Ep. 94: I Looked Fine on the Outside But I Was Falling Apart

Have you, or someone you know, struggled in silence with overwhelming stress, grief, or negative coping habits? 

In this powerful episode of the Courageous Faith podcast, we are joined by our special guests, Vanessa C., Clinical Director of Optimal Family Care Clinic, and Morgan C., who both share with us the realities of the mental health struggles sweeping our society, and how the Church can step into the mental health and substance abuse space and minister healing to those who are facing struggle and "functional addiction."

This discussion is power-packed as it explores life in the fast lane, where immense external pressures, multiple full-time jobs, parenting, and church responsibilities collide with the pressure to live life with a "failure is not an option" mindset. We deep dive into the discussion of what happens when you isolate yourself and internalize personal grief until it leads to a catastrophic breaking point, and what happens when we learn how to boldly ask for help; it completely transforms our lives.

Join us in a deep dive into the difference Optimal Family Behavioral Health's Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), which combines cognitive behavioral therapy with biblical truth to help people rewire their brains, identify emotional triggers, and restore their true identity in Jesus Christ. This is one of the most provocative, insightful discussions we've had to date on Courageous Faith about all things Mental Health and the work Optimal Family Care Clinic's Behavioral Health staff is doing to help those in need of healing and hope.

Optimal Family Care Clinic -- https://www.optimalfc.com

Morgan Currie -- https://morgancurrie.substack.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Courageous Faith Podcast. At the beginning of the year, we had a major event here at the Church of Champions where lots of people came, James, lots of people with a lot of following, uh big speakers with half a million following each probably. And I got the chance to chauffeur one of them around. And while I was driving them in one morning, one of the speakers asked, Hey, what's that white building on the side? And I said, Oh, that's our clinic. And I just kept going. Didn't even think nothing of it because I'm always here because your clinic. I was like, Yeah, we have a clinic here. Optimor Famicare. Check it out. We have, you know, we need urgent care. I'd rather go there instead. You want to insurance? Go there instead. Just we help out our communities, what we do. And not only do we have that, we also now have behavioral health. And today we have our special guests. Because now not only do we get to talk about our campus, they actually get to be here and they get to speak about it. Vanessa, who runs the optiple the clinic, is here. Say good morning.

SPEAKER_05 0:52

Good morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Yeah. That was a nice opening I had right there. How you like that? I liked it a lot. I'm really gonna enjoy this, I think. Going back and forth like this. This is gonna be fun. This is a good time. It's like we're sharing like a like a teamwork.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

It's like a team thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

We have special guests.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

We do, it's exciting. So we not only have Vanessa here. Vanessa, what's like the official, what's your official title? I think it's always important to Clinical Director. Okay. Clinical director. But no, like what's the like RNN H B C T F nurse Practitioner? Family nurse practitioner. Family nurse practitioner. FNP. FNP.

SPEAKER_06 1:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Oh look at that. That's awesome. And we also have Morgan. Morgan Hutchins. Oh, I'm sorry. I'll never, it's gonna be hard. I've only known you your whole life.

SPEAKER_07 1:39

So I've only been a Curry for six years.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

I know. So it's like I'm still trying to balance that. So Morgan Curry, she is pastor's daughter. Um, and uh I think we're excited today because we're gonna have a good conversation about all the wonderful things that are happening through the clinic, um, not just on the medical side, but on the behavioral health side as well, um, and how it's affecting the community um and even our church, right? So yeah. Um it's been uh it's been really good. Um how long how long now? It's it hasn't been that long since you guys have kind of really been able to get into this and do this, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Twenty-two. Uh I guess twenty-two. Twenty-two.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

All right. So um so it's exciting. Yeah, four years. So exciting to see what God's done in the last four years. Yeah. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Well, I'm excited about it because uh, first of all, we have been blessed by God to be able to minister to and and serve so many people in our community. In fact, this year alone, uh it's only the beginning of April, and we've already served over 2,100 patients. Uh so this is not a stepchild. This is this is a very much a an enterprise of healing and it's an open door of opportunity for anyone in our community and throughout the state of Texas that needs help. And so if we can't um reach them or or help them uh because of distance, we have uh partnerships and associations and relationships where we're able to get them the service that they need. But we've had people driving from Dallas, college station, uh making long trips to um uh participate in the opportunities that we're we're affording people through optimal family care. So the the work that we're seeing done on the behavioral health side is so exciting that I'm I cannot wait to have this conversation about how God is using medicine and our medical clinic to reach people who might otherwise never come into the kingdom. And this is what I'm excited about.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

I'm excited, so I want to rewind real quick because on Sundays we have this thing, you know, we when we give our offering and our tithe.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

When we're giving, this is what we're giving back into. Yeah. We just said 2,100 people. Yeah. That we all, everyone who's ever gave to this church this past year, I guess, yeah. This is what we got to help 2100 people.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Well, it's part of the fruit of their giving because we were able to invest that uh, you know, that seed in 2022 and launch this thing. And so uh, of course, Vanessa is working there making sacrifices. We have an entire team though. So we have um we have assistants, we have medical uh personnel, we have surgeons, we have doctors, we have we we have a psychologist, psychiatrist, we have just a a team of people that really do uh effectuate the ministry that we've started here. And many, many years ago when we launched this campus, we said we wanted to be a place where the body, soul, and spirit of mankind was ministered to. And so that's why we have a seven-day operation on this campus. This is not a a weekend gathering. This is this is seven days a week of community life, very much after the template of Israel, uh where the tabernacle was in the center of their life. It was the economy of their life, it was the government of their life, and it was the um principality and power of their spirituality. So that's very much what the model that we follow here. And when we opened the clinic, it was on the heels. I mean, it was right in the middle of seeing this vast overwhelming need spring up from uh 2020. And we immediately arsenaled our and and coalesced our our relationships in law and in medicine and said, what can we do to jump into the fray and deliver people from their fears? Because we're not going to allow medicine to be so politicized that it becomes ineffective in ministering to everybody. And so medicine got to where people couldn't afford it, and people without insurance were uh were without hope. People with insurance couldn't get service, and we had uh just thousands of people uh literally and metaphorically screaming for help, and uh the medical medical community was overrun. So we jumped into the fray and birthed optimal family care in the middle of that. We've been highly successful uh ministering to people, and Vanessa can make that case, but as we've grown, we've seen more and more cases to where we needed to expand our services. And so we've started behavioral health. We acquired and have on staff our own psychologists and psychiatrists and and clinical uh people that are uh ordained to work in um behavioral health. So there we have substance abuses and so forth and so on. So I want to have this conversation. I can't wait to get into it and see. You've you've recommended people to come.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

They have testimonies of that.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Oh, yeah, they love it. And I I can't stand talking to them now because they're so like knowledgeable what they're going through. It's like, what's the point of talking to you? You just asked me for advice, you're giving me advice.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

And they would all I love his course, like I love Vanessa. I love Vanessa. She's Vanessa quit helps me out. Yeah, yeah, the word to use.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

Well, isn't that a tremendous opportunity to to see how God can change someone's um whole idea of life, and it's simply because you're orienting them around the benefits and and benevolence of his grace. So he said uh in Paul writing to the Philippian church, he said, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. And so that's where we've got to get back to is reorienting. And and the reality is, and you guys can speak to this, the reality is so many people are being overwhelmed with so much information that their c their mental capacities are collapsing. So if you could imagine uh the illustration of Jericho's walls falling, that's what's happening internally to people's constitutions when they're overwhelmed with so much different information. We have wars and rumors of wars and strife and famine and uh pestilence and swords and economy breakdowns and so forth. And not to mention marital pressures. All of that is collapsing and is crushing the the mental health of America. And so the from 2020 to now there's been an exponential rise in mental health issues. Morgan, would you would you want to speak to that? Well, what you've learned through through your journey and how how it's blessed you.

SPEAKER_07 8:53

Yeah. Well, a lot of people they're they can't even focus on what's going on in the outward world because they don't even know how to handle what's going on within their home, within themselves. They feel like they have nowhere to turn, um, no coping skills of any sort. So you can't even begin to cope with what's going on in the world when you can't deal with sitting with yourself.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

Right. And and and so where do you think that hap where is that breakdown when when they're not coping with themselves? Is it because they've experienced so much trauma in life?

SPEAKER_07 9:27

It yeah, it's trauma that you don't it's part of part of not dealing with or not even knowing how to start way back in childhood, let alone what compounds as you become an adult and shapes and forms some of your decision making. So as a child, if you don't know how to handle or cope with things, it just ends up snowballing and you end up making very poor decisions in order to cope with what's going on in your life.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

Yeah. So what what would you say I mean that's all the more the reason why we have to step back into the uh to the truth of raising up your children in the way they should go.

SPEAKER_07 10:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

And when they get older they will not depart. And don't you think that we're seeing an exponential well actually an explosion of mental health issues because people have become so disoriented and unmoored from um any stability of truth.

SPEAKER_07 10:27

They have no stability, they have no sense of truth. They have no hope. And also we live in a very um like immediate gratification society.

SPEAKER_06 10:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 10:35

And part of learning how to cope and working through issues you may be having is you have to learn how to sit with those issues, have difficult conversations with yourself, with others. It is not immediate, and sometimes you have to stop and you have to feel what's going on, and people don't what they want an instant solution.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Well, and and but doesn't all of life in our culture try to teach you to um I want to use the word medicate, but but somehow uh blunt your feelings so you don't feel right.

SPEAKER_07 11:07

So it is so it's your way of coping. It is your way of coping. It's a negative coping skill. Which leads to dependence at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

Right. So because you can't cope, because you can't uh view those things, it leads to some sort of dependence. It does. Is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_07 11:24

Exactly, and that's where addiction lies.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

And that's where addiction reigns.

SPEAKER_07 11:27

It's not always substances.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

No.

SPEAKER_07 11:29

Ronald's not always drugs, it's not always alcohol. There are people I know who I mean have Amazon packages and $500 purses every other week.

SPEAKER_03 11:41

Okay now. Right or a new hair.

SPEAKER_07 11:42

People who go out and they're constantly changing their hair, or or even some of those people who get all the needles and and the things, that is also a negative copy. It's an addiction. It's an addiction negative copy. Seeking affirmation. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Yeah. So, you know, uh what I love, uh, Vanessa, and you can speak to this, is that we have the opportunity right now, in fact, we're giving away two scholarships for our behavioral health.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

And uh so two people in our region that would want to come and and they've they've got a mind made up that all they need is help, they're they're determined and ready to change. We're gonna give them a free uh scholarship into our behavioral health program.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

And uh it's valued. This is very expensive stuff.

SPEAKER_05 12:33

It very much is.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

And so we're we're gonna invest that into two people because I want to see their lives changed. And I want we have this opportunity, we have two seats open, and I want to see that. What Morgan, you were one of the first participants of going through this, and some some people may say, Well, that's absolutely ridiculous. Why, if you grew up in the home you grew up in, why would you have any problems? Let's let's talk about and unwrap that uncomfortable reality. Everybody has problems.

SPEAKER_07 13:03

Right. Everybody has problems, and it's not always about the home you grow up in, it sometimes can be your personality.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

Was it something in your home?

SPEAKER_07 13:11

No, it has to do, it's it can be your personality and and not wanting to, I've always been as confrontational as certain people in this room think I might be.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

I feel like you're referring that to me. It's very confrontational of you.

SPEAKER_07 13:29

I I didn't, I mean, I never learned how to ask for help, and that's not because someone didn't teach me, it's just a skill I did not have. And because of the home I grew up in, of of never letting people see you sweat, you you don't want to express that you need help. And and that is one of the very first things you learn in behavioral health. Yeah. Is it is okay to ask for help. Yeah. It's not a sign of weakness. It is okay to ask for help. And it's not about it's it's as simple as like, I don't have the bandwidth to like someone asks you to pick up their kids from school. I'm sorry, I don't have the bandwidth today. You know, being able to say, No, I'm I'm not able to right now. I need help. I need help with the kids, or I need help getting the groceries, very small.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

So I hear you saying, uh, I mean, I hear you saying a lot of truth, but what you're doing is what you what you're I the way I interpret it is what I'm hearing you say is know your guardrails and then honor them.

SPEAKER_07 14:30

Right. Which I was very bad at personally.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

And there's nothing well, you came from a home where we we we taught you by osmosis, you give yourself away.

SPEAKER_07 14:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

And uh we we love lavishly and we we will suffer for people. Right. And so that could have been interpreted as a child that we don't have the guardrails and or the protections, right? And so uh it's interesting, you know. I I I don't know if many people know this, but James, uh, we took him in as a young man and raised him, got him straightened out. No, we we brought him into our home when I was four. When you were four, adopted him as our own, so he's your big brother. And uh, and so he grew up and he reacts completely different from you. Uh your brother Colton would react completely different from both of you. Right. So each person responds to pressure differently or responds to a circumstance. It doesn't even have to be pressure, but to to everything in life, we all respond individually. So what may not have affected one can very much affect the other. Right. So I'd like to hear, you know, James was there, he's he big brothered you growing up and uh and and saw many of the things you saw, experienced many of the things you experienced. And so, yeah, mental health is it it's it's extremely serious because throughout Scripture, God can do no more with a man than he has the bandwidth and the ability to surrender and say, Yes, Lord, give me your mind. Right?

SPEAKER_01 16:19

So Well, I I just think of I think that's probably a a good way to kind of segue that in that you know, for the most part, over the last twenty odd plus years, um, we've been in the same household, right, the same environment, um, but we both have experienced it differently and had different experiences throughout it. So I know for me, you know, some of the things that uh that I saw were always like I can't believe you're letting taking a phone call at two o'clock in the morning. I was like, there's a do not disturb button. Or I can't believe you let you're leaving in the middle of the night. Well, what is going on here? This place is crazy. Um, but for you it was just like normal.

SPEAKER_07 17:01

It was just normal.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

It was a normal thing. So when like as you got older, right, and as um, you know, you're coming, going to college, traveling, meeting people, like take us back. Like, what was life like before like you entered like kind of some of these last few years of stages, like to kind of prep you for that or get you into that place? Like what brought me to where you feel like was some of the most influential things that brought you there?

SPEAKER_07 17:27

I took on more and more and didn't have quite the ability to say no, I guess, because I mean I'm a Hutchins fill fail, you don't failure's not an option. I just remember that my grandpa would always say, That is not the Hutchins way. So I took on a lot of pressures um to alleviate my mother and I wasn't going to let her down.

SPEAKER_06 17:53

Sure.

SPEAKER_07 17:54

Um and then also, I mean, my husband had a job that was very demanding and he was gone at night for three years straight, and um, so I kind of felt alone and I began to isolate because I didn't know how to ask for help or reach out to people. I'm not very good in a social setting of like expressing my like what's actually going on inside. That is only something I have learned in maybe the last seven months, how to adequately express like this is what's happening inside. Um, so I isolated and I became like an island unto myself. So basically life was fine and dandy, and then I took on, I have two full-time jobs. I help run a company that's out of state, and then on top of that, we add in church stuff, and then all of a sudden I'm up leading worship. I mean, it was just one thing after another, and the dam was gonna break at some point. I mean, it it caused strain everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

So I'm hearing like a lot of external pressures, external, yes, would be external triggers. Right, while also dealing with your own personal things by yourself with I was grieving some things too that I felt I was losing and and trying to understand why.

SPEAKER_07 19:08

I mean, we always want to know why. Um, you know, and I've never known how to manage grief. I've lost, I've seen people come and go a lot, but I don't I don't know that I ever had the skills to actually process grief. And so I mean it was just festering inside, like just toxic.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

So then if you met someone, I mean, uh one of the things I think that's really good about when we go through struggles or when God brings us out of things, or kind of when we come on the other side, we oftentimes are a little more sensitive when other people are going through something similar, right?

SPEAKER_07 19:42

Whether they want to Want to admit it or not.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Whether they're admitting it or not, right? Uh what would you what would you tell that person, right? If you see someone maybe making those same mistakes, I mean obviously we have access to the behavioral health clinic, but um or program, but like what would be what do you feel like would have been the thing that would have been because we had conversations, several conversations kind of leading up, you know. What would you feel like would be something you would say to someone or could have affected you to make like a difference or make a change or say, okay, yes, I do need help?

SPEAKER_07 20:15

I hate to say it, but I if someone had pressed a little harder and not let up and and probed um a little harder, maybe, but it's not it's on no one but myself, right? At the end of the day, you make your choices. You I'm I made big girl decisions and I'm gonna live with the big girl consequences. But um someone maybe making a safe space of like it's okay to I I have a hard time opening up to people too because of the home we were, you know, you had to be careful what you said to certain people. I mean, I remember as a child I made a joke when I was like five or six, and it started a huge rumor in the church that my parents were getting divorced. So I've always been a little, you know.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Well, let's talk about that dynamic because it's very real for for most people. And my question is as a church leader, and we're this podcast is being listened to around the world by church leaders. So, no, I think it's a great thing that you're bringing this up. What should the church be doing proactively to creating that safe space? You have the campus pastor here, you have one of the ministers here, you have clinical directors here. What would you say to a church that is wanting to reach into the community and be a safe space for that community? Should we be having a connect group of a certain kind? Should we have a different kind of front door as far as entrancing people, inviting people into a safe space for mental health? Talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_07 21:48

I have found um me and my husband have had a lot of conversations about this. So when I went through intensive outpatient program, one of the things that optimal family care. Optimal family care. One of the things that Was part of your criteria was journaling every day. Okay. And I found that I really enjo enjoyed that and it was therapeutic. Anyhow, I started writing on Substack. That is my journal. Phenomenal writing. My open journal.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

Everybody needs to get on her Substack. It's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_07 22:17

But I have found, and and Blake and I have talked about it, you know, you want to witness to people. I have found more people approaching me and being more open to conversation because I typically start my journaling in more of a clinical way.

SPEAKER_06 22:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 22:34

To talk about just real life things as they're happening. Like on my sub stack, I don't claim I'm healed whole and perfect and woo-hoo now. I'm riding in the middle of things as I walk through this journey. But when you approach it in maybe a more practical way and then segue, people have been way more open to hearing about the gospel and what the Bible says. Yeah. Because you have there's kind of a divide. There's people who believe it's just straight clinical, and there's no spirituality in in that. And then you have, you know, church, but there is a middle where a lot of what I learned in intensive out it's in the Bible.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Well, let's go back to the scripture because I think anyone anyone who is a leader and thinks that there's a separation there is quite naive. So the Bible tells us very specifically that things are first natural, then spiritual. And so what what we're dealing with, when we're dealing with the compost of a man, you're and your body, soul, and spirit, you're talking about the tritheistic nature of a man. And you have to be able to minister to the soul as equally well as you do this the spirit of a man in the Church of the Living God. And the soul is the mind, will, and emotions. If you have a corrupted, corrosive, uh, not well mind, you're going to make very pitiful decisions that lead to a broken spirit.

SPEAKER_06 24:05

Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

Right? So uh we can jump up and down, scream, and holler, and shout all day long and uh knock holes in the wall on Sunday and go live like the devil on Monday, and it's because people do not have the mind of Jesus Christ. And I get I get pushback all the time. In fact, most well, I shouldn't say most, but some preachers uh they try to um disregard what I'm saying because they they think I'm a too v of a cerebral thinker and I'm not as spiritual as they are. Well, let me tell you something. I I learned a long time ago that after you stop talking in tongues, you better be able to walk straight down the middle line, right? And so you do that with education and information and learning and discipline, right? That's big that's the whole point of becoming a disciple. So when we're talking about the church being more open and and understanding, I think it takes us back to recognizing that we have a mind field where possibilities of destruction reign, but we also have a my uh an opportunity field where the book of Acts becomes a reality to attack alcohol, chemical, uh substance abuse, mental issues. You know what I'm saying, saying so I very much think this conversation not only is extraordinarily important, but it's important for people to understand what they're what they're facing, and that each of those triggers has a spiritual uh answer.

SPEAKER_07 25:41

Well, because when one area is off, the whole thing is.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

And you know the thing that that that challenges me is people think, well, God delivered me. Well, yes, God delivered you and God saved you. But if you're still practicing doing life the same way you did as a sinner, you're gonna you're gonna reap the consequences of a sinful outcome.

SPEAKER_07 26:01

You have to have transformation or reformation.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Talk about it. What is what's behavioral health? Yeah. What is that? What is that if I was to sign up? Well uh no, yeah, but uh what does it entail? As part of the clinic, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:14

As far as uh intensive outpatient um therapy, uh so there's a couple of options with it. What we identified is their mental health is such a disparity in every community. And especially since COVID. Uh a lot of isolation happened during COVID, and then uh what we found is a lot of people chose to cope with substances, unfortunately. Um and we have identified a part of the population, there's a gap in the population, or treatment rather, for this set of the population, that they need more than an AA meeting. They need more than once-a-week therapy services uh services for an hour. They also don't meet criteria for inpatient, so we still have this set of the population, right, that needs more than this, but less than this, if you will. And so that's where intensive outpatient therapy has come in. So it's three to five days a week, three-hour sessions each visit. Um so it's more intense. It's also helping them identify their triggers. We're doing better coping skills going forward. These are our negative coping skills. Now we've got our positive coping skills. Um, and just helping them rebuild their identity of being sober.

SPEAKER_03 27:37

Don't you think the identity issue is is a major crucial issue?

SPEAKER_05 27:40

Oh, it's a it's a huge one. It's a huge one.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

You know, the scripture says it's reminded me that he's not giving us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. And the Greek there for sound is complete.

SPEAKER_06 27:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

Right? So when you talk about um the this IOP, intensive outpatient therapy therapy. So when we're talking about that, uh if someone signs up and and starts this journey, they're they're learning clinically what those triggers do to their mental state or what?

SPEAKER_05 28:20

Absolutely. Uh well it's first first we're learning accountability.

SPEAKER_03 28:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:25

Right? And then we're also identifying in that um our early warning signs. Right. And you can speak to this too, Morgan, because again, you've you went through it and you can help me with this piece of it. Um but it's uh it's helping you identify why are you behaving because addiction is a uh cycle of impulses, right?

SPEAKER_06 28:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:49

And um so we know that, so we're just trying to figure out how to uh we're we're trying to help you identify how you break the cycle.

SPEAKER_06 28:59

Right.

SPEAKER_05 28:59

So what is a trigger that makes you pick up that glass?

SPEAKER_06 29:04

Right.

SPEAKER_07 29:04

Because that's the the medicating yourself. There is another behavior, and so that's something a lot of people I think don't even realize, and I'm sorry, but an AA meeting is not going to help you either.

SPEAKER_03 29:18

It makes you confess your identity is what you're doing.

SPEAKER_07 29:20

You are an alcoholic and you are powerless to it. Yes. Um it helps you identify like there were times in my life I'd wake up the next morning and be like, How did that, how did I get there? What in the name of the Lord transpired? Because there's a behavior before you ever reach for the drink, there's an early warning sign, there's a behavior, there is a thought process that it can be a conversation you had with someone, it's because of how you went about the conversation that made them react versus respond, and it sticks you on this vicious cycle. So there's a way bigger behavior than just what you're picking up to medicate yourself. That's usually the end of it. Like in the clinical setting, they talk about relapse. You go through three phases of relapse before you ever pick up the substance, and it can go on for two and three years. Okay. There's emotional, mental, and then the physical. Okay. You can be stuck in the emotional state for two, three years where your thoughts, it's how you're thinking, okay, and you're not addressing what's going on, okay, which then affects your mental and you start romanticizing.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

So I was gonna ask you, I had one of the questions I'd written down was at what point does addiction begin to rewrite a person's sense of self-worth? And so what you're saying is it's long, the addiction is almost like the proof text of what happened long before. So we're taking people in IOP through optimal family care. We're able to take them back, not not to just medicate and to satiate the addiction, we're taking them back to discern the impulse. Is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_07 31:04

The root.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Okay, so talk about that some more.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

I guess what is the trigger? So, like, I've I've tried to explain people I had to avoid certain songs or different locations because those are triggers to me. Right. And they're like, what do you mean trigger? External triggers. Exactly. Like I gotta, if I get that, it's uh if I listen to the music, it puts me in the old mindset, or reminiscing of what was, and it's like, well, I want to go back and do that because you start romantic. And so what how do you explain what a trigger is to someone who doesn't even know who's still like trying to figure out?

SPEAKER_05 31:32

Well, you know, a trigger is a stimulus. So anything that causes me action, right? And so is that action going to be positive or negative? So a trigger for me, and when we're speaking in addiction, I'm I'm looking for what caused me to pick this up. So if this is a glass of alcohol, what what's causing me to pick this up right here? Um it can be he looked at me wrong. It can be Oh my god, I hope not.

SPEAKER_03 32:01

That could happen.

SPEAKER_05 32:04

It it it's different, it's uh it's more subjective. It can be anything. Right? It can be anything that causes you, yeah, it can be smells, it can take you back to a place of what was a trauma in your life, right? Uh and I want to escape. So let me that was my trigger. I saw something on TV that reminded me of this time in my life where and I don't and I don't want to remember those emotions. I don't want to go through that right now. So let me let me just take my little vacation.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

Yeah, escape in Egypt.

SPEAKER_05 32:36

You know, and then before you know it, you're dependent on this because let's talk about that piece of it. A lot of people don't understand the implications of just having that one drink. Yeah. To relax. Well, eventually, because life is going to life, it does not stop.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 32:56

And it can be quite hard sometimes, right? And so um if you don't have uh positive coping skills in your life and you're choosing to drink to relax, eventually life keeps doing its life thing, things get harder, so I'm having to relax a lot more. And I'm building up a tolerance while I'm relaxing, right? But then before I know it, I start getting shaky before I'm even getting off work. What's up with that? I need to get home to relax. I need to get home to have my drink, and then before you know it, you're dependent on dependent.

SPEAKER_07 33:30

Because your brain rewires. Exactly. The in the entire time you're in active addiction, your brain is rewiring itself. So you don't even know how to properly deal with anything. So that's part of when you begin to abstain and you begin IOP, you are rewiring your brain. It is.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

I like that. I like that. You're learning to think correctly, right?

SPEAKER_07 33:54

It's cognitive behavioral therapy.

SPEAKER_03 33:57

Cognitive behavioral therapy.

SPEAKER_07 33:58

Learning how to think correctly.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

And so let's touch on them on for just a moment, and I'd I'd love to hear everybody's feedback about this. Is you know, some people so are so naive as to believe that all of these issues are just in the world and and people in the church don't have any relationship with struggle. And you went to you went to something, uh, and I think I felt your heart uh earlier when you mentioned dealing with certain griefs that are ongoing. And I have to uh because I think I know what you're talking about, I have to express from my world view uh that I don't know how people could deal with what I've dealt with and what you're dealing with without God.

SPEAKER_07 34:42

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 34:43

Because it will absolutely drive you to a place of instability and wrong thinking. Um so grief, it doesn't even have to be a seduction of a bad thing. No, it could be what Miss Conn's talking about, and that is life doing life.

SPEAKER_07 35:02

Right, because life continues circumstances out of your control. Life continues, and that's part of the thing I loved about IOB because my life did continue to life as I did it, so I learned in real time how to walk through.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

And it made such an impact on your life. You came to me and talked to me a minute, but I don't think most people know this. It impacted you so greatly you became passionate about it. And what tell us what you did.

SPEAKER_07 35:29

Um, I went and attended some trainings and became a certified um acts counselor, so that's for alcohol, chemicals, treatment services. It's a life in focus curriculum, so it is faith-based.

SPEAKER_06 35:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 35:43

Because I personally have a passion for people need another option other than AA.

SPEAKER_03 35:50

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 35:51

They need a faith-based option to know you are not your worst decision, you are not your worst mistake. Say that. And there is life afterwards, and you don't have to continue day after day to confess that you are something to be able to abstain from it. Say that.

unknown 36:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

I hear I hear you guys speaking, and there's all these scriptures that keep coming to mind that remind me, like how God's been, or Jesus specifically, was telling us all along, you know, deliver us from temptation, more so than sin. Yeah. Right. So if you don't get to the place of temptation, oftentimes you don't get to the place of sin. Uh we demolish every thought, right? We take captive every thought. So we're not letting those thoughts continually drive us to a place where we do things that are gonna harm us or what have you. Renew your mind daily.

SPEAKER_06 36:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

So all of these scriptures go right along with what this program, what you guys are talking about. But I think sometimes, especially if you've grown up in church, you've heard those words.

SPEAKER_07 36:51

Well, you're very familiar with the scripture, but how do you actually put it into practice? You don't want to be able to do it. It sounds complicated. Like, oh, that sounds great in theory. And I think that's what I found in this journey. I finally figured out, like, I'll stop and I'll read the Bible and be like, oh.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

That's what that meant.

SPEAKER_07 37:07

Oh, like when God told uh was it Job, have a snack and a nap. Oh, it was self-care. Like that's not a bad term. God was saying it all along. Right. He was telling me what to do. Right. So it's learning how to take those scriptures and put them in a practical practice in your life.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

It's practicum.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

That's good. Yeah. So so I mean, really, what I mean, what you're doing is is a form of discipleship. You're taking people, right, who are struggling, who are going through challenges. That's it. And you are walking them, walking with them through a process of healing and restoration, right? That's it. Um, and I mean I think that's awesome. And I mean, for you to go through the process, that is, I think that's exactly what healing should do, right? That's what happen what a testimony is, is that when there's been a change, something in you should want to give it away.

SPEAKER_07 37:54

Give it back. It's like an emmaus experience. For those of us who are familiar with emails, it truly was even though it was a more clinical setting when I when I got done, it was like, how can I give back? How can I share this with others? Well, this is what makes or they break.

SPEAKER_03 38:09

This is what makes our our clinic very unique. AA and all of these other programs have recidivism rates. We have none.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

What's recidivism? Relapse.

SPEAKER_03 38:22

Relapse. There we go. Fall back. So contact clues. So my point is it it we literally see transformation taking place.

SPEAKER_06 38:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:34

Stronger faith, more dependent upon God, recognizing how the scripture comes alive in practical daily living. You get all of this. And you get the liberty and the sense of freedom from realizing you're not doing what you're doing because you're a bad person. Come on. You're doing what you're doing because there's a failure or a break in the process. And if you heal the process, you get a new life. Come on.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

On Sundays I pray over the seats, and I'm like, God, bring a testimony in these seats. Every seat here is a testimony.

SPEAKER_03 39:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

It's like people forget that they are a testimony when they come in, so they don't they don't break down their walls and open up, say, hey, I'm struggling.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 39:17

There's like they're ashamed. I was one of them, ashamed to tell people what I've gone through, what I'm going through.

SPEAKER_07 39:22

Speak on change. That is the biggest of the biggest factor for people in active addiction. And when they get out, like people who go to AA, there's a reason it's anonymous because there's this change attached to it. But that's the same thing.

SPEAKER_05 39:35

That's what you're working against. That's negative working against this program. Yes, yes. So and and Morgan Morgan can attest to this. You know, one of the biggest things uh in our program is we do try to implement as much uh faith-based criteria, if you will. Sure. And so one of the things I would share with them, uh, because a lot of people that go through these types of programs, they struggle with self-abandonment, self-worth. Okay. And so uh one of the biggest things I would tell them is if you ever wonder about your worth, go to the Bible. Right. God tells us over and over again how how much we are worth to him alone, right? And he's the God, not a God. He's the God. And so if he thinks, and you're you were intentionally made, no matter what anyone's ever told you in life, right? So if he thought enough of you to do, and coming from this past weekend, you know, all that he's done for us. Yes. Um, if you ever wonder what your worth is, go there and start there and start talking to yourself in the mirror every single morning. Be the first person speaking kindly to yourself. Set the tone for your day and talk to yourself like you do a friend.

SPEAKER_06 40:47

Amen.

SPEAKER_05 40:48

Right. And speak every bit of that scripture that you just read into yourself until you believe.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

Oh, that's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_05 40:55

That's how you overcome. That's good. That's how you learn to love yourself correctly.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

That's good.

SPEAKER_05 41:01

And everything else starts falling into place from there.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

Amen. So if you're dealing, if you so if you're talking to someone right now, right? So we're talking about shame, we're talking about struggle, we're talking about identity crisis for the most part.

SPEAKER_04 41:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

So someone watching right now, right, or maybe they catch a clip of a clip of this or something on Instagram, what would be the thing that you would encourage people to, how do they go about getting help, right? So in other words, you mentioned earlier that if someone had pressed a little harder, right? What about the person that because the tendency oftentimes is to isolate yourself, right? The tendency is to draw back, you know? And we live in a culture nowadays where it's like everybody's so sensitive to not offend people that people will say, Hey, how are you doing? Or they might check on you once or twice, and you're like, You're fine, and so they don't keep pressing because they don't want to hurt you, right? Or they don't want to overstep their bounds or what have you. So what do you tell the person who they know they're struggling?

SPEAKER_04 42:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Right? They have shame.

SPEAKER_04 42:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

How what's the encouragement? What's the what do you tell them to say, ask for help?

SPEAKER_03 42:08

Or this is good for this is good for families too. Yeah. How do we help people that that are struggling?

SPEAKER_07 42:14

Something I learned um that really was a big eye-opener um was like a questionnaire, uh, was the way the session was set up, but it was a questionnaire of like, if someone asked you for help at work, what would you do? And it was like, well, of course I would help them. If someone told you they were struggling with substances, what would you do? Well, I would want to help. And then the last thing was, if if that's the case, then why do you feel like you would be shamed by someone when you ask them for help?

SPEAKER_01 42:43

Sure.

SPEAKER_07 42:43

That's right. Right. That's so good. So you before asking for help, just take a look inward and know you're not going to be judged. The people around you love you and they want to help. Right. And I think that's what holds people back sometimes too. They're scared. There's fear there. But think of how you would treat someone asking you for help. That's how you're going to be received.

SPEAKER_03 43:03

And I want to I want to jump on that just for a moment, because I you know, I have the important responsibility of being your father first. Uh, but how have you been taught to deal with how do you defy and destroy the giant called shame?

SPEAKER_07 43:21

It starts with yourself and how you speak with yourself.

SPEAKER_03 43:25

And being open and transparent.

SPEAKER_07 43:29

And I'll tell you it's a good thing. Transparency kills freeing things. Like the day you asked me, I mean, it was after I started the process, like what was your drink of choice? And I was able to say, it was this. There's something freeing and being able to honest and not have to hide anymore. Because then the devil has nothing on you. There you go. He can't hold you hostage. There you go. You're free, and you can look at some and say, Yes, I did do that.

SPEAKER_03 43:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 43:53

But this is me now.

SPEAKER_03 43:55

Shame can only work in the shadows.

SPEAKER_07 43:57

I cannot control the past, yes. But this This is me now. That's right. And you look the devil in the face and you tell him that. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 44:04

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 44:05

You can't take me hostage anymore.

SPEAKER_03 44:07

That's right. And so what one of the things that you've done is when you made these when you made this critical mistake you you got up and confessed it. Right? And you took you took the brunt of that and said, I defy shame with truth. Right?

SPEAKER_06 44:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 44:28

And so what I'm getting at is what was what was the people's response when you did that?

SPEAKER_07 44:33

Everyone loved on me. Not one person shamed me or spoke ill of me. They gathered around me. See, that's what people need to hear.

SPEAKER_03 44:43

That's what people need to hear though. It's because when they're hiding in shame, they think everyone is going to stone them at the shun them and and do away with them.

SPEAKER_07 44:53

Right.

SPEAKER_03 44:53

But but the kingdom. Yeah. But that's right. But the kingdom of God is designed to circle around those people and lift them.

SPEAKER_07 45:02

Lift them up and protect them and get help them walk through it.

SPEAKER_03 45:06

And that's what we're doing with optimal family care. Our behavioral health is designed to do that specifically, to see the whole person healed and made whole.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

Well, I think that's the you had mentioned this, I think, last week. We were talking about uh like church and the body, right? And how you cannot truly be a Christian, right? You can't, I don't think you can survive without being a part of the body, right? Without being a part of the church.

SPEAKER_03 45:32

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

Because the Bible says that that kind of love is what covers a multitude of sins. That's right, right? And so as we're doing this through each different arm, right? So this is all part of the body. Optimal family health is a part of the body of the church, right? Right. BC Fitness is a part of the body, right? So all of these elements serving different portions, right? Sunday morning, connect groups, whatever they are, serving, like pastor said earlier, body, soul, and spirit, right? So we're hitting all those elements that makes us who we are. That's right. And so if we pull ourselves out or we don't find that engagement in those different elements, I feel like that it opens up the door to be so easily attacked, right? It's so easily uh made to feel ashamed, right? Right, to question your identity. Whereas when you are surrounded by a group that so completely loves you, and you're walking and you're operating in the fivefold ministry, and you're doing you're being a disciple, that discernment comes into play, that accountability comes into play, and so we're able to lift one another up, we're able to correct one another, we're able to forgive one another, encompass one, circle one another, and so that I mean that is a healthy body. Yeah, that's what God has called us, God has called us to be. And so um, you know, for anyone that thinks that you're as a human being, we're supposed to be perfect or required to be perfect, right? Yes, we are called to righteousness, right, to flee sin, but we are all shaping in an equity, right? We're all like, we're all trying to figure it out, we're all working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

SPEAKER_07 47:15

Because practice makes progress, not perfect.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

Not perfection, exactly, right? And so I think that it's awesome that as we're walking through this, people understand that when you mess up, it's not the end, right? Failure is never final unless you just give up. That's right. Unless you run, unless you isolate and get to yourself and you right and you just resign that this is who I am. Yeah, Jesus has called us to so much more than that. Yeah, and so when when we're operating in our gifts, right? So I mean, for for optimal family to start, there was obviously something you saw, right? You saw a gap.

SPEAKER_05 47:46

Absolutely. Right?

SPEAKER_01 47:47

What was that gap you mainly saw?

SPEAKER_05 47:49

So on I'm family practice, right? And in my family practice, I had patients that were presenting for um a multitude of symptoms, and we'll do lab work and everything's completely normal. Well then let's talk about your mental health. So there's tools that we use to kind of assess mental health, right? And so I've started using this on every one of my patients at this point just because there is um such a lack of education uh on mental health, depression, anxiety, and that type of stuff. And then also any any um, you know, educated clinician, we're also doing an adequate social history, and in our social history, we're identifying do you drink alcohol? Do you use any other substances, including marijuana? Um, and in that, paired with the mental health tools, it's just like, hey, listen, I think we have a problem here. So it opens a door for me as a clinician to have a very real conversation.

SPEAKER_04 48:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:51

Do you realize that you're a functional addict?

SPEAKER_04 48:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:53

You're going home and you're having three to five drinks every single day. That's not normal. That's not healthy. Um so tell me where you're at in this. And sometimes it's just a pro they need to process exactly what they just heard because they're not aware, and it's up to me to educate them on where they're at. Um, and then in that we offer resources. And that is what this program really is designed for for these people who are functional. They still have families, they still have jobs they have to go to, uh, they still have responsibilities they have to attend to, but they need more than just a one-hour therapy session a week or an AA meeting. They need more of someone really working with them because they're ready. They're ready to take that step of uh of taking their life back, you know, and to be in control of things again.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

Well, I think it's uh it's so crazy because uh when I'm hearing you speak, it reminds me so much of what like what I what we do on a daily basis. Sure. It's basically we we ask questions, right? We get data, right? And we start to when we get that data, we start to see trends.

SPEAKER_04 49:59

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 49:59

And those trends usually point to something you've seen over and over and over again, which I think is a form of discernment. But then you start educating people. Absolutely. Right. And so, like going back to what Pastor had said about the whole cerebral sort cerebral thing, cerebral I can't even get the word out, cerebral, there we go. Cerebral uh aspect of it is that you teach the brain your training and you are learning stuff. I think the Bible even says something to the fact that if you don't know, how do you know it's sin? If you don't understand that it's sin, then what do you do? Like how do you how do you go about this? And so the there's a level of accountability, right, for that. And so as you are teaching these people, as you're training them, I think it does open their eyes. I I can see I can see it when I when I can teach someone and I they when it clicks and their eyes literally open, right? It also changes how they go about setting up boundaries.

SPEAKER_05 50:52

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 50:52

The people they put they allow in their lives, right? Because then it's like, okay, well, I see that I'm struggling with this, or I see that I'm challenged with this, I see these people aren't so much, and so now you've got this um almost like an army walking with you to help you rather than the other group who is trying for whatever reason they're trying to bring you to their level. Yeah, that's right. Right? They're trying to keep you where they're at in their struggle and their shame, right?

SPEAKER_06 51:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:17

Well, the other group doesn't believe in deliverance. They don't they don't believe in ultimate healing, right? So they they think you have a condition and you have to live with it. And this this comes back to the the rudimentary level of of what makes us uh uniquely qualified to see people completely healed is because we don't call it a medical condition, we call it a symptom of sin. Yeah. And for sin there is healing. Right? For uh some other conditions in life there's hopelessness. Right. So I think that's very, very important that while our culture uh uh associates many, many things through a medical lens, and yes, they do become medical conditions, but the root cause is our fallen nature. Right. And if we address that, then we have an opportunity to see the whole man healed, body, soul, and spirit. But it requires truth, it requires honesty, and it requires a willing to to uh a willingness to be disciplined or discipled out of that. You know what I mean? So this has been a a fantastic conversation. You you had something, we're gonna I know we're running out of time, but you had something that you started talking to people about our optimal family care uh behavioral health, and you had a guy join and tell us about tell us about that testimony.

SPEAKER_02 52:47

He joined uh night and day, a night and day person from conversations with him, night and day, where I was annoyed talking to him because he was giving me advice. But then he had a family member who didn't even have an an addiction problem who wanted to join.

SPEAKER_06 53:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 53:00

Because he saw a difference in that person. He was like, I want to go part of it like sign me up. I was like, I don't know if I could just do that, buddy.

SPEAKER_03 53:06

But uh yeah, he was so he was so he was so impressed by his by the change of his mind and the change of his spirit.

SPEAKER_07 53:14

Right.

SPEAKER_03 53:14

That is a tremendous testimony.

SPEAKER_07 53:16

Well, and to speak to that, that's what I've become passionate about. Getting to the people who say, Hey, I want to do that, before they necessarily you don't necessarily need to develop the problem. If there's things you want to learn.

SPEAKER_03 53:27

So would this young man be a good good person to connect with you?

SPEAKER_07 53:30

Right.

SPEAKER_03 53:30

He's still asking. Yeah. He literally just has really didn't.

SPEAKER_07 53:33

Teach people those skills before they develop a problem or have a massive breaking point. That's what I'm passionate about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:39

Well, and and let me let me say this is I had a situation here uh in our community where there was a person that was struggling with with a lot of shame, and I could see that they were about to break down and in the next few days they would have a cataclysmic fault line develop in their life. And I tied them immediately to Morgan, and I said, You have to speak to Morgan. And so you met with them, you talked to them, and instantly they've they lifted with hope. And she's been just kind of holding her accountable, being an accountability partner, talking with her, checking in with her, and that that changed their life.

SPEAKER_07 54:21

Before there was a before there was a breaking point. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:26

Wow. Isn't that powerful? That's fantastic. Every leader that is under the sound of our voice and hears this podcast should inquire with us how to start a an opportunity and relationship with our clinic to get this in your church, to get this in your city.

SPEAKER_02 54:45

Yeah, because there's most likely at least a dozen people in your church with shame who don't want to express what they're going through. But I'm gonna just keep going to church and come back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:55

Well, they keep going to church until they can't anymore. Yeah. Because they break down under the weight of it.

SPEAKER_01 55:01

Well, uh, you know, just looking after this weekend, you know, you'd brought it up. You know, this is for churches, this was one of the this is the biggest weekend, or this was the biggest weekend of the year. You know, I've seen so many uh videos of services, people swinging from freaking the raptors and water on the stage, and people, I think they had rappers, you know, the devil was rapping and stuff or whatever. So they're spending untold amount of money on entertainment, right? On stuff for people that come for one day. Right. Whereas what we should be doing is we should be investing in real help for people, real discipleship, real biblical discipleship that will change people's lives, not just tickle their fancy on one Sunday out of the year. Right. That's right. You know what I mean? That's right. And so as as we're building this, as we're going through this, um, I don't think there's any any greater call. You guys keep saying change in your mind, uh, and that's exactly where it starts. Yes. Right. That is the the when when when we repent, we are literally changing our mind. Right. We are our we are handing our will over to God. And so we are making a a physical, mental shift and change to go a different direction. Um, so it's all biblical. Everything that we talk about, everything that um that is that makes real change in your life. Right, right, comes from the Bible. Yep. It's backed up, I believe, by science. Yes, yes, over, medical science over and over again. That's right. And if you just start paying attention to it, right? Or if you can find, you know, the way you put it, I think, to an extent was you saw it in a different manner because it was presented to you in a different way. Right. And so I think that's why it takes different ministers, not just him.

SPEAKER_06 56:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 56:50

It takes different people in the body speaking, learning, studying shows. It's part of the five-fold ministry. That's exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_03 56:57

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

These are teachers. They are. They are. So I think it's beautiful. I think it's amazing. I love, I love that, um, and I think the thing that I love more than anything else, Morgan, is that you are so affected by it that you're turning around. And I think that's another level of accountability and learning for you, is because as you go walk through this with other people, it's going to help you even more. Exactly. Right. So there's a kind of a selfish part to it to an extent, but it's still a blessing.

SPEAKER_07 57:24

It holds it holds you in place where you need to be. Right. And keeps you from slipping because it reminds you. It's like the Emmaus experience. You have to keep coming back and serving. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 57:36

That's right. You remember where God delivered you from not remember that's right how good it was.

SPEAKER_07 57:41

Yes. I heard a thing the other day um in a class that I'm taking about um you just have to make it one day at a time. Just take your sobriety, you know, one day at a time. And I was sitting there thinking to myself, I no longer do that. I look back. All I have to do is look back at how far I've come, and that's enough for me to keep pressing on. I don't think about it as one day at a time anymore. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:08

Well, it's because you have eternal hope.

SPEAKER_07 58:10

Right. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_03 58:11

Yeah. And so we're going to do two things here. We've got it, we've got to get this done. I want everybody to, under the sound of our voice, we need to put up Morgan Substack uh page and connection. We need to also put up, we're going to put up for you uh optimal family care, how to reach them, if you have any inquiries, if you'd like to talk to anybody.

SPEAKER_07 58:31

And you they can reach out to me as well for more information on that, and I have that linked on my Substacks page for optimal family care behavioral health.

SPEAKER_03 58:39

Good, good, good. And so uh we have personal fitness and training. So we we really do want to address the issues of the whole person before they become ill and need a clinician. They can change their diets, they can do some things and understand their metabolism and understand the challenges they have as a person, right? Uh and and we're we're without excuse.

SPEAKER_02 59:08

Yeah, we're not selling hope, we're giving out transformation. Amen.

SPEAKER_07 59:11

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 59:12

Oh man, well, I'll give you a testimony. I'll give you a testimony. There's a young lady that I uh that I coach who lives in Wisconsin, and she watches the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 59:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:20

And she listens to your sermons. Hey. And so, you know, we you know, I serve people all over the country. Wisconsin, Florida, New Jersey. Um I actually have a lady in Toronto right now. Um, so there's there's always a way to connect, right? We live so during the pandemic, we learned that being disconnected is not healthy. Right. That's right. But in that disconnection, we found ways to connect across the world. That's right. Through Zoom, right? Through, you know, Google or whatever. Um, and so we have the opportunity or we have the availability now that even if you're not in this city, right? You can telemedicine. You can still be served, right? You've got the telemedicine. I can do online stuff, I know you could do online stuff. So, you know, that's that is the wonder of technology now, is that we can use it either as a vice and something to hold us back or to make us feel isolated, or we can use it as a tool to serve people and to stay connected as much as we possibly can.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:24

Amen. Amen. That sounds good to me, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:28

That was good.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:29

That was a good um, I guess, podcast, a good talk for me, a good conversation.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:35

Um I guess wrapping things up, what do we got? So what is these two scholarships we're giving out?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:43

So it's for uh two individuals who meet criteria, and for you to meet criteria, uh it's basically an assessment that goes uh on by one of our team members. So you'll just need to if you feel like you're a person that struggles with any type of substance abuse, it does not matter what it is. Um we will evaluate you and we'll let you know basically if you meet criteria for our program. But you've got to be willing to commit to three days, at least three days a week, three hours each day for 12 weeks. Okay, for that. Uh but if you don't meet criteria, we will get you the resources. We're not just gonna say, Oh, you don't meet criteria for our program. We're gonna give you resources if you need a little less or if you need a lot more, uh, as far as inpatient services versus just mental health services. Um But this program is designed for people right now who just suffer with substance abuse. Okay. The mental health part always goes with that, so I don't even say that piece of it anymore. You have something going on with your mental health if you have a substance abuse issue, right? An addiction issue. So that is who we're looking for right now. We have two people, so if you are a family member, they have to be willing to say, I have an issue and I want help. Those are the people that we're looking for at this point.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:08

And I might add too that it's been our experience so far is that when employers find out about people seeking help, they're very flexible and in allowing their employees to work for that.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:23

We can also help you fill out FMLA paperwork. If you need to take some time off, we also have the resources to help you get those because that sometimes in itself That's right. Uh you start reading all of this paperwork and it's just like I don't even know if this is worth it. We can help you with that piece of it. Because we understand ma even making one decision right now is so much weight. We can help you with that piece of it as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:47

Yeah. Well, it's been great. This has been fantastic. Thank you, Vanessa and uh Morgan, for coming and being our guest on Courageous Faith.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:58

Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:59

I think this takes and opens up uh the papuri of uh uh realizing that the complexion of God's kingdom is not just ethrial and spiritual and theological and uh metaphysical and uh inanimate, that it has flesh and blood, tendon and bone, and we walk out the kingdom with hands and feet. And so these are the the practical areas of ministry that we're seeing and we're a part of, and that what that's what makes Church of Champions exclusively different from most any church in the world, because we have our own clinicians, our own fitness programs, our own we don't even we even have a food park truck park. If you if you're not nourished enough, we can fatten you up and then go to the page.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:49

And then send you to BC Fitness.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:53

We we have the whole continuum. But uh and then, of course, heritage preparatory school. So we love you, we thank God for all of you, and I'm excited about being a part of the Courageous Faith Podcast. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this day and we thank you for this conversation you've allowed us to have, and we ask you to transport it into the hearts and the lives of those people that are seeking help and do not know how to start the conversation. Allow them, God, to feel the wing of your spirit pick them up and elevate them and lift them into a place of hope. We believe you will use optimal family care to be an inspiration to them to seek the help they need and to enjoy the deliverance you have. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.