Latest / Behavioral Health Brief / Ep. 4 | Recovery In Action: Turning Second Chances Into Hope, Purpose And Change

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Ep. 4 | Recovery In Action: Turning Second Chances Into Hope, Purpose And Change · Behavioral Health Brief

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Behavioral Health Brief.
0:09
Speaker 2: I'm Jim Callahan, CEO of Turned Behavioral Health Services, an
0:14
Speaker 2: organization driven by one clear mission, improving lives. I often
0:19
Speaker 2: ask myself, is there anything more important than that?
0:22
Speaker 1: My belief is this, when.
0:24
Speaker 2: Improving lives guides are decisions, stronger systems, and healthier communities followed.
0:32
Speaker 2: That is the hope behind this podcast. Today's episode is
0:36
Speaker 2: a comeback story about what it means to rebuild your
0:39
Speaker 2: life and to turn that journey into purpose. Because for many,
0:45
Speaker 2: incarceration and addiction can feel like an ending, but sometimes
0:50
Speaker 2: they become a turning point, a chance to rebuild, a
0:53
Speaker 2: chance to grow, and ultimately a chance to help others
0:57
Speaker 2: find their way forward. And that's exactly the story we're
1:02
Speaker 2: exploring today. Joining us today, Sharing Hill, our program manager
1:08
Speaker 2: at turn In Casselroy and Bakersfield.
1:11
Speaker 1: Welcome.
1:11
Speaker 2: We're so excited that you're here today and for our
1:14
Speaker 2: audience out there, are Sharing has twenty six years we
1:18
Speaker 2: turned long standing commitment to the work.
1:21
Speaker 1: We're really glad that.
1:22
Speaker 2: You're here today to share your lived experience and talk
1:25
Speaker 2: about addiction and homelessness and incarceration and recovery as a
1:29
Speaker 2: turning point in your life and stability and purpose and
1:34
Speaker 2: supporting others that you do every day in your job.
1:38
Speaker 1: I know this is a personal story for you, but
1:40
Speaker 1: i'd really like to share.
1:42
Speaker 2: Have you shared today from the beginning of your life
1:46
Speaker 2: and through recovery and what your experience has been.
1:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you Jim for having me here. I love
1:54
Speaker 3: I appreciate the opportunity to be able to share my story.
1:58
Speaker 3: That was a promise that I'm when I got into recovery,
2:04
Speaker 3: that I wouldn't shy away from that sharing my story
2:07
Speaker 3: with other people and hopes that it would help others.
2:11
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, that's terrific.
2:12
Speaker 3: So my story basically begins. I was born in Pensacola, Florida,
2:17
Speaker 3: but raised in the city of Compton. And you know,
2:23
Speaker 3: just saying that sometimes that you're raised in Compton, the
2:29
Speaker 3: the look per se that you get from some people, right,
2:34
Speaker 3: So in Compton for me, you know, being raised by
2:38
Speaker 3: two beautiful people married forty four years. When you hear
2:44
Speaker 3: Compton and all the things that the news talked about
2:47
Speaker 3: in Compton, for me, it was very different. It's just home.
2:51
Speaker 3: It was neighbors that I absolutely loved and adored. It
2:54
Speaker 3: was just the environment that I was in. Yes, there
2:58
Speaker 3: were gains, that was the and all the other items
3:02
Speaker 3: that go along with that. But in our home there
3:05
Speaker 3: was a lot of stability, right. And I was very
3:08
Speaker 3: fortunate to have two parents because in Compton, where I
3:13
Speaker 3: grew up, that wasn't basically the norm, right.
3:17
Speaker 1: It was not the norm, It was not the interesting.
3:20
Speaker 3: Right. You had a lot of single moms and I
3:22
Speaker 3: can think of some single dads, right, And so my
3:25
Speaker 3: home looked a little bit different than other people's home
3:28
Speaker 3: because there was always supervision, right, And so I always
3:32
Speaker 3: wanted to be in the unsupervised house and I wanted
3:37
Speaker 3: to just I thought that that looked like freedom to me.
3:41
Speaker 3: I thought that I had too many rules.
3:43
Speaker 1: You know.
3:43
Speaker 3: My parents was too difficult. They wanted to know everything.
3:47
Speaker 3: And so in hindsight, I understand that that was a
3:51
Speaker 3: good thing. But at the age of twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,
3:56
Speaker 3: you're like, not necessarily right, And so you know, I
4:01
Speaker 3: was always a good student until I met alcohol at
4:07
Speaker 3: an early age years old thirteen. I can remember remember
4:13
Speaker 3: it distinctly when I was introduced to alcohol. And so
4:17
Speaker 3: today I know that alcohol is a gateway to other things, right,
4:21
Speaker 3: because that lve me. I don't didn't have an addiction
4:25
Speaker 3: just to alcohol, addiction to crack, cocaine and any other
4:30
Speaker 3: thing you gave me. Really, you know, in the circles
4:34
Speaker 3: that I travel in, we try we call those people
4:37
Speaker 3: like trash cans because it doesn't really matter what the
4:40
Speaker 3: drug is right. If it's going to get you high,
4:44
Speaker 3: then is it right?
4:45
Speaker 2: And I think we see that on our streets every
4:47
Speaker 2: day in the business that we're in, what we deliver
4:52
Speaker 2: and so very.
4:54
Speaker 1: Interesting, yes, and so.
4:58
Speaker 3: You know, fast forwarding left home at eighteen years old,
5:02
Speaker 3: and that took me to multiple places. I have five
5:07
Speaker 3: other siblings that I grew up with, and I ended
5:10
Speaker 3: up staying with the older sister right, who wanted to
5:14
Speaker 3: support me. Right, that didn't work. And so I want
5:19
Speaker 3: to say that I've always felt like that supervision that
5:23
Speaker 3: I had, I never felt free, like right, And I
5:27
Speaker 3: understand today that my freedom that I was searching for
5:31
Speaker 3: had nothing to do with all those things I just
5:34
Speaker 3: described to you. It has always been a feeling that
5:37
Speaker 3: I've had inside myself as a young age that that
5:43
Speaker 3: I always wanted to do what I wanted to do
5:45
Speaker 3: when I wanted to do it.
5:47
Speaker 1: Right, and not be held accountable, and.
5:49
Speaker 3: Not be held accountable well, and not really knowing that
5:53
Speaker 3: the things that I wanted to do were wrong. They
5:55
Speaker 3: were fun.
5:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, I experienced that in my life.
5:59
Speaker 2: I mean, I relate to you you're describing this today
6:02
Speaker 2: because I had some of those similar experiences that those
6:06
Speaker 2: age I wanted to had a mom and a dad,
6:08
Speaker 2: but I didn't want to play by the rules sometimes, yes,
6:11
Speaker 2: so interesting.
6:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, I never want to play by the rules. And
6:17
Speaker 3: so how I got incarcerated. I've been incarcerated multiple times,
6:24
Speaker 3: but jill is very different than prison incarceration. So when
6:29
Speaker 3: you how I became home as was, drugs just took
6:32
Speaker 3: me there. I met drugs and alcohol. I worked for
6:35
Speaker 3: the county for nine years, so and I drank all through.
6:39
Speaker 1: That County of Los Angeles.
6:40
Speaker 3: I worked, and I worked in the human resources department,
6:45
Speaker 3: and I drank throughout that whole career, right, and then
6:51
Speaker 3: when I was introduced to crack cocaine, long story, won't
6:54
Speaker 3: get into it. I got introduced, right, So, once I
6:57
Speaker 3: got introduced to crack cocaine, that was different. It's very different.
7:03
Speaker 3: It was very different for me because work was no
7:06
Speaker 3: longer important. I was no longer able to pull myself together.
7:11
Speaker 3: I no longer wanted to pay my rent. I no
7:13
Speaker 3: longer wanted to pay my car note because all I
7:16
Speaker 3: wanted to do that addiction is just get high.
7:20
Speaker 2: Right now, must have been overwhelming for you, right, I mean,
7:25
Speaker 2: were you still living with your sister.
7:27
Speaker 1: At the time? No?
7:28
Speaker 3: No, by this time, I've moved on. Right. There's a
7:32
Speaker 3: whole big story between that, right.
7:37
Speaker 2: But it.
7:40
Speaker 3: You say it's overwhelming, but when you're in it, it
7:44
Speaker 3: doesn't necessarily feel overwhelming.
7:47
Speaker 1: Describe that thing.
7:48
Speaker 3: So that feeling is a freedom. So I've always told you.
7:51
Speaker 3: I told you abouha, I wanted to be free, right, Yes,
7:54
Speaker 3: crack cocaine made me feel that way. So it tapped
7:57
Speaker 3: into something that I already had inside him, right, And
8:01
Speaker 3: so the freedom for me looked like not having to work,
8:06
Speaker 3: not having to be responsible. And by this time, told you,
8:09
Speaker 3: I missed the whole story. I got a wonderful child
8:12
Speaker 3: in my life, right, right. So I have a young
8:16
Speaker 3: a son, his name is Martin, and I'm I'm I'm
8:22
Speaker 3: being a mom, right, But then when i'm and I'm drinking, right,
8:27
Speaker 3: I'm being a mom. I'm drinking and I wouldn't say
8:30
Speaker 3: I was a functioning alcoholic, but it hadn't gotten to
8:33
Speaker 3: the point where I couldn't go to work and provide
8:36
Speaker 3: right and still be able to be a mom.
8:39
Speaker 2: Right.
8:39
Speaker 3: But when crack cocaine, when I met that, that that
8:43
Speaker 3: didn't matter anymore. So the horrible thing about crack cocaine
8:47
Speaker 3: is in any drug addiction, right, even alcoholism. It just
8:52
Speaker 3: didn't do me that way, but it does a lot
8:54
Speaker 3: of people that way. The thing about it is that's
8:58
Speaker 3: the only thing that's important at that time, and no
9:01
Speaker 3: matter how much you love your your child or your children,
9:05
Speaker 3: your parents, your siblings, your family, your friends, it dominates,
9:12
Speaker 3: It takes over all of that. It's only one thing
9:17
Speaker 3: that I need to be okay, and that's whatever that
9:21
Speaker 3: drug is. And for me, it just happened to be crack. Okay.
9:24
Speaker 1: Wow.
9:24
Speaker 3: So after losing all of those items because you they
9:28
Speaker 3: don't let you stay in the apartments, jim, if you
9:30
Speaker 3: don't pay the rent, yeah, and they don't let you
9:33
Speaker 3: keep your car right, right. And so in that time
9:36
Speaker 3: I had a lot of people who wanted to help me,
9:38
Speaker 3: and I remember distinctly a woman that I worked with
9:41
Speaker 3: that I was real close with while I still have
9:44
Speaker 3: my job. She said that I could go and get
9:46
Speaker 3: services and still keep my job. And I was so
9:49
Speaker 3: offended by her saying that I had a problem.
9:52
Speaker 1: Right, you weren't realizing you were an acknowledging you.
9:55
Speaker 3: Did not, and I didn't realize I looked different. I
9:59
Speaker 3: was no longer putting my myself together the way that
10:01
Speaker 3: I normally did. And it was recognizable to all of
10:05
Speaker 3: my peers, but for me it was not. So in
10:08
Speaker 3: the end, I end up losing everything. My son ended
10:11
Speaker 3: up going into the system. Thus I don't have anything.
10:14
Speaker 2: Child and the protective services, yes CBS services.
10:18
Speaker 3: Right, had siblings where he you know, tried to do
10:21
Speaker 3: what they needed to do, but it just didn't work out.
10:24
Speaker 3: That's where he ended up being. And I was just
10:28
Speaker 3: out there. So at this time, I'm in West Covina
10:34
Speaker 3: area La Puente, and I'm just out on the streets
10:40
Speaker 3: and I'm chasing drugs and alcoholic.
10:42
Speaker 1: So I have a question, Yes, what does it feel
10:45
Speaker 1: like for you today to share that story?
10:49
Speaker 2: When you think back to that time and then you're
10:52
Speaker 2: sharing it today, what are the feelings that come up.
10:56
Speaker 3: With the same feelings that you tap into those same
10:59
Speaker 3: feelings that you felt when you were there, which comes
11:01
Speaker 3: with shame, guilt, not feeling good enough, not feeling like
11:07
Speaker 3: society cares about you. All those feelings are right there
11:11
Speaker 3: right now, yeah, right, so you tap into all of that.
11:14
Speaker 3: The beautiful thing for me today is that I can
11:18
Speaker 3: tap into that and I don't have to stay there,
11:20
Speaker 3: yeah right, because of my recovery. Right, So I can
11:24
Speaker 3: go there share that feeling with people, and I feel
11:29
Speaker 3: like that part of my life is healed, right, I
11:32
Speaker 3: feel like I can use that to help other people.
11:36
Speaker 3: So I share my story a lot of times with
11:38
Speaker 3: people because I do mentor people, I sponsor people. I
11:43
Speaker 3: do a lot of things outside of what I do
11:46
Speaker 3: on a regular basis at work, which is like a
11:49
Speaker 3: huge job.
11:50
Speaker 2: But that keep you engaged in the process of recovery, right,
11:53
Speaker 2: I mean, because you're always in recovery, I am, and so,
11:57
Speaker 2: but that helps you stay engaged when you're helping those
11:59
Speaker 2: people people, it does, and uh, you know with that,
12:03
Speaker 2: So maybe we could talk more about your recovery and
12:06
Speaker 2: when that started for you, the recovery, Yeah, in your
12:10
Speaker 2: life and kind of where you were and because right
12:13
Speaker 2: now where you're in, you were in Compton still at
12:16
Speaker 2: La Puente in some of.
12:17
Speaker 3: Those areas well. I told you, no, I've been to
12:21
Speaker 3: La I've been to Pasadena, West Coviina and La Poente
12:25
Speaker 3: in the time I just talked to you. Oh wow,
12:27
Speaker 3: I haven't been in one place. I'm no longer in
12:30
Speaker 3: Compton I had. I never really went back to Compton.
12:34
Speaker 3: I went back to take care of my dad, but
12:35
Speaker 3: I never really really went back to Content. Okay, right,
12:39
Speaker 3: I lived there again for another year. So my recovery started,
12:42
Speaker 3: first of all, being homeless for approximately seven years somewhere
12:47
Speaker 3: around there.
12:48
Speaker 1: Really, I never knew that here, and that's amazing. It
12:51
Speaker 1: is wow, it.
12:52
Speaker 3: Is amazing, right that I surprised.
12:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, this is just exactly what we want
12:58
Speaker 2: to be talking about today. For our audience out there,
13:00
Speaker 2: to hear the lived experience that you bring to our
13:04
Speaker 2: organization and be able to share it with others.
13:06
Speaker 1: It's it's just it just warms my heart to be
13:09
Speaker 1: able to hear it.
13:10
Speaker 3: I think too, though, Before that, Jim, is very important
13:13
Speaker 3: for people to understand. I think it's important for people
13:17
Speaker 3: to understand that there is no certain type of people.
13:21
Speaker 3: So it doesn't matter whether you were raised by a
13:24
Speaker 3: single mom, had two parents, was rich, poor, what your
13:29
Speaker 3: environment is. Addiction doesn't care. You could be the president.
13:34
Speaker 3: It doesn't take you out if you have that thing
13:40
Speaker 3: to be an addict. Right, Some people can use and
13:43
Speaker 3: drink alcohol, social media. I'm not mad at them. I
13:46
Speaker 3: can't do it. I am abstinentist from all things. My
13:51
Speaker 3: only thing that I have left is kafeine. I have it,
13:54
Speaker 3: so I'm gonna take a sip of that. So I
14:01
Speaker 3: think it's important to share where you come from in
14:04
Speaker 3: your environment and so that other people can identify. Right. So,
14:10
Speaker 3: now that I've been homeless, right, only homeless because of
14:15
Speaker 3: my addiction. I am not an addict because of anything
14:19
Speaker 3: that happened to me in my environment. Yes, it might
14:21
Speaker 3: have played a part because it was readily available and
14:25
Speaker 3: people are introducing it to you. But that's not why
14:27
Speaker 3: I'm an addict. It's not because my parents were bad parents.
14:31
Speaker 3: That's not why.
14:33
Speaker 2: Interesting because you described it as an inside job, it
14:37
Speaker 2: is interesting.
14:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is a very it's an inside job and
14:41
Speaker 3: a lifetime commitment to recovery. So I became homeless just
14:46
Speaker 3: by default of not having anything right, and so I
14:50
Speaker 3: begin to be out on the streets and the hustle.
14:53
Speaker 3: That's a whole nother podcast about what hustling needs. But hustling,
14:57
Speaker 3: and it's also in the addiction, right, and hustling is
15:01
Speaker 3: something that I wasn't good at on the street.
15:04
Speaker 1: Describe hustling.
15:05
Speaker 3: So hustling is hustling is selling drugs. Hustling is it's
15:13
Speaker 3: selling drugs. It's selling whatever commodity you to have that
15:18
Speaker 3: people are interested in, and that may be the paraphernalia
15:22
Speaker 3: for drugs. That includes prostitution. It just includes an array
15:28
Speaker 3: of things, and it includes people being up all night long.
15:33
Speaker 3: I remember being out and being homeless gym and I'm
15:36
Speaker 3: out at three o'clock in the morning, right, And I'm
15:40
Speaker 3: honestly thinking that there is nothing wrong with that. I'm
15:43
Speaker 3: just telling you my mindset now, right, three o'clock in
15:48
Speaker 3: the morning. And if the police stops you, I'm wondering,
15:51
Speaker 3: why are you bothering?
15:53
Speaker 1: Wow?
15:54
Speaker 3: Now I see people out at three o'clock in the morning,
15:58
Speaker 3: It looks strange, right, Yeah, who's out standing outside at
16:02
Speaker 3: three o'clock in the morning? Right? But that think game
16:06
Speaker 3: was very different, like why used to tell the police
16:09
Speaker 3: why are you bothering me? I'm not bothering anybody, but
16:13
Speaker 3: I'm suspect just because I'm about three o'clock. Yeah, so
16:16
Speaker 3: today when I see people out at three o'clock in
16:18
Speaker 3: the morning, I know exactly what you're doing. You're homeless
16:22
Speaker 3: usually they're homeless, or you're selling drugs, or you're providing
16:27
Speaker 3: some type of service to people who are out looking
16:30
Speaker 3: for that service at three o'clock in the morning.
16:32
Speaker 2: You know, it's really interesting just to bring a little
16:35
Speaker 2: perspective to that what you're saying. Wendy and I were
16:38
Speaker 2: in baker not Bakersfield, we were in San Bernardino, Okay,
16:41
Speaker 2: and we were looking for the new act program location
16:45
Speaker 2: and the UI program. Yeah, and where we wanted to
16:48
Speaker 2: locate them was right where all our type of client
16:50
Speaker 2: tele was.
16:51
Speaker 3: Yeah.
16:51
Speaker 2: Two o'clock in the afternoon, there's nobody there, right become five,
16:55
Speaker 2: six o'clock, seven o'clock in the evening time, towards dark.
16:59
Speaker 1: As we're dry down.
17:01
Speaker 2: The main boulevard on Highland in San Bernardino, everybody's coming
17:05
Speaker 2: out there. What you're just describing, the homeless are coming
17:08
Speaker 2: out because the businesses are closing down. And so we
17:11
Speaker 2: picked our location where the largest group of clients were,
17:15
Speaker 2: So I understand hearing from your perspective what was going
17:18
Speaker 2: on in those moments when we were looking to relocate
17:23
Speaker 2: our ACTS program and be as close to clients as
17:26
Speaker 2: we can.
17:26
Speaker 3: Right, And so we're talking early nineteen ninety, So there
17:30
Speaker 3: is not a lot of services that I know, right,
17:34
Speaker 3: I don't know about services. I don't know anything about
17:37
Speaker 3: recovery or anything at this point, hadn't heard of it,
17:42
Speaker 3: didn't really know anything about addiction. Just happened to roll
17:45
Speaker 3: into it. One of my favorite stories to tell before
17:50
Speaker 3: I left being homeless was standing on the corner of
17:54
Speaker 3: Georgia and Olympic, and right now, that's about approximately where
17:57
Speaker 3: the Staple Center is.
17:58
Speaker 1: Ah really okay.
18:00
Speaker 3: Talking that area, And before that area, I actually was
18:03
Speaker 3: on Fifth and Crocker downtown LA, and I moved over
18:08
Speaker 3: to Georgia and Olympic, which is in proximity, some miles
18:13
Speaker 3: away from each other, in the hopes that I wouldn't
18:16
Speaker 3: be in that Fifth and Crocker area because it was
18:18
Speaker 3: really really dangerous, a lot of death killings, people jumping
18:22
Speaker 3: out of buildings, everybody getting high. And the funny thing
18:26
Speaker 3: about that gym is that there's a police station right
18:28
Speaker 3: in the center of that right on Sixth Street. Right,
18:32
Speaker 3: So I move over Georgia and Olympic and there is
18:39
Speaker 3: no services, so you're only talking about hotels, liquor stores,
18:43
Speaker 3: a business on one corner. So you got two hotels,
18:48
Speaker 3: one business on the other corner and a liquor store
18:51
Speaker 3: on the other one. So that's my proximity. Now I'm
18:54
Speaker 3: not leaving that area too much. I just stay in
18:57
Speaker 3: that area for years.
18:59
Speaker 2: When did you end up becoming incarcerated? Then in this
19:02
Speaker 2: journey that you're sharing.
19:03
Speaker 3: So my last time I was incarcerated, which I told you,
19:06
Speaker 3: been to jail A simple brand back then those days. Right,
19:11
Speaker 3: I was standing on the corner and this is I
19:15
Speaker 3: because I love I love police, right, and this is
19:20
Speaker 3: one of the reasons why, because they just hold I
19:22
Speaker 3: just have a dear place for them in my heart.
19:25
Speaker 3: I'm standing on the corner and there's a police officer
19:27
Speaker 3: by the name of Officer Williams. I've never got an
19:30
Speaker 3: opportunity to see him again. Probably wouldn't know him if
19:33
Speaker 3: I met him, but I know that he was approximately
19:35
Speaker 3: he was over six feet tall, and we're standing on
19:39
Speaker 3: the corner together. He has arrested me several times because
19:42
Speaker 3: that's his beat, right, And we're standing on the corner
19:45
Speaker 3: and I'm standing next to him, and by this time,
19:48
Speaker 3: I am you would not recognize me. So the woman
19:52
Speaker 3: that sits before you the day is nowhere near the
19:56
Speaker 3: woman that was standing there at that corner that day.
20:00
Speaker 3: Shades darker because that's what cracked cocaine and alcohol did to
20:03
Speaker 3: my skin. Clothing very different, a T shirt, maybe a
20:09
Speaker 3: pair of shorts on and just standing there maybe with
20:13
Speaker 3: some tenis shoes on, and he's talking to me, right,
20:16
Speaker 3: and he was a very nice man. He just would
20:20
Speaker 3: arrest me all the time, right, So not just me,
20:23
Speaker 3: but other people. And I forget what we were talking about.
20:28
Speaker 3: But for one moment, I forgot where I was and
20:33
Speaker 3: what that looked like for me was I forgot that
20:36
Speaker 3: I was homeless and that I was on Georgia and
20:38
Speaker 3: the Olympics because of whatever we were talking about took
20:42
Speaker 3: me out of that for a minute. He looked down
20:45
Speaker 3: at me, the tall man. I looked up at him,
20:48
Speaker 3: and he said, what are you doing here? And I
20:53
Speaker 3: just started crying because the truth of the matter is, Jim,
20:58
Speaker 3: that that I I told him I don't know, and
21:01
Speaker 3: that was the first time that I give an honest answer,
21:05
Speaker 3: That is the first time in that whole time that
21:08
Speaker 3: I just told you about me.
21:09
Speaker 1: I'm that seven year window.
21:11
Speaker 3: He anybody talked to me as if I was a
21:14
Speaker 3: human being and looked at me as if I was
21:19
Speaker 3: more than a crackhead and a homeless person on the street.
21:24
Speaker 3: So even though I don't have a car all of
21:27
Speaker 3: that stuff, homelessness is homelessness. And when you're homeless, people
21:31
Speaker 3: don't see you. I make it a point to see
21:34
Speaker 3: people today. People don't see you. They walk by you,
21:37
Speaker 3: they look at your clothing, they look at how you
21:41
Speaker 3: what you look like, and they sum you all up
21:44
Speaker 3: as nothing.
21:45
Speaker 2: I can remember when I first was with TURNED at
21:49
Speaker 2: the time MHS, I used to look at homeless people
21:52
Speaker 2: on the sidewalk completely differently until my eyes were open
21:56
Speaker 2: and I heard stories like yours, probably your story from
21:59
Speaker 2: years ago when we were working on fundraising together and
22:02
Speaker 2: you were sharing your story now and that at that
22:06
Speaker 2: point in time, a light switch clicked.
22:08
Speaker 1: On for me. Those are human beings that are on
22:10
Speaker 1: the corner and they need help.
22:12
Speaker 2: And so that's why my passion for MHS at the
22:15
Speaker 2: time and now TURN is here because we improve lives every.
22:20
Speaker 3: Day every day.
22:22
Speaker 2: Yes, we're continuing our conversation with Sharon Hill, program manager
22:27
Speaker 2: at CARSRAA would turned behavioral health services if you could
22:31
Speaker 2: just explain after you talked to the police officer on
22:35
Speaker 2: Georgia and Olympic what transpired for you next?
22:39
Speaker 1: Was that the incarceration part of your life?
22:41
Speaker 3: That was my last incarceration. That's the last time I
22:44
Speaker 3: remember actually being engaged with a police officer. He didn't
22:49
Speaker 3: take me to jail, but I went to jail immediately after,
22:53
Speaker 3: and because I have been to jail so frequently, eventually
22:58
Speaker 3: they gave me a print prison. Right.
23:00
Speaker 1: Oh, so you were actually in the state system.
23:03
Speaker 3: I did. I did fifteen months in the state system.
23:06
Speaker 3: So for me, where recovery started was I believed that day, right,
23:16
Speaker 3: I realized that I wasn't like where I was, was
23:21
Speaker 3: not who I was. It woke something up in me,
23:24
Speaker 3: I believe, Right.
23:25
Speaker 1: What do you think that was that woke it up?
23:28
Speaker 1: With the gentleman who was talking to the police officers.
23:32
Speaker 3: When you're homeless and you're using drugs, right, even if
23:35
Speaker 3: you're not homeless, it's a whole different world, right, It's
23:41
Speaker 3: not the world that I came from. I come from
23:44
Speaker 3: a normal world with parents who loved me, siblings who
23:47
Speaker 3: loved me. But when you make that decision, or that
23:51
Speaker 3: decision I say, chose me right, using drugs and alcohol
23:55
Speaker 3: just having fun turned into something I never would have
23:58
Speaker 3: dreamed of, right, And thus I ended up on that
24:02
Speaker 3: road right. So that particular day, I have never forgot
24:05
Speaker 3: that conversation with that with that.
24:07
Speaker 1: Police And you said earlier you never ran into him again.
24:12
Speaker 3: I never ran into him again. But I did make
24:14
Speaker 3: amends to a police officer, but it was not him,
24:17
Speaker 3: and I did that because that's a part of my recovery.
24:20
Speaker 3: But for me, afterwards, I ended up going to prison.
24:23
Speaker 3: Writing you hear the stories about what I had seen
24:26
Speaker 3: on TV, you know, on movies and that kind of stuff.
24:30
Speaker 3: So you have this whole idea about what prison is
24:33
Speaker 3: going to be. You have that fear of going to prison,
24:37
Speaker 3: you have that fear of having to defend yourself, and
24:41
Speaker 3: just the whole thing's there, and so I was afraid
24:45
Speaker 3: to go to prison. I am. I just want to
24:48
Speaker 3: say I'm a blessed woman because there are so many
24:51
Speaker 3: things that I believe that I didn't get to experience.
24:55
Speaker 3: Because of that blessing over my life and even in
25:00
Speaker 3: my homelessness. There are scenes that happen to other people
25:03
Speaker 3: that did not happen to me. There are scenes that
25:06
Speaker 3: I came close to happening to me, and for some reason,
25:09
Speaker 3: they didn't happen to me. I don't have a reason
25:12
Speaker 3: for those things other than my relationship with God, so
25:16
Speaker 3: I'll just say that. And so that's a huge part
25:19
Speaker 3: of my life. But when I got incarcerated, I didn't
25:24
Speaker 3: go to what they call the antique part of it.
25:28
Speaker 3: I immediately went to the yard. That's usually not the
25:32
Speaker 3: way it goes right, usually locked up for a period
25:35
Speaker 3: of time. So I went to c cw F. Right,
25:41
Speaker 3: what's the California Correction for Women Women's facility California Corrections
25:50
Speaker 3: Women's Facility in northern California. Right, So they said me, no,
25:54
Speaker 3: northern California. I live in southern California. And so I
25:58
Speaker 3: had a bright idea, thinking that if I tell them
26:02
Speaker 3: that I have as substance abuse problem, because I heard
26:06
Speaker 3: about the program which was called Fever Free a CIW
26:10
Speaker 3: at that time, there was no program at CCWF at
26:14
Speaker 3: that time. There is now wasn't then right, So I
26:20
Speaker 3: tell that that that lie, I want to go to
26:24
Speaker 3: treatment and right to the correction counselor. And so they
26:28
Speaker 3: sent me down there. Right, I'm thinking I'm being.
26:31
Speaker 1: Smart to do to southern California.
26:33
Speaker 3: To southern California. California Institute for Women is in southern California.
26:38
Speaker 3: The hope is that I'm going to get a visit
26:40
Speaker 3: from my family and and and to just make it
26:44
Speaker 3: easier for them to come see me. Well, I'm still
26:47
Speaker 3: waiting for that visit for my family. My siblings, like,
26:51
Speaker 3: we don't come to prison, right, yeah, And so they
26:55
Speaker 3: never did. They supported me, right, but they never came
26:59
Speaker 3: to prison, and they and support me with big money
27:01
Speaker 3: or anythy just made sure my needs was mad.
27:03
Speaker 2: Right.
27:04
Speaker 3: And so when I went to c i W. California
27:08
Speaker 3: Institute for Women, I did actually get into that program
27:12
Speaker 3: forever free. M Ah, just turn it's the program that
27:17
Speaker 3: ran that nice that treatment right.
27:20
Speaker 1: Nice started that long ago for you.
27:25
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, my relationship with this company started then. I
27:29
Speaker 3: was not an employee. I was a person seeking help.
27:33
Speaker 1: Right, What was that day like for you? Decided to
27:38
Speaker 1: seek help? And like I.
27:40
Speaker 3: Said, I thought it was being smart Jim. Yeah, I
27:43
Speaker 3: thought I was one more time me and manipulative running
27:46
Speaker 3: game right, jokes on me, Right, Yeah, easier for myself,
27:54
Speaker 3: thinking I'm gonna get a visit. And so when I
27:56
Speaker 3: got introduced to treatment after they put me in, I
27:59
Speaker 3: thought I actually escaped, but I ended up going to treatment.
28:03
Speaker 3: And I'll tell you, just like talking to you today, right,
28:11
Speaker 3: and you're the CEO of turn right, you have the.
28:14
Speaker 1: Honor of being that. It's truly an honor.
28:18
Speaker 3: Thank you for being that. But your compassion right is
28:22
Speaker 3: just a continuation of what it was here prior to
28:25
Speaker 3: you getting here. So the people in the worked in
28:30
Speaker 3: the prison, right, were the people who opened my eyes right.
28:35
Speaker 3: Without them, I wasn't one to talk a lot. I
28:40
Speaker 3: wasn't one to participate. I did participate though I was listening, right,
28:47
Speaker 3: I was playing, paying close attention to what they were
28:50
Speaker 3: saying to me. I got introduced to the twelve step
28:52
Speaker 3: fellowship there. But I'm gonna tell you the most important
28:55
Speaker 3: thing that I got introduced again to because I come
28:59
Speaker 3: from a in kind family, right, was love.
29:03
Speaker 1: Interesting.
29:04
Speaker 3: The program director's name was Dick Jeski. Every staff person there,
29:11
Speaker 3: whether they were in recovery or not, in recovery impact
29:15
Speaker 3: on my life, and that's the beginning to you listening,
29:23
Speaker 3: trusting that person to even tell you the truth. They
29:26
Speaker 3: did not lie to me, right, I got consequences for actions.
29:31
Speaker 3: When I did things I wasn't supposed to do in
29:33
Speaker 3: the program thinking I'm smart, I got consequences for those actions.
29:39
Speaker 3: So they talked re taught me about life, that life
29:43
Speaker 3: is full of people that are loving, There is full
29:47
Speaker 3: of people that are kind, It's full of people who
29:50
Speaker 3: care about you. But that doesn't mean that there's no
29:56
Speaker 3: consequences to my actions. And they gave me my consequences
30:01
Speaker 3: and they were not mean about it, and they were
30:03
Speaker 3: loving and kind, and I had to do the consequences.
30:07
Speaker 3: Didn't like it, but I did, so I got introduced
30:09
Speaker 3: to recovery. The groups were amazing because we talked about
30:16
Speaker 3: things that I don't even know if I was put
30:20
Speaker 3: words to those things like coping skills and triggers and
30:24
Speaker 3: how important it was for me to pay attention to
30:28
Speaker 3: relapse and how that could happen. And one of my
30:32
Speaker 3: favorite things that we did at that program was practice
30:35
Speaker 3: the word how to say no, So we actually roll
30:38
Speaker 3: models for me to say no to drugs. So we
30:44
Speaker 3: actually roll model that. So we would get up and
30:47
Speaker 3: I remember the counselor. Her name was Dorothy, and she
30:50
Speaker 3: was fantastic, And we would get up and so we
30:54
Speaker 3: would pretend we're walking down the street and you would
30:57
Speaker 3: offer me some drugs and I would say no. And
31:00
Speaker 3: I must have said no in that program. I thought
31:03
Speaker 3: that was the craziest thing. I'm like, how is this
31:06
Speaker 3: going to help me? Right, I'm gonna tell you, Jim.
31:09
Speaker 3: So I leave, I leave CIW, I parole and I
31:15
Speaker 3: go into treatment in Long Beach. And the program was
31:19
Speaker 3: called at the time Sobriety House. They have a new
31:21
Speaker 3: name called Safe Refuge, right. And so I went to
31:26
Speaker 3: the Sobriety House. And the reason why I went there
31:29
Speaker 3: is because I could not go to my siblings' home.
31:32
Speaker 3: I needed a place to stay can the familiar. They
31:35
Speaker 3: convinced me that I could not go back to the familiar,
31:39
Speaker 3: because when I, like I told you, when I went
31:41
Speaker 3: to jail, I would go back to the same thing
31:42
Speaker 3: all the time. And I may last a day without using,
31:46
Speaker 3: but I never lasted longer than that.
31:48
Speaker 2: Have a quick question, did you ever later on in
31:52
Speaker 2: your life meet or run into the people that you
31:55
Speaker 2: worked with or that you that helped you through your
31:58
Speaker 2: recovery period while you were incarcerated.
32:00
Speaker 3: It is very interesting that you asked me that because
32:03
Speaker 3: I have a relationship with Dick Jessky.
32:05
Speaker 1: Oh nice.
32:06
Speaker 3: Absolutely, so. Dick Jeski was in recovery hisself, and so
32:10
Speaker 3: when I first was released parole from prison, I was
32:15
Speaker 3: in that program. And once I left that program, Dick
32:19
Speaker 3: Jeski would come take a what we call a cake
32:22
Speaker 3: in the twelve step recovery where we would celebrate years
32:25
Speaker 3: of being sober. He would come to Seal Beach, which
32:29
Speaker 3: is right next to Long Beach, and he would come
32:31
Speaker 3: take a cake, and me and my BFF we would
32:34
Speaker 3: go over there and meet him and watch him take
32:37
Speaker 3: a cake. He was an inspiration to me. I've talked
32:40
Speaker 3: to him within the last couple of months.
32:42
Speaker 1: Oh great, Yes, so he's.
32:44
Speaker 3: Still a part of my life. And the other person
32:47
Speaker 3: that is a part of my life you guys did
32:50
Speaker 3: that recently was when I started working at the FCRP.
32:56
Speaker 3: You guys gave my new VP supervisor is Rena was
33:00
Speaker 3: there when I was in that program.
33:02
Speaker 1: At the she was on the treatment team. She was
33:06
Speaker 1: the staff when you were in the program.
33:08
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Oh my goodness, and Ree I've never got a
33:12
Speaker 3: chance to work with each other. We've always had a connection,
33:15
Speaker 3: but we've always worked in two different areas, like because
33:19
Speaker 3: she does do UI normally right, right, but just recently
33:23
Speaker 3: getting opportunity to work with her, it's just been amazing.
33:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know for the audience.
33:28
Speaker 2: Rena is i think thirty three years now with turned
33:33
Speaker 2: Behavioral Health Services as an employee. We just celebrated her
33:37
Speaker 2: thirtieth year anniversary in the.
33:41
Speaker 1: Rehabilitation field. I mean, it's just behavioral health field.
33:44
Speaker 2: It's amazing to hear this story that you're still connected
33:48
Speaker 2: and now you're working with somebody who actually helped you
33:52
Speaker 2: along in your recovery journey. Absolutely, that's amazing.
33:55
Speaker 3: The connection was amazing because when you went to treatment
33:59
Speaker 3: at that time, that there was funding that came with
34:02
Speaker 3: that CIW I guess with the contract, right, And so
34:06
Speaker 3: that's how we would people who didn't have a place
34:09
Speaker 3: to go or a safe environment would go to the treatment, right.
34:13
Speaker 3: The beautiful things that the staff would come visit us. Yeah,
34:16
Speaker 3: so on a not a quarter I'll say about twice
34:19
Speaker 3: a year they would actually come to the program and
34:22
Speaker 3: encourage us they stayed in touch with us. We went
34:25
Speaker 3: back for reunions at the CIW would put on this
34:29
Speaker 3: big event that we would dress up and have a
34:31
Speaker 3: great time every year, and that connection lasted for a
34:36
Speaker 3: very very long time. There's a few that I don't
34:39
Speaker 3: know where they are, but Dick keeps me posted on
34:41
Speaker 3: them because he still has connection.
34:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, what question. What year was that.
34:48
Speaker 3: I left the institution? April twenty ninth, nineteen ninety three,
34:54
Speaker 3: ninety three, Yes, so I was incarcerrat I became January.
34:59
Speaker 2: Okay, So fast forward a little bit in your career then,
35:03
Speaker 2: so you're out.
35:04
Speaker 1: You've been through out.
35:05
Speaker 3: I started working. My first job was Ross Dress for Less.
35:09
Speaker 3: I was what you call a top gun. One of
35:12
Speaker 3: the things that my dad that was big on was
35:16
Speaker 3: a work ethic, and so he just took pride and
35:20
Speaker 3: everything that he did. He was a big strong man.
35:22
Speaker 3: He'd wore it was a janitor. They call him something
35:26
Speaker 3: else by now, but he took pride in his work.
35:28
Speaker 3: He taught me about taking pride in your work, and
35:32
Speaker 3: that's something that I carry with me from him. And
35:35
Speaker 3: so I got a job at Ross Dress for Less.
35:38
Speaker 3: I promoted fairly quickly, and I would go to stores
35:42
Speaker 3: and open up stores and things like that. So I
35:45
Speaker 3: was just chucking along on my own waist, still being
35:48
Speaker 3: a service to the program that I had graduated for from.
35:51
Speaker 3: I'm living in Long Beach and I got offered a
35:56
Speaker 3: position into treatment. So in the introim of that, I
36:00
Speaker 3: would come back to CIW on a regular basis to
36:03
Speaker 3: speak right.
36:04
Speaker 1: On my own dime experience.
36:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, my own dime take off for go down there
36:10
Speaker 3: and speak to the women. And my whole goal was
36:12
Speaker 3: to encourage them to go to treatment, because that's like,
36:16
Speaker 3: I don't want to go to treatment anymore. I don't
36:17
Speaker 3: want to live with women anymore. I don't want to
36:20
Speaker 3: do all that stuff that they're simply tired of. But
36:23
Speaker 3: there was a parole agent there. His name was Pete Peterson,
36:27
Speaker 3: and he convinced me that my odds would be better
36:30
Speaker 3: if I went to treatment. I had a better I
36:33
Speaker 3: would get a better outcome, right, And so that's why
36:37
Speaker 3: he convinced us, and he would that's all he would
36:39
Speaker 3: talk about is recidivism and how going to treatment says
36:44
Speaker 3: that I think at that time he would say, like,
36:47
Speaker 3: if you go to the treatment, you got ah it
36:50
Speaker 3: was you had a better chance of success was the
36:53
Speaker 3: bottom line.
36:54
Speaker 1: So when did you join MHS. At the time behavior.
36:58
Speaker 3: I worked for the same place that I went through
37:01
Speaker 3: treatment SAF I worked for them for a long time.
37:04
Speaker 3: I was the assistant director. I worked approximately three years,
37:09
Speaker 3: and then in two thousand, right, I got offered the
37:14
Speaker 3: position with m jest right by David Khan, and so
37:20
Speaker 3: I drove from Long Beach to Norcote and then we
37:24
Speaker 3: moved the office moved to San Bernardino. So you're talking
37:27
Speaker 3: two hours at that time years ago, two hours up,
37:31
Speaker 3: two hours back. Work was rewarded. My first job with
37:34
Speaker 3: you guys was I went to the prisons, all of
37:38
Speaker 3: the prisons in California, and I would recruit women. I
37:42
Speaker 3: would tell them about treatment and how they had a
37:44
Speaker 3: better chance. Same thing. That's somebody you told me a
37:47
Speaker 3: better chance of changing their life if they went into
37:50
Speaker 3: a treatment center. And so that has been That was
37:53
Speaker 3: my favorite job in the whole wide world. And so
37:57
Speaker 3: we did that monthly, went into the instantutions on a
38:00
Speaker 3: monthly basis. You connect to the women in the institution,
38:04
Speaker 3: the women that are incarcerated. And we all know what
38:08
Speaker 3: relationship does, right. You have a connection with a person,
38:11
Speaker 3: They're more likely to follow your lead, right. So I
38:14
Speaker 3: was able to convince a lot of women that to
38:17
Speaker 3: come to FOTEP, which is the Female Offender Treatment and
38:20
Speaker 3: Employment Program, which.
38:22
Speaker 1: Ended up why we were in FRESNOE.
38:24
Speaker 3: That absolutely absolutely, so my career started with that. And
38:30
Speaker 3: then one day I took a trip with Wendy so
38:33
Speaker 3: I would I did that for years, and then one
38:35
Speaker 3: day I took with Wendy Broughton down to Fresno and
38:40
Speaker 3: on the way back, Wendy, I guess there was a problem.
38:44
Speaker 3: There was a problem in Fresno with them keeping up
38:46
Speaker 3: program director. And on the way back in the car
38:49
Speaker 3: because she would have me drive her around, I hope
38:52
Speaker 3: you hear me, Wendy, try her around?
38:56
Speaker 1: You do today?
38:57
Speaker 3: But it was a pleasure and it was a pleasure
39:01
Speaker 3: of just being with her. And so on the way
39:04
Speaker 3: back she asked me, do you want that program? And
39:07
Speaker 3: I just fumbled over do I want that program? So
39:10
Speaker 3: we moved. I moved to Fresnel.
39:14
Speaker 2: From Long Beach to maybe just a quick question for
39:18
Speaker 2: our listeners to yay for someone that's really feeling stuck,
39:22
Speaker 2: what would you want them to.
39:23
Speaker 3: Hear if somebody's feeling really stuck. I would ask them
39:28
Speaker 3: to ask for honest observation from the people around them
39:34
Speaker 3: if they think they have a drug and alcohol problem. Yeah,
39:37
Speaker 3: to ask for honest observation from somebody that they.
39:40
Speaker 1: Love and trust, right, amazing.
39:43
Speaker 3: And if they do to get treatment, it's everywhere. You
39:46
Speaker 3: don't have to be impatient, right, but get treatment. And
39:51
Speaker 3: what I can promise that if they go down that road,
39:55
Speaker 3: they have no ideas like the the satisfaction of getting
40:02
Speaker 3: to know yourself without drugs and alcohol, it's amazing.
40:08
Speaker 1: So let's fast forward a bit. So, how many different
40:10
Speaker 1: programs did you have? You worked at your TIP.
40:15
Speaker 3: A female offender Treatment and employment program. As soon as
40:19
Speaker 3: I was there, maybe less than thirty days, they added
40:22
Speaker 3: the drug treatment furlough program, which it went from forty
40:25
Speaker 3: five participants to ninety while I was there in Fresno.
40:30
Speaker 3: So that's Fresno. First, I worked at Instence today still
40:34
Speaker 3: in existence today in the beautiful city of Fresne. And
40:38
Speaker 3: then I went to Bakersville at the Female Rehabilitative Community
40:44
Speaker 3: Correctional Center, which was the f RC Triple C. That
40:49
Speaker 3: place is in the It was the same program that
40:52
Speaker 3: I'm in today as the FCRP. So I did that,
40:56
Speaker 3: and then when I was at the f R Triple C,
41:00
Speaker 3: that program closed down and I ended up working in
41:04
Speaker 3: mental health, which I had never done before, right, And
41:07
Speaker 3: so I worked at the ACT program in Current in
41:10
Speaker 3: Current Action, Yes, in Bakersfield. I was already living in Bankersfield.
41:15
Speaker 3: I had transitioned over there, and I went over there
41:18
Speaker 3: one of my That was a wonderful experience for me
41:23
Speaker 3: to be able to help people that was homeless, to
41:27
Speaker 3: be able to see them. They knew that I seen them.
41:30
Speaker 3: I made sure that they knew that I would. You know,
41:34
Speaker 3: we have a lot of little tricks that we do
41:36
Speaker 3: because when a homeless person is not smelling the best
41:39
Speaker 3: and looking the best, I still wanted to be able
41:42
Speaker 3: to give them eye contact. So we had this little
41:45
Speaker 3: trick where we would put what is it, vix under
41:49
Speaker 3: our nose, just a tap, right, so then you can't
41:51
Speaker 3: smell anything but vix. And so it gives you the
41:54
Speaker 3: opportunity to be able to give them that eye contact,
41:57
Speaker 3: that closeness that they need in order for them to
42:00
Speaker 3: tell you what their needs are and for you to
42:02
Speaker 3: be able to help them. I really enjoyed that work.
42:05
Speaker 2: How was how was that transition from so o oh. I.
42:11
Speaker 3: I struggled in the beginning because going from residential where
42:17
Speaker 3: I had the ability to provide for all of the
42:20
Speaker 3: participants' needs right to a place where you have to
42:26
Speaker 3: locate a participants, So a lot of times you got
42:29
Speaker 3: to go to homeless camps and all of these things,
42:32
Speaker 3: and they deny the services that you're trying to give them.
42:36
Speaker 3: You try to bring things to them depending on the
42:40
Speaker 3: how their psychosis, if they would accept it from you
42:43
Speaker 3: or not think you were the enemy or friend right,
42:49
Speaker 3: And I just loved it. It was a one It
42:52
Speaker 3: was a transition in the sense that now I'm gonna
42:54
Speaker 3: speak to Kerrent County because I lived there. They're trying
42:59
Speaker 3: the hardest thing, the most hardest thing that I ever
43:04
Speaker 3: did was some of the housing opportunities where we are
43:12
Speaker 3: are not the greatest right, So having to I know,
43:18
Speaker 3: I had to get to the place where either they're
43:21
Speaker 3: going to go there or they're going to be homeless,
43:22
Speaker 3: so this is the better choice. But some of the
43:25
Speaker 3: conditions in which they live in I got angry about.
43:31
Speaker 3: I was very upset about it, and I let my
43:33
Speaker 3: program manager know because I had a relationship I can
43:37
Speaker 3: just go in there and just like, this is crazy.
43:41
Speaker 3: I can't believe that they have to pay to live
43:45
Speaker 3: in these conditions, and not only pay to live in
43:49
Speaker 3: these dirty conditions, right, you can imagine rights our businesses.
43:59
Speaker 3: It's not.
44:02
Speaker 2: It is not able to transition these folks out of
44:05
Speaker 2: the encampments into a house that's clean and safe and
44:09
Speaker 2: everything like that.
44:10
Speaker 3: There you hit it. That's and for someone that's been
44:15
Speaker 3: hungry before, I know what it feels like to be hungry,
44:19
Speaker 3: and for some of the places to what they give them.
44:23
Speaker 3: I had a grown man who got a lunchable and
44:26
Speaker 3: I'm not talking a big runchable. I'm talking a small one.
44:30
Speaker 3: And I just was there helping him and it just
44:33
Speaker 3: happened to be lunchtime. And this is when I'm at
44:37
Speaker 3: current action act. He had a mental health and he
44:41
Speaker 3: went in and he said, hold on, I'm gonna go
44:42
Speaker 3: get my lunch. And so he came back with his
44:44
Speaker 3: lunch and he had a lunchable. I'm talking a big man.
44:48
Speaker 3: And I said, oh, is that what they give you
44:50
Speaker 3: for lunch? Because I'm now like being curious, like what
44:54
Speaker 3: is going on? He said, oh yeah, and then he
44:57
Speaker 3: said yeah and we get is may get another one
45:01
Speaker 3: for dinner. So I'm looking at a man that I
45:04
Speaker 3: know should be much bigger than he is. But then
45:07
Speaker 3: I find out why because he's hungry. So one of
45:10
Speaker 3: the things we started doing that our ex program is
45:12
Speaker 3: giving them food. So we would bring food, we would
45:16
Speaker 3: feed them, we just would get together as a team,
45:19
Speaker 3: and it could almost.
45:20
Speaker 1: Bring them in to understand but the services that they're missing.
45:23
Speaker 3: But just by feeding the program, Yes, and to see
45:27
Speaker 3: the satisfaction of somebody who's hungry to get a meal,
45:30
Speaker 3: it is very rewarding to see that. But then you
45:34
Speaker 3: also get concerned because you know they're not going to
45:36
Speaker 3: get another one until they see you again.
45:39
Speaker 1: Interesting.
45:39
Speaker 3: Interesting, But I love that work. I absolutely loved it.
45:43
Speaker 2: We're going to keep this conversation going in just a moment,
45:46
Speaker 2: but first it's time for the brief where we highlight
45:51
Speaker 2: current topics shaping behavioral health today. I want to take
45:56
Speaker 2: a minute to talk about bh Connect, which is a
45:59
Speaker 2: key part of California's broader behavioral health transformation efforts. At
46:05
Speaker 2: a high level, this initiative is really about strengthening the
46:09
Speaker 2: continuum of care, especially for people with more complex needs,
46:14
Speaker 2: including individuals experiencing homelessness, people involved in the justice system,
46:20
Speaker 2: and youth facing significant behavioral health challenges. And at its core,
46:26
Speaker 2: bh connect is focused on something really important, continuity of care,
46:32
Speaker 2: making sure people don't fall through the cracks, especially when
46:36
Speaker 2: they're moving between systems like during re entry and other
46:39
Speaker 2: major transition points. So what that looks like in practice
46:44
Speaker 2: is things like housing support during transitions, greater access to
46:48
Speaker 2: evidence based care, and real investments in the workforce needed
46:52
Speaker 2: to deliver those services. There's a lot of opportunity here
46:57
Speaker 2: to close some long standing gaps and to create a
47:00
Speaker 2: more connected system of care that actually supports long term stability.
47:05
Speaker 2: At the same time, this kind of change is complex,
47:09
Speaker 2: It requires coordination across counties providers in the state, and
47:14
Speaker 2: like most large scale efforts, it's going to take time
47:17
Speaker 2: to fully take shape.
47:19
Speaker 1: But the goal is clear, building a.
47:21
Speaker 2: More connected system of care that better supports people when
47:25
Speaker 2: they need it the most. For information regarding BHCONNECT, please
47:30
Speaker 2: visit DHCS DOTCA dot gov.
47:34
Speaker 1: And now a.
47:35
Speaker 2: Brief word from TURN Behavioral Health Services will be.
47:39
Speaker 4: Right back, improving lives every day and in every way
47:42
Speaker 4: for Californians. This is the mission of TURN Behavioral Health services.
47:48
Speaker 4: By focusing on wellness, recovery, and resilience, TURN is helping
47:53
Speaker 4: create lasting change, especially for our military community. If your
47:57
Speaker 4: active duty of veteran REI service, regardless of military status,
48:03
Speaker 4: or part of a military family in San Diego, support
48:06
Speaker 4: is here. Courage to Call is a free, confidential helpline
48:11
Speaker 4: staffed by veterans who understand military life. From eight am
48:15
Speaker 4: to eight pm. You can connect with peer to peer
48:18
Speaker 4: specialists who are ready to listen, guide, and help on
48:21
Speaker 4: the very first call. Struggling with mental health, food, insecurity, finances, housing,
48:29
Speaker 4: You don't have to face it alone. Call eight seven
48:31
Speaker 4: seven six ninety eight seven eight three eight. That's eight
48:34
Speaker 4: seventy seven six nine eight seven eight three eight. Courage
48:38
Speaker 4: to Call will answer your call. Courage to Call is
48:41
Speaker 4: a program of TURNED behavioral health services, improving lives every
48:45
Speaker 4: day in every way.
48:48
Speaker 5: Marsh mclinnan Agency, a business of Marsh, is a provider
48:52
Speaker 5: of business insurance, employee health and benefits, retirement and wealth
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Speaker 5: and private client insurance solutions across the US and Canada,
49:01
Speaker 5: with several locations across southern California.
49:05
Speaker 6: To learn more about Marsh, a trusted advisor around the
49:08
Speaker 6: world with expertise in risk strategy and people please visit
49:14
Speaker 6: marsh dot com.
49:17
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the behavior of Health Brief. I'm Jim
49:19
Speaker 2: Callahan and we'll continue our conversation with Sharon Hill, program
49:23
Speaker 2: manager at costs Aurora with turned Behavioral Health Services. Let's
49:28
Speaker 2: pick up where we left off. Talk to us about
49:30
Speaker 2: costs Aurora. What does cost Aurora provide? How does it
49:34
Speaker 2: support in custody treatment and transition.
49:38
Speaker 3: Okay, first of all, I want to shout out to
49:41
Speaker 3: the wonderful team that I get to work with at
49:43
Speaker 3: cost and oh what do we provide? So basically we
49:50
Speaker 3: have a contract with California Department Corrections and Rehabilitation, So
49:55
Speaker 3: we are that rehabilitation piece. Right, So the women come
49:59
Speaker 3: from CIW and CCWF the two prisons for females, and
50:04
Speaker 3: they come to a Casa Aurora amongst other fc rps.
50:09
Speaker 3: We're just one of the fcrps. What we provide is
50:15
Speaker 3: we're re entry and so when I know, well, when
50:19
Speaker 3: I think about re entry, we're like step down. So
50:21
Speaker 3: we're the middle ground between them coming from incarceration to
50:26
Speaker 3: going back out in their community without being on parole
50:31
Speaker 3: or probation or any of those things. So what are
50:34
Speaker 3: basically our job is is to help them find the
50:37
Speaker 3: potential in themselves. That's what I think, to actually understand
50:42
Speaker 3: who they are, which is the very rewarding part of
50:47
Speaker 3: what we do, right, and so what that looks like
50:51
Speaker 3: on a daily basis is providing structure to them, helping
50:57
Speaker 3: them in groups, taping to like what their triggers are,
51:03
Speaker 3: why they're incarcerating incarcerated. We have a vocational teacher there
51:09
Speaker 3: who helps them explain that gap in their employment history
51:15
Speaker 3: or for some participants who have never been employed before,
51:19
Speaker 3: find new employment and so there can go out and
51:24
Speaker 3: be productive citizens. And then we have the groups, which
51:31
Speaker 3: basically is the foundation of what we do. The groups
51:34
Speaker 3: are designed are cognitive behavioral therapy, and so they're designed
51:39
Speaker 3: to help them really tap into how they got to
51:42
Speaker 3: where they are right, what it was the catalyst to that,
51:45
Speaker 3: and then how to manage that moving forward. Right.
51:50
Speaker 2: I know, when I've been up to CARTAA and I've
51:53
Speaker 2: met with some of the clients up there and stuff
51:56
Speaker 2: that you can tell the ones that are further along
51:58
Speaker 2: there coming from prison, they've been in a cell and
52:02
Speaker 2: now they're coming to an environment, right, whether it's like
52:06
Speaker 2: you said a step down and it's an opportunity for
52:08
Speaker 2: them to grow themselves.
52:10
Speaker 1: And you can see it.
52:11
Speaker 2: And the ones who are new in the program and
52:13
Speaker 2: the ones who've been in the program for a period
52:15
Speaker 2: of time, Yes, they've always been so respectful when we're
52:20
Speaker 2: on campus if you want to call it that or
52:23
Speaker 2: on site, Ye, really a tremendous program.
52:25
Speaker 3: Yes, it is a great program. And I think the
52:29
Speaker 3: rewarding part for the staff there. And I want to
52:33
Speaker 3: say that it's very important to have a great team
52:36
Speaker 3: of people who work in facilities like that. And the
52:39
Speaker 3: reason why I say that is because it takes a
52:42
Speaker 3: whole team right to provide every service that we have.
52:46
Speaker 3: So we have facility monitors, we have people who work
52:49
Speaker 3: in the kitchen, we maintenance, we have the vocational teacher,
52:53
Speaker 3: we have the administrative and then we have our collaboration
52:57
Speaker 3: with CDCR, which consists of the two parole agents send
53:00
Speaker 3: the CC three there on site, and that whole team,
53:04
Speaker 3: everybody plays a part in that woman's treatment, right, and
53:08
Speaker 3: so they're engaging with people who who they see us
53:13
Speaker 3: having normal lives. We know, I don't even know what
53:15
Speaker 3: normal lives are, but our whole job all the time
53:20
Speaker 3: is we're always role models to them. They watch every
53:23
Speaker 3: if you change your nail color. They know that you
53:26
Speaker 3: change your nail color. So they're looking and I aspire
53:31
Speaker 3: to be something that they can look at and not be,
53:36
Speaker 3: but be a baseline to what their life can be.
53:39
Speaker 3: Right and they could take any direction that they want to.
53:43
Speaker 3: But the whole message there all the time is you
53:49
Speaker 3: can't provide something to someone else if you don't know
53:53
Speaker 3: how to provide it to yourself. So we talk about
53:56
Speaker 3: self love a lot, We talk about relationships a lot,
53:59
Speaker 3: you know when and are very relational. We talked about
54:02
Speaker 3: being gender responsive there. We talk about we help them
54:06
Speaker 3: to understand what their triggers are, how they've gotten their
54:09
Speaker 3: situations where they are. So a lot of times people
54:12
Speaker 3: think about re entrying. You think of a woman being
54:15
Speaker 3: there and she's committed a lot of crimes. We have
54:17
Speaker 3: women there who just made one mistake and they ended
54:20
Speaker 3: up getting thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years for that one mistake
54:25
Speaker 3: that they made, which may be a horrendous mistake, but
54:29
Speaker 3: still we teach them that you're not the mistake, right,
54:32
Speaker 3: you made a mistake. Let's help audlet us, let us
54:36
Speaker 3: help you how to because it's the shame, the guilt
54:38
Speaker 3: and all of that that goes with that. That's a
54:41
Speaker 3: lot of work that they have to do.
54:44
Speaker 1: How many participants are there.
54:46
Speaker 3: We have seventy five participants and they can stay there
54:49
Speaker 3: up to thirty two months.
54:50
Speaker 1: Oh really, yeah too.
54:52
Speaker 3: So we got women there who are not going home
54:54
Speaker 3: to twenty twenty eight, right, And so we see those
54:59
Speaker 3: as tunities. We like the longer ones, right because they
55:03
Speaker 3: have a lot of time to do a lot of
55:05
Speaker 3: good work. The short times sometimes when they have like
55:08
Speaker 3: ninety days or whatever, their mind is already out of
55:12
Speaker 3: the place, right. Yeah, So we love it when we
55:17
Speaker 3: have women there for a long time. The rewarding part
55:20
Speaker 3: for me is seeing a woman when she gets introduced
55:23
Speaker 3: to herself, right, Yeah, when they get and one of
55:27
Speaker 3: the things we always talk about, you know, because they
55:29
Speaker 3: want to go home to their families and they want
55:32
Speaker 3: to raise their children. You know, they're just people out
55:36
Speaker 3: in our in our in our communities, right, And so
55:40
Speaker 3: I always tell them my analogy is, you know, I'd say,
55:43
Speaker 3: what is there, uh the error when you're on a plane,
55:47
Speaker 3: what are the emergency people? What is part of the
55:50
Speaker 3: the the process in an emergency what do they tell
55:54
Speaker 3: you to do? And so you have to put the
55:57
Speaker 3: mask on first, right, Yeah, you can't help other people
56:00
Speaker 3: until you learn who you are and take care of yourself. Yes,
56:05
Speaker 3: the air mask you got to give your You got
56:07
Speaker 3: to keep the oxygen on you and then you can
56:10
Speaker 3: help the other person. I said, the stewardess don't tell
56:13
Speaker 3: you to put the mask on even if a baby
56:15
Speaker 3: is there. It don't tell you to put it on
56:17
Speaker 3: the baby first. It tells you to put it on
56:19
Speaker 3: yourself first. And so how long have you been at
56:24
Speaker 3: I've been at cars ROAs since July twenty twenty five
56:27
Speaker 3: this time, right, Yes, and the work has been amazing, right,
56:33
Speaker 3: the whole team full of work today.
56:36
Speaker 1: Talking about your great men?
56:39
Speaker 2: To me when I was up there the last time,
56:41
Speaker 2: how great the team was. Man, Just describe the team
56:44
Speaker 2: real quickly.
56:44
Speaker 3: Well, you know every job is very different, right, but
56:48
Speaker 3: it takes all of them because each of them are
56:51
Speaker 3: interacting with them. The thing I love about this team
56:55
Speaker 3: is that they are hard working people. You don't have
56:58
Speaker 3: no slackers there now. You know, we've all worked in
57:01
Speaker 3: a lot of different places where you can have some slacker.
57:03
Speaker 3: There's no time to slack there and we're not We
57:05
Speaker 3: don't have people who are looking to slack. These people
57:08
Speaker 3: are hard working people that come to work. They do
57:13
Speaker 3: their job. I can sleep at night because they're doing
57:16
Speaker 3: that job at night making sure that the people, the participants,
57:20
Speaker 3: are taken care of. I sleep well at night because
57:25
Speaker 3: I know that if there is something that does happen
57:27
Speaker 3: at the facility, that people are going to respond to
57:30
Speaker 3: it appropriately. And I've had lots of teams, and I
57:37
Speaker 3: told you it's been a long time saying since I've
57:39
Speaker 3: had a team like this that I've been so proud of.
57:42
Speaker 3: I am so proud of who they are, and we're
57:45
Speaker 3: all so.
57:46
Speaker 1: Different, and so is the funder. CDC awesome expressed to
57:50
Speaker 1: me how grateful.
57:51
Speaker 2: They are for you down there, and Raina and everybody
57:54
Speaker 2: else is doing a great job there and saving lives
57:57
Speaker 2: every day.
57:58
Speaker 3: And I just want to say, it's nice to have
58:00
Speaker 3: a VP that is on deck. Reada's on deck, so
58:04
Speaker 3: it's not like you know, she comes through, you know,
58:07
Speaker 3: A visits and she's on deck with us, and I
58:11
Speaker 3: tell her all the time how much I appreciate her.
58:13
Speaker 3: I also appreciate turn just being here and continuing to
58:18
Speaker 3: get contracts continuing allowing us to do what we do
58:21
Speaker 3: and what we love doing. And it's just been a
58:27
Speaker 3: great experience for me. You know, I've worked here twenty
58:31
Speaker 3: six years and I've seen a lot of people come
58:35
Speaker 3: and go, right, but this seems to be the place
58:38
Speaker 3: that I'm supposed to be to continue to do the work.
58:41
Speaker 3: I found my purpose, right, and so I started. I
58:46
Speaker 3: started in a program, and I just take that with
58:50
Speaker 3: me every single day.
58:51
Speaker 1: Others get through that.
58:53
Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely, and the work doesn't stop there. For me.
58:57
Speaker 3: I am very active in my own community because I
59:01
Speaker 3: live there, and I do a lot of things outside
59:04
Speaker 3: of that because I think it's very important I get
59:07
Speaker 3: paid to work for turn yeah, but I also think
59:10
Speaker 3: for me, service work is outside that I don't get
59:12
Speaker 3: paid for. So I do a lot of things that
59:14
Speaker 3: I don't get paid for to help the people who
59:17
Speaker 3: haven't met treatment yet maybe yeah, or who needs a
59:20
Speaker 3: mentor or a sponsor or whatever they need. It really
59:24
Speaker 3: doesn't matter to me. My job is to be there
59:27
Speaker 3: and to be of service.
59:28
Speaker 1: Well, Sharon, this has been amazing today. Thank you to
59:31
Speaker 1: hear your story. It's just simply amazing.
59:33
Speaker 2: It motivates me every time I hear your story, and
59:37
Speaker 2: I've heard it a number of times over the years,
59:39
Speaker 2: but it keeps me doing what I want to do
59:42
Speaker 2: for TURN and for our employees and for our participants.
59:46
Speaker 2: But I'd like to transition from cossover and going to
59:50
Speaker 2: our community questions because we have some questions actually from
59:54
Speaker 2: TURN employees. Okay, so we have three questions. Go ahead
59:57
Speaker 2: and grab the first one.
1:00:00
Speaker 3: All right, This is from Aaron from HR. She wants
1:00:04
Speaker 3: to know what makes reentry so important to you. Re
1:00:10
Speaker 3: Entry is really important to me because I understand that
1:00:15
Speaker 3: people who are wanting to change their life cannot do
1:00:18
Speaker 3: it by themselves. They need support, and so re entry
1:00:22
Speaker 3: is that support.
1:00:24
Speaker 2: And the portion about cass Aurora is one that I
1:00:27
Speaker 2: found very interesting up there is that we're actually training
1:00:31
Speaker 2: them to get jobs. There was a number of participants
1:00:34
Speaker 2: that were there and they were so excited.
1:00:36
Speaker 1: Is they're getting ready to take their final test for
1:00:38
Speaker 1: forkliff driving.
1:00:39
Speaker 2: Because all the distribution that exists in Makerfield, that they're
1:00:43
Speaker 2: going to be able to go out and get employed
1:00:45
Speaker 2: and get a job, and so that's just amazing.
1:00:48
Speaker 3: Yes, they leave with a lot of certificates, right, and
1:00:52
Speaker 3: also we have a lot of community partnerships. I wish
1:00:55
Speaker 3: I could take credit for those community partnerships, but I cannot.
1:00:59
Speaker 3: But it's with the Bakersfield College. West Tech comes in
1:01:04
Speaker 3: where they get certification and then we have this MC
1:01:08
Speaker 3: three program that is construction union related and so there's
1:01:14
Speaker 3: just an upraide services and that's weird for me. Yes,
1:01:22
Speaker 3: community is very important. It's important that the community know
1:01:25
Speaker 3: we're there. And once people know that we're there, they
1:01:28
Speaker 3: want to help. They want to know how can I help?
1:01:31
Speaker 3: And so we're of the mind, what do you want
1:01:33
Speaker 3: to do? How can you help us? So we're very
1:01:36
Speaker 3: open to that.
1:01:37
Speaker 2: Well, here's question number two, okay for you disease Again
1:01:41
Speaker 2: are from our employees.
1:01:42
Speaker 3: Yes, they are. Thank you Aaron for your question. And
1:01:46
Speaker 3: Ruben from it as one of my favorite people. What
1:01:51
Speaker 3: has been one of your most impactful experiences at cost
1:01:54
Speaker 3: aur I talked about that Rubin. It's when I see
1:02:00
Speaker 3: the women find out who they are. There's a difference
1:02:06
Speaker 3: even in the way they walk, they talk, how to
1:02:08
Speaker 3: interact with you because they are learning who they are.
1:02:12
Speaker 3: And the theme that I believe they learn is that
1:02:16
Speaker 3: they're important, they have potential, and they begin to tap
1:02:20
Speaker 3: into that potential. It affects even how they stand.
1:02:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can tell when you're up there.
1:02:25
Speaker 2: As we discussed earlier, the newcomers to the team, the
1:02:29
Speaker 2: ones that have been there at the confidence that they
1:02:31
Speaker 2: have standing taller, they're walking, yes, down the corridors different.
1:02:35
Speaker 3: Yes, it's very different to see. They move very different,
1:02:39
Speaker 3: and it's very rewarding to watch. We see it before
1:02:41
Speaker 3: they do most of the time. So I love that.
1:02:44
Speaker 3: And then the last question today, Thank you for your question,
1:02:50
Speaker 3: Ruben and Shannon from Operations Acts. What's one of the
1:02:54
Speaker 3: biggest successes you've seen from Acosta Aurora client. We have
1:03:03
Speaker 3: this one. I absolutely love. Thank you Shannon for your question.
1:03:08
Speaker 3: We have approximately five women that I could think of
1:03:13
Speaker 3: at this time that worked for turn oh Wow, who
1:03:16
Speaker 3: were resident first and clients. The beautiful thing about that
1:03:23
Speaker 3: for me, right is that I get to see them
1:03:26
Speaker 3: on a regular basis, Right, I get to see them
1:03:30
Speaker 3: be role models. What it does for me it reminds
1:03:35
Speaker 3: me regularly that all the things we put in place,
1:03:39
Speaker 3: the structure, how we provided the groups to them, the
1:03:42
Speaker 3: love and support that we gave to them, I could
1:03:47
Speaker 3: see it in them. It manifests itself in who they
1:03:50
Speaker 3: are how they interact with participants themselves, and I take
1:03:57
Speaker 3: pride in that. I take pride in that team that
1:03:59
Speaker 3: I was. I was a Presdal first Team at that time.
1:04:03
Speaker 3: In that team, it reminds me of the team that
1:04:06
Speaker 3: I work with now. And I used to call that
1:04:09
Speaker 3: team the dream team because you didn't have to ask
1:04:12
Speaker 3: anybody to do anything. People just did what they knew
1:04:15
Speaker 3: they needed to do. Right. Yeah, and so I see
1:04:18
Speaker 3: that same thing in Casao. I tell them you're real
1:04:20
Speaker 3: close to my dream too. Yes.
1:04:22
Speaker 2: Well, sharing this has been as we come to a
1:04:25
Speaker 2: close today with this conversation, it's been truly amazing to
1:04:29
Speaker 2: hear your story from where you were that day on
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Speaker 2: Georgia and Olympic and to where you're at today and
1:04:36
Speaker 2: the woman you've grown into and all the other people
1:04:38
Speaker 2: that you've impacted over those years and that you've grown.
1:04:42
Speaker 2: Like you just said, I know five or six of
1:04:45
Speaker 2: them that have come out of the program and that
1:04:46
Speaker 2: are working for TURNS.
1:04:47
Speaker 1: So thank you for that.
1:04:49
Speaker 2: Before we close, is there anything you'd like to leave
1:04:52
Speaker 2: our listeners with today?
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Speaker 3: I just say, f what makes you happy and do
1:05:03
Speaker 3: that right. I get enjoyment out of doing what I do.
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Speaker 1: Every day.
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Speaker 2: Oh you can hear the enjoyment in your voice today
1:05:12
Speaker 2: and how you've described things.
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Speaker 1: It's amazing.
1:05:14
Speaker 3: Thank you, and I just say I hope that I
1:05:19
Speaker 3: wish that for everybody to be able to find that
1:05:21
Speaker 3: passion right And even though it wasn't something I was
1:05:25
Speaker 3: necessarily looking for, but as you continue to tap into
1:05:29
Speaker 3: that lifetime recovery and recovery looks like it doesn't have
1:05:32
Speaker 3: to be addiction recovery, but recovery is just being attentive
1:05:36
Speaker 3: to who I am right making sure I'm aligned with
1:05:40
Speaker 3: the things that I want to be aligned with so
1:05:42
Speaker 3: that I operate that way in the world. Purpose comes
1:05:47
Speaker 3: and what's that you find that thing that you're excited
1:05:49
Speaker 3: about that brings you joy, that's the direction you should
1:05:53
Speaker 3: go in.
1:05:54
Speaker 2: As I close today's episode, I want to pause and
1:05:57
Speaker 2: practice something essential to well being and perspective.
1:06:01
Speaker 1: And that's gratitude.
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Speaker 2: It's something I practice every day through a gratitude journal,
1:06:06
Speaker 2: and I encourage you to find a practice that works
1:06:10
Speaker 2: for you. Here's an example of my journal that I
1:06:13
Speaker 2: use every morning, and I write something in and about me,
1:06:17
Speaker 2: about my family, about the dogs, the day, is its sunny?
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Speaker 1: Is it rainy? But it's something that gets my day started.
1:06:25
Speaker 2: I'd like to start by thanking the incredible staff at
1:06:28
Speaker 2: turn Your compassion and commitment make this work possible every
1:06:33
Speaker 2: single day. I also want to extend our thanks to
1:06:36
Speaker 2: our partners at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and.
1:06:41
Speaker 1: The Department of Rehabilitation.
1:06:43
Speaker 2: Your collaboration makes it possible for programs like costs Aroya
1:06:48
Speaker 2: to support individuals during some of the most critical moments
1:06:52
Speaker 2: in their journey, and to the organization supporting re entry
1:06:56
Speaker 2: in their communities. Your work helps ensure that recovery doesn't
1:07:01
Speaker 2: stop at release, but continues into the next chapter. To
1:07:05
Speaker 2: our listeners, thank you for spending time with us today.
1:07:09
Speaker 2: Please like, share, and subscribe. As I close, I'll answer
1:07:15
Speaker 2: with the question that I opened with.
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Speaker 1: There is nothing.
1:07:18
Speaker 2: More important than improving lies, and together we are improving lives.
1:07:25
Speaker 2: I'm Jim Callahan. This has been the Behavioral Health Breed.
1:07:28
Speaker 1: See you next time.