#018 The 70% Success Rate: A New Blueprint for Teen Sobriety | Leah Wright

In this powerful episode of Living On Incline, Leah Wright, founder of Wake Monarch Academy, shares her harrowing journey through her son’s addiction to heroin. From the devastating moment of seeing her child in handcuffs to the infuriating battle with insurance companies that claimed his addiction was not bad enough, Leah’s story is a testament to a mother’s relentless love and the power of surrender.

Leah explains the staggering statistics of teen relapse and why traditional high schools often set students up for failure. Now, as the founder of the first recovery high school in the Triangle, she is providing a lifeline for families trapped in the cycle of substance abuse.

In this episode, we discuss:
- The Golden Hour of recovery and why it matters.
- The shocking 70% relapse rate for teens returning to traditional schools.
- Leah’s Surrender moment that changed everything.
- How Wake Monarch Academy is creating a 70% success rate for students in recovery.

Support Wake Monarch Academy:
Visit wakemonarchacademy.org to donate or learn more about their mission.

Subscribe for more stories of resilience and recovery.

Timestamps

0:00 – The Hook: My child in handcuffs
2:15 – Meet Leah Wright: From 30 years in the classroom to recovery advocate
12:40 – The Insurance Battle: His addiction is not bad enough
24:15 – The Master of Manipulation: Understanding the addict's mind
38:50 – The 70% Relapse Statistic: Why traditional schools are failing teens
52:10 – The Vision: Starting the first recovery high school in the Triangle
1:10:35 – The Surrender: A life-changing moment in a Food Lion parking lot
1:35:20 – How Wake Monarch Academy saves lives
1:58:00 – Final Words: Turning passion into service


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#AddictionRecovery #TeenSobriety #RecoveryHighSchool #OpioidAwareness #WakeMonarchAcademy #LivingOnIncline #Parenting #MentalHealthMatters #SobrietySuccess

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:00

To see your child in handcuffs for the first time. Put in the back of a police car.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_07 0:05

I was devastated. And the insurance company would say his addiction is not bad enough. What is it gonna take that he's going to be dead before I can get some help?

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Lee and Jimmy Wright have been working on a special high school for teenagers dealing with substance abuse and addiction after their son's struggle with heroin.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

You are the second uh recovery high school wake monarch academy, the second recovery high school in North Carolina, first one in the triangle. There's a 70% chance 70% chance that they're gonna relapse, 30% make it, and they get into a recovery high school. There's a 70% chance of success. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

As an adolescent, leave them to me. Wright's son struggled with heroin addiction. At the time, his parents had a hard time finding help because he was under 18 and there weren't many resources.

SPEAKER_05 0:55

I remember the desperation and the hopelessness that a parent feels when they keep trying to help their son or daughter. Bright son is two and a half years into recovery and doing well.

SPEAKER_07 1:07

I raised my hands in the air and I said, I surrender. And I said, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know even first steps to take, but leave me and I'll do it. There truly needs to be a recovery high school in every county and every state. In our first year, we will have a maximum of 10 students and not just not even touch the need that's out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

You could be struggling with an addiction, depression, anxiety. There are all kinds of reasons why we struggle. And there aren't a lot of resources out there at times when we need immediate help. Yes, there are therapists, yes, there are psychiatrists, but sometimes those waiting lists are long. And just to reach out to somebody, it can be overwhelming. And so I want to recommend to you Recovery Alive. Recovery Alive is this faith-based program that you can immediately engage with a community of people who are going to love you and walk you through your struggle. One of the first things you want to do if you want to get involved in this program is get a hold of the Recovery Alive handbook. You can work on this handbook one-on-one with one safe and supportive person. Or you could get online, recoveryalive.com, and get into some of our communities. We have groups of gender-specific recovery 12-step processes that you can walk through with safe and supportive people. Connect to those folks. We have all kinds of programming to help you. But if you're watching this or listening to Living on Incline, connect with Recovery Alive. Get a hold of this book, get a hold of maybe one safe and supportive person. Check out our online programming and get the help that you need and get it today. You don't have to suffer alone. Hey guys, John Eklund here. We are on Living on Incline. As always, please hit the subscribe button, the share button, any button that you can. We're super excited to have Leah with us on Living on Incline. Leah, thank you for hanging out with us. It is a pleasure and a privilege to have you here. We've been chatting a little bit, having some conversations before this thing started. And um, there's so much I want to talk to you about. I don't even kind of don't know where to start, but the the place I wanted to start is I remember, I think it was an opioid overdose uh event, maybe an awareness event that maybe you and I first.

SPEAKER_07 4:14

It was the International Overdose Awareness Day. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

And um I'm sitting there with Casey and Tisha Temple with Recovery Alive, and I'm sitting there. You've been to these events. Uh as a social worker, I've been to I would say hundreds of these kinds of events. So I don't know what as a vendor to expect. And sometimes can get a little, if I can be honest, a little bored. Just not you get different presentations, and and sometimes vendors are the only ones who are there. Right. You know, we're the main uh audience, and so we're vendors watching other vendors, and up comes this recovery high school. My ears perked up, and I was like, what is this? I had never seen anything like that before. And then you had some of your students sharing high schoolers who are in recovery talking about their journey, and I my jaw dropped, got a little emotional, if I can be honest, and just one of the most powerful, exciting things I had ever seen. Yeah. Kids, high schoolers talking about what a difference, this impact, this high school is making. They're talking about their peers and how they're helping each other and they're working their recovery process. I was in awe. Yeah. And I I just want to say what you are doing is incredible. We're excited to talk about your journey with this thing. Um, tell us a little bit about you. Tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? Are you from around these places?

SPEAKER_07 5:52

Uh always been a North Carolinian. Yeah. And grew up uh right outside Greensboro.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 5:57

And went to school at uh Meredith College in Raleigh.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Oh, at Meredith, okay.

SPEAKER_07 6:01

Yeah, Meredith Ill Matters Girl. And so after I graduated, uh got a job immediately. I went into the teaching field.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

And you said you're a teacher at heart.

SPEAKER_07 6:11

Yeah, teacher at heart. So I I was in the classroom for 30 years. I actually retired in 2018.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

What uh ages?

SPEAKER_07 6:20

Uh believe, well, I went started out in fourth grade.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 6:24

And then I went to kindergarten, not by my choice, to be honest with you, but loved it.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Oh man, that's the best job in the world. But nap time? Okay. Come on, nap time, blocks, cute little age, half days sometimes.

SPEAKER_07 6:38

Yeah. Well, no, we were all full days, you know, full days, uh, but loved it. And uh, but my principal came in and he goes, you know, you've always been really strong in reading and writing, you've always waited till like the second half of the kindergarten year. We need you in first grade. And moved to first grade and I was there for about uh 12 years. And I love first grade. Uh that was like my my thing.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

First grade was it?

SPEAKER_07 7:00

First grade was it, and which was really didn't make sense when God laid this on my heart, started a recovery high school, and I'm like, I'm getting ready to retire. I've been in elementary school.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 7:12

You want me to start a high school? Like, what? Like, that didn't make sense, right? But it absolutely made sense because I will tell you, I have used more strategies that I learned in the classroom with dealing with elementary school kids.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Is that right?

SPEAKER_07 7:24

Oh, hands down. Really? And I've helped our high school teachers who either used to be. So it all works out. It works out.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

So 2018, and we'll kind of be all over the place. But 2018, you said you're in the food line parking lot.

SPEAKER_07 7:40

Yeah. Had quite an experience. I had been uh gotta lay this on my heart. I'd actually kind of back up a little bit how I found out about it, my family sport group. I'd heard about a a documentary called Generation Found.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 7:53

And my son was about 19 at this time and already been through high school, and uh which was experience. And um heard about this recovery high school, and I thought, wow, what a cool idea. Well, it doesn't affect me.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

He's already good for them.

SPEAKER_07 8:09

Right. But went in one ear and out the other, and then like fast forward uh a couple of years through a journey I wouldn't wish on any family, but uh very grateful for it for what God has done.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

We'll get into that.

SPEAKER_07 8:21

Yeah, and uh and so it came, you know, hey, I need to watch this documentary. And so I had not seen it, hadn't but I'd heard about it. Um, but God had laid on my heart about starting this high school, which I fought for quite some time. I'll be honest with you, because I I first thought I was going crazy.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

You do that. Why do we do that when when God puts something on us? We were talking about how like he speaks to us at times in all kinds of different ways, and we have a tendency, like Moses and be like, I think you got the wrong person.

SPEAKER_07 8:49

That's exactly right. Like you're Aaron, Aaron's a guy, maybe but kept putting it off to the point, you know, God does have a sense of humor, and uh things just got very like I I can't get away from it. Yeah, but um the food line parking instant, which is the literally food line parking lot. Threw my hands up in the window.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

That's where a lot of good things happen.

SPEAKER_07 9:10

Yeah, yeah. Well, I wasn't expecting it, but I had worked late at school one night, and it was just me and the janitor, and I'd gotten off the phone uh earlier with uh Mary Ferreri, who is they were in the process of fundraising. They're about two and a half years ahead of us. They recovery high school in Charlotte. She's talking about bylaws and things.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Which was the only one at the time. Only one in North Carolina.

SPEAKER_07 9:34

Right. That was in the works and talking about things that were just way over my head, right? Just like this very overwhelmed. And I had been going through this process for quite some try time, trying to find it. I was doing a lot of research on it, but I'm like, I can't do this. And every time I said I can't, I'd always, you know, I've never heard an autumnal voice or anything like that, but I just get this feeling I learned to recognize. I know you can't, but I can't.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 9:59

So I'd heard that so much that I literally, if somebody had walked past the bathroom, they would have really thought I was crazy. I was having a conversation like I'm having. And I am in the bathroom and I am just like pacing. I'm like, God, I'm overwhelmed. I can't do this. And I know that you're gonna say, I know I can't, I know you can't, but I can't. I've heard it before, and I and I ask forgiveness. I'm not asking for a bolt of lightning. I'm not asking for you to appear.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Right.

SPEAKER_07 10:29

But I have to have something that like give me something. So right after that, my husband had sent me a text. He says, Will you stop by Food Line on the way home and pick me up some Coke Zero? And I'm like, Okay, I was bawling, crying, just completely overwhelmed. And people knew I was getting ready to retire, and I was used to hearing, oh, what are you gonna do after retirement and all that? And so I pulled up in the food line parking lot, and one of my parents, who I taught her son in first grade, he was getting ready to graduate from fifth grade. Hadn't seen her, uh, but we had been friends, you know, on Facebook. And uh she came up to me with the typical, hey, you're retiring, are you excited? I was used to the conversation, and uh she reached out and touched me. I want to tell you, John, it was an experience like no other. I am telling you, I her her voice changed. It was the most calming, like she put her hand on on my arm and she said, Leah, you have changed so many lives, teaching, but when you retire, you are gonna change so many more. It took me back that I I just went I literally went like I said, I you have no idea how much I needed to hear that, and I thought we're done, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 11:56

But then she's then she began to open up. She's like, I don't know what you've been going through. But I can tell you by what you've put on Facebook uh that you've helped me. Now, up to this point, the only people that knew we had been struggling with our son were people that taught with me, because I'd be pulled out of my classroom. Hey, Fuquay police department's on the phone, Apex Police Department's on the phone, or uh you were a neighbor because you would see cop cars in our drive away, right? No one else knew because it's you know, addiction is very isolating, yeah, you know. And so uh she's like, You've helped me. But but I did post on Facebook things like, you know, addiction is a disease, like very like little subtle, hey, yeah. Right, but very never knew it's my son. Right, never and she's like, You have been sharing lots of articles and uh I've been forwarding them to my sister because my sister's son struggles with heroin addiction. And I that was the first time like to somebody that I knew but didn't know, like personally, that because of her story and her saying that for the first time I said, Thank you so much for sharing. Well, my son struggles with it too. Okay, and so we talked a little bit, and then she and then I told her about what had happened in the bathroom and me asking, all this had been going on, and me being here, and she looked at me and she says, Well, you know, God speaks through people. And I said, Well, he does. We said our goodbyes, they got in the car, and literally in the mid line middle of food line parking lot, I raised my head and hands in the air, and I said, I surrender. And I said, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know even first steps to take, but lead me and I will do it.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Oh man. And that this podcast we talk about, this living on incline is is what's the next mountain that we're facing that that God's putting in front of us to say, hey, I want to challenge you and push you to the next level. Yeah. But it's not, and maybe we don't talk about this enough. It's not really about going like, all right, next challenge that I can personally tackle. Right. I'm gonna wake up and go tackle the next, you know, I'm gonna go fight the next lion. I'm gonna go take on the next, you know, major challenge. But it's really going like, what can I say yes to that I'm gonna have to surrender my own power? You're exactly right to be able to see what God can do through his power. And I mean, we probably don't talk about that enough because it is, you know, we're we're white knuckle them or roll our sleeves up, we're gonna figure this thing out. But recovery is about saying, I can I can't, but God can. I think I'll let him. And so in that food line parking lot, you made an altar right there, and you said, and that can happen anywhere, can't anywhere. And God said, Hey, we think you know are you ready to say yes? Yeah, and you said yeah. What a wow, it's just a beautiful thing. And and so um we're I'm gonna go back a little bit in in a minute and talk about your son. Um, but today you are the second uh recovery high school, Wake Monarch Academy, the second recovery high school in North Carolina, first one in the triangle. Uh there's 40, how many, 44?

SPEAKER_06 15:15

About 44 uh recovery high schools nationwide.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Not enough, not even close to it. Right. Uh I I I heard a statistic that said 30% of adolescents who are coming out of treatment, if they go straight back into their high school, they're gonna relapse. Or there's a 70% chance 70% chance that they're gonna relapse, 30% make it.

SPEAKER_06 15:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

But on the other side, if kids, adolescents are coming out of rehab, coming out of treatment, and they get into a recovery high school, there's a 70% chance of success. You're exactly right. So it's flipping it completely on its head.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

And that statistic is gigantic. I mean, usually you're dealing with, hey, if there's four or five percent increase in sobriety, long-term sobriety, we're we're talking a 40% flip. And so what an incredible uh opportunity for anybody who's listening to be involved in this thing. And we want to make sure that you share how people can donate and give to what you guys are doing. Uh I when I heard your story at that um event and heard those kids talking, I just want to throw my wallet at you uh in Recovery Live. We're support you as much as we possibly can.

SPEAKER_07 16:27

You have, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Um, but I wanted to to take us back to like uh where some of these things started because you said it, it's uh addiction in families can be very insular. We're just trying to take care of this problem inside of our homes. And at times it's happening, we don't even know it's happening. Right. And uh, we had uh an amazing lady here who had some tragedies happen and with her two sons. Uh, you may know her, and she talked about something that you mentioned when we were having a conversation before we started, and that both of her boys were diagnosed with ADHD. And of course, way back then, um it was Ritalin. We're just gonna get them started on Ritalin. Um, over time, it's Adderall. And here's what she told us, which kind of is the state of middle schools and high schools, is she said both of her boys started on marijuana, started using marijuana because they would be in line sixth grade. They're in line. Back then, you know, there's a line to the nurse's office to get their Adderall or get their Ritalin, and they're in line, and some seventh grader walks up and says, I'll trade you this bag of weed for your Adderall. Yeah, and so I mean that's happening in middle school. And so for you, your son, who has given permission um from the very beginning. You said 11, 12, 13. He's he's he's starting to be curious about and it starts with marijuana, and I love your take on this. People roll their eyes at me often when I'm like, hey, this this thing is a gateway. Oh, I can't say I'm gonna be able to gateway drug stuff, whatever. But the lie about marijuana, that it's just not as serious as as other drugs. And tell me, tell me about that, especially in terms of what you saw with your son, how he got started.

SPEAKER_07 18:39

Right. Well, you know, that there's multiple gateways, and alcohol certainly is a is a gateway, but uh for him it it was marijuana. And uh, you know, having not grown up around addiction, you know, we didn't know. Uh my my husband, both of his parents were were alcoholics, so he did have some familiarity.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

But you had none, no family history.

SPEAKER_07 19:01

None. And I so I I didn't know, right? I didn't know. Um, I look back on it now and so many red flags. I'm like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

But you wouldn't know because you didn't, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 19:10

I had no idea. But uh we he's actually we have a very close relationship. Um, and he asked me one day, was curious about it, which I answered, and that was around 11 or 12 and answered and as much as I could, you know, answered uh what his questions were and then but said, hey, that's just that's not something that you you want to do. Thought we are done, right? Um, but then we did find out around the age of 13 that he had had smoked. We had you self-report, he self-reported, or how well we uh we found out, right? And then we had a conversation which he didn't then omit.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Which you and that that's something that you said you always this what was hard is you had this close relationship with this kid. You guys were close, connected, you feel like he can tell me anything. Right, and here he's talking to you about this, and so you're feeling good about this relationship.

SPEAKER_07 20:04

Absolutely, absolutely, and even you know, the first time we didn't put a consequence down because even though we had found out about it and led to it, he was honest.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Talked about it.

SPEAKER_07 20:15

Right, yeah, so we we focused on the positive. We appreciate your honesty. You know, we have talked about this before, don't do it again kind of deal. Thought we were done, right? You know, see and but obviously we weren't. Uh so we did uh lay, you know, later on consequences down, but then what we noticed was the behavior started to change more, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:37

And what did that look like?

SPEAKER_07 20:39

But is that because of the weed, or he was starting to use he was starting to use more that we we didn't know, but more sneaky behavior. Uh he'd he'd uh sneak out at night. We got in trouble for that. I mean, just that be just different um isolation, yeah. Graves started to to to go down, like all those things you can look back and go, all these red flags. Yeah. Um, and then uh he because of the ADHD, we thought we thought it was that. And he we were going to see psychiatrists anyway because of that, and then medicine and so forth. But um just uh started notice noticing like anxiety, depression. So certainly uh had therapy.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Um you're putting everything in place, you're doing everything you possibly can as a parent. And at the same time, there's this judgment. Oh yeah, as a parent, what am I doing wrong? You're getting some, I'm sure we've made it a like a pastime, an American pastime to judge other people's parenting. And so it's just like what are other people gonna think? And but you're doing everything you know how to do it as a two parent home, you're giving him counseling therapy, you got helping him with medication, you're paying attention to his grades, and still he's struggling.

SPEAKER_07 22:00

Right. And the there was not one therapist or psychiatrist, which we said, hey, we have caught him smoking, you know, and but not a single one said to us substance use is the primary problem.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Why? What is going on with that?

SPEAKER_07 22:17

I I that I don't know. Well, I do I do know this, you know. Uh they he very bright as a post-star, right? He knew what they wanted to hear. So that's what he would share, right? And so uh he became really a master about that. So they're coming out going, well, this is what he's saying, and we're like, you know, believing because they're the professionals, they're the professionals.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

It's not, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 22:47

Right. But then the behavior really starts to escalate. 1617, yeah, started to get in trouble uh with the law.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 22:56

Um, so that definitely behavior started to escalate. And uh we had um we had done this kind of scared straight uh scenario uh with a police officer that we knew um through a a gator, uh, gator read bottle he had taken from a uh a neighbor. So we were at our best friend's house. He had gone over, I mean, something very small. Sure. But we had talked to the police officer like we're having trouble.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 23:27

This is what we're noticing. Like we have talked to him, like if this behavior continues, you know, he has shoplifted. So we've gone through that, addressed that, but there was no improvement. So, like, can you just scare him? Like, I mean, that's kind of what we did, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Right. Not anything. Right, anything stamped. Right. It's getting scary.

SPEAKER_07 23:48

Right. But not realizing truly how traumatic it would be for me. Um, because when that became uh in that happened, to see your child in handcuffs for the first time, put in the back of a police car.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_07 24:05

I was devastated, right? Thought that would that would be it, but it was not.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 24:11

Um behavior escalated to when uh he had gotten in trouble. And by then we had found a substance use counselor that we were working with.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 24:20

Um, and uh we he had done something in a in juvenile jail, and I'm like, we need we need help, right? And so when a parent has to leave their child in jail because it's a safer place, because he was sneaking out at night, right? And we're like there, and we had noticed that some cars had come up, right? And so, like, we've got to figure this out. So if he's in jail, juvenile jail, at the and because there was no other resources, that are gonna that's gonna give us some time.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

That was part of your experiences like going like there is nothing for this kid who's struggling with substance use. No, just sort of there's just nothing.

SPEAKER_07 25:03

Nothing. And we called the insurance, and the insurance company would say, Well, his quote, quote, uh, his addiction is not bad enough.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

I remember that is an actual thing you've heard.

SPEAKER_07 25:15

Quote I, John, I I came unglued.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

And I I would imagine as a mama.

SPEAKER_07 25:20

Yeah, and I, Mama Bear came out and I said, Um, what is it gonna take that he's going to be dead before I can get some help? Uh behavior continued to escalate. Back then, Triangle Springs was not around. Holly Hill was the only place. Uh, he had suicide audiation, he had been in there multiple times. But it had gotten to the point when he was 17 that uh really between um our therapist that we had been working with, uh Holly Hill, yeah, being able to and proving that he'd already been in juvenile jail, like the behavior is not there is a substance use issue, sure. The behavior's not getting any better, that we finally, at the age of 17, were able to get a mentor rehab for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

We're talking, and we the American Association of Christian Counselors talks about this is that and it tracks. They said five years is the average time between when somebody starts to have the symptomology of either substance use disorder or even just a mental health struggle five years before they they have those symptoms to when they actually start to get treatment that is effective. And that tracks right on how about that right on.

SPEAKER_07 26:34

But again, you know, even though we had been through it, right? And we had talked and and we were now working with a substance use, you know, counselor therapist. Uh, and I of course I I do research, you know, I want to educate myself. So I had done that. Um, still in our journey, when we picked him up, you know, the days do run out, as you know, insurance runs out, picked him up on his 18th birthday in January. And I was a parent, I remembered thinking, he's fixed.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

We got it. He's done.

SPEAKER_07 27:03

Done. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Fixed.

SPEAKER_07 27:05

I could go back, I could go back to normal. Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Praise God. Like picking up your car from the garage. Exactly. Is it making any noise? Okay, good.

SPEAKER_07 27:13

Exactly. And thought he was good, came home, and it was good for a little while.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Pink cloud. Solomon, you and I talked about that little pink cloud.

SPEAKER_07 27:21

Yeah. And uh then um I remember uh him calling and he and you start uh noticing the aggressive, very defensive behavior, very um oppositional defiance.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

It's picking up. Oh, yeah. The honeymoon's over.

SPEAKER_07 27:38

Oh yeah. Oh, absolutely. And I remember him um the behavior had gotten better, so uh and he had to earn things back. Sure. And so he uh asked to go out uh to spend the night with a friend who I, even though he was at that age, I had talked with the parents and made sure like we're all good, all right? And I'm like, okay. And I talked with Jimmy.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

I'm like, we've got to give him some Yeah, yeah, you can't keep you can't get locked in the basement.

SPEAKER_07 28:05

Exactly. And so uh we did, and then I we didn't hear from the next day. Sunday afternoon, I get a call and he's like, I need my friend. I'm like, where are you? Uh he was in the hospital. Uh so what had happened was he uh and these these friends, like some other friends had joined them, right? And they had gone to uh a local park and just so happened that a police car was driving around and found him slumped over and he had overdosed in the car and this he was 18. Uh I was I was panicked, came and and we rushed to the hospital, you're okay. But then what we noticed was that uh very oppositional, I didn't do anything, very like very angry, very wrong, like I just want my phone. I'm like, you're not getting your phone, like it he had just overdosed. Oh yeah. Uh-huh. Uh huh, yeah. And then the nurses came out and said, you know, we're not released, I'm gonna keep him on a 24-hour watch. And of course he's 18 by this time, right? And as I've tell parents now, I'm like, do everything you can until you know as much as you can. Yeah. But wait, because when they turn 18, it's a whole different ball game.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 29:22

And now you gotta very oppositional. Yep. And so uh then that, you know, it it just kind of went it went from there, and then that escalated to we was in rehab again, and um, and then it seemed like that.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Opioids are when things got I mean, they were always pretty serious, but those opioids, and we you know, we've had folks on here talking about the the pandemic that opioids started, books like Dreamland, and seeing the almost perfect storm of the pain scale come into play and uh a big pharma come into play and and and seeing black tar heroin come into play, all these different things leading to this this pandemic where where pills turn into heroin. Uh and that is the the journey of your your son that started with pills and turned into heroin.

SPEAKER_07 30:22

Yeah, well, marijuana then went to pills, which we didn't know, right? Well, we didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

No, of course not.

SPEAKER_07 30:27

Uh I look back on a an incident we had been over at a a friend's house, and this is before things had gotten really, really bad. But it just shows how naive I was back then. And uh Jimmy had had some uh oral surgery and had been given like a bottle of pain pills.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Back this what year was this?

SPEAKER_07 30:51

So this is uh maybe 2017. Yeah, 2017.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

That's what it just people are just getting candy, yeah, like candy.

SPEAKER_07 31:00

And here's the thing when your kids are small, right? You you lock up the cabinets and you know, everything. Well, he's a teenager, your brain doesn't go there. We didn't hadn't had small children in quite some time. So, you know, he had taken, you know, Jimmy's not real big on medicine, which I totally understand. He had taken enough to just kind of get over the old and then left it. Right. Well, we put it under the bathroom sink and forgot about it and whatever. So we were at a neighbor's house and they had had um one of the husbands there had said, Yeah, I went in my cabinet and tried to find my pain medicine and couldn't find it. Oh, this is a completely different. So all the parents were talking, go, yeah, we probably should check our medicine cabinet, right? Or our where our med, we saw our medicine. Not John, I'm telling you, it there was no register. But I thought, well, I'll I'll check it. All right. And so I knew where the medicine came over, and I noticed like, I remember it being pretty full. Sure. This is tall bottle, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Of the most addictive substance I have.

SPEAKER_07 32:02

Oh, yeah, right. And there was like a a quarter left. Now, this is where my brain, I won't own it, my brain went, but this is where you don't, if you're not used to it, and then and it's like, this can't happen to us because I our son grew up in a happy home and you know, wasn't any trauma or anything like that? Um, and so I remember going and I'm holding, held it up and I'm like, went first, talked to my husband. I said, Did you take all this medicine? And he's like, No, I didn't take all this medicine, right? And I said, Huh. Now here's where my brain went. He must have taken more and just didn't remember it.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Do you think you wanted to believe that?

SPEAKER_07 32:45

Oh, I absolutely wanted to believe that. And then I go and I, you know, our son was upstairs, and I said, Hey, come here for a minute. And I showed him and I said, and I'm telling you, they learn. I mean, you sure I look back and I'm like, but just too like believable. And I think back of so many times he had lied before, right? But again, you're not believing it. And I asked him about it. He's like, No, like, why would you ask me that? Like, like I'm some like I'm isolating you at that age. It's like the audacity to look like how could you? And I just like Oh, sorry, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Uh yeah, almost like apologetically.

SPEAKER_07 33:22

Right, right. And I still like, okay, my and I forgot about it. But of course, years later, yeah, he had taken it and had sold it.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

So there's a a story of my daughter Violet, and she was maybe 11. And we were just talking about this, this uh uh another time where it was like a this is in West Virginia, when we live in West Virginia, there was another symposium of some kind of uh some kind of um I don't know, drug uh drug and alcohol use disorder uh symposium, but it was more medical, and we were a vendor uh for that. Anyway, so we we were at this thing, and I'm like, for some reason, I was asking Violet, um, she's 22, 23 now. I was saying, why why did I bring you to this thing? Because it was in the middle of the day, she said, I think I I was sick from school or had to stay home or something, and and you had this thing, so you had to go to it because my wife was doing something else. So I'm bringing Violet to this symposium where I'm a vendor, and uh she's sitting there listening to all these different presentations about drug use and abuse and all this kind of stuff, but also about making sure that you lock up your medication, yeah. And so everybody gets this little ticket, this little uh drawing ticket when they when they attend. And so Violet, they're like, Oh, here, take one of these tickets. And they're having this drawing for these different prizes to they're having at this thing, a gift certificate for this, whatever. And so she she they call her number, she wins, she's 11 years old, she's yeah, yay! Yeah, and so she goes up there and she wins a drug lock box. Okay, and she's like, Oh, thank you. You're 11 years old. And I'll never forget this. We're driving home and she has this box sitting on her lap. I can envision it's a little Violet just sitting there with her little box on her lap, and she's smiling. And I say, Well, what do you think? And she goes, Yeah, I like it. I like it, you know. I don't know what she's gonna do with it, right? And I said, Well, what did you think of the whole thing? What did you learn?

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

And she says, This uh verbatim, she says, Don't use drugs, but if you do, make sure to keep them locked up in your safe.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

How confusing of a message is that when it comes to prescription drug use? I remember thinking that, like, what do what do we do with our kids? What do we teach them?

SPEAKER_03 35:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

And that is the opioid epidemic in a nutshell, is these are prescription drugs. So even if your son is taking those things, like these are prescribed by a doctor, you know, they're available, readily available. They're not even locked up in a liquor cabinet or something like that, and they look like candy.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

And so, how easy is that for kids to access? And then you're looking back and you know, maybe.

SPEAKER_07 36:08

And thinking, what like Leah? How could you be so?

SPEAKER_01 36:11

But at the same time, like, what do you expect? You know, so it is it's just a very confusing, very frustrating time. And your son, you you talked about 18, 19, you're just having to make some decisions about ultimately homelessness.

SPEAKER_07 36:26

And yeah, well, weed, um, for him, pills ultimately went to heroin addiction and uh been in again in and out of rehab and was continuing to use. And he had on one particular uh uh stint, I guess you could say, back from rehab. He was still, he was staying at home, he was doing better, he had to get a job, and we're you know, you hope like he's he's got it, he's gonna do this. And I remember him calling me at work and uh just so upset he was withdrawing. So like he's using again, right?

SPEAKER_02 37:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 37:03

And uh so um, but he refused to go back to rehab. And so like sick, but he's not not doing it, not doing it because he's like, you know, people use there and I'm able to get it there.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

Gaslighting stamp.

SPEAKER_07 37:18

Yeah, everything. And so uh that's when I had found uh a um uh one of a private practice uh doctor who specialized in substance use. Yeah. And so um he took him to her and he agreed uh to do IOP, so intensive outpatient. And so she uh he allowed her to talk to me and he was 19 at this time and came out and and said he's agreed to do this. He goes, but you need recovery too.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

And I was like, it kind of perplexed me, right? Right.

SPEAKER_07 37:51

And I don't know the problem. Right. And those were first words out of my mouth was like, Well, I'm good. Right. Like I don't use, you know. And um, she's like, No, you need recovery. And I was like, Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Thank God for her, huh?

SPEAKER_07 38:04

What oh yeah, uh, I life changing. Didn't realize it at the time.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

At the time, you're a little offended.

SPEAKER_07 38:09

Right, right. But did not realize and had no idea what codependency was or anything. But looking back, I was extremely codependent on him. And so uh she said, You need to go to family support groups and hear some uh places to go visit. So I did. I followed direction. I remember coming out and talked to my son.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

You're a rule follower.

SPEAKER_07 38:30

I'm a rule follower. I do speech, you know, but uh no, I am a rule follower. And I came out and talked to him and I said, You do IOP and I'll go to these meetings. And but here's I didn't I wasn't going to the meetings for myself. I was doing this I'm we're gonna do recovery together. I'm gonna support you. Right. I'm gonna go to this, but we'll do this together.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

And it's but it's more for him.

SPEAKER_07 38:53

Oh yeah, oh yeah. And yeah, I didn't even honestly think. I was just following directions and trying to be supportive of him because we'd already been through so much. And I remember visiting several meetings and just thinking, this is just this is just not it, right? Um, but I did continue to try to find like where I felt comfortable, and I'm like, this is just not helping me. Well, it he his behavior uh was we had found some needles, right? And so we had um had to like we're we're struggling, right? And so we had been uh directed, like you, he doesn't need to live in your home anymore. I'm like, well, like, okay. And so that's not happening. That's not we're not kicking him. We're not doing that.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

No.

SPEAKER_07 39:40

So um I did find my home group. Um, I will uh shout out, they were uh life changers for me was the uh family support group, the healing transitions back when we could meet in person.

SPEAKER_03 39:51

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_07 39:52

And uh had gone there and I loved that they had like 30 minutes of an education kind of segment, and then we'd have family support group. And what I loved about that is whereas I had been to other meetings where they didn't allow crosstalk, it was very structured. I needed to be able to go into a place and go, look, cop cars were in my driveway last night. This is the chaos in my home. What do I do?

SPEAKER_01 40:15

I need some advice.

SPEAKER_07 40:16

I need some advice, and they uh they allowed that, right? And I do remember a a couple there, I'll never forget it because it was one I thought back to many times, and they had said they were telling a story. Their son had was in recovery at that time, but they were telling a story on Thanksgiving Day a few years prior, had said that he they knew he was still using. They he had shown up on Thanksgiving Day, knocked on the door. The sister went to answer the door, and the parents said, do not let him in. Now, John, I I remember sitting there. You know, we don't want people to judge us, but I remember sitting there in a group full, a big group full of parents, and I remember thinking, How could you do that? On any day. But I mean, I mean, not that any any day, but I mean, and you're not letting your and I remember thinking to my I would never do that. Right? Fast forward uh as things continued to get worse, but I became more, I mean, I was every week going to that. And and also Rhonda Spence, who leads the program and I became very good friends. I would call her, this is what just happened. She we got a relationship.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Oh, it means you have to have it, don't you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 41:32

She was in recovery, uh, you know, and she also her son was in recovery. And so, but I listened to her and I valued what uh she said. And then one day she said the words that were life-changing to me. She looked at me and she said, Leah, you are going to love your son to death. I will never forget it, but I'm gonna tell you, John, it was like a light bulb went off. And I was like, Okay, what do I need to do? This is what's going on. And so really worked on boundaries, which I thought we'd we're holding, right? But I was guilty about breaking them because we're addicted too when we're coded.

SPEAKER_01 42:14

Oh, and we're down. They're addicted to drugs, we're addicted to them.

SPEAKER_07 42:17

Hands down, hands down. But I really started to uh listen more and to really uh understand what I was dealing with or we were dealing with, right? And so um he kept choosing and we had to make a very hard decision. I'm not saying on any family that tough love works every time. But for us, years into the process, in and out of rehab, done everything that we did, uh, we're like you have a choice. Yeah, either you can go to healing transitions or you figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Sure.

SPEAKER_07 42:56

And I remember the first time we dropped him off at Healing Transitions, uh, he ran into the woods. I am hysterical. Hysterical. Like uh, and he's 19, well, probably maybe 20 at this time. And um just had no idea what to do. But what I immediately saw is that it was a community that uh they got some guys that were doing transitions. I can cry right now thinking about it. Uh went out to the woods hang out with him, brought him back in. And I was like, okay, okay. And so I'm like, oh he's there, he went in. And you know, initially, when you uh you're not supposed to like interact. Like he would come for about 15 minutes prior to a meeting on every Wednesday and see them, right? And he was doing great. Now here's again recovery is a process. It's a process, right? So he's doing great. Yeah, they were getting ready to have a celebration where he would get his 30 day trip. Call. The family in town. Again, I'm going back. He's he's he's fixed, right? He's doing great. We we are we are on the home stretch, right? Called the family in he's having celebrations again. Come on, we're gonna celebrate 11 30. The day before. And I could hear cars in the background. He said, What are you doing? I'm walking down before I walk. I said, What? He said, I can't take anymore. I'm done. So uh needless to say, um the journey continued. Yeah, yeah. He tried um three different times for healing transitions, which is a wonderful place.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

It is a phenomenal program.

SPEAKER_07 45:01

Such a strong supported good friend from the very and so uh things continued to happen and uh we continued our own family support uh realizing that he but he ultimately became homeless. Yeah, um I struggle with anxiety depression, I don't hide that. And when he was homeless, uh outside of you know healing transitions, dark, dark time. Very dark time, very dark time.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

Good news though.

SPEAKER_07 45:30

Good news.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

He's 28 now, four years of sobriety. As of February 11th, yeah. He is working at a treatment center. Treatment center outside of Atlanta, Georgia, doing an amazing work there and uh personally responsible for over 600 people coming into treatment. Treatment. And yeah, so we just want to tell people there is hope that's a journey. What a journey. And I I remember reading Cloud and Townsend's Boundaries, and one of the great stuff in that book, but one of the uh phrases that that sticks out is um, as codependents, we are responsible and punished while they are irresponsible and rewarded.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

And flipping that on its head is a tough, even though it sounds insane, yeah, is that how do we get to a place where we're responsible and rewarded? They're responsible and have consequences for their own behavior. And so eventually being able to give them those consequences, to your point, it doesn't always work out. No, but ultimately, those were honoring the choice that they are making to do what they're doing in their adult lives and knowing that we can't control that and we can't manage it. And so um, I wanna I wanna bring us back to um with praise God, your son, yeah, getting finally getting the help that he needed, finally getting to a place where he was ready to receive some treatment, you watching him go through this process, feeling powerless, no resources. You're in that parking lot and uh food lions, surrender to the Lord, and in comes this opportunity for you to do something so rare, fill a gap. You're not a uh C A D C. Oh no, you're not a this is a classroom teacher, covering addict, you're not a peer support specialist, you're you're just somebody who said, I I see this need, I'm answering the call. God's called me to do this thing.

SPEAKER_02 47:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

And in comes Wake Monarch Academy.

SPEAKER_02 47:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

And I want you to tell us a little bit about um the school. How many kids are at the school right now?

SPEAKER_07 47:49

Right now, we have six students. We've got one uh hopefully be transitioning in mid-April. He's in residential treatment right now.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

And what are you guys doing with these students? What are what are some of the things? Uh I know education is a huge piece, and of course, well, it's a school, you're like, well, yeah, it's an education. But a lot of times I think people are thinking it's a recovery high school, it's just about groups and therapy, but then it's it's you're you're not treatment.

SPEAKER_07 48:14

No, I will say that from the very end.

SPEAKER_01 48:15

Yeah, so so talk us through what is what are you offering to these kids and uh why is it working?

SPEAKER_02 48:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:22

Recovering marriage is a game changer if you want to either save your marriage or simply strengthen it. If you want to take your marriage from good to great, or if your marriage is in real trouble, either way, recovering marriage can be extremely beneficial. One of the ways that you can use this resource, recovering marriage, is you can get involved in our online recovering marriage groups. You can plug into those groups at recoveryalive.com. Also, if your church wants to get a group started, you can get a hold of this book and our leadership material of how to run a recovering marriage group in your church. These groups take about 14 to 16 weeks. They're based on the 12 commitments of recovering marriage. And I'm telling you, so far, everything we've heard about these things is we are seeing marriages saved. We're seeing divorce papers being torn up, we're seeing recommitments, vow renewals. It's been absolutely epic what we've seen happen as people work through the 12 commitments of recovering marriage. We also are having weekend intensives. If your church is interested in having a full day intensive of recovering marriage, for us to come in and lead an entire day of working through the 12 commitments, we'd love to come to your church and your community and run one of those intensives. You can get all of this information at recoverylive.com. You can go on Amazon and get this book as well if you just want to research it a little bit. The 12 commitments of recovering marriage are changing lives. Check it out today.

SPEAKER_07 50:09

Well, you know, recovery is best in community, right?

SPEAKER_01 50:12

Well, you mentioned it. Yeah. People going out into the woods to getting emotional about that. Your own journey is like I needed recovery, I needed safe and supportive people. Right. Recovery live, we talk about power, people, and process. Right. And we need a process to help us to move forward and progress in our treatment. We need some next steps, right? But we also need people, safe and supportive people, community around us, and then we need a higher power to help us walk through this.

SPEAKER_03 50:37

Right.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

And so you're saying people, including adolescents, and maybe mostly adolescents, yeah, recover best in community.

SPEAKER_07 50:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

And so that's one of the main things that you're offering.

SPEAKER_07 50:49

I think anybody recovers best in community when you can relate. And that even goes for like a family member, how how important the family support group was to me. And I would hear other families, even though every journey's different. But they would say similar things like, Oh, I experienced that.

SPEAKER_02 51:03

I'm not alone.

SPEAKER_07 51:05

So my son's not the only one that manipulates. Oh, I've heard him say the same thing. It's it's community. Comforting. Very comforting, heary comforting. But it's a regular school day, you know, it's a safe and supportive environment where kids could come and give them a chance to be around peers, be around staff that gets recovery and uh where recovery kind of support is integrated kind of throughout the school day. But it gives them a place to also finish their high school education. We actually give them a diploma, um, able to do that. But our education, it's a it's an online program. But I always say that it's online because of this reason, right? We have rolling enrollment, which means that students can come in at any time during the year because recovery doesn't just start and you know in August, right? For typical school year.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

Fall semester, we're gonna begin our recovery.

SPEAKER_07 51:52

Yeah, that doesn't work that way, right? So rolling enrollment, the most is a modified year-round calendar. Most uh length of time that these kids are out is two weeks. Anything beyond two weeks is is too much time, you know, idle time. But um, they they come in, uh, we do a recovery, uh return to use uh recovery assessment um and plan that they do directly with our recovery coach who is also in recovery.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_07 52:19

Um and they really take, we know that you know, uh a return to use is is not an event, it's a process.

SPEAKER_02 52:24

It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 52:24

So it's really getting to understand the different um like emotional. What is an emotional return to use? Getting to understand what these students triggers are for the student. Um, but it is directly with someone who has walked in those shoes, right? Um, and then, you know, prior to that, I've also taught with the parents and connected them to resources. We also have a family engagement night um on the third Thursday of every month where we support the families and the additional students, but I'm also able to speak to families and the parents because part of what the parents have to sign is is for our enrollment packet is that their commitment to recovery is well. And so I'm able, even though no, I'm not personally in recovery, but I am as a family member. And I will tell you lived experience. No, it's not a there's not any, you know, uh at certain titles or a training, but lived experience is training.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

How encouraging to have somebody who's running the school to go, like, listen to my story. Right. Why do you need to be in recovery? I remember, mom, yeah, when I was in this place. And I'm like, why do I need this thing? Why it's my kid who's going through this, and you're like, let me just walk you through my own story. That is huge.

SPEAKER_07 53:34

And I've been able to say that. And I've had parents on the same journey coming in, they went, the first time he went to rehab, I thought he was fixed. And I'm like, exactly. No, I did too.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

Right.

SPEAKER_07 53:45

So that lived experience is very important, but they have to sign. Like, if we were to have a family come in and the parents sit back and go, fix my child.

SPEAKER_02 53:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 53:54

All the recoveries on my child, but I'm cold. We're not going to be a good fan.

SPEAKER_02 53:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 54:00

Right. We explain that we view addiction as a family disease and that it is supportive.

SPEAKER_02 54:07

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_07 54:08

We, it's a wraparound support for your student, but you need support too. This is why.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

Love that.

SPEAKER_07 54:14

This is not, I do direct them and give them the contact to Rhonda Spence, who is still there at Healing Transitions. I explain what that group did to me, but I said, that may not be the group for you. But here's Al-Anon, here's Narinon. It's it's whatever that finds comfort where you get your own education, but you find support as well. So that's connecting them. And uh, and but it's it's that this is we all have to work together.

SPEAKER_01 54:41

How does some how does somebody get their uh son or daughter into um wake monarch?

SPEAKER_07 54:48

So uh referrals. Um, we uh have a you know, there's not many, unfortunately, adolescent treatment centers. And right so uh we so out of state, we work with um several that where if they get through that getting ready to come back into their environment, what is that uh return care looks like or aftercare looks like? And so we referrals from treatment centers, uh referrals locally from like the Insight program, which is an in Curie. We we've worked with them word of mouth.

SPEAKER_01 55:18

Yeah. Um how are you funded?

SPEAKER_07 55:21

We are funded uh through our doing our own fundraising.

SPEAKER_02 55:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 55:25

We about 30% of our budget is tuition. I wish it were free, but we do have to charge tuition. But we are a North Carolina scholarship school where any student that wants to go to private school can apply for that funding. And then we also offer scholarships as well. So we really try not to have finances as a barrier, but you know, we They're realities. Yeah, they are reality, but fundraising is is a big part.

SPEAKER_01 55:49

Grants somebody's listening right now and they're like, man, that and I don't know how you I don't know how you can't see that this is one of the best things that uh has come along for treatment for adolescents. What a beautiful um offering that you have. So if somebody's listening now and they're like, well, how do I how do I give to this organization? What what uh how can they how can they contribute to what you're doing?

SPEAKER_07 56:15

Um wakemonarchacademy um.org. They can have our website, there's a donate button on there. We've got a golf tournament coming up April 15th. Any golfers out there to sponsors, yes.

SPEAKER_01 56:27

That information, um, they they can find outmonarchacademy.org. Yeah, absolutely. And um, I just what I'd love for you to do is just if if I'm a parent, I'm feeling shame. Yeah, I'm feeling powerless.

SPEAKER_03 56:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:45

My my son, my daughter, uh is in is is in trouble. They're using, I've tried everything. I I love this kid. I I I don't I don't have a clue how to handle this thing, and I feel like a failure, and I feel um like I don't have any resources. Um somebody is listening right now who's who's struggling with that. Could you just could you speak to that person? What would you tell that person who's in that position right now?

SPEAKER_07 57:16

The very first thing you are not alone. You are not alone. There's people out there that are resources even though they're limited. But you are not alone to call me, right? I always I give this, I don't have any problem, you know. My cell phone 919-418-2394, right? I'll I give it out publicly to call me. Uh you need help, um, Facebook, you know, go we or weight monarch academy, we're Facebook, Instagram, any way to message, uh, I will you know, talk to the parent, connect them to the resources. But you're not alone. That's the big thing because you know it is very isolating, right? And you don't know where to turn. And unfortunately, uh even with with public high schools, even though like Narcan is available in high schools now, which is great, but at a uh not too long ago, a a parent had uh found uh my contacted information through another parent of actually one of our students, and had reached out to her and and she's like, I just didn't know where to go. And I went to the school counselor, and this is a public counselor, right? Uh and just said, This is what's going on at home at home, and I don't know what to do. And the counselor responded, like, this is a pandemic here. We have so many problems, and you know, I didn't guide her anywhere. And so it's is and and I realize, I mean, schools are they're overwhelmed, teachers are overwhelmed. Uh I totally get that. But again, I mean, you could you can Google um research, you know, but certainly reach out at any time.

SPEAKER_01 58:51

And but the first thing you said, you are not alone. And that goes for us too. You know, we have recovery live resources online and um online groups, and it's just vital that that people connect right away and just try to get out of that shame of and go like, I can't tell anybody because uh what are they gonna think of me and all those exactly things that you're working through as a parent on a next level of you know, uh as a as a mom or a dad, my son, my daughter's going through this. I uh you'd said um I believe your son uh had been caught uh with with drugs, and um the was it the principal who'd come and said that three kids yeah.

SPEAKER_07 59:33

Well he they had um found his phone from a completely different not found his phone, got his phone from a completely different incident that was not related. Yeah, but had gotten access to his phone, scrolled through it, and found conversations that's right of of a um uh the end where it was a conspiracy to distribute drugs, right? That was the what was final and how old is he at this? He's uh 17. 17 at this time.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:02

It was the principal who said this to you.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:04

Pulled us in and said it was a public school, and uh my husband's there. I was pulled out of school, came and he goes, Um, look, he said I had four overdoses in the hallway today.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

Now, this is the four overdoses in the hallway of a Wake County public school, 15, 16 school year where paramedics had to be called.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:23

Now, do you think now he's telling us, right, as a because of that, no, I didn't find any drugs on your son, but I'm expelling him for the rest of the year, right? But I'm sitting there going afterwards, there was no email, there was no like anything that was broadcast out to like other parents, right? Um, and and in fact, had Nina told me that, right, I wouldn't have known. But my my being a teacher and being supportive of administration, go, I absolutely support and understand the position that you're in. However, my husband works full-time, I work full-time. What do we do? So he's gonna be home alone, and the answer, um, yes, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:05

Yeah, and so so as we yeah, as we're kind of finishing this up, this this is not this is this is happening. Yeah, oh yeah, these things are happening. And oh yeah, if if you're not right in the middle of it, you don't know.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:18

And so um, please support what these folks are doing, please support Wake Monarch and the work that they're doing. You might be like, it's not happening in my school. You you're you're in denial. It's everywhere we need to do, especially with adolescents. This is this is where we can do some some prevention. This is where we can see, if we can intervene early. Uh, everything tells us early prevention is everything. And so if we can if we can get more kids in these schools, more schools, um, adolescent treatment centers, um, just be praying uh for this specific population and for more people who turn their surrender into this kind of service and uh somebody like yourself who's filling these gaps. You say, Well, I'm not qualified, I'm not trained. Hello. Leah's like, just send me Lord and I will passion.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:07

Gotta have a passion. Gotta have a passion to help.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:10

So beautiful. You know, so beautiful. Thank you so much for hanging out with us.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:14

Thank you so much for having us.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:15

Yeah, we're on Living on Incline. Uh Leah, thank you uh again. And please support uh what she's doing. Uh WakemonarchAcademy.org. Make sure that you throw some contributions her way, and we'll see you next time on our next episode.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:29

Thanks so much. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

Hey, thanks again for joining us on Living on Incline, sponsored by Recovery Life. Would you do us a favor and just hit that subscribe button, share with your friends? And again, we want to explore our full given potential and see what we are capable of. So, again, hit that subscribe button and thank you so much for joining us on Living On Incline.