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When Government and Recovery Work Together: Jacques Gilbert & Hollan Steen · Finding New Waters

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One of the things we did was force it because in my opinion,
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why Asheville or Buncombe County is similar to South Florida with
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again businesses or or just all sorts of different individuals
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in that area that know what recovery is.
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They aren't maybe just a little bit more open minded to
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employment or treating them in a certain way.
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And it's because they've seen time after time for decades now
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that there is a large chunk of these individuals that do get
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their life and then become beautiful people, successful
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people. Thank you for joining us for
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another episode of Finding New Waters Podcast.
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My name is Justin McClendon. I'm the CEO of New Waters
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Recovery and I'm joined today by two very special guest.
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First off, we have Holland Steen, who is the Director of
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Admissions for Asheville Recovery Center and we're also
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joined by Jock Gilbert, who is the Mayor of Apex, NC.
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So thank you gentlemen. Really appreciate you guys
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coming on today. Thank you, Justin.
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Appreciate you having us man. Yeah, absolutely.
1:04
So I mean lots of things for us to talk about.
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But one thing that I wanted to to start with and I think you
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guys kind of come as a duo in this, in this particular thing
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is the the substance misuse task force that that you guys have
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going on in, in Apex. Yes, I'll, I'll let my guy
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because this is a really cool story and how it all came about.
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But this started with this courageous, brave young man that
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came into my office years ago and expressed his vision, which
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which happens often in my office here in the town of Apex.
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But I want him to paint the picture of how we got here.
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So I'll let you take that one. Buddy, I was going to joke and
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say what we should start doing is you ask Jacques separately
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and then myself and then we compare and see how we got.
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Here we go. No, I it's an important part of
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of the story. It's an important piece to touch
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on just to explain that overall one of the main goals of the
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task force, like what it embodies, is it the example is
2:05
the connection itself, right? And essentially what I mean by
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that is how Jacques and I even entered each other's lives.
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It is kind of, again, it starts with him, you know, but people
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think it starts with me, right? Because again, he knew of me,
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you know, he was in law enforcement in the same town
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that I was breaking the law. So there was an idea of, of who
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I was. And then when I went to
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Asheville and, and went through treatment and started to put the
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work in right again, there was this individual that I held in a
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pretty high regard. That is, for instance,
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commenting on a Facebook post saying like, let's go or my man,
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right? Or just showing some reaction as
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I'm posting the, the, the clean tag.
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Six months, you know, a year, two years.
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And so there's a guy that, you know, again, if you think about
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it, a lot of individuals that struggle with addiction, we do
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end up having issues with, with breaking the law comes with it,
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right? And so there might be this
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barrier between just a police officer and a person in recovery
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in the 1st place. But in a small town, there's
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also, you know, the the kid who got arrested, the kid who went
3:22
to prison, the kid whose mother worked for the government when
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he was arrested. You know, there is a story of,
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of shame and guilt. And a lot of stories have shame
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and guilt. All right.
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But to, to have a mayor of the town where, you know, again, the
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first couple years of recovery, I snuck in the apex for
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holidays. I didn't want anyone to know I
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was there, right? I go to my parents house, I'd
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let them drive their vehicles so that my vehicle was hidden in
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the back. It was there was a lot of
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anxiety about returning back to the town again, where I knew
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there was an idea of who I was that was yet to be changed of of
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who I've become over the the years, right?
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But again, all of that is important to say that there was
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a a gentleman that didn't have to right That that there was no
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alternate like no motive other than to be just a good person.
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Took time out of his day to say, here's a young man from Apex
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who's in Asheville who's putting the work in and I'm going to
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just give him a high 5. That's awesome, right?
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But had he not done the high five, I would have never had the
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confidence, right? The vulnerability to say, can I
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come to your office and talk to you?
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I. Love that.
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I love that. Yeah.
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And with that, when, when you around my office, this was
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during COVID, remember that. And we were sitting there
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talking and, and he said, I have this idea.
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And he said, I think you can help me accomplish this for the
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community, not just for himself, but for everyone.
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And, and what was really so powerful about that moment was
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like, I didn't really know Holland's story like completely.
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I just knew there was a moment, there was a point.
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And then he kind of just went away.
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And so I was able to be caught up on the Part 2.
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And then here we are, we're talking.
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And he said, I have this idea. And the point of the idea was
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the goal was to make sure that everyone, we talked about it in
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Apex, we want this to be a welcoming community and the peak
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of good living, right? That's the tag line.
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But is it really the peak of good living for everyone?
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And what he opened my eyes to, is there people right in front
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of you that you may not even be aware?
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They're struggling, right? And they just don't know the
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resources available. They don't know who to go to.
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They don't trust people. And he said, you're sitting in a
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position of influence. And if we join forces, we join
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together, we can reach more people and connect them with the
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resources that they need. But also just breaking down that
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stigma, that wall. We need to just dismantle that
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wall. And he really, I was ready to
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run through a wall when he said that, you know, so because you
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know how Holland is, He's he's, he's a man of great
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communication. So I was ready to run.
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And then he just started breaking things down.
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So I'll let you take the next part.
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So we were talking and I was like, how do we accomplish this?
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You know what? What do you have in mind?
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Really we, I, we knew from the jump that we were already at a
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deficit before we started, right?
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And that was the first barrier or the first goal of the task
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force was we need to accumulate a group of like minded
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individuals who share the same passion.
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But if we don't create almost like a team that kind of again,
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embodies different aspects of Apex, right?
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But to sit down and just start trying to to educate, just
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trying to start the converse and that was I think one of our
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first year goals was let's just start the conversations.
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That's great. Right, because it was again, a
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personal storied experience of appearance, right, who couldn't
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talk to their friends at work, right that could not
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communicate, didn't know who to call because there was
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embarrassment. Again, it was I'm not going to
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call my friend and say I think my son's struggling.
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Do you have any experience? Do you know anyone with any
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experience? It was my parents tucked it
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under the rug, didn't want it to leave the house, right.
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You know, show up to church on on Sunday, smile and no issues.
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But that was the main issue in itself was we have to break the
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stigma because if we still as a culture, right, or as a
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community have that kind of of mindset, then people right in my
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shoes are still going to fear. And, and again, for instance, I
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went to Asheville, right? And so why I, I remember telling
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you, I said, why did I have to go 3 1/2 hours to find a group
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of like minded individuals to take the time to care about me?
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Why is that not here, right? That's right.
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That's a great point. That's a great point.
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And I mean, I could really dive deep on the whole stigma theme.
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I'm, I'm a big fan of exactly that, right?
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Is that, you know, we have to call it what it is.
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There is a lot of stigma there. And, and that stigma that a lot
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of the systems and kind of things that we have in place in
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our world, I think uphold that stigma and continue to
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perpetuate that. And that in itself exactly to
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what you just said, Holland. It's my opinion that that that
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stigma is something that keeps a lot of people sick,
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unfortunately, you know, keeps a lot of people sick.
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So, so the idea was let's find a way to educate.
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Let's let's connect people. Was that right?
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That's right. Yeah, it was.
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It was to show it was OK. That was like, the point was not
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to use Jacques as like a platform, 'cause he had a a
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large following. The point was to say that in
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apex history, a government official, let alone a mayor,
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would have never sat on a couch with a convicted felon with a
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sleeve of tattoos and said together we want to change the
9:03
world. I love that never in a million
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years it's going to happen. But what can we do by by showing
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that again, I have trauma with police, yet he's retired apex
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police, right? But I trust him and I trust that
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together again, what he can do from again, a political side or
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what I can do from a lived experience.
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But we have to we have to let the past be the past and we have
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to work together, right? And one of my separate missions,
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but similar goals is just again, how can we stop thinking that
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we're the best or, or a specific group is going to fix addiction,
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right? Versus there's no single group
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like medical or clinical, you know, therapy, like there's no
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individual part of recovery that that's going to solve this.
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It's going to take a group of all of us a community and then
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slowly but surely again maybe that will will grow and I think
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that happened in year 2 or year three of the task for other
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cities or other officials were reaching out to Jacques myself.
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Hey, how did you get this started?
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You know we're interested. We want to learn about this
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that's. Amazing.
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That was kind of the the second goal was kind of just like if if
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you build it, they will come let's just do it and see what
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happens. I.
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Love that. I love that.
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And I, I think the thing for me was when you talked about, hey,
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man, just keep it simple. And what we've seen before and
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government, it gets overcomplicated.
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Like we, we try to paint this picture, we address, you know,
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we're attached labels to everything.
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And all I wanted to be is just Jacques and Harlan come
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together. You know, I happen to be the
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mayor. And this is no different than
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what I've done years before, 29 years as a police officer.
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I didn't take everybody to jail. I try to find ways of helping
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them get back into society and do great.
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So this was like, I was just so excited, like, let's let's do
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this, man. I'm all in.
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So I think since that time, we've accomplished a lot.
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I think we've changed the hearts of of of a lot of people.
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That's amazing. And government, that's what I
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like to brag on because they were reaching out, saying, hey,
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you sitting with that guy, like you, you working with him.
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And we talked about having different people at the table on
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this task force. You said, Jacques, you got to
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have people there with living experiences.
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You can't just have people in government there and have no
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clue of what they're talking about.
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And that really opened my eyes and we did that.
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There has to be a level which right Justin, that we in the the
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industry that we work and understand that some things just
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naturally come easier to an individual who's been there,
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right? Doesn't make them smarter or
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doesn't make them better at their craft, right?
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But there's always going to be this advantage of someone
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looking at someone else who's both been there, who's both
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sharing some pretty not so fun stories.
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And one of the individuals is, is going through it right.
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But the other individual is saying, I went through it too.
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But now I look look at this and no matter what comes out of of
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that, you know, subject A's mouth, the, the, the person's
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eating it up right? Versus again, someone who maybe
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possibly, and I always make the joke, never even smoked a
12:15
cigarette, right? And it's not about the the vice,
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but it's the the you've possibly never laid somewhere not knowing
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what your next move was, not knowing who you were, your
12:25
identity, your purpose. You probably always had
12:28
motivation, maybe dips, right? But you've always known almost
12:33
like a story what you were going to do as a doctor versus being
12:38
someone who by all accounts should have everything he needs.
12:42
But maybe he wants to just kill. Maybe he just wants to kill
12:45
himself, right. And if you've never had that
12:48
despair, then it's just hard to say like, well, here's a
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suggestion that worked for me because you didn't need it.
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It didn't work for you, right? Versus the guy who did.
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And, and again, it was using the, the again, like we always
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need a brain surgeon, all right, whether they have lived
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experience or not. I want a brain surgeon working
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on on right there with you, right?
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But if it came to we, we talked about, you know, someone that's
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struggling having a person in uniform with a gun on his hip
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walking up to that person, but just visually might escalate the
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situation versus an everyday person who's a, a social worker
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or peer support that can say, hey, I'm not an authoritative
13:28
figure at all. But do you mind if I come and
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just chat with you for a little bit?
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And and that was like, that's one facet of using a lived
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individual's experience to maybe reduce those issues with
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arresting someone. And again, those thoughts
13:44
originated though, but like you said, it's how can we also like
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Jacques has the power to change other people in government or or
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other people so far away from what we do.
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How many people in this circle might not even know new water's
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detox exist? True.
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That's right. Yeah, yeah.
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But we have to get to that group to change as well.
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Yeah, yeah. I couldn't agree with you more,
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especially that the, the point about, you know, the impact of
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having someone that does have limited experience.
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I mean, it's huge, right? And the, the, the word that came
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up for me as you were saying that was hope.
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And and not that you can't get hope from other things than
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other people, but it's just true.
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I mean, for someone to sit there and struggling to be sitting in
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the, the, in the stink, in the suck, so to speak, and be able
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to hear from someone else that's not there anymore, right?
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That is experienced some, some change and some peace and
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happiness in their life and be like, be able to be like, OK,
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this is possible. I mean, that is huge.
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There's not a whole lot of things that can replace that, I
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don't think, you know, in my opinion.
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So what happened from there? So you got together, we're like,
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OK, we got to educate some people.
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We got to do something about the stigma here.
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And then where did it? Where did it kind of evolve from
14:53
there? We started, we started
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realizing, hey, you know, just like a lot of companies, you
15:00
know, media, you know, digital social, like the, you know, if
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we want to reach large groups of people, we need to utilize that
15:07
as well as just public forums or, or just, you know, kind of
15:11
town hall meetings or things of that nature.
15:14
So we quickly jumped into creating a social media
15:17
presence, adding it to the, the town page.
15:21
So it was a resource where we started working on resources in
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North Carolina. One of our goals was to say that
15:28
these are, you know, vetted throughout our task force,
15:30
members of of reliable and ethical treatment centers.
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And we made a description of what, you know, what they treat,
15:37
what levels of care, what insurance or options like that.
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So on the apex page, we wanted there to be kind of like, Hey,
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you can call these people for questions or hear some resources
15:47
are right in front of you or here's again, a task force of
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individuals that you can e-mail at any time.
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So just almost like a helpline that's amazing.
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But again, no one knew it existed, right?
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And so I think the Peak Fest, which is a festival that happens
16:03
every year, having a tent there and having a presence there was
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probably the the first, like it was a big, it was a big deal.
16:11
That's awesome. It was like the reveal to the
16:12
community right there in their face.
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But with that, I'm glad you brought it up.
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The first Peak fest, I think maybe 20 people approached the
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table. They were like, they, they, they
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didn't want to approach it. But as years went on, we, they,
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they started really surrounding the table.
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But it took us really getting the word out through social
16:30
media and, and me of course, talking about it, their reforms
16:34
and government that I, you know, spoke on and again, got a lot of
16:38
great response, positive response.
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Like man, this is a good model and we're interested in it.
16:42
So but but he left one point out like man, you didn't talk about
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your mom that she was like really a founding partner in
16:50
this as well and kind of create a framework and was the
16:54
administrative arm to get in this really establishing
16:57
structure. You got you got to close with
17:00
mom because. She's OK, OK, we're.
17:02
Closed with mom. OK, thank you for bringing it
17:05
because yeah, that's a that even goes back to the origin story of
17:09
of again, it's like, yes, he he showed me that I could could
17:13
communicate with him. He showed kindness, right and
17:16
then I took a leap of faith and reached out to him and messaged
17:19
him right. But all the while, of course,
17:22
there's this still, you know, I'm a kid, I'm in my 20s, right?
17:25
And I'm walking around my parents house and I'm saying, I
17:27
think I'm going to try to do something with the mayor, right?
17:29
And so there's a parent that could say, OK, or there's a
17:34
parent that can say, I will, I will support you no matter what,
17:39
whatever my son is doing to help other people to make sure that I
17:44
and, and his experience doesn't have to happen to another
17:47
family. Let's make it happen.
17:49
So having again, no matter how kind of ridiculous the idea
17:53
probably sounded when I was first just rambling, but to have
17:56
a support again from a mom and a dad, Right.
17:59
Dad was in the shadows, but he was still giving me the nod of
18:02
of approval. And that's great.
18:03
Again. Yeah.
18:04
From the website, from the organization, the e-mail and
18:07
getting a bunch of volunteers. Anyone knows?
18:09
It's kind of chaotic organizing a bunch of ball.
18:11
But she was for the first couple of years heavily, heavily
18:14
involved. That's great.
18:16
And then, I mean, we're 203040 volunteers deep at a certain
18:19
point. So it allowed her to to step
18:21
back. That's right.
18:22
That's amazing. Yeah, truly.
18:24
Yeah, that, that is amazing. And yeah, thank God for support
18:28
appearance, right? Yeah, thank God.
18:31
So I understand that. So there's still I think there's
18:34
a quarterly meeting that goes on.
18:35
Is that correct? That's correct, yeah.
18:37
So what, how can, how can people get involved?
18:40
And I'm also in that same, you know, I know you guys mentioned
18:43
that that some other, you know, city officials have reached out.
18:46
So what's that kind of what's the branching outlook like?
18:49
You know, is there ways that you guys are trying to get other
18:52
other towns involved and how can people also kind of support the.
18:59
Yeah, what, what I've experienced with with the
19:02
municipalities, government, other leaders, they're still not
19:05
there yet on a, on a model like this.
19:08
They're still like sitting back and watching and, and, you know,
19:12
we've had a couple municipalities that that came to
19:14
the meeting, police departments, representatives from there.
19:17
And so they're just trying to learn more and see what that
19:20
success looks like and how they can take it back to their
19:23
respective communities. But we're I'm going to continue
19:26
to just go out there. I'm I'm actually blessed with
19:29
the opportunity to be on the mayor's Wake County Mayor's
19:32
association show us talk about that a lot about the task force
19:35
there a lot and then also the state mayor's association.
19:39
So I'm the vice chair. So I'll continue to communicate
19:43
that to them and I think it's just continue to talk about it.
19:47
Go to peak fast create more opportunities just to get the
19:50
word out and whatever that looks like having presence at more of
19:54
those festivals. We just kind of, yeah, it's been
19:57
stuck at Peak Fest. So I think moving forward, we
19:59
got to get it out to more. So just continue to talk about
20:02
it. Now we branded it Peak of Hope,
20:05
OK. So I think that's an
20:07
interesting, I love that way to do that.
20:09
And so we'll continue to do it. I love that.
20:11
Yeah. You know, you mentioned the
20:13
first year that you did. Do you remember like what year,
20:16
how long ago was the first first time that you guys were at the
20:18
peak fest? I think it.
20:20
Was 2020. 2020 OK. 21, I think it was 20.
20:25
One. Yeah, maybe I started. 21 yeah,
20:27
yeah, 2020 was the the unit came in, so 21, yeah.
20:31
So it's been so I had the privilege of being invited to
20:34
come and hang out with you at the tent I think a couple of
20:36
years ago or something like that.
20:37
So I could kind of personally attest to, I mean, I think I had
20:40
maybe an hour and a half or something available out of my
20:42
day, you know, got the opportunity to come and hang
20:45
out. And like, I just remember once
20:47
we got started, people were just stopping by Lefty, right, You
20:50
know, and it was a lot of the same stories.
20:52
It was, you know, like, you know, love what you guys are
20:54
doing or, you know, a family member that they wanted to tell
20:57
a story about. And like, it was just so nice to
20:59
see for that small little window of like, you know, people being
21:02
willing to, to stop and express interest and learn a little bit
21:06
or share a story about their own personal experience was just,
21:10
you know, a, a little ray of hope, right?
21:12
That 'cause I think and you know, not to monopolize the
21:15
conversation, but it's a conversation about stigma and
21:18
stuff like that. I mentioned before that I moved
21:20
up here about 8 years ago from Florida and I've kind of
21:23
exclusively the eight years have been up here only worked in like
21:27
the substance abuse treatment field.
21:31
And that's one thing. And I'm not knocking Wake
21:33
County. I love Wake County, love it.
21:35
This is home, have no plan on going anywhere else.
21:37
But the stigma is, is thick here.
21:40
It really is, you know, and I compare that to to Florida where
21:44
I moved here from and it's, it's there.
21:46
I think it's anywhere, but it was a little bit easier, I think
21:52
for people to it was a little bit more normalized.
21:54
I think for, for people to talk about like the struggles of
21:57
addiction or, you know, to be more open about the fact that
22:00
they were in active recovery their self and things like that.
22:03
And that is definitely something I've noticed here is that there
22:06
seems to be a little bit more hesitation for people to kind of
22:10
be open about the struggles or the OR the process of getting
22:13
better, right? So it's been, it's been
22:16
interesting. I haven't seen it.
22:18
Yeah. And that was one of the things
22:20
we did was force it. Yeah.
22:21
Because in my opinion, why Asheville or Buncombe County is
22:25
similar to South Florida with again, businesses or, or just
22:29
all sorts of different individuals in that area that
22:32
know what recovery is. They are maybe just a little bit
22:36
more open minded to employment or we're treating them in a
22:39
certain way. And it's because they've seen
22:42
time after time for decades now that there is a large chunk of
22:46
these individuals that do get their life and then become
22:49
beautiful people, successful people, right?
22:52
So they know, hey, we should probably treat these people with
22:56
the same courtesy or respect, if not more, because I know who
22:58
they can become. Wake County doesn't have it.
23:01
I'll share a legitimate story without names or anything, but
23:04
an individual who went through treatment from this area.
23:08
And, you know, he was really proud that he went through
23:11
treatment and he was, you know, killing it and wanted to come
23:14
back home, right? Which is fine.
23:16
But I remember reaching out to him and saying, hey, do you want
23:20
to be a part of this? Because we were going through
23:21
trying to get personal stories and testimonies of Apex
23:24
residents to again, try to draw attention that it's here and
23:28
people are successful. And he and he said, no, He was a
23:32
provider of some kind in the medical field.
23:35
And he was petrified that if he was to even talk about
23:39
struggling with alcohol on social media that he would get
23:43
in trouble living and working in in Apex.
23:46
And this was probably three years ago.
23:48
Yeah, and the sad thing is I I believe it.
23:51
You know what I mean? I believe it.
23:53
We see it, and I'm sure you see it, right?
23:55
We see it in this field far too often, you know, people for all
24:00
different reasons, right? It's because of fearing, you
24:03
know, judgement from their own family, fearing judgement from
24:06
their job or they work in a particular field, especially for
24:10
physicians, you know, in, in, in the medical field, attorneys, I
24:15
mean, all different walks of life to where like they are
24:17
legitimately fearful that if they're a profession or they're
24:20
bored or whatever it is, finds out that they have struggled
24:23
regardless of the strength that it takes to reach out for help
24:26
and to get better. That that they're fearful that
24:29
people are going to see that as a weakness and they're going to
24:31
judge them and maybe even take action around that, right?
24:33
It's really unfortunate. Yeah, on that point, I I mean, I
24:38
still have parents reaching out to me and and the the first
24:41
thing they say is like, hey, don't, don't tell anybody,
24:43
please keep this. Which is fine, right?
24:45
Of course they can. But yeah.
24:47
So wait. Yeah, Wake County, we we got to
24:50
really continue to move the needle there.
24:52
But I want to share another story that kind of connects with
24:55
it. This is 1 about they locks on in
24:59
schools and we go there. Yeah, please.
25:03
So we, we've been really trying to move that into Wake County
25:07
schools and they were really, there's a lot of resistance,
25:10
like we can't go there, but really couldn't share why.
25:13
And I think the task force, actually I know the task force
25:17
with having that established, it carries some really heavy
25:21
momentum into the room to say, hey, we know what's best for our
25:25
students here in Wake County. And not to mention there are
25:28
other counties who have been successful with having it in the
25:30
schools. And finally, we we were able to
25:34
influence them to move in that direction and, and now we'll
25:37
send Wake County schools so. That's amazing.
25:39
Which is necessary. So that's underway or that's
25:42
been accepted that. That's been accepted, yeah.
25:43
That's amazing how long it's. Been proved there, 100% trained
25:47
on all staff now. OK, they have it in 40 schools,
25:51
so there's still more schools to go.
25:52
That is amazing. Yeah.
25:54
I'm so happy to hear that. Yeah.
25:56
But that great example, right? Of, you know, being hesitant but
26:01
really not being able to say why.
26:03
Right, Austria. No brainer.
26:04
Right. Yeah, exactly.
26:05
But why? Yeah.
26:07
Yeah. That's that's I'm so happy to
26:10
hear that that's that's the case.
26:12
Yeah. If we, I mean, if we could say
26:14
one person's life, right. It's all work.
26:15
That's right. Yeah, you say that often.
26:18
Just one. Just one.
26:19
Just one. Just let.
26:20
Me get one let. Me get one.
26:22
Because they multiply. Yes, that's right.
26:25
Multiply it spreads. That's right.
26:27
I love that. That's fantastic.
26:29
So how can how can people get involved?
26:31
How can they help? Yeah, I'm going to say first,
26:35
just spread the word, OK? Like, you know, because we all
26:39
know someone who is have an experience, right, that can
26:43
really use the help. So pass on our resources, pass
26:46
on the website, pass on the social media, because we want
26:49
people to know that we exist and we have again, the resources
26:52
available to them. One of the things you touched on
26:54
before is the apex Police Department.
26:57
So I think we're changing that as well because not many
27:01
departments have that resource available.
27:03
So I want people to understand when they're in a crisis, they
27:07
can reach out to our Police Department and we have staff
27:09
dedicated to take care of those situations.
27:11
So, but yeah, so go to our website, townofapexapexnc.org
27:16
and just type in mayor substance Misuse Task Force and it'll
27:20
bring up all the information. OK, that's fantastic.
27:23
That's fantastic. I'm also wondering as we're
27:26
sitting here talking about how can, how can new waters help,
27:29
right? I'd love to get more involved if
27:30
there's anything we can do to support or anything like that.
27:34
Yeah, yeah, maybe. Yeah.
27:41
It's just about awareness and letting people know it's there,
27:43
because what we're doing is trying to just show an idea in
27:46
hoping that bigger and larger entities and groups take our
27:50
idea and do something with it. But yeah, there's been countless
27:55
times we're just even talking about the fact that a mayor
27:58
that's that similar story, the willingness to give it a shot.
28:03
And and to your point, back to the peak fest, the first year,
28:05
people were looking at us and they did not know what we were
28:08
doing there. What we were didn't they didn't
28:10
want to walk up to the booth because that would make them
28:13
admit that there's a reason they're at that booth versus in
28:17
the years past. Now people are hugging us.
28:19
People are are saying thank you. So because we are changing the
28:23
way that they look at this subject.
28:26
But it all starts from just continued conversations.
28:29
Yeah, absolutely. It's beautiful.
28:31
I love it. One other thing it just dawned
28:36
on me, What is this? You're going to speak at Ted XI,
28:38
understand? Is that correct?
28:40
That's. A pretty big one, I think.
28:41
We can't, can't gloss over that, right?
28:43
No, I'm very, very excited. Well, once again, it's you know,
28:47
he, he, he sees something in me and and I look up to him and
28:51
it's a mutual but you, you were able.
28:53
He was also a participant in the first one in Apex.
28:57
Yeah, OK. Very cool.
28:59
And I, and again, I reached out and I said I don't know how you
29:01
did this, but you know, and he he, he pretty much said, yeah, I
29:05
gotcha. And ironically, the curator and
29:08
I did a similar event last year for, for a different individual.
29:12
And then when she decided to do another event, she said I was
29:16
the the first on the list. So it's been it's yeah, I have
29:20
an idea. And, and it's a matter that has,
29:23
you know, it, the task force in this relationship and other key
29:27
components that I've spoke on, they do all originate and, and
29:31
the theme of this Ted X is like humanity reimagined is the
29:36
theme. And so again, it's, I'm going to
29:39
dive deeper into that statement about 3 1/2 hours to find a room
29:44
of men and women that just cared enough to make me feel OK to be
29:48
there, right? And so how do we in a world
29:52
where everybody wants to help, right?
29:54
And everyone thinks that their idea of helping is the best, but
29:57
then gets really resentful and disappointed when their tool
30:00
backfired or their tool wasn't successful, failing to, to take
30:05
any time to understand that person in the 1st place, Right.
30:09
So yeah, I'm, I'm excited. You know, it, it's yeah, it's a
30:12
big, big deal. And.
30:13
You don't rock it, man. I.
30:14
Tell you, yeah. They wait for you.
30:16
They waiting for you? Yeah.
30:17
Yeah, she keeps saying tickets. There's only 100 tickets they're
30:20
selling out there. I know it's so funny because I
30:23
saw it on LinkedIn and myself and Ben, we're talking this
30:27
morning and I was like, oh, I got to be there.
30:29
I got to be there. So we pulled it out this morning
30:31
and I think one of my to do's this afternoon is I'm going to
30:34
I'm going to get us some tickets.
30:35
For sure, November. 6th I think it is.
30:38
Yeah, and it was in October, but now we're in November because we
30:41
she wanted to make sure to get a specific venue and it is a a
30:45
beautiful venue for a Ted X, so I understand.
30:48
But yes, November, November 6th. Very cool.
30:51
Well, I'll be there. I'm sure it's going to be sold
30:53
out. I'm looking forward to it.
30:56
It's going to be awesome. I think we're up to 14 people so
30:58
that that's why she's warning us as 14 people's families might
31:01
sell out. Yeah, 100 hundred tickets.
31:06
I would imagine that goes pretty quick.
31:08
I should make absolutely certain that I buy those tickets this
31:10
afternoon. Thank you again, Justin.
31:14
Yeah, for bringing this. Absolutely.
31:16
Yeah, no, I appreciate it guys. I, I appreciate the, the
31:18
stories, really appreciate what you guys are doing.
31:21
And you know, we'll have to catch up some more offline
31:24
because if there's anything we can do to promote or, you know,
31:26
push things out to the community more, we, we would love to be
31:29
part of that. I mean, I think that's part of
31:31
just, you know, one part of what New Waters is, is, is that, you
31:35
know, we, we really want to help, you know, continue to
31:38
break down that stigma, put that message out there.
31:41
And, and the more people that we can reach, the more people that
31:43
can heal and, and hopefully have some better lives, right?
31:46
And. I just want to say as mayor of
31:47
Apex, thank you for all you're doing.
31:49
This is great and and I love where you live as well.
31:52
That's what I was going to say. And as a as a citizen of Apex, I
31:55
appreciate you, man. All right, guys.
31:57
Well, thank you very much. If you liked what you heard
31:59
today or just want to know more, give us a call on 9196708119 or
32:05
visit us at newwatersrecovery.com.
32:08
Thank you.