All Episodes

July 30, 2024 • 48 mins

What happens when an aspiring fashion professional finds her true calling in the heart of the addiction recovery world? Join us as Kingsley Schwartz, Business Development Director of Bright Life Recovery, takes us through her transformative journey. From her own struggles with addiction to a pivotal turning point at age 27, Kingsley sheds light on the challenges and triumphs in finding the right rehab facilities. Her personal story and professional insights provide a unique perspective on the role of community outreach and aftercare in preventing relapse, making this a must-listen for anyone invested in recovery.

Discover the vibrant recovery community in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and its vital role in fostering long-term sobriety. We delve into how peer-to-peer support organizations like AA and NA offer essential services, especially for those grappling with agnosticism or atheism in a 12-step program. Kingsley reflects on the significant contributions of women in recovery and the powerful legacy of specialized treatment programs. Through her experiences, we explore the indispensable benefits of community support and the ongoing commitment to spreading the message of recovery and wellness.

Finally, immerse yourself in the innovative approach of Bright Life Recovery, where nature-informed therapy is at the core of their treatment philosophy. Kingsley discusses the integratio

Give us a Review!

📢 **Announcement!** 📢. We want to introduce our new 24-hour, 7-days-a-week hotline for crisis or substance use treatment. Whether you are seeking help for the first time or are an alum in need of immediate assistance, our team is here for you around the clock. 📞 **Call 1-800-HELP-120 anytime, day or night.** #ScrantonRecovery #ScrantonRecovery #ScrantonRecovery 1-(888)-HELP-120
📢 **Announcement!** 📢. We want to introduce our new 24-hour, 7-days-a-week hotline for

Fellowship House
As a treatment center, Fellowship House offers both residential and outpatient treatment services to

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show


Stop by our Apple Podcast and drop a Review!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/allbetter/id1592297425?see-all=reviews


Support The Show
https://www.patreon.com/allbetter

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joe Van Wie (00:01):
Hello and thanks again for listening to another
episode of All Better.
I'm your host, joe Van Lee.
Today's guest has a very regaland bohemian name, one of my
favorite names to say.
Today you'll get to meetKingsley Schwartz.

(00:23):
She's the Business DevelopmentDirector of Bright Life Recovery
, which we will talk about.
Anytime I call Kingsley, Ialways say who the shit is
Kingsley Zissou and anyone a fanof Life Aquatic knows what I'm
saying.
Kingsley has a background inbusiness development, community

(00:46):
outreach, with experience invarious industries such as
healthcare and legal services.
Kingsley has a Bachelor ofScience in Arts Administration
that she received from WagnerCollege.
Kingsley has demonstratedskills in maintaining positive
community relations, expandingreferral bases for treatment

(01:10):
providers and contributing tomany marketing plans.
She served as an accountmanager to a visual merchandiser
.
Kingsley has a diverse skillset that includes managing
confidential information, socialmedia strategy planning and
assisting in public relationtasks.
I'm going to summarize thatfrom a site called theorgcom.

(01:33):
Today we get to do a deep diveon how Kingsley herself entered
recovery, how she was drawn tothis field and became one of the
most notable and cheerful andhelpful outreach and business
development directors one canrun into in the Northeast.

(01:57):
So I'm very excited for you tomeet Kingsley Schwartz.
Kingsley Schwartz All right,we're here, we're at Kingsley
Schwartz.
Kingsley has a very interestingstory of how she landed into

(02:17):
her present career, and I thinkthat's where I want to begin,
because this is a large industrythat most people outside of
recovery or their families don'tunderstand.
So how do you find a rehab?
What's the right fit for aloved one or yourself?
These are really broadquestions, because treatment to

(02:39):
substance use disorder is.
It could be broad.
Now, there could be a lot ofdifferent places and, like in
all cultures, some of it's tiedto socioeconomics.
Do you have private insurance?
Are you Medicaid?
Are you broke, are youdestitute?
And there seems to be servicesand providers that kind of fall

(03:03):
in the lanes of this.
That's one oddity maybe wecould talk about and how one
navigates that.
But how did you get called to?
And I'm not going to call it acareer, I'm going to call it
what you said earlier when wewere off mic.
You said a calling, a vocation.

(03:24):
It's a calling.
How did you know you were goingto work in the field,
specifically in what we calloutreach?
How do you get people intotreatment and in contact with
the right provider?
How did you know you were goingto do this.

Kingsley (03:39):
I had no idea, had no idea, literally no idea, when I
was growing up or when I went tocollege.
If you asked me what I wantedto be when I grow up, what I
went to school for businessdevelopment director at a

(04:01):
treatment center, communityoutreach and a drug and alcohol
rehab I'd never heard of that.
Yeah, did you.

Joe Van Wie (04:10):
Well, you're talking the wrong way.
I did at 16.
Okay.

Kingsley (04:13):
All right.

Joe Van Wie (04:14):
But most people don't yeah, most people don't
know what this is.

Kingsley (04:18):
If it would have been up to me.
I always said like I would haveloved to live in a penthouse
apartment in New York City andwork for a fashion magazine.
All right.

Joe Van Wie (04:30):
So you knew ideally what life, what you would want
the life to look like visuallySome misty vision.

Kingsley (04:37):
Yeah.

Joe Van Wie (04:37):
Of where you wanted to live.
The fashion industry is, youknow, exciting.
It wasn't this?

Kingsley (04:45):
It wasn't this, it wasn't this, and I guess how I
was called to do this was by nopower of my own or plan.
And while I was doing all ofthat, dreaming or wishing, I was
also in active addiction.

Joe Van Wie (05:07):
Yeah.

Kingsley (05:08):
Right, um.
So how I ended up here wasultimately, I was in crisis.

Joe Van Wie (05:18):
Yeah.

Kingsley (05:19):
Like most individuals and families are when they're
faced with the terrifyingrealities of addiction and kind
of facing death and some scaryscary stuff.
I ended up in a situation or atthe end of a process of

(05:47):
drinking and using drugs where Ineeded help and had went to
like my family.

Joe Van Wie (05:57):
Can I ask how old you were?

Kingsley (05:59):
27.

Joe Van Wie (06:00):
27.
Did you have to go to multipletreatment centers?

Kingsley (06:05):
No, I went to one treatment.
Well, in the beginning I wentto one primary care inpatient
standard 30 day.
So 30 days, this included.

Joe Van Wie (06:31):
Maybe like to go to a halfway house.
Um, what did you think aboutthat one that like?
Did you know that was coming atthe end of your stay?

Kingsley (06:38):
so when I was in treatment they kept utilizing
this well, two terms.
They were using this word,relapse, um, and then they were
using this other word, aftercare, were like two loud messages

(07:00):
when I was in rehab and I wasreally, to be frank, petrified
of both of those things that arevery starkly different, you
know, relapse and aftercare.
And I was in the middle, atlike a turning point in

(07:20):
treatment, point in in treatment.
So when I was in treatment Iwas very driven to, I don't know
, figure it out, take control ofmy life, get an A plus Um yeah.

Joe Van Wie (07:42):
Is that what drove you earlier?
Say, the first 27 years.
Did you feel a lot of yourplans would have to be validated
?
Because I could relate to thatLike I want anything.
I'm putting effort into Someexternal validation for people
who have substance use disorder.
When you first put down yourdrug of choice or you're

(08:08):
committed to the rollercoasterride of early recovery that
wakes back up, I want immediatevalidation for all my efforts.
It did in me.
So if you have high internalmotivation while you're in an
inpatient, it can help, likethat's what I'm hearing you

(08:32):
describe.
Like okay, I'm going to go to ahalfway house because I want to
do this right, I don't want to.
You said the words that pointedout were relapse aftercare,
aftercare.

Kingsley (08:44):
So this common messages yeah, oh, my God,
there's a lot ofthought-provoking things you
just said.
There Was I always drivengrowing up.
I always liked to do thingsthat were.
I always loved doing the thingsthat came easy to me Things that

(09:05):
didn't didn't really hold myinterest when it came to facing
my alcoholism, my addiction.
I think initially there was alot of shame.
I didn't really know manypeople in my situation.

(09:25):
I was 27 years old.
A lot of people that I grew upwith and went through schooling
with were living in metropolitanareas, with significant others
getting into their careers,getting into their relationships
and engaged.

(09:45):
Others getting into theircareers, getting into their
relationships and engaged, and Iwas kind of like in this dark,
stuck place, um on drugs, likelost if I look back, kind of.
But um, kind of but.

(10:08):
So I think I was driven intreatment to just like put it
all.
I just wanted to put it in abox and like tuck it away and
like step back into what was myold life, renewed.

Joe Van Wie (10:18):
Yeah, and I'm always curious when someone says
their old life, when did theold life stop?
Many people don't probe whatthis can mean.
Some part of you the sense ofself or this idea you have of
yourself really got frozen ormuted or stopped the life that

(10:39):
should have happened in quotesstops.
What, 18, 21, the way I relateit to my peers where I don't
feel alienated, where stigmadoesn't start to wash over me
like you're describing.
Peers moving on getting moreserious, in a relationship
sharing apartments, careers arebeginning.
They're going to New York,philadelphia or DC, and here you

(11:03):
felt New York, philadelphia orDC, and here you felt what could
be described maybe as frozen.
Something stopped you fromproceeding in that same path of
your peers.
What do you think addiction does?
Or why did addiction show up?
Like what was it doing for you?

(11:24):
And I think that's the questionfor a lot of addicts in early
recovery?
You're saying you're, you're,you're approaching it as a task
to complete, an accomplishmentto be had, and you and I have
known each other for, you know,maybe a year or two.
Now I know you don't view itthat way, but what made the
transition that this, this couldbe larger than like doing a

(11:45):
couple after cares, that I'mlike, I got it back to the
career, like, how are youviewing that?
Like what did it change?

Kingsley (11:52):
You know what was really like an aha moment for me
.
Well, I think like to go backto like one of your first
questions, like when does theold life stop and the new life
begin?
I think it's with that magicfour letter word of help.

(12:13):
Okay, and just um for me.
When I said help, um, I mademyself vulnerable to like the
issue that I had.
Other people were aware of it.
They were then invested in myhealth, my wellness, caring for

(12:36):
me, helping me, loving me,getting me through it.
So accountability comes withasking for help, I think to some
extent.
So I think like my old lifeslowly started to die out when I
asked for help and got honestabout like I am doing drugs.

(12:58):
I feel like shit, I've had alot of consequences and I don't
want to live like this anymore.
You know, and I think it's, itcould die there, you know, um
and and where are you originallyfrom?
Pottsville PA.

Joe Van Wie (13:19):
All right, Is that?
Is that Jägermeister orYingling?

Kingsley (13:22):
Yingling Beer yeah.

Joe Van Wie (13:24):
Oh, how notable, but you didn't get sober in
Pottsville.

Kingsley (13:30):
No.

Joe Van Wie (13:31):
And the first year of your recovery was in, not
only in NortheasternPennsylvania is basically based
in Scranton recovery life right.

Kingsley (13:41):
Yes, yep.

Joe Van Wie (13:43):
You know you've traveled a lot.
What is the distinction?
You would, how would yousummarize how Scranton's
recovery community is very, verydistinct in regards to people,
help, serious help happening ata non-professional level, our
peer-to-peer kind oforganizations if it's AA, na,

(14:08):
smart Recovery, whatever but wehave a very distinct recovery
community.
Do you think that reallymattered in your first year?
Looking back at it now, how?

Kingsley (14:24):
substantial was being in this area to you, having
long-term recovery, I meanlooking back in retrospect,
super substantial, but like thatfirst year, throughout the
whole.
It's a process, right, recovery, treatment, getting an
aftercare recommendation, it'sall a process, which is

(14:49):
something I always had a veryhard time with.
Yeah, living through theprocess, I wanted immediate
gratification.
You know that's maybe part ofthe drive.

Joe Van Wie (15:02):
Yeah.

Kingsley (15:04):
So it's coming to understand the process.
But this Scranton recoverycommunity, I mean, my God, what
a blessing, biggest blessing ofmy life.
Did I realize it in my firstyear of recovery and ending up

(15:25):
here through taking treatmentsuggestions from professionals?
No, but if I look at my lifetoday, it is a community thing.
It's amazing.

Joe Van Wie (15:43):
Yeah.

Kingsley (15:44):
Filled with like good people, kind people, helpful
people, alcoholics.

Joe Van Wie (15:54):
I think it's the most tangible thing to point to,
especially if someone findsthemselves being not only
agnostic or atheist and they'retrying to integrate, say,
12-step life, aa, into theirlife, and this is a.
Really it seems like a bridgetoo far for them, even if they
are desperate.
It's like you could hear somecruel stuff oh, they're not

(16:17):
willing yet.
Well, that's kind ofbrowbeating.
But what you can point to asthe power, like instead of just
trying to define God, which isthis huge word to unpack, is
that 3 million people are inthis organization and that's
measurable.
So where is the power?
I don't have to suspend realityor try to understand something

(16:42):
supernatural.
I immediately could see thatsomething provable is happening.
People who have this condition,who get together and get honest
with each other, are gettingbetter, and I think that's
highly condensed, not only inthe county but in our area, and
it's because some people aroundhere are really fundamental.

(17:02):
They keep some fundamentalprogram of A, and I'm not
talking about the worst stuff,the stuff that stigmatized
addicts in the fifties, but likereal community, you could get
ahold of each other.
You're in each other's lives.
We don't hold secrets from eachother.
It's not like gossip, it'sconcern.
Um, it's, that's what you'rehard pressed to find, that in

(17:25):
transit areas like like arecovery community, that's that
vibrant, that organic and living, and I watched many women, uh,
young women, go through thatsame place where, where you got
to stay.
I don't think we mentioned it,but it was a really special
place that produced a lot offabulous.

Kingsley (17:46):
I think about that a lot and I was really blessed and
lucky to go there and to be asuccessful alumni of that
program and it's produced a lotof successful, respected women
who are.

Joe Van Wie (18:07):
It's great.
This isn't.

Kingsley (18:09):
Influential and like.

Joe Van Wie (18:11):
It's not exaggeration.
Yeah, women of leadership, andnot only nonprofit organizations
here clinical organizations,behavioral health, advertising.

Kingsley (18:22):
Yeah.

Joe Van Wie (18:24):
And it's you know.
They're in leadership positionsbecause of the recovery they
have, but the recovery wasforged and began with a lot of
you together yeah that's powerthat, like you, don't have to go
far to say okay, you put peopletogether and wellness comes out

(18:45):
of it.
There was a leader there and asafe place to do it, and there's
a void now for for women.

Kingsley (18:54):
Yeah, it makes me sad sometimes but cause there is a
void.
But I think like the positiveside of that coin, of there
being like a women specificniche for treatment and in
Scranton is you have we all kindof stayed, all the alumni of

(19:20):
that program all kind of stayedand kind of you know, our
purpose now is we still have tolike carry the message right.
It just looks a littledifferent than it once did.
Yeah, you know, yeah.

Joe Van Wie (19:37):
Everything.
If you're suffering from asubstance use disorder or your
addiction is bringing your lifeto a standstill, call
1-888-HELP-120.
That's 1-888-HELP-120.
This hotline is available 24hours a day, 7 days a week,

(20:11):
seven days a week.
Use evidence-based practice,crisis intervention and
trauma-informed therapy to helpyou get to the treatment you
need.
End addiction now at1-888-HELP-120.
1-888-help-120.
Help 120.
Everything stays fluid.
I think the need's there.

(20:31):
I think people have beenbanging the drum loud enough
that there could be pokers inthe fire, people to commit to a
place, but it really takes oneperson a special person to
commit to it.
Fast forwarding Early recoveryends.
When did you first take aposition in the field of

(20:52):
substance use disorder treatmentand what did it look like?
How did this begin for you?

Kingsley (20:56):
Yeah, so this began for me in April of 2016.
And how I landed into it waskind of like you know, despite
being uncomfortable, throughdifferent phases of treatment,

(21:19):
early recovery I will say thatthere was always some sort of
really intriguing component ofthis way of life that I really
grasped and that excited me, andI think it was like I had the

(21:39):
drive back to.
Like the drive.
I was like I want to.
I do want to feel this thing.
I am curious about its rewards.

Joe Van Wie (21:50):
That's powerful and what I mean by that.
When you say drive, my headalways goes to two basic drives
food and reproduction of thespecies.
And these things are justconstantly driving us.
If you just wanted to look atlife and the experience of life

(22:12):
as mechanical engineeringevolution, these are the two
drives.
And something strange becausewe're humans for, say, just the
last 12,000 years, those driveshave become very elaborate.
They've built economies, morecreation in art, and it's the

(22:34):
same.
When you say ambition, I alwayswonder is this the well of
ambition, that drive to makeconnection?
That's really it.
And now it's like spiritual,because we could do it in many
ways.
And considering others, I don'tsee many people doing outreach
the way you do, because you havesuch a really outgoing and

(22:56):
welcoming personality.
How does that drive like it'shard?
I guess I would never use thatword describing you because
you're so welcoming.
How do they converge?
How does being outgoing, havinga really warm and welcoming

(23:17):
personality, overlap with driveor vocation, or this calling Wow
?

Kingsley (23:28):
You know what I think they collide in my head and the
thoughts go that's thealcoholism, I think, joe, the
drive and the warm and welcomingoutgoing personality.
I think that's my issue, youknow, and how I work through

(23:50):
that like is through trustedfriends, vulnerability, um, and
just you know, like now, 11years later, like knowing, like
you know what the bad noise isand working through it, like
some days, most good days, Icould be like Just Go have fun,

(24:14):
go keep it simple and enjoy it.
And yeah, it's not as likepainful to like hone into
different things as it was inthe beginning, you know.

Joe Van Wie (24:27):
Yeah.

Kingsley (24:28):
Um, and that comes through community.

Joe Van Wie (24:30):
Yeah.

Kingsley (24:31):
Right Um back to like.
What I love about where Ilanded in this community is like
having friends, professionalmentors at this point, that know
my strengths and weaknesses.
Um, that could deliver that tome.

Joe Van Wie (24:52):
That's interesting.
This, this is unlike manycareers and it was jarring at
first because it's not always aspirit of competition.
So you're, you're out promotinga treatment center, bright life
, um, presently, who's a's anunbelievable provider and we'll
get to that.
So you're promoting this and wecome across perceivably what

(25:15):
would be in any other field ifyou're selling tires or widgets
or services would be competitionand there's this kind of really
noble collaboration betweenproviders.
There's competition you couldpoint to, but in the end, above
it is this virtue ofcollaboration.

(25:37):
Maybe the virtue is beingdriven by almost what alcoholics
like annihilation, that ourindustry could be annihilated,
that'd be great.
That means we've we'veaccomplished our mission.
Addiction is over.
That's what I mean by thatcould you imagine?
yeah, wouldn't that be the driveof all of us, I mean?

Kingsley (25:57):
I know, but that yeah and and can that happen?

Joe Van Wie (26:01):
I don't know what enough time and space.
Anything could happenals won'teven always be here, but what we
can perceivably do like isdefine we have a smarter
description of how addiction is.
You know it's, it's origins, beit in trauma, attunement, these

(26:22):
bonding issues that we're.
We could point to it now andsay, okay, this isn't a mystery
and it's not so much genetics.
So that aside, I'm going oncaveats.
I got to go to an interviewschool, ask a shorter question.
What you were saying earlier.
I really liked that.
The friends and community whenyou were mentioning it's the

(26:46):
same, that it worked for me.
And some people might ask well,I have friends and that could
be true and some of them may beyour real friends in addiction
and always will be.
Some may not have that and onlyhave bonds of trauma or
addiction really definable.
About recovery friends, ifyou're really producing recovery

(27:07):
in any path, is you now have aspace to be authentic and that's
what cures trauma, that's whatcures addiction, that a person
could finally have authenticity.
And I know you're full of thatand you recognize it when you're

(27:27):
at meetings or in groupssomeone's finding themselves
because they've been comfortableenough to talk about what you
just described in your lastanswer the pain that was driving
the addiction man that's.
You can miss that so easily ifyou don't take the chance to let
your guard down, and you did.

Kingsley (27:49):
Yeah, you know what is a thought I often have.
I drank and used drugs becauseI didn't like to express myself,
so liquid courage helped me getforms of communication across.
Liquid courage helped me getforms of communication across.
I loved using stimulants causeI felt like they made me perfect

(28:13):
.
Ultimately, they gave me likefocus.
I could go hours on end doingone thing.
You know, um, and yeah,recovery is like you could have
all of those things that you'relooking for.

(28:34):
You know it's like um, glendathe good witch, joe who's Glenda
the good witch?
You don't know, glenda the goodwitch from the wizard of Oz,
like you have her name's Glenda.
Yeah.

Joe Van Wie (28:45):
I didn't know.
She had a name.

Kingsley (28:46):
Yes, you have the power all along.
You know you just weren't usingit the right way and you know,
like they're drugs aren't theright way yeah Right, they're
not.
We all know that I feel likeit's like the purest, simplest

(29:07):
form of like childhood life.
Like we all know that's all bad, no good, um, it's just like
that was my path and working forit.
But I always like workingthrough it.
But I've always had like thisunderstanding of like these are

(29:27):
all the reasons why I use thisis how using and drinking and
getting drunk and high this wasmy goal and the feeling or the
thing I was going after tocoming of a place of like some
sort of purgatory, of like earlyrecovery through that and the
hope of building a new life likethat's exciting, right.

(29:54):
Hope of building a new life Likethat's exciting, right.
Um, we were talking earlierlike if, about like the draw or
call to recovery, like I didn'twant to do it cause it like
sucked or was boring.
And it ties back to like thiscommunity I landed in of like my
friends, the people I met herewere doing really cool things

(30:16):
with their life.
They looked happy, they were inrelationships, they were
getting married, they werehaving babies, like they were
traveling, they and they werestill like going to meetings and
getting vulnerable with people,and when I like bonded and
connected to that, like throughvulnerability, I was able to

(30:40):
receive like everything that Iwas looking for in drugs and
alcohol was already in me andit's purest form.
I just didn't know how to useit in the right way, right.

Joe Van Wie (30:51):
Yeah, that makes sense, way Right, yeah, that
makes sense.

Kingsley (30:54):
Deep, that's deep.

Joe Van Wie (30:58):
Stepping into this, how would you define the
position that you're in calledoutreach, and you know, in any
other industry they might callit sales, but in treatment and
substance use and behavioralhealth it's called outreach.
How would you describe theposition of outreach

(31:19):
coordinators, marketers?
What are they doing in thisfield and how do they do it?

Kingsley (31:27):
Yeah, great question.
So I think number one because Ididn't know.
If you're in need of treatmentand have, like a family friend,
loved one yourself, thinking youmight have a problem, you need
to go away, for there areprofessionals that could help.

(31:48):
I didn't know that.
You know I got.
I ended up in treatment throughan alumni of a of a treatment
program, just like a friend myfamily knew went to treatment.
Um, but there's these thingscalled outreach coordinators,
business development directors,clinical support specialist Um,

(32:11):
I'm a business developmentdirector and what we do is I'm a
person that you could reach outto and ask for help.
I like, quite simply, try tolook at my job as I'm a compass.

Joe Van Wie (32:28):
Yeah.

Kingsley (32:28):
You know it's really overwhelming and there's a lot
that goes into.
There could be a lot that goesinto finding care, but this
world of treatment and addiction, it, in my experience it's not
something that you're alwaysformally educated on, educated

(32:50):
on.
It's one of those instances inlife that happens and you're
like, oh shit, this is happening, I have no idea what to do, and
you kind of like people tend tojust like rack their brains.
Or cause more harm, or causemore harm, or cause more harm.

(33:12):
So I like to think of myself asa compass to be there to help
people navigate recovery.

Joe Van Wie (33:25):
A two-part question how often are you using your
own personal experience whenyou're engaging with families,
or are you splitting the time,like what's the split between
families and the person in need?
You know, maybe not presently,but in the whole total of your

(33:46):
career, you can find yourself infront of parents or loved ones,
someone that needs treatment,treatment or the individual.
How do you switch gears and whodo you use more of personal
experience and anecdotes of?
You know, I'm on the level here.
I'm a person in recovery.
What does that bring to the joband how often do you use it?

Kingsley (34:23):
I think what personal recovery brings to the job is
empathy, relatability,understanding, connection Really
a lot of the tools that combataddiction.
How often do I use my personalrecovery?
Um, as a tool?
Um, I don't know, cause it's apiece of me.

(34:45):
You know like I use it everyday.

Joe Van Wie (34:46):
Cause.
Um, that's, that's why you'reyou're who you are, because
there's no parts as a whole.
That's You're who you are,because there's no parts.

Kingsley (34:51):
Yeah, there's a whole.

Joe Van Wie (34:53):
That's a really sincere way to answer that
question, and it's all.
Oh, that's right.

Kingsley (35:00):
I'm not out there like , hey, I'm in recovery, give me
a call, you know, if it likecomes up or if it's like a point
of you think it will matter andyou could help.
It's not, you know, it's like apoint of you think it will
matter and you could help.
Yeah, you know it's like do youwatch the Bear?
I love the Bear show.

(35:22):
Like that's like the recoverycomponent of what I.
It's like a connection, it'slike following a team sport.
To me, you know, like if beingin recovery personally comes up
and it's like a point ofconnection, like I love to
connect with people.
So why not like share theexperience you know?

Joe Van Wie (35:42):
I got to watch the bear Everyone keeps saying this,
the bear.

Kingsley (35:46):
It's actually on tonight at nine, the new season
yeah.

Joe Van Wie (35:50):
I'm totally out of the loop.

Kingsley (35:51):
You got to watch it.
Um, nine, the new season.
Yeah, I'm totally out of theloop.
You gotta watch it.
Um, but yeah, I use it all thetime because I mean, the reality
is, is it's part of me?
Yeah, you know kingsley, what?

Joe Van Wie (36:05):
where are you now?
What is this?
This, the strain?
It's one word.
It's one word, it's not twowords, it's Bright Life.

Kingsley (36:12):
Bright Life.
What is Bright Life?
So Bright Life is a drug andalcohol treatment company.
We currently operate twoinpatient facilities beautiful,
comfy, dignified.

Joe Van Wie (36:30):
Would you call it luxury?

Kingsley (36:32):
Yeah.

Joe Van Wie (36:32):
Okay, yeah, I've seen the website and I've I've
been down to Hanover.

Kingsley (36:38):
Yeah, Um, we're in Hanover, Hilton head Island, and
we have a facility coming tothe cat skills in New York this
year.

Joe Van Wie (36:50):
Um and all three are using the same kind of
roadmap of clinical approaches.
Are they all the same level ofcare?

Kingsley (36:57):
Yes, all same level of care, detox and residential.
So for those who are looking tolearn here, you know what you
think of when you think ofquote-unquote rehab, like your
30-day stay.
That is what Bright Life does.

Joe Van Wie (37:16):
Now, what do you think makes Bright Life distinct
?
You've been at a couple ofplaces and you've been to some
really large, prolific treatmentproviders, and now you're with
this almost boutique yeah, threeplaces.
Well, one's arriving in theCatskills.
What is different about BrightLife?

(37:40):
In this regard?
You were mentioning, before westarted taping, a nature
approach to recovery, and itsounded really interesting to me
because there was a lot ofdetails.
Is this one thing you couldpoint to that makes the
treatment distinct?

(38:00):
What was it called the naturetrack?

Kingsley (38:01):
Nature-informed therapy.

Joe Van Wie (38:03):
Nature-informed therapy.
What is nature-informed therapy?

Kingsley (38:08):
I always say to some individuals like it's exactly
what it sounds like.

Joe Van Wie (38:14):
Yeah.

Kingsley (38:15):
It's nature.
If I'm being silly, it'snature-informed therapy.

Joe Van Wie (38:21):
I think all things are nature-informed.
I always look at it as just arock that produced madness,
we're just on a rock that'sproduced.

Kingsley (38:29):
I'm kidding Nature-in informed therapy.
It's really cool and kind ofsimple, but something that goes
like a little bit unnoticed in2024, but really what it is is
like it's a therapeutic modalityof just tapping into the
elements natural elements thatsurround us, and grounding

(38:54):
ourself within that, payingattention to it, utilizing its
healing components.

Joe Van Wie (39:02):
And it's interesting, I, a lot of people
like I could I could see a gruffold World War II vets that we
grew up around.
We just say, ah, it's thehippie stuff, but take it.
I take what you're saying andwhen I was reading on the site
in this lens, we spent most ofthe entire history of being
living organisms that finallyproduced mammals, us being like

(39:25):
Homo sapiens.
In this environment, the rawenvironment that you're
describing, environment, the rawenvironment that you're
describing you know.
Strip away social media, masscommunications, electricity,
water, even irrigation.
Most of our time has been spentacting as a hunter-gatherer and

(39:47):
we still have the brain.
The brain didn't really evolveany new atomical structure since
then.
This is just one thing thatpopped in my head while I was
reading this.
Right, so that is being said.
We get anxiety from culture andthe way society gathers and
just keeps getting more complex,complex, how we're like this

(40:07):
hive mind.
There is something real indeprogramming all of that so you
could go back to whatevercivilization you want to go to
after treatment, say Bright Life, but you get a space to reset.
It's almost like deprogrammingthe software that's running your

(40:28):
brain and going back to theplace where we spent the most
amount of time as a species.
Let me get in touch with thatraw anxiety of nature and see
what's left of me.

Kingsley (40:40):
Yeah.

Joe Van Wie (40:40):
Yeah, that's, that sounds awesome.

Kingsley (40:43):
Yeah, it was.
And I think I was telling you Ihad like this experience in the
Catskills with my team.
And I think when you asked melike what I love about Bright
Life, why Bright Life the teamis a really big part of that but

(41:04):
I lost my train of thought.
We were saying like thisexperience of just like when's
the last time you had theopportunity to just be in nature
?
It's not, and kind of just belike, oh right, like I'm just
going to feel the sun on my body, you know.

Joe Van Wie (41:28):
I love doing that and I've been in many spaces in
my life where, when I was doingthat, it draws out the venom
that's laying in my mind.
I don't even want to call itvenom, say poison, anxiety.
I start to feel restlessSomething that should feel so
natural, like the sun going fora walk.
When you have substance usedisorder or you're trying to

(41:50):
recover, you don't even knowyou're aware of your own
addiction, or maybe anxietygetting out of control.
Being in those settings mightmake you feel uncomfortable, and
then you'll think the setting'sproducing it, and it's not.
It's what you brought to thesetting.
Nature is a great place toreally have the confrontation

(42:13):
with any mental health problems.

Kingsley (42:15):
Yeah, yeah, amazing.
I love it, you know, and it'sfunny like Bright Life offers
this nature informed therapy aspart of our clinical treatment.
So it sparked my mind like allright, where is nature in my
life?
And over like the past threeyears, four years, I've had like

(42:38):
two children.
I've had two maternity leaves,which is a time, I guess you
know it's a time but for beinglike high, highs, low, lows, new
routine.
But last summer I would like siton this one brown couch in my

(43:01):
house.
Sometimes you have a cryingbaby, you're trying to put them
to sleep, you're feeding them.
It could get very like justgrinding, wheeling around and
like this, like keeping thisprecious baby alive, which, yeah
, just very routine, wheresometimes I don't throw like I

(43:22):
to me and could lack likestimuli, stimulation.
So, anyway, I got like we havea bird feeder on one of our

(43:44):
windows of my living room and Ijust would be like in my living
room taking care of my baby,like doing all of the routine
stuff, and like just started toget this appreciation for like
not only like, yes, I wasadmiring my beautiful baby boy,
but at the same time I was likeso into this bird feeder and

(44:05):
watching the birds that I soundlike.
I sound like I was smoking potright now a little bit, but you
know, I got like thisappreciation for, like Nature
Right, it provided me peace.

Joe Van Wie (44:23):
How does someone get in touch with Bright Life?
Call me.

Kingsley (44:29):
Like any good business development rep would say give
me a call.
But yeah, you could contactmyself, you could contact our
admissions department.

Joe Van Wie (44:43):
I'll put all that information on.
Yeah.

Kingsley (44:46):
Even if you don't want to like speak to someone, you
could go on our website.
There's a little chat, you know, to dip your toe in if you're
curious.

Joe Van Wie (44:57):
But, um, you call me anytime all right call bright
life, anytime yeah well, I hopeyou come back and we always
enjoy when you stop by.
Aaron, you brought some goodies.
She gave us some Starbucks.

Kingsley (45:10):
That was really nice next time I'm going to bring a
bird, I'm going to bring a birdfeeder for you next time, maybe
a rock right here.

Joe Van Wie (45:22):
Put it in the window a terrarium.
Kingsley, thanks for coming bythanks.
I'd like to thank you forlistening to another episode of

(45:46):
Thanks iHeartRadio and Alexa.
Special thanks to our producer,john Edwards, and engineering
company 570 Drone.
Please like or subscribe to uson YouTube, facebook, instagram
or Twitter and, if you're not,on social media you're awesome.

(46:06):
Looking forward to seeing youagain.
And remember just becauseyou're sober doesn't mean you're
right.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC
Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

The Bobby Bones Show

The Bobby Bones Show

Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.