Episode 142

yeah and I think that so much of addiction is trauma related yeah I think it’s just trauma related and so if we can start to work on some of that some of that stuff when they’re younger it’s like now we’re in this thing called recovery where we’re like seeking opportunities for growth yeah exactly oh man what we’re really looking and trying to do for them is to help them understand I’m feeling this way what are my tools to use to help me with this [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello everybody and welcome to another amazing exciting and of course enthusiastic episode with yours truly Christopher Michael Burns president and founder here at Peaks recovery centers where caring freaking matters it’s no wonder why I’m joined today by somebody who is a phenomenal professional but even better human Mr Robert Bloom with Paradigm programs everybody Welcome Robert thanks Chris absolutely it’s great to have you here and I love your senior Behavioral Health adviser at Paradigm programs and how long have you been with them and what does that mean I’ve been with Paradigm about a little over two a little over two years okay um so I started in October of 2022 um and Senior Behavioral Health adviser um basically my role is to work with clients who are trying to get into treatment or who who need to go into mental health treatment um you know we’re a a mental health primary facility we focus on adolescence and young adults um so 12 to 26 um in Malibu the Bay Area Austin and now also in cordan Idaho actually in cordan Idaho we can do all adults as well oh wow for mental health um so my job is to go out and and talk with the therapists clinicians hospitals other treatment facilities um and let them know we do so if they do have a client that needs our services um or needs to go into treatment needs to go into a higher level of care or um is um in need of Residential Treatment um we can we can get them into our facility um so that’s my job is um going out and letting people know an evangelist for our program and you’re you’re quite the Evangelist because you know there was something and we talked before the show there was just something really unique that stuck out to me you know in my nearly 17 years of doing this and uh most of that time on the ownership side something that is really really difficult for me is a lack of authenticity like why are we here and can we really speak to that like in a professional Community if we can’t I just don’t really want to be a part of that yeah and so when Jessica my cousin who was our Outreach uh person at the time was like you got to meet Robert you got to meet Robert in fact he just he wants to go snowboarding I’m like Jessica you I don’t know about the time to go snowboarding is this like she’s like just do it I’m like okay and I didn’t we didn’t talk about work or anything and what I realized in that interaction was differently than some of the interactions I’ve had before with um directors of Business Development behavi whatever the title might be in the Outreach uh sphere is you care and you care in a really Dynamic way all of your conversations are centered around the people that you get into the program how they’re doing you walk with them not only from the front end in the admissions process but throughout their Care on the back end how are they doing and so you really appear to me somebody who in addition to Paradigm treatment programs is somebody that’s interested in disrupting this industry through quality of care oh yeah for sure I mean there’s a lot of programs out there there’s a lot of programs that do um mental health there’s a lot of programs that work with kids there there’s or adoles there’s a lot of programs that work with young adults but you know I can say we’re one of the best out there m um I believe in what we Doh um I send my friends kids to our program yeah so I definitely believe in what we do um you know I I’m myself am sober um you know I went to treatment myself treatment Saved My Life um you know I went to a residential treatment program for for substance abuse and it saved my life I it definitely changed the traj traj trory of my life so I definitely want to be able to offer that to um to other people um and to let people know that there is there is a solution um you know I I worked in the in the sud space substance use space for for about five years um that was a great job I loved it you know and now in the mental health space um working especially with adolescents and young adults um most of them do have some substance use mhm um but it’s more of a um a coping mechanism yeah and so they’re using it to to try and um deal with what’s going on in their lives not not understand their emotions feelings um everything along those lines they just like I was as a as a um young gay kid in South Carolina just that same way I’m you know and then at some point in time I cross the line and so if we can step in and stop those kids from getting to the point where they cross that line um and they um get into active addiction you know if we can start to give them some of those tools and say hey here’s how here’s how you can handle those emotions those feelings you know those situations without having to turn to marijuana or alcohol or other substances you know if we can if we can stop that and provide those Solutions maybe they won’t be 40 years old getting into a substance abuse program and their life blown up right it’s it’s really near and dear to my heart I know it is to yours is like you know the fifth grade Chris Burns couldn’t sit still to start with and if we could have had an inflection point where there was a resource introduced that would provide some foundational support or at the very least to let me know that what was going on wasn’t my fault y right and you have a really Dynamic story I think that informs the love and care you have for individuals that are making the courageous decision to seek treatment um what was that like for you and what do you think a program like Paradigm could have done in your adolescence to help support maybe a different path oh man I mean it would just been so different to have to have someone who could come to my to could come into what was going on in my life you know um and and provide me with just some tools just some understanding of my emotions you know my my thoughts you know my dealing with my family unit you know as on top of all of all of that I’m also adopted so you know there’s there’s also that piece there um so that always feeling uncomfortable I think that’s something that everyone or a lot of people in alcoholic synonymous we always hear I was always uncomfortable you know I never felt like I fit yeah you know I didn’t MH I mean I definitely didn’t I was in a family of people I mean even down to their skin was dark and my skin was like pasty white you know so I was always different and you know having some tools to deal with that difference and having some tools to understand what some of that what some of those differences were um and not have to not having to internalize it because I took on all the responsibility for it yeah everything that was going on I was taking responsibility for it and so you know if I would have had some type of of program like Paradigm that I could have gone to and and work through some of my issues like I said I wouldn’t have been a 40 40something year old um washed up person in a drug and alcohol treatment program yeah well the person said say seems like you’ve done pretty well sir yeah exactly you know but you you speak um so clearly to the point it’s like what what can we do now moving forward and I think Adolescent Treatment has taken on kind of a new wave of energy because I think we can get to these things before they become very intense and um present their subsequent like risk factors that are very very alarming and then when we get to even when you’re 22 years old and you’re checking into treatment and getting sober at my age you know now you’re facing 10 years in prison you got a credit score of 200 you have no family relationships and you’re isolated disconnected and all alone like there’s got to be a way CU I think that’s what we used to think you had to get to get into recovery right you got to dig your hole deep enough so you can get in it and and now I think we’re just kind of raising that bottom and speaking so much clearly to the mental health opportunity we have yeah and I think that so much of addiction is trauma related yeah I think it’s just trauma related and so if we can start to work on some of that some of that stuff when they’re younger and and really start help help them to work through some of it and understand um what what the trauma is um how to get through it um they don’t have to end up yeah as an adct or an alcoholic um you know sure some people have a propensity to be an alcoholic or an addict you know for sure um you know there’s subset of the population that for sure you know I’m I go to Alcoholics Anonymous I you know I was in a meeting this morning you know so I I definitely it was a great meeting you know I heard what I needed to hear you know it was I woke up in the morning I was like I need I can either look at the news or I can go to a meeting I’m going to go to a meeting so um you know I I that and that that’s just that inuitive thought that I get um you know and I’m super grateful for alcoholic annonymous it definitely saved my life yeah it is such an integral part of my life um I’m grateful for everything it did for me but maybe if I would have had some help earlier I wouldn’t that wouldn’t have been the path that I would have ended up in yeah I wouldn’t have made a lot of the decisions that I made I wouldn’t have been in the relationships that I was in MH um I would not have made the choices that I had made um if I would have had
someone who helped me see what my worth was um at a younger age yeah I’ve learned that now 100% oh yeah I mean I know what my worth is I know my value um that doesn’t mean I don’t have tough days or anything like that but um you know if I would have had some just support of here’s what your value is here’s here’s what you can do um you know it would have just been so different um my path is my path this is what happened but everyone’s path doesn’t have to be that yeah and I mean it’s a it’s a beautiful Journey sitting in front of us today and I I’d say you know it’s certainly worth it and um it’s incredible the amount of progress someone can make in a short period of time connected with the right people yeah and something that you brought up for me when you were speaking was you know we get into recovery and I think it’s important for folks that are potentially seeking treatment it Peaks recovery or Paradigm to think like it’s actually not a One-Stop shop either no way maybe you can speak to cuz I I know you um personally and professionally to maybe the work that was required in treatment and maybe the work that’s been required since and maybe highlight that a little bit for the viewer so they can get the expectations in check cuz I thought at 20 when I first checked into treatment I’m just going to put the heroins down We’re Off to the Races baby no no no no so correct that for me yeah for sure I mean just like in just like in working the steps steps 1 through n everyone thinks that’s all the work no it’s 10 11 and 12 so it’s after you know after you clean up after you clean up all your wreckage and all that kind of stuff then that’s when you can really start doing the work and so you know so treatment helped me to get to the point where I could go to work MH um you know when I first got sober I worked in a hardware store and so and I would walk to work I mean it was about four miles from my house and I would walk to work every day cuz I didn’t even have a car yeah you know and um I I worked night shift um so I worked overnights um and so no one was on staff to take me to work no one was going to pick me up in 5: in the morning so I just had to walk to work shift starts at 10:00 yeah I I mean I started work at 9:00 I got off at 5:00 a.m. wow and so I’d have to walk to work every day um and so I had a lot of I had a lot of stuff to clean up I had just a lot of wreckage to clean up um and you know I I did I was I was unemployable I couldn’t go to work but you know that little job taught me how to go to work and then I got another job and another job um which just changed my life um you know thank God for my education um because it prior yeah because it definitely opened doors for me um you know when people saw that I i’ had gone to Clemson they were just like oh yeah he went to Clemson he must be able to have a job ACC he’s good here yeah so I was able to get a job because of that thank God for that thank you um and you know so I I I had a lot of skills I had a lot of tools but I didn’t know how to use use them and you know um and so I was able to get a get a foundation in in Alcoholics synonymous but after that I have done therapy since I got sober yep I’ve been sober for 10 years and I have been in therapy on and off not continuously but I’ve been in therapy since I got sober I’m in lots of different times of therapy I mean just lots of different types of therapy you know I I I would just find what I needed you know I’ve when I when I talk to someone and they’re like hey this really worked for me I’m going there you know I’m that’s my next thing I’m like someone told me TMS work and I was like okay I’ll do TMS I love that because it because Robert says he’s done therapy for the last 10 years doesn’t actually mean there’s a problem but in fact there is potentially a solution yeah oh that gave me chills cuz it’s like now we’re in this thing called recovery where we’re like seeking opportunities for growth yeah exactly oh man yeah I’m in therapy right now and I’m telling you I am having the uh an experience with therapy that I just didn’t even think was possible you know I’m I’m actually it’s actually helping me um in ways that I didn’t even know I needed help you know that initial therapy you know that initial couple years of therapy that I was in you know I did a lot of EMDR I did just a lot of talk therapy but you know this is just all different types of therapy in the same therapy session you know so some some sematic um experience some SE some you know just just everything just what do you need right now and then we’ll go get the tool and Pull It in so it’s not like one type of therapy it’s like all different types of therapy and so we just pull in whatever I need brain spotting um you know um sematic experience talk therapy you know and then just some skills paace stuff because I still need skills there are still situations where I’m like I need some skills to deal with this MH absolutely I need some help and you know and I’m willing that’s that is one thing about me I’ve always been able to ask for help I know the answers yeah I’m I’m I’m I’m not all knowing and if I am uncomfortable if I’m if there are things going on I’m going to ask for help yeah and I think that’s one of the biggest things that walking into alcoholic synonymous help me with is you got to have help it’s a humility thing yeah you got to have people to help you y um I just there’s so much power in like what is it I can he can so let him right it’s just like those words to be like I I can’t do this by myself it’s powerful and so hard to come by yeah I can’t tell you how many times I have knelt down on
my and just say God I need help yeah I don’t know what to do yeah and then all of a sudden the solution comes it yeah it’s it’s like how can you not know that this is what’s going to happen this is what’s going to happen how can you how can you in in any way think that that’s not going to happen yeah you you know so many times I’ve just had to say God I don’t know what to do yeah I just don’t know what to do it’s so interesting that exercise of humility is so formidable imp palatable the conversion rate of that is is almost synonymous with 100% of the time yeah I mean it’s just it’s not what I thought no never man I remember um my first sponsor I was on my step Second Step 2008 yeah and I’m having a tough time man cuz I’m like this isn’t for me I’m not I’m not here like you know and I I’m unique just like you and we suffer from it and um I said I got nothing to be grateful for this God thing about the trust and the second step and he said Chris do you pray and I was like no but I’m open to it yeah he said what would you pray for I said well you know I don’t have enough money to pay my electric bill so $68 would be nice in my account but I have eight bucks he said go home and pray about it I said Larry this is this is crazy you’re crazy this program’s crazy two things I remember like it was yesterday I prayed for $68 for an electric bill and I wanted my mom to go to treatment because I was ready to save the world at 90 days sober and everybody had to give better and I hadn’t talked to my mom but if I would have and he said so what you’re going to do is you’re just going to say hey Universe God light P whatever you’re just going to throw it out with humility and say hey I could really use this money cuz I need my lights to turn on cuz I’m in Rec recovery and I need to help people and my mom I love her I just want to see her get well and I don’t want to and he said but you don’t get to do anything right cuz Chris’s way or the highway is not working yeah he said so you just pray about that send it up send it out and forget about it and I want you to call me in a week and tell me how it turns out I’m like Larry this is some Wizardry [ __ ] like is ever going to work two days later Bank of America had been doing a keep the change I check my bank account every day cuz at this point I’m working at Woody’s gas station making 725 an hour and I look and they do a the change program I never knew what keep the change was back then but it was every dollar you spent so if you spent 98 cents 2 cents round it up into some account out in the middle of nowhere yeah well they just happened to do the annual rebate two days later uh boom I got $112 in my account I’m calling my brother Brandon 48 hours after my sponsor gave me that I’m like Brandon you know I wish Mom would just get help I’m going to call her and tell her you know my sponsor didn’t tell me to do he’s like what are you talking about Mom’s in treatment I’m like all right called my sponsor and it was in that moment I’m like I’m all in yeah let’s go because there was this idea that like if I just if the universe had energy if you will it what what if I was just blocking it yeah Now We’re Off to the Races so I love when you talk about these opportunities to like man hit my knees and that doesn’t strike me as a religious statement it strikes me as a humble moment oh yeah you know uhuh and I think it takes
a a few of those to find sustainable longterm and Foundation relized recovery uhh spiritual experiences yeah exactly you know yeah so and spiritual growth which is just important to staying sober yeah um you know I’m I’m grateful that I’m willing to get up that I was willing to get up and go to a meeting this morning you know I’ve I’ve had lots of sponses they don’t want to go to meetings right okay well you don’t have to I’m not I’m not your boss I’m not here to tell you what to do um you do what you think it’s right I’m going to tell you what I do and you can do what I do or you can do what you want to do you know if you want what I have I would suggest you go to a meeting but I’m I’m it’s it’s your choice um I’m I used to be I’ll tell you what to sponsor but I’m not anymore yeah I used to I used to be their boss um that’s exhausting yeah you do it so well though Robert I think I think someone once told me maybe I screw it up but some of the best form of influence is a life well-lived yeah and you do that well and so whether you say it or not you inform it and I think people get get behind that yeah you know at least I can feel it yeah exactly no yeah my sponsor at one point in time he said you know you’re doing your sponsor these programs yeah he said you’re going to meetings for them they only go to meetings that you go to you know you’re you’re having a meeting at your house so that they can come there you know you’re doing all this you’re doing their programs that they have to do their programs hard and that was hard for me to do that was hard for me to stop doing their programs for them and it was hard for me to see them make the mistakes but you know that’s what’s going to sustain them not me doing their program for them um [Music] and it was it was tough it was tough for me to stop that but you know I feel better now that I’ve stopped it I’m not worried about if they’re going to a meeting or not it’s it’s call me if if you want to go to a meeting call me we’ll go to a meeting but I’m not I’m not managing their meeting attend exactly that’s pretty tiing yeah it’s it’s exhausting I mean for a bunch of 20-year-olds managing their meeting attendance um you know did you go to a meeting today get form sign by Mr Bloom exactly you know and that that was just exhausting I don’t have to do that anymore so you know I’m I’m grateful for for for that time hey that [ __ ] kept me sober guess he was going to all the meetings ex did I ever tell you they used to call me they used to call me the sobriety Reaper did I ever tell you that yeah cuz I was like Captain AA I’m like Secretary of the largest meeting and all this stuff and I got all these sponsor he at all these treatment programs around town and every one of them is getting high like every other week yeah and I’m like they would be like o the sobriety Reaper yeah I’m like so I would go to my sponsor at the time John amazing guy amazing guy 30 years of recovery head of probation it was my was perfect for me and I’d say John man you know I think I’m really hurting these people and but it’s back to your point he said he would always say in his living room what’s the most important thing I said that I’m here with you today he said it’s working baby let’s go I’m like oh yeah like it’s and we’re here today and that’s the mission that’s the vision and we’ll continue to impact lives along the way and there’ll be people that’ll make that courageous decision one day at a time because it really is just about investing in yourself oh yeah you know and are you willing to put yourself first today and the answer for a lot of people walking through substance use recovery is no because of the shame so they need great people like you around them to help lift that and share it with them uhhuh and a lot of them don’t really understand what putting themselves first means yeah they think it’s being selfish right yeah well and I think that’s Alcoholic Anonymous does a great job of okay we’ll be selfish yeah uhhuh yeah yeah look what you can get yeah yeah you go some people can afford to be more selfish than others yeah exactly for sure um before we get off and I just really appreciate you know I’m Chris Burns turning professional conversations personal since 2008 um I really appreciate the owner ility and authenticity but before we get off in regards to Paradigm and anything new and exciting that you guys have that we want the viewers to know that we’re connecting with one of the things I did want to mention that if I’m not mistaken the access to care at Paradigm yeah is kind of second to none with respect to the quality of care so um you know our our real our real things that we’re that we’re looking for is we want we want people to get access to care so we want anyone who um you know who has private insurance um to be able to go to treatment and not have to mortgage their home yeah um you know so we’re we’re really interested in giving access to care you know allowing them to come into treatment um get what they get what they need mental health treatment um you mostly a network right affordable care we have a lot of in network contracts um we work on an add a network basis with them and we’ll work with clients you know whatever they need to get into care we don’t want that to be a barrier we don’t want them to say I don’t have the money yeah um we want to help them work with that um you know uh in in whatever ways we can um you know we also you know so that afford access to care Affordable Care um and then you know we we we want to be we want to give them good care so when I say that we do five individual therapy sessions a week that is the biggest differentiator I’ve ever heard when you first said that I’ve never met anybody in my whole career that does that yeah say that they’re doing they’re doing therapy all the time five individual sessions people come to our program robt and they’re like you guys are so amazing you do two yeah um you know plus a parent therapy session as well on top of that and then the biggest thing that that really just differentiates our program is we have clinical support from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. if a kiddo’s awake they got a clinician that they can have access to and it’s not a phone call no that’s beautiful um so when the you’ve been in treatment forever you know nothing happens when you’re in group yeah everything happens in the afternoon when you’re having lunch or you’re when you’re when you’re out on an outing you know that’s when the that’s when the that’s when the the the real work can happen because that’s in the moment so you having that access to clinical support at all times while the kiddos are awake um that’s really what makes a difference yeah um you know we’re an Insight based facility so we are not behavioral um so no punish Ms no rewards no level systems um what we’re really looking and trying to do for them is to help them understand I’m feeling this way what are my tools to use to help me with this that’s beautiful how can I when I leave this place and the I’m not in this controlled environment what can I do when I feel this anxiety what can I do when I feel suicidal what can I do when I feel like I want to self harm what can I do when I’m depressed what can I do when I don’t feel like going to school what can I do when I’m when I’m upset with my parents when I’m upset with my friends when my boyfriend breaks up with me when my girlfriend breaks up with me you know what can I do to really help myself in that moment and giving them tools so they understand that behavioral is works great for lots of kids but most kids they need that understanding of why they feel that way it’s relational mhm yeah oh wow now we can be relational with developing young people yeah isn’t that beautiful definitely I I love that Robert it’s just like because we were coming out of this and I I love that you mentioned that too because we’re coming out of this like when I was a kid boarding school model very punitive behavioral modification to step
back if somebody would have asked me a good question like you were talking about when I was a young kid I might have given you a good answer yeah but since you asked dumb questions like what’s wrong with you will continue to be stuck I love what you guys are doing creating autonomy some autonomy and some relationality with young people mhm I bet that’s like the biggest Beacon of Hope they’ve ever seen well so many of them they they live a life of this you know we’re we’re a phone free facility too love it um and so they’re this is the way they live their life they don’t even know how to carry on a conversation they don’t know how to they don’t know how to be in a group setting um with the phone um so much of their personal um definition of themsel is based on the phone so when you take that away for a little while they can really start to learn who they are yeah and in community which is so I mean to be seen valued and heard in community as a 12-year-old these days yeah MH yeah our millu is our magic 100% um you know that that 12 client program where they’re with each other all day long they’re dealing with each other with clinical support all day long mhm that’s just magic it’s it is Magic and it’s it bucks the industry standard by a long shot especially for providers that have access to care or in network I mean 12 person programs and not only are they intimate group settings but Paradigm can get you in a spot that meets you right where you’re at they have such a diversity of offerings throughout what are they what do you have 10 to 12 different programs we have um we’re in um four different locations four different locations okay and diverse offerings from levels care in those locations as well yeah so really I mean if you’re out there struggling you have a young person struggling give them a call because at the very least they can educate you um on a potential opportunity in the future or meet you right where you’re at today so uh make sure and give them a call what is your guys’ website um it’s Paradigm treatment.com Paradigm treatment.com and if you get if you get lucky enough to deal with somebody like Robert which I think you will over at Paradigm treatment you’ll be in phenomenal loving and caring hands thank you so much for joining us today sir um it’s a real opportunity to know you both personally and professionally I feel the same way 100% thank you my friend thanks all right folks until next time peace [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]