Episode 32

all right hello and welcome to another episode of finding peeks i think it’s a lot of funny peaks so if this is your first one you’ve got some catching up to do um i’m joined uh today on my left chris burns and my friend hello everybody uh and what is your title um well i’m the president founder but we’ve been working on some other titles it was cheerleader motivational specialist motivational specialist chris burns uh living up to that title often and to my right i’m very honored to have uh madeleine padilla an admission specialist for us here at peaks um and i think actually more importantly an alumni of peaks and i can’t have an alumni on this show and not kind of ask about your experience at peaks from a personal perspective and um and kind of when we were talking about beforehand we don’t really need to talk about the problem that brought you to peaks but i’d love to hear kind of what your first impressions were uh let’s start there sure because you walked in yeah absolutely um it was a bumpy ride it was a winding road


there was no part where i felt like things were easy or simple or like i was going with the flow it felt like it was a lot of paddling uphill until it wasn’t anymore you know and a lot of people were around me supporting that process um just letting me kind of find my own way i’ve been described as strong-willed in the past really i don’t know i don’t know where he comes from strong-willed in the past and you have to roll with that you cannot roll against that and if at any point i had felt that people weren’t rolling with with me around me wrapping around me that just wouldn’t work for me personally i know that so that that’s it was bumpy ride yeah kind of that idea that like walking with you and not in front of you that’s correct yeah yeah yeah that’s a beautiful thing that i got to experience with you and it is it is that energy that you don’t want to come up against and say don’t do that stop we really roll with that because i think that’s something that makes you very unique and special as a professional mean you don’t want to lose that zest that sparked that passion and so if you can kind of work with it then you get the result that’s sitting in front of us today which is a woman in long-term recovery with integrity and grace and a phenomenal professional wow yeah do you like what moments when you think back on your time in peaks what moments stand out for you okay good or bad okay well i have i have several um one right after kind of the detox process i was detoxing off of opioids so it was rough it was not easy and i got bronchitis at the same time you may remember this and i had my rescue inhaler and i slammed it down somewhere and i’m like today’s the day i’m leaving because i i did my detox and i still feel bad of course i felt bad i had bronchitis right but i’m like they they failed me in some way or what this is bs right so i take off off the property and um cara hinkle who’s been on the show i’m sure before yeah um she came rolling down in the van just frantic looking all over and she said are you okay and i said i know you want me to come back and she said i’m not worried about that you left your inhaler wow i said well you’re get away from me but also come here and give me that give me that and she wasn’t trying to tell me what to do she didn’t tell me i was wrong she said i’m worried about you because of the bronchitis if you’re gonna go please take this with you


dang i never knew about that yeah i didn’t either that’s a great one i told her she’s harassing me get away from me after you’re harassing me and then tell us what do you remember from later in your treatment oh my gosh um i i mean like i don’t know hope i guess that that maybe things could be different i mean it took a really long time for me my my biggest fear walking into peaks was that was going to work i mean i was so scared i was like if i if this i can pull this off or something actually shifts here what does that mean for me later what does that mean for me five years from now what does that mean for me and that was like inconceivable that was a tough i don’t know a tough way why was it so scary


i do think that there’s an element of like you you have the life that you think you’re worth and you’re good with that you know and i was good with that i really was okay with that um and other people seem not okay with that like why are you not okay with that it’s my life you know and i couldn’t i could not recognize the potential i just could not um at that time but other people seemed to and they kept telling me things you know different things like they could be this way or like uh rachel tap you know she used to tell me every day like you’re going to help a lot of people i’m like you’re you’re crazy


i thought two things i said you know she’s blowing smoke you know or i fooled her like i really tricked her i got her you know and then the things that she told me would be true that happened they really did and that’s uh that’s all i have to say about that that’s beautiful absolutely yeah it’s interesting too when you in that old lifestyle i love what you said there because we we define a lifestyle we’re okay with the lifestyle of which we’re worth that’s right um and at the time you know for me when i got sober this esteem i was devoid of any sort of esteem and so i was comfortable in my misery and everybody around me is like but there’s this thing and you have this potential and there’s this opportunity and i just couldn’t see it and it’s like one of those situations in recovery and it’s i come around at every corner and even with 13 years now i’m like i got to get up on this step to be like oh [ __ ] there’s that other problem or there’s that solution that i could have never seen or integrated otherwise and i think what it takes oftentimes and to your story’s credit is it takes a tremendous amount of trust yeah right i gotta believe in the journey you’re describing i got to believe in the hope you’re describing i got to believe in the walk you’re describing and so i have to have great people around me that i can trust and it sounds like in your experience that there was a few people specifically kara and rachel and some others that wrapped around you that you believed in i did that you trusted right um and that creates a lot of safety and when we can get safe you know we can move through and we get outcomes yeah um that you walked through and jason yeah we had a lot of weird on the fly sessions i don’t know you know and that was so like thinking back on it was like it’s on my time you know we’re gonna do this when i want and and whatever and there was one time where he pulled me he pulled me in to his office and i was just direct i don’t know what was going on it was just chaos you know just emotional chaos and he didn’t say really anything to me but he sat we sat there for a long time and he said you want some cake i was like what he did and he just brings in a piece of someone’s birthday and you brought me a piece of cake we just sat there and regulated for like


i don’t know too long long enough you know and and that was meaningful and a lot of the the most meaningful stuff is happening in in seemingly meaningless exchanges you know or very mundane exchanges and that’s that’s powerful and when i think back to my experience at peaks all of the really the big ones that stick was not always what was happening in my treatment planning or was not always it was what was happening in life my life there you know and yeah lots of opportunity and there are opportunities all the time to connect with someone all the time well i appreciate you sharing that story about the cake and i do remember that and i i said yeah yeah okay cool yeah


but i do i do think madeline as i i when i think about you too i think of well a hud trip you did and you led a meditation that i still find to be really profound honestly and i still contemplate it from time to time but i do think um at your graduation when i told you too that you there’s like a path through this recovery program and you took no steps on it like you wandered around and meandered around and did it the madeleine way but you you did it right um and you ended we needed to end and you had to do it the madeleine way and i think to your point like um peaks i think you know we’ve had to change a lot with with covid and and just with um the market and all that like our program isn’t necessarily identical to what it was as far as length of stay or what it all looked like um and and some of the things we did however i think we’ve we’ve worked really diligently to carry our heart through all of that if the soul if the soul was not the same um i don’t think i could have come back yeah and worked here i needed i had to feel it out and guess what was the same it was the thing you walked in the door you could feel you could feel the the energy you know and jason what you’re saying about it’s not always point a to point b that’s so important and that’s why i’m so passionate about the admissions piece too because everybody that walks in the door their treatment’s going to look different yeah it’s not going to be the same and i love that we actually have the ability to honor that that everybody gets a different experience because their needs are different yeah and that’s cool to be able to say it but then it gets delivered it’s a big deal well i think i think we’ve talked about it on finding peaks but i want to i i’m reminded of it again as you’re talking about it that like so much of doing good work with people doesn’t occur at formal appointments some of it does these are important um but it is those between moments of being a human and and giving you an inhaler when you’re expected when you’re expecting shame or like guilt or whatever and just showing up and being a human and and uh having a a piece of cake with somebody even if it’s in quiet um just to regulate i think that that’s i think the piece that i think we’ve had to be really careful to kind of make sure that we don’t lose as we’ve grown and expanded and and walk through uh the last few years like i think it’s been really important um that that part maintains and i and um and i think that goes all the way back chris to when you started peaks too if like this wasn’t necessarily centered around clinical aspirations this was centered around just helping people who are suffering right and um and i think we’ve done a great job of building a clinical and medical program around that but it is still that heart i think that has been so important yeah and i think also too to your point is like even when i think back to 2014 2015 and 2016 one of my big pressing issues especially with the young women in programming and the men we’re like we need to be of service to vulnerable people and we need to make sure you know the most vulnerable person is the guy that’s walking through the door and i used to have a rule that if if that family gets out of the car and grabs their bags before everyone in this house we’re all done we’re not doing the family activity this weekend we’re just gonna go to aaa we’re not gonna do it because it’s so important and that was in 2014 and 2015 and that’s what we really lived in i think in 2021 we actually do that better we are so connected and the care that we’re bringing out to that client’s car for lack of a better term is so much more broad so much more integrated and so much more intentional with our ccas being trained in mental health with our cca’s doing peer recovery coaching with a lot of the stuff we have now that the connective tissue i’ll call it um is stronger than ever in my experience and i’m i keep thinking of the the story in that book what happened to you and when she was defining those small meaningful moments with her mom and this was a young person who had done a lot of really cool stuff and they said what’s the one thing you remember about mom and she’s like eating cheerios with mom at night totally yeah 15 minutes i eat cheerios with mom at night and that’s what i remember man and that’s the story of peaks is these small meaningful magical moments where we really can connect and that’s what i believe the whole industry is


well missing at look at what you remember it isn’t i mean we planned groups we had all kinds of clinical interventions that you planned and it was some stupid case study in an office yes i’m sticking to that no but it i i think it just shows how important every interaction is and and really um you can’t fake that stuff either no um so i did want to tie this into you and how it informs your role on admissions if you get a call from you know a loved one of somebody who is struggling in addiction how do you find those moments with them or what are you looking for as you’re talking to them set first solve later set first solve later we don’t have to i know it’s the solution i’ve lived it i’ve been there i get it but sit first and that’s hard for me yeah i’m so passionate about where we can go with this sometimes i start at the wrong end and i’ve had families politely but respectfully back me up to to what they’re actually dealing with right now and kind of ease me into that and then i get a chance to sit first and then we can we can solve afterwards that’s important yeah do you have an example of that like when you sat with somebody obviously without sharing too much specific but like give an example of when you’ve had to slow down and sit with a family well actually as you’re thinking of that i was just sitting um with somebody else in the admissions department like two hours ago and they were telling me how um just an empathic statement of like she had gotten a call and just said the family explained the situation and and this person really genuinely just said well that sounds really hard and the family stopped for a second and was like nobody’s asked me that right or nobody said that to me nobody’s found that and this is about them right they’re like no no you misunderstand this isn’t about the family this is about them it’s their problem and i’m going to just suffer through it yeah and we got to slow that down what what has this actually been like for you and be willing to sit with the answer because sometimes it’s hard yeah and it’s and it’s ugly you know and it’s tough but even to be asked that it takes people off guard you know and then they have to think oh what has this been like for me you know and that’s where family programming is so important to you yeah wow sounds like that’s been hard please come come to this thing come on and it’s not about them and their process it’s not about we don’t care what joe used to be what about you and that and that’s important because if that system doesn’t heal and and family and their you know their loved one is reunited and it’s not at least supported or wrapped around or healed in some way i just don’t think it’s as successful so that’s also exciting to be able to offer the family piece that’s a big deal yeah most definitely yeah offering that family piece absent of the individuals he’s doing he and she they’re doing their thing he’s eating cake yeah you know he’s fine yeah he’s gonna have breakfast lunch and dinner he’s got a team wrapped around him yeah and that’s what i love really with peaks differently than other programs that i work for and differently than what we’ve done in the past with pigs is we have this family curriculum that just runs alongside the clients curriculum as well and so to your point when a client gets out of care there’s not this huge communication gap it’s actually integrated within the family system and now we can begin to communicate in a more appropriate way and it really starts to build the building blocks of that foundation for the family system and to sit down there on campus with these young guys and mature adults and young women and to to watch them light up when they hear that my family’s doing their therapy yeah and going to their groups and doing their six-week thing i mean they’re almost brought to tears just as a result of their willingness to engage in the process with them so it’s a really beautiful thing absolutely i think this is my last question for you madeline but i i was wondering what um if there are some families that are watching this and they haven’t had the courage to call maybe a program or an admissions line um is there anything you can offer them as they are trying to figure out what to do with the loved one who’s suffering with mental health or substance use


call me i mean obviously


and sometimes it can start with the conversations and sometimes it we don’t get resolution yeah there is no solution they’re not coming you know and that happens and and i personally engaged in these relationships with someone weeks sometimes months and we and we just talk sometimes they come sometimes they don’t and it it’s still valuable it still matters yeah i love that because that’s that’s everything for me it’s like that seed gets planted there was this person that held space for me i called peaks cover recovery sat there for 30 minutes didn’t sell me on anything i called back two weeks later sat there for 30 minutes didn’t sell me on anything that’s that seed because ultimately when the time comes where the willingness occurs they’re going to call you directly that’s right and that’s that’s a beautiful thing and that’s that’s what we’ve always said on the admissions line with peak’s recovery and brandon’s been a huge component of this he’s like we don’t care if it’s medicare medicaid you sit with these people you find them a resource because they’re calling because they need one and so i think that’s something we do really special and just draws right back into that carrying recovery and the idea that nobody cares what you know until they know that you care and i do think it’s important to know to note that we’re actually like as admissions specialists given the space to do that and i’ve seen both sides of that if it’s not qualified jimmy’s not coming in today right move along move along push them off the phone right i i’ve had my supervisor aaron who unfortunately could not be here today she’s told me stay on the call i’ve got your back an hour goes by two hours goes by and then the wrap around how was that are you okay how did that go do you feel okay about that great call i don’t i’ve never seen that person we’re never gonna see that person great call that’s huge that is that’s pretty cool i don’t even know that i kind of got you i didn’t know that either and uh that’s great yeah yeah that’s how we wrote that ass team best admissions team i’ve ever seen not even close let me know who’s second i couldn’t agree more um i i can’t think of a better place to end other than on that i i really appreciate you kind of last minute joining us today i really appreciated it and um i really uh i love the heart of your story and and i want to say this this is you know we’ve had angel on here you’re on here now like this is who answers our phones and um and it isn’t about hurrying people through a process either i’ve listened to some of those calls too and that they are they’re powerful um um and i and i love that just styling peaks number means that we do care right out the gate so um with that i think we’ll go and sign off i invite anybody watching to uh follow us on uh instagram probably facebook spotify uh wherever you get your podcast that’s how i choose to watch these so or listen to these so anyway that’s it have a great rest of your day