August 13, 2025 • 32 mins
Creating healthy lifestyles and healing relationships and learning a new way to live are great goals for anyone in recovery from substance use disorders. It is also the mission of Imagine Recovery and Imagine House in New Orleans, Louisiana. Felicia Montiforte talks about those goals and her work with the recovering community. Felicia is a Co-Founder and CEO of Imagine Recovery and a Co-Founder of Imagine House. She is a graduate of Tulane University. She is also a former board member of ARHE (Association of Recovery in Higher Education)(https://collegiaterecovery.org/) and works closely with and supports Tulane University’s Collegiate Recovery Program (https://campushealth.tulane.edu/departments/recovery-community) Felicia is also, importantly, a grateful person in long-term recovery. Imagine House can be reached at Imagine House (https://www.imaginehousenola.com/) and Imagine Recovery at imaginerecovery.com (https://www.imaginerecovery.com/). Felicia can be reached at felicia@imaginerecovery.com and at 225-937-1132. The State of Wisconsin's Dose of Reality campaign is at Dose of Reality: Opioids in Wisconsin (https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/opioids/index.htm).
The views and opinions of the guests on this podcast are theirs and theirs alone and do not necessarily represent those of the host or Westwords Consulting.
We're always interested in hearing from individuals or organizations who are working in substance use disorder treatment or prevention, mental health care and other spaces that lift up communities. This includes people living those experiences. If you or someone you know has a story to share or an interesting approach to care, contact us today!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:12):
Welcome everybody.
This is Avoiding the Addiction Affliction,brought to you by Westwords Consulting,
the Kenosha County Substance Use DisorderCoalition, and by a generous grant from
the state of Wisconsin's dose of Reality.
Real talks reminding you that opioids arepowerful drugs and that one pill can kill.
I'm Mike McGowan.
The Imagine Recovery and ImagineHouse in New Orleans Louisiana's
(00:35):
mission is to support and guide thosein recovery as they create healthy
lifestyles, heal relationships,and learn a new way to live.
Isn't that a great descriptionfor the goals of recovery?
We're gonna talk about how ImagineHouse and Imagine Recovery goes
about meeting those goals with ourguest today, Felicia Montiforte.
Felicia's co-founder and CEO of ImagineRecovery and co-founder of Imagine House.
(01:00):
She's a graduate of TulaneUniversity, parent of a 2025 Tulane
Law graduate and an LSU graduate.
She's got Louisiana covered.
She also is a former board memberof the Association of Recovery and
Higher Education, and works closelywith and supports Tulane University's
collegiate recovery program.
Felicia is also, as we'll talkabout in a while, a grateful
(01:23):
person in long-term recovery.
Welcome, Felicia.
Hi, Mike.
Thanks for having me.
I'm so glad to be here.
Well, we'll get to your story in asecond, but first, tell us about Imagine.
I love the name, ImagineRecovery and Imagine House.
Well, thank you.
We love the name as well.
W hen I got sober and others, Icouldn't imagine what my life could
(01:46):
be like or imagine what it'd be liketo have freedom from this affliction.
So we do love the name and we have a hugepainting of John Lennon in the lobby.
Oh!
Just so you know.
(laughs)
So Imagine Recovery we opened, I wannarecognize a couple people in particular.
My co-founder Christopher O'Shea,he and I started Imagine Together
(02:07):
and still run Imagine Together, andour clinical director, soon to be
executive director August Boyd, whohas been with us since the beginning
has the three of us together, alongwith other wonderful staff have created
this incredible place for healing.
So Imagine Recovery opened in Januaryof 2018, and as we will talk about
(02:29):
collegiate recovery just very briefly,the story is we were at a friend's
house in New Orleans for a fundraiser.
We learned that Tulane Universitylost seven students in one
semester to overdose and suicide.
The suicide's also tiedto drug and alcohol use.
And there wasn't a place inNew Orleans to send them.
(02:50):
And so Christopher and I weredriving home from this event and
said, well, we need to do it.
We need to open a place near campus.
We were living in Baton Rouge at the time.
Would moved to New Orleans.
Do that.
To help these students.
And so that's the inspiration as anTulane alum and having kids that were
college age, soon to be college age.
(03:11):
Anyway, I just wanted to say that.
But we do of course servethe whole community.
And we believe here atImagine in several things.
We are heavy clinical, so we believe thattreatment should be a clinical experience,
meaning we have all master's leveltherapists, people with experience that
you're here to learn so many things, notthe things necessarily you learn in the 12
(03:34):
step programs or other recovery programs.
So having the science, having the talkingabout nutrition and sleep, and we're
very, another thing too, I wanna, it'svery, very important when you treat
substance use, alcohol use addiction.
We call it substance misuse, to alwaystreat mental health co-occurring.
(03:55):
So we're very focused on mentalhealth dialectical behavioral
therapy skills, other skills,mind body medicine, psychodrama,
other, you know, group offerings.
Because it's alwaysabout the mental health.
And so that's super important.
That was our mission.
That's what we've continued to do.
Our feeling is we're either gonnado it the very best we can or
(04:16):
we're not gonna do it at all.
So that's Imagine Recovery.
We're so happy to be here andserve this beautiful community.
And then Imagine House was founded,that's our sober living homes,
structured sober living homes.
The men's house opened four years agoand the women's house three years ago.
And those have been incrediblesupport systems for our clients here.
(04:37):
And they're also open toother people in the community.
You don't have to be in treatment atImagine, I say here because I'm sitting
in my office at Imagine (laughs).
So yeah, that's what we have.
Well, if we believe that it's adisease, you gotta treat it like one.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And you know, Mike, one thing I wannasay as well is that we very purposefully
made this an outpatient program.
(04:58):
So we have various levels of care.
We have five days aweek, three days a week.
We have substance use mental healthprograms, and we have solely mental health
programs for people in the community thatdon't struggle with any substance issues.
And, oh, I'm sorry.
I lost my train of thought there.
We did that because we believe thatgetting treatment while living in
your life is where it really matters.
(05:20):
Having experiences that are happening,whether it's relationships, stressors,
you know, successes, those challengesthat are happening in people's lives,
not just trying to let's say stay sober,but healing relationship, you know,
all this stuff going on, job, school.
To be able to come to treatment.
Something happens when you comeright here and talk about it in
(05:42):
group, talking with your individualtherapist or just our staff in general.
Another thing that I failed tomention, our mission is loving.
We are very loving group,understanding, supportive.
There's an energy here thatyou can feel when you walk in.
It doesn't look like aclinic or a hospital.
It's a lot of art and musical instruments.
(06:03):
It's a fun place to be.
So anyway.
Yes.
Well, on your website it says, ourfounders and staff know firsthand
the challenges of early recovery.
I think that's important.
You all have had experienceabout what it's like.
You said you were in long-term recovery.
How long?
Mm-hmm.
Last Wednesday I celebrated 17 years.
Wow.
(06:23):
My business partner, Christopherhas 20, so he'll be 27 in
November, and then several of ourstaff are in long-term recovery.
Congratulations.
Not everyone, that's fine too.
But you know what, ifyou're not... thank you.
If you're not personally in recoveryfrom substance use, trust me, everyone
has a family member, a close friend,they've or a parent, and they've walked
(06:45):
through that Al-Anon, ACA process.
So everyone has had exposureand lots of education.
Long ago I hired a woman towork in my program who had a
master's degree in family therapy.
She was excellent.
And after about a week she came to meand said, I don't think I belong here.
I grew up in a really healthy family andI don't have an addiction and anything.
(07:07):
And I started laughing.
I said, well, God forbid we shouldbring positive mental health
to the field and good choices.
(laughs)
And that's where I broughtyou in as a counterbalance.
Right.
It's important to have the experience, butit's also important to have the education.
Absolutely.
I completely agree.
Well, can I ask you a couple of questions?
What was your drug of choice andhow long did it take you to kick it?
(07:31):
Well my drug of choice was cocaine.
But I have to say I startedat 15 with marijuana.
I did drink alcohol, but I don'tknow that I ever drank alcoholically.
But I will say this tothose of you out there.
If I were to drink, italways led to other things.
So I choose to not drink,of course clean and sober.
And I went through aperiod of misusing opiates.
(07:54):
So it's not like I just did cocaine(laughs), but that was always the
drug that I couldn't put down in theone that eventually led to me losing
everything, including custody of mychildren, my marriage, everything.
And so finally at 43 years old, Iwent to Palm Desert, California.
(08:15):
I grew up in Los Angeles, and my dad tookme in who I just lost my dad last year.
I've always been very close to him.
So I lived in his little Casitaand went to a treatment center
there called the Hacienda Valdez.
Definitely a shout out forthe Hacienda on a county bed.
'Cause I know we're gonna talk aboutresources for people who are underfunded.
(08:36):
It was magical.
I was ready and it just gave meeverything that I needed and wanted
and was introduced to AlcoholicsAnonymous and other therapies.
And so yeah, that's what it took.
And, you know, I had an order in place,a custody agreement through the courts
that I needed to finish treatment.
(08:58):
Be sober at least a year, have a job.
Be a respectful human being until I hadthe opportunity to see my children again.
They were nine and seven when Ilost custody, and now when I saw
them again, they were 12 and 10.
So it was over three yearswith no communication.
And I feel like that was agift in some ways because it
(09:19):
wasn't like, maybe tomorrow.
Maybe tomorrow.
I just knew I had to walkthe walk, do the work.
And be the best person I can so thatwhen they're ready to see me, I am
prepared to come back into their lives.
And I'm happy to saythat we are super close.
My daughter is 26, my son's 28.
My daughter actually today is takingher second day of her bar exam,
(09:41):
so I'm wishing her luck from afar.
(laughs)
Oh, I can't even imaginethe stress of that.
Yes.
Day two out of three.
So it's this week.
It's exciting.
My mom was recovering and she was alwaysembarrassed, Felicia in some ways,
and she would always apologize to us.
And it took her a long time to realizehow proud we were of her courage and
(10:02):
strength to kick something so insidious.
And when she finally embracedit, it was heartwarming, but, so,
you know, all of that is in play.
Well it is, and I'm so glad you mentionedthat because this is a message that I
tell a lot of people who are in that placein early recovery or maybe even farther
along, where it's that shame and guiltof this is what I did, this is who I was.
(10:26):
And what I wanna say is my childrenhave directly told this to me that my
experience, them witnessing me overcome.
I mean, it was terrible.
It was, you know.
Not only lets them know that whenthey're going through something, if
there's depression or anxiety or whateverit might be, there is a solution and
(10:48):
I'm the person they come to talk to.
But I believe it gives our children andour families permission to not be perfect.
I mean, not everyone has a straight line.
Not everyone goes through lifewithout struggles, but what do you do?
How do you rise?
It's not about the fall,it's about the rise.
And so.
I love the fact that I have counseled my,when my daughter was at Tulane and I lived
(11:11):
two blocks away from there, her friendsabout their themselves, their parents,
their other friends that were struggling.
You're a beacon of hope and of experience.
And so yeah, I think it's a real gift tobe in this position to share the message
to help others, which is why I feel like.
My personal view is that I'mextremely transparent about my story.
(11:36):
You know, your mission.
You just touched on itwithout mentioning it.
Your mission at Imagine includesthe word accountability.
Yes.
Well, I, and that's true.
So I know that's one of the thingsthat we talk about in our sober
living on the Imagine House NOLAwebsite is in early recovery it's
so important to have structure.
I know for me, I had no structure,no accountability, and so having to
(12:01):
participate in the house to go to familydinner every Sunday to be accountable
to your housemates, to your apartmentmates to do the drug screening and
the breathalyzing to show up to group.
When someone isn't here by group time,we give them two to three minutes and
then my office manager or admissionsdirector, Kirsten Clark, is on the
(12:22):
phone saying, are you coming today?
There is no, just sort ofblow it off or whatever.
We do a lot of devices, breathalyzingdevices and if somebody misses a
test, we say, you missed your test.
We need you to test.
I mean, just that showing up part,and I believe that being accountable
to show up is what will propel youforward into that healing process.
(12:44):
Because left to my own devices, if Ijust go, ah, I'm gonna blow it off.
'Cause I'll do something eitherunconsciously or consciously that
would hurt myself from my growth.
But if someone's telling me, youhave to do it, okay, well then
I'll go and then I benefit fromthat, if that makes any sense.
Yeah, it does.
And you just mentioned the structure too.
(13:04):
Structure well talk aboutstructure in early recovery.
Well, I mean, I think it's huge.
Just, you know, suit up and showup whether it's to treatment,
whether it's to commitments.
I know for me, I was veryfortunate in my life.
I grew up privileged, let's say.
And when I met my children's father,I was 23 years old and I didn't work.
(13:28):
We got married and then I raisedchildren and, when I got sober.
And got out of treatment.
I was 60 days sober.
I got a job as a waitress in PalmSprings, and I will tell you that
job that I had for 19 months andI showed up on time every day.
Never called in sick, not if I wassick, I would've called in sick, but
(13:50):
I didn't make up a lie to not show up,taught me how to show up, how to be
accountable, how to be a good employee.
And just that process taught me howto be a real citizen, if you will.
And so similarly in early recovery,showing up, you know, having service
commitments at your meetings treatmentfor the other people in your life.
(14:14):
I just think that that accountabilityor if you say, yes, mom, I'll pick you
up and I'll take you to the airport.
Show it.
You gotta show up.
I mean that because the patterns,you know those neuro pathways,
you're creating new ways to live.
So every time you take the rightand not the left, you're making
that pathway of positivity.
(14:34):
And it goes so far into our self-esteemand into our, you know, mental health.
Like it boosts mental health todo what you say you're gonna do.
I tell people all the time, Iknow we talked about promises.
Follow through is a hugepromise that's come true for me.
I didn't have the ability tofollow through when using, but
(14:55):
I can now, you know, so anyway.
Well, I was, this is sort of related.
I was talking to my kids aboutthis in the last couple days.
There's a term that is usednowadays for people working
remotely common with the youngergeneration called wiggle the mouse.
Right?
So you're not really working.
You're on social media, you'redoing whatever, but every now
(15:17):
and then you wiggle a mouse, soit looks like you're working.
And it leads to my daughter saidin her experience that that leads
to a great deal of depression.
Feeling like you'renot worthy of anything.
And I think that get things done, nomatter how small, you put the small
things together and the next thing youknow, you have 17 years in recovery.
(15:38):
Well, I completely agree with that.
There's a... I love what your daughtersaid because I talk about the indicator.
I don't know, it's that gut feeling,that sort of intuition when you know
you're not doing something right.
When wiggling the mouse, you, who are yougetting one over on and really, you know,
internally you're doing the wrong thing.
(15:59):
Recovery has given that to me justbecause I can with a clear mind can see
what the right and wrong thing to do is.
And I am not perfect in it by anymeans, but my gut feeling will
tell me that's not the right thing.
You know it 'cause you can feel it so.
Yes.
So just encouraging people to, youknow, you don't have to live like that.
Part of being in recovery is being free.
(16:21):
Free from regret, free from offenses toother people, free from harming yourself.
There's just, ugh.
I mean, let me tell you what, forthose of you out there who have not
tried to get sober or not sure, justgive it a shot because I had no idea.
Again, back to the word, imagine,I had no idea how amazing
(16:44):
life in recovery could be.
I just had no way toconceive of that I thought.
Even though cocaine and otherthings are killing me and ruining my
life, how will I ever put it down?
And so it's definitely possible.
We get to see that everyday here, every day.
And in the community around us.
New Orleans has a huge recovery community,which I'm so grateful to be a part of.
(17:07):
You like me I live in Wisconsinand New Orleans is, boy, we're the
two epicenters in a lot of waysof use and misuse and addiction.
And I did have somebody say a whileback that we have a lot of using,
so we have a lot of recovery.
You think the same?
Oh, absolutely.
It's so funny, when we were openingImagine, people were saying to
(17:29):
Christopher and myself like, you'reopening a treatment center in New
Orleans, but people drink there.
I'm like, okay, I'm gonna pause andlet you think about what you just said.
(Laughs)
Yes, I mean, people decided to live,they decided to made a decision
to not ruin their lives and putthe drink down or the drugs down.
Oh no, it's.
It's an incredible city and you know,we get clients from other places that
(17:52):
live in our sober living and come toour programming and several of them
decide to move here because I feel,and I know Christopher and August
and the staff share this belief that,especially for the younger ones, let's
say, but not necessarily, I mean, beingin a city that's alive, the music,
the food, the creativity, the art.
(18:13):
I mean, there's just so much goingon here that being sober somewhere
that you can find new interests.
We have clients that come hereand decide to go to cooking
school or whatever it might be.
That and being in a communitythat's so thriving with people who
have had a lot of experience withheavy duty partying, I mean, people
say, oh, I grew up in New Orleans.
(18:34):
It's normal for 14 yearolds to drink here.
And I'm like, you know what?
It was normal for me at 15to smoke weed in Los Angeles
'cause everybody did that so.
But anyway, it's amazing.
Well, you said people movethere for the recovery programs.
Talk a little bit about the women'shouse because during COVID we saw,
since COVID, we saw a huge spikein women's issues, women's drinking
(18:59):
all across the United States.
Yes.
And using, and when women are interviewed,and I've had numerous ones on the podcast,
they all point to isolation as one of the.
Problems, causes, resultance of that.
I would imagine that breaking thatisolation is part of the goal of the
(19:20):
women's house and recovery in general.
100%. You know, we also saw what yousaw, the isolation, you know, they talk
about it's all about connection, right?
So what is, what's the opposite ofaddiction is connection and isolation.
And just going back to what I said aboutthe mental health, I believe that 98% of
(19:40):
people who experience substance misuse,alcoholism, addiction it starts with
self-medicating a mental health issue,whether it's way long ago or whether
it's anxiety, depression, whatever.
And so this is isolation, right?
Depression, low mental health.
So I'm self-medicating with alcohol.
And I wanna say during COVID,how many women and men, but
(20:03):
were in unhealthy households.
Yeah.
Weren't, you know, sometimes goingto work is the best time you'll spend
because you're not with a partner.
Not necessarily that's abusive,but there's a lot of contention.
I mean, it's a very stressful timeand so, you know, leaning on the
alcohol, we saw a lot of that as well.
So the women's house is magicalbecause we have from right now, a
(20:25):
23-year-old up to a 50-year-old.
I mean, but even, you know, the rangeof ages and watching these women bond
together have fun together, cook dinners.
They did an arts and crafts day.
I got a picture of them at the diningroom table with all the stuff everywhere.
We allow them to have their pets too.
So it's like women and petsand all kinds of stuff.
(20:47):
Oh, and I will say this, when we'retalking about accountability, we have
paid staff live-in house managersat our sober living homes, so.
People who are there employedto make sure that everything's
working and curfews are being metand all that accountability stuff.
But for the women, it's so important,and I will say this for a lot of women
(21:10):
before they got into recovery didn'thave a lot of female relationships,
you know or have a lot of trust inother females for whatever reason.
And so having a safe place to be.
Focusing on your recovery, focusingon that connection with other women,
having fun together, going to meetingstogether, doing you know, recovery
work together is so important.
(21:32):
I go there for family dinners.
I watch them laugh and have fun andsupport each other and cry and do all
kinds of things like they're just there.
It's amazing to watch andthey're so happy and they stay in
touch and yeah, all that stuff.
Well, learning how to have ahealthy relationship is not easy.
If you've lived in a toxicworld for a long time.
(21:53):
Absolutely.
You know, when I, I remember manyyears ago I was talking to a friend
in recovery and I was talkingabout this relationship I was in.
It was very early recovery, and, and hesaid to me, so you're sober and you're,
your person you're dating is sober.
Yes.
And you're wondering why youdon't have a healthy relationship?
And I'm like, yeah.
And he goes, have you everseen what one looks like?
Right.
(22:14):
My parents did not havea healthy relationship.
And I was like, huh.
I actually happen, so how amI supposed to know what to do?
Right.
Right.
So yeah.
Anyway, all of that, it's just, andthat's stuff we talk about here too, is
the levels of what people are learningand experiencing and connecting over,
you know, in when people are using anddrinking and there's so many people
(22:38):
that come here that think they're theonly ones, or I'm alone, or no one
will understand and the amount of timesthey're like somebody else shares.
Oh my gosh.
They completely understand.
They're so surprised at how manypeople have been through what
they've been through or thinkthe way they think or whatever.
So connection, connection, connection.
Well, okay, so speaking of connectionand then isolation that goes with it.
(22:59):
You also are, have been and are heavilyinvolved in the collegiate population.
Talk about I mean at a time wheredrinking seems to be the major, right?
I mean, that's part of thereason of going to college.
You have to look for connections ifyou're trying to get sober in college.
100%. So I'm a huge fan.
(23:21):
I'm a former board member,the Association of Recovery in
Higher Education, A. R. H. E..
Side note, they just had their nationalconference here in New Orleans and.
I am very proud to say Imagine Recoverywas chosen as the organization of the
year of all the places in the country.
So that was exciting.
But A. R. H. E. is basically the governingboard of all collegiate recovery programs.
(23:42):
So Collegiate Recoverystarted many years ago.
There were a handful, Rutgers, Brown,Texas Tech, Augsburg . And over time,
more and more and more have started whenI got into the treatment field in 2010.
I was very involved.
I visited many collegiaterecovery programs, Alabama,
Auburn, Georgia, U-C-L-A-U-S.
(24:02):
Anyway, a bunch of them.
So A. R. H. E. helps schoolsstart collegiate recovery well.
A few years before Tulane got theirs,Christopher and I, of course as a Tulane
alum, knowing a lot about collegiaterecovery, having been involved for, at
that time, 10, 12 years, helped Tulanestart their collegiate recovery program.
(24:23):
And we did a lot of fundraising and wentto the, you know, staff administration
at Tulane, why this is necessary.
Gratefully it came together and it's been,now, I think it's about three years old.
So the importance of this, why arecollegiate recovery programs important?
Because a student goes to schooland let's say I'm at a regular
(24:45):
school and I'm decided to get sober.
How do I find the other students thatare sober and living a life of recovery?
There's a tendency to like go tocampus and then go straight home
because inevitably you'll be offeredsomething or you, you know, whatever.
So it's a way to find your tribe.
Having programming there.
(25:06):
Cleans recovery program isbasically a safe space on
campus for students in recovery.
And it can be recovery from anything.
You can have an eating disorderrecovery, gambling recovery.
You don't have to be drugs and alcohol,mental health recovery of course.
And so, collegiate recovery programs.
And then you have a staff member, there'sa director of course, and just having that
(25:27):
place to gather and have pizza, and havemeetings and study and have fellowship.
And they go on.
The Tulane Recovery program goes ontrips like they did Santa Fe, they went
to Santa Fe skiing over Mardi Gras.
So they provide safe alternativesto a heavy partying period of time.
(laughs) Get out of town!
(25:48):
Right.
And so over these last years, it'scommon for me to talk to families and
parents that say, you know, my daughterwas gonna go to this school, but I
decided, I know she's not there yet.
She is drinking, not alcoholic yet, butfamily history, X, Y, Z. I need her to go
to a school that has a collegiate recoveryprogram in case something comes up.
(26:10):
There's immediately that supportthere that that community, I mean,
they all gravitate towards itand it's thriving and wonderful.
I can't say enough about A. R. H.E. and I'm so happy that Tulane
has a collegiate recovery program.
We work very closely with them andthey come to all of our events.
One thing that Imagine Recoveringand Imagine House does or do,
(26:34):
is we host events every holiday.
So there's 4th of July picnic or barbecue.
We do a zero proof JazzFest kickoff party.
So the night before jazz, the New OrleansJazz and Heritage Festival starts, we do
a huge party for a couple hundred people.
You know, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmasdinner, you know, down the line.
And the whole community is invited.
(26:55):
So anyone in recovery can come.
Their families andTulane's recovery program.
Often those students come to those things.
Because what we're showing, not justthe young ones, but everyone is.
How to have fun in recovery.
There's that fear.
I'm gonna stop drinking.
I can't smoke pot anymore.
I'll never have fun again.
It's more fun.
It's a, oh yeah, of course Mardi Gras,we do sober Mardi Gras stuff (laughs).
(27:18):
I would be remiss withoutsaying Mardi Gras.
And so they get to, you know, 'causewhat the goal is of course is not
what you're giving up, but you'regoing towards a life worth living.
A life that's more gratifying,more satisfying, happier, freer.
You know, a lot of people that are usingand drinking with mental health issues
(27:41):
like depression, these students are underso much pressure or people in general.
Right.
There's a lot of stress in the world.
Don't even realize that the drinkingis making them more depressed.
Mm-hmm.
Is more, you know, so when they take thepoison out or stop ingesting the poison,
like the mental freedom is the clarity.
Anyway.
It's wonderful.
Well, you guys are building.
(28:02):
There's a lot of communities,Felicia, that are losing.
Talk about funding a little bit.
And then also how you reach out tothose underserved populations for
whom, or this is a huge area of concernwho are losing, you know, Medicaid
funding and rural programs, et cetera.
You know, it's a tough one.
(28:23):
I know you said that to me in theemail and you know, I'm extremely
grateful to live in a city that we haveprograms for people with no funding.
As I mentioned, Grace Houseis the women's program, Bridge
House is the men's program.
And then the center that I wentto, the Hacienda Valdez, there's
a men's program called The Ranch.
Those are in Desert HotSprings, California.
(28:44):
But it is a concern.
And we get calls all the time.
I asked you to please give out my cellphone number or my email address, my
cell phone number's on the homepageof my website because I keep my hand
in the pulse of like who has theresources where they could possibly go.
But it is a concern of course, butI think with the right direction and
(29:06):
guidance there are programs that arestate funded that are donation based.
Bridge House, Grace House does a lot offundraising and so they might not be as
plentiful as we hope, but they do exist.
And you know, I could certainlyhelp connect those dots for people.
Yeah.
You have to keep advocating.
So what's next for, for you, forImagine House, Imagine Recovery?
(29:31):
Well, let's see.
Well, gosh, one day at a time, right?
Yeah.
I'm just excited.
We're looking at new things.
There's some possibilities we mayexpand in the next year or two.
I mean, I don't wanna say it likenecessarily, you know, potentially
have residential and detox becausethat's really needed, but I don't know.
We're not there yet.
(29:53):
I'm gonna be doing a littletraveling, so that's exciting.
And I have the greatest team here.
We've added some new staff members tosort of reorganize, so that's exciting.
Just, you know, when we openedImagine, this is a labor of love
and kind of just figured it out.
And now it's exciting justto get more systems in play.
(30:13):
I know that's very businessytalk, but that sort of
accountability and that structure.
I'm realizing that that helps in all ways.
In all ways.
So yeah, so I, you know, gonna go dosome camping and we're excited to be
offering, we do a lot of professionalevents here and networking events and,
you know, continuing education things.
(30:34):
We have a big DBT training comingup for the community of clinicians.
And so, anyway.
Good things happening at ImagineRecovery and Imagine House
And personally go celebrate yourdaughter's passing the bar, right?
Yes.
So she takes it today.
She did Monday, Wednesday, Friday,and then they wait for several
months to find out how they did.
(30:55):
But so far, so good.
And then, I'm taking her to Montana ona "bar trip" (finger quotes) they call
it, which is you graduate law school.
You take the bar and we're going toGlacier National Park for a little
vacation together as a. As a yay!
You graduated law school.
(laughs)
Yeah.
That's awesome.
That is just awesome.
Yeah.
You would think with it's 2025,they could grade the exam just
(31:18):
a little bit more quickly.
I think they want them to sweat.
I do.
I, yeah.
I'm not sure because I think it'lltake, as far as I know, at least a
month or two, so they just, yeah.
But it is what it is, right?
Yeah.
Acceptance.
(laughs)
All we can do.
Well, thank you so much for sharing it.
And you know, those of you wholisten and watch, there's always
(31:38):
links to Imagine Recovery.
Imagine House.
Felicia's been gracious enoughto say, reach out to her
personally if you need to.
Thanks so much for being withus today, sharing all of your
experience and expertise.
For those of you listeningand watching, we hope you find
help, support wherever you are.
As always, thanks for listening.
Be safe.
And keep imagining a better life.
(32:00):
Thanks.
Welcome everybody.
This is Avoiding the Addiction Affliction,brought to you by Westwords Consulting,
the Kenosha County Substance Use DisorderCoalition, and by a generous grant from
the state of Wisconsin's dose of Reality.
Real talks reminding you that opioids arepowerful drugs and that one pill can kill.
I'm Mike McGowan.
The Imagine Recovery and ImagineHouse in New Orleans Louisiana's
(00:35):
mission is to support and guide thosein recovery as they create healthy
lifestyles, heal relationships,and learn a new way to live.
Isn't that a great descriptionfor the goals of recovery?
We're gonna talk about how ImagineHouse and Imagine Recovery goes
about meeting those goals with ourguest today, Felicia Montiforte.
Felicia's co-founder and CEO of ImagineRecovery and co-founder of Imagine House.
(01:00):
She's a graduate of TulaneUniversity, parent of a 2025 Tulane
Law graduate and an LSU graduate.
She's got Louisiana covered.
She also is a former board memberof the Association of Recovery and
Higher Education, and works closelywith and supports Tulane University's
collegiate recovery program.
Felicia is also, as we'll talkabout in a while, a grateful
(01:23):
person in long-term recovery.
Welcome, Felicia.
Hi, Mike.
Thanks for having me.
I'm so glad to be here.
Well, we'll get to your story in asecond, but first, tell us about Imagine.
I love the name, ImagineRecovery and Imagine House.
Well, thank you.
We love the name as well.
W hen I got sober and others, Icouldn't imagine what my life could
(01:46):
be like or imagine what it'd be liketo have freedom from this affliction.
So we do love the name and we have a hugepainting of John Lennon in the lobby.
Oh!
Just so you know.
(laughs)
So Imagine Recovery we opened, I wannarecognize a couple people in particular.
My co-founder Christopher O'Shea,he and I started Imagine Together
(02:07):
and still run Imagine Together, andour clinical director, soon to be
executive director August Boyd, whohas been with us since the beginning
has the three of us together, alongwith other wonderful staff have created
this incredible place for healing.
So Imagine Recovery opened in Januaryof 2018, and as we will talk about
(02:29):
collegiate recovery just very briefly,the story is we were at a friend's
house in New Orleans for a fundraiser.
We learned that Tulane Universitylost seven students in one
semester to overdose and suicide.
The suicide's also tiedto drug and alcohol use.
And there wasn't a place inNew Orleans to send them.
(02:50):
And so Christopher and I weredriving home from this event and
said, well, we need to do it.
We need to open a place near campus.
We were living in Baton Rouge at the time.
Would moved to New Orleans.
Do that.
To help these students.
And so that's the inspiration as anTulane alum and having kids that were
college age, soon to be college age.
(03:11):
Anyway, I just wanted to say that.
But we do of course servethe whole community.
And we believe here atImagine in several things.
We are heavy clinical, so we believe thattreatment should be a clinical experience,
meaning we have all master's leveltherapists, people with experience that
you're here to learn so many things, notthe things necessarily you learn in the 12
(03:34):
step programs or other recovery programs.
So having the science, having the talkingabout nutrition and sleep, and we're
very, another thing too, I wanna, it'svery, very important when you treat
substance use, alcohol use addiction.
We call it substance misuse, to alwaystreat mental health co-occurring.
(03:55):
So we're very focused on mentalhealth dialectical behavioral
therapy skills, other skills,mind body medicine, psychodrama,
other, you know, group offerings.
Because it's alwaysabout the mental health.
And so that's super important.
That was our mission.
That's what we've continued to do.
Our feeling is we're either gonnado it the very best we can or
(04:16):
we're not gonna do it at all.
So that's Imagine Recovery.
We're so happy to be here andserve this beautiful community.
And then Imagine House was founded,that's our sober living homes,
structured sober living homes.
The men's house opened four years agoand the women's house three years ago.
And those have been incrediblesupport systems for our clients here.
(04:37):
And they're also open toother people in the community.
You don't have to be in treatment atImagine, I say here because I'm sitting
in my office at Imagine (laughs).
So yeah, that's what we have.
Well, if we believe that it's adisease, you gotta treat it like one.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And you know, Mike, one thing I wannasay as well is that we very purposefully
made this an outpatient program.
(04:58):
So we have various levels of care.
We have five days aweek, three days a week.
We have substance use mental healthprograms, and we have solely mental health
programs for people in the community thatdon't struggle with any substance issues.
And, oh, I'm sorry.
I lost my train of thought there.
We did that because we believe thatgetting treatment while living in
your life is where it really matters.
(05:20):
Having experiences that are happening,whether it's relationships, stressors,
you know, successes, those challengesthat are happening in people's lives,
not just trying to let's say stay sober,but healing relationship, you know,
all this stuff going on, job, school.
To be able to come to treatment.
Something happens when you comeright here and talk about it in
(05:42):
group, talking with your individualtherapist or just our staff in general.
Another thing that I failed tomention, our mission is loving.
We are very loving group,understanding, supportive.
There's an energy here thatyou can feel when you walk in.
It doesn't look like aclinic or a hospital.
It's a lot of art and musical instruments.
(06:03):
It's a fun place to be.
So anyway.
Yes.
Well, on your website it says, ourfounders and staff know firsthand
the challenges of early recovery.
I think that's important.
You all have had experienceabout what it's like.
You said you were in long-term recovery.
How long?
Mm-hmm.
Last Wednesday I celebrated 17 years.
Wow.
(06:23):
My business partner, Christopherhas 20, so he'll be 27 in
November, and then several of ourstaff are in long-term recovery.
Congratulations.
Not everyone, that's fine too.
But you know what, ifyou're not... thank you.
If you're not personally in recoveryfrom substance use, trust me, everyone
has a family member, a close friend,they've or a parent, and they've walked
(06:45):
through that Al-Anon, ACA process.
So everyone has had exposureand lots of education.
Long ago I hired a woman towork in my program who had a
master's degree in family therapy.
She was excellent.
And after about a week she came to meand said, I don't think I belong here.
I grew up in a really healthy family andI don't have an addiction and anything.
(07:07):
And I started laughing.
I said, well, God forbid we shouldbring positive mental health
to the field and good choices.
(laughs)
And that's where I broughtyou in as a counterbalance.
Right.
It's important to have the experience, butit's also important to have the education.
Absolutely.
I completely agree.
Well, can I ask you a couple of questions?
What was your drug of choice andhow long did it take you to kick it?
(07:31):
Well my drug of choice was cocaine.
But I have to say I startedat 15 with marijuana.
I did drink alcohol, but I don'tknow that I ever drank alcoholically.
But I will say this tothose of you out there.
If I were to drink, italways led to other things.
So I choose to not drink,of course clean and sober.
And I went through aperiod of misusing opiates.
(07:54):
So it's not like I just did cocaine(laughs), but that was always the
drug that I couldn't put down in theone that eventually led to me losing
everything, including custody of mychildren, my marriage, everything.
And so finally at 43 years old, Iwent to Palm Desert, California.
(08:15):
I grew up in Los Angeles, and my dad tookme in who I just lost my dad last year.
I've always been very close to him.
So I lived in his little Casitaand went to a treatment center
there called the Hacienda Valdez.
Definitely a shout out forthe Hacienda on a county bed.
'Cause I know we're gonna talk aboutresources for people who are underfunded.
(08:36):
It was magical.
I was ready and it just gave meeverything that I needed and wanted
and was introduced to AlcoholicsAnonymous and other therapies.
And so yeah, that's what it took.
And, you know, I had an order in place,a custody agreement through the courts
that I needed to finish treatment.
(08:58):
Be sober at least a year, have a job.
Be a respectful human being until I hadthe opportunity to see my children again.
They were nine and seven when Ilost custody, and now when I saw
them again, they were 12 and 10.
So it was over three yearswith no communication.
And I feel like that was agift in some ways because it
(09:19):
wasn't like, maybe tomorrow.
Maybe tomorrow.
I just knew I had to walkthe walk, do the work.
And be the best person I can so thatwhen they're ready to see me, I am
prepared to come back into their lives.
And I'm happy to saythat we are super close.
My daughter is 26, my son's 28.
My daughter actually today is takingher second day of her bar exam,
(09:41):
so I'm wishing her luck from afar.
(laughs)
Oh, I can't even imaginethe stress of that.
Yes.
Day two out of three.
So it's this week.
It's exciting.
My mom was recovering and she was alwaysembarrassed, Felicia in some ways,
and she would always apologize to us.
And it took her a long time to realizehow proud we were of her courage and
(10:02):
strength to kick something so insidious.
And when she finally embracedit, it was heartwarming, but, so,
you know, all of that is in play.
Well it is, and I'm so glad you mentionedthat because this is a message that I
tell a lot of people who are in that placein early recovery or maybe even farther
along, where it's that shame and guiltof this is what I did, this is who I was.
(10:26):
And what I wanna say is my childrenhave directly told this to me that my
experience, them witnessing me overcome.
I mean, it was terrible.
It was, you know.
Not only lets them know that whenthey're going through something, if
there's depression or anxiety or whateverit might be, there is a solution and
(10:48):
I'm the person they come to talk to.
But I believe it gives our children andour families permission to not be perfect.
I mean, not everyone has a straight line.
Not everyone goes through lifewithout struggles, but what do you do?
How do you rise?
It's not about the fall,it's about the rise.
And so.
I love the fact that I have counseled my,when my daughter was at Tulane and I lived
(11:11):
two blocks away from there, her friendsabout their themselves, their parents,
their other friends that were struggling.
You're a beacon of hope and of experience.
And so yeah, I think it's a real gift tobe in this position to share the message
to help others, which is why I feel like.
My personal view is that I'mextremely transparent about my story.
(11:36):
You know, your mission.
You just touched on itwithout mentioning it.
Your mission at Imagine includesthe word accountability.
Yes.
Well, I, and that's true.
So I know that's one of the thingsthat we talk about in our sober
living on the Imagine House NOLAwebsite is in early recovery it's
so important to have structure.
I know for me, I had no structure,no accountability, and so having to
(12:01):
participate in the house to go to familydinner every Sunday to be accountable
to your housemates, to your apartmentmates to do the drug screening and
the breathalyzing to show up to group.
When someone isn't here by group time,we give them two to three minutes and
then my office manager or admissionsdirector, Kirsten Clark, is on the
(12:22):
phone saying, are you coming today?
There is no, just sort ofblow it off or whatever.
We do a lot of devices, breathalyzingdevices and if somebody misses a
test, we say, you missed your test.
We need you to test.
I mean, just that showing up part,and I believe that being accountable
to show up is what will propel youforward into that healing process.
(12:44):
Because left to my own devices, if Ijust go, ah, I'm gonna blow it off.
'Cause I'll do something eitherunconsciously or consciously that
would hurt myself from my growth.
But if someone's telling me, youhave to do it, okay, well then
I'll go and then I benefit fromthat, if that makes any sense.
Yeah, it does.
And you just mentioned the structure too.
(13:04):
Structure well talk aboutstructure in early recovery.
Well, I mean, I think it's huge.
Just, you know, suit up and showup whether it's to treatment,
whether it's to commitments.
I know for me, I was veryfortunate in my life.
I grew up privileged, let's say.
And when I met my children's father,I was 23 years old and I didn't work.
(13:28):
We got married and then I raisedchildren and, when I got sober.
And got out of treatment.
I was 60 days sober.
I got a job as a waitress in PalmSprings, and I will tell you that
job that I had for 19 months andI showed up on time every day.
Never called in sick, not if I wassick, I would've called in sick, but
(13:50):
I didn't make up a lie to not show up,taught me how to show up, how to be
accountable, how to be a good employee.
And just that process taught me howto be a real citizen, if you will.
And so similarly in early recovery,showing up, you know, having service
commitments at your meetings treatmentfor the other people in your life.
(14:14):
I just think that that accountabilityor if you say, yes, mom, I'll pick you
up and I'll take you to the airport.
Show it.
You gotta show up.
I mean that because the patterns,you know those neuro pathways,
you're creating new ways to live.
So every time you take the rightand not the left, you're making
that pathway of positivity.
(14:34):
And it goes so far into our self-esteemand into our, you know, mental health.
Like it boosts mental health todo what you say you're gonna do.
I tell people all the time, Iknow we talked about promises.
Follow through is a hugepromise that's come true for me.
I didn't have the ability tofollow through when using, but
(14:55):
I can now, you know, so anyway.
Well, I was, this is sort of related.
I was talking to my kids aboutthis in the last couple days.
There's a term that is usednowadays for people working
remotely common with the youngergeneration called wiggle the mouse.
Right?
So you're not really working.
You're on social media, you'redoing whatever, but every now
(15:17):
and then you wiggle a mouse, soit looks like you're working.
And it leads to my daughter saidin her experience that that leads
to a great deal of depression.
Feeling like you'renot worthy of anything.
And I think that get things done, nomatter how small, you put the small
things together and the next thing youknow, you have 17 years in recovery.
(15:38):
Well, I completely agree with that.
There's a... I love what your daughtersaid because I talk about the indicator.
I don't know, it's that gut feeling,that sort of intuition when you know
you're not doing something right.
When wiggling the mouse, you, who are yougetting one over on and really, you know,
internally you're doing the wrong thing.
(15:59):
Recovery has given that to me justbecause I can with a clear mind can see
what the right and wrong thing to do is.
And I am not perfect in it by anymeans, but my gut feeling will
tell me that's not the right thing.
You know it 'cause you can feel it so.
Yes.
So just encouraging people to, youknow, you don't have to live like that.
Part of being in recovery is being free.
(16:21):
Free from regret, free from offenses toother people, free from harming yourself.
There's just, ugh.
I mean, let me tell you what, forthose of you out there who have not
tried to get sober or not sure, justgive it a shot because I had no idea.
Again, back to the word, imagine,I had no idea how amazing
(16:44):
life in recovery could be.
I just had no way toconceive of that I thought.
Even though cocaine and otherthings are killing me and ruining my
life, how will I ever put it down?
And so it's definitely possible.
We get to see that everyday here, every day.
And in the community around us.
New Orleans has a huge recovery community,which I'm so grateful to be a part of.
(17:07):
You like me I live in Wisconsinand New Orleans is, boy, we're the
two epicenters in a lot of waysof use and misuse and addiction.
And I did have somebody say a whileback that we have a lot of using,
so we have a lot of recovery.
You think the same?
Oh, absolutely.
It's so funny, when we were openingImagine, people were saying to
(17:29):
Christopher and myself like, you'reopening a treatment center in New
Orleans, but people drink there.
I'm like, okay, I'm gonna pause andlet you think about what you just said.
(Laughs)
Yes, I mean, people decided to live,they decided to made a decision
to not ruin their lives and putthe drink down or the drugs down.
Oh no, it's.
It's an incredible city and you know,we get clients from other places that
(17:52):
live in our sober living and come toour programming and several of them
decide to move here because I feel,and I know Christopher and August
and the staff share this belief that,especially for the younger ones, let's
say, but not necessarily, I mean, beingin a city that's alive, the music,
the food, the creativity, the art.
(18:13):
I mean, there's just so much goingon here that being sober somewhere
that you can find new interests.
We have clients that come hereand decide to go to cooking
school or whatever it might be.
That and being in a communitythat's so thriving with people who
have had a lot of experience withheavy duty partying, I mean, people
say, oh, I grew up in New Orleans.
(18:34):
It's normal for 14 yearolds to drink here.
And I'm like, you know what?
It was normal for me at 15to smoke weed in Los Angeles
'cause everybody did that so.
But anyway, it's amazing.
Well, you said people movethere for the recovery programs.
Talk a little bit about the women'shouse because during COVID we saw,
since COVID, we saw a huge spikein women's issues, women's drinking
(18:59):
all across the United States.
Yes.
And using, and when women are interviewed,and I've had numerous ones on the podcast,
they all point to isolation as one of the.
Problems, causes, resultance of that.
I would imagine that breaking thatisolation is part of the goal of the
(19:20):
women's house and recovery in general.
100%. You know, we also saw what yousaw, the isolation, you know, they talk
about it's all about connection, right?
So what is, what's the opposite ofaddiction is connection and isolation.
And just going back to what I said aboutthe mental health, I believe that 98% of
(19:40):
people who experience substance misuse,alcoholism, addiction it starts with
self-medicating a mental health issue,whether it's way long ago or whether
it's anxiety, depression, whatever.
And so this is isolation, right?
Depression, low mental health.
So I'm self-medicating with alcohol.
And I wanna say during COVID,how many women and men, but
(20:03):
were in unhealthy households.
Yeah.
Weren't, you know, sometimes goingto work is the best time you'll spend
because you're not with a partner.
Not necessarily that's abusive,but there's a lot of contention.
I mean, it's a very stressful timeand so, you know, leaning on the
alcohol, we saw a lot of that as well.
So the women's house is magicalbecause we have from right now, a
(20:25):
23-year-old up to a 50-year-old.
I mean, but even, you know, the rangeof ages and watching these women bond
together have fun together, cook dinners.
They did an arts and crafts day.
I got a picture of them at the diningroom table with all the stuff everywhere.
We allow them to have their pets too.
So it's like women and petsand all kinds of stuff.
(20:47):
Oh, and I will say this, when we'retalking about accountability, we have
paid staff live-in house managersat our sober living homes, so.
People who are there employedto make sure that everything's
working and curfews are being metand all that accountability stuff.
But for the women, it's so important,and I will say this for a lot of women
(21:10):
before they got into recovery didn'thave a lot of female relationships,
you know or have a lot of trust inother females for whatever reason.
And so having a safe place to be.
Focusing on your recovery, focusingon that connection with other women,
having fun together, going to meetingstogether, doing you know, recovery
work together is so important.
(21:32):
I go there for family dinners.
I watch them laugh and have fun andsupport each other and cry and do all
kinds of things like they're just there.
It's amazing to watch andthey're so happy and they stay in
touch and yeah, all that stuff.
Well, learning how to have ahealthy relationship is not easy.
If you've lived in a toxicworld for a long time.
(21:53):
Absolutely.
You know, when I, I remember manyyears ago I was talking to a friend
in recovery and I was talkingabout this relationship I was in.
It was very early recovery, and, and hesaid to me, so you're sober and you're,
your person you're dating is sober.
Yes.
And you're wondering why youdon't have a healthy relationship?
And I'm like, yeah.
And he goes, have you everseen what one looks like?
Right.
(22:14):
My parents did not havea healthy relationship.
And I was like, huh.
I actually happen, so how amI supposed to know what to do?
Right.
Right.
So yeah.
Anyway, all of that, it's just, andthat's stuff we talk about here too, is
the levels of what people are learningand experiencing and connecting over,
you know, in when people are using anddrinking and there's so many people
(22:38):
that come here that think they're theonly ones, or I'm alone, or no one
will understand and the amount of timesthey're like somebody else shares.
Oh my gosh.
They completely understand.
They're so surprised at how manypeople have been through what
they've been through or thinkthe way they think or whatever.
So connection, connection, connection.
Well, okay, so speaking of connectionand then isolation that goes with it.
(22:59):
You also are, have been and are heavilyinvolved in the collegiate population.
Talk about I mean at a time wheredrinking seems to be the major, right?
I mean, that's part of thereason of going to college.
You have to look for connections ifyou're trying to get sober in college.
100%. So I'm a huge fan.
(23:21):
I'm a former board member,the Association of Recovery in
Higher Education, A. R. H. E..
Side note, they just had their nationalconference here in New Orleans and.
I am very proud to say Imagine Recoverywas chosen as the organization of the
year of all the places in the country.
So that was exciting.
But A. R. H. E. is basically the governingboard of all collegiate recovery programs.
(23:42):
So Collegiate Recoverystarted many years ago.
There were a handful, Rutgers, Brown,Texas Tech, Augsburg . And over time,
more and more and more have started whenI got into the treatment field in 2010.
I was very involved.
I visited many collegiaterecovery programs, Alabama,
Auburn, Georgia, U-C-L-A-U-S.
(24:02):
Anyway, a bunch of them.
So A. R. H. E. helps schoolsstart collegiate recovery well.
A few years before Tulane got theirs,Christopher and I, of course as a Tulane
alum, knowing a lot about collegiaterecovery, having been involved for, at
that time, 10, 12 years, helped Tulanestart their collegiate recovery program.
(24:23):
And we did a lot of fundraising and wentto the, you know, staff administration
at Tulane, why this is necessary.
Gratefully it came together and it's been,now, I think it's about three years old.
So the importance of this, why arecollegiate recovery programs important?
Because a student goes to schooland let's say I'm at a regular
(24:45):
school and I'm decided to get sober.
How do I find the other students thatare sober and living a life of recovery?
There's a tendency to like go tocampus and then go straight home
because inevitably you'll be offeredsomething or you, you know, whatever.
So it's a way to find your tribe.
Having programming there.
(25:06):
Cleans recovery program isbasically a safe space on
campus for students in recovery.
And it can be recovery from anything.
You can have an eating disorderrecovery, gambling recovery.
You don't have to be drugs and alcohol,mental health recovery of course.
And so, collegiate recovery programs.
And then you have a staff member, there'sa director of course, and just having that
(25:27):
place to gather and have pizza, and havemeetings and study and have fellowship.
And they go on.
The Tulane Recovery program goes ontrips like they did Santa Fe, they went
to Santa Fe skiing over Mardi Gras.
So they provide safe alternativesto a heavy partying period of time.
(laughs) Get out of town!
(25:48):
Right.
And so over these last years, it'scommon for me to talk to families and
parents that say, you know, my daughterwas gonna go to this school, but I
decided, I know she's not there yet.
She is drinking, not alcoholic yet, butfamily history, X, Y, Z. I need her to go
to a school that has a collegiate recoveryprogram in case something comes up.
(26:10):
There's immediately that supportthere that that community, I mean,
they all gravitate towards itand it's thriving and wonderful.
I can't say enough about A. R. H.E. and I'm so happy that Tulane
has a collegiate recovery program.
We work very closely with them andthey come to all of our events.
One thing that Imagine Recoveringand Imagine House does or do,
(26:34):
is we host events every holiday.
So there's 4th of July picnic or barbecue.
We do a zero proof JazzFest kickoff party.
So the night before jazz, the New OrleansJazz and Heritage Festival starts, we do
a huge party for a couple hundred people.
You know, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmasdinner, you know, down the line.
And the whole community is invited.
(26:55):
So anyone in recovery can come.
Their families andTulane's recovery program.
Often those students come to those things.
Because what we're showing, not justthe young ones, but everyone is.
How to have fun in recovery.
There's that fear.
I'm gonna stop drinking.
I can't smoke pot anymore.
I'll never have fun again.
It's more fun.
It's a, oh yeah, of course Mardi Gras,we do sober Mardi Gras stuff (laughs).
(27:18):
I would be remiss withoutsaying Mardi Gras.
And so they get to, you know, 'causewhat the goal is of course is not
what you're giving up, but you'regoing towards a life worth living.
A life that's more gratifying,more satisfying, happier, freer.
You know, a lot of people that are usingand drinking with mental health issues
(27:41):
like depression, these students are underso much pressure or people in general.
Right.
There's a lot of stress in the world.
Don't even realize that the drinkingis making them more depressed.
Mm-hmm.
Is more, you know, so when they take thepoison out or stop ingesting the poison,
like the mental freedom is the clarity.
Anyway.
It's wonderful.
Well, you guys are building.
(28:02):
There's a lot of communities,Felicia, that are losing.
Talk about funding a little bit.
And then also how you reach out tothose underserved populations for
whom, or this is a huge area of concernwho are losing, you know, Medicaid
funding and rural programs, et cetera.
You know, it's a tough one.
(28:23):
I know you said that to me in theemail and you know, I'm extremely
grateful to live in a city that we haveprograms for people with no funding.
As I mentioned, Grace Houseis the women's program, Bridge
House is the men's program.
And then the center that I wentto, the Hacienda Valdez, there's
a men's program called The Ranch.
Those are in Desert HotSprings, California.
(28:44):
But it is a concern.
And we get calls all the time.
I asked you to please give out my cellphone number or my email address, my
cell phone number's on the homepageof my website because I keep my hand
in the pulse of like who has theresources where they could possibly go.
But it is a concern of course, butI think with the right direction and
(29:06):
guidance there are programs that arestate funded that are donation based.
Bridge House, Grace House does a lot offundraising and so they might not be as
plentiful as we hope, but they do exist.
And you know, I could certainlyhelp connect those dots for people.
Yeah.
You have to keep advocating.
So what's next for, for you, forImagine House, Imagine Recovery?
(29:31):
Well, let's see.
Well, gosh, one day at a time, right?
Yeah.
I'm just excited.
We're looking at new things.
There's some possibilities we mayexpand in the next year or two.
I mean, I don't wanna say it likenecessarily, you know, potentially
have residential and detox becausethat's really needed, but I don't know.
We're not there yet.
(29:53):
I'm gonna be doing a littletraveling, so that's exciting.
And I have the greatest team here.
We've added some new staff members tosort of reorganize, so that's exciting.
Just, you know, when we openedImagine, this is a labor of love
and kind of just figured it out.
And now it's exciting justto get more systems in play.
(30:13):
I know that's very businessytalk, but that sort of
accountability and that structure.
I'm realizing that that helps in all ways.
In all ways.
So yeah, so I, you know, gonna go dosome camping and we're excited to be
offering, we do a lot of professionalevents here and networking events and,
you know, continuing education things.
(30:34):
We have a big DBT training comingup for the community of clinicians.
And so, anyway.
Good things happening at ImagineRecovery and Imagine House
And personally go celebrate yourdaughter's passing the bar, right?
Yes.
So she takes it today.
She did Monday, Wednesday, Friday,and then they wait for several
months to find out how they did.
(30:55):
But so far, so good.
And then, I'm taking her to Montana ona "bar trip" (finger quotes) they call
it, which is you graduate law school.
You take the bar and we're going toGlacier National Park for a little
vacation together as a. As a yay!
You graduated law school.
(laughs)
Yeah.
That's awesome.
That is just awesome.
Yeah.
You would think with it's 2025,they could grade the exam just
(31:18):
a little bit more quickly.
I think they want them to sweat.
I do.
I, yeah.
I'm not sure because I think it'lltake, as far as I know, at least a
month or two, so they just, yeah.
But it is what it is, right?
Yeah.
Acceptance.
(laughs)
All we can do.
Well, thank you so much for sharing it.
And you know, those of you wholisten and watch, there's always
(31:38):
links to Imagine Recovery.
Imagine House.
Felicia's been gracious enoughto say, reach out to her
personally if you need to.
Thanks so much for being withus today, sharing all of your
experience and expertise.
For those of you listeningand watching, we hope you find
help, support wherever you are.
As always, thanks for listening.
Be safe.
And keep imagining a better life.
(32:00):
Thanks.
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