All Episodes

August 20, 2024 63 mins

Discover the profound complexities of mental health and substance abuse treatment through our enlightening conversation with Shana Stefanik and Dylan Fredricey from STR Behavioral Health. Together, we explore their impactful journeys, the critical role of Cedar Crest—an essential residential facility—and the nuanced challenges of addressing substance use disorders. Dylan’s recent academic triumphs and the extraordinary potential of AI in modern care are also key highlights.

Join us as we navigate the intricate terrain of family boundaries in mental health treatment, especially for those struggling with both mental health and substance use disorders in Pennsylvania. We discuss the tough decisions families face when local options fall short and the importance of family involvement in recovery. Discover how facilities like Silver Pines and Cedar Creek provide a crucial continuum of care, ensuring integrated treatment solutions that truly address the multifaceted needs of patients.

Finally, we delve into managing high-acuity cases in smaller, focused environments such as Cedar Creek, emphasizing the importance of reducing stigma and ensuring frequent patient monitoring. Learn about the vital role of cultural competence in treating diverse populations, particularly the LGBTQ+ community, and the positive impacts of community engagement initiatives like the NEPA Pride Coalition. With exciting developments such as the upcoming outpatient facility in Lancaster, this episode underscores the pivotal importance of comprehensive, compassionate care in the mental health landscape.

For more Info on STR;
https://stepstorecovery.com/get-help/?gad_source=1

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 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.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and thanks again for listening to another
episode of All Better.
I'm your host, joe VanWee.
Today's guest I have ShanaStefanik Technotronic.
I don't know why I said that,but Shana is the Director of

(00:22):
Business Development at STRBehavioral Health.
She's also accompanied by DylanFredrisse.
This is Dylan's second time onAll Better.
Dylan is the Regional Directorof Clinical Partnerships at STR
Behavioral Health, which standsfor Steps to Recovery.
Shana is the Senior RegionalDirector of Clinical

(00:46):
Partnerships and a woman inlong-term recovery Working in
the treatment field.
She has allowed her to helpthose who battle with substance
use disorder get their life backand enjoy living.
She's a mom of two, with a16-year-old son and a
15-year-old daughter.
When she's not helping peopleget into treatment, she's either

(01:09):
at the motocross track with herson or dance competition with
her daughter.
She always says her diseasedisorder has been her greatest
gift.
Now that she's recovering fromit wants everyone to experience
the same and if you rememberDylan, dylan was here about a

(01:32):
year and a half ago two yearsago and told his story.
Dylan was born in San Diego,california, where he spent the
majority of his first 30 yearsMoving to NEPA region in about
2018.
Years moving to NEPA region inabout 2018.
As a person in long-termrecovery, dylan understands the
importance of socialconnectedness and community.

(01:52):
Beginning his journey insobriety, dylan volunteered at
an HIV AIDS service organization, aiding individuals and
accessing life-sustainingmedications and community
support services.
Inspired by this experience, hereturned to school and, in 2018
, graduated with two associatedegrees in social work and

(02:14):
social behavioral sciences.
In 2020, dillon graduated fromPenn State with his bachelor's
degree in rehabilitation andhuman services Services, while
maintaining a 4.0 GPA, earningthe Luzerne County Council an
Adult Higher Education'sOutstanding Adult Learner of the
Year Award.
Dylan also, this spring, 2024,just graduated from Marywood

(02:39):
University with a Master's inSocial Work.
Since arriving in Pennsylvania,dylan has worked in a variety of
positions in the drug andalcohol field, including three
and a half years serving as afamily counselor at a local
detox and residential facility.
In 2023, dylan transitionedinto business development,

(03:01):
serving as the director for astartup outpatient provider
until March 2024.
Driven by a passion forcommunity service, dylan founded
the NEPA Pride Coalition, alocal nonprofit leveraging his
lived experience to advocate forthe LGBTQIA community through
education, awareness andfacilitating access to affirming

(03:24):
services.
He acknowledges in all his workthe higher rates of substance
use and mental health conditionsamong sexual and gender
minorities and is dedicated tomaking a positive impact in this
space, and he has tremendouslyhas tremendously.

(03:49):
Today, both of them come here tospeak on an opening of a mental
health residential facilitythat was much needed in our area
, cedar Crest.
We get to talk about that.
We talk about having substanceuse disorder as a primary or a
secondary condition and whatthose distinctions are.
We talk about staffing andclinical modalities and
approaches when having substanceuse disorder and mental health

(04:12):
being primary or secondary andhow to separate those.
We have a few other topics onhand, but I'm excited for you to
meet Meet Shana and Dylan Guys.
Thanks for coming in.
The Silver Pines train is here.
We have arrived.
I'd like to welcome you guys.
I just gave you a flatteringintro that I didn't write yet it

(04:35):
was beautiful.
Thank you Heartfelt.
I'll lift it from Silver Pines.
Is itSilverPinesTreatmentCenterscom?
Silver Pines Recovery.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
SilverPinesTreatmentC centerscom.
Silver pines recovery Silverpines treatment centercom.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, so that's where I'm going to find your bios.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Oh God, mine's so outdated.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
I have Dylan's.
I'll add more to it, I'll makeit.
I'll make it sound great italready happened.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Dude, the bio is amazing.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
My bio is terrible.
Maybe I'll have you write mineMine's really outdated, or you
could just use AI.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, or we're just going to become AI by the end of
this show.
We'll wake up.
We'll have a new awakening thatwe're really just artificial.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
I'm afraid to start using AI because I will
absolutely become dependent onit.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
You already are.
Yeah, I don't even realize it,just jump on the train.
Your voice will be.
You go through an AI transcriptprogram before this ends.
It'll give you my title cards.
It'll equalize the sound.
It takes seconds.
It's crazy.
Listen to this.
Tell me whose voice this isbefore we get started.
I'm going to play this in themic.

(05:44):
This could blow your mind.
Whose voice Taking over theworld feels like a surge of raw,
uncontainable energy coursingthrough your veins.
It's yours.
Symphony of triumph.
You hear that and ambition.
I played that for my kids.

(06:04):
They're like daddy.
Daddy, that is not me, that'smy friend who took, who edits
the podcast John Edwards.
He took last night's show, heedited it and then he has an AI
software.
He just read into the mic click, match Joe's voice.
That's John.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
It sounds just like you.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
It sounds just like you it sounds just like you Wow.
Well, I'm glad we got.
I'm glad we got to talk aboutthis.
Thanks for tuning in, Thanksfor having us.
Silver Pines recovery center.
Well before we get started, Iguess one one thing of order I
wanted to do was congratulateDylan.

(06:45):
You had a great year.
Um, you had a great achievementthis year.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Lots of them.
Yeah, it's been a wonderfulyear, yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Um you finished graduate school, I did.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, congrats man.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, nine and a half years.
You know, I was in school fornine and a half years.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
But you did it, I did , you did it yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
It inspired me.
I'm going for a master's inpsych.
We had this discussion.
You've been a big inspirationand it seems subtle.
It's not like I'm not.
It's meeting guys like you,meeting other people in recovery
, especially that end up in thisfield.
There's something abouteducation, when you want to go
into behavioral health, thatit's not laborious, it's it's

(07:29):
enjoy.
It's an enjoyable thing initself, like before the, even
the end arrives, and that's howyou described it to me.
Yeah, what did you?

Speaker 3 (07:37):
graduate with.
I graduated with a master'sdegree in social work, so an MSW
yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
And now you're a license.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
Well, because of my very colorful past, there's some
explaining I need to do so.
The license is coming, but Idid just start the application,
so I should be licensed by thefall.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
Well, your personal goals and knowing you over the
last three years have inspiredme.
It's influenced how I thinkabout challenges.
I wanted to note that before wegot started.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Well, thank you, I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah.
So you guys came up today andyou have a lot going on.
I wanted to talk about someprograms and I'll put it in this
framework and I'll put it inthis framework.
In Lackawanna County and LuzerneCounty, my friends, colleagues
in behavioral health, drug andalcohol treatment and mental

(08:36):
health crisis services havegotten used to this void.
When it comes to crisis crisisbeing someone in a serious
mental health breakdown thatcould be a harm to themselves or
others the go-to is always CMCGeisinger Medical Center.
This could involve a 302observation for 48 hours.

(09:01):
If they're deemed not a threat,which they could be stable,
they're released and there's nofollow-up.
There's no other place to goand if there is, these
appointments could be set.
But the person really needs acaseworker and this isn't
substance use disorder being theprimary.
And there was a huge deficiency.
We lost first hospital yearsago.
A lot of places that claim tobe dual diagnosed.

(09:25):
All three of us know that'sjust not true.
That's just kind of a marketing, a dangerous way to market.
Yep, it's a buzzword.
Silver Pines has filled thisvoid and I don't think the
message is out there becauseit's I'm not saying because of
marketing, but it's new.
That's why, and this has beenkind of your mandate in your
outreach services, if that'd becorrect to say yes.

(09:47):
So I want to ask if I couldjust put that brief history out
there and say, okay, there's asolution right now from this
show that you can learn moreabout and, by the end of this,
have information to reach outfor mental health being the
primary or comorbidity, or evenpsychosis or as a result of, say

(10:08):
, methamphetamine use, long-term.
Sure, there's a place now forreal stabilization and
psychiatric care that will runin tandem with substance use
disorder.
Yep, now describe that to me,because this, this is a couple,
couple different places that areopening, sure, yep.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
So I'll start with Silver Pines, who, you know,
we've been around since 2017.
It was drug and alcohol, youknow, substance use disorder
only.
And then, as we grew over theyears, realized that a lot of
the clients that were dealingwith substance use disorder had

(10:47):
co-occurring mental health.
I will speak for myself.
When I went to treatment almost10 years ago, it was I was not
I, I, you know self-medicatedwith substances, but when I was
in treatment, none of that wasbeing addressed.
It was like, ok, we'll just trythis medication, go home do IOP
.
And I suffered for years untilI was able to, you know,

(11:11):
self-advocate.
So what we saw at Silver Pinesthen was when we would get the
substances out of the person,detox them, is that the mental
health was then becoming primaryand we didn't have the, we
didn't have the resources totreat it and at the time there
were maybe two or three places,maybe two in the state of
Pennsylvania, for that middle,that middle of the road.

(11:34):
So what we just started doingit was May of this year we got
our mental health license.
We have the opportunity for thatindividual coming in who is?
Maybe they, maybe they have ahistory of substance use
disorder, but it's been, youknow, in remission.
They're in recovery, but theirmental health, um, is primary.

(11:54):
Now they can come to silverpines because they have a
history of both.
So they're going to come in,we're going to screen them,
we're going to do that intakeand it's like, okay, they have
substances in their system.
Now we're going to screen them,we're going to do that intake
and it's like, okay, they havesubstances in their system.
Now we're going to detox themsafely.
You know, seven to 10 days,reevaluate again, um, was it
just the substances or is itmental health?
It's mental health.

(12:15):
They're going to go into ourmental health track, okay.
We've had individuals in themental that have come in for
detox and then stayed with us 65days for the mental health
services, because you're notgetting that anywhere else.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
And how far of an area are you serving with this
program?

Speaker 2 (12:31):
So I mean we can at Silver Pines, we can go.
I mean we're all over the stateof Pennsylvania, but we could
go outside, depending on youknow, depending on their
insurance and if they're willingto travel.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
OK, so a lot of people this, like you said, it's
common and sometimes it takes30 days, even longer, depending
on the drug of choice.
Is this withdrawal?
Is this pause?
Is this long-term amphetamineuse?

(13:03):
Okay, this could present asmental health and sometimes you
can't be too sure until you'restable and detoxed.
Does it come back?
And now it's intruding on thetreatment.
If SUD was primary, and that'swhat you're saying, you can make
the distinction and you havethe track there.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yes, wow, okay so go ahead, bill.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
No, I was just going to say, you know, within we've
been talking a lot about whatyou know, silver Pines, and
that's the our closest facilityto our region.
But I think what is so excitingfor me to be a part of this
organization is there.
You know, we're talking aboutthe mental health, and so a gap

(13:49):
that I have seen for thoseseeking primary mental health
services, especially here in thestate of Pennsylvania, is they
go to seek a residential levelof care and then they're kind of
put in to these dual diagnosedprograms where a lot of the of
the programming not all, but alot of it is overlapped.

(14:10):
And so those people who theydon't have a co-occurring
disorder, who their primarypsychiatric and they need that
support.
There's been no place for themto go, you know.
And so it's really excitingthat you know STR Behavioral
Health recognized that and, youknow, opened Cedar Creek and

(14:32):
that's another program of oursthat just opened.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
So there's two programs Cedar Creek and Silver
Pines.
What's the title of the otherone?

Speaker 2 (14:42):
So Cedar Creek is our primary mental health,
residential only.
So if it's somebody who'sco-occurring, duly diagnosed,
they'll go to Silver Pines.
Silver Pines, we only haveeight mental health beds at
Silver Pines.
It's for the true dual client,for that individual who there is
no substance use disorder, it'sall mental health, who is maybe

(15:04):
coming from first hospital oror an inpatient psych unit.
Cedar Creek is now that middlepiece.
So, now they're stepping down toa residential.
We're not a locked unit.
They can you know they don't.
We can't hold them againsttheir will.
They want to be there.
So then they come in and it'sum, it's a completely different

(15:27):
layout.
It's a true mental healthresidential program.
We are working with borderlineuh, borderline personality
disorder, um schizophrenia, umDID.
I mean there's, there's, youknow, a list of them and it's a
higher acuity.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, and this is there was a great need At least
I can speak for LackawannaCounty for this that you can
serve in this great resource forclinicians to know.
Now, especially the primary andOneNote First Hospital has
reopened under new leadershipand ownership.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's what we're hearing, yep.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
So this is good news and I think what people tend to
not understand families orfriends or people that are in
groups say you claim to be dualdiagnosed and now you have a
group setting which istraditional to substance use
disorder and someone's stillpresenting, say, paranoia,

(16:32):
having misperceptions in timespace and maybe the early onset
of what psychosis not a fullbreak, but this would start to
present in a group and what itdoes is re-stigmatizes the
mental health, especially aroundpeople who just need SUD
because of the paranoia.
What feedback could bepresented or felt like, or that

(16:55):
they're not bonding.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, there's a different type of connection or
loss of connection.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, yeah, and I I've seen it, I've seen it
within groups and yeah, and Ithink you know, I don't want to
say it's noble, but people werestuck because what are you going
to do?
Deny services, okay, let's getthem to a better level of care,
that's a great statement, butthere's been no other level of
care.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
And the only other options for those levels of care
were out of the state.
There was nothing.
In Pennsylvania, you were goingto Florida, you were going, you
know, to New England.
You were going anywhere Florida, you were going, you know, to
New England, you were goinganywhere but close to home.
So there was that level ofseparation even further from
your family.
Is that okay?
You're going to get the helpthat you need your family's from

(17:41):
Pennsylvania, but now they haveto hop on a plane to come see
you.
People weren't willing to thenget help because they were even
farther removed.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
And it's difficult because the family should be
taking part in this therapy.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yep, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
For a cohesive, long-term experience of
stability right.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well, and it's you know a lot of.
There's this commonmisconception that, like mental
health, is is one world and SUDis another world.
Substance use disorder is amental health disorder.
It's the same, it's, they'rethe same illness.
It's a disease of the brain.
You just treat them a littlebit differently.

(18:19):
You know on the upfront.
So where one person, a familywith SUD, one person uses but
the whole family suffers, it'sthe same thing.
When somebody is diagnosed withborderline or bipolar, one
person is suffering from thatdiagnosis but the whole family
is suffering.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, there's great research I've seen in the last
couple of years I don't know ifyou came across this, dylan, but
it was research onschizophrenia or schizoaffective
relationships within the familyand even friends relationships

(18:57):
within the family and evenfriends and how it was like a
little sensational the way theyposition it.
It's contagious and what theymean by that is when you learn
to communicate within the, theboundaries and the reality of
someone with schizophrenia thatyou love, you get used to that
communication, which can'treally work with anyone now at
work.
So you're speaking almost in apoetic shorthand and I've
experienced this.

(19:17):
In that poetic shorthand Iwould understand this person who
would maybe go to a 12-stepmeeting for relief and support
and be stigmatized as silly orweird because they would speak
in a language that sounded likepoetry.
Stigmatized as silly or weirdbecause they would speak in a
language that sounded likepoetry and I, for example, I
like I heard someone say at ameeting I had to detox the old

(19:39):
fashioned way, like a kitty caton a couch looking for a bowl of
milk.
I remember it exactly.
The room laughed at him.
I knew the guy, I knew what hewas talking about.
A guy dropped a cat off at hishouse while he was in early
recovery and he ended up justkeeping this cat because the guy
moved out of town.
He was talking about earlysobriety.

(20:01):
I didn't see it as crazy.
So the point of the researchwas like I know what he's saying
.
I don't hear a dangerous or anincoherent person.
I just heard his language andI'm like I know the facts of his
life.
That's how he communicates whenit's starting to.
You know, medication wasn'tworking.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
Unraveling a little bit.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, so have you ever experienced that in in
regard to you start to be invibe with a loved one and you
get stuck?
You have to enter their worldto communicate, Sure.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
It's it's very difficult for them to cross over
into your world of standard andyou can't expect them to.
You know you can't expect themto, but that's I mean that ties
into you know, the the familypiece and again with with SUD
it's like you know we push allthis family programming and
Al-Anon and family services forfor the families of SUD.
The same applies for those withthe mental health disorder,

(20:59):
because there's still boundariesthat need to be set by the
family so that the individual ifthe individual is perhaps
living with them, they need tobe bed compliant, they need to
understand what's going on.
If you're going to live here,you have to take care of your
mental health just as much asyou would take care of your
recovery, you know, if you'veobtained sobriety.

(21:21):
And it's hard because with withan individual with SUD, it's
like it it, more times than not,as soon as the chemicals leave
their body, they're starting tocome back to earth a little bit
and you could kind of sort ofreason with them.
You know, given the timeframe,somebody with a mental health

(21:41):
disorder who's not taking theirmeds or undiagnosed, they're not
.
You know there's nothing intheir system that we need to
take out of it to get them tosee clearly.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
To have a baseline, to have a baseline.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
This is their state, so it's okay.
Well, we're going to send themover to this hospital.
They're going to be there forthree days.
Their meds aren't even working.
They probably have only seen apsychiatrist one time.
You have no, you still don'thave a baseline, and then they
would go back to the street.
Okay, well, we don't have,you're done here now, off you go

(22:14):
.
And then it was wash, rinse,repeat.
The same cycle would repeatover and over.
Go see your private therapist,which is very helpful, but
that's like.
That's your maintenance programfor mental health your private,
you know, your privatetherapist or your groups.
What are you doing to get tothe maintenance level?
And that's where we brought in,you know, our mental health

(22:36):
track at Silver Pines and thenCedar Creek in Bucks County.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
We, we, we filled, we filled the void you touched and
actually the whole continuum ofcare also.
So as the Behavioral HealthNetwork is now duly licensed, so
detox, residential PHP IOPoutpatient.
We offer the whole gambit from.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
And you described different from starting as a
residential or detox componentof stabilization.
This could look like just amonth of stepping down to almost
a non-residential component.
You're almost describing a yearof solid, continual care.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yes, With housing too .

Speaker 1 (23:22):
With housing.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yep.
So as you get down to the lowerlevels, whether you're primary
SUD or primary mental health, wehave housing for both.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
Describe the staffing there.
Is there distinctions ordifferences between the SUD
track versus the staffing needsor requirements of what you're
doing for mental health?

Speaker 2 (23:43):
So the ratios are going to be different for the
mental health housing as opposedto the SUD.
It's one.
Instead of being called a techor care coordinator, they're
BHTs behavioral health techs.
It's going to be one per sixclients.
They are only with the clients.
A lot of like and I mean ourPHP has been around since 2013.

(24:07):
When you have a tech or carecoordinator, a lot of
responsibility falls on thattech.
Where it's you're helping,you're helping them find housing
for when they leave, or you'rehelping them get jobs and or
you're running group and you'reyou're.
You have your hands in so manydifferent things we're at in the
mental health capacity with theBHTs.
The sole responsibility forthat BHT is to be with those

(24:29):
individuals.
That's it.
They're not doing laundry,they're not, you know, cleaning
houses or running groups.
They're with that client becauseyou have to be Just present
supportive Just presentsupportive, meeting their needs,
evaluating, assessing, becausean individual could start to
deteriorate at any given moment.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah, text is the first response to observe and
report these changes, theearlier the better.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
There was one thing you mentioned earlier.
I just want to jump back on,because I really like to talk
about it often that substanceuse disorder is in the same
basket as mental health.
It's not this thing you caughtfrom drinking at the wrong bar.
I mean I wish yeah, I don'tknow.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Goddamn alcoholism.
I got a lot of your taps.
Right, I'm going to sue themyeah.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
But you.
It is regional and it's reallydriven by I.
You know I think all of us arefrom the same school of how
strong environmental scenariosinfluence addiction.
Becoming a solution to someonestyle something failed to form,

(25:49):
a security that would give aperson this search, that
addiction almost feels like thesecurity.
Eventually, when you bond withwhatever comfort you from the
drug you want, becomes thesolution Absolutely and it's a
solution to pain.
I just think it's such adelicate line.

(26:10):
The more time I spent withpeople I care about, I love or
in the field that have mentalhealth, what they're presenting
is what I present internally andthat's a I'm not.
I don't want to overgeneralize,but I'm just saying this is one
perspective you could look atso you could reduce stigma if
you think something's differentbecause you just have SUD.

(26:30):
So you could reduce stigma ifyou think something's different
because you just have SUD.
Most people I've seen presentpsychosis or even just
borderline personality likepresent or report.
Some of the ideas that aredriving this division they have
in all their relationships arethings that happen to people
with SUD internally and if theyweren't, detox would be

(26:51):
successful.
You could leave detox.
The brain would find thishomeostasis.
I'm going to find balance in myrelationships.
The drugs were the problem andyou know, if I said out loud
what I'm thinking all the time,I would be psychotic.
That would be called psychosis.
So I think the drugs for mewere sedating.

(27:14):
How loud my internal voices areand how I get treatment is to
self-report it.
Mental health it's presentingwithout the self-report.
I started to look at it thatway and it really dropped a
barrier of like, oh we're allsuffering from this, one just
doesn't fit.
One can maintain it on theinside and the other one can't.

(27:36):
Yeah, and that's hard to keep ajob.
Then it's I could, we cansuffer through a job of FUD.
Sud is your primary cause.
You're going to at nine o'clock.
You got a solution to thatsuffering.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah, exactly.
But it yeah, it's not the sameway with with mental health.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
Well, that's interesting.
How long has this program beengoing?

Speaker 2 (27:59):
So Cedar Creek just opened, june 10th.
So, we're what is today, the17th, the 18th I think and
you're open one day a week.
It feels like that it feelslike that, um, because I want to
be at full census.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
We never close.
Yeah, cause we yeah we neverclose.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Um, yeah, so it definitely, and let me say this
too is another thing with CedarCreek is that we're only 30 beds
, right Like in in the SUD world.
I come from the time wheresmall facilities were the way to
go.
Huge facilities were the way togo.
Now everybody's going back tosmall facilities.
The only way to go for aprimary mental health

(28:42):
residential is to have thatsmall cause.
I mean the reality of it is canyou have 30 schizophrenics
walking around in an unlockedunit?

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Put three border lines in the same process, right
?
You can't even handle that,right, and it's not I'm not like
mocking.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
The disorder I'm just saying is that it's unfair to
that individual it's impossibleso you know.
So, third, very, very small, 30beds um and the silver pines
track.
We we started doing dual, Ithink it was may.
Yeah, it was roughly the we wedid a month at silver pines
before we opened cedar creek.
Because again, we have thatopportunity where if if silver

(29:19):
pines isn't the right fit forthat individual, we can
laterally transfer them to cedarcreek well, let me create a
scenario and tell me how itwould.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
This would play out.
Um, someone would scream theygo to a PHP or just outpatient
services.
They're stepping down from acontinuum of care.
They feel stabilized.
They were at a 30-day inpatient.
This clinician knowssomething's presenting during
groups.
Life's going on a decline atwork where they thought they

(29:48):
would have been stable andthere's an undiagnosed mental
health issue.
It gets identified there.
When should silver pines orcedar crest be involved in that
process?
If a clinician was, what had arelationship with you guys?

Speaker 2 (30:04):
you know immediately if, if, if you know which they
are, the clinicians doing theirjob and they're recognizing that
the individual is deteriorating, but not, you know, if they're
suicidal they're trying to, youknow, do something, harm
themselves or harm someone,someone else they're going to go
to an inpatient psych Right.

(30:26):
Maybe their meds just aren't,you know, working effectively,
but they're still showing up towork and being a productive
member of society.
They will step them up then tothe residential level of care
which would be at either CedarCreek or Silver Pines.
So then we have more eyes onthem.
We have.
You know.
They're getting more individualswith their therapists.

(30:47):
They're meeting with thepsychiatrist, you know, two or
three times a week instead ofonce a week to better gauge that
.
So we have this, we have thisability to, you know, serve the
individual without just likedropping them off at a psych
unit where again they're justgoing to get lost in the mix of

(31:10):
things.
Now, of course, you know, ifit's super high acuity, we're
going to want them to go there,um, but we have the ability to
attempt to treat without havingto go there.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
I think too, it's like the intensive intensity of
she was talking about havingeyes on them, you know, and we
were talking about, you know,like Q60s, for example, is like
how, in SUD treatment, it's likeevery hour we have eyes on this
person.
We are note of noting wherethey're at any behaviors.
Um, at Cedar Creek, we're likelooking at Q fives and Q tens.

(31:41):
Will you explain?
that what's a uh Q is is everyfive minutes or every 10 minutes
or every 15 minutes.
A staff member is noting wherethis person is.
You know, if there's anybehavior or projection that
we're looking at, that we'reseeing as alarming, those things
are being checked and notedevery 5, 10, and 15 minutes.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
And this is usually by the tech on the floor.
There's a cue 5, 10, 15 minutes, Like traditionally.
Detox every 15 minutes andit'll scale down to a 30.
Might get vitals.
So in your mental health trackthat that's a great window,
that's real care.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
And the cap is 15 minutes.
So, whether they've been withus for a week or or a month,
every 15 minutes, no matterwhere you're at, you will still
continue to be checked on.
Even if you're making progress,you're doing well, we're seeing
a change for the better, youare still being.
That individual is still beingchecked on every 15 minutes.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
And this go ahead.
This for safety.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
Yes, for safety to, you know, as part of the
treatment planning.
So we have a better idea of howwe can help the person
transition, you know, out ofcare.
Because that's the goal, Right,we want to get people
transitioned back into theirnormal lives.
And so when you look at SUD,residential level of care, you

(33:09):
get to a 60 minute queue.
You know Q60.
That doesn't happen at CedarCreek.
You get to to Q15.
So that's the difference in,you know, the, the, the, I want
to say the level of care.
But that's the differencebetween SUD and mental health.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
That's a clear distinction that makes sense to
me and anybody who's neverworked in treatment.
That's like a almost like thefloor room check eyes on present
.
This could be electronically onan iPad, this could be a
written note, but you're you'rechecking off the boxes
physically while they presentwhat's the mood If there was

(33:51):
speech, this kind of what you'rerecording every 15 minutes.
That's a lot of data just forone patient.
You got 30 beds so you keep itthere.
Obviously why you have to keepit small.
Who digests that in a clinicalmeeting?

Speaker 2 (34:06):
How does that?
And then treats it effectively.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
How does that roll out for a week?
That's a lot of data collection.
Clinically, if you're justchecking off boxes for okay,
stable, there's a mood changesevere, mild.
How do you digest all thatweekly and it goes into a
treatment plan because that's alot of information?

(34:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
I mean, are you asking how we do it?

Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah, I'm curious.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Absolutely so.
It I mean for the for thetreatment team primary therapist
, executive director, clinicaldirector, director of clinical
services.
They're meeting daily.
It's you know, and luckily inthe digital age everything's in
there, so they're reviewing andgetting caught up every single
day.
So nobody you know some maybelike an SUD facility and like

(34:55):
we've done it, where they havetheir team meeting, but it's
only, it's an extended one, butit's only once a week.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
We have once a week.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Right.
You can't do that in the mentalhealth world.
You have got to be connectingwith your team every single day,
including the PA or thepsychiatrist.
Hey, this is what's.
This is what's going on,because there is no room for
error.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
All of that becomes part of the medical record.
All of the cues, all of theengagement, that all becomes
part of the medical record andpart of the reason why the
ratios have to be smaller.
Residential SUD, you're 1 to 10, is usually the ratio um.
For mental health it's it'smuch lower than that.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
It doesn't have to be like I and I I do kind of want
to speak on that.
It doesn't have to be thatratio like six to one.
That's our ratio.
There are there are selfmadeguidelines is that in order for
us to effectively treat theseindividuals?
We believe that it's six to acaseload for a primary therapist

(36:02):
and six to a BHT.
That is what we can effectivelymonitor, the right way.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
That's nice monitor, you know the right way, that's
nice For anyone if this soundslike inside baseball and you're
just listening.
Ratios mean, like she justexplained, that's a caseload.
So every counselor like an SUD.
Depending on the higher levelof the care is the less that
could be on your caseload.
Like she said, one counselor,six patients Below six patients

(36:30):
support staff BH counselor sixpatients Below six patients
support staff BHT is monitoringthem, eyes on, observing, making
these 15-minute check-ins.
That's serious care and peoplewho would have families waiting
to see how treatment wouldresolve itself.
Can a person enter back into alife that has meaningful

(36:52):
connection outside of care or bepartial care?
That should give some reallygood security that you're you're
in good hands and you guys aredoing it right.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
One thing I want to talk about too real quick is is
it's cause, it's anotherdisorder that's not discussed is
our eating disorders.
So you have primary mentalhealth, you have primary SUD.
Eating disorder itself is, youknow, it's its own diagnoses,
right, part of the same umbrella, but its own diagnoses.

(37:24):
And you know.
You have individuals again whoare self-medicating, develop an
addiction, but then their, sotheir, their SUD is primary, but
then their eating disorder hasbeen quiet, right.
So what do we do?
We take the chemicals out oftheir system they're not using
anymore and then the eatingdisorder becomes primary.

(37:46):
So you have facilities thateating disorder facilities will
not take the individual ifthey're using, if they're, if
they have an SUD actively using,right.
But then you have treatmentfacilities who won't detox the
individual because they have aneating disorder.
So there's another group ofindividuals who are just go

(38:07):
figure it out, right, wow.
So what you know this is a bigdeal is that what we can do at
Silver Pines is we can detoxthat individual with the eating
disorder, right.
So they come in.
We have the capabilitiesbecause we're duly licensed, we
have registered dietitians onstaff is that we can safely

(38:28):
bring that individual in anddetox and stabilize them from
the chemicals and then transferthem to a primary eating
disorder facility, wherever thatmay be.
Yeah, and a lot of people,they're just not willing to take
the risk on it, but it's, it'sa group of people who are
suffering from a whole notherdiagnosis, that aren't getting

(38:49):
treated because nobody,everybody's afraid, nobody wants
to help them because, well,they're not eating or you know
the chemicals.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Is that a liability thing?
Absolutely, it's a liability?
Absolutely yeah, so that's whywe won't keep them Is there a
high mortality rate to peoplethat have severe eating
disorders.
If it was anorexia, yeah, therehas to be.
I'm not sure I'm just gettingUm, yeah, there has to be.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
I'm not sure, I'm just.
You know my, my personalexperience is, just as an
individual in long-term recovery, Um, I've had, I have crossed
paths with a lot of women withboth SUD and eating disorder and
, um, if it's not the drugs thatkill them, um, it is the
long-term effects to the bodyfrom the eating disorder that

(39:36):
will then, you know, deteriorateand then decline.
So you're going, you have thisindividual who's really
self-destructing in two separateways and nobody wants to take
the chance because hospitalswill just discharge them.
So where are they going?
They continue to use or theycontinue to have disordered
eating.
So we filled that gap too.

(39:58):
So we're able, you know, we'llbring them in, we'll detox them,
stabilize them and then, youknow, if we know, as long as we
know that they have that, thateating disorder upon admission,
we're already putting togetherthe transition plan.
Okay, we've got the since thechemicals out of your system.
Now we're going to send you toABC to work on your eating

(40:18):
disorder.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
And where is ABC?

Speaker 2 (40:21):
Well, I mean our.
So our umbrella company, our,our parent company.
We have eating disorderfacilities all over the country.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
Oh, and that's we do, yeah, yeah, odyssey behavioral
health, which is the parentcompany.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Magnolia Creek, Sela House.
We have all over, but nothinglocal.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
Yeah, it's another.
Well, it's good to have thatresource internally.
So traditionally you havemarketing.
That is.
You know, we're one of the lastfields I hate using the word
industry, but I think of widgetsLast fields I hate using the
word industry but I think ofwidgets but a field that does

(41:02):
traditional marketing,relationship-based shaking hands
and that's rapidly evolved overthe last two decades to SEOs in
this field that drive a brandor a number.
But before we started the showwe were talking about showing up
shaking hands.
We've had I'll be straight, wehave no referrals but we talk
often.
I talk to Dylan all the time ascolleagues.

(41:23):
That's not really happening inother.
That's not common in a lot ofmental health or other fields
that outreach coordinators meetweekly, monthly, cover some
ground.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
That's kind of the backbone of your, your marketing
of Cedar Crest and Silver Pinesright, cedar Creek, yes, so
Cedar Creek and Silver Pines is,you know it's, it's relational,
you know, and it's we'rebuilding those relationships
with our community partners.
And that's what you know,that's how we look at this thing

(41:56):
.
Is that you know, we, we can'tdo it all.
We have to have communitypartners in order to have the
most, the best impact that wecan.
And you know that's how we doit.
We do it through relationships.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
And I say this all the time like cause I started
with Silver Pines, you know fromthe beginning is we are not.
Silver Pines Treatment Centeris not a destination facility.
We don't have a swimming pool.
You know we're not this.
We are a blue collar workingindividual who needs to come and

(42:33):
get better, have theirpaperwork filled out so they
don't lose their job, and thenget them prepped and prepared to
go to return to work becausethey have a family to provide
for a profession.
But what?
What we are the best at is ourculture and our clinical care.
Like that's why our on boots,on the ground marketing strategy

(42:56):
works, because we believewholeheartedly in what we do.
And so does everybody thatworks at Silver Pines, from from
the the facilities manager toto the CEO.
Um, everybody's approachable.
And it's you experience thatwhen you come down to Silver
Pines, if you come down to do atour or a presentation, we have

(43:18):
guests, we have visitors.
Every single time somebodyleaves, they're like that is the
best group of people that we'veever met.
Oh, I could feel the energybecause we genuinely care about
what we're doing and who we'rehelping.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
It's hard to stay in this field if you don't.
Yeah, it's.
We're not selling used cars.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
I say that all the time we're convincing people
where our job is to convincepeople that their life is worth
living.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
And we don't even know them.
They're strangers to us.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
Hmm, yeah, um, just for me.
Yeah, the first conversationthat we had together is how

(44:13):
diverse populations experienceunique and challenging barriers,
you know, and STR steps torecovery.
The outpatient program inLevittown was actually, I
believe, the first outpatientprovider to be recognized by the
human rights campaign andaccredited by the human rights
campaign for deliveringaffirming and supportive

(44:33):
services to the LGBTQ pluscommunity.
So for me, when thisopportunity came up, it was like
a no brainer.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
And you were aware of this because you know our first
podcast, you do a lot oftrainings.
It's not a nonprofit to trainclinicians.
There's distinct things thathappen in LGBTQ populations that
have to be recognized,especially on a clinical
component, especially when it'sentered in group.

(45:01):
If it's the group understandingof this, does the clinician
understand it?
And you still do thesetrainings correct?

Speaker 3 (45:08):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I actually just did onein my role here at STR, cause we
can do that.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
That's part of the meeting people and having those
conversations Break out theframework of it, what happens
and is this a day long continue,kind of CE or like a training
day for?

Speaker 3 (45:30):
So are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (45:31):
the work that I do.
I couldn't make it to the lastone we were planning on
attending.
I was out of town, but I willbe attending one.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
So there's many different topics, obviously, but
, like the training that youmissed a couple weeks ago, we
just kind of looked at, you know, current trends within the LGBT
community of substances thatare being used, how many of the

(45:58):
population is using thesubstance, and we look at the
disparity.
Lgbt people aredisproportionately affected.
So I usually like to look atthat because that kind of like
sets the tone for why thistraining is so important.

(46:19):
And then we look at, you know,the last training we looked at
like transference andcounter-transference and how
that works in a clinicalrelationship when you're dealing
with the LGBT community.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
How would you define those two terms, transference
and counter-transence?

Speaker 3 (46:34):
Transference is how?
So as we navigate our waythrough life, this is just
people.
We carry our stuff with us.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yeah, this is a good topic because I've been doing
this now professionally from thestart.
It's for four years.
We haven't been open that long,but it was planning and
transference is real.
I've gone home very distracted.
I've lost sleep.
I meet with other colleaguesthat aren't in our shop and we

(47:08):
talk.
I have to attend meetings.
This is not my recovery, but,being that it's Scranton,
there's a lot that could comehome with me, and I have to sit
and decompress before I go in myhouse.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
So there's a lot that can come home with you, but
also there's a lot that can betransferred to the clients that
you're working with, that you'reserving, and even from outside
of our professional lives.
But, like how we grew up, um,you know the values um that were
instilled in us as we weregrowing up, in our experience
and throughout our childhood andour adolescence, and all of

(47:46):
that stuff like that, ourjourney, um, it shapes us and it
shapes the way that we interactwith our clients, um.
So knowing those things andknowing our biases knowing um
and not biases in, in like aderogatory term, because we all
have our biases, whether they'reum, subconscious or or not Um

(48:09):
but recognizing those things um,and and, and the profound
impact that it can have in thedelivery of the treatment
services that you're trying toprovide, I work on it constantly
.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
It's not something you could stop working on.
It gets easier.
My language is very clean.
My notes stay very clean.
That's where I started to getthat If you could write a good
note, you could talk well in aclinical setting.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Well, and I'll just talk for me personally, what has
been one of the biggest thingsthat I have have had to, I
wouldn't say, cope with, but asa person in long-term recovery,
like I work, a 12 step programof recovery and the 12 step
philosophy and the 12 stepprogram of recovery should save

(48:58):
my life, and so I am biasedtowards the 12 step program of
recovery and like thisabstinence based viewpoint and
and that is what I do for myselfand what has saved my life, but
that's not necessarily going towork for everyone.
Sure, and as a provider, wehave to be able to meet the

(49:25):
people where they're at, and youknow that is connected with
this transference,counter-transference, but also
so is the way that we interactwith other people.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
That's easy for me, the 12-step not being for
everyone, it's not, it's justmetrical fact, or we'd all be in
AA, right, it took me a longtime to get to that point,
though, because I was likenarcotics, anonymous is the only
way, and, um boy, was that, youknow, until I started working
in treatment says the fourpeople right right, right right,

(50:03):
especially in my area.
Yeah, until this is it.
We're all recovering, and thenand then recover, damn it.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
Yeah, there was, and nobody could say anyway say the
prayers, yeah, say the rightprayers, you're an an addict,
not an alcoholic.
We say the Lord's prayer don'tmess up a word, or the spell
won't work.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
Don't say God, it was this whole thing.
And then and then, when Istarted working in treatment, I
was like, oh, there's other ways, you know.
And it and that's another thingtoo is like when you come to
Silver Pines, like, yes, we haveNarcotics Anonymous meetings,
come in, we have AlcoholicsAnonymous meetings come in, but

(50:42):
our holistic counselor, kate,who's been with us since the
beginning, is also introducingsmart recovery, dharma recovery.
We, we have alumni who havecompleted the program, they've
done well, they've, you know,they've continued, they've
started and continued theirjourney of recovery, who have
taken Dharma recovery that theywere introduced to in Silver

(51:03):
Pines back to their like homeareas and started their own
Dharma.
And that's what it's about.
Like, it's about the connection.
And whether you do it through a12 step or Dharma or Will
Bridie, whatever it looks like,it doesn't matter.
People are finding theirpurpose, you know, at Silver
Pines and then taking that homewith them.
Because we're not, it's not justyou need to do right, you need

(51:27):
to do a, b and C, and and that'sit.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
I'm biased to alcoholics and
non-alcoholonymous in a reallydistinct way.
I'm an atheist that got soberin AA.
I don't speak of God in anyterms that I know we're all
winking in Lackawanna County.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
You know the Eucharist that's where it's at
Right.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
Yeah.
So, and I think a lot of peopleare like that.
I'm just.
I was more thorny about itbecause I didn't want to be
conscripted into.
Yeah, like, what do you thinkI'm saying?
Like we're just willy nilly,just say the creator of the
universe is the only thingthat's going to solve my medical
problems.

(52:08):
It's a strange idea to resist inthe beginning.
I don't have that bias here inthe beginning.
I don't have that bias here.
But one bias that does like Ihave to stand guard on is how
motivational like interviewingis.
Just this.
You know, this is a way it's anentry level modality, easy way
to start with clinicalinterviewing, the sentiment

(52:30):
behind what you're you'recalling motivation.
If you're putting inspiringcadence to your talks, I I'm
very cautious with that becauseI don't know what someone else
can achieve and how much timethey have to achieve it.
Life is very uncertain, so Icould talk about these
magnificent things that wouldsell hope and hope's cruelty to.

(52:53):
If you're not clinicallyjudging who's in front of you.
It's not me, I'm not like, andthat's why that training should
be continuous for a guy like meand someone else, because trends
and culture change.
Mine might not, but I'm goingto serve populations that have
different cultures it's goinggoing to keep changing.

(53:15):
Keep my eyes open, and that onlyhappens by continuing to go to
trainings, reading, talking todiverse clinicians within the
field that we all have to standguard against.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
Yeah, and when Dylan was talking about the training
and we've developed because wedo a variety of trainings in, I
guess it was a year or two agoOur executive director, matt
Bardos, and myself developed atraining for SHRM, for the Human

(53:51):
Resources board group.
I can't think of what it standsfor right now.
I'm drawing a blank for theseindividuals who are in the
workforce, their human resourcedirectors, their employee
assistant programs, who haveindividuals who are, you know,
using on the job or sufferingfrom, from SUD, and instead of
getting them help and connectingtheir employee to treatment,

(54:14):
they were firing them and theycouldn't understand why their
turnover was so high.
And then their, your costs go upwhen you don't invest in your
employee, if you would just makethat connection.
So we developed this trainingon the signs to look for what to
do when you know when, whensomebody gets caught or
something happens, maybe theycome to you and seek help, is

(54:35):
being that person to justconnect them with services, no
judgment, no stigma, um, maybehold their job for them as long
as they, you know, um completetreatment successfully, and then
you're investing in the clientthat or the employee.
That employee is going to comeback to work feeling better and
get 10 times you're going to get10 times more work out of that

(54:57):
individual because you believedin them and and you know when we
did that training it was it was.
You would be shocked in thisday and age the the ignorance
and unknowing of what employersare not willing to do.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
They just they are what an employee's rights are
and what their rights are.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
We just had you.
It was right when you started,dylan, we were dealing with
someone, we knew someone and theindividual used.
I don't even think they didanything stupid, they just got
caught using immediatelyterminated Zero tolerance, zero
tolerance policy which Iunderstand it from a liability,
especially if you're like atruck driver or something along
those lines but offer themservices to connect them, to

(55:41):
care.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
This work.
It's tricky I mean, especiallyin Pennsylvania, you know work
at will and alleviates any ofthe responsibilities that maybe
labor unions have fought for.
So you can't fire someone likethat.
You could terminate becausethere's the laws of have so many

(56:02):
loopholes to protect the youknow a staff the next year.
What are you guys lookingforward to?

Speaker 2 (56:11):
Well, we're going to be opening.
Do you mean professionally orpersonally?

Speaker 1 (56:17):
You decide, okay, you're opening a McDonald's.
We're going to open aMcDonald's within Silver Pines
and a Starbucks.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
We're going to have a drive-thru.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Can we do the Starbucks first?
I don't know, I might justdecide.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
We're just a blue-collar treatment center
with a McDonald's.
Wouldn't that be ideal?
We'd have to do Dunkin', it'dbe Dunkin' Donuts, it would be.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Dunkin'.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
Let's get honest okay .

Speaker 2 (56:38):
My husband's a union steel worker.
It would have to be a Dunkin'All right local 81.
Yeah, so listen, but no, we'reactually so.
You know, we have Silver Pines,we have Cedar Creek, we we have
steps to recovery bucks, wehave steps to recovery Lehigh
Valley, which is PHP and IOP, nohousing.
We're getting ready to openanother outpatient in Lancaster,

(57:00):
so the lease is signedTentative.
You know how construction andall that stuff goes Tentative.
Open date will be January of2025.
Same thing mental health andSUD, PHP, IOP from the community
, no housing attached.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
Well, I wanted to get this out there and I'm glad you
guys stopped by, because thisis a much needed resource.
It's nothing I wouldn't want tomarket anywhere and I'll keep
sharing it as an extendedoutreach because it is needed.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
Yeah, beds are needed .

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Yes, Dylan for the next year.
Will you be opening a franchiseat McDonald's anywhere?

Speaker 2 (57:42):
He's going to go with Starbucks, probably I would.
You want to be competitors,don't you?

Speaker 1 (57:47):
Jack in the Box Chick-fil-A.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
I'm just I'm really excited to I'm newer to the STR
network.
I'm excited to be here, I'mexcited to continue building up
our relationships in theNortheast PA area and and you
know, lower tier of upstate NewYork and you know, sharing the
wonderful work that we're doingwithin our network with the

(58:13):
community.
So I'm looking forward to thatand you know, in my personal
life and the things that I dooutside of work, I'm looking
forward to continue being therefor the people in my life that
are in recovery and my sponseesand showing up and just doing
the right thing.

(58:34):
You know, the NEPA PrideCoalition has lots of really
exciting things happening.
We just were donated some space, so we're going to be moving
into the Exceed Center indowntown Wilkes-Barre which
we'll be able to kind of like dosome engagement face to face
with the community.
So lots of really cool andexciting things happening.

(58:56):
They're all gifts of gettingsober, you know, and doing the
deal as we say, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Guys, I hope you come back soon.

Speaker 3 (59:07):
Oh, I'll be here next week.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
Yeah, don't you have a relationship here.
Yeah, it's nepotism.
My husband actually yes.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:15):
Yeah, I keep forgetting about that.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
It's nepotism.
My husband actually.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Oh yeah, I keep forgetting about that he's our A
number one tech man.
Nobody fucks with Gerard.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
Nobody fucks with Dylan either.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
He's so kind and approachable.
There's a fierceness, gerard,with an arm cross and a look,
he's awesome, he's the best.
Love that guy he makes a realimpact on our population and
census.
Look, he's awesome, he's thebest.
Love that guy.
He makes a real impact on ourpopulation and census here.
Thank you.
This is my favorite thing aboutI came from a background of

(59:45):
advertising and politics.
There was no collaboration.
This is all collaboration withone objective Reduce people's
pain.
I'll talk to you guys soon.

Speaker 3 (59:58):
Thanks Joe, thanks Joe.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
I'd like to thank you for listening to another
episode of All Better.
You can find us on allbetterfmor listen to us on Apple
podcasts, Spotify, Googlepodcasts, Stitcher, I heart
radio and Alexa.
Special Thanks to our producer,John Edwards, and engineering

(01:00:25):
company five, seven oh drone.
Please like or subscribe to uson YouTube, Facebook, Instagram
or Twitter and, if you're not,on social media, you're awesome.
Looking forward to seeing youagain.
And remember, just becauseyou're sober doesn't mean you're

(01:00:45):
right.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.

Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Don't miss out on the NFL Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts' exclusive week of episodes recorded in New Orleans!

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

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.