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From Patient to Team Lead: Careers in Addiction Treatment Recovery | Cumberland Heights · Conversations with Cumberland Heights

0:00
All right.
0:00
Welcome, everybody.
0:03
Quick introduction.
0:04
My name is Travis Hupp.
0:05
I'm the Director of Milieu Management here
0:07
at Cumberland Heights.
0:10
What is Milieu management?
0:11
Basically, I'm
0:12
over all the clinical
0:14
associates and
0:17
recovery assistants
0:18
and a couple counselors here
0:19
at Cumberland Heights.
0:21
We are today going to feature
0:23
some of our team leads.
0:25
Our clinical associate
0:26
team leads.
0:28
Today
0:28
we have Dalton Wicker,
0:31
Sharon Robinson
0:32
and Matt Hutchinson
0:33
all working in different
0:35
areas.
0:38
Dalton works
0:39
in young men's,
0:41
Sharon works in the men's
0:43
and Matt works
0:44
in extended care.
0:47
We wanted to
0:48
thank you guys for joining.
0:50
Thank you for having.
0:50
Thank you for volunteering
0:52
to be with us today.
0:54
I wanted to
0:56
get with you guys and
0:58
kind of give you an opportunity
1:01
to speak
1:01
a little bit
1:02
about your story here
1:03
at Cumberland Heights.
1:04
What brought you here?
1:07
You know how your how
1:08
you perform your daily
1:10
tasks.
1:12
What do you get
1:13
out of your jobs
1:13
and things like that?
1:14
So I would like
1:16
to take a couple minutes
1:17
to allow each one of you
1:19
to share
1:20
a little bit about your
1:21
experience here at Cumberland
1:22
Heights, maybe
1:22
what brought you here as
1:23
an employee and
1:25
and really, what keeps
1:26
you here? What?
1:27
What?
1:28
On a daily basis, is
1:30
are there
1:30
some of the
1:31
things that
1:31
keep you here
1:31
working in Cumberland
1:32
Heights and kind of fulfill
1:34
you and your job
1:34
and in your work?
1:37
Dalton, I'd like to
1:38
to start with you,
1:39
to give you some time
1:40
to just tell us
1:41
a little bit
1:42
about yourself,
1:42
what brought you
1:43
to Cumberland Heights. And,
1:45
you know,
1:46
what do you
1:46
get out of your job
1:47
and how do you perform it?
1:48
What do you like about it?
1:50
Okay.
1:50
Some stuff like that.
1:52
Yeah.
1:53
I was a patient at Cumberland
1:55
Heights a few years ago,
1:57
and that
1:58
kind of started
1:59
the whole introduction
2:01
to recovery in this field.
2:03
And I
2:05
remember even as a patient,
2:06
when I met some of the staff
2:09
in, like, the
2:10
what they impressed on me.
2:12
It's just like
2:14
wanting
2:15
to help people,
2:16
caring about people
2:17
and enjoying it
2:19
at the same time.
2:20
And the biggest
2:21
thing that I got
2:21
out of the staff
2:22
is they were themselves.
2:23
They were loose,
2:24
they were relaxed, they were just like
2:26
normal people
2:28
who kind of had
2:29
crazy stories.
2:31
All being in recovery.
2:33
And I remember
2:34
thinking I wanted to work
2:35
at Cumberland Heights back
2:37
when I was a patient.
2:38
I actually
2:39
told staff when I was here
2:40
that I'd be back to work
2:41
here.
2:44
And here I am.
2:45
So also,
2:48
I've been in management.
2:51
I was a manager in training
2:53
when I was 18 years old.
2:55
At Walmart.
2:57
I was a manager
2:57
in training at a car wash.
2:59
And so
2:59
I've always
3:00
wanted to be in management.
3:01
So I've kind of
3:02
had these two passions
3:04
of wanting to help people
3:05
and wanting
3:06
to be in management.
3:07
And I was able to do both here
3:09
because I get so much satisfaction from
3:12
helping people.
3:14
But I also love,
3:15
you know,
3:16
leading and managing
3:19
and the pressure
3:21
that comes with that.
3:22
I thrive in it.
3:25
Yeah.
3:26
And I just really enjoy it
3:28
every single day.
3:29
How long
3:30
have you been working
3:30
for Cumberland Heights?
3:32
So I worked with adolescents
3:37
for a year
3:38
and three months, and then I've been
3:39
working here for eight months.
3:41
And had the same job there.
3:43
There
3:44
I was just a CA.
3:46
Working with the
3:47
the kids
3:49
and on second shift and
3:51
talking to them, helping them.
3:53
And that was super rewarding.
3:56
Coming over here
3:56
to milieu management,
3:58
where
3:58
in Milieu
3:59
management we kind of work
4:00
as a whole team.
4:01
We're we're charged
4:02
with the entire
4:05
campus, not just
4:06
individual programs.
4:08
How is it different
4:10
for you
4:12
coming from adolescent to
4:15
to the media
4:15
management environment here
4:16
on main campus?
4:18
What are some differences
4:20
there for you?
4:22
Yeah.
4:23
You know,
4:24
I was so used to working with
4:25
young people,
4:27
they were ages 14 to 17.
4:29
And so when I came over here
4:30
and I was tasked with the job
4:31
to work with young men,
4:34
men's, women's,
4:35
I definitely
4:36
had to grow into that.
4:37
I had to ask people,
4:38
you know,
4:39
how do I talk to men's patients
4:41
and women's patients?
4:43
And I learned
4:45
how to deal
4:46
with every
4:47
kind of patient
4:47
in any situation,
4:48
but it's
4:49
definitely something
4:50
I've grown into and had to ask
4:51
for help on.
4:54
It's definitely different
4:55
because I was
4:56
I had more tunnel vision
4:57
when I was there
4:58
focusing on just
4:59
a certain age group.
5:00
Right.
5:00
That I could relate with.
5:02
And now I've
5:03
found a way to relate
5:03
with all age
5:05
groups.
5:06
Yeah, men's and women's.
5:10
How do you think
5:11
that you have grown
5:14
in, in
5:15
your knowledge of working
5:17
in substance use disorder
5:18
treatment,
5:18
working with
5:19
co-occurring patients
5:21
since you've been here
5:22
on main campus
5:24
or in your LADAC track?
5:26
Because I know that you're
5:27
all all three of you are
5:29
in a LADAC track working
5:30
toward your license
5:32
to become licensed
5:32
alcohol drug counselors.
5:33
All of you have
5:35
individual supervisors,
5:36
and you do group supervision
5:37
and you get training. How?
5:40
What are some things
5:40
that you have
5:41
learned through that process
5:42
that have helped
5:43
you to work with the patients?
5:46
Well, to be honest,
5:47
when I first came to
5:47
Cumberland Heights, I was
5:49
kind of very set on
5:52
how do I put this?
5:53
I had this idea
5:54
that everybody needed to do
5:55
what I did right.
5:57
That it was strict that
5:58
there was one path
5:59
that, you know,
6:01
this is my experience and you should
6:02
all do
6:03
exactly what I went through.
6:05
And I've learned that that's
6:07
not the case.
6:08
And I've also learned
6:09
that there's
6:10
so many other tools,
6:13
whether it's DBT
6:14
or, you know,
6:15
certain things
6:16
you do in therapy.
6:17
I've learned
6:17
from people who are already
6:19
counselors,
6:20
and I've had
6:21
this wider scope of like,
6:24
what people can do when they have
6:26
substance use disorder.
6:28
And I've even
6:29
learned just through
6:30
working here that there's so
6:31
many other ways
6:34
that I can
6:36
not recover, but tools,
6:38
so many
6:38
other tools I can use,
6:39
and what I already had.
6:41
Personally for.
6:42
My own personal recovery.
6:43
Yeah, I'm like, wow, there's
6:44
so many other
6:45
things that I can do
6:46
to grow and recover.
6:48
So I've applied
6:49
things that I learned
6:50
by working here to my own life.
6:52
Yeah, that I didn't before
6:54
because I learned,
6:55
you know, from people
6:57
that there's more than
6:57
what I knew.
6:59
So I've also
7:00
learned different ways
7:01
to help patients than just
7:03
sharing my experience
7:04
in my own recovery.
7:07
Awesome.
7:10
Do you have anything else
7:10
that you want
7:11
to share about your experience in?
7:16
As far as being an employee?
7:20
Yeah, there's one thing
7:21
that I want to say is
7:25
working at Cumberland
7:26
Heights, my biggest asset
7:28
has been being myself.
7:32
And that was
7:32
modeled to you by people.
7:34
Yeah,
7:34
it was
7:34
shown to me by staff
7:36
that already worked here.
7:37
They were themselves. They were laid
7:39
back.
7:39
They were real people with
7:40
real experience.
7:41
And like, that's what helped
7:43
patients is people
7:45
being themselves.
7:45
And I come here and I work
7:47
here,
7:47
and I can be myself
7:48
not only in front
7:49
of the patients,
7:49
but in front of the staff,
7:51
in front of the people
7:52
that are above me.
7:55
I don't have to
7:56
be somebody that I'm not.
7:57
I can be
7:58
authentically myself,
8:00
and that benefits me.
8:02
So that's it.
8:04
Awesome.
8:07
Sharon Robinson.
8:08
She's a team lead
8:11
in the men's program
8:13
in Milieu management.
8:14
She mainly works with the men.
8:18
Tell us
8:18
a little bit
8:19
about your experience
8:21
coming to work here.
8:22
Why you chose to work here.
8:25
What are some benefits
8:26
like that?
8:26
You get out
8:27
of it for yourself?
8:28
And what do you enjoy about your
8:29
job and.
8:31
Why? I chose to work here.
8:33
I love helping people. And when when
8:37
I finally
8:38
understood the concept
8:40
of recovery,
8:41
I knew that I wanted to work
8:44
in recovery.
8:45
Yeah, well,
8:47
what do you think is your biggest asset
8:51
that you give to the patient?
8:53
Something maybe that you
8:54
have learned
8:55
through your own
8:56
recovery experience or
8:59
your training
9:00
or education
9:01
that you've gotten
9:02
since being here?
9:03
You've been here. How long have you
9:04
been here?
9:05
I've been here
9:07
almost
9:08
four years in August.
9:09
Yeah.
9:09
What's one thing
9:10
that's really
9:10
kind of
9:10
stood out to you
9:11
that's changed about yourself
9:12
and how you
9:13
present yourself to patients?
9:14
Because I want to
9:16
I want to share
9:16
a real quick story
9:17
about Sharon.
9:18
Sharon.
9:19
When I took over
9:21
management, Sharon was a
9:23
CA in the women's
9:24
program and I watched
9:28
I watched you grow.
9:29
I saw
9:31
some leadership
9:32
skills in you,
9:34
and we had a position open at that time
9:37
in the men's
9:37
program for a team lead,
9:39
and I was kind of already
9:41
I Sharon for that position.
9:43
And she didn't know that.
9:44
And I and
9:45
I talked to her
9:46
about going up
9:47
to work in the men's program.
9:48
And she was like,
9:49
no, I can't work with a man.
9:50
I gotta no way.
9:52
I work with women.
9:53
And I had to kind of
9:54
I had to kind of
9:55
push her in a little bit.
9:56
She was a little, you know, it was
9:58
a little bit
9:58
uncomfortable for her.
10:01
But I think
10:02
that the
10:02
promotion to team lead
10:04
and with some
10:06
of our coaching
10:06
and help with her,
10:07
she agreed to do it.
10:09
And I kind of, you know,
10:10
we kind of had
10:11
to push you a little bit.
10:12
How was that experience
10:14
for you
10:14
and how has that turned out,
10:15
and how is it different
10:16
than you thought it would be?
10:18
Than what you were
10:19
thinking of how it would be?
10:22
So I I've had
10:25
a lot of people tell me I've
10:26
found my voice
10:27
and that.
10:32
I just know how
10:33
to talk to them,
10:34
like I just
10:35
treat them
10:35
like they're my friend
10:36
or my best
10:37
friend, and I, I,
10:40
I was really scared because I was
10:43
like, I'm
10:43
going to go help with it,
10:45
and that's all I'm going to do.
10:46
Like that
10:47
was that was
10:47
like ingrained in my head,
10:49
like, I can't help me
10:50
and I don't even
10:51
have a brother.
10:52
So like, and
10:56
I just, I
10:58
what I've learned is that,
10:59
you know,
11:01
as Dalton just previously
11:03
said, like everybody's
11:04
recoveries individual
11:06
and letting a patient
11:09
know that it
11:10
is your recovery
11:12
and like
11:13
let them have ownership of it
11:15
really helps.
11:17
I've just seen
11:18
some of the patients
11:19
like their eyes light up.
11:21
They're like,
11:21
oh, I don't have to do it
11:23
that way.
11:23
I'm like, no,
11:24
you can pick this and you can pick that,
11:26
and you can do what what
11:28
you think is going to make
11:29
you stay sober.
11:31
Not what that person
11:33
states over over there. And.
11:37
That's one of the
11:38
things that we try to
11:40
implement with all
11:41
of our patients here is
11:43
treatment is individual,
11:45
you know,
11:45
in the level
11:46
in which
11:47
the clinical associates work,
11:48
the role is basically to,
11:50
you know,
11:51
reinforce and support
11:52
the treatment
11:52
plan that's
11:53
put forth by the
11:53
treatment team.
11:54
And you guys
11:56
do that and each person's
11:59
it's a it's
12:00
kind of
12:01
like a choose
12:01
your own adventure.
12:02
You know, you get some
12:03
options in there,
12:05
but you get
12:05
you get some say
12:06
in your
12:06
treatment plan to, you know,
12:08
we want we we need them to
12:09
to to
12:10
have buy into their
12:11
treatment plan.
12:12
So all their
12:12
treatment
12:13
plans are individualized
12:14
and and
12:15
you being able to help support
12:17
that and present
12:17
that to them in that way
12:18
is it's a little more freeing
12:21
for them.
12:22
You know,
12:22
they don't feel so restricted
12:23
and they have some options.
12:25
That's good.
12:28
Anything else
12:28
that you want to say?
12:29
Look,
12:29
I want to ask you about your
12:31
your experience.
12:32
And you've been
12:34
you're getting close
12:35
to applying
12:37
for your license
12:37
to be a licensed
12:38
alcohol and drug counselor.
12:39
And I would like to talk to you
12:41
a little bit about some of
12:42
that experience
12:43
and maybe
12:45
kind of talk a little
12:45
bit about,
12:47
you know, your journey
12:48
through that, through through
12:50
submitting the application
12:51
to be in the LADAC supervision,
12:53
how the LADAC
12:54
supervision groups
12:55
have helped you
12:56
and some of the individuals to
12:57
to prepare you
12:58
to get ready to
12:59
take your test to be a licensed
13:00
alcohol and drug counselor.
13:02
The LADAC supervision
13:04
classes have
13:05
gave me so much more confidence
13:07
and just leading the group and then
13:10
like making that small talk
13:12
that that conversation
13:14
knowing, knowing, hey,
13:16
we need to do.
13:17
Ice breaker.
13:17
And then, you know,
13:19
if we could have some kind
13:20
of activity in the group
13:22
and get them
13:22
like kind of
13:23
brainstorming together
13:24
and then come back
13:26
and we'll all talk
13:27
about it in the group.
13:29
It's just made me
13:31
be able to do
13:32
groups have more confidence.
13:34
And then
13:36
the process of it
13:37
like three years
13:38
goes by a real quick.
13:40
Yes. Like,
13:44
it just goes by
13:45
real quick and like, I,
13:47
I need to turn it.
13:48
Yeah.
13:48
Turning all the stuff
13:50
and like,
13:51
it's almost like, wow.
13:52
I didn't
13:53
think within five years
13:54
of sobriety
13:55
I could have,
13:56
like, a whole
13:57
different career path,
13:59
whole different trajectory
14:01
of who
14:02
who I am
14:03
and what that can become.
14:05
And helping this
14:07
at current heights.
14:09
Yeah,
14:10
I think that's one of the
14:12
I kind of had a similar
14:14
experience to
14:16
I didn't
14:17
I was kind of
14:18
lost in my addiction.
14:20
And, you know,
14:21
I didn't get sober
14:22
until I was 29.
14:23
And, you know,
14:24
all I saw, all my friends
14:26
and all the go
14:27
on to college
14:28
and get married and have lives.
14:29
And I was
14:29
still out there trying to,
14:31
you know, run things.
14:32
And then I found myself
14:33
at sober 29.
14:34
Like, what?
14:36
What what am I going to do? Like, what is my career?
14:38
I need a career.
14:39
I've had so many jobs,
14:42
I need a career.
14:43
And I said, look,
14:45
I'm going to
14:46
make recovery
14:47
and treatment
14:49
my career.
14:50
And and
14:51
I never would
14:52
have expected that for myself
14:53
back then
14:54
in, you know,
14:55
the using days
14:56
or the runner in
14:56
the streets days and all that.
14:58
But it's been very fulfilling
15:00
and rewarding for me,
15:01
just as it is for you.
15:03
You do some
15:04
other things to you.
15:05
You work with women,
15:05
you do a lot of volunteering,
15:07
and you give of yourself
15:09
a lot.
15:09
I notice that you are
15:10
a giver sometimes
15:13
too much,
15:14
and you have to take a little rest
15:15
because you're always giving
15:17
of yourself, and I appreciate
15:19
that about you.
15:20
I think you do a great job
15:21
here, and I
15:23
like I watch you
15:24
with the men and how you
15:26
carry yourself and, and
15:28
and you have found your voice
15:29
and I've seen
15:29
that and it's been great.
15:32
Anything else that you want
15:33
to say specifically
15:34
about your journey
15:36
and how
15:38
how you've
15:39
evolved?
15:42
Me, me getting sober
15:44
this last time and
15:47
I'm coming up
15:48
on five years in September.
15:50
Like I said, I didn't think
15:51
I would be like a licensed
15:54
alcohol drug counselor.
15:55
I didn't think I would work
15:57
at the first rehab I went to.
16:00
I didn't think,
16:01
like I just was hopeless.
16:04
Like, oh,
16:04
I'm just going to have to,
16:05
like, work
16:07
at this,
16:08
this manufacturing job and be around
16:12
a machine and like,
16:13
oh my God, like,
16:14
being sober is
16:15
not going to be fun.
16:17
But like working
16:17
at Cumberland Heights,
16:19
like it's so much fun.
16:21
Like, you go
16:22
I go to the alumni events.
16:24
Yeah, I would
16:25
have never
16:26
got in a kayak and got on
16:28
the lake or in the river
16:30
ever,
16:31
if it wasn't for our alumni
16:34
and which I'm also a part of.
16:36
So like, I just
16:38
I really love working here
16:39
and every day is different.
16:42
And that's what
16:42
I love about it.
16:43
I love not doing the same thing
16:46
every day.
16:47
And I love my coworkers
16:49
and the patients.
16:51
Yeah, every day is different.
16:52
You never know
16:53
what you're going to walk
16:55
into every day.
16:55
And that's
16:56
one of the things I like
16:57
about it as well.
16:58
Yeah. Okay.
16:59
Well we'll come back.
17:01
Let's let's talk to Matt
17:04
Hutchinson.
17:05
Matt, you've been here
17:06
for a while.
17:06
You had
17:07
you've had many
17:08
different roles.
17:10
You worked
17:10
in Young Men's for a while and
17:13
even worked in
17:14
you've worked all over.
17:15
You worked in managing working
17:17
professionals for us
17:18
for covering sometimes.
17:19
But now your main job is
17:21
the team lead and extended
17:23
care.
17:24
With our
17:25
extended care patients,
17:26
our extended care patients,
17:28
our patients that go through
17:29
our residential treatment
17:33
process and are here,
17:34
you know, 20 to 30 days
17:37
and then
17:38
choose to extend
17:39
and then they'll come up
17:40
to extended care.
17:42
Tell us a little bit
17:43
about you
17:44
and your journey here
17:46
at Cumberland Heights.
17:47
How you got here.
17:49
I remember the phone call
17:50
that I made to you.
17:51
That's right.
17:52
Get you to come work here.
17:54
It feels like.
17:54
Oh, that feels like it was forever ago.
17:56
Yeah.
17:57
Tell us a little bit
17:57
about you and your journey.
17:59
Thanks for having.
17:59
Me, Travis.
18:00
My name is Matt Hutchinson.
18:01
I work in the extended care
18:03
program here
18:03
at Cumberland Heights.
18:05
My journey
18:06
to get here was.
18:08
I feel like I
18:10
landed in
18:11
the right spot, but it took.
18:12
I took a very
18:13
roundabout way to get there.
18:15
Even when I was in high
18:16
school, I wanted to
18:18
work in
18:19
some type of
18:21
health field
18:22
where I could help
18:23
people who are struggling.
18:24
I had my own
18:25
struggles when I was
18:26
a teenager,
18:26
so I wanted to
18:28
get in to get into
18:29
something like this.
18:30
I was a psychology
18:31
major when I went
18:32
to college, and,
18:36
I didn't
18:37
think I was going to take
18:39
the road that I.
18:40
Took to leave me here.
18:41
But life happens,
18:42
and I
18:42
gained a lot of experience,
18:45
you know,
18:45
outside of the classroom,
18:46
in my own addiction
18:48
before coming to
18:48
Cumberland Heights.
18:49
So what led me
18:51
here was
18:51
the opportunity to come back
18:54
and give back to the,
18:58
you know, the recovery
18:59
world, the,
19:01
you know, the clinical side of
19:03
of drug
19:04
drug addiction and alcoholism
19:06
and mental health.
19:07
Do you remember
19:08
that phone call?
19:08
Do you remember me calling you?
19:10
Oh, yeah.
19:10
Yeah I remember.
19:11
Oh, yeah, I
19:12
there was a
19:13
there were several guys
19:13
that were working here
19:14
that were telling me
19:15
about you and telling me
19:16
about your work
19:19
within the 12 step community,
19:20
and what a great guy you were
19:22
and that you were an alumni.
19:24
Yeah.
19:24
And and you met
19:27
all the requirements and they said,
19:28
you got to get this guy,
19:29
you got to get this guy.
19:30
And I called you
19:30
and you were working at
19:32
you were working
19:33
at a moving company. Yes.
19:35
And it felt like
19:39
like you had
19:40
I don't know if
19:41
you had made that decision to
19:44
make that your career path,
19:46
but you you were kind of
19:48
on the fence about coming
19:50
over to the side.
19:51
Tell me.
19:52
Let's talk
19:52
about that for a second.
19:54
Well, as I said,
19:56
when I was in high school,
19:57
I wanted to get into this.
19:58
Yeah, but most of my
20:01
adult life,
20:02
I worked in
20:03
sales and more
20:05
of a business field.
20:06
And I always wanted to,
20:09
deep down inside me,
20:09
always wanted to come back
20:10
and do some meaningful work.
20:13
And what I found
20:15
after working.
20:18
After leaving
20:20
Carmen Heights, and
20:22
I found that
20:23
there wasn't a whole lot
20:24
of deeper meaning to it.
20:26
It's just
20:28
another day, another week.
20:31
It just wasn't
20:32
being fulfilled in a way
20:34
that I was looking for.
20:35
So I was
20:36
grateful for the opportunity.
20:37
It took a little bit
20:38
of pulling from, you know,
20:40
some other some other.
20:44
Employees here,
20:45
but yeah, I
20:46
made the right choice.
20:47
There's not a doubt.
20:51
I would like to ask
20:53
in any of
20:53
you can answer this question
20:55
because you guys
20:56
are team leads.
20:57
So all of you have staff
20:59
that work under you
21:01
and that you direct
21:02
and that you
21:04
train and show how
21:05
to do their job.
21:06
And you lead, as your title
21:09
says, by example.
21:12
And this is for anybody.
21:13
How has being a team lead
21:17
stretched you as,
21:20
as a leader,
21:23
going from
21:24
being a CA
21:25
and stepping
21:27
into that lead role?
21:28
How's that stretched
21:29
you as a leader?
21:31
I got something
21:32
okay.
21:34
You can go next.
21:34
We got
21:35
yeah I'll go
21:35
and then Sharon can go. I,
21:38
because I'll forget it.
21:39
It was
21:40
basically my M.O. to
21:44
try to
21:45
do everything myself.
21:48
I've always been, like,
21:49
thorough when I work.
21:53
And so
21:53
I just wanted to
21:56
go in wherever I worked
21:58
and do
21:59
a good job and be thorough
22:00
and get it done.
22:01
But being a team
22:02
lead,
22:04
things still need
22:05
to get done.
22:06
But it's my job to
22:09
work as a team.
22:10
And to
22:11
make sure other people
22:12
are doing.
22:12
Yes, I got to delegate. I got to make sure they
22:14
get it done.
22:15
And that whole mindset of
22:18
if you want it done right,
22:19
do it yourself
22:20
kind of
22:21
has to go out
22:21
the window because, yeah,
22:22
I got to lead a team.
22:23
I got to
22:24
delegate tasks to them.
22:27
So I've learned how to do that
22:28
when that's not
22:29
what I've always
22:31
been used to doing.
22:32
Yeah.
22:33
It's it's
22:34
hard to do that sometimes.
22:35
Like to let go and
22:37
allow someone else to
22:40
that whole
22:40
mindset of
22:41
if if you want a done right,
22:43
you got to do it yourself.
22:45
It's a hard one to let go.
22:46
It's hard for me to.
22:47
So I understand that.
22:48
But it feels really good
22:50
when you trust somebody
22:51
and you delegate a test to them
22:52
or multiple tasks and
22:56
they do it.
22:57
Yeah, I kind of equated to
23:01
going going
23:02
to Disney World as a kid.
23:04
You know,
23:05
there's this for me.
23:05
There's this nostalgic
23:07
thing about going
23:07
to Disney World,
23:09
but then
23:11
going again
23:12
with my own kids
23:13
and experiencing that again
23:16
through their eyes.
23:16
It's kind of
23:17
the same way with work
23:18
and teaching someone else
23:20
how to do the task and watching them
23:22
learn
23:22
and watching them grow,
23:23
which is an opportunity
23:24
that I get every day
23:25
because I have so many
23:27
clinical associates
23:28
and team leads and counselors
23:30
that work for me
23:31
and that I can
23:32
help continue to help
23:33
teach and train.
23:34
And they come to
23:35
me and have those conversations that
23:36
I love, that
23:37
I love that opportunity
23:39
to kind of walk
23:40
through that with them again.
23:42
But it's also hard,
23:44
you know, not letting them,
23:46
you know,
23:47
they got to bump
23:48
their knees sometimes,
23:49
you know?
23:50
Yeah, that can be hard
23:51
sometimes too.
23:53
They can make a mistake,
23:54
you know,
23:55
and we just teach and train
23:56
and show them
23:57
how to do it properly.
23:58
You were going
23:59
to say something to that.
24:02
I know whatever
24:04
you always have to like
24:05
think ahead
24:07
like and try
24:08
to make your the job for
24:10
the whole team easier.
24:13
So I know like
24:14
sometimes whenever
24:16
I know
24:18
I can't
24:19
always look ahead
24:20
to be perfect.
24:21
But if I can look ahead
24:22
and like solve some things
24:24
for my team
24:25
or delegate it out and know
24:26
what's going to happen,
24:27
it helps the team run a lot
24:30
smoother than it would have if.
24:32
Oh gosh,
24:32
we didn't know
24:33
all this was going to happen.
24:35
Yeah.
24:36
Did you want to
24:37
say something to that or. No?
24:39
Yeah.
24:39
I think that being able
24:40
to share your experience,
24:41
just like
24:42
with the patients,
24:43
being able to share it
24:43
with your coworkers and show them
24:44
some of
24:45
the pitfalls
24:45
that you went through,
24:46
because I wasn't the same.
24:47
I'm not the same.
24:48
CA that I am today
24:49
is when I first started.
24:50
So it's
24:51
good to be able to show them,
24:52
you know,
24:52
some of the
24:53
things that
24:53
I've learned along the way.
24:54
And as far as I
24:56
consider my coworkers
24:57
and staff my friends.
24:58
But there is a line
25:00
in between,
25:02
you know, sometimes
25:04
being a lead, you have to
25:06
tell them some things
25:07
that, you know,
25:08
they might not
25:08
want to hear or some
25:09
give them some direction
25:10
that seems
25:13
unfriendly. Yeah.
25:14
So just trying
25:15
to have that line,
25:16
you know. Yeah. Professionalism and,
25:20
you know friends.
25:21
Yeah. There's
25:23
the day that you become a team
25:25
lead is the day
25:27
that your peers
25:29
become
25:30
your supervisor.
25:31
Right.
25:32
And that can be a hard
25:33
transition sometimes
25:35
because yesterday
25:36
you guys were here.
25:37
And now you're the lead
25:39
and learning how
25:40
to to,
25:43
you know,
25:44
teach them and learning
25:46
how to have that
25:47
conversation about now I'm
25:49
you know,
25:49
the relationship changes.
25:51
It does
25:51
you know
25:51
there's a power
25:52
differential there
25:53
and that can be
25:54
hard to navigate sometimes.
25:58
One thing I want to ask
26:00
you guys is what is it?
26:02
What is the skill that you guys have
26:04
developed
26:06
working here
26:07
and in this field
26:08
that you
26:08
didn't think that you
26:09
would develop like that
26:11
you didn't think would
26:11
come out of this?
26:12
What is one thing that
26:14
for you?
26:21
I would say
26:24
it's taught me a level
26:26
a level of patience
26:27
with, with,
26:29
you know,
26:33
Definitely
26:34
in the recovery.
26:37
You know, in
26:38
the recovery community.
26:39
Is that
26:41
like it's been said
26:42
that we all kind of
26:44
stumble along
26:44
and go at our own pace
26:46
in a sense with recovery,
26:47
and it's not
26:47
going to look the same,
26:48
as Dalton said.
26:49
And just
26:50
having a lot of
26:51
patience and a lot of
26:52
a lot of grace that some of the
26:54
people that come through here,
26:57
it's not knowing their,
27:00
you know,
27:00
exactly what background
27:01
that came from or what
27:02
their childhood was like
27:03
or what
27:04
brought them up
27:05
into their admission data.
27:06
Cumberland Heights
27:08
and just having a lot
27:09
of patience for people.
27:09
I then
27:10
get to know them as people,
27:11
not just patients.
27:13
Yeah.
27:14
You guys want to
27:15
insure that or. No. Yeah.
27:16
I mean, I'll just kind of
27:18
I agree with Matt.
27:20
You know how
27:21
some people say,
27:22
don't pray for patience
27:23
because God will
27:24
give you
27:24
opportunities to be patient?
27:26
Yes. I've been given a lot
27:28
of opportunities to be patient
27:30
while working
27:31
at Cumberland Heights.
27:34
I yeah,
27:36
I mean, when you're
27:36
working in this field,
27:37
especially as a team lead,
27:42
you know,
27:42
I have this mindset of,
27:44
like I said,
27:45
I thought everybody
27:45
should do it
27:46
the way I did
27:46
it, and I wanted
27:47
things to be done right.
27:48
And I've grown
27:50
and learned,
27:52
you know,
27:52
that everybody's different,
27:53
whether that's people that work
27:55
below me or patients.
27:58
And yeah, like Matt said,
28:02
one of the biggest skills
28:03
that I've gained
28:04
working is patience
28:05
and empathy
28:06
and compassion and understanding.
28:09
And, you know,
28:11
not when a patient is having a bad day
28:14
or going through something,
28:17
not letting it affect me
28:18
and just
28:19
showing up for them
28:19
and helping them.
28:21
And same
28:22
for employees.
28:25
Yeah, I love that.
28:28
A level of confidence
28:29
I've gained since
28:30
working here is probably my
28:32
public speaking
28:34
and just
28:36
finding my true
28:37
voice and knowing that
28:38
what I say is,
28:41
is, is important.
28:42
And as long as I'm working my
28:45
my recovery
28:46
and my
28:47
doing the next right thing,
28:48
it's going to
28:49
it's going to show
28:50
in my actions and show it
28:52
and what I do.
28:57
Okay.
28:58
I want to talk
28:59
a little bit about culture
29:01
and the culture of Cumberland
29:02
Heights and
29:05
your feel for our culture
29:07
and how we
29:09
I have my position on it
29:11
and the way
29:11
I see it
29:12
and the way
29:12
I feel about working here.
29:14
And this is going into
29:17
my 19th year working here,
29:18
and I feel like
29:21
you hear
29:22
a lot of places
29:24
talk about
29:25
we're like a
29:26
family here.
29:26
This is like a family. This is really like
29:29
the first place that I worked.
29:30
Well, I've actually
29:30
really felt that.
29:31
I've heard that a lot.
29:33
I have
29:34
relationships
29:35
with other directors
29:36
that are really
29:38
like my brothers and sisters
29:39
and, you know,
29:40
and we all love one another
29:42
and but we, we,
29:44
you know,
29:44
we can fight
29:45
with each other to, you know,
29:46
and then,
29:48
but it's really true is truly
29:50
like a family.
29:50
We always
29:51
come back to the table
29:52
and, and work
29:53
out our differences.
29:55
I feel that way about this
29:58
place being here so long.
30:02
I would like
30:03
for you guys to talk.
30:04
About what?
30:06
About the culture.
30:07
That's just my view of it.
30:08
It may not be yours, but
30:09
what about the culture
30:11
of Cumberland Heights
30:12
is different
30:13
than other places that you have worked?
30:16
Because we were talking about,
30:17
you know,
30:18
working in sales
30:19
and working and working
30:20
in restaurant industry.
30:22
I worked in restaurant
30:23
industry for a while,
30:24
and the culture is different.
30:27
How is it different here
30:28
for you guys?
30:33
I was just going to say
30:36
it's I'm excited
30:37
to come to work
30:38
because it's fun.
30:39
It's kind of like you're,
30:43
pulling up to hang out
30:44
with all your friends,
30:45
and you're just excited
30:47
to see all of them.
30:48
Like,
30:49
I genuinely love.
30:52
One of my favorite parts
30:53
about the job is
30:55
I have to
30:56
walk around
30:57
campus all day
30:59
to make sure
31:00
things get done
31:00
in different areas,
31:01
but it's like
31:02
I get to walk around all day
31:03
because I get to
31:04
talk to everybody
31:06
that works here, and I can't
31:07
wait to talk to everybody
31:08
because it's so fun.
31:10
The interactions
31:11
that I have with
31:12
all the people that work here,
31:14
I enjoy it and it is
31:15
like a family.
31:16
Like I said,
31:16
I've always been able
31:18
to be myself here.
31:19
Like there isn't any pressure
31:21
to be somebody that I'm not.
31:23
I'm just myself.
31:24
And people accept me
31:27
and understand.
31:29
And it's just I can relate
31:32
with the people that work here,
31:33
whether they're in
31:34
recovery or not,
31:34
because we all
31:35
kind of understand
31:37
what's going on
31:38
and how to work in this field.
31:39
But the biggest thing
31:40
is just
31:41
the excitement to come to
31:42
work and see
31:44
all my homies.
31:45
Yeah, that's what
31:46
it feels like.
31:47
Yeah, that's.
31:48
Yeah, there's,
31:49
there's as long as
31:50
I've been here,
31:51
I think there's
31:51
probably only been like
31:52
two days that I've ever
31:54
kind of like.
31:54
Oh, and that's
31:56
because something I know
31:56
was going on, but I,
31:58
I had that same experience
32:00
every day.
32:03
Sharon,
32:05
how how would you describe the culture here
32:07
and how is it different from
32:09
other places
32:09
that you have worked?
32:12
Like I have
32:13
coworkers that call me even.
32:16
We're not at work
32:17
talking about stuff and like,
32:20
they're my friends.
32:22
Like,
32:22
if I have a bad day, I can go to them.
32:25
And or if I'm having
32:26
a good day, I can go to them
32:28
and kind of talk to them.
32:30
And, you know, we plan to do
32:32
stuff outside of work recovery
32:35
related most of the time.
32:37
And then, you know,
32:39
it's just like a real
32:41
welcoming culture.
32:42
Like my sister
32:45
was in town and I didn't
32:48
I didn't
32:48
hesitate to
32:49
think that I
32:50
needed to ask
32:51
if she could
32:51
come and visit me like I knew,
32:53
like if she did come to campus,
32:56
like, she's welcome.
32:58
Just like I am my own,
33:00
my own family
33:01
and the family I do have here.
33:03
And the sister
33:04
that came to the
33:05
Christmas party.
33:05
Yes. Yes, yes.
33:08
Nice.
33:09
You could tell she was your sister.
33:10
Yeah.
33:11
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:13
I tried to
33:13
get her to come to the picnic, but
33:15
she was busy.
33:16
Okay, okay.
33:22
Culture.
33:23
Culture, I think.
33:24
How do you hear the culture?
33:26
I think just the
33:27
property itself sets the tone.
33:29
So it.
33:30
Is the most
33:31
beautiful place
33:31
I've ever worked at. Yep.
33:33
Without a doubt.
33:35
It is just a
33:36
very, very pretty setting.
33:38
We're out in the hills.
33:40
Used to be a farm,
33:41
and it's just.
33:42
It's wonderful.
33:43
177 acres.
33:44
177 acres.
33:45
And it's just
33:46
absolutely beautiful
33:47
out here throughout the
33:48
four seasons.
33:49
I think that sets the tone. And then
33:51
I get the same feeling
33:52
as a staff as
33:53
I did when I was a patient,
33:56
which is
33:56
everyone here is here
33:58
to help.
33:59
Yeah,
33:59
the medical
33:59
staff is here to help
34:01
the casa here, the
34:03
clinical staff,
34:04
the people that
34:05
work in finance and accounting,
34:07
every single department.
34:08
We, even the maintenance
34:09
people that you see
34:10
here, they're working
34:11
hard out there to make
34:12
our campus beautiful.
34:13
And, you know,
34:16
everyone that I waved
34:17
to waves back.
34:19
And it's just a lot of
34:22
there's a lot of
34:25
support that
34:25
we get from one another.
34:26
We all have
34:27
to work together
34:27
to make it work.
34:28
And I think everyone that
34:31
comes to that arch
34:32
in the morning knows that.
34:33
And yeah, I feel supported.
34:36
And yeah, we got
34:37
some friends
34:38
that work here. And.
34:41
Personal culture
34:42
is saying
34:44
the saying that if you like
34:46
what you do,
34:47
you never have
34:47
to work
34:48
another day in your life,
34:49
which I thought was garbage.
34:51
Yeah, for a long time.
34:52
Yeah.
34:53
But I
34:54
when I was working down
34:55
in Young Men's,
34:56
probably a month or two
34:58
after working here,
34:59
I was like,
34:59
I think I might have,
35:00
I think there
35:01
might be something
35:02
to that.
35:02
Or if you like what you do
35:05
and you come to
35:05
Cumberland Heights, it's
35:07
it's yes, it is work.
35:09
And yes, what we do
35:11
is very serious.
35:12
But there's, you know,
35:14
there's some room to
35:15
come here and
35:17
and enjoy it and enjoy
35:18
actually enjoy what you do.
35:20
Yeah.
35:22
If you guys could
35:23
think about your teams
35:24
and the people
35:24
that you work with,
35:27
like, on a daily basis.
35:31
What do you think makes your team
35:32
special?
35:37
They want to be here.
35:38
I mean, it's the same, like,
35:40
we were just
35:40
talking about
35:41
our own experience of
35:43
wanting to be here.
35:44
And my team are
35:47
teams want to be here.
35:49
There's passion
35:51
to help people
35:52
and to be a part
35:54
of this
35:55
culture of recovery
35:57
and substance use disorder.
35:58
And like
36:00
there are some
36:01
technical things
36:02
that we have
36:02
to get done because like
36:04
Matt said, it is work.
36:06
But the team
36:08
loves to do it because they
36:10
love being here.
36:11
And that, you know,
36:14
I've been in
36:14
management before and
36:16
I've had a team
36:17
and they did not want to be.
36:19
There, right?
36:19
They didn't enjoy that.
36:21
They were there.
36:21
It was just like, oh,
36:22
this is work.
36:23
Like clock in get it done,
36:24
clock out.
36:25
But here, like
36:27
it feels easier to lead people
36:29
that want to be
36:30
here, that want to be led, that
36:33
are enjoying themselves.
36:37
Yes. What was the question?
36:41
The best.
36:43
Thing about your team?
36:44
Your team is obviously
36:46
you're close a little smaller.
36:48
You're close knit.
36:49
You guys, you guys,
36:51
you got Dan
36:52
Gervase is a primary
36:53
counselor up there.
36:54
And Ken,
36:55
as a counselor case manager.
36:57
And and then you lead a team of
37:00
of Kas.
37:02
Yeah.
37:04
Yeah.
37:04
Close knit.
37:05
We all work together.
37:06
If, you know,
37:07
one person needs to take care
37:09
of something,
37:09
something comes up,
37:11
another guy
37:11
has no problem jumping in
37:12
and taking care of it.
37:14
As far as the
37:15
staff, I would say
37:17
dependability,
37:18
reliability.
37:20
Our newest staff member,
37:22
Justin, when he clocks
37:24
in, he's
37:24
ready to work. Yeah,
37:26
he's prepared for work.
37:27
He is made.
37:28
He is come.
37:30
He doesn't need time
37:31
to the guys
37:33
don't
37:33
you kind of
37:33
come in here,
37:34
warm up for a little bit.
37:35
Be here for an hour.
37:35
Roam around. Yeah.
37:37
They come in here,
37:37
they're ready.
37:38
They're ready for work.
37:40
Yeah.
37:40
Justin's great.
37:41
He's got that.
37:42
Yeah.
37:42
He comes in
37:43
and clocks in.
37:43
He's ready,
37:44
which is fantastic.
37:45
And I would say for,
37:49
you know, the other case,
37:50
even the third shift, the level
37:52
of communication
37:52
that we have at EC
37:53
is very good
37:55
because there's just
37:56
nothing really gets lost
37:58
in translation because we
38:00
we communicate directly
38:01
with each other all the time
38:02
on the clock, off the clock.
38:04
We just
38:05
we're always,
38:06
always keeping
38:07
each other informed.
38:08
Yeah.
38:08
That's
38:08
super important
38:09
in your role
38:09
because the extended
38:11
care patients
38:12
live offsite.
38:14
We have to
38:16
the logistics
38:17
of getting them,
38:18
you know, to main campus,
38:20
getting them home,
38:20
taking them out.
38:22
It can be tricky.
38:24
And it's
38:25
got to be
38:25
a well-oiled machine
38:26
in order for all
38:27
those parts to work.
38:28
And you're
38:29
kind of in charge of that.
38:31
One thing that I
38:31
like about you specifically
38:33
is that your ability to
38:35
to forecast and see,
38:38
you know,
38:39
a little bit
38:40
down the road, some things
38:41
that could
38:43
be some potential issues
38:44
and bringing
38:44
those up
38:45
and trying
38:45
to work through those
38:46
before they actually
38:47
get to get to you. Yes.
38:50
So I think you do a
38:51
great job in that.
38:53
That can be
38:54
hard sometimes.
38:56
Yeah.
38:56
Being prepared and the guys,
39:00
you know, as far as the staff,
39:04
they just
39:05
I guess they're
39:06
just hard workers.
39:07
Yeah. When it comes
39:08
down to it.
39:10
Yeah.
39:11
They work hard.
39:11
They like what they do. And
39:15
it's important to like what
39:16
you do.
39:17
Yeah, it really is.
39:18
Living off campus
39:19
with the guys,
39:21
they there's
39:22
there's
39:22
a delicate balance of
39:23
like structure.
39:25
But as it
39:27
says in the literature,
39:28
we're not a lot.
39:29
So we don't want to.
39:31
It can't just be
39:32
all rigid
39:33
rigidity and instructional.
39:36
There's gotta be some fun.
39:37
We do some off
39:37
campus activities.
39:38
We go to some 12 step meetings,
39:40
we do some different stuff
39:41
where we have some community
39:42
around the house.
39:44
You guys, do
39:44
you volunteer at the animal
39:46
local animal shelter?
39:47
We do. So
39:48
yeah, we do
39:49
a decent amount of volunteer
39:50
work. We do.
39:51
We're we're just with
39:52
Second Harvest.
39:53
We do the Cheatham
39:54
County, Cheatham County
39:55
Animal shelter.
39:56
You shower.
39:57
Up, we did shower up
39:58
and we do a new place.
40:00
It's called
40:00
Diaper Connection,
40:01
where we pack boxes for
40:03
at risk women
40:04
in Nashville area.
40:05
So excellent.
40:06
That's great.
40:07
Throw in some bling.
40:08
And that's a good
40:09
experience for our guys.
40:10
It is.
40:11
I like how you guys kind of
40:12
alternate their weekend
40:13
like one weekend will be,
40:15
you know, their own recreational fun.
40:17
Learn how to,
40:18
you know,
40:18
have fun in recovery and
40:20
and support and fellowship.
40:21
But then
40:21
the alternate week is support
40:23
and going out and helping
40:24
and doing volunteer work.
40:25
And yeah,
40:26
I think that's awesome.
40:27
I think that's great
40:28
that you guys do that.
40:29
Yeah, we've had some good
40:30
results in the community.
40:32
I think we've
40:34
been able to
40:35
provide a community
40:36
and a structure
40:37
where the guys,
40:37
they want to stay, they want to do it,
40:39
they're excited for recovery,
40:40
and they're
40:41
willing to take suggestions
40:43
on their next
40:44
level of care,
40:44
whatever that is,
40:45
when they leave extended care.
40:47
Awesome.
40:49
How about you
40:50
and your team?
40:53
If you could, you know,
40:54
think about your team for
40:55
just a minute.
40:56
What do you
40:56
what are some things
40:57
that make your team
40:58
the people that
40:59
you work with daily special.
41:01
We have to communicate
41:03
a lot,
41:04
like there's a lot
41:04
of moving parts
41:05
and just staying connected and
41:09
everybody
41:10
on the same page
41:11
because, you know,
41:13
if we're not
41:14
communicating effectively,
41:16
then we just everything
41:18
can go haywire real quick.
41:20
Yeah.
41:21
And, just just knowing
41:23
that there's a lot
41:24
of moving parts because
41:27
it is in the men's
41:28
department, which is a bigger,
41:32
population size than
41:34
all the rest of the campus.
41:36
And knowing that,
41:37
you know, we
41:39
we can do this.
41:41
We just had to
41:41
be prepared and communicate.
41:44
Yeah.
41:46
I would like to go to
41:49
this one's going to
41:49
this is going to take some
41:51
a little bit of reflection.
41:53
But if you could think about
41:56
without sharing
41:57
specifics,
42:00
is there
42:00
a patient interaction
42:02
and an experience that you've had
42:05
in the whole time,
42:07
not just in your lead role
42:09
working here
42:10
that has stayed with you?
42:15
It could be
42:17
any positive or negative,
42:18
but any anything
42:19
that's really kind of
42:20
stuck with you that you've,
42:22
that you continue
42:23
to use today in your work,
42:25
that you've learned from.
42:28
I think
42:29
it would be the first time
42:30
I ever had
42:31
to share my story in the auditorium,
42:34
and I was so super terrified
42:38
to get in front of all
42:39
the men's patients.
42:40
How many people do
42:41
you think were in
42:42
that auditorium?
42:43
Probably about 110 to 120.
42:46
How many did that feel like
42:47
we're in there?
42:48
50 million. And.
42:51
But I remember telling
42:53
my story,
42:53
and I remember
42:54
having an outline
42:55
because I didn't
42:55
want to just be like,
42:57
yeah, like
42:58
just looking down.
42:59
So I had like
43:00
an outline and like,
43:03
I had this one patient
43:05
come up to me and he was
43:07
just like, Sharon.
43:08
I thought
43:09
there was no hope for me.
43:10
He's like, your story
43:11
is almost like mine.
43:13
And I was like, really?
43:15
And, I, I can't
43:18
I can't begin to express
43:20
how much
43:20
that meant to me like that.
43:22
I affected him and like,
43:25
I gave him some hope.
43:27
Like, I know that's
43:28
all you need in recovery.
43:29
It's a little bit of hope.
43:30
And you can just
43:32
reach for the stars
43:33
for your own recovery.
43:34
So like
43:35
that is still
43:36
stuck with me. And that was
43:37
like early working
43:40
at Cumberland
43:40
Heights.
43:42
Okay.
43:46
Yeah,
43:46
I would say
43:48
just for
43:51
relevancy.
43:52
Dalton over here.
43:53
Dalton was a young
43:54
men's patient
43:54
when I was
43:55
working down there,
43:56
and I see him every day.
43:57
You know,
43:58
he's coming on campus
43:58
and he's made a lot of growth.
44:00
Yeah.
44:00
It was not
44:01
sure about Dalton
44:01
when he was in Young Men's.
44:03
We weren't sure about you.
44:05
Sure.
44:06
Sure either.
44:06
Likable, a.
44:08
Very likable
44:09
young man.
44:11
But you've
44:12
grown up right before
44:13
my eyes, and it's
44:15
really cool to see.
44:17
So, yeah,
44:19
it's good, you know?
44:20
And some of
44:20
the other guys
44:20
come back and work
44:21
here too, and it's it's
44:23
just good to see.
44:24
Yeah, I like it.
44:25
That's one of the great
44:25
things about my job is,
44:28
you know,
44:29
I do get the opportunity
44:31
to see a lot like people
44:33
like you or alumni that
44:36
have maintained
44:37
some sobriety time and have
44:40
had a desire to,
44:41
you know,
44:41
dip their foot in this field
44:43
or maybe just their
44:44
toe to start.
44:46
And they've come work,
44:47
you know,
44:47
PRN and
44:48
picked up
44:48
shifts and kind of, you know,
44:50
tested the water
44:50
to see if they like it.
44:51
And some of them have come on
44:52
full time and love it
44:53
and have made
44:55
a total career
44:56
changes for themselves.
44:57
And yeah,
44:59
that is another
45:00
one of those
45:00
experiences that I have,
45:03
you know,
45:03
getting to
45:05
like to take
45:05
taking my kid
45:06
to Disney World again, watching
45:07
other people grow,
45:09
you know, and reliving
45:11
that experience with them.
45:14
It's awesome.
45:15
It's an awesome thing.
45:17
Did you have one
45:18
that you wanted
45:18
to share something?
45:21
Yeah, I,
45:22
I do want to
45:23
say, though, on what Matt said.
45:24
I mean,
45:25
when I said that I was here
45:26
as a patient and I like
45:28
the recovery literature
45:29
says find
45:30
someone who has what you want.
45:32
And Matt
45:33
was one of the people
45:34
that worked here that made me
45:36
want to work here, you know?
45:38
Okay.
45:38
And because I, I was
45:41
in a tough spot.
45:42
Yeah.
45:43
And he had shown me,
45:46
like, love and compassion
45:49
and understanding that I've never
45:51
really gotten.
45:52
And it made me want to
45:55
come back to give back.
45:56
And, and I've been able
45:59
to do that.
45:59
So I'll go into
46:01
there's so many.
46:02
But what sticks
46:03
out to me the most is when
46:05
I was working at arch with
46:08
the younger
46:11
patients,
46:12
there was this one guy.
46:14
He was always in trouble.
46:18
Yeah, and wasn't showing up to
46:20
groups and,
46:23
just wasn't good at following
46:26
the rules.
46:27
And he reminded me
46:29
of myself
46:30
because I wasn't,
46:32
you know,
46:32
the best patient
46:33
when I was in treatment.
46:35
And I shared with him,
46:37
you know, my story
46:38
and kind of
46:39
like what Sharon said.
46:40
He told me like,
46:40
he never thought
46:41
there would be hope
46:42
until he heard my story.
46:45
And he would
46:47
just be so excited
46:48
to see me
46:48
every single day. And, like,
46:49
I believed in him.
46:51
And he was 17 at the time,
46:55
and he
46:58
is now got almost
47:00
three years sober, awesome.
47:01
And is a house manager
47:03
and is in recovery
47:04
and is sponsoring
47:05
someone twice his age
47:06
and just loves recovery.
47:09
And I feel like
47:11
one thing I did
47:12
for him
47:13
is not only show him hope,
47:15
but also show him
47:16
recovery is fun
47:17
and it can be cool,
47:18
and it can be enjoyable,
47:19
and it can be something
47:20
that you want,
47:22
and it's better
47:23
than what
47:25
we how we were living.
47:26
Yeah,
47:26
but the biggest
47:27
thing is
47:28
for people to
47:28
come in
47:28
and be in a
47:29
tough spot
47:30
and then years down the road,
47:32
be doing such a good job
47:35
is awesome to see.
47:36
Yeah,
47:36
that makes me want to
47:37
keep doing it.
47:38
That's such a
47:38
hard thing with the
47:39
young people.
47:40
You know, the younger,
47:41
you know, under 30s guys
47:44
and especially the adolescents to
47:47
they, they
47:49
can't imagine the
47:52
not just like life but like
47:53
having fun in life
47:56
without using or drinking that.
48:00
And you are a living example
48:03
of that.
48:03
And you get to
48:04
show them that because
48:06
you you're still young.
48:07
Yeah, I got sober 20.
48:09
Yeah.
48:09
So I celebrated
48:10
my 21st birthday
48:11
with seven months
48:13
of clean and sober,
48:14
but like,
48:15
just my demeanor
48:17
and like
48:18
being goofy
48:18
and having fun and everything
48:20
that I do,
48:20
they were drawn to that.
48:21
Yeah.
48:23
You know,
48:23
I've been here for a long time.
48:24
I know
48:27
the director
48:29
of Young Man's
48:32
Jeff Wilson and a lot of,
48:33
you know, as my good friend
48:34
has been here for ten years,
48:37
a little more.
48:38
And the
48:39
some of the other directors
48:40
have been here for ten years,
48:42
and a lot of
48:43
the seas have been here
48:45
for years.
48:47
There's a lot,
48:48
a lot of people
48:49
that have worked at Cumberland
48:50
Heights for a long time,
48:52
all the way up to, you know,
48:53
our executive staff.
48:54
And why do you think
48:57
people stay here
48:59
long term?
49:00
Like, why do you think
49:01
we have a lot of these people
49:02
that are here long term?
49:06
Cumberland Heights
49:07
feels comfortable
49:07
and it feels like home.
49:09
Like,
49:10
you know,
49:11
when you go over the arches,
49:13
you know, you feel at peace.
49:16
You know,
49:16
you see the flowers,
49:17
you see the butterflies,
49:19
you see
49:20
the person at the
49:21
welcome center greet
49:23
you and say, good morning.
49:26
And, you know, you just
49:28
you can see the fog.
49:30
I get here early
49:31
in the morning.
49:31
So I get to see the fog
49:32
and the prettiest
49:34
of the mountains in the back.
49:35
And just
49:36
sometimes the, the,
49:38
the different
49:39
arrays of color in the sunsets
49:42
or the sunrises, I should say.
49:44
And like, you know,
49:45
just knowing
49:46
that this piece
49:48
of property really is
49:49
precious for people and,
49:52
and color
49:53
lights, it helps make
49:54
our culture like, you know,
49:56
you can recover and have
49:59
a beautiful scenery.
50:01
Yeah.
50:05
I've just I've heard a lot
50:06
of people, I mean,
50:08
when I share my story
50:12
out in my own life,
50:14
in recovery and stuff
50:15
like that,
50:15
I talk
50:16
about all the
50:17
things that I've
50:17
gotten back
50:18
because of recovery.
50:19
And one of the
50:20
things I say is
50:21
I have my dream job,
50:22
and I never thought I would get my
50:24
dream job.
50:25
And a lot of people say,
50:26
you know,
50:27
this is their dream job.
50:30
This is where
50:31
I want to work.
50:32
And I
50:33
didn't think that I would
50:36
work here.
50:36
It was a dream
50:37
of mine
50:38
back when I was a patient.
50:39
It was a dream to work here.
50:40
And it's a dream
50:41
come true to work here.
50:43
And now that I'm
50:44
actually here, I love it.
50:45
And I want to stay here.
50:47
But on a more like
50:49
this being work,
50:52
the opportunities to move up and grow
50:55
and be pushed into doing stuff
50:57
that's
50:59
better and more fulfilling
51:01
and just moving up the ranks,
51:04
I don't have to go anywhere.
51:06
Yeah,
51:06
because there's so many paths
51:08
that I can choose
51:08
from at this one company.
51:11
So I don't
51:12
need to go out and look
51:13
for another job.
51:15
I can look for another job here
51:17
within Cumberland
51:18
Heights and move up
51:19
at Cumberland Heights.
51:20
Yeah, that's one thing
51:22
that I've
51:22
enjoyed about here too,
51:24
and seeing
51:25
a lot of people come up,
51:27
you know,
51:27
starting as maybe a PRM,
51:29
CA and just getting their
51:30
foot in the door
51:31
and moving up to
51:33
team leads and case managers
51:35
and getting their license
51:37
and becoming counselors
51:39
and even being directors.
51:43
You know, that was my path
51:44
coming up.
51:45
I started here also as a
51:48
PR, CA in the
51:49
adolescent program
51:51
and seeing the
51:52
opportunity for growth.
51:53
And that's just in clinical,
51:57
you know,
51:57
there's other areas
51:58
of growth
51:59
to some people
52:00
may be more interested
52:01
in business development and
52:02
or going that route or
52:04
marketing we have
52:05
everything's here in house
52:06
and there's
52:07
always
52:07
opportunities for people
52:08
to learn and grow
52:09
and in many different fields
52:12
or accounting or even
52:15
intake
52:15
and admissions.
52:17
You can start here as a as a
52:19
PR Inca and,
52:20
and work
52:21
your way up into
52:22
a myriad of different areas,
52:24
which I think is awesome.
52:26
What were you going to say? Well,
52:27
I mean,
52:27
why do you think people
52:29
stay here?
52:30
What do you think keeps people here?
52:32
Yeah,
52:32
I think
52:32
that Cumberland Heights
52:33
keeps presenting opportunities
52:35
for growth.
52:36
Just in my experience,
52:37
I've worked here
52:37
for three
52:38
and a half years
52:39
and I've been given,
52:40
like you said, the LADAC
52:40
supervision
52:42
which Cumberland provides for
52:44
you added benefit.
52:46
They do they
52:47
offer the tuition
52:48
reimbursement programs.
52:50
They support you
52:51
going back
52:52
to further your education.
52:54
Yeah.
52:54
Which is wonderful.
52:56
So not only will they,
52:59
you know,
52:59
are there different roles
53:00
that you can go into.
53:02
They will help you get
53:03
into those roles?
53:04
Yeah.
53:06
Good leadership.
53:08
You know,
53:08
as far as
53:10
the people
53:13
teaching you
53:13
and helping you grow.
53:16
Travis,
53:17
you've shown me a lot,
53:18
you know, as
53:20
I've gone along, some of it is,
53:23
you know, some growing pains.
53:25
But without it, without someone
53:27
with 19 years of experience
53:29
or a Jeff Wilson with ten years
53:30
of experience that you get
53:32
from Cumberland Heights.
53:34
Good.
53:34
Just good mentorship,
53:35
I guess.
53:36
Yeah, that's a good way.
53:38
You know,
53:38
as an employee to kind of
53:39
come up and and learn
53:42
and I don't think a lot,
53:44
you know, I wouldn't.
53:45
I'm not sure a lot of
53:46
companies in general offer
53:48
that these days
53:48
because everyone's
53:49
always looking
53:50
for the next best thing.
53:51
So sometimes
53:52
you land at Cumberland
53:53
and you're just,
53:54
you know, you throw
53:55
the map away and you're happy
53:58
where you're at.
53:59
Yeah.
54:00
Thank you for that.
54:03
That was
54:03
my experience to
54:05
many, many years ago
54:06
when I first came here
54:07
with AA1 year
54:10
old child and,
54:11
you know, a wife
54:13
and moving to a new city. And,
54:16
the LADAC
54:17
track was the answer for me,
54:19
you know,
54:19
because I was able to
54:20
get training.
54:22
I was here at Cumberland
54:24
Heights, provided
54:25
all the Sears continuing
54:26
education hours that I needed.
54:30
The LADAC core
54:31
function trainings were
54:32
provided for me.
54:33
I didn't really have to pay
54:35
for any of
54:35
that stuff as an employee
54:36
here, other
54:37
than actually taking the test.
54:38
I had to pay
54:39
for a couple
54:39
Sears just to get the
54:41
total numbers.
54:42
But as you know,
54:44
a parent of a of a kid
54:46
and having to work
54:47
all the time at that time,
54:48
for me,
54:49
going back to school
54:50
wasn't really feasible
54:51
because I
54:51
needed to work 40 hours a week,
54:53
and it was basically
54:54
on the job training for me.
54:55
I was learning
54:56
and getting educated, and
54:58
so it was a perfect
54:59
opportunity for me to
55:01
to become a licensed
55:01
alcohol and drug counselor to,
55:03
to move up in this field.
55:04
And that's,
55:07
you know, our story.
55:08
It's where it kind of
55:09
everybody's in a different spot
55:10
on that journey.
55:11
And hopefully
55:13
that's the conclusion
55:15
or even more,
55:16
you know,
55:16
because then
55:17
I've had the opportunity
55:18
to go
55:19
back to school and to pursue
55:21
my master's degree
55:22
and all that stuff, which is,
55:26
also a process as well.
55:28
I want to
55:30
thank you
55:31
guys for
55:32
participating in this
55:34
and sharing your story
55:36
and talking
55:38
a little bit about what
55:39
got you here and what what
55:40
keeps you here.
55:42
We're going to
55:43
we're going to wrap up.
55:44
But is there anything
55:46
that you guys
55:47
would like to say
55:49
about yourselves
55:51
or Cumberland
55:52
Heights as a whole
55:53
before we do wrap?
55:54
Any any closing statements
55:57
that you guys would
55:58
like to say?
56:00
I feel like
56:01
Cumberland Heights
56:02
tries to treat the whole
56:04
person, and
56:08
just knowing
56:09
that there's different
56:11
avenues and ways
56:12
to recover.
56:13
And they they individualize
56:17
the patient's
56:18
treatment and that goes
56:20
that goes to even
56:22
the culture
56:23
of me being a worker.
56:25
Like there's like we just
56:26
said, there's
56:27
individual ways to move up.
56:29
And, you know, the
56:32
the opportunities are endless when
56:34
we work at Cumberland Heights.
56:37
Yeah.
56:37
I want to say I feel like
56:38
we all
56:40
maybe have struggled
56:41
with, can I do this?
56:44
I definitely have,
56:46
one of the
56:46
biggest things for me is people
56:48
believing in me that work
56:49
with me,
56:51
even when I don't believe
56:51
in myself,
56:52
it keeps me going.
56:54
Awesome.
56:56
Do you want to
56:57
say anything else? Or.
56:59
Say just thankful
57:02
and grateful for Cumberland
57:03
Heights as a patient
57:04
and grateful for Cumberland
57:05
Heights as a staff member.
57:06
And yeah, I
57:09
grateful that
57:10
I can continue to show up and
57:12
and be a member
57:13
of this community.
57:15
One thing that I want you guys
57:16
to take away from this,
57:17
and I want you to take to
57:18
your staff,
57:21
you know,
57:21
I have talked
57:23
with leadership
57:24
and from the CEO
57:27
to the chief
57:27
clinical officer to
57:29
and everyone's kind of
57:30
on the same page
57:31
of the clinical
57:33
associates here, that
57:35
they're kind of the backbone
57:36
of everything that we do. And
57:39
without you guys,
57:41
it would
57:41
be hard to run this place
57:43
and you guys do a great job.
57:45
I appreciate you
57:46
and I appreciate your work.
57:48
I appreciate your teams.
57:50
And and
57:51
I just want
57:52
to make sure
57:52
that you guys feel that
57:53
and you guys know that.
57:56
And with
57:57
with that I think
57:58
we're going to wrap up.
57:59
Thank you very much.
58:01
Thank you.
58:01
Thank you.
58:02
Thank you.
58:02
For the opportunity.
58:03
Yeah.
58:04
You guys have a great day.