Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / The Motivated Mindset with Guest Mr. Taille Brown

Transcript

The Motivated Mindset with Guest Mr. Taille Brown · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

0:01
It's time for a vacation and Fairway Travels is here to share
0:04
great specials for you to choose from.
0:07
Discover the charm and features of 1 of Sandal's 16 all
0:10
inclusive, luxury included adults only resorts or a family
0:15
friendly beaches destination in the Caribbean.
0:18
Or how about a couples resort in Jamaica?
0:21
If cruising is your preference, get Thunderstroke aboard
0:24
Carnival Cruise Lines or set sail on an award-winning Royal
0:27
Caribbean ship. Join Virgin Voyages now for a
0:31
wonderful adults only sailing. It doesn't matter if you choose
0:34
to travel by plane, train, automobile, cruise ship, a row
0:38
boat, we can help you reach your dream destination.
0:41
Contact Fairway Travels today at 228-365-1012.
0:46
That's 228-365-1012 or e-mail bookitnow247@gmail.com.
0:53
Fairway travels where your journeys keep satisfying.
0:59
The station where our veterans voices are heard MBR talk.
1:03
Hey, thanks. For tuning.
1:08
In welcome are those of the speakers and do not necessarily
1:12
reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
1:16
Find. Us on the web at MB radio dot.
1:19
US welcome to the motivated mindset with your hosts, me,
1:23
Jose Flores and we are going to go into the Y behind what we do
1:29
in life. Have you ever wondered what
1:30
truly drives people and I do what fuels their purpose and
1:34
motivation? In this podcast, we're going to
1:37
explode those profound questions, uncovering the
1:41
stories and insights that shape our journeys.
1:44
Join me as we navigate in the depths of human ambition and
1:47
uncover the secrets to living a fulfilled life.
1:51
Purpose and driven. Let's get motivated.
1:54
Thank you. What's up, people?
1:58
How you doing? If you don't know you been ask
2:00
somebody. Hey, I'm your host, Jose Flores.
2:02
Welcome to the motivated mindset.
2:04
I'm excited that you're here. You know, NPR is the station
2:08
that gives veterans a voice like me, except when I have strip
2:12
throat. We won't get into that.
2:13
But anyway, hey, we got a really good show today.
2:16
You know, we got we got somebody straight out of the concrete
2:19
jungle, you know, born with that LES No, not like the military,
2:23
like leave earning statement Lower East Side, right and that
2:28
hustle. He got that New York spice and
2:30
we got a Manhattan brother up in here.
2:32
And before, before, you know, we got on the show, we had talked a
2:35
couple of days and we had a lot, a lot of sharing.
2:37
But you know, he, he's not your, your average suit and tie.
2:42
Nah, This, this had a motto that means brother, you know, for my
2:45
people out there, he's been in the trenches showing love to the
2:49
youth, you know, and that was before TikTok, you know, TikTok.
2:54
And there was one thing that, that, that I got from, from my
2:58
brother here that he's committed.
3:00
He, he, he, he, he's passionate about what he does.
3:03
And he's been schooling the streets on how to say no to
3:07
drugs. And, and you know, that's,
3:09
that's a big thing for those of us who have kids or nephews or
3:13
nieces, right? And you know, we have to always
3:16
make sure that we're, we're walking that line.
3:18
But you know, here's a here's a man that does it every day.
3:21
He doesn't talk it, he walks it. And from NANANANADAP to the
3:28
NYBOE, I'll tell you what those means later to Mount Saint
3:32
Vincent, right? That's where he went.
3:34
And my man went from a peer leader to a boss of blueprints
3:37
and mental health recovery. And that's today gets in the
3:41
struggle and helping the chemically addicted, the
3:44
mentally ill and everybody in between.
3:47
So, you know, buckle up, me gente.
3:50
Get ready for a great show, a great.
3:52
And what I want is people to ask questions.
3:54
You know, when you put it in your comments, we'll take it
3:56
from there and let's let's let's, let's bring my man on.
3:59
Let me see what's my thing here? All right, all right, all right.
4:04
The interview of the week is brought to you by Jersey Mike's
4:09
A Sum Above All. Right, Taye, What's up, my
4:16
brother? How are you, brother?
4:19
Hey, all this and a paycheck too.
4:20
Actually, I don't get paid for the, you know, Hey, brother, one
4:27
thing I, I like I was saying earlier, one thing, you know,
4:29
when we were talking about, even though you're from Mahan, I'm
4:32
from Brooklyn, Bronx. We have some of the same some of
4:35
the same things that we did, you know, but but let's let's let's
4:41
kick it off. Look, tell us, you know what it
4:43
is for our audience. Never been to Lower East Side.
4:45
How was it growing up? You know, we'll go to the
4:48
beginning. Wow, he said.
4:51
The The beginning. Yeah, the beginning.
4:52
Well, you know. Not the very beginning like.
4:55
No, no. I get you.
4:56
I get you. I get you.
4:57
I get you. I get you.
4:58
So born born in the 70s in the Lower East Side, predominantly
5:06
Hispanic community. However, it's a very much a mix,
5:11
Hispanics, African Americans, Jews, and just the melting pot
5:17
of everyone else. However, however, those, those 3
5:21
demographics are the majority of individuals who are down here.
5:24
Also, we have Asians, of course, we have a new Southeast Asian
5:32
population that is moved in, which is also wonderful, adds to
5:37
the flavor of the neighborhood. We're not too far from Little
5:42
Italy and it's just, it's just a melted pot.
5:46
It's wonderful to be here. Yep.
5:47
Yep. Oh man, you know, I, I think we
5:52
talked about, you know, playing stickball.
5:55
Oh, bro, Skelly's telling what Skelly's is, bro 'cause.
5:59
Skelly's going. Out of doubt.
6:02
You know, Skelly's is one of those play park games. 13 boxes.
6:07
Hit a killer, be a killer. If you've never played Skelly's,
6:12
you probably passed by it on the playground where you see the
6:16
boxes drawn on the floor. They're almost it's a square
6:19
shape. Send a square 13.
6:21
The object is to go from 1 to 1313 to 1.
6:25
After that, you can eliminate other pieces by hitting your top
6:30
into their top. It's played.
6:31
It's played with tops. Primarily.
6:34
We play with soda caps, milk caps and backgammon or checkered
6:40
pieces. Sometimes we had to fill them
6:42
with wax or clay, but these are these are that is one of the
6:45
many St. games that we played. It was excellent.
6:49
Oh man, and and and playing stick ball, you know, I tell
6:52
when growing up in the middle of the street with traffic and
6:55
everything for in some neighborhoods, yes, yes.
6:58
Yes, yes, sometimes. Sometimes the park wasn't the
7:02
closest thing to you. You had to go to the street.
7:04
Yes, absolutely. And and and and Zaid, remember
7:08
the pumps, what we used to do with the pumps.
7:10
Oh man, the pumps. The pumps were excellent.
7:12
So whenever Jose turns around and says the pumps, we're
7:16
talking about the fire hydrants. You know, although the Lower
7:20
East Side has plenty of pools here, sometimes we weren't
7:24
accessing the pools necessarily for the day and we might have
7:27
just opened up a fire hydrant. Somebody may have taken some
7:31
pliers to take off the caps to the fire hydrant, open it up
7:35
full blast, take a Goya can or a Del Monte can, scrape it on the
7:39
ground a few times just to get both ends of the lid off and
7:45
just use that as your hose. We've used the the tin cans as
7:49
the hose. Kids were just having fun.
7:51
It was better than the sprinklers because you got
7:54
absolutely drenched whenever that water hit you full blast.
7:58
The occasional fun was also squirting the fire hydrants at
8:02
some of the convertibles or the cars that had their windows
8:05
there at the time. So that was good fun, Good fun.
8:09
And the whole, the whole block showed up for it.
8:12
They did. The whole blocks of old and and
8:14
and and and and young, everybody showed.
8:18
Up old and young it was wonderful you know, if if you
8:20
were if you were too little, you sat on the side and you just
8:23
kind of laughed at it and you just you know enjoyed the
8:26
puddles that were on the side of the of the pump.
8:29
However, if you are of age, then you definitely got in and if you
8:34
had some friends that weren't getting in, you kind of grabbed
8:36
them and pulled them in with all of their clothes and it was just
8:40
a good experience. So we just, we chase some folks
8:42
around. It was good stuff.
8:44
Absolutely, you know, you know, today's youth a lot.
8:48
You know, it's the thumbs, a lot of indoor stuff, you know, and,
8:53
and I it, it is different. I said, you know, there was a
8:56
time where you know, by when once I remember my mom used to
9:02
say the streets lights come on, you need to be in the house, you
9:06
know, and, and we used to come up, but we spent all our time
9:08
just playing games, interacting community man, you know, and,
9:14
and, and that was up. And so you know, you know, So my
9:17
question is, how did living in the Lower East Side shape your
9:21
outlook on the world spiritually, mentally, you know,
9:24
for, for, for, for. Spiritually, I was brought up in
9:29
the church. My mom brought me to church when
9:31
I was about four years old. I'm just dealing with, you know,
9:33
my recollection of things. And so, you know, I went to a
9:36
church down on Henry and Record called Trinity Assemblies of
9:40
God, which was a wonderful experience for her to have
9:44
brought me there. You know, they had vacation
9:48
Bible school and things of that nature which always which made a
9:53
great impact on my life and all my faith.
9:57
As well as as we got older, she sought other places that were
10:01
more children centered for us because she had stopped
10:05
attending down there. She brought us to another place
10:08
called Eastside Pentecostal Church, which was on 11th St.
10:11
between Ave. A and 1st Ave. across from
10:13
Junior High School 60, which was also a wonderful experience for
10:18
myself. It it, it really catered to a
10:20
lot of kids and it was actually a satellite.
10:25
It was a satellite sister church to a larger church out in
10:28
Ridgewood, which was actually predominantly Russian and
10:32
German. So they, they, they really had a
10:36
heart for the Lord and they wanted to reach out and make an
10:40
impact on the youth in this community.
10:42
And so they set up that satellite church and there was a
10:45
van that would drive around and pick us up.
10:47
So they would pick us up right on Houston St. drive us over to
10:51
11th St. after we were finished, they'd bring us right back.
10:54
So that was a good experience. And also they were good mentors
10:56
there. So, you know, we learned a lot
10:58
while we were there just about our, our religion, our
11:03
spirituality, our faith and all about the Lord, as well as our
11:07
fellowship with one another. And it was, it was really great
11:12
because the role models that were there, they, they were,
11:17
they were within arm's reach. You know, these were individuals
11:20
who they're not just up on stage preaching.
11:23
They're not just, you know, by the musician X section,
11:29
ministering and song, but these are individuals who after
11:32
breaking bread with you in class, are really going to take
11:35
time out just to pour into you and just, you know, find out
11:38
about your day, find out what's going on with you.
11:41
And if they could help out in any way, then they definitely
11:43
did that. Wow, that's, that's, that's the
11:48
bro that I, I remember when, when we moved from the Bronx to
11:53
Brooklyn, the Fort Green area, I remember the Salvation Army used
11:57
to come around and the way they would get us was like, if you
12:02
sit in the lucky chair, you get $0.50, you know, So we were all
12:05
like, we would go on Sunday, they made a mistake giving us a
12:08
$0.50 right in the beginning. And then we would leave, you
12:11
know, $0.50. So, you know, I'm, I'm out of
12:16
here, you know, and I'm growing up Catholic.
12:18
I remember, you know, going there, but I really didn't
12:22
understand a lot of the because there's a lot of lot of stuff
12:26
they do in in Catholic Church, you know, but I'm glad that, you
12:29
know, one of the things that that that just happened to me
12:33
recently was that I was I was saved, you know, and that's been
12:36
a a huge thing for me. We got we got somebody that says
12:41
I watched, I watched, somebody said I watched the cross and the
12:46
switchblade in church. I know what that means, but oh,
12:49
yes, no, no, that's that's a that's a that's a classic movie.
12:52
And they did show cross and the switchblade down down at Trinity
12:57
Assemblies of God on Henry and Rucker.
13:00
I remember that. I remember that stuff.
13:02
That's good. OK, OK, so what's is that?
13:05
That's a that's a movie, right? It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a
13:09
Christian movie. Is that what that?
13:10
Is in Switchblade, you know, you have you there.
13:14
There were a lot of classics. So, so back in the seven, well,
13:19
I could only speak about the 70s and the 80s because that's, you
13:21
know, that's my youth during the 70s and the 80s that we had a
13:25
lot of movie nights that the church would use in order to do
13:30
outreach to people. And with the movies, they would
13:33
illustrate not only the gospel, but some of the challenges that
13:37
will face the society and try to use some of those conflicts to
13:40
really draw people in and, and bring them the good news that
13:44
they don't have to suffer the way that they've been suffering
13:48
and that they can find comfort in the Lord.
13:50
So it was a good experience. Wow, that is, that is
13:53
stupendous. And we got somebody that says,
13:56
good evening, my brother from CDL and hello Terry.
14:00
Hello. We, we got people coming on and
14:02
if you have any questions, just just put them in the in the, in
14:05
the, in the chat rooms and so on.
14:07
But no, that's, that's so important.
14:09
We're about to take a break, but we come back tell you, I want to
14:12
talk about, you know, because you started doing peer
14:15
leadership and substance abuse in your teens.
14:19
Well, most of them were just trying to figure out life.
14:21
I remember, you know, it was like what, you know, So what I
14:25
want to do and and that's the brother, you know, I I want to
14:28
talk about that when we come back off our short break to talk
14:33
about that. All right, team, let's take a
14:34
quick break. All right.
18:02
The station where our veterans voices are heard MBR talk.
18:05
Hey, thanks. For tuning in are those of the
18:11
speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions
18:16
of any entities they represent. The web at MB Radio.
18:26
Dot. All right, all right, all right.
18:27
Welcome back. Welcome back.
18:28
What did you think of that video?
18:31
I think that it was wonderful. I think that that song reminds
18:35
me of a song that we used to sing while we were down there at
18:38
Trinity's Assemblies of God, which is I'm in the Lord's Army,
18:42
which was, you know, one of the old corritos that they used to
18:46
sing back in the day. So it was it was and all along
18:50
with the Royal Rangers and stuff like that.
18:52
So I'll say you funny, you know, along with the Royal Rangers.
18:58
So I, I and I think also think that.
19:00
Yeah, if I had hair, every time, every time I hear that, I get
19:05
goosebumps and I'll be like. What's funny and I I also think
19:08
that those those songs were like the song that just played remind
19:13
me of those older songs because those songs were like a call to
19:18
action as well as a reminder of our responsibility, even in the
19:23
community to be proactive and to take a stance for what it is
19:27
that you believe in. Yeah, no, absolutely.
19:32
Before we went on break, we wanted, we wanted to talk about,
19:35
you know, that you started in your, in your teens, but what's
19:37
what, what, what sparked that kind of maturity and mission in
19:41
you? So as as I was saying before, we
19:45
had a lot of good mentors in Sunday school, regardless to
19:51
which church we were at. We had good Sunday school
19:54
teachers, good role models. And when I was leaving public
19:59
school, about to enter junior high school, there was a Sappas
20:03
named Sandy. She was in PS188.
20:06
And then when I got to junior high school 22, there was a
20:10
gentleman by the name of. Mr. Robinson, who eventually got
20:15
replaced by Jackie Short, picked up the torch for him.
20:19
And both Mr. Robinson, Miss Sandy and Jackie Short were
20:27
pivotal in making all of the children aware of the dangers of
20:32
substance abuse, of alternatives to substance abuse, and just
20:39
giving us an outlet in which showcase our talent.
20:42
So we did a lot of talent shows, as as you saw in the bio, there
20:46
were a lot of say no to drug talent shows that went on and
20:50
they were the first to do it. And I can't forget Miss Saunders
20:53
because she was actually the first talent show that I had
20:56
participated in before Jackie Short came on.
21:01
And then when Jackie came on, there were other talent shows
21:04
that we did under youth leadership.
21:08
So in in New York City, there's a program called Youth
21:12
Leadership, and it was under the director, Norman Whitlow.
21:15
He reached out to all of the schools, all of the children,
21:19
just to make sure that they were aware of what the dangers were.
21:23
Mr. Robertson used to have this board that actually showed the
21:28
substances themselves so that individuals knew what to look
21:32
out for, for, for. And they opened up the floor,
21:36
they had a dialogue with us and they got to hear from us and we
21:40
got to hear from them. And that open exchange really
21:43
drove home the point and solidified the information in
21:47
our minds about what it was. Now, some of us chose other
21:52
things besides what it was that they were sharing.
21:55
However, it allowed us to make an informed choice and informed
21:58
decision about what it was that people were doing or and getting
22:02
into. And for others, it saved our
22:05
lives. It kept us from some things that
22:07
we should have never been a part of and let us know where that
22:13
true north was, how to get back home, you know, how to get back
22:16
to where we belong. Right.
22:20
Yeah, I, I, I recall when when I joined the military, it was in
22:24
the early 80s and I remember how crack was so was killing our
22:29
communities, man, you know, it, it was just something and I lost
22:35
a lot of friends during that time when I lived in in Brooklyn
22:39
that I heard about. So, you know, the stuff that
22:42
you've been doing. Thank you for that man, for just
22:44
you know, because I know you went from youth leadership to
22:48
clinical counseling and that and planning, I think it was
22:52
citywide health programs. That's, that's some serious
22:56
evolution, man. How did you, how did your
22:58
education Mount Saint Vincent? Is that correct?
23:01
Yes to Mount Saint Vincent. Yes to, you know, RAPT, you
23:07
know, How did that transition happen for you?
23:11
So with having worked with the individuals that I just
23:15
mentioned, Mr. Robertson, Jackie Short, Sandy, and Youth
23:19
leadership under Norman Whitlow, you know, we we get older, we
23:23
graduate, we move on in life. I had the opportunity to try to
23:28
pick a couple of careers for myself, whether I want I studied
23:33
to be an emergency medical technician.
23:35
I decided that I was going to go away to school.
23:41
I went to, I had gone to Job Corps, came back, and then I
23:44
found myself still doing counseling because I went to
23:49
work for Educational Alliance at Lillian Wall, which you know,
23:54
the development where we're at. And while I was there, I was
23:58
already counseling. I was doing the tutoring, I was
24:01
doing the after school stuff with the kids and one of the
24:04
sisters there who now introduced her in conversation, her same
24:08
was her name was Cassandra Mack. Cassandra Mack was working in
24:14
alignment with a program called NADAP.
24:18
NADAP is a national alcohol and drug abuse program that serves
24:26
to educate and to provide intervention and other resources
24:30
for those in need. And they really took over from
24:35
youth leadership and we became peer leaders under them.
24:39
So me and a couple of friends became peer leaders under them.
24:43
We started doing some, you know, peer counseling to those who are
24:47
in our age bracket as well as we had individuals like Lukeman who
24:52
provided us with the counseling education at that time, at our,
24:57
at that age. And then I got hired full time a
25:02
little a few years later to actually be that substance abuse
25:07
counselor with Educational Alliance.
25:10
And I, that's where I met one of my best friends who is Rodney
25:15
Ramirez. I got to make sure to give him
25:17
the shout out because Rodney Ramirez was very
25:25
instrumentational in me getting what it is that I needed as far
25:29
as the counseling because he was in school for his case ACT and
25:34
that's the first time I had heard about case act training.
25:37
And as soon as he went to school forward, he finished up and he
25:42
became certified. And now that I decided that I
25:44
was going to go out and do that training, I went and did that
25:47
training. And during the course of me
25:50
doing that training, a job opportunity opened up.
25:55
And so while I was in the Bronx studying for the Kasich, a job
25:59
opportunity opened up at Kings County Hospital.
26:02
And, you know, the rest is history from there.
26:06
So I I began the job and you know, the career was born.
26:12
Gotcha, gotcha. Having some technical
26:14
difficulties here, so if you see me, it's OK, you know, You know,
26:17
one of the things that I learned what does, I'll make sure I'm
26:21
pronouncing this right. MIC Micah, is that correct?
26:24
Yeah, Micah, Yeah. And a lot of people don't talk
26:27
about that or even doesn't say what that is.
26:29
You know what's the truth of working with people facing both
26:33
mental illness and substance abuse?
26:36
Right. So Micah stands for mentally
26:39
ill, chemically addicted. And there so there are
26:43
individuals who they were suffering from mental illness
26:48
before they got into chemical addiction and started suffering
26:53
from chemical addiction. And then there are those
26:55
individuals who they started using substances first and then
27:00
mental illness kind of surfaced, you know, they wound up
27:06
suffering mentally as a result of the substance use.
27:09
And so in the MICA program, we address both, you know, and, and
27:16
we not only deal with what's needed as far as intervention
27:23
and education for individuals dealing with substance abuse
27:27
issues, but we also focus in on making sure that people have the
27:32
support for their mental health. Because a lot of times, you
27:38
know, some substance abuse is under mental health is it's,
27:43
it's under the psychiatric disorders.
27:45
And so a lot of times, you know, there's a stigma behind
27:49
substance abuse as well as there's a stigma behind mental
27:54
health or mental disorders. And so we kind of allow them to,
27:59
we kind of aid them in getting a grip on both as well as provide
28:05
some insight as well as give them an opportunity to share
28:08
their own insight in what best ways to address the issues and
28:14
to get the help that they need. Well, I before I was diagnosed
28:22
with PTSD, post traumatic stress syndrome and a lot of us
28:26
veterans who deal with we self medicate.
28:32
Not only that's now that you explained it like that, you
28:34
know, you're dealing with a mental illness and you self
28:36
medicate with alcohol or other things, you know, and when I was
28:42
in the military, all the CNC OS, we all used to do it.
28:45
We were working Alcoholics, you know, we all drink together and,
28:49
and, and deal with it. And then when I got out of the
28:51
military and I wasn't in my bubble anymore, that's when it
28:54
really got bad, you know, until I asked for help and I finally
28:57
went and got help and it's a challenge every day.
29:00
So to to deal with something like that.
29:04
But you know, I'm glad that that you're there, Taye, doing stuff
29:07
like that. And when when you look back on
29:10
that situation, what was for you the most eye opening or powerful
29:14
moments that remind you, this is exactly what I meant to do?
29:19
Well, I, I, I think, I think one of the things that was eye
29:23
opening and influential in the practice is one day I, I, the
29:32
psychiatrist walked into my office just to, you know, check
29:35
on me, see how I was doing. He, you know, he's like OC in
29:39
the program and he walks into my office and he, he asked me, he
29:43
said, hey, Mr. Brown, how's it going today?
29:45
And I said, I had just come out of running a group with some of
29:49
the patients. And he said, so how's it going?
29:53
I said, everything's going fine, you know, but doc, I just don't
29:56
get it. Why don't they just give it up?
30:00
I don't get it. And watch this.
30:04
And he looked at me and, you know, truth, truth.
30:11
I was sitting at my desk with 1/2 gallon of milk and a big
30:17
pack of Hydrox cookies, the duplex cookies and my my.
30:25
My thing my. Thing was eating cookies and
30:28
milk and that was my thing and anybody who knows me knows me
30:31
for it. And as I was eating the cookies
30:34
and milk, I was doing it while I was in conversation with them.
30:37
So I'm writing notes, I'm talking to the psychiatrist and
30:40
I'm telling them I don't understand why they just don't
30:43
give it up. I popped the cookie in my mouth
30:45
and went to take a sip. And remember, it's 1/2 gallon of
30:48
milk. The the milk container is bigger
30:51
than the straw. So I had two straws, right?
30:55
And I'm sipping on the milk. And he looked at me and he said,
30:57
Mr. Brown, weren't you an emergency medical technician?
31:02
And I said yes. And he said, well, don't you
31:05
know that what you're doing right now was no good for you?
31:08
And I said, yeah, I hear you. Right, right.
31:12
And I popped another cookie, I took another sip of the milk and
31:14
I said yeah. But I still don't know why they
31:16
don't give it a fuck and he said he said.
31:18
Mr. Brown? No, absolutely.
31:20
He said, he said, Mr. Brown, you know, you can only take a person
31:24
as far as you've gone, you know? And I said, yeah, I hear you,
31:28
doc. And I popped another cookie and
31:31
I drank some more milk. And he walked out of my office
31:33
and left me alone. But here's here's the kicker,
31:39
right? That is hilarious.
31:40
No sooner did he do that, you know, he, he just left me with
31:43
my own thoughts, right? No sooner did he do that, I got
31:47
a phone. Right, right, right, right.
31:48
I got a phone call from a friend.
31:50
Well, actually I got a phone call from my mom.
31:53
And what the phone call said was that my friend had died at the
31:57
age of 38. And this friend of mine, the
32:01
dark Overlord Lamar Sherrard, he's actually older than I am.
32:07
He passed away at 38 from diabetes and he died in his
32:12
mother's crib, like his whole leg turned black.
32:15
He passed away. He he used to drink wine coolers
32:19
and eat Susie QS. And I was doing much more when I
32:24
was eating cookies and milk than he was doing with the Susie QS
32:28
and the Calvin coolers and stuff like that.
32:30
And what I realized for myself was this would would be my wake
32:35
up call to stop doing what I'm doing right to myself.
32:40
So I decided that I was going to stop.
32:43
But now here's what here's here's what the doctor said that
32:46
comes in right to that conversation.
32:49
He said you can only take people as far as you've gone.
32:52
And when I made the decision to stop, suddenly everything that
32:57
the patients had ever said to me about how difficult it was to
33:01
stop doing what they were doing, what things were causing them to
33:04
relapse, how influential it was for family members to offer them
33:10
drinks, for them to offer them, you know, other things to get
33:14
high with. Was it all became surreal for
33:18
myself, right? And so my thing was doing
33:22
cookies and milk. And so who was going to stop me
33:26
from doing cookies and milk? Who was going to frown on it,
33:29
right? There was there was no stigma
33:30
attached to that. But I knew what I was doing to
33:35
myself and I knew that I didn't want my friend's death to be in
33:39
vain. So I needed to stop, however,
33:43
and listen. It was, it was to the degree
33:50
that I would buy the display box of cookies.
33:54
You Jose, you remember those, those sandwich cookies that
33:57
would be like $0.25 in the for a pack.
34:00
They probably like 8 cookies in the pack.
34:03
OK, so you remember the pack, right?
34:04
But the pack used to come in the box.
34:08
I would buy the display box, and I'm very serious.
34:12
I would buy the display box. I would buy the gallon of milk,
34:16
right? I'd go home, I'd knock it out
34:18
watching Jerry Springer and watching Maury Povich.
34:22
And then I'd do it again at like 2.
34:25
I'd do that like at 11 O clock and then at like 2O clock at
34:27
night, I would do it again, right?
34:31
But I got to the point where I was disgusted with what I was
34:34
doing, so I was dead. They come 12 packs in a box.
34:40
I got down to my last three packs and I rolled them up in a
34:43
bag and I decided, you know what?
34:45
I can't do this anymore. I got to, I got to stop this and
34:48
I went to throw it away. I threw it away and probably 15
34:53
minutes later, I was digging in my trash can to turn around and
34:58
get those cookies again because they were still in the back the
35:00
bag. And I was like, there's nothing
35:02
wrong with these. And I started eating them again
35:06
and, and, and I'm, I'm, I'm being honest about this because
35:11
Jose individuals, whenever they start to think of addiction,
35:15
what usually comes to mind are drugs and you know, whether
35:21
they're legal or illegal, right? And what people don't recognize
35:26
often is addiction is about use or behavior despite the
35:32
consequences. And so I was using the cookies
35:36
and milk at a level despite the consequences.
35:40
And, you know, the signs and symptoms were all there.
35:43
I got to the point where I realized if I threw the cookies
35:46
in the garbage can that was in my apartment, I wasn't going to
35:49
leave them there. So what I did was I took the bag
35:51
and I threw it out the window. Wow.
35:54
Yeah, 6:00 in the morning. That's neat, brother.
35:57
Listen, 6:00 in the morning, I jumped up, went downstairs and
36:01
said, you know what? They haven't cleaned the grass
36:03
yet. I could still get those cookies
36:04
that are inside the bag rolled up, right?
36:07
And I hopped over the fence, went into the grass, got the
36:11
cookies, came back upstairs, knocked them out, went off to
36:14
work. And that's when I held the
36:16
conversation with the doctor. Remember, I said, I don't know
36:20
why they just don't give it up. And so it all played back for
36:23
me. And I realized what the doctor
36:25
was saying. And I said to myself, wow, huh.
36:29
How? I I asked myself.
36:31
I said, how are you going to do this?
36:34
You want to do this. You recognize it's a problem,
36:38
but how were you going to do it? And what came to mind was the
36:44
information that I was sharing with the patients is information
36:49
that I knew worked. I just was unaware that I needed
36:54
it to work for me. Yeah.
36:57
So I told myself that what I have to do is I have to now do
37:02
what it is that I've told the patients to do, and I get to
37:05
turn around and low key use their examples as strength for
37:11
myself. And so everything that I would
37:14
tell them in Group to do, I was really talking to myself and
37:19
going home and applying it for myself in order to Get Me Out of
37:22
the situation. I, I can't relate.
37:26
It's hard to be a player coach sometimes, you know, apply those
37:29
things to you. I can relate what we're going to
37:32
do with, we got a question from somebody in the audience, but
37:35
we're going to take a quick break and then we're going to
37:37
answer some of that. I also want to talk about the
37:39
stuff that you do outside of your work and we'll dive into
37:42
that when we come back. But thank you for that.
41:37
All right. Yeah, that's that's another
41:40
other. I like that that one video right
41:43
there. There was a question to make
41:46
sure I got it here. The comments.
41:49
Somebody had asked a question about no, it ain't showing up
41:54
all right, but we'll get that, but I'll wait till my my stuff
41:58
comes up. One of the question was about
42:02
oh, so let me see. Oh, can you see?
42:03
Does it show up on yours? Somebody let me see if I can
42:06
bring it up on here because I'm having some, but somebody said
42:09
real life, real life talk. Thank you for sharing.
42:13
Thank you for your service in the Lower East Side.
42:15
You make a huge impact on our community.
42:18
Somebody said that. Well, God, God is good and thank
42:22
you. Thank you for that.
42:24
I saw I saw one place in the comments that somebody asked
42:29
what kind of cookies there were. So OK, tell them.
42:33
You want to know, check it out, check it out because you know,
42:36
today you have a lot of people who are fascinated by this
42:41
conversation of edibles and so on and so forth.
42:44
And so asking that kind of question as far as what kind of
42:48
cookies they are. Not necessarily this particular
42:51
person, but I just want to make the statement in general for
42:54
anybody who may be watching. There was nothing special about
42:59
these cookies. The thing that was at issue was
43:05
my love for cookies. And so I love cookies so much.
43:11
We, we, we have a place. We had a place here on the Lower
43:15
East Side called the Blue Truck, right?
43:19
Used to be right there on Houston and Baruch Place and the
43:23
white truck that was on Houston and Baruch Dr. And both of them
43:28
used to sell penny cookies. And so as a child in elementary
43:31
school, you could go over and get 5 penny cookies, 10 penny
43:36
cookies for a nickel a dime. So I, I worked my way up from
43:41
the five to the 10 to the 20s. So going over with a dollar and
43:45
some milk from the cafeteria and just knocking it out.
43:50
So, you know, my my fascination and my indulgence in cookies and
43:56
milk started whenever I was a child in my early childhood, and
44:00
it just followed me up into adulthood.
44:03
However, I hadn't realized the issue that it was until I began
44:07
trying to help other people with their issues and wound up
44:11
exposing my own issue and found myself at a place where I needed
44:16
to get honest about the fact that I had an issue with it.
44:22
Right. And one of the, as I was saying
44:25
earlier, one of the key factors in that was that my boy died and
44:31
that I had just held the conversation with the doctor.
44:34
And so, you know, my eye was now open and I was now utilizing the
44:40
steps and the things that I was telling my patients about how to
44:45
deal with their situation. I was actually using it on
44:47
myself and applying it to my own life in order to Get Me Out of
44:51
that situation. Absolutely.
44:55
I mean, and sometimes when we look deep in ourselves, it it's
44:59
not easy to look at our own demons.
45:01
Some of us carry, you know, and try to to tame that.
45:04
You know, I know I had some of those issues and we had a
45:07
question from Eva Fulton and I don't know if you can see it.
45:12
I see it. I think it's difficult when the
45:14
military and veteran culture perpetrates veteran service
45:19
office location and given given a drug for the symptoms in the
45:24
military VA. Right, right, right, right,
45:27
right. So there are medications that
45:34
are used to help take the edge off and to aid a person in
45:40
recovering from the disease of addiction, which is substance
45:46
abuse. And there's a trick to it, which
45:50
is, and I'm glad that the person brought it up, not everybody is
45:55
on your side. Even in the medical field, not
45:59
everybody is on your side. Sometimes.
46:03
Sometimes individuals are taking advantage of people who are
46:11
addicted to 1 substance only to string them out on another
46:16
substance. And I'll, I'll, I'll give a
46:19
couple of examples about that. We, we were at a training and
46:26
one of the pharmaceutical reps came in.
46:29
This is when this is when Suboxone was first coming online
46:35
and Suboxone is used to help treat opioid addiction.
46:41
And when Suboxone was coming online, historically individuals
46:45
had been treated with methadone. And so they were coming in
46:49
saying, you know, instead of people having to come to the
46:52
hospital in order to receive methadone, what we're going to
46:56
do is we're, we're introducing Suboxone so that people can
47:01
receive prescriptions for it. And then they can take it, you
47:04
know, at their at their own homes, whether they're happen to
47:07
be in a group home, halfway house, treatment facility,
47:12
school or wherever, they'll be able to do it at those places
47:15
rather than have to come back and forth to the hospital to get
47:18
their treatment. And while the person was giving
47:21
this spiel and saying all of these great things about it, I
47:24
had two questions actually started out with one, but it led
47:27
to the second question. And here's the question.
47:30
And mind you, I was sitting in a room of 30 other counselors at
47:35
the time who were all vested in treating substance abuse.
47:38
And so here's the first question.
47:40
The first question was in comparison to methadone, how
47:47
much is Suboxone? And the person said, well, let's
47:53
say methadone is $0.50. He said Suboxone is $5.
48:01
And immediately I said to myself, so there's a higher
48:05
price tag associated with the new treatment, right?
48:11
And it led me to my second question because subscription
48:14
was up. But here's the icing on the
48:17
cake. I asked him, I said, wait a
48:19
minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
48:20
I do have another question. Excuse me, Sir.
48:22
And he said, yes, go ahead. And I said, how long is a person
48:26
supposed to be on Suboxone before they come off?
48:31
I think that's a fair question. Yes, Jose.
48:36
Yeah, personally said check it out.
48:38
This. I hope somebody's listening, the
48:41
person said. Who said they're supposed to
48:45
come off? Wow.
48:54
Now, mind you, I'm sitting in a room of 30 other counselors and
48:58
I'm hoping that somebody else just heard what I heard because
49:04
we need to know that we're not introducing someone to something
49:13
under the guise of helping them deal with one issue and then
49:19
tagging them on another issue. You know, so, so Suboxone has
49:26
been used in order to turn around and treat opiate
49:31
addiction. And you know, that's great that
49:34
it's being used to treat opioid addiction.
49:36
But here's the problem. When we forget that we were
49:42
treating one thing and we leave a person on the second thing,
49:49
right? So what good does it do if the
49:55
point was to get them off, let's get them off.
49:59
You know, if you have to use a substance in order to get the
50:02
person off, fine, no problem. Use the substance in order to
50:07
get the person off the initial substance that they were
50:10
addicted to. However, there should be a game
50:13
plan in place in order to turn around and help get that person
50:17
off the second substance. And the individual should not be
50:21
dragged along the whole time. I know, I'm, I know I'm going to
50:26
get some some feedback from that later on.
50:29
However the truth is the truth. Let's work, yeah?
50:36
Yeah, we got a question from miss Miss Paulette here.
50:39
What suggestions would you offer to help loved ones be supportive
50:43
and cope cope themselves that they try to support loved ones
50:46
struggling with addiction? Good.
50:49
So addiction is also a brain disease, right?
50:56
So addiction is not only what you see in the person's
51:00
behavior, it's not only what you wind up knowledgeable about
51:09
their bodies being exposed to, it's also a way of thinking.
51:16
And so you'll hear, you'll hear from people, they'll say things
51:22
like, oh, I've gone to detox, Detox doesn't work.
51:26
I've gone to rehab. Rehab doesn't work.
51:29
And part of the reason why individuals are saying that is
51:32
because they don't understand what the purpose of the detox
51:36
was. They don't understand what the
51:37
purpose of the rehab is and they don't know what their part in
51:43
recovery winds up being. And so just just really quickly,
51:47
I want to share with those who are listening that detox is for
51:53
a medically supervised withdrawal.
51:55
Anytime somebody's been using a substance, especially for a
51:59
while, the body can get used to having that substance in it.
52:02
And also the body can wind up suffering as the substance
52:06
begins to leave the body. Some, some substances,
52:10
substances, opioids and alcohol, a person can, you know, have a
52:17
bad withdrawal from it and they actually need medications in
52:21
order to help them ease themselves down off of those
52:26
things whenever they've been using it for a while.
52:28
And so detox's purpose, sole purpose is a medically
52:35
supervised withdrawal. It does nothing for the mind.
52:39
It is a medically supervised withdrawal that is just for your
52:43
body to get rid of the substance.
52:46
Now rehab, rehab deals. And so that was the physical,
52:51
that was the physiological rehab deals with rehab deals with.
52:56
The behavioral rehab is just to turn around and give you 28 days
53:02
or more to get into a different behavior.
53:06
A person's been ripping and running, right?
53:09
They used to turn around and either binging or using to
53:14
whatever frequencies, right? And rehab is to give them a safe
53:18
space and some time and an opportunity to learn a different
53:24
behavior. So most of the time rehabs are
53:27
28 days because they realize that scientifically it just
53:31
takes 28 days in order to learn a new behavior.
53:34
So that's the behavioral aspect of things, right?
53:37
So you've gone to detox, you've you've cleared yourself of the
53:41
substance physiologically, right?
53:45
You've gone to rehab, you've learned a new behavior.
53:48
You're moving different now, right?
53:51
Problem detox dealt with the physiological, rehab dealt with
53:59
the behavioral. However, you still have to deal
54:04
with the psychological. And the only person, the only
54:08
person, I don't care what they tell you, the only person who
54:12
can turn around and deal with the psychological is yourself.
54:17
And so This is why we have we, we, we engage patients in
54:26
psychotherapy. And This is why individuals have
54:30
the opportunity to engage and participate in things like self
54:36
help groups, whether NAAA, so on and so forth.
54:40
So that you could listen to your own story so that you can get
54:46
honest with yourself, so that you can turn around and hear
54:50
what's true about what you're saying and what's not true about
54:54
what you're saying. And often times your peers,
54:57
those who are around you will let you know whether or not
55:02
that's that's a fact or it's not a fact.
55:04
You know that whether you're keeping it honest or whether
55:07
you're not keeping it honest. And just just to continue with
55:11
the person's question. So for the family, understanding
55:17
why the person went to detox, it wasn't to cure them.
55:23
Detox was just for the medically supervised withdrawal.
55:27
Understanding why the person went to rehab, rehab wasn't to
55:31
cure them. Rehab was to give them time away
55:35
from the substance and also an opportunity to pick up some new
55:39
behaviors and to be supportive because again, addiction is a
55:44
brain disease. We don't get mad at a person for
55:49
having asthma. We don't get mad at a person for
55:53
having cancer. So don't get mad at a person
55:57
because they're suffering from addiction.
56:00
Be understanding that there are three components that the person
56:05
is trying to deal with and listen for a minute to where the
56:13
person is coming from. Sometimes as the person is
56:18
sharing with you, they may tell you something that you didn't
56:21
know about this situation and they may actually be able to
56:26
tell you how best you can support them.
56:31
You know what support is it that you need?
56:37
Wow, well, thank you for that and we could.
56:41
This is just a program that you can go on for hours because, you
56:46
know, because we're getting short on time and, and to the
56:49
grown folks who are listening in a filing that that silent
56:53
battle, you know what message you got for them today in
56:57
reference to what we just talked about.
57:00
So the message, the message that I have for individuals today is
57:04
1. Recovery is possible.
57:09
Don't get mad at the person who's on their journey to
57:12
recovery. Be supportive, listen, ask for
57:19
ways, ask them for ways in which you can support them if they
57:25
happen to be a part of a program or be seeing someone who is
57:33
aiding them in their treatment. Find out how you can
57:36
participate, you know, in in in the treatment there.
57:39
There's such thing as family counseling that can go on the
57:45
the self help groups like NAAA, so on and so forth.
57:50
They're also available for outsiders to come in and
57:54
participate. And by coming in and taking a
57:57
seat and listening to the stories that are being shared,
58:00
you have the opportunity to receive some insight and to hear
58:04
some things that you might not have known before about what the
58:09
family member may be going through.
58:12
Also, I want to say that as I was sharing a part of my own
58:18
story, that some of the some of the toughest people to deal with
58:26
wound up being family because at times a person can be trying to
58:30
recover from an activity that the family is still engaged in.
58:34
And so although I gave up cookies, it doesn't mean that my
58:38
family gave up cookies. The very first person who turned
58:41
around and tried to offer me a cookie was my ex-wife.
58:44
While she was my wife, she came to me visit.
58:48
I told her I gave her cookies. She she went to the listen.
58:50
I told her I gave her cookies. She went to the store and bought
58:53
Oreo cakes and hit them inside the pantry.
58:56
And as soon as I opened up the pantry, the whole Oreo was just
59:00
staring at me. And I'm like, yeah, well, this
59:01
is a setup. Like what are we doing here?
59:03
Right? I've had I've had my daughters
59:06
offer me cookies. I've got have friends who
59:09
referred to me as my friend's mom referred to me as cookie
59:13
monster. She used to buy me a a cookie.
59:15
She had a cookie jar just for me.
59:17
And anytime I'd come by the house, she had milk and cookies
59:20
waiting for me. And so just getting accustomed
59:23
to saying no to the people that's love and to to let the
59:28
people that that you love know. Listen, this is something that I
59:33
had an issue with and the best way that you could support me is
59:37
to be aware of what I had an issue with and not even offer
59:41
these things to me. You know, I don't care whether
59:44
it's a toast at a wedding. I don't care whether, you know,
59:47
it's, it's any kind of good time or even a bad time.
59:51
Sometimes it might be a funeral and somebody think, hey, you
59:54
know what, just take a shot, you'll feel better or so on and
59:57
so forth. Like you have to understand you
1:00:01
may not have. A problem or may not think you
1:00:04
have a problem, but the person that you're offering it to,
1:00:07
right, might suffer a whole lot more than you think they would
1:00:11
suffer if they actually accepted it from you.
1:00:13
So listen to them when they say no, because they're trying to
1:00:17
save their life and they're trying to save the life of those
1:00:20
individuals who love them around them.
1:00:24
God, hey, look, hey, we're going to have to have you back on.
1:00:27
But before I let you go, you know, are there any new programs
1:00:30
you got a book, you know, mentoring anything coming out
1:00:34
for you in the future before I let you go?
1:00:36
Well, a friend, a friend of mine asked me if I would, if I would
1:00:41
start up a podcast such as yourself.
1:00:44
And you know, I'm, I'm looking into that.
1:00:47
However, more importantly, as far as programs, there are
1:00:51
plenty of programs here in New York.
1:00:53
I know that a lot of areas they don't have the same resources
1:00:56
that New York has. Oftentimes we get patients from
1:00:59
out of state, so I would just advise individuals to go online.
1:01:04
There are plenty of resources. Arms Acres has a beautiful
1:01:09
program. They actually incorporate horses
1:01:12
along with the program because horses kind of help individuals
1:01:18
to, you know, get into themselves and stuff like that.
1:01:21
You also have places like ACI, these different places, they'll
1:01:25
pick you up, they'll send the van to go and get you.
1:01:28
You know, also, let me just say to family members really quick,
1:01:33
it begins and ends with the person who's going through it.
1:01:41
So unless that person has made a decision for themselves, you
1:01:49
know little is going to change. You know, you can try and coerce
1:01:54
a person into it. You can try and pressure a
1:01:57
person into it, but you want the person to come to the
1:02:01
understanding for themselves. And those individuals who may be
1:02:04
listening, who may have been struggling and on the fence
1:02:07
about whether or not to stop doing whatever it is they're
1:02:11
doing. 1 You know what life was like before you started doing
1:02:18
what you were doing, and you are not far from being able to find
1:02:23
yourself again. You are right there.
1:02:26
You know you. You are who you are.
1:02:28
You are right there. You don't have to continue the
1:02:30
use, you don't have to continue the suffering.
1:02:33
Support is there for you, and substance abuse is only a sign
1:02:43
and symptom of the real problem. So I say to everybody, get
1:02:47
honest about what the real problem is so that you can let
1:02:51
go of these sign and symptoms. Wow.
1:02:56
Hey, hey, thank you so much brother.
1:02:59
I might have you back on because there's so much and we had so
1:03:02
many questions. I got a lot of thank you's and
1:03:05
and everything. And I think a lot of people need
1:03:07
to hear this, this message, you know, especially from a a
1:03:11
professional like you. But God is good, you know, I
1:03:14
want to say thank you and for this weekend, memorial weekend,
1:03:18
understand what Monday represents is for, for those who
1:03:21
gave the ultimate sacrifice. So with that being said, thank
1:03:25
you to my audience, everybody who showed up.
1:03:27
If you need to get a hold of Taiye, just shoot me an e-mail,
1:03:30
let me know. And I'm sure that he can
1:03:33
provide. Can I, can I give her a quick
1:03:34
shout out? Absolutely.
1:03:36
Go ahead. I, I just, I just want to shout
1:03:38
out my baby Waleska and I also want to shout out Ivelisse and
1:03:42
chatty and and and and and and lose, you know, just shout out
1:03:48
to all yes and and Rodney. It's all about Fabian Rodney.
1:03:53
OK, OK, gotcha. And and thank you to everybody,
1:03:56
Taye. Bro, you are the MAN that means
1:03:58
man. And thank you, man.
1:03:59
Much love to you. God is good.
1:04:01
And we'll be connecting, bro, especially when it comes to the
1:04:04
podcast. I'm going to connect you.
1:04:06
Bless us, everybody. Have a good night.
1:04:09
Thank you. Good.
1:04:10
Night. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you
1:04:14
for tuning in to Military Broadcast Radio.
1:04:18
As we wrap up today's show, we want to remind you that the
1:04:22
podcast of today's episode will be available right after we go
1:04:27
off the air. So if you missed any part of the
1:04:29
show or want to listen again, be sure to check it out.
1:04:35
And remember, we're here to support and honor our veterans.
1:04:41
Your stories and experiences matter, and we are committed to
1:04:45
giving you a platform to share them.
1:04:49
That's right, we are here to give our veterans a voice.
1:04:53
So don't forget to catch the podcast and stay connected with
1:04:57
us giving our veterans a voice.