we just had federal funding, blah, blah, blah, just have

662
00:45:43,580 --> 00:45:44,860
it first and so forth.

663
00:45:46,300 --> 00:45:48,620
And I'm telling you, that's not the way it works.

664
00:45:48,620 --> 00:45:49,580
I said, well, how about this?

665
00:45:50,860 --> 00:45:52,459
I said, do, do me a favor.

666
00:45:53,100 --> 00:45:56,459
And the individual said, yeah, I said, go make a complaint right now.

667
00:45:56,459 --> 00:46:00,780
As soon as you leave here, go make a complaint right now because that individual is going

668
00:46:00,780 --> 00:46:01,419
to call us.

669
00:46:02,219 --> 00:46:06,780
We're going to set up a meeting and we're going to go back and do the training and do

670
00:46:06,780 --> 00:46:08,780
some like question training and stuff like that.

671
00:46:08,780 --> 00:46:10,300
Like we're going to go ask some questions.

672
00:46:11,179 --> 00:46:13,739
I want you to please take your complaint and submit it.

673
00:46:15,659 --> 00:46:22,620
Within 24 hours or 48 hours or maybe seven, it was several years ago, but within like,

674
00:46:22,620 --> 00:46:28,219
you know, within a two to three day period, we had a scheduled meeting, myself, my regional

675
00:46:28,219 --> 00:46:36,300
director, and the entity for federal and state funding.

676
00:46:37,260 --> 00:46:40,219
And in that call, I said, you know, this is what it takes.

677
00:46:40,219 --> 00:46:43,340
It takes two weeks for, you know, for this, that, and the third to go through.

678
00:46:44,060 --> 00:46:45,020
What do you want me to do?

679
00:46:45,020 --> 00:46:49,500
Because if they're denied, then they, patients have to pay up for two weeks.

680
00:46:49,500 --> 00:46:51,659
Like, like, what do you, how do you want me to handle this?

681
00:46:51,659 --> 00:46:53,419
And I have my regional director on the phone.

682
00:46:54,139 --> 00:47:00,060
Individual literally say, Kev, have you ever seen somebody didn't be denied off of blah,

683
00:47:00,060 --> 00:47:01,580
blah, blah, no, sir, never.

684
00:47:01,580 --> 00:47:01,820
Okay.

685
00:47:01,820 --> 00:47:08,300
Then I want you to immediately do changing changes in your system.

686
00:47:08,300 --> 00:47:12,300
And in a way y'all do things, apply for federal funding.

687
00:47:13,419 --> 00:47:19,179
Patients do not have to pay any longer until they are denied.

688
00:47:19,179 --> 00:47:21,419
Or we, you know, the funding is taken away.

689
00:47:21,419 --> 00:47:23,020
It's canceled, stopped, or what have you.

690
00:47:23,899 --> 00:47:25,020
And so that's what we use.

691
00:47:25,020 --> 00:47:31,100
You know, complaints are made or, or, or, or, you know, used and should be, or should be used

692
00:47:31,100 --> 00:47:37,100
to better and improve and change the quality of services that we are provide, that we provide.

693
00:47:37,979 --> 00:47:38,219
Right.

694
00:47:39,260 --> 00:47:43,739
If I'm doing something wrong, I need to be able to step back

695
00:47:44,860 --> 00:47:47,979
instead of taking it personally and say, oh, okay.

696
00:47:49,340 --> 00:47:51,419
How, how do I do, you know, just have a third.

697
00:47:51,419 --> 00:47:55,020
So understanding one's rights is very crucial because

698
00:47:55,020 --> 00:47:58,379
that individual understood their rights as a person, as a patient.

699
00:47:59,179 --> 00:48:02,699
And I encouraged them to utilize their rights as a patient.

700
00:48:02,699 --> 00:48:09,899
And it actually even helped us to better our services and to improve our quality of services.

701
00:48:09,899 --> 00:48:10,939
It literally did that.

702
00:48:12,459 --> 00:48:13,100
I like that.

703
00:48:14,459 --> 00:48:17,820
And so, you know, rights, patient's rights is very important.

704
00:48:18,379 --> 00:48:20,860
You know, you have a right to ask for a therapist.

705
00:48:20,860 --> 00:48:24,459
You have a right to, you know, seek services wherever you want to from, you know,

706
00:48:24,459 --> 00:48:26,459
wherever you want from, it doesn't matter.

707
00:48:26,459 --> 00:48:29,979
You have a right for certain types of treatment, you know.

708
00:48:29,979 --> 00:48:33,580
Now, whether you're approved for those types of treatments is neither here nor there.

709
00:48:33,580 --> 00:48:36,379
I can't, I can't speak on that one because every entity is different.

710
00:48:36,379 --> 00:48:37,580
Every organization is different.

711
00:48:38,219 --> 00:48:38,459
Right.

712
00:48:41,340 --> 00:48:47,979
Now, something that's, that I think comes up sometimes is, you know,

713
00:48:47,979 --> 00:48:52,699
when somebody is like in the throes of their addiction or mental health

714
00:48:53,340 --> 00:48:56,060
or even a combination of the both, when they're in a crisis,

715
00:48:57,500 --> 00:48:58,540
that can be scary.

716
00:48:59,739 --> 00:49:02,300
That can be very intimidating and very uncertain.

717
00:49:04,060 --> 00:49:12,379
And do you have any, what are maybe some things that friends or family

718
00:49:13,340 --> 00:49:18,300
could do to support someone who's in a crisis at that moment?

719
00:49:18,300 --> 00:49:22,060
What are some important things to remember?

720
00:49:22,060 --> 00:49:25,500
Obviously, safety being, you know, most important.

721
00:49:26,300 --> 00:49:27,179
Oh, yeah, for sure.

722
00:49:27,179 --> 00:49:28,459
No, safety is very important.

723
00:49:28,459 --> 00:49:29,659
And that's safety of all people.

724
00:49:29,659 --> 00:49:32,620
You know, there's many resources that individuals can use.

725
00:49:32,620 --> 00:49:40,699
And of course, it's 911 and local, you know, police officers, local law enforcement.

726
00:49:40,699 --> 00:49:44,139
Another one is 988, which is the National Suicide Crisis Hotline.

727
00:49:44,139 --> 00:49:45,260
That's another resource.

728
00:49:45,260 --> 00:49:47,179
You got, you have the domestic violence hotline.

729
00:49:47,179 --> 00:49:49,260
You have the sexual abuse hotline.

730
00:49:49,260 --> 00:49:54,780
You even have, some organizations have local crisis hotlines too that you can utilize.

731
00:49:56,300 --> 00:49:58,219
And that's, you know, definitely use your resources.

732
00:49:58,219 --> 00:50:02,060
That's number one, because when you use, you know, well, number two, that's number two,

733
00:50:02,060 --> 00:50:03,979
because safety is important.

734
00:50:03,979 --> 00:50:05,500
Safety of all people is important.

735
00:50:05,820 --> 00:50:10,219
Again, safety of yourself and the individual who's experiencing the substance use,

736
00:50:10,219 --> 00:50:13,580
the suicidal ideations, or, you know, what have you.

737
00:50:15,580 --> 00:50:18,620
And, you know, so that's number one and number two.

738
00:50:18,620 --> 00:50:22,060
Number three is to remember that they're a person just like you.

739
00:50:23,340 --> 00:50:26,219
It doesn't matter if they're schizophrenic, if they're using crack,

740
00:50:26,219 --> 00:50:29,580
if they're using heroin and fentanyl.

741
00:50:29,580 --> 00:50:31,419
It doesn't matter if they're homeless.

742
00:50:31,419 --> 00:50:34,699
It doesn't matter, you know, if they're homeless, dancing, dancing, dancing,

743
00:50:34,699 --> 00:50:38,219
if they're homeless, dancing in the middle of the street, butt naked, right?

744
00:50:38,219 --> 00:50:39,899
It doesn't matter.

745
00:50:39,899 --> 00:50:42,300
They're still a person just like you and I.

746
00:50:43,419 --> 00:50:46,219
Because that switch can flip in you and I.

747
00:50:47,500 --> 00:50:51,179
You and I will be that person dancing butt naked in the middle.

748
00:50:51,179 --> 00:50:51,979
You know what I'm saying?

749
00:50:51,979 --> 00:50:53,340
Like, yeah, yeah.

750
00:50:54,540 --> 00:50:55,580
It can happen to anybody.

751
00:50:57,419 --> 00:51:00,860
And I think that's the thing that's not, that is missing is looking at the,

752
00:51:00,860 --> 00:51:05,340
looking at people in crises, you know, as a person.

753
00:51:06,379 --> 00:51:10,219
You know, and I think that if we can take the blinders off and see that this person

754
00:51:10,219 --> 00:51:15,020
doesn't truly mean violence, even though they just destroyed the house, of course,

755
00:51:16,300 --> 00:51:18,139
did they really and truly mean that?

756
00:51:18,139 --> 00:51:20,139
Like, are they, you know, they're sick people.

757
00:51:20,139 --> 00:51:20,939
They're sick people.

758
00:51:20,939 --> 00:51:23,899
Now, that also doesn't mean that you need to be a doormat.

759
00:51:24,780 --> 00:51:25,659
Don't be a doormat.

760
00:51:26,540 --> 00:51:27,500
Never be a doormat.

761
00:51:28,379 --> 00:51:31,820
But I think those three things is very important.

762
00:51:32,540 --> 00:51:37,260
You know, making sure that you're safe, the family is safe, the individual is safe.

763
00:51:37,260 --> 00:51:39,659
It's number one, number two, utilizing your resources.

764
00:51:39,659 --> 00:51:45,340
And number three, if we take the perspective of this is a person who needs help,

765
00:51:45,979 --> 00:51:52,379
I think that helps to reduce biases, to reduce discrimination,

766
00:51:53,020 --> 00:51:57,179
to reduce a lot of things in the field, you know, and in society in general.

767
00:51:57,739 --> 00:52:01,419
Had a situation happen, and I had to call law enforcement.

768
00:52:01,419 --> 00:52:05,820
An individual was, of course, an African American male,

769
00:52:07,260 --> 00:52:09,899
maybe my age or what have you, just a year, several years ago.

770
00:52:11,260 --> 00:52:15,899
And, you know, a firearm was pulled on the premises when I called 911,

771
00:52:15,899 --> 00:52:19,419
because my job as a supervisor was to ensure safety of all people,

772
00:52:19,419 --> 00:52:22,139
visitors, patients, and staff, right?

773
00:52:22,540 --> 00:52:28,459
And so, and of course, myself, and the facility, the medications, like everything, right?

774
00:52:29,179 --> 00:52:34,699
And so, when I called 911, they asked about me, you know,

775
00:52:34,699 --> 00:52:35,739
I had to give them a description.

776
00:52:35,739 --> 00:52:39,419
I said, individuals, African American, blah, blah, blah, so on and so forth.

777
00:52:40,060 --> 00:52:43,899
And I emphasized, because of the way stereotypes are, I said, nothing,

778
00:52:43,899 --> 00:52:45,179
no shots have been fired.

779
00:52:45,820 --> 00:52:50,939
I emphasized that at least three or four times, right, on to law enforcement.

780
00:52:51,020 --> 00:52:54,540
Law enforcement, I said, no, no shots have been fired.

781
00:52:54,540 --> 00:52:55,739
It was only brandished.

782
00:52:56,300 --> 00:53:00,699
And I said, I think in the form of self-defense, due to the circumstances,

783
00:53:02,219 --> 00:53:04,939
but it is still my job to ensure safety of all people.

784
00:53:06,699 --> 00:53:10,540
I had some people think that I made a call to call law enforcement,

785
00:53:11,899 --> 00:53:13,899
because of the color of the individual's skin.

786
00:53:13,899 --> 00:53:16,620
I said, no, I don't care who it was.

787
00:53:16,620 --> 00:53:20,300
It could have been a little short three-two Caucasian guy.

788
00:53:21,100 --> 00:53:25,899
Well, a firearm is a firearm is a firearm.

789
00:53:26,459 --> 00:53:27,899
Safety is safety is safety.

790
00:53:28,620 --> 00:53:28,939
Yeah.

791
00:53:28,939 --> 00:53:34,699
And so, you know, I took it upon myself to ensure safety, number one,

792
00:53:35,899 --> 00:53:37,979
because I'm not going to confront somebody with a firearm.

793
00:53:37,979 --> 00:53:40,379
Like, I don't, like, I'm not in that position, too.

794
00:53:40,379 --> 00:53:41,020
You know what I mean?

795
00:53:41,020 --> 00:53:41,820
Like, I'm a therapist.

796
00:53:41,820 --> 00:53:45,899
I'm not, I'm the program or assistant program director at that time.

797
00:53:46,459 --> 00:53:48,860
I'm not going to put myself in that position to

798
00:53:49,820 --> 00:53:53,020
stand in front of somebody with a firearm and even lose my own life.

799
00:53:53,020 --> 00:53:54,939
Now, if I have to, I will, right?

800
00:53:54,939 --> 00:54:00,219
Like, if I had to confront somebody, I will, because I've been in certain positions

801
00:54:00,219 --> 00:54:05,020
where it was a lot of potential, you know, life or death violence in the field.

802
00:54:06,379 --> 00:54:08,219
Law enforcement took 15 minutes to get there.

803
00:54:10,060 --> 00:54:13,500
And so, but like, it was safety first.

804
00:54:13,500 --> 00:54:14,219
It wasn't race.

805
00:54:14,219 --> 00:54:15,419
It was safety first.

806
00:54:16,219 --> 00:54:16,699
Yeah.

807
00:54:16,699 --> 00:54:20,300
And I utilized my resources, right?

808
00:54:20,300 --> 00:54:24,300
And I still looked at the person as a human being.

809
00:54:24,300 --> 00:54:27,020
I still looked at all the people involved as a human being.

810
00:54:27,979 --> 00:54:28,540
Yeah.

811
00:54:28,540 --> 00:54:33,580
And I was able, and that helped me to be able to practice and utilize empathy

812
00:54:35,020 --> 00:54:36,780
toward somebody else.

813
00:54:39,580 --> 00:54:42,060
No, and those are the situations.

814
00:54:42,060 --> 00:54:47,500
Obviously, that's not an everyday thing that you're involved in, but those are very, very

815
00:54:47,500 --> 00:54:48,139
taxing.

816
00:54:48,139 --> 00:54:53,580
I'm sure emotionally taxing, physically taxing, you know, situations to be in.

817
00:54:55,179 --> 00:55:02,939
I'm curious, when you're not helping people in recovery or with mental health or co-hosting

818
00:55:02,939 --> 00:55:09,100
your podcast, what are some things that you do to like unwind, kind of take care of yourself

819
00:55:09,100 --> 00:55:09,899
and your mental health?

820
00:55:10,219 --> 00:55:11,580
I do a lot of schoolwork.

821
00:55:12,540 --> 00:55:13,899
I like to play the games.

822
00:55:13,899 --> 00:55:17,100
I like to, you know, hang out with my support system.

823
00:55:18,860 --> 00:55:23,500
And the last couple of days, I've actually, since I got medically cleared, I've actually

824
00:55:23,500 --> 00:55:27,419
been smoking on some nice, beautiful, amazing cigars.

825
00:55:29,899 --> 00:55:31,100
I'm sure that felt nice.

826
00:55:31,820 --> 00:55:32,620
Yeah, it did.

827
00:55:34,379 --> 00:55:39,580
And so, I have my own little thing, you know, I like to do some traveling and like to, you

828
00:55:40,300 --> 00:55:46,300
know, just see and explore and do things new, do things different.

829
00:55:46,300 --> 00:55:49,500
And of course, you know, I was watching a movie this morning, Blacklist, I think it

830
00:55:49,500 --> 00:55:53,820
was, freaking amazing movie with Liam Nelson or however you pronounce his name.

831
00:55:53,820 --> 00:55:54,379
Amazing actor.

832
00:55:54,379 --> 00:55:55,979
Oh, yeah, Liam Nelson, yeah, yeah.

833
00:55:55,979 --> 00:56:00,699
Yeah, he's one of my favorite, you know, movie actors.

834
00:56:00,699 --> 00:56:03,340
But yeah, I mean, you know, self-care is very important.

835
00:56:03,340 --> 00:56:05,659
It is very, very important.

836
00:56:05,820 --> 00:56:06,780
Very important.

837
00:56:09,260 --> 00:56:19,820
And what is, what is one last bit of maybe suggestion or advice that you could give someone

838
00:56:19,820 --> 00:56:23,260
who's maybe struggling with addiction or mental health?

839
00:56:27,820 --> 00:56:29,100
Don't quit before the miracle happens.

840
00:56:30,060 --> 00:56:33,020
You know, I don't care if you relapse 100 times in the next 30 days.

841
00:56:33,659 --> 00:56:35,340
Don't quit before the miracle happens.

842
00:56:35,340 --> 00:56:35,979
Help is there.

843
00:56:37,739 --> 00:56:39,340
It doesn't matter where you get help from.

844
00:56:40,139 --> 00:56:44,139
Explore, reach out, seek it, you know, seek it.

845
00:56:44,860 --> 00:56:48,540
I don't care if you have to break into a church, I don't tell you, I'm not telling you to go

846
00:56:48,540 --> 00:56:51,500
break into a church, so hear me out.

847
00:56:51,500 --> 00:56:56,540
But if it literally takes you breaking into a church, going in there, sitting on the pew

848
00:56:56,540 --> 00:56:59,899
and waiting for the preacher to come and talk to you and send you off to treatment.

849
00:56:59,899 --> 00:57:01,820
I mean, like, do what you need to do.

850
00:57:01,820 --> 00:57:02,540
Reach out for help.

851
00:57:02,540 --> 00:57:03,419
Help is available.

852
00:57:03,739 --> 00:57:04,379
I don't care.

853
00:57:04,379 --> 00:57:04,939
Right.

854
00:57:04,939 --> 00:57:07,260
Again, don't, don't break into anything.

855
00:57:07,260 --> 00:57:08,300
Don't break the law.

856
00:57:08,300 --> 00:57:09,500
Of course, don't.

857
00:57:09,500 --> 00:57:14,300
But like, I just heard a story about that, that a man broke into a church, went down,

858
00:57:14,939 --> 00:57:16,219
went in, sat on the pew.

859
00:57:16,219 --> 00:57:20,219
The very next morning, the preacher came in and the band begged and begged and begged

860
00:57:20,219 --> 00:57:20,780
for help.

861
00:57:20,780 --> 00:57:24,860
And they sent the individual off to a treatment and a year later came back a changed man.

862
00:57:24,860 --> 00:57:25,580
Right.

863
00:57:25,580 --> 00:57:27,739
The dude broke in begging for help.

864
00:57:27,739 --> 00:57:31,820
And so I don't care what it is, reach out for help.

865
00:57:32,459 --> 00:57:33,260
Reach out for help.

866
00:57:33,820 --> 00:57:35,580
2, 3, 4, 5 a.m.

867
00:57:35,580 --> 00:57:36,459
6 a.m.

868
00:57:36,459 --> 00:57:37,100
12 p.m.

869
00:57:37,659 --> 00:57:38,780
You know, 2 p.m.

870
00:57:39,899 --> 00:57:40,939
You know, 11 p.m.

871
00:57:40,939 --> 00:57:42,540
Midnight or 11 p.m.

872
00:57:42,540 --> 00:57:43,100
Whatever.

873
00:57:43,100 --> 00:57:43,979
Doesn't matter.

874
00:57:43,979 --> 00:57:45,340
Reach out for help is available.

875
00:57:45,340 --> 00:57:47,659
Don't stop seeking.

876
00:57:49,500 --> 00:57:52,379
I think a lot of people lose hope.

877
00:57:53,179 --> 00:57:53,739
Yeah.

878
00:57:53,739 --> 00:57:55,100
And I can see it.

879
00:57:55,100 --> 00:57:57,500
I can see that, you know, why people would lose hope.

880
00:57:58,219 --> 00:58:07,020
And I think that, you know, it's important to, you know, I love what one of my good friends

881
00:58:07,020 --> 00:58:08,139
says, Ruben Burning.

882
00:58:08,139 --> 00:58:13,899
He says, I can let my light shine and I can also help shine your, help your light shine too.

883
00:58:15,020 --> 00:58:19,100
I don't have to put your light out for mine to shine and I don't have to put my light

884
00:58:19,100 --> 00:58:20,060
out for yours to shine.

885
00:58:21,100 --> 00:58:25,260
We both shine and I can help you shine brighter if need be.

886
00:58:25,500 --> 00:58:31,979
I can help, you know, and I think that's important for people to understand is, you know, for

887
00:58:31,979 --> 00:58:36,780
anybody who's listening, whether you're somebody who's struggling or even somebody who's not

888
00:58:36,780 --> 00:58:39,580
struggling, you're just hearing us out.

889
00:58:42,860 --> 00:58:44,860
I think you highlighted, you know, something important.

890
00:58:45,820 --> 00:58:49,899
It's a difficult journey, whether you're dealing with mental health, addiction, or both.

891
00:58:49,899 --> 00:58:50,540
It's difficult.

892
00:58:50,540 --> 00:58:54,780
There's no, our health care system makes it difficult.

893
00:58:54,860 --> 00:59:01,340
And outside of that, just finding your way through it makes it difficult and not giving

894
00:59:01,340 --> 00:59:01,899
up hope.

895
00:59:02,780 --> 00:59:11,419
I think it goes back to, you know, one moment, you know, take it one moment at a time if

896
00:59:11,419 --> 00:59:17,340
you have to, but don't give up before the miracle happens, like you said, you know,

897
00:59:17,340 --> 00:59:21,979
because you're worth it and you don't know whose life you'll change once you're on the

898
00:59:21,979 --> 00:59:22,780
other side of this.

899
00:59:22,939 --> 00:59:24,699
You know, no, you're right.

900
00:59:24,699 --> 00:59:33,020
You know, I just had to speak Saturday night and this is what I encourage people to do.

901
00:59:35,020 --> 00:59:38,540
You know, and I love Martin Lawrence is one of my favorite movie actors, too.

902
00:59:38,540 --> 00:59:45,179
Again, I do a lot of when I'm doing therapy, I do a lot of quoting from, you know, could

903
00:59:45,179 --> 00:59:50,459
be from movies or what have you, TV shows or what have you, even theorists will quote

904
00:59:51,020 --> 00:59:58,379
I will quote from Martin Lawrence said in 2023 when he was giving a speech about jumping

905
00:59:58,379 --> 01:00:05,340
on the dream bus and he said, you know, get on that, you know, dream, get on that bus

906
01:00:05,340 --> 01:00:12,780
of dreams, hope, confidence, and I'm going to modify it some, but hope, confidence, grace,

907
01:00:12,780 --> 01:00:18,699
humility, honor, integrity, loyalty, lack of doubt, lack of fear.

908
01:00:19,419 --> 01:00:25,179
Jump on that bus and ride that joke until the wheels fall off.

909
01:00:25,179 --> 01:00:30,699
I would just say, right now you might get on another bus at the end of that bus ride

910
01:00:30,699 --> 01:00:37,179
because those wheels might fall off or that engine might blow or that bus might blow up

911
01:00:37,179 --> 01:00:38,060
or something, right?

912
01:00:38,060 --> 01:00:39,500
You might have to get on another bus.

913
01:00:40,860 --> 01:00:41,899
That's okay.

914
01:00:41,899 --> 01:00:45,580
Get on that bus and ride the joke until the wheels fall off again.

915
01:00:46,379 --> 01:00:52,219
Take whatever many buses you need because again, it's about not quitting before the

916
01:00:52,219 --> 01:00:52,860
miracle happens.

917
01:00:52,860 --> 01:00:54,219
So it might take 20 buses.

918
01:00:54,219 --> 01:00:55,340
It might take 30 buses.

919
01:00:55,340 --> 01:00:56,780
It might even take two buses.

920
01:00:56,780 --> 01:00:57,340
No matter.

921
01:00:58,300 --> 01:00:59,820
You know, go out there.

922
01:01:00,699 --> 01:01:01,899
Don't be afraid.

923
01:01:01,899 --> 01:01:04,459
Live life to the absolute fullest.

924
01:01:04,459 --> 01:01:05,979
Get into recovery.

925
01:01:05,979 --> 01:01:08,540
Get your, you know, help get your folks into recovery.

926
01:01:09,100 --> 01:01:11,340
Regardless if it's substance use or mental health.

927
01:01:12,860 --> 01:01:20,219
And it's all about us riding this bus and having fun, living life, learning, and just

928
01:01:20,219 --> 01:01:20,780
exploring.

929
01:01:24,780 --> 01:01:28,860
Well, I would like to thank you, Kevin, for joining us today.

930
01:01:31,979 --> 01:01:37,820
Your expertise as a licensed clinical mental health counselor and addiction specialist

931
01:01:38,540 --> 01:01:42,860
and your journey with One Moment Podcast, you've offered us a lot here.

932
01:01:43,739 --> 01:01:50,939
You've given us a lot of insight, very important insight, very genuine insight into you as

933
01:01:50,939 --> 01:01:54,699
a clinician and you as a human being and how you treat addiction and mental health.

934
01:01:56,860 --> 01:02:02,620
And I appreciate genuinely how you connect with your patients and your audience and the

935
01:02:02,620 --> 01:02:08,459
change that you're trying to bring through your work and through your podcast and through

936
01:02:08,459 --> 01:02:09,260
social media.

937
01:02:10,780 --> 01:02:17,580
And for all those that want to learn more about Kevin and his podcast, the links, as

938
01:02:17,580 --> 01:02:20,300
always, will be, you know, in the show notes.

939
01:02:20,939 --> 01:02:23,179
And again, his podcast is called One Moment.

940
01:02:23,179 --> 01:02:24,699
It's a wonderful podcast.

941
01:02:24,699 --> 01:02:25,580
Please check it out.

942
01:02:27,340 --> 01:02:35,020
And a gentle reminder to everybody listening, if anything we touched on today triggered

943
01:02:35,020 --> 01:02:39,340
anything with you, please know that reaching out is a sign of strength.

944
01:02:40,139 --> 01:02:46,300
Never hesitate to connect with a trusted friend, family member, professional, medical

945
01:02:46,300 --> 01:02:48,939
resource, clergy, whatever it takes.

946
01:02:49,659 --> 01:02:52,459
Like Kevin said, don't give up hope.

947
01:02:53,500 --> 01:02:57,500
You know, and I want to thank everyone for listening and for tuning in.

948
01:02:58,939 --> 01:03:01,260
And we will see you all next time.