Episode 86

everybody welcome to another exciting episode of Finding Peaks I’m staring into the right camera right now and I feel really good about that yeah it took a couple years but here we are without a camera that one okay so the day to have my uh co-host Jason friezma Chief clinical officer welcome to the show Jay thanks buddy grateful to have you he’s got a beanie on it I actually have mine in the car and just in case because the uh the wind was a lot today and if my comb over got blown over I was going to throw a beanie on I I was at that point today like I know I’m going on finding Peaks but if I break the seal on the hair I got to leave it on yeah I had to do it and we got our guest today Madeleine Padilla admission specialist recovery extraordinaire and just a great human grateful to have you on my friend and the reason I wanted to bring this crew on is this is the New Year’s episode happy 2023. it is going to be an outstanding year Madeline Jace and I were just talking about some plans and some goals that we have to engage in our mental Wellness in the new year and we have a lot of plans here at Peaks recovery to engage in client care in an even better way than we did in 2022 but first I want to start off with the new logo we have a new brand refresh that we’re doing it’s really really beautiful I don’t know if they can pull that up on the screen maybe not um but I’d like to bring that up because there’s a lot of new things happening at Peaks and I really feel like 2020 2023 for us is like a new opportunity and a new shift to help individuals that truly need it and truly deserve it and over the course of 2022 people like Madeline and people like Jason and a lot of the leaders in our program have really gotten together and moved a lot of this energy in a positive direction it’s I want to touch on obviously the brand and kind of how it makes us feel and we’ll talk about that in a little bit but really some of the changes that are coming in 2023 we have a lot of exciting stuff happening at Peaks recovery I think we’re engaged in mental Wellness in a new way in this new year I’m really excited about that but I want to turn it over to Chief clinical Officer Jason Friedman maybe talk about some of the components of the clinical program as we move into the new year and maybe even more specifically the new building in May yeah that might be shifting or changing and growing in a way okay I mean I think I appreciate you mentioning the logo uh I think the the new logo our old logo looked a little tiny bit like an AAA yeah that’s a good story yeah and so um it was probably our time to refresh that a little bit and make it look like some mountains because we live here in Colorado and do try to get out in the mountains as much as we can um so I I’m excited about the new logo I think it looks pretty cool um especially as we’re headed toward the trailhead the the name of our new building um near and dear to my heart for sure Trail I’ve been on a lot of trailheads and it started a lot of great things in my life and I I hope this one does uh has similar impact for sure and um as we have been kind of uh going through our curriculum like we we actually have a little secret here we have a curriculum committee that meets every week and we are constantly now having eyes on our curriculum figuring out what we need to add what we need to take away how to incorporate elements and we just recently had the opportunity to really work with our movement team Dan Hugo has been on the show before and Nicole um who are just uh incredible human beings um coming in to really help um help incorporate not just to provide workouts for for our clients but to really they they’ve sat with us and heard the curriculum understand it and then we’ve we’ve taken a lot of their principles that they have um with their physical uh uh movement and we’ve Incorporated we’ve figured out what to do during our grief week or what to do during our emotions week and and what movements are going to be most helpful for those so I’m really excited about that aspect and um and right now we’re I mean everything’s on the table that’s what I that’s what I do love about Peaks is that we we’re trying to stay Innovative and not kind of get locked into to one um one curriculum and be stuck to it for 20 years like we’re really trying to keep it refreshed and revamped so yeah I love what you said there it’s really I think that’s really unique I’ve never been I’ve been a part of some really nice treatment programs but I’ve never been a part of one that’s taking physical activity and marrying it with the clinical curriculum yeah I mean this is really special so for example I know I’ve said it before but it’s it’s like you know on Grief week when men and women are grieving it’s tough maybe this is a boxing week but the fact that the movement team has sat and integrated with the clinical team to build a movement curriculum alongside it is special it’s not just a coping mechanism anymore yep so sick of that how do you code right on the truck it needs to be part part of the treatment we need to make that part of treatment right and and I think Dan’s done an incredible job of doing that I I’m so excited about the um I just thought of this as I’m sitting here actually but the trailhead like what do you do at a Trailhead I’m literally thinking like what is that well you meet that’s what meet me at the trailhead yeah that’s where people meet and I think it’s all coming full circle for me as I’m sitting here that’s what we’re doing this is the point we’re gonna this is where we meet people no matter where they’re at or what’s going on in their life this is where we’re going to meet them we’re not we’re not going to worry about what their entire Journey at the mountain looks like we’re just gonna meet at the trailhead that’s starting to kind of make sense for me yeah and I think we actually touched on even making that potentially so the new facilities the trailhead this is where it starts right and potentially making West and East right the ridge the Summits right right oh cool you know so yeah that would be really really cool and that was the idea behind the trailhead but you bring up that good point it’s like where we meet yes yeah and it’s a safety thing if you get split up something goes awry it’s always clear that you go back at least when I’ve done any climbing if something happens you go back to the trailhead right it’s a it’s a point of safety and a point of connection connecting with your your group yeah you know so I think what we’re offering there too in terms of stabilization and what we’re doing there the name it just makes sense it makes total sense and you actually said something really cool before the show I was talking we were talking about you know obviously this new year it’s New Year’s 2023 and what I said something and I was like you know and that way we can sell Peaks better in the new year and Madeline says no sale we don’t need to sell Peaks it sells itself maybe you want to talk about that a little bit as we it’s just yeah it’s not something to be it’s not something to be sold it’s something to be experienced it’s such a privilege to to experience something like that but sell it I don’t know it just that’s something that and being in admissions this is kind of we do things different here I’ll say it that way but um that feels so cheap to me and it’s almost offensive to me like to sell this this is this is the lifestyle this is a way of being this is like a like um kind of a spiritual path you know so the word sale it’s just it takes it down so many notches for me it’s so unnecessary you know you’re so you’re so right too because when we were able to explain our process folks I think can begin to see themselves inside of it in a really unique and connected way right and I think that’s what the admissions team and you specifically do a great job of it is allowing folks that are struggling with their Mental Health on the outside to see themselves within our process our curriculum and with our ecosystem which is really really cool and we’re not what’s the client’s end we’re not trying to get him to buy into Peaks we’re trying to get them to buy into them just buy into you yeah put yourself first yeah that’s the goal you don’t need to buy into this yeah it makes a lot of sense too and I’ve been talking about that a lot lately and I don’t want putting yourself first in your own treatment plan you know and getting that investment and I think Peaks most certainly in 2023 is going to have this opportunity I’ve talked about it a lot certainly with leadership you know our campus right now is a construction zone you know we got tractor it’s kind of cool but it’s kind of intense and so when you’re pulling up sometimes it can be like well what’s this what’s that right once this thing is built out it’s going to be this opportunity to really really settle I think what gives folks the opportunity right now on our campus is the team the team is so engaged and there’s so many of you and you guys are each pushing that energy that nobody cares what you know until they know that you care and so oftentimes what I see in the construction site gets missed by all the clients because the ecosystem is so fresh and so informed yeah but the the construction and anything that we’re doing that’s different it actually is a story and it’s a message and the the message in the story is good enough is not good enough for us that’s it that’s the message we we’re expanding because we want to be better we’re doing things differently because we want to be better we don’t have to operate that way but I just how else could we do it right we wouldn’t do it any other way so yeah I think um it can be intense over there but boy if you don’t see anything changing you walk into a program and it looks about the same as it did 10 years ago right there’s a story there too it was like when they first set up construction on campus and it was like a couple months where they got going I’m like there’s a story here yeah there’s a story or no exactly moving that’s right you know that’s right what are you most excited about Madeline in 2023 to really share with people that are calling into the admissions line and maybe both professionally and maybe even personally oh man I mean it’s all coming full circle to me because I always thought and Jason you can relate to this this is a suffering issue why do people come to treatment they come to treatment because they suffer and then we sit with them and they’re suffering and then we you know that’s that’s what it is and I think you know callers people get so caught up and I used to get so caught up on this idea of like the Band-Aid like let’s you got a gash in your arm and you slap something on it as anyone would that’s a resiliency feature to put the Band-Aid on shopping um sex um you know drugs alcohol processed addictions you name it but you’re going to cover that up it’s only human right to cover that up we don’t care what you chose to pack on there I don’t care what that is now what I do care about is that nasty laceration under there that pain that’s relevant to us right everything else it’s not relevant yeah to us and so this feels like we’re we’re getting there we’re starting to Zone in on that that we care about your wound we care about your wounding not the behaviors that come afterwards it’s so interesting you’re saying that because a lot of clients and I really appreciate that because that makes a lot of sense a lot of clients are coming in and they’re like you know I was due I was at I was at 12-step based program and I was doing all the things and we were in programming seven hours a day but it really really felt like they drew a line in the middle of the tree trunk and went up that’s right you know yeah and I did all the things man I watered it I cut it off I pruned it all the things and I remember this story happening often in early Peaks when we were really 12-step driven we didn’t have the clinical approach that we have now where folks just weren’t getting satiated in the right ways and so they’re going through there they’re checking all the boxes and so I really feel like this opportunity in 2023 to your point it’s like this is a whole brand Refreshers a whole Reef this is a new Peaks yeah in the last few years you all have worked tirelessly to form and cultivate a program that what I would consider where I would send my dearest friend the people that I love and so now I think it’s just to your point it’s not good enough we have this opportunity to grow right together and meet people where they’re at and I think it’s really really special in 2023 and the energy is there more so than it has been back to Jason’s point the old logo Jason knows I actually made the logo initially with a triangle in it
right because it was Illuminati and it was very hard right and it was intense and I just find so much strength when she presented when Chelsea presented the um the new brand opportunity a couple months ago I was just it was like a breath of fresh air yeah I had the the logo that we had before got made by a buddy of mine in my 12-step group and I Got It Made for about 220 bucks yeah it was amazing and it lasted eight years but I love that we’re shifting a lot of this stuff because the old way it wasn’t good enough no it wasn’t good enough and I think a lot of people are still engaging in that and I find I find a lot of strength in the approach that you all are taking one day at a time not not just with clients but the way that you’re trying to feed your teams as well and the people that you work with I think we spent a lot of time before the show kind of talking about that and that’s something in 2023 I think we can continue to do more of one of my dear friends Donna Schwartz posted something on social media a few weeks back and it just caught my eye because in 2022 it wasn’t just 2022 it was what we were coming off of in 2020 and 2021 right and then we’re into 2022 and everybody’s trying to get back what we lost and so I think oftentimes in this last year a lot of folks including myself at various stages have lost that mental Clarity and that’s something I want to push into 2023 as well it’s like how do I own my mental health right and how do I put myself first in my own treatment plan personally and professionally um and I want to talk a little bit about that maybe spread some of that energy into the new year is like how do we ensure maybe make it a New Year’s resolution but one day at a time how do I show up into my holistic approach to my recovery and continue or start to for the first time again feed that mental health and so I want to touch on that a little bit of like I know we were touching on a little bit before the show but what can we give the viewers as we’re going into the new year you know we have a lot of New Year’s resolutions oftentimes I’ve made New Year’s resolutions and they weren’t sustainable and I think that’s informed and we touched on a little bit before the show but maybe go to you Madeline is like what can we do not only in company culture but in our personal lives to spread the opportunity that we have 24 hours at a time to engage in our Mental Health
just so I understand Chris so are you asking about our commitment to mental health like our own mental health or you reframing yeah
as we approach the New Year I’m finding you know a lot of people I sit with whether it’s in Peaks or not people are tired you know people exhausted easy okay I’m with you now yeah I’m just gonna treat me like a client end of conversation there you go I’m done yeah that’s all I have to say that’s it that’s all you’re going to do and how do you do that when it feels like the world doesn’t give you time right when it feels like everything’s pressurized and things are intense and you know you’re in admissions that’s a that’s a Hot Zone you get a lot of calls that are quite intense very sad a lot of pain but I would tell I would tell a client that I I have told people that if you get to a certain point and you know when you’re there for sure because you can feel it and we we teach our clients that I was taught that at Peaks oh my heart is beating you know I’m sweating I’m not feeling very good I’m starting to get agitated I absolutely know where that line is and I would tell someone this if you reach that line walk away yeah put the phone down and walk away yeah and walk away and we create all these I can’t walk I can’t absolutely I changed it and in fact I think my longevity to the company into our new vision of what we’re trying to do that is the priority over anything else and I think it’s it’s kind of scary because we’re standing on this precipice of what we’ve always been moving towards but now it’s here and it’s intense it’s just really intense mental health is intense you know it’s not because when you when you have care where you’re focusing on the wounding that’s really messy Woos are ugly they’re infected they’re painful for people people don’t want you to touch that and when you focus on the Band-Aid right that that feels good that feels really good and then of course as we move into mental health sometimes the progress or what we’re looking at looks different like okay someone that’s struggling with alcohol comes in and there may be don’t have like an acute mental health issue of course they have a mental health issue right but we can see the healing on the outside suddenly that person loses 10 pounds and their skin is you know it goes from yellow to whatever color it’s supposed to be right we can see that and they’re they’re lighting up from within now let’s look at something like MDD made your depressive disorder you know the indicators are different it may feel less gratifying for us as a staff so we need to really start digging into why are we here like why are we doing this at all um because it’s going to be tough but it’s it’s so worth it and it’s so difficult and I think that’s always been kind of the brand you want to talk about the brand things that are worthwhile hurt and are hard yeah that’s that’s what we’re going towards I think I think it’s amazing I really do and I I think it’s important to your point and I think to what I was saying is like I have to address the intensity over the last couple of years before I can move into one day at a time you know and oftentimes I find it best to counterbalance that with people like you guys and sometimes when we’re stressed out we feel like we don’t have enough time we don’t find it necessary to connect like we are today and so that’s what I wanted to encourage and you did a great job of it for the viewers and people moving into the new year is just to maybe take a look at because from 2020 to 2022 for me was a tremendous amount of adult trauma you know of which I didn’t take a look at you know and it really was kind of beating me over the head and was creating an inopportune situation with family community and culture you know what do you think Jay for for you yeah and I’m sitting here speaking to someone who’s taught me more about mental health trauma and taking care of oneself in the steps in order to do that maybe than anybody yeah Chris it’s interesting and obviously you said 20 20 to 2022 which obviously that’s like the pandemic um and um I was hanging out with some of my friends last night and we almost got um nostalgic about kind of the Simplicity of life now it was scary we didn’t know what was going to happen um but really all we all we did was work and go home like there wasn’t anything else to do and my buddies uh would come over to my house on and we’d sit on our my patio I’d have like my chiminea with a fire in the winter and we’d all have blankets um because we still wanted to meet but we we didn’t want to expose each other to to covet and um and there was a Simplicity to it to be honest with you and and now that life is kind of spinning back up if you will like um you know everything’s open you know we’re not wearing masks for the most part and um things have changed back to normal but like we’re a little bit wounded too and and like life did get simple like remember I-25 was empty for months uh just yeah just fly into work and and um and we were working 12-hour days but like it was better than the people that couldn’t work at all um and so like I don’t know like I feel like I’ve had a little trouble like re-downshifting I think from from the pandemic to get back to like what does what what does a life in Balance look like and you know my my daughter was in high school uh the last two years of her High School were during the pandemic and like she had to be home and so we got to connect a ton with her but like um it’s just interesting having conversations with her now as she’s integrated into college and like um things were just different it was just it was so messy in so many ways but in other ways it was actually easier yeah like we hung out a ton as a family and we in in all my friendships like there’s a real big intentionality around it and we did all frankly trauma Bond at work yeah you get real close and um and now life is kind of stepped out and so I mean I think to your point Chris like I know for me I have to like I’ve eight things written down probably they got to do um to get my fitness where it needs to be and um frankly go to the damn dentist because I haven’t bothered to do that since the pandemic and like uh things like that tomorrow I think that’s really great I’m just like let’s 2016. right before the pandemic there was the myth and normal going on yeah American Dream Chase up the top of that yeah all the intensity and then it’s playing catch-up with the American dream after that which is just bent right disproportionate for everybody and so it’s been really hard kind of gang ganging that uh that Center that homeostasis again yeah well I the whole the whole pandemic thing like what is it you know what does that even mean I’m so tired of even that word like right it hurts me but two years we’ve been in we’ve been in the cave and the cave is safe the cave is totally safe it’s dark it’s safe I loved it I loved when it first started because I thought this is exactly how I want to live out my life ordering food to my home minimal interaction I said oh my God it’s okay so right you know and I wasn’t as healthy as that time now I now I know different but I was loving that I loved it and then as things that downshifted like you said it’s like you’re walking out of the cave and the the light yeah it’s bright it’s blinding and it hurts and then you’re completely disoriented completely just you know it really is it’s almost like I was sitting with a mentally the other day he’s a helicopter pilot and he was talking about flying in the clouds it’s kind of what that reminds me of is like coming out of the pandemic like you’re trying to stare at this instrument panel that’s all you got yeah you know because it’s your training you’re like I know how to do therapy yeah you know but you can’t stare out the window because it’s just too much yeah it brings up glorious and terrifying terrifying I think that’s what this is like what we’re moving into it’s glorious and it is terrifying yeah yeah is I was it’s a beautiful point that you make because we’re we’re showing up to try and help save people’s lives that in the early stages of treatment that sometimes they don’t want to be alive um
to your point it can be both hand right you know I’m really excited for 2023 not just the brand refresh it just feels like a new opportunity for Peaks team and clients coming in I’m grateful that we’ve moved away from kind of that old archaic model and moved into something that’s really sensible in integrating for individuals coming into the program and I’m really excited to see what we can do with the new facility potentially some of these treatments that are coming out and opportunities to help folks that are struggling with mental health in a way that I think um we haven’t done before which is really really special and really really cool so I’m excited about New Year’s I’m ready to go it would be if I stay up all to midnight tonight it would be the second time in my 14 years of recovery that I’ve stayed up to midnight on New Year’s like 10 30 I’m like yeah did you drop yeah I aim for East Coast uh midnight which is 10 p.m yeah so like yeah that’s that’s my goal when I was pulling an all-nighter I’d do eight of those in a row right
but I appreciate you guys coming on and just um you know we were they had the Christmas party on Sunday unfortunately I wasn’t able to be there a couple Sundays ago because I had covid um but I think one of the things in the Christmas party that they do a great job of and that I wasn’t able to do is just really celebrate you all and I could do that each and every day for the rest of my life I just really really appreciate you first as humans secondly as professionals and lastly is friends so thank you so much for coming on if you want to share anything with the viewers before we end out other than peace and have a great 2023 and we’ll see you in a couple weeks happy New Year let’s make it a good one happy New Year just know today that you are seen valued and heard and at the very least here at Peaks recovery so please find us on all of your social media platforms social media we’re talking Tick Tock I’m back on Tick Tock Instagram Facebook finding Peaks on Spotify Apple music look us up we would love to see you you all have a great afternoon