Episode Transcript
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Alright, guys, and welcome tothe Drunken Worm Podcast.
My name is Carl, the host andcreator of this show, and you
are going to be listening toepisode 39, and I have a really
wonderful guest lined up for ustoday.
(01:06):
He is my first internationalguest and his name is Justin,
and we're going to bring Justininto the show here in just a
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(01:53):
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(03:20):
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So, without any further ado,let's get on with this week's
episode.
Welcome to the Drunken WormPodcast.
Each week, I will be bringingyou dynamic content that will
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This podcast was created totalk to mental health
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(03:42):
stories that can help inspire usto become better people and
live healthier lives.
Welcome to the Drunken WormPodcast, episode number 39.
And on today's show I have mynew friend, justin.
He is joining us from CostaRica Well, actually he's over on
the Caribbean side, but we'regoing to dive into that here in
a few minutes.
I'm actually really jealous man, because I'm talking to him
(04:05):
before the show and duties withpalm trees and he turns his
camera around and it's just thisbeautiful, beautiful ocean
scene.
So I want to welcome Justin tothe show man.
Welcome, brother.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Thank you, Carl.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, man, absolutely
, absolutely Dude.
I'm so jealous right nowbecause you and I were talking
and for some reason I know thatyou have a stateside phone.
So when I was texting you I waslike, well, maybe he's like
stateside or something, but itis definitely apparent that
you're not stateside, that yougot your flip flops on and
(04:43):
you're enjoying the beach forsure.
So welcome to the show man.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Thank you.
Yeah, snorkeling about fiveminutes before I picked up the
phone.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, I just I have
nothing to polite to say about
that.
So cool man.
So tell us, where exactly areyou this morning?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I'm on the Caribbean
coast of Costa Rica, as far
south as you can go.
The national park right next tome is half Panama, half Costa
Rica.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Okay, okay, cool man.
Yeah, I love it.
Yeah, dude, I love it downthere.
Man, it's just so beautifuldown there.
I did a cruise, a 12-day cruise, and we did Costa Rica and then
we went down into the PanamaCanal and we did the first lock
of the canal and, dude, it's soamazing and it's so different
(05:37):
down there and I love theculture and everything.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So, yeah, yeah, it is
a completely different culture
and even between coast it's twodifferent cultures here.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yes, absolutely man.
Yeah, yeah really, because youhave the Atlantic side or what I
would consider the west coastside, and then you have the
Pacific side, which what I wouldguess I would consider maybe
like the east coast side, if interms of kind of the way the US
is kind of divided, with land inbetween.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, yeah, except a
giant mountain range down the
middle.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Okay, well, yeah, we.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
It's just two oceans
and a mountain range.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Wow, that's great man
.
So, dude, it sounds like lifeis pretty good for you right now
, but I know that it alwayshasn't been that way, and you
kind of happenstance to get downto coast or EECA by a little
bit of an airline flight thatyou were planning on taking to
California.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about that man?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, well, I'll
start off back at the VA, at
Gundo VA treatment.
I've been sober for about amonth but I knew it wasn't going
well and I figured I'd give ita try.
But I'd been through the VAthree times or this would have
been my third time and I justsaw more of the same that there
(07:02):
was no.
There was one counselor for allof the veterans that were in
treatment, just one that you mayor may not get to meet with,
depending on how desperate yourneeds were.
There was zero psychologistsand there was no veterans I mean
aside from the patients as faras the staff, I mean Just
(07:25):
knowing that I know that seemedto be able to relate and I
decided to take off and I wouldrather than be a drug that's
driving Denver and not so manypeople, marijuana, and that
immediately sent me off to theraces and I ended up in a
hospital Christian rock metalband and putted pretty hard with
them, which isn't something Iknew they did and then God Real
(07:48):
messed up and decided that I wasgonna go get sober at a
friend's house I knew a safe inSan Jose, california, but I
wasn't sober when I made thedecision and I woke up in San
Jose, costa Rica.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Wow, and and now
you've been down there for how
long now?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Two and a half years.
Okay over there.
I got here.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Oh, wow, okay.
So you, you literally like youdidn't have any choice but to
stay down there.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Not really.
I mean, I didn't really want toleave when COVID hit.
I mean, I was on the other sidepart partying with there is a
big music festival and somegirls that were there for photo
shoot, some drug dealers, andwe're all living in a hostel
over there and I decided to goover to the Caribbean side.
You can still escape to thebeach.
This is a beach I'm on now.
We didn't enjoy it at allbecause all of us were having
(08:36):
the addiction and none of usleft the house or did anything
interesting in the least.
And that went on for a longtime and completely fell apart.
And then I was calling aroundfor treatments, I mean, but I
had no resources and Got luckyand I found one that had a X
Vietnam green beret that wasrunning it and I told him my
(08:58):
situation.
I was wondering if the a wouldhelp out in any way and he's
like I know that, but he waslike I'm a veteran, he sounds
like you need help.
He's like just come in.
He's like that's, we don'tworry about it.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Wow, that's, that's
great man, that is, that's just
great.
And now you've become friendswith that, with that guy.
I see the same person thatyou're staying.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, he's the guy
I'm doing the benefits for okay,
cool, man Cool.
He actually followed me downhere.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Wow, wow, that's
great, dude.
You've got a little followingbecause we we also have another
mutual friend by the name of JR,who is the author of the
addiction manifesto and also oneof the founders and Semi
co-host of the recoveryrevolution live, a show that I
used to co-host on that platform, and so you know a lot of
(09:48):
really interesting stuff goingon.
Man, dude, I'm so excited tohave you on the show this
morning.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, thanks, I'm
really glad to be on here.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I haven't spoken much
about what's going on down here
, aside from maybe JR who waslike I'm down right.
I'll show you what's happened.
I mean, it's very odd whatwe're able to do for veterans
here.
There's no path like it.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Okay, so tell us, how
is, how is the recovery path
different there Versus maybe, avet that's trying to get
services up in the US?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I'm gonna go fairly
hardcore here my experience of
recovery and receiving servicesbeing national guard.
Even though I've been deployed,I wasn't eligible for benefits,
but when the post 9-11 billwent through, veteran National
(10:42):
Guard members that had beendeployed for a certain number of
days were now eligible forbenefits, and that was shortly
after 2008 when that wentthrough that.
I had been need of them for along time prior to that, but I
finally sought help.
Like this is shortly after thedivorce and I was Suicidal,
(11:03):
drinking a lot I don't think myalcohols and been for force, but
I was using it to cope withother mental health problems and
and my experience at the VA wasTelling them what I was going
through, because I finally wasable to even go to a VA and tell
them, like, what was going on,how it's feeling.
They locked me in a room for 72hours, not always remembering to
(11:27):
bring me food For people thatare suicidal and I spent most of
the time being really upsetthat I had nothing there to kill
myself.
That's what my experience to be.
I mean, I had no one to talk to, I was just Locked up and even
more in my own head, one than Iwas before.
I sought help.
Now, at the end of it, I talkedto a doctor for about 15
(11:48):
minutes and he said there wasgroups I could go to a couple
times a week.
I mean, I knew I needed a muchhigher level of care.
Treatment seemed not to be anoption.
Rehabilitation seemed not to bean option, in his mind at least
yeah and their mind didn't seemto be given right.
And then I I don't know whatacute in their mind was, but but
(12:12):
anyhow, and I mean that was thebeginning of my path many years
down the road, they eventuallygot me into.
I mean, they just shut me outin the street with no resources.
Well, we figured out,essentially.
But make it back to thesemeetings even though you don't
live in this town sure.
But I mean, eventually I gotthrough treatment and it was
more of the same and trying toget treatment outside of VA.
(12:35):
They have something calledcommunity care network, which is
something that I'm using here.
The foreign medical program ispart of the community care
network, but in order to do thatyou have to.
They use the Mission Act to seehow close you are to a VA and
how urgent your need is and theytake all these things into
consideration.
(12:55):
But then it goes in front ofwhat is essentially an
accounting board to see Ifthey're willing to pay for your
treatment, and from people thatI've tried to refer, the answer
is 99% of the time, no sure andand and for many, many things.
(13:16):
I absolutely love the VA, but Imean my experience within mental
health has been terrible.
I mean positive for the VA.
I want to go see a dentistFargo, which I think has the
best VA in the country for me.
I got into the dentist next dayto give me a root canal.
I mean everything got done, wow.
But what's mental health?
Mental health I've struggled,specifically addiction treatment
(13:37):
.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
And, but our path is
different.
I mean for the foreign medicalprogram.
All you need to be a serviceconnected.
You can seek treatment foranything.
Your service connected.
Okay in the VA page, in the VApays for it.
There's no referral process.
Let's say your serviceconnected.
You can fly here tomorrow andsay I need treatment.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
You can.
You can start treatmenttomorrow.
I mean, this doesn't exist inthe US.
There's, I mean, aside fromyour passport, there really
isn't an obstacle.
Wow you can just immediatelyget in street.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
That's.
That's.
That's fantastic man.
So how long has the programbeen operating now?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Well, our treatment
center are the foreign medical
program.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Well, let's, let's
start with the treatment center
and then we'll go over theforeign medical program.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Sure, the treatment
center was started by the
Vietnam veteran I was tellingyou about, I believe 16 years
ago.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
He mostly operate
Operated in the Minnesota model.
He he was One of the higher-upsfor Hazelden for many years,
okay, and he actually came downhere to train Costa Ricans in
the Minnesota model.
Wow, okay and but I mean but theexpansion, I mean just what he
saw and Nature, and I mean allthe stuff he was kind of trying
(14:57):
to do at Hazelden and throughthe VA, but getting a lot of
backlash.
I'm like just for insurancecompanies and the VA wanting to
pay for mindfulness andMedication and sound therapies
and all these other modalitiesto go along with the 12 steps
but being just as integral,including exercise, which is
(15:18):
which is the entire time hasbeen done.
Regardless of like what yourstate is, your physical state is
, you get up at 5 30 to go tothe gym.
If you have to go to the gymand sit there in a wheelchair
and not do anything for a fewdays, you'll eventually join in
whichever way you can yeahthat's.
That's to start your day.
I mean the physicality of thisprogram Through the mindfulness
(15:41):
is just a work.
It detoxes you so much morerapidly, but not only that like
you can see the change inyourself.
I mean not just feel, feel yourmind coming back together, I
mean you physically it's.
It's kind of the change you seewhen you go through basic
training.
I mean, after like six weeksyou're like I'm kind of ripped.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I mean, and I mean so
Physically, you look good in
your.
I mean that helps your mentalhealth and health as well.
I mean, but with themindfulness and meditation and
sound therapy and the yoga, Imean, your body and mind are
healthy, mm-hmm.
Um, at that point, I mean youhave, aside from just, I suppose
, mild vanity, I mean you havemany reasons to feel good and a
(16:26):
lot of great tools to bring withyou, because it's a 90 day
program and it really helps youget in that mode.
It's a training.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, absolutely, and
, um, dude, I love the fact that
, uh, that this gentleman hasstarted.
You know, coming from Hazeltonand, uh, you know, that's for
those of you who are notfamiliar with what Hazelton is,
it's a very large publishingcompany.
Um, they, they do so many umdifferent uh, I don't want to
(16:59):
call it literature, but theyhave a lot of books and
everything that we can utilizeinside of the classroom and a
lot of trainings and, you know,and all these different things
that we can do with differentmodalities of service that we
give to people, and so it's kindof one of like the standards
that is in the treatmentindustry, especially within the
U S.
Uh, so very familiar with it,yeah.
(17:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
He specifically
worked at Hazelton uh for Betty
Ford.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
As a research, as a
researcher, and then then, then
that's great.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
That's.
That's really awesome, Okay,Cool.
So so it sounds like we have a90 day program and, um, what is
it?
What does a typical day looklike for somebody who's going
through treatment there?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Um, I'll give a
typical Monday.
Okay, um, monday, get again.
You get up between five andfive 20 most people get out of
bed right before the gym Um,just time enough to fill up
their water bottle and draw andclose.
And the gym's a short five,five, four or five minute walk.
(18:06):
Great, as the sun's coming up,it's great time to be out.
I mean all the birds are out.
I mean, even though we're inthe city, we're in the valley
around Mullins and it's stillfilled with nature.
I mean all the birds aresinging and it's and it feel
good just going there and uh,then then it's an hour at the
gym and then you come back.
You've got some time.
(18:28):
Most people use it formeditating directly after the
gym or practicing their ownbreathing techniques, and then
you're meditating and teachingothers and hit the showers or
whatever they want to do is.
You've got about a half an hour,40 minutes in there and then
it's a breakfast, and thenyou've got about half an hour to
(18:49):
yourself or half an hour to anhour to get organized for the
day.
Yeah, um, and then it's uh,then then it usually is.
Well then, on Mondays thatwould be sound therapy at E.
You've got a full stomach and,um, just kind of lay there in a
(19:11):
sound bath or an hour.
I mean you're motionless.
I mean it's a lot of indigenousinstruments with most the, the,
the, the, maybe in the, andactually next patient are the
ones that are making the music,and the shaman, the shaman
musician, and she's using justnature sounds that generally
(19:33):
with bowls and gongs, and I meanit's not the harsh sounds and
it's just soothing.
And for veterans and like, uh,I don't know, like maybe overly
masculine people, even puttingmyself like hard work is this
was like really hard to accept.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Additionally, and I
mean it was important.
I mean that level of like justtrying and accepting things was
just doing that was reallyimportant.
I mean, after you're in it andyou manage to keep your mouth
closed for like five minutes,you're just loving it and just
completely relaxed and it's agreat way to, like just before
classes, just kind of get yourmind right to to really start
(20:13):
going inside.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, yeah,
absolutely that's.
That sounds pretty amazing, andso JR talked a lot about the
meals down there.
He said the meals were amazing.
Um, and so do you?
You have a chef or a kitchencrew that comes in?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
and cooks for the
guys.
Yeah, we've, we've, we've got acouple chefs.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Thanks, thanks.
We've got a local Tika chef.
Tika is what they call CostaRican women, and Anika
Nicaraguas to the north, andthere's a lot of people from
Nicaragua, a lot of migrants,down here.
Well, similar to the southernstates, which are next to them.
And same ingredients, verydifferent cooking styles, both
(20:57):
amazing chefs, costa Ricans.
They're both fairly healthy andthen Nika's definitely like the
fried chicken a lot more A lotof fresh fruits.
That's both beans and rice.
I mean a lot of fish, but bothamazing chefs.
I mean they've got some workersalong with them that are good
(21:19):
chefs in their own right, butthey're kind of the two heads
and they're the heads on theindividual days.
They work and there's a hugespread.
I mean it's a good meal.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's great, man.
You're making me hungry.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, yeah, and it's
healthy, rather than what you're
familiar with treatment, I mean.
I mean there's people that comedown really skinny, but for the
most part, people get less fathere.
I mean both the diet and theexercise.
The diet is quite important forus too.
I mean, it's good, delicious,healthy food.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
And that's important
because, you know, when we come
in to recovery, a lot of us andmyself included, you know we
didn't know how to eat properly,which was really dude.
It was really strange for mebecause I'm a trained chef and
so, like, I know portion sizes,I know, like, hey, we got to
have.
You know, this is the way aplate should be balanced and
(22:16):
stuff like that.
But my idea of a well roundedmeal was a microwaved chicken,
or not even a chicken sandwich,a microwaved cheese sandwich and
a bowl of ice cream at the end.
And, dude, I mean, it justsounds delicious to me right now
, but I know how unhealthy thatwas for me and it put me into a
(22:37):
category of being pre diabetic,you know.
And so, luckily, my I've beennow doing, you know, watching
what I eat, exercising again,and you know, doing all these
things.
So I'm no longer at least Idon't think I'm pre diabetic.
My doctor said that I wasn'tanymore.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
So and your diets.
I mean I mean we kind of follow, like the indigenous or
cultural, with how much yourdiet affects your psychology.
I mean, especially when you'redetoxing, I mean there, there is
a different.
You don't, you're not forced tofollow it, but there definitely
(23:16):
is a detox diet.
I mean they don't entirelyeliminate me, but they highly
recommend it.
Yeah and dairy, they kind ofremove all inflammatory from
your diet.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
And I mean even as
you, even if, when you're done
with detox, I mean you couldstill treat yourself, there's
still least one or two like veryunhealthy options there, and I
never moved away from ice cream.
I ate that every night thewhole time I was in treatment
and I eat it every night to thisday.
Nice, nice, I mean, I don't gocrazy, but that's something that
is not removed.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, that disease.
That's almost like my, myAchilles heel man.
I'm like ice cream and then I'mlike oh.
I got to put peanut butter withit, and then what goes with
that chocolate sauce right andI'm like man yeah you know it's
all bad, no, but you know I'vebeen doing so.
I've I got into doing aketogenic diet so I've taken out
(24:08):
pretty much almost all my carbswell, total carbs or net carbs,
I guess you would say and thensugars and stuff I use.
You know some of these othernot not even natural sugars,
like fruits and everything I tryto stay away from because of
the sugars and the fruits.
But but it's been really goodfor me and it's been.
(24:30):
It's worked really well withgetting my, my weight under
control and allowing me to, youknow, not have some of the
ailments that I've had beforebecause of not some of the
ailments and I did the keto whenI was down here to get.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
the cooks are really
flexible with that.
I mean everyone, like whenyou're, when you're trying to
get mentally healthy.
I mean everyone's trying seemsto be trying to get physical.
They're just all that.
Your mindset just switches towhole and the and the cooks here
at a dapp was you on that?
I mean, yeah, I did the ketodiet for probably the first
(25:05):
month and a half that I was hereand I definitely felt a lot
higher level of energy mightseem to be processing.
I mean you're detoxing to right, so that's a benefit of that,
exactly, exactly, yeah, man.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
But I love nutrition,
like you know, just learning
about how our body processesfood, how it stores fat, you
know, and finding out differentways that you know, with our
diet we can actually improve ourmental health as well, which is
super important, you know, anda lot of people don't realize
that our mental health is tiedinto so many different aspects
(25:41):
of the way that we just approachlife itself and how we live
life itself.
So, you know, really reallyimportant to be aware of what
we're putting into our bodies,because that's a byproduct of
what we're going to produce andwhat other people see and how we
act and how we feel and stuff.
(26:01):
So very important is nutritionfor those of you out there.
Yeah, man, it's dude, I'm justso jealous, you know.
Actually, seeing all the palmtrees and hearing the ocean and
stuff, man, it's making me wantto go scuba diving.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yeah, there's some
guys out of boat right over here
and this is the cheaper part ofthe country.
It's not a high cost thing, Imean, yeah, it's pretty, it's
pretty famous over on this coasttoo.
It's equal here in the Pacific.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
So is there a large?
So is one side, like you wouldrecommend going to the beach on
one side versus the other, orare they both like equally good
to like go to the beach or getin the water?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Absolutely.
I mean Absolutely, I want, Iwant to.
I mean, my personal preferenceis a the Caribbean.
That's where it first came.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I like.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I like the mentality.
It's a little less touristic,considerably less.
But the Pacific has its ownbeauty.
I mean it's, it's become Kindof a wellness mecca of the world
.
Wow, costa Rica's, costa Rica's, and what people refer to as a
blue zone.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I Mean and there is
some science behind.
I mean here like Okinawa, Imean people just have much
longer life spans.
Yeah much healthier lifestyles.
I mean Compared, compared tothe area of the lifespan here is
almost 10 years longer.
The lifespan here isconsiderably longer than the
United States.
Wow and considers.
(27:46):
And yet again, for non veterans, where about About $7,500 a
month?
Which kind of plays into likethe regular role of Costa Rica.
Like, if you look at likedollars spent, dollar spent in
healthcare, per longevity, costaRica has the least amount,
least amount of dollars spentper person per year and the
(28:11):
highest in the, the highestlongevity in all of the
Americans.
Which Concludes North America,the United States, canada.
It's higher than all of them.
Yeah and the United States isnear the bottom.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Wow, and you know,
and I totally agree with that
man, and and I I know I shouldagree with that because it's
it's factual, you know, yeah,but you know, you look at the
diet in America and the way thatwe approach fast food, the way
that we approach processed foods, and you know, like man, it's
(28:45):
just so strange, like we getthese guys that will come into a
treatment center and like noneof them know how to cook and I'm
like, how do you not know howto cook?
You know, and yeah they're likehow do you boil pasta?
And I'm like, okay, let me showyou.
You know, obviously you haven'thad to do that before, but you
know, if you go down to Othercountries and stuff, you know,
(29:09):
it seems like there is there'speople that know how to take
basic food ingredients and putthem together to make a
nutritious meal.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
So it's not even.
Not even that.
I mean, it's just a differentlifestyle.
I mean the us, I mean I thinkthe longevity has more to do
with a lifestyle which will,which will include cooking, and
I'll get into that.
Yeah like here.
Like here, if you're hungry, um, they'll throw you a mango.
I mean, if you're in the UnitedStates, you not only feel that
you have to prepare something oryou have to go to the store and
(29:40):
you have to buy something.
It's, I mean, it's away fromlike the consumer.
It's not only the consumeristicculture, it's the the go, go,
go, go, go go, but only mentally, without actually moving your
body.
I kind of Kind of moving pastfor the sake of moving fast,
yeah, so the person behind youdoesn't get you.
I mean, that mentality herejust doesn't exist.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah, yeah, that's
dude.
That's so refreshing to to tosee.
I lived in Hawaii for a littlewhile and kind of a similar, you
know, mindset there too.
You know we always madereference to island time Versus
like the regular time, becauseisland time usually was about 15
to 20 minutes later than youknow what, what was normally
(30:25):
happening around you know, ifyou were like from the mainland
or something, so um, butdefinitely, definitely a very
laid-back kind of acarousel-free, um attitude
towards life and Like if it'smeant to be, it's meant to be,
and if it, if it's not meant tobe, then you know that's okay
(30:46):
too and that's kind of how Iapproach for life.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Now you know like
yeah, they're national slogan
and it's especially said a lothere is who to be the, which
means your life.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
They also use it kind
of like as well, as they also
use the most common use, for itends up being I mean, aside from
like Things are great of, thesecond most common use is, uh,
they use it as a shit happens.
Yeah right, which is kind ofkind of confusing right.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, but it's so,
true man.
You're like, well, fuck man,shit happens right.
And you're like, yeah, right,there you go.
I love it, man, I love it sotell me what is what's on.
What is what's on Um?
Where do you see this programgoing?
Because I know that you guyshave the one center and you're
planning on opening up anotherum Property.
(31:40):
I'm tied to the rehab.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, um, I'll Put it
as it pertains to the pro, the
program in general, because Iwill specify, the veterans
program is something different.
Um, the veterans program.
As far as rehabilitation goals,our intent is not to have a
veterans program.
There's zero separation betweenveterans and not veterans,
(32:05):
because the goal isreintegration.
So I mean, aside from what youtalked to with your personal
psychologist, everyone is Equal,not different.
There's no veterans program,aside from what I'll get into
later and that has more to dowith Benefits and opportunities,
because we're able to, becauseof things that exist within the
VA, we're better able to helpveterans, more able to help
(32:27):
veterans than we are otherpeople.
But as the programming goes,there's no difference.
I mean, here we're in a highintensity, inpatient program, Um
, you work on, you'll be moreinvolved in the 12 steps in the,
the big book, but they'llthey'll still be equal parts
(32:47):
classroom, um and uh,mindfulness meditation,
different breathing motalities,um, as there is the, the
classroom.
But as you go on, you get alittle in this program.
You get a little more freedom.
Freedom, you can go into themovies with a friend, you can.
You can go out on the town witha friend.
(33:08):
You can go to the nature.
You can go hiking and then, asyou get a little higher level,
you can Take off with somefriends and go to the beach.
It's more of a level offreedoms and, um, once the idea
is kind of once we move intoNisara it's going to be A
wellness program, but also kindof once hearing clear mind.
(33:30):
You're kind of trying to figureout what you want to do with
your life now, because thatmight have changed and I'll move
into the veterans program.
Now they're going to be doingmore yoga serve.
They're kind of teaching themall how to just enjoy life
together.
But along with that we're goingto do it with all but Veterans.
(33:50):
There's a better avenue for usto be doing the paperwork to get
people into school and showingthem the opportunities for
housing, buying houses, all thebenefits that exist for Veterans
.
But we'll include those twopossibly working with us and
training other Veterans as DSOsand our yoga instructors or surf
(34:16):
instructors.
And we're going to continue touse our network of graduates to
help people get jobs andopportunities and kind of figure
out who they are and have theopportunity to go with that if
they're going, rather than goinginto possibly a lifestyle that
(34:38):
they didn't want in the firstplace.
So that's kind of the secondextension of it.
And the second extension is inthe mountains of Norths area and
what I was referring to is oneof these blue zones, the natural
magical healing zones.
Not to get too hippie on you,that's okay.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I'm going to bring up
our favorite phrase now.
We were talking about rural.
Wait, did I say that?
Right?
Rural, rural, rural, rural,recovery.
Brett, if you're listening outthere, I give you permission to
use that in your next podcast.
You're welcome.
(35:23):
So, this idea that we'rebringing recovery to people that
might not necessarily be ableto have the idea that they could
go to a quality program andthat they could have the
opportunity to afford it, andyou're doing that with the vets
now, and you're able to bringthis whole aspect of mindfulness
(35:46):
and this synergy to the body,and I think it's so fantastic.
And then to top it off witheverything because we could do
that at any recovery center herein America right, we could do
that.
But to top it off, man, nowwe're in a tropical paradise
setting, and it reminds me, likewhen I first got sober on
(36:11):
December, the 1st of 2018, or,excuse me, not December the 1st,
january, 1st of 2018, I spent aweek down in Monterey,
california, and I made a pointthat the first New Year's Day of
my new life that I'm creatingfor myself, I was going to spend
(36:33):
on the beach and watch thesunrise, and it was such an
impactful moment for me becauseit was so beautiful, it was so
calming hearing the ocean andjust watching nature happen in
front of me, and being able tobe present for that and being
able to appreciate that For mewas such an impactful thing, and
it's still something thatsticks in my mind after almost
(36:57):
five years of now being inrecovery, and so it's really
great to think about having thattype of peacefulness around you
in order to become peacefulwithin yourself.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yeah, I mean that's
kind of similar to talking about
like the food that you put intoyour and the drugs and alcohol
that you can enjoy.
I really do feel a lot of forme anyway, being a rural person
that if I heard a car comingdown the road it meant that
there's something in my house.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Like I'd maybe hear
one a day, yeah, but being
constantly in the city and likeyou had to give them the rush of
US life, you just kind of feelslike they're just constantly
being mentally poisoned.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
And to pull away from
that.
I mean I'm out here, I'd rainout, entirely taking it for
granted.
You just don't have that, justconstant beratement of noise.
That really isn't about you.
I mean, it's yet againtreatments trying to get away
from the outside influences,outside desires, outside wants
(38:13):
and kind of bring you, be ableto bring you into yourself, and
it's, in my opinion, what easierto do in a environment like
this.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Bring yourself in
placing that's.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
oh man, that's so
awesome.
I love it.
Dude, this is such a funepisode to be doing with you,
brother, and, like I said, youknow you're my first guest on
season two now and I've taken alittle hiatus, and so all of I
get texts and messages from alot of people saying, hey,
when's the podcast coming backup, and everything.
So I'm like super excited tohave this be like my, my premier
(38:49):
episode for season two andeverything.
So it's it's it's really goodto get to know you and so the
listeners know we are.
We have some stuff in the works.
Man, justin and I were talkingabout possibly having me come
down there and you know it wouldbe really great to.
I was even thinking it would befun to do maybe like a live
(39:11):
show down there.
You know, and we could.
We could do a little livebroadcast and talk recovery.
Maybe we could even get therecovery revolution guys in on
it and we could do a dualbroadcast one from the States,
where they're going to be stuck,and then one in paradise, where
you and I will be Sounds good.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
I mean, you'll still
have JR from the recovery
revolution.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Oh yeah, he's going
to be down there, man, so I'm
looking.
Yeah, dude, that is so frickingcrazy.
And one of the other crazythings is that now I just
totally lost my train of thought.
Dang it.
So yeah, so JR is going to bemoving down there.
(39:58):
That's absolutely amazing,because I know that he went down
there and he's actually my, mycoffee smuggler.
Oh wait, should I say that onthe air?
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Oh, that was you,
that was you.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
I know.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
No, well, because I
told him.
I said I got coworkers.
I got one of them who's used towork for Pete's coffee and used
to roast beans and stuff, and Iwas like bro, I got my guy down
, I got a guy in Costa Rica andhe's going to be bringing coffee
back to for us and my friends,like dude, let me get like two
or three bags.
I'm like all right, man, I'lltell him.
So yeah, man, but I had CostaRican coffee before when I went
(40:40):
on the cruise ship and westopped.
I don't know which port we werein, but as we're getting back
on the ship, there was a Wereyou on the Atlantic or the
Pacific.
We're on the Pacific side, orwait, no, we're on the Atlantic
side because we sailed from fromMiami.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Okay, You're in Limón
, just north of me.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Yeah, yeah, because
then we then we hit Costa Rica
and then we came down throughthe Panama Canal in the upper
portion.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Yeah and um, and this
lady was selling coffee bags
there and I got two of them anddue to it's like some of the
best coffee I've ever had in mylife, oh yeah, it's coffee.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
coffee plantations
everywhere, I mean the ones up
in the mountains, I think, arefor me.
I like them real dark,flavorful, full-on's.
Not necessarily the highestcaffeine, but the way I make
them.
They are yeah right.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
That's great man.
Well, I'm Justin.
I'm really happy that we wehave a chance to to create a
little connection here, and I'mreally looking forward to
getting to know you a little bitmore and making a trip down
there.
We'll we'll definitely be intouch about that, so yeah, so
tell us, if people are lookingto Come down there for treatment
(42:02):
Veterans or or anybody arereally what is that process for
them?
How can they get in touch withyou guys to get services?
Speaker 2 (42:12):
well, I can well Say
the best way is just go to Costa
recovery, costa recovery net,and there'll be a chat option
and that way you can kind of seethe recovery center.
Yeah see what you're see whatyou're getting into.
They have pricing in there fornon veterans which, compared to
us prices, is, I would say isincredibly cheap is $7,500 a
(42:34):
month.
Okay for non veterans.
Veterans, if your serviceconnected, you have a well,
completely cost free half of andand not only that.
Another thing I should mentionfor veterans that Maybe you and
I know what having been in theday is just, I mean, while
you're in treatment.
So it's not only cost free forveterans, but if your service
(42:57):
connected, the VA pays you at ahundred percent during the
poorest time that you're intreatment.
Wow, so, you're your official.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Yeah, absolutely,
absolutely, and and so okay, so
somebody comes into the programand Then they stay for the 90
days and then where do theyusually go after the program?
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Um, for veterans so
far, I Would say more than 50%,
just state.
Okay just decided.
Just decided to stay in CostaRica.
Like I said, it's a relativelynew program.
We haven't had a lot ofveterans, but More than half
yeah, okay, the the rest arereturning, returning back to the
(43:42):
United States.
So far it's been California andTexas.
Some of some of them decidedthat they would continue
traveling.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Wow, well, that's,
that's really good man, and you
guys are given such a service to.
You know, the recoverycommunity, people that have
served our country, the veteransout there like yourself and
like myself, and and J R Is alsoa vet so a lot of really great
work that you're doing there.
Okay so, justin, I got a littlerapid fire questions for you.
(44:18):
You feel like taking on somerapid fire questions, man.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
All right, all right,
guys.
It's time for the rapid firequestions.
All right, justin, you're gonnahave two questions and you have
to.
What?
Two options?
So you got to pick one, okay,bud.
All right all right, work orplay.
Play play all right, morning orevening.
Morning salty or sweet salty.
(44:46):
Um, let's see shower at nightor in the morning.
Morning would you rather fly orhave superhuman strength?
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Superhuman strength,
all right, physical strength or
mental strength, mental allright.
Are you a night?
Speaker 1 (45:07):
out or a night.
In type of person, night or dayout.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Okay, do you kill
bugs you find inside or take
them outside?
Speaker 1 (45:15):
and that might be a
loaded question for Costa Rica.
Yeah, I just.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
I Just leave.
I mean, I live in the cribbing.
I just leave the windows open.
They come and go.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Okay, okay, cool man,
all right.
Do you prefer driving or flying?
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Now it's a necessity
flying.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Okay, oh, here's a
good one.
Do you prefer fresh fruit,fresh food or fried food?
Don't let the ladies at therehab know your answer.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Oh, if I can't choose
on that, I have the best fresh
fruit and the best fried foodhere.
Wow, I'm going fresh fruit,fresh fruit.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Okay, okay, okay,
cool man, all right, would you
rather?
Can dive into a pool or dipyour toe in first, all right,
Would you rather sleep in ortake a nap midday?
Speaker 2 (46:15):
Hmm, sleeping because
it's a more of a fantasy.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Okay, all right.
Okay, what is your guiltypleasure?
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Oh, I'm kind of that
asshole that doesn't have them.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
All right, all right
um.
Let's see what is your latestimpulse buy.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Wouldn't be mine.
My girlfriend just bought ababy sloth and felt really
guilty that she bought it forherself, that because she was 27
, but I paid for it, so I guessit's a buy.
Okay, I was like oh, you getthat for a kid, no nice, nice,
all right.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
So a baby sloth, huh?
Oh, you definitely definitelyare down in the Caribbean man.
Um, I love sloths, man, they're.
They're so cute and adorable,all right.
So a question.
I ask all of my guests on thedrunken worm podcast who is your
favorite disney character?
Speaker 2 (47:17):
The robin williams
won the laden.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Oh yeah, dude, the
genie from Aladdin robin
williams most definitely, man.
That's a good one, man.
I've never heard that onebefore, so kind of said
Gilbert's one.
Yeah, yeah, that's another goodone too.
That's another good one.
Well, brother, I've had so muchfun on the show today with you.
I want to thank you for comingout today and taking the time
(47:43):
this morning.
Do you have any plans for therest of the day, man, oh?
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Help a veteran out
and spend as much time at reach
as possible.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
That sounds like a
good plan.
Man, that sounds like anexcellent plan.
All right.
So again, we've had Justin fromCosta Rica recovery on the show
today and he's out therehelping vets over in Costa Rica,
and I am looking forward toplanning my trip out there,
which will probably be aroundthe start of next year.
I'm going to be taking sometime off of my regular job here
(48:14):
and I'm going to go down andenjoy some sunshine down there
and also Learn about the programand talk to some vets and
hopefully maybe even get inthere and do a little work with
them while I'm down there.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
So yeah, I'd love to
see that, yeah that would be
amazing man.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
All right, justin.
Thank you very much for beingon the show today, brother.
Speaker 2 (48:32):
Yeah, thanks for
having me.