Latest / Finding New Waters / Nick Slovak: I got sober when I was 21 years old

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Nick Slovak: I got sober when I was 21 years old · Finding New Waters

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  I started using drugs and alcohol pretty young and on my,
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  my father's side of the family, the, you know, the gene of
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  addiction I think runs fairly deep.
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  And my father died from alcoholism when I was a teenager
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  from complications from it. And then, you know, very soon
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  after I started like kind of down my own path of, of
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  addiction throughout high school and stuff.
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  And so I guess from about 16 to 21, I was kind of in and out of
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  all sorts of substance use programs and wilderness
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  programs, things like that. Thank you for joining us for
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  another episode of Finding New Waters podcast.
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  My name is Justin McClendon. I'm the CEO at New Waters
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  Recovery and I'm joined today by our very special guest, Nick
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  Slovak, who is the Chief Operating Officer.
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  Is that right to get that right at at Veda Health here in
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  Raleigh, NC and I won't I could immediately dive into like what
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  you guys do and how much we love you and how great it is to work
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  with you. But but it maybe I'll I'll let
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  you do some of that. Yeah, absolutely.
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  So thanks for having me on, Justin.
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  Really appreciate the opportunity to come out and
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  talk. So, yeah, I'm the COO of Aveda
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  Health. And what, what that means kind
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  of Aveda Health is a behavioral health provider in the Triangle
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  area. And we kind of hope to expand
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  throughout North Carolina over the next couple of years.
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  And we first started as a substance use provider for young
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  adult men. And over the last seven or eight
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  years, we've transitioned to be kind of a, a behavioral health
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  home or a system of care for behavioral health.
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  And the idea is, is that we offer several different levels
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  of care and support for people that are working on their
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  emotional and behavioral health. So everything from just like
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  basic outpatient psychiatry, outpatient medication management
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  therapy, all the way up to partial hospitalization for
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  substance use disorder and mental health.
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  That's great. Why, if you don't mind me
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  asking, why the transition is so I think you you've been with
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  with Tripp and since since that transition before that
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  transition, right. So I wonder what the thinking
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  was around like changing from what was Greenhill right to to
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  kind of what you guys have become over the years?
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  Yeah, absolutely. So it's a kind of an interesting
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  story and I think it involves my own background and I think trips
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  background as well. So when I first came down to
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  North Carolina, I should mention that I'm in recovery.
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  I've been in recovery for 16 years and I got sober when I was
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  21 years old. That wasn't the first time, you
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  know, that I tried to get sober that my, when I was a teenager,
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  that my mother tried to get me sober.
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  But I had this early experience, right?
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  I started using drugs and alcohol pretty young.
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  And on my, my father's side of the family, the, you know, the
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  gene of addiction, I think runs fairly deep.
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  And my father died from alcoholism when I was a teenager
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  from complications from it. And then, you know, very soon
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  after I started like kind of down my own path of, of
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  addiction throughout high school and stuff.
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  And so I guess from about 16 to 21, I was kind of in and out of
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  all sorts of substance use programs and wilderness
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  programs, things like that. And I was very lucky when I was
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  21, I, you know, it was probably my fifth attempt at treatment.
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  I went to a inpatient facility and I, you know, I probably
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  spent about four months in that facility.
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  And then I got sent to Portland, ME to live in a, a transitional
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  living program. And I stayed in that program for
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  about maybe 19 months. And I think that the reason I
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  stayed sober in the long term, right, was because of that
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  program. It was this really incredible
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  program where I built this, you know, kind of community of young
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  men that really supported me to, you know, live a sober
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  lifestyle, but also like learn how to be an, an adult.
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  And so I, I went to college. I finished college after I got
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  out of that program. And pretty soon thereafter I
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  started working in some programs myself.
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  And these were like private pay programs, you know, these kind
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  of transitional living programs that were, were are really
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  awesome, but they're really expensive.
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  I'm familiar for sure. Absolutely right.
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  And so I had been working for a program up in Portland, me and I
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  really enjoyed it and I loved it and I was, I got to do all these
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  incredible things. Be a part of, you know, a bunch
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  of young men's, you know, sobriety and emotional health
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  journeys. And Tripp reached out to me.
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  We had a mutual connection, and he wanted to start a program
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  similar to that. And so I came down to North
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  Carolina and we ran a program, you know, we had a transitional
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  living program for young adult men.
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  And what we were, you know, kind of focused on was young adults
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  that were interested in kind of, you know, continuing their adult
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  life after they'd been out in a residential treatment program,
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  specifically around academics, too.
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  And, you know, that was kind of based on our own experiences.
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  You know, finishing college as somebody that was trying to get
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  sober was really important to me.
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  My mother, you know, it was a value that, you know, she gave
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  me and something I think I had a lot of shame around.
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  I could never finish because of my, you know, my substance use.
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  It was a really big challenge. So we wanted to work with young
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  men to do that. And our program was I, you know,
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  I think we ran a really good program, but it was really
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  expensive. And we did, I think to keep
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  young people engaged. There's this idea that like, we
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  have to do a lot of like, really kind of like big ticket
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  activities, right? That, you know, sometimes can
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  cost a lot of money. I think also in that right, like
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  in that housing for young adults, like we need to have a
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  lot of like really good support and staffing, right, which is
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  also really expensive. And I think we also had this
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  idea that in network or like, you know, insurance based
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  treatment was not good, right? And so like I had been to a, you
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  know, personally, a bunch of programs that were private pay,
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  you know, and I think I'd always kind of, you know, not for any
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  particular reason other than that's just like the opinion of
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  some of the people that I was around.
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  And so I think that that was my original thinking.
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  Gotcha. And we were very successful.
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  We helped a lot of young men at, at, you know, I, I guess the
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  original iteration of Green Hill recovery.
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  And it was, you know, I really enjoyed the work, but I think
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  about a year and a half in and the way that I kind of tell it
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  is, is like we would, we would have some people that reached,
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  you know, reached out that wanted to be a part of our
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  program, especially locally in Raleigh.
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  And they couldn't necessarily afford, you know, what we like,
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  what our program, you know, the expenses of our program.
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  And I think like we started to get a lot of calls right.
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  And they wanted something like that.
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  And I think we really thought to ourselves like, OK, like we need
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  to do something about this. And I think Trip especially, and
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  me, we, we started to talk about, OK, like how do we
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  redesign this thing? One of the other interesting
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  things that we, we kind of talk to our staff about this all the
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  time. When we first started, we wanted
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  to be, we kind of had this like rallying cry or like long term
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  vision, right? Like we wanted to have a model
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  of care, right? And what that looked like, I
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  would always tell the staff, right, as a couple of us, we
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  would be in up in Washington, DC testifying in front of Congress
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  about like, why this this works and why insurance has to pay for
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  it, right? But I think we, we had some
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  mentors. We were really lucky to have
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  some mentors in the Raleigh community.
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  I think that pushed back on that, right?
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  OK. And you know, this is I, I, I
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  always like to let Tripp tell this story, but one of those
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  mentors, right, pushed back on him and said, like, you're not a
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  model of care, right? You just run a very expensive
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  sober living. And I think like we took that.
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  We took that really to heart and we started to ask questions, how
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  can we do this differently? How can we provide, you know,
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  better quality treatment? How can we provide better access
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  and affordability, which I think is really important?
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  Absolutely. So what we did is the, the first
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  step in that is that we started a, you know, an outpatient
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  program that, you know, I think had a lot of the same values,
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  clinical modalities as our transitional living program, but
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  was more cost effective, affordable and accessible to
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  people in the community. But offered, I think the same
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  thing that the, that we were providing those young adults.
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  And one of the things I get to do in my COO role, right, as I
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  think about systems and process and operations.
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  And so I, I kind of like geek out about that, like, OK, how do
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  we do this thing but make it more efficient, right?
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  And more affordable, more accessible.
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  And so we, we, I think we really went on a journey, you know,
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  over the next four years, right, to kind of do that.
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  And so we started this outpatient program.
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  And then what we decided is, is like, we need to go in network
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  with, you know, everybody who provides insurance in North
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  Carolina. The, the majority of, you know,
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  folks in North Carolina looking for treatment or, you know,
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  they're going to want to use their insurance benefits.
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  It's going to make the the treatment experience more, you
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  know, accessible and effective, I think for them in the long
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  run. And so we went, we worked really
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  hard to get in network with, you know, I'd say most major payers
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  in the United States. And it was really hard and it
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  was really scary because, you know, the insurance system in
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  our country is, is really difficult sometimes.
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  And it was a challenge, right, to figure out how do we, how do
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  we provide, you know, how do we keep going as a company and work
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  with insurance and do you know, do right by everyone?
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  And so that was like a challenge in the beginning, but I think we
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  got the hang of that. And then we decided, OK, like we
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  need to be providing some more services, right?
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  And the ultimate idea for us, I think in the the long run and
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  what we have now is, is that folks can come in, you know,
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  with a, a number of different behavioral health needs, right?
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  I just need a therapist, right? And they can, they can, we can
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  provide that for them, right? And say, one of those people,
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  you know, needs more support than just that therapist, right?
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  They can stay in our system and get moved up to a different
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  level of care, right? Get, you know, whatever's going
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  on with them, treated, handled, be successful and then step back
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  down, right? And it's the idea there is, is
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  that it, you know, it remains accessible to get the help that
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  you need, right? But it's also very affordable
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  and effective. That's fantastic.
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  And you guys Speaking of the levels of care and again I don't
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  want to speak for you, but I think you guys are offering for
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  substance abuse treatment, partial hospitalization,
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  intensive outpatient. I've heard there's a a primary
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  mental health level of care coming for that a group program.
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  Correct. Yeah, So we and we just, so we
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  started in March a a mental health IOP program and then
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  hopefully in June we'll be starting a mental health PHP.
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  Program that's fantastic. And I think a lot of the things
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  that we've done have come out of the necessity, right?
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  And what I mean by that is, is like the way that we've grown
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  our organization is like kind of based on what we're seeing is
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  the needs of our community, our own patient population.
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  And, you know, we offer, you know, psychiatry and medication
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  management and a large majority of our patients, you know, come
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  to invaded Health or aim for that service, right?
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  But sometimes those patients need a little bit more support,
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  right? And so we wanted to support them
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  by having a, you know, a mental health IOP and eventually PHP.
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  That's fantastic. That's really good.
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  And you know, so I'll say, so moved up here almost nine years
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  ago and coming from South Florida that that was one thing
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  I noticed very early on after moving here is just that there
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  just wasn't, there were a lot of services, but everything was
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  very kind of disjointed. And you would see.
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  So especially like IIOPS, there really weren't a lot of PHP
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  programs, but IO PS you would find one, but it would, it's
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  just clinical, no real medical attached to it.
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  And same thing with you would find psychiatrist office that
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  weren't offering there, you know, psychotherapy.
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  You would find therapy offices that weren't offering Med
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  management. Like it was just a lot of of
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  that. And it's been really good, at
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  least here in the, in the Triangle in the Raleigh area, to
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  see everybody kind of grow up and, and, you know, create
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  services that are more cohesive and, and, you know, offering
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  different things to different people so that they have the
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  wrap around services that it, that they need.
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  And that's one thing I think that speaks clearly about, about
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  you guys. And the work that you're doing
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  is you've been a big part of that and you've created that
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  ecosystem within your own organization so that there is
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  multiple levels of care, primary substance use, primary mental
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  health, there's outpatient. So somebody could, you know,
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  stay connected and continue to receive services from you guys
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  for I guess as long as they need to, right?
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  Absolutely, yeah. And that that's one of the, I
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  think the things that we really deeply care about is like this
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  idea of like an integrated model, right?
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  And what that kind of, you know, the way that it shows up for me,
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  right, is through my own treatment experiences, right?
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  I would need to, you know, see a therapist that was not connected
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  to, you know, the person that maybe was doing some psychiatry
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  with me or, you know, I would go to a treatment program, right?
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  And then, you know, discharge and, you know, be working with a
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  therapist or something. And that what was going on with
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  me, right, was not well communicated or coordinated.
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  And I think in our early, in the early days of Greenhill, we saw
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  that first hand. And that's a part of the reason
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  we brought the psychiatry piece on is, you know, I had a, you
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  know, a bunch of young men who were in, in our transitional
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  living program, right? And many of whom were on some
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  kind of medications and needed to be right.
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  And we're, we're very supportive, I think of harm
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  reduction and taking a look at, you know, the medical lens,
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  especially in addiction. That's something that's very
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  important to us. But we would work with these
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  outside providers and it was really difficult to coordinate
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  with them, you know, and, and to provide the best care sometimes.
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  And so we thought about this, like, how do we do this?
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  You know, we found several, you know, psychiatrists to work
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  with, but often times, right, I think because of the economic
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  incentives in healthcare, right, they would get so busy, they
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  wouldn't be able to spend, you know, the time necessary with
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  our, you know, clients sometimes like, right, they'd be get so
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  full that we, you know, we often times in psychiatry, you know,
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  there's a month, 2 month wait to see somebody.
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  So I think we really thought about how to solve that problem.
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  And for us, like it was about, you know, I think eventually
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  adding that component to our organization, right?
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  And that's something that we pride ourselves on, right?
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  We, we take a look at, you know, wait times to get in to see a
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  provider. And I think really look to make
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  sure that that's something that we're, you know, constantly able
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  to, you know, provide to the community here.
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  That is huge. As a matter of fact, I, I think
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  I saw a social media post recently where trip head he was
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  talking about that actually showed a graphic of, you know,
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  some of the, the changes that had taken place.
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  But it's true. And I think that's a known issue
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  for, you know, maybe most metropolitan areas that if you
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  need to get in to see a psychiatrist or even a
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  therapist, sometimes there's some really long wait times to
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  that. So it's very refreshing to hear
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  that you guys are taking an honest look and trying to affect
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  change about that. Because I mean, as we know, if
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  somebody's in crisis or somebody's really struggling,
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  like they don't need help in a month, they need help now or at
• 16:41
  least as quick as they can get in front of somebody, you know?
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  Absolutely, yeah. And, and I think, you know, and
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  I, I think I just, I also think about it in terms of the, I call
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  it the patient experience, right?
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  But I've been in those shoes myself.
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  And I think the first, you know, the first step in any kind of
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  behavioral health journey, right, is shedding the stigma
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  that's around, right? And I think over the last 20
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  years, I think that that's gotten a lot better.
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  There's a lot less stigma. But I still see it, you know,
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  from time, you know, time and time again, right?
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  Like whether it's an addiction problem, a mental health
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  problem, or just like, hey, I want to, I'm a man and I want to
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  see a therapist 'cause I have some feelings and I don't know,
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  and nobody ever taught me how to deal with them, right?
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  So I think like one of the things I often think about too
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  with those wait times, right, is I've gotten up the courage right
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  to like, like say I've got some issue that I need help with,
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  right? Which I think is probably, for
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  many of us, the hardest part. Huge.
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  Right. And I'm ready to go and I wanna,
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  you know, I've got some action around this and then if I have
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  to wait, you know, XYZ time to do that, I think it's a real
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  deterrent for people to, you know, I think start their
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  emotional health journey, work on their behavioral health.
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  So I think it's really important.
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  I think that the access is really an important piece.
• 18:03
  Yeah, I completely agree with you.
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  You know, it comes up, this just came up while you're saying
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  that. I remember, you know, throughout
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  the years and just consuming research and stuff like that.
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  You know, it's pretty common that a control group in a, in a
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  research study, especially when you're looking at like
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  medications or different types of therapies, they'll be like
• 18:20
  the weightless group and they'll see, you know, essentially
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  there's almost always some, some amount of positive change on the
• 18:27
  weight loss group because they've, you know, they've
• 18:29
  accepted this idea that like help is coming, right?
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  But I do wonder, you know, when we're talking about this and
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  like, you know, the fact that you have to wait sometimes 3
• 18:37
  weeks, a month, maybe even longer to get in front of a
• 18:40
  professional, like where's the diminishing returns on that,
• 18:43
  right? So where it's at some point
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  you've made this, like you said, very difficult decision that
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  takes tons of courage to like say, hey, I need help.
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  And now, you know, you know, does that positive change that
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  we see in these research studies, like how long does that
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  last before, you know, maybe you start having some diminishing
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  returns and probably lose a percentage of individuals that
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  don't wind up following through with that appointment because
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  it's maybe just, it's just been too long or the stigmas crap
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  back in or something like that, you know?
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  No, totally. And I mean, it's, you know, and
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  I'll be honest, like, you know, we have not always been good at
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  this, right? You know, I think one of the
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  things we've always been good at, right, is asking, you know,
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  hard questions of ourselves, like how do we make this better?
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  But I think that, you know, this is something that we were, you
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  know, fortunate enough to, I think really start taking a look
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  at in the last couple of years and, you know, getting some data
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  around. OK.
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  Like how, you know, if a patient is scheduled for their first
• 19:41
  appointment two weeks out, what's their likelihood of
• 19:44
  actually showing up for that appointment versus 48 hours or
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  24 hours? And I think what we found for
• 19:50
  ourselves, right, is that like we were scheduling, you know,
• 19:54
  some of those patients out too far and then they weren't
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  showing up, right. And it would be really difficult
• 19:59
  to re engage them. And you know, and so I think our
• 20:04
  organization, we've set some, you know, some really clear
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  goals and support around how we can, you know, better provide
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  access and regularly taking a look at that data.
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  That's great. And I guess one step is hire
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  more providers. I guess that's one thing, but
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  it's probably much more intricate than that I would
• 20:22
  assume. Yeah.
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  Well, sometimes, I mean, sometimes it is I think as
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  simple as that. And one of the things I like,
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  you know, I think that we really care about that.
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  I think it's a real problem in healthcare, right?
• 20:34
  This is the way that we treat providers, you know, and I think
• 20:40
  often, you know, Healthcare is looked at it as a business,
• 20:43
  right? And we believe that, you know,
• 20:46
  we have certain beliefs, you know, about how much time should
• 20:50
  be spent with a patient, you know, how care is done, right?
• 20:55
  Obviously, you know, in an evidence way, right?
• 20:59
  But sometimes those things do not align with, you know, making
• 21:03
  a lot of money, right? Yeah, that's.
• 21:07
  True. So I think providers sometimes
• 21:10
  are, you know, they see the, the kind of the hardest effects of
• 21:14
  that, right, where they have these expectations to see
• 21:16
  patients back-to-back for smaller amounts of time.
• 21:22
  And we have a little bit of a different model, right, where we
• 21:24
  have our providers have lower expectations, they have more
• 21:28
  support to I think really, you know, take a look at the
• 21:34
  treatment plan that they think is, you know, the best.
• 21:38
  And often times that's, that's more time with the patient,
• 21:41
  right. And so I think we're easily able
• 21:47
  to attract providers because our expectations are a little bit
• 21:50
  different than some of our, some of the other folks out there who
• 21:56
  you know, are, are, are really worried about, you know, what
• 21:59
  the margin looks like, what the bottom line looks like.
• 22:02
  Absolutely, Yeah, I completely agree with that.
• 22:05
  And we do you see that unfortunately not to name names
• 22:08
  or anything, but locally and across the country, I think you
• 22:11
  know, the the system, if you will, if, if, if, if an
• 22:15
  organization wants to, you know, really increase profit margins,
• 22:19
  that's a lot of times how they go about it, right.
• 22:21
  It's like, well, let's reduce the amount of time let's you
• 22:23
  know, essentially more volume, right.
• 22:25
  Let's see more clients and see more patients.
• 22:27
  And it's true. I think the, the the person gets
• 22:30
  that gets the short end of the stick is the is the client, is
• 22:33
  the patient, right, not being able to have enough time to
• 22:36
  really express what they need and be able to get the help that
• 22:39
  they need. So I'm really glad to hear that
• 22:41
  you guys are are doing that. And I know first hand, I know
• 22:44
  culture just in general is a is a big thing for you guys, right?
• 22:47
  Yeah, Absolutely. Yeah, we care Quite.
• 22:49
  Yeah. I mean, I, I think we really
• 22:51
  think about what, you know, what bets best supports our staff,
• 22:56
  right? Because I think though we know
• 22:59
  obviously, right, they're going to give the best support to our
• 23:02
  patients because of it, right? And I think a lot of times, you
• 23:05
  know, in healthcare, you know, providers, people that are on
• 23:11
  the front lines. And I, I think that it's really
• 23:13
  important. We think a lot about our admin
• 23:14
  positions, right? Like, you know, folks who are
• 23:17
  working with our, you know, at our front desk or doing like
• 23:21
  pro, like what we call provider support roles, right?
• 23:23
  They're interacting with patients, often the first people
• 23:26
  to pick up that phone, you know, for a patient in crisis, things
• 23:29
  like that. How do we best support them?
• 23:32
  How do we best train them? But also how do we make them
• 23:35
  feel a part of a, you know, a larger organization?
• 23:38
  And we think a lot about that because I think too often,
• 23:43
  right, people that are doing these jobs, right, like they are
• 23:46
  spending so much time, you know, kind of solo out there working,
• 23:51
  you know, with a patient in the room.
• 23:54
  And it can get lonely. And they don't feel connected
• 23:57
  back to this, to this wider thing.
• 23:59
  And I think I think about it with my own, you know, recovery
• 24:02
  journey. The thing that was the most
• 24:04
  important for me as a young man getting sober, you know, was
• 24:09
  this community of other peers that I had.
• 24:12
  And I always tell people like when I, when I went up to that
• 24:15
  sober living in Portland, right, I had no expectation of staying
• 24:19
  sober for the rest of my life. Like it just did not make sense
• 24:22
  to me as a 21 year old, right? Like, how am I going to have
• 24:25
  fun? How am I going to have a life?
• 24:27
  How am I going to date, you know, how am I going to show up
• 24:30
  like in social situations when everybody else is drinking,
• 24:33
  right, or whatever. And but, you know, within six
• 24:39
  months, I think of being kind of engaged in this community and
• 24:43
  supported like it started to make sense, right?
• 24:46
  More than anything else for me, that was really important.
• 24:50
  And so I think that like we try to do that, you know, for, for
• 24:53
  for our staff, right? Like they need, you need to feel
• 24:56
  connected, especially, you know, I know many of us are worried
• 25:00
  about, you know, what's what's going on with technology and the
• 25:04
  impact that it has on people. I think that community is
• 25:07
  central and whatever you know, whether you're running an
• 25:11
  organization or helping folks get better from their mental
• 25:16
  health issues. Absolutely, Yeah, I couldn't, I
• 25:19
  couldn't agree more, man. And you know, at New Waters, we,
• 25:22
  we try and approach that the same way, right?
• 25:24
  Like exactly to the words that you used, Nick, I, you know,
• 25:28
  better we can take care of them and provide for our staff, the
• 25:31
  better a job they're going to do with our patients.
• 25:32
  And at the end of the day, I mean, that's kind of all that
• 25:34
  matters, right? I mean, like we want to be
• 25:36
  financially lucrative and like, you know, all those things are
• 25:39
  important in order to keep the keep the machine running and
• 25:42
  things like that. But at the end of the day, when
• 25:44
  you kind of drill down to the bare bones, like that's kind of
• 25:47
  it, right? I mean, like you have staff,
• 25:50
  they have families, you need to take care of them.
• 25:53
  They need to love their job at least as much as they can to
• 25:56
  have a good, a good community and a good culture because the
• 26:00
  service that they're providing to to the clients is, I mean,
• 26:03
  that is literally the entire reason that we're operating,
• 26:05
  right? Yep.
• 26:06
  So yeah, we definitely subscribe to that as well.
• 26:09
  For sure. Definitely.
• 26:10
  Man makes all the difference, you know?
• 26:12
  And I think it's really important too.
• 26:13
  I, I sometimes I feel like, sometimes I think I really want
• 26:16
  to be gung ho too about like, you know, I think there's a
• 26:21
  balance, right? I think sometimes I've gone a
• 26:23
  little overboard, like, you know, everybody, you know, we're
• 26:25
  going to be a part of this thing and, but right, like sometimes
• 26:29
  also people, they, they want to have a good place to work and
• 26:32
  they want to be a part of, right?
• 26:34
  But also sometimes they just want to go home on a Friday and
• 26:36
  be with their family too, right? So I think it like we're
• 26:38
  constantly thinking about what is, you know, how do we best
• 26:41
  support? Where do you strike that
• 26:43
  balance, right? And then each individual, like
• 26:45
  you said, they are an individual.
• 26:47
  Some people like really want to be connected and they are going
• 26:49
  to spend, you know, a lot of their time and socialize people
• 26:52
  with people from work outside of work.
• 26:54
  And and then like you said, there's the other people that,
• 26:57
  you know, work is work and they want it to be good and healthy.
• 27:00
  And also they really value their time outside of here with their
• 27:03
  family and whatever. And all those things are great.
• 27:06
  I mean, you know, for humans and to each their own, I guess,
• 27:09
  right? Yeah, but I'm with you.
• 27:10
  I think that is the goal, like trying to find a way to strike
• 27:13
  that balance and and provide the best atmosphere we can for them.
• 27:17
  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And one of the things that like
• 27:20
  I think you said that I think we really try to look at, you know,
• 27:25
  and we've a model we've tried to incorporate in what we do,
• 27:30
  right, is, is this idea like somebody can be in a higher
• 27:33
  level of care, right, But then continue on, you know, on their
• 27:38
  journey with us for several years.
• 27:40
  And I think that that's one of the coolest things that I get to
• 27:42
  see, you know, folks that come to us and do PHP and IOP, right?
• 27:47
  But then when they step down and they're successful from those
• 27:50
  programs, right? They continue to work with a
• 27:52
  therapist or a psychiatrist in our practice.
• 27:56
  And I think that that's was really important to me, right?
• 27:59
  I think I had a lot of success, you know, as a young man and I
• 28:04
  was really fortunate to be exposed to this, you know, that
• 28:07
  community that I talked about. And I got sober, right.
• 28:11
  And then I think like I wanted to rush off and have a career
• 28:15
  and finish college, like I talked about, you know, have a
• 28:18
  family, things like that. And I think, you know, I didn't
• 28:22
  take a look at some of the other things that I needed to.
• 28:26
  And I think one of the one of the things I've been impacted by
• 28:29
  in my life is that like behavioral health, you know, I,
• 28:33
  I sometimes I call it, you know, my emotional well-being, right?
• 28:36
  It needs to be taken, you know, taken a look at on a regular
• 28:39
  basis. Yeah.
• 28:41
  And so we want to be able to offer that as well.
• 28:43
  And I think, you know, support people that are interested in
• 28:48
  doing that, right. And, you know, you don't just
• 28:49
  get sober and everything's fine forever, right?
• 28:53
  We still have all the same kind of challenges that we had.
• 28:57
  And I think like, you know, I, I see some folks doing some really
• 29:01
  hard work, you know, five years into their sobriety and it's,
• 29:04
  it's really cool to see. That's great.
• 29:06
  That's amazing. I love that.
• 29:09
  And like you said, I do think that's a, that's one thing that
• 29:12
  one of many things that is really unique about what you
• 29:15
  guys do is that, you know, somebody can have that support
• 29:18
  at that higher level of care or directly coming out of like a
• 29:20
  residential treatment program and being able to, you know, get
• 29:23
  the support that they need as they're trying to reintegrate
• 29:25
  back into the community. But then to be able to stay with
• 29:28
  you guys long term to your point, right.
• 29:31
  I mean, I, I wish it was as easy as just being able to kind of
• 29:33
  stop the drug or their drink and then everything's fine.
• 29:35
  But unfortunately, we know that that's that's not the case.
• 29:38
  Right. Yeah.
• 29:39
  Absolutely. Yeah, for sure.
• 29:40
  Yeah. Well, Nick, it's been, it's been
• 29:43
  great, man, having you on the podcast, great chatting with
• 29:46
  you. Thank you so much for having me
• 29:47
  man. For sure I will put everything
• 29:50
  in the show notes, but maybe you could share with the the
• 29:52
  listeners. You know, how did how do they
• 29:53
  find you and and how do they find Aveda Health?
• 29:57
  Yeah, absolutely. So there's a, we have several
• 29:59
  websites, right Aveda, health.com, aimwellbeing.com and
• 30:04
  then Greenhill Recovery that is the organization that supports
• 30:07
  our PHPIOP programs is Greenhill recovery.com.
• 30:11
  But you can find information and links to anything that you're
• 30:16
  looking for on those websites and I highly encourage you to
• 30:21
  check. It out awesome.
• 30:22
  Well, thank you, Nick. Thank you if.
• 30:24
  You like what you heard today or just want to know more?
• 30:27
  Give us a call on 9196708119 or visit us at
• 30:32
  newwatersrecovery.com. Thank you.