January 21, 2025 • 36 mins
STACIA HOOD LANKFORD - Warriors Heart Licensed Counselor (LPC-S)
Stacia is a licensed professional counselor supervisor with 35+ years in the mental health and substance abuse industry. She is the definition of the “Wounded Healer” and her greatest passion is facilitating the healing process for those struggling with PTSD, chronic grief and other traumas as well as helping other clinicians be their absolute best for their clients. Lankford has a Master of Science degree in counseling and therapy, and her first professional job was in a residential setting for drug and alcohol dependence. Stacia was raised by a Marine and an RN – so WHEN she makes her bed (which is rare) it will pass inspection with perfect hospital corners.
https://www.warriorsheart.com/blog/2022/08/02/my-why-stacia-hood-lankford
CONTACT WARRIORS HEART
If you or a warrior need help with addiction, PTSD or co-occurring issues, please contact Warriors Heart’s 24-hour hotline (866-955-4035)
answered by warriors and/or visit https://warriorsheart.com/connect.
Website: https://warriorsheart.com/connect
Connect with Stacia:
https://www.facebook.com/warriorsheart - 190k followers https://www.instagram.com/warriorshearthealing
https://twitter.com/WarriorsHeart22
https://www.linkedin.com/company/warriors-heart/
Join our supportive group community:
https://healingfromtraumatogether.com/
www.facebook.com/groups/healthrivedream
Connect with me:
Gmail: healthrivedream@gmail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthrivedream_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthrivedream
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@traumarecoveryexpert
Twitter: https://twitter.com/healthrivedream
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenrobinson2022/
Website: https://www.healthrivedream.com/
Podcast: http://healthrivedreampodcast.com/abuse
Loved this episode? Leave us a comment below.
Stacia is a licensed professional counselor supervisor with 35+ years in the mental health and substance abuse industry. She is the definition of the “Wounded Healer” and her greatest passion is facilitating the healing process for those struggling with PTSD, chronic grief and other traumas as well as helping other clinicians be their absolute best for their clients. Lankford has a Master of Science degree in counseling and therapy, and her first professional job was in a residential setting for drug and alcohol dependence. Stacia was raised by a Marine and an RN – so WHEN she makes her bed (which is rare) it will pass inspection with perfect hospital corners.
https://www.warriorsheart.com/blog/2022/08/02/my-why-stacia-hood-lankford
CONTACT WARRIORS HEART
If you or a warrior need help with addiction, PTSD or co-occurring issues, please contact Warriors Heart’s 24-hour hotline (866-955-4035)
answered by warriors and/or visit https://warriorsheart.com/connect.
Website: https://warriorsheart.com/connect
Connect with Stacia:
https://www.facebook.com/warriorsheart - 190k followers https://www.instagram.com/warriorshearthealing
https://twitter.com/WarriorsHeart22
https://www.linkedin.com/company/warriors-heart/
Join our supportive group community:
https://healingfromtraumatogether.com/
www.facebook.com/groups/healthrivedream
Connect with me:
Gmail: healthrivedream@gmail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthrivedream_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthrivedream
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@traumarecoveryexpert
Twitter: https://twitter.com/healthrivedream
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenrobinson2022/
Website: https://www.healthrivedream.com/
Podcast: http://healthrivedreampodcast.com/abuse
Loved this episode? Leave us a comment below.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Heal Thrived dream podcast, where trauma survivors
become healthy thrivers. Each month will feature a theme in
the trauma recovery and empowerment field to promote your recovery,
healing and learning how to build dreams. Here's your host,
Karen Robinson, transformational coach and therapist.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
If you have suffered from emotional abuse of any kind,
then your story is my story too. My name is
Gina Coviello, and I know how it feels to be
betrayed by people who are supposed to love you. I
know the emotional pain of feeling utterly alone in the world,
unable to feel safe with others. Embracing self love changed
(00:44):
my life and my relationship struggles. Self love can do
the same for you. Please join me on a path
of healing through self love. My story is your story too.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hello, Welcome to the Heal Thrived Podcast Today. I guess
I'm going to hurry up and say her name before
I mess it up. Those of you who listen for
well know that I trip up on names. Stacia Stationhahood
Lankford is from Warriors Hearts. She's a licensed counselor, a
licensed professional counselor and a supervisor with thirty five plus
(01:21):
years experience and mental health and substance abuse.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
She is the.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Definition of wound dealer and her greatest passion is facilitating
the healing process for those struggling with PTSD, chronic grief,
and other trauma, as well as also helping other clinicians
be their absolute best with their clients. So you know,
(01:47):
I love her already. Lankford has a Master's of Science
degree in counseling and therapy. Her first professional job was
in a residential setting those with alcohol and drug dependence.
Sasha was raised by a marine and an RN so
when she makes her bed, which by the way, is rare,
(02:10):
it will pass inspection with perfect hospital corners. It was
such a cute little thing to add into your bio.
I love that. That's creative. So welcome to the chow.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Thank you. It's so glad to be so, I'm so
glad to be here. I'm nervous.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, well, we're just going to have a nice chat
with you. Two therapists chatting, also to healers chatting, and
also two complex trauma survivor's chatting. You know, I think
we're just so fortunate to be able to do this work,
you know, to take our healing power and pass it
on to others. So tell tell us what maybe we
(02:48):
can just start off by. Is there anything in your
bio that you want the audience to know straight away
that I didn't say yet?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
As you mentioned, I am a complex trauma survivor, so
we are kindred spirits. I think that there are a
lot of kindred spirits out of the world, but often
we don't talk enough about it. So I'm fifty six
years old, and when I was five years old, so
fifty one years ago, I was just living life, having
a blast. I was five years old. I had literally
(03:17):
the perfect life of a five year old little girl,
lived in the country, great parents, awesome Emily, this fantastic
big brother. All things were good. In one night in
early November, my family went out to a little art
town with little tiny town in East Texas and we
(03:38):
went out to a fall festival gathering in the town.
And then I my brother was run over by the
tractor that was pulling the hay ride in the street
in town. And I'm there and my father was there,
and my childhood changed instantly, and we were there with
(04:03):
him in the street, and it was dark and people
were screaming, and it was absolutely horrifying, and my five
year old brain, who was trying to sort out what
was happening. My mother was just down the street and
she got to us very quickly. We went to the hospital,
and my brother absolutely was like the coolest kid in
the whole world, and I adored him. And he did
(04:24):
not live after that accident, and so our entire world
just went dark. So I went from baby daughter, second born,
to only child. And back then, this was in nineteen
seventy three, you were either you either went to state
(04:46):
hospital or you figured out how to survive. But there
was no one between. There were no support groups for
little kids or families. I mean maybe there were somewhere
in big cities, but not where we were. So the
three of us just clung to each other and figured
it out, and we just like survived it. I was
(05:06):
grown before a colleague who was a psychiatrist informed me
that I have PTSD, but they thought I already knew.
I was already a therapist, and I said why do
you I said, why do you keep sending me all
these complicated cases? And he said, you know you know,
(05:27):
because of your stuff. And I went what stuff? And
he goes, you know you're a PTSD and I said, no,
I don't think I have PTSD. The psychiatrist said, I'm
with me, sat me down, showed me the criterion, and
I broke down. I said, this is this is what's
been going on, I mean, my whole life. There was
an explanation for it. I was already a therapist, Karen.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
It does not surprise, but I almost identical experience happened
to me. It wasn't a psychiatrist at work. Just one
day I was writing up a case study and I
was reviewing the symptoms and listening to them all and
it just went like, oh yeah, oh. And my child
(06:14):
abuse class a college, I read a line that talked
about how pornography is considered sex abuse if your parent
is sharing it with you. And my father used to
watch pornography and try to get me to watch, and
I just thought he was disgusting. It's a gross individual.
(06:35):
I never knew that was considered sexual abuse, and it
floored me. So I'd get at that floored moment, like,
oh my god, here's my life on paper. Because we're
so used to thinking about it objectively through a valence
of a client.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Also presumed, and I was a very young clinician. Okay,
so give me some grace. And I also presumed that
somebody walking around with PTSD it would be so glaring
and so obvious. And I still, even in my world,
still attribute it to other types of trauma. But when
(07:11):
I looked back and I went, oh, my gosh, all
these things that I was doing, that is anxiety. That's
what this is. That's what that is. And I just
went wow, Okay, So it was a really interesting moment.
So I kind of then began my journey of understanding
how does PTSD actually affect me. By that time, my
(07:32):
colleague said, well, you're kind of a chronic case now,
because what I had done is white knuckled it for
my entire life, and I just figured things out on
my own. What I had were truly exceptional coping skills. Yeah,
I had acceptional coping skills because I had healthy parents.
They were good people, and we figured things out. And
(07:53):
I think that was the difference. When I look back,
I'm like, well, how did I function so well with
this undiagnosed to PTSD? And it was because of coping
skills that were healthy, and I never ran away from things.
If something scared me, I was like, okay, I got
to figure this out. I just they were never there
(08:16):
were never allowances for go give up and go hide,
because my parents weren't those kind of people. So here
I am out there, post bachelors and theology, post masters,
fully licensed. I'm like, oh, well, I'll be that would
have been helpful information many years ago, but better late
(08:39):
than never.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Okay, your bio didn't mention that you have a bachelors
and theog. I think that's huge too.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Actually still an ordained minister, I am.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Because that's part of your healing journey.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
A massive part of my healing journey. I studied theology
and in my spirit ruality. You know, someone once said
to me recently, even, oh, you've got a bachelor's in
theology and you worked to the church, or you're super religious, right, No,
I'm very spiritual. Difference there's a big difference in religiosity
(09:15):
and spirituality, and so my spiritual.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So for those of you listening, you can't see, but
I'm a very spiritual and I would say less religious.
I'm holding up the Systematic Theology book I ordered you
just were fun because I love learning and I really
want to go to seminary, just don't know when to
fitted it.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
You know, it's remarkable. I remember going. When I went
to study theology, I didn't know what to expect for sure,
and I also studied in the eighties and so there
were very few women studying theology in my little tiny
Bible college. Didn't know what to expect, but I found
it just exciting and wonderful and lovely. But my spiritual relationship,
(10:00):
my relationship with my God, has been the single most
important factor in my life and in my healing journey
for sure.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
I love that so much. It is a bit of
a challenge for me when I have someone with complex
trauma and they don't believe in anything. That's really hard,
you know. It feels like me, can't you just believe
just to get some relief, you know.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Definitely, I've worked warriors who have come in and said,
m and I do. I'm very upfront with him. I
tell them it's going to be a little harder, you know.
I'm definitely. I've definitely had clients that say, I believe
there's something out there, but I don't know what it is.
So my guidance, which I will tell you, has worked
(10:50):
one hundred percent of the time over the last thirty years.
So I have a perfect winning streak on this.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I can't wait to hear it. Guide.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
It's the gifts buddy who says, I know there's something
out there, something bigger than me, but I don't know
what it is. We do have an N eight need
to define things right. That makes sense. And so one
of the very first time I ever used this encouragement,
this young man said, I finally believe there's a higher power,
(11:19):
but I don't know what it is. Can you tell
me what it is? And I said absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Well you're not all knowing.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
And he said, well I do. And I said, simple,
every single day, for as long as it takes at
least once a day, or as often as you think
of it, you ask your higher power to reveal themselves
to you, and they will. He came back and visited
me like a year and a half letter and he goes, hey,
(11:49):
I did what you don't me do? It worked? I said,
that's fantastic, and he goes, don't you want to know
what I found it out? And I was like, no,
that's that's your business. But that's what I share with people.
If you're if you're not sure, if this power is
really as great as I believe it is, and you
ask them to reveal themselves to you, they will.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I love that so much. Why didn't I think to
say that. This is why it's so important for survivors
to talk and support each other, and for other healers
to talk and support each other. We can learn so
much from each other.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
I learned something from every clinician I talk to and
every class exactly me too. Absolutely, yeah, I have the
best advice from clients. I'm like, why didn't I think
of that? Oh, that's so cool, that's so cool.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I love that tip. So if you're listening and you're
not a believer, just what's the harm in trying? Ccus question, Stacia,
Am I seeing your name? Ron At?
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Stacia said it right?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, yeah, no, but I want to say, stay Sea
and that's wrong.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
It's Stacia.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Can you talk to your mother about this? And your
mom's still around.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
My mother's actually in the other room.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Okay, you've got to tell her that I'm having a
hard time with this name. You're struggling. It's beautiful though,
thank you.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
I would tell those folks who say I don't even
believe there's anything at all, there is absolutely no harm
in challenging that thing that you may not exist. Go
out every day, walk outside if you need to, and say, hey,
I don't believe in you, but if you're real, show
yourself to me and just keep doing that and just
see what happens.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
There's it's a beautiful suggestion. I love it. Okay. So
we talked a bit about your brother, which is heartbreaking day, hear,
but you also had another last Do you want to
maybe just take a second. Is it too fresh? No,
okay to talk about I'm good.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So everything that you see behind me here belong to
my dad. He's a marine. He served forty one years
in the United States Marine Corps. He was active reserve,
so he wasn't traditional reserve. He was active reserve. And
I don't even know if they use that term anymore,
so I might be saying it wrong, but my dad
was the marine that when they needed him, where they
(14:18):
needed for it, however long they needed him, and then
he came back and then he went back out again,
and he lived and breathed the corps. The Marine Corps
he said, was the only thing that he ever truly
did with any success. He had a horrible, awful childhood,
very abuse and neglectful childhood. And so he really joined
(14:40):
the Marine Corps as a something for structure and guidance
and a paycheck and in three square mills a day
in a bed. He didn't really know. I guess exactly
what would become of it or how long he would
hang in there, but he s certain to leave. Sixty
years old and six years ago this pasted June, he
was out on his tractor mowen we call in Texas,
(15:03):
we have we have what we call bar ditches, and
they're big deep between your between the road and your fence.
And so my dad was out mowing and these kids
on a county road on a on a Monday morning,
we're speeding, listening to music way too loud, talking, not
paying attention, and they hit his tractor head on. They
(15:26):
floated all the way over across the county road in
toward the ditch and hit him and it knocked him
off the tractor, and he lived about thirty six hours,
but he was he was gone. He never he never
woke back up. He he lived long enough for all
of us to say goodbye and do what we needed
to do. It was devastating because and everybody knows this,
(15:51):
so this is not a big secret. He was my
favorite human being on the planet, like he was the
and I felt that way about him since my mom said,
since the minute I was born. We talked on the
phone every day, multiple times day. He was brilliant, and
he was funny, He was handsome, he was loving, he
was kind, and he was hard. He was a marine.
(16:14):
I mean after I spoke at his service and a
gentleman came up to me afterward and he goes, man,
your dad and my dad were really similar. It was
their way or the highway. And I said, who wha, whoa,
there was a highway. I mean, he was a hard ass.
I was raised by a hardcore marine. But he was
(16:35):
also very loving and kind and gentle. And so losing
him I was fifty years old, and I remember looking
at my mom and saying, I wasn't done yet, wasn't done,
but had to deal with it right after. And if
somebody's out there listening, I know, I know that there
is a woman out there listening to me that has
had this experience. So I'm going to share it. This
(16:56):
is very off the cuff. After my dad I died,
all of my eyebrows fell out. I think they're tattooed on.
Thank God for tattooed eyebrows. And then my hair started
falling out.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Grief unstressed man. I'm telling you how I literally paint
my scalp so you can't see through. How thinning my
hair is.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Okay. So if you're out there and your eyebrows or
eyelashes have fallen out of your hair thinning, sister, you
are in good company. Grief is a powerful, powerful mechanism
inside of bodies, and I embrace grief like I don't
fight it at all. So it was really just life
(17:40):
changing for me. All I could think of was what
if I live to be eighty or eighty five. I
had just been thirty to thirty five, four years on
this earth without my ever talking to my dad again.
How am I going to do that? And I'm still
trying to figure it out. I do talk to him
every day, for sure. I'm like, Dad, I don't know
(18:02):
if you near me, but I need you right now.
So I still talk to him every day. But there
are just things that I'm like, gosh, I wish I
had my.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Dad, And how beautiful to have a dad as speller
as what you're describing. Oh, especially after everything he's been through.
Who was able to make you feel the unconditional love?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Absolutely? And don't get me wrong, I say this all
the time. My dad was he did his way, he
was strict, and we were squared away all the time
because he was a marine. But I thrived in that
environment and he was a big why person, like you
(18:44):
do what you're told, but then you come back and
I'll tell you why I told you to do that,
And we do that at Warrior's Heart. We always have
a it's like, hey, we're doing this and it's a
hard thing, but here's the why.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
See you've taken his lessons and past sing then yeah,
so nobody can say that you don't get trauma or grief,
totally get it. Can you say a little more about
your personal healing? Like, I know your spirituality has been
important to you, but what are some other tips and
(19:19):
tricks People that are don't know where to start in
their healing? What would what would you say to encourage them.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Go to counseling that first of all, go to counseling,
because let me tell you, what do they you know
what they say, good therapists have good therapists, right right.
Number one, I absolutely have never in my life hesitated
to go to counseling when I needed to go to counseling.
Sometimes we go for a little bit and then we're
all good, and then we're rocking and rolling. Something crops
(19:48):
up and we go back go to counseling. Oh my gosh,
go to counseling. Also, you and I visited about this
before we started the podcast. This is something I I
want to share that that is meaningful. I believe and
I want people to understand that I truly believe this.
The only way we heal is inside relationships. Yes, we
(20:11):
never ever ever heal alone. And if somebody tells me
they've healed alone, I would say, let's sit down, have
a cup of coffee and chat. I could probably find
some holes in their their argument. We never heal alone.
I have healed inside my relationship with my God. I
have healed inside my relationship with a lovely counselor. I
(20:32):
have healed inside my relationship with my very dear friends
and with my children, and with my mother and with
my coworkers. Oh my gosh, my co workers, they're amazing.
I heal inside my relationships with my clients. Their work
(20:52):
is not about me, it's about them. But I grow
so much from working with clients. That's purpose.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
It's like filling a mission. How could you not right
feeling what you do.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
So people say no, I just healed on my own.
I'm like, how'd you do it?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Well?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
I just prayed? Well, Then you healed inside a relationship.
And it doesn't matter what the therapeutic modality is, if
it's CBT or DT or RBT, all the alphabet right
E and d r art, it requires two humans minimum
coming together, building some form of rapport, deciding to take
(21:29):
a chance and trust each other to use that modality
to heal. So look around you, this is what I
would say. Look around you, who is in your circle?
If you don't have an inner circle, create one. Find
a place where you can find people who love you
and who support you and who encourage you. Because you're
(21:51):
not going to heal alone.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Healing and community is a must. Whatever that community looks like.
That was really beautiful. Okay, So maybe we should transition
out to talk about warriors Heart because they seem to
be You're actually my first exposure to them, but what
(22:15):
I've read so far has been pretty impressive. Like, how
would you summarize the agency's work in a nutshell?
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Oh, my gosh. The summary is the mission. It's to
bring one one million warriors home. The mission is to
treat those that we as a society rely on, desperately
require and need their services, but then don't know what
to do with them when they provide those services. Our
(22:45):
mission is to It's one of our things that we
say is healing through She's been warriors, healing warriors. Part
of the goal of Warrior's Heart is to bring warriors
together and let them start healing together and let them
look around and go, Wow, all of these people around
me relate to me, even people that work there. I think,
(23:07):
I don't know the exact number, but it is a
ridiculously high number of people that work for a Warrior's
Heart that are also in the Warrior class. And the
Warrior class is active duty military, active duty law enforcement,
active duty firefighters and first responders, paramedics, EMTs, but also
retired retired law enforcement and veterans. So that's the Warrior class.
(23:29):
So we have a very very high percentage of people
that are also the warriors, and then most of the
rest of us are like me. We're surrounded by warriors,
and it's uncles, parents, siblings, children, spouses and so we
get it. That's right.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
My brother has served and my husband has served, so
I have an uncle that was in Sir Dar in Vietnam,
So yeah, I get. I think that's a great point.
It helps to be around a community that gets pieces
of what you've been through, or just the lifestyle and
what it means, what it means to sacrifice, you know,
(24:12):
what it means to not have your own time off
to be guaranteed like it is in the civilian world
for most people when you're when you're serving, it's different.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
And when people come to warriors Horn, I think one
of the things that they quickly discover is that they
can share. They can sometimes for the very first time
in their lives, open up and start talking about for
trauma and their addiction and their alcoholism in the setting
where people are nodding their head and they're like, yeah, man,
me too, me too. I don't know the exact numbers,
(24:46):
but the warrior class has a very very very high
rate of dropout in residential treatment for drug and alcohol
abies because get in there and they don't relate to anybody,
and they really can't share their stories because they're surrounded
by people who haven't have no commonality. And I'll tell
(25:07):
you the stories that they share. The average person doesn't
need to hear. They don't. I don't need somebody else
traumatized by listening to this trauma. But when you share
it in a room full of people who have had
the same experiences, the trauma does two things in that moment.
(25:28):
It's almost like it starts to lift away and melt.
But it also it's validated when you see me too,
Yeah I did that, that happened to me.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
And so.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
I currently am working with a ward right now that
is talking about traumas that these never before discussed. It's
the first time in his entire adult life that he
has felt safe enough to talk about his trauma and
it's remarkable.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
A giving voice to that is so healing. Yeah, what
great work you're doing. I know Warriors Heart has locations
been Texas and Virginia. Is are there plans for the
industry to go to other states as well?
Speaker 4 (26:17):
There are plans to do that. I don't know all
the specifics of those plans, but Warriors Heart's plan is
to grow and continue to heal as help as many
warriors heal as possible. And we are super excited to
be in Virginia. We've been in Texas now for a
little over eighty years and we just celebrated our first
(26:37):
year anniversary in Virginia on September eleven. They opened the
doors and accepted the first client on September eleven of
twenty twenty three, which was so amazing. So they've had
the doors open in Virginia now for a year and
it's been it's been a really interesting and incredible journey
in Virginia, seeing people like, oh gosh, you've got a
(26:58):
Virginia facility now, and we work a lot with active
duty so there's a lot of bases around.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Yes, there is a huge need for your program in
Virginia for sure. Yeah. Referrals have definitely been strong.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, and the bases don't have enough therapist.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
They don't. It's and I think also we see that
people you know when you're on when you're on the
base and you're still trying to do your job, I
think I see if they stay more guarded because they're
still in work mode. But when they can lift out
of that and go sit someplace and be in that
twenty four to seven structure, a therapeutic environment, that's when
(27:45):
the guard starts to drop. And Warrior's Heart definitely is
primarily we are primarily a substance abuse facility, So in
order to come to Warrior's Heart, you have to have
a diagnosis of either drug or alcoholiction or abuse. However,
we are duly licensed, so we do treat the PTSD,
the depression, the anxiety, and we have partners where we
(28:08):
can refer people for TBI treatment outside of Warriors Heart,
but we also have TBI treatment within Warrior's Heart in Texas.
So we really look at you coming in for just
drug dependence or this alcohol issue, but we're going to
look at the whole package.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
All in their environment. Yeah. Absolutely, that's so powerful. Okay.
So Warrior's Heart in Virginia, it's a residential program, is
what I'm here? Okay? Is there also like what happens
when people graduate from the program with what happens next
with them.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Well, we have lots of different resources for them. One
main resource which I am a huge fan of, is
back in Texas. We have an intensive outpatient program coupled
with a sober living home, and we have a very
very unique souther living home, not like any one I
have ever been affiliated with. And that is there's time limit.
(29:09):
If you go pay at Worshart Sober Livid, there's a
fee to stay there, depending on what type of room
you want. But if you pay the fee and you
live there and it's room and board, so you get
your room and then you're there's the chow haul right there,
so all your miller included, all bills are included, and
as long as you stay sober and you are following
(29:30):
the Sober Living Home rules, you could stay there in perpetivity.
There's no time limit. And you know, we have folks
that come and say, I just need to be here
for a few months, get my really get a solid foundation.
And others stay six months, eight months, a year, two
years longer, and it's really incredible because they get that solid,
(29:53):
solid foundation. So we actually have warriors that finish our
program in Virginia and then they go to Texas and
they do our IOP, which is intensive outpatient program. Our
IOP program last eight weeks, so you're in the sober
living environment and going to the intensive outpatient program and
then when that ends, then you just stay in the
sober living program if you wish. So we do have
(30:17):
folks in Virginia because we don't have sober living in
Virginia yet, so they will travel to Texas for it.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
That's what I call true wrap around services.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
Absolutely, and in that sober living IOP environment, there's also
a bi treatment as well, and we also we do
something called MERT which is a form of TMS, and
we have our own amazing, amazing psychiatric nurse and she's
a family practice nurse practitioner, but she is a merke
(30:50):
slash TMS specialist. So we actually do brain treatment right
there on site at the sober living home. But we
also have folks that we can refer to as well.
Let's say somebody says I can only do the program,
I can't do sober living IOP. Perhaps their active duty
and they need to get back to active duty, or
(31:10):
maybe they're retired military, or they they're veterans and they
have a civilian job and they must return. Well we're
going to do. Then we look and say, okay, where
do you live? What's your area, and we help set
up services in their home area, whether it's an IOP
program as anged or it's straight out patient. But what
(31:30):
do you need? You need outpatient counseling, you need medication management, potentially,
you definitely need support. You know, where are the doll
step programs? Where to celebrate recovery? Do you need a
marriage counselor does your whole family need it? We're going
to be digging and looking in their home area. So
they leave, we have it all set up. We also
(31:51):
have a very unique situation that again I've never seen
anywhere else. I think I could probably say that about
all the things that we do. We have what we
call recharge, so you can recharge is very cool. So
let's say you leave warriors aren't and you're doing great,
You're sober, and you're just working the program you're in,
(32:14):
working your recovery program, happy healthy, everything's well, but you
want to come back and visit. So you call us
and we set up a room and you get to
come back and spend a week or a weekend and
engage in some of the activities and just kind of
re immerse yourself in the recovery program. And it doesn't
(32:38):
mean that you've relapsed or anything terrible to happen. But
what if you've gone out there and you are still
sober and you're still working the program, but some tragedy
does happen in your life and you're struggling, you have
relapsed and you're okay, but you're struggling. Your support pick
up that phone and say hey, can I come for
(32:58):
a recharge? Absolutely, And what I hear from what I
hear from that is, man, I just needed that weekend.
I felt so much better after I left. I just
needed that weekend. Something that we say, Karen when a
when a Warrior walks in the door, is welcome home.
(33:19):
And sometimes they'll look at it's kind of funny, but
we say welcome home because once you're a part of
Warrior's Heart family, you're a part. So coming back for recharge,
coming back to the fireside. We do fireside chats and
sometimes they'll come and they'll they'll even be a get
(33:39):
a speaker. So we have we have alumni that work
for us. Now, very few people go through rehab and think, wow,
I want to go back here and work. Who says
whoever said that? But at Warriors Heart, we have quite
(34:02):
a few alumni that now work for us, and to me,
I have never worked anywhere if all these decades in
this industry where people left and wanted to come back
as an employee. This is the only place I've ever
worked where that happened.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
That's incredible. We are away over time. I suspected when
we chatted before that this would happen and I would
keep going, except I have another person in one minute.
So in the one minute that we have left, there
is a warrior listening that is worried about reaching out
(34:49):
for help. What's something you could say that would encourage
them to make that step.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
We are ready to help you. The very hardest thing
you will ever do is pick up the phone and
call waters Heart. It is courageous and brave and scary,
and we know that. But when you call us, someone
will answer twenty four to seven, and they will give
you all the time that you need, and we will
facilitate all of the ins and outs of getting you here.
(35:21):
There is no better time to come than immediately. There's
just not ever going to be a better time. And
it's the most rewarding thing that you will ever do.
But we are ready and We're here to help.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
You, beautiful. Thank you Stacie. Our chef staysiche I said
it right.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Good too.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
I have to mess up names of purpose now because
you know I'm known for that. Thank you so much
for the beautiful discussion with me today. I really believe
it's going to be helpful to people, So thank you.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
If you have suffered from emotional abuse of any kind,
then your story is my story too. My name is
Gina Coviello, and I know how it feels to be
betrayed by people who are supposed to love you. I
know the emotional pain of feeling utterly alone in the world,
unable to feel safe with others. Embracing self love changed
(36:25):
my life and my relationship struggles. Self love can do
the same for you. Please join me on a path
of healing through self love. My story is your story too.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Thank you for listening in today. Please join us next week,
same day and time. Also, I would love for you
to check out my website healthrivedream dot com.
Welcome to the Heal Thrived dream podcast, where trauma survivors
become healthy thrivers. Each month will feature a theme in
the trauma recovery and empowerment field to promote your recovery,
healing and learning how to build dreams. Here's your host,
Karen Robinson, transformational coach and therapist.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
If you have suffered from emotional abuse of any kind,
then your story is my story too. My name is
Gina Coviello, and I know how it feels to be
betrayed by people who are supposed to love you. I
know the emotional pain of feeling utterly alone in the world,
unable to feel safe with others. Embracing self love changed
(00:44):
my life and my relationship struggles. Self love can do
the same for you. Please join me on a path
of healing through self love. My story is your story too.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hello, Welcome to the Heal Thrived Podcast Today. I guess
I'm going to hurry up and say her name before
I mess it up. Those of you who listen for
well know that I trip up on names. Stacia Stationhahood
Lankford is from Warriors Hearts. She's a licensed counselor, a
licensed professional counselor and a supervisor with thirty five plus
(01:21):
years experience and mental health and substance abuse.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
She is the.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Definition of wound dealer and her greatest passion is facilitating
the healing process for those struggling with PTSD, chronic grief,
and other trauma, as well as also helping other clinicians
be their absolute best with their clients. So you know,
(01:47):
I love her already. Lankford has a Master's of Science
degree in counseling and therapy. Her first professional job was
in a residential setting those with alcohol and drug dependence.
Sasha was raised by a marine and an RN so
when she makes her bed, which by the way, is rare,
(02:10):
it will pass inspection with perfect hospital corners. It was
such a cute little thing to add into your bio.
I love that. That's creative. So welcome to the chow.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Thank you. It's so glad to be so, I'm so
glad to be here. I'm nervous.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, well, we're just going to have a nice chat
with you. Two therapists chatting, also to healers chatting, and
also two complex trauma survivor's chatting. You know, I think
we're just so fortunate to be able to do this work,
you know, to take our healing power and pass it
on to others. So tell tell us what maybe we
(02:48):
can just start off by. Is there anything in your
bio that you want the audience to know straight away
that I didn't say yet?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
As you mentioned, I am a complex trauma survivor, so
we are kindred spirits. I think that there are a
lot of kindred spirits out of the world, but often
we don't talk enough about it. So I'm fifty six
years old, and when I was five years old, so
fifty one years ago, I was just living life, having
a blast. I was five years old. I had literally
(03:17):
the perfect life of a five year old little girl,
lived in the country, great parents, awesome Emily, this fantastic
big brother. All things were good. In one night in
early November, my family went out to a little art
town with little tiny town in East Texas and we
(03:38):
went out to a fall festival gathering in the town.
And then I my brother was run over by the
tractor that was pulling the hay ride in the street
in town. And I'm there and my father was there,
and my childhood changed instantly, and we were there with
(04:03):
him in the street, and it was dark and people
were screaming, and it was absolutely horrifying, and my five
year old brain, who was trying to sort out what
was happening. My mother was just down the street and
she got to us very quickly. We went to the hospital,
and my brother absolutely was like the coolest kid in
the whole world, and I adored him. And he did
(04:24):
not live after that accident, and so our entire world
just went dark. So I went from baby daughter, second born,
to only child. And back then, this was in nineteen
seventy three, you were either you either went to state
(04:46):
hospital or you figured out how to survive. But there
was no one between. There were no support groups for
little kids or families. I mean maybe there were somewhere
in big cities, but not where we were. So the
three of us just clung to each other and figured
it out, and we just like survived it. I was
(05:06):
grown before a colleague who was a psychiatrist informed me
that I have PTSD, but they thought I already knew.
I was already a therapist, and I said why do
you I said, why do you keep sending me all
these complicated cases? And he said, you know you know,
(05:27):
because of your stuff. And I went what stuff? And
he goes, you know you're a PTSD and I said, no,
I don't think I have PTSD. The psychiatrist said, I'm
with me, sat me down, showed me the criterion, and
I broke down. I said, this is this is what's
been going on, I mean, my whole life. There was
an explanation for it. I was already a therapist, Karen.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
It does not surprise, but I almost identical experience happened
to me. It wasn't a psychiatrist at work. Just one
day I was writing up a case study and I
was reviewing the symptoms and listening to them all and
it just went like, oh yeah, oh. And my child
(06:14):
abuse class a college, I read a line that talked
about how pornography is considered sex abuse if your parent
is sharing it with you. And my father used to
watch pornography and try to get me to watch, and
I just thought he was disgusting. It's a gross individual.
(06:35):
I never knew that was considered sexual abuse, and it
floored me. So I'd get at that floored moment, like,
oh my god, here's my life on paper. Because we're
so used to thinking about it objectively through a valence
of a client.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Also presumed, and I was a very young clinician. Okay,
so give me some grace. And I also presumed that
somebody walking around with PTSD it would be so glaring
and so obvious. And I still, even in my world,
still attribute it to other types of trauma. But when
(07:11):
I looked back and I went, oh, my gosh, all
these things that I was doing, that is anxiety. That's
what this is. That's what that is. And I just
went wow, Okay, So it was a really interesting moment.
So I kind of then began my journey of understanding
how does PTSD actually affect me. By that time, my
(07:32):
colleague said, well, you're kind of a chronic case now,
because what I had done is white knuckled it for
my entire life, and I just figured things out on
my own. What I had were truly exceptional coping skills. Yeah,
I had acceptional coping skills because I had healthy parents.
They were good people, and we figured things out. And
(07:53):
I think that was the difference. When I look back,
I'm like, well, how did I function so well with
this undiagnosed to PTSD? And it was because of coping
skills that were healthy, and I never ran away from things.
If something scared me, I was like, okay, I got
to figure this out. I just they were never there
(08:16):
were never allowances for go give up and go hide,
because my parents weren't those kind of people. So here
I am out there, post bachelors and theology, post masters,
fully licensed. I'm like, oh, well, I'll be that would
have been helpful information many years ago, but better late
(08:39):
than never.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Okay, your bio didn't mention that you have a bachelors
and theog. I think that's huge too.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Actually still an ordained minister, I am.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Because that's part of your healing journey.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
A massive part of my healing journey. I studied theology
and in my spirit ruality. You know, someone once said
to me recently, even, oh, you've got a bachelor's in
theology and you worked to the church, or you're super religious, right, No,
I'm very spiritual. Difference there's a big difference in religiosity
(09:15):
and spirituality, and so my spiritual.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So for those of you listening, you can't see, but
I'm a very spiritual and I would say less religious.
I'm holding up the Systematic Theology book I ordered you
just were fun because I love learning and I really
want to go to seminary, just don't know when to
fitted it.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
You know, it's remarkable. I remember going. When I went
to study theology, I didn't know what to expect for sure,
and I also studied in the eighties and so there
were very few women studying theology in my little tiny
Bible college. Didn't know what to expect, but I found
it just exciting and wonderful and lovely. But my spiritual relationship,
(10:00):
my relationship with my God, has been the single most
important factor in my life and in my healing journey
for sure.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
I love that so much. It is a bit of
a challenge for me when I have someone with complex
trauma and they don't believe in anything. That's really hard,
you know. It feels like me, can't you just believe
just to get some relief, you know.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Definitely, I've worked warriors who have come in and said,
m and I do. I'm very upfront with him. I
tell them it's going to be a little harder, you know.
I'm definitely. I've definitely had clients that say, I believe
there's something out there, but I don't know what it is.
So my guidance, which I will tell you, has worked
(10:50):
one hundred percent of the time over the last thirty years.
So I have a perfect winning streak on this.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I can't wait to hear it. Guide.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
It's the gifts buddy who says, I know there's something
out there, something bigger than me, but I don't know
what it is. We do have an N eight need
to define things right. That makes sense. And so one
of the very first time I ever used this encouragement,
this young man said, I finally believe there's a higher power,
(11:19):
but I don't know what it is. Can you tell
me what it is? And I said absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Well you're not all knowing.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
And he said, well I do. And I said, simple,
every single day, for as long as it takes at
least once a day, or as often as you think
of it, you ask your higher power to reveal themselves
to you, and they will. He came back and visited
me like a year and a half letter and he goes, hey,
(11:49):
I did what you don't me do? It worked? I said,
that's fantastic, and he goes, don't you want to know
what I found it out? And I was like, no,
that's that's your business. But that's what I share with people.
If you're if you're not sure, if this power is
really as great as I believe it is, and you
ask them to reveal themselves to you, they will.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I love that so much. Why didn't I think to
say that. This is why it's so important for survivors
to talk and support each other, and for other healers
to talk and support each other. We can learn so
much from each other.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
I learned something from every clinician I talk to and
every class exactly me too. Absolutely, yeah, I have the
best advice from clients. I'm like, why didn't I think
of that? Oh, that's so cool, that's so cool.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I love that tip. So if you're listening and you're
not a believer, just what's the harm in trying? Ccus question, Stacia,
Am I seeing your name? Ron At?
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Stacia said it right?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, yeah, no, but I want to say, stay Sea
and that's wrong.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
It's Stacia.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Can you talk to your mother about this? And your
mom's still around.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
My mother's actually in the other room.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Okay, you've got to tell her that I'm having a
hard time with this name. You're struggling. It's beautiful though,
thank you.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
I would tell those folks who say I don't even
believe there's anything at all, there is absolutely no harm
in challenging that thing that you may not exist. Go
out every day, walk outside if you need to, and say, hey,
I don't believe in you, but if you're real, show
yourself to me and just keep doing that and just
see what happens.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
There's it's a beautiful suggestion. I love it. Okay. So
we talked a bit about your brother, which is heartbreaking day, hear,
but you also had another last Do you want to
maybe just take a second. Is it too fresh? No,
okay to talk about I'm good.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So everything that you see behind me here belong to
my dad. He's a marine. He served forty one years
in the United States Marine Corps. He was active reserve,
so he wasn't traditional reserve. He was active reserve. And
I don't even know if they use that term anymore,
so I might be saying it wrong, but my dad
was the marine that when they needed him, where they
(14:18):
needed for it, however long they needed him, and then
he came back and then he went back out again,
and he lived and breathed the corps. The Marine Corps
he said, was the only thing that he ever truly
did with any success. He had a horrible, awful childhood,
very abuse and neglectful childhood. And so he really joined
(14:40):
the Marine Corps as a something for structure and guidance
and a paycheck and in three square mills a day
in a bed. He didn't really know. I guess exactly
what would become of it or how long he would
hang in there, but he s certain to leave. Sixty
years old and six years ago this pasted June, he
was out on his tractor mowen we call in Texas,
(15:03):
we have we have what we call bar ditches, and
they're big deep between your between the road and your fence.
And so my dad was out mowing and these kids
on a county road on a on a Monday morning,
we're speeding, listening to music way too loud, talking, not
paying attention, and they hit his tractor head on. They
(15:26):
floated all the way over across the county road in
toward the ditch and hit him and it knocked him
off the tractor, and he lived about thirty six hours,
but he was he was gone. He never he never
woke back up. He he lived long enough for all
of us to say goodbye and do what we needed
to do. It was devastating because and everybody knows this,
(15:51):
so this is not a big secret. He was my
favorite human being on the planet, like he was the
and I felt that way about him since my mom said,
since the minute I was born. We talked on the
phone every day, multiple times day. He was brilliant, and
he was funny, He was handsome, he was loving, he
was kind, and he was hard. He was a marine.
(16:14):
I mean after I spoke at his service and a
gentleman came up to me afterward and he goes, man,
your dad and my dad were really similar. It was
their way or the highway. And I said, who wha, whoa,
there was a highway. I mean, he was a hard ass.
I was raised by a hardcore marine. But he was
(16:35):
also very loving and kind and gentle. And so losing
him I was fifty years old, and I remember looking
at my mom and saying, I wasn't done yet, wasn't done,
but had to deal with it right after. And if
somebody's out there listening, I know, I know that there
is a woman out there listening to me that has
had this experience. So I'm going to share it. This
(16:56):
is very off the cuff. After my dad I died,
all of my eyebrows fell out. I think they're tattooed on.
Thank God for tattooed eyebrows. And then my hair started
falling out.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Grief unstressed man. I'm telling you how I literally paint
my scalp so you can't see through. How thinning my
hair is.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Okay. So if you're out there and your eyebrows or
eyelashes have fallen out of your hair thinning, sister, you
are in good company. Grief is a powerful, powerful mechanism
inside of bodies, and I embrace grief like I don't
fight it at all. So it was really just life
(17:40):
changing for me. All I could think of was what
if I live to be eighty or eighty five. I
had just been thirty to thirty five, four years on
this earth without my ever talking to my dad again.
How am I going to do that? And I'm still
trying to figure it out. I do talk to him
every day, for sure. I'm like, Dad, I don't know
(18:02):
if you near me, but I need you right now.
So I still talk to him every day. But there
are just things that I'm like, gosh, I wish I
had my.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Dad, And how beautiful to have a dad as speller
as what you're describing. Oh, especially after everything he's been through.
Who was able to make you feel the unconditional love?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Absolutely? And don't get me wrong, I say this all
the time. My dad was he did his way, he
was strict, and we were squared away all the time
because he was a marine. But I thrived in that
environment and he was a big why person, like you
(18:44):
do what you're told, but then you come back and
I'll tell you why I told you to do that,
And we do that at Warrior's Heart. We always have
a it's like, hey, we're doing this and it's a
hard thing, but here's the why.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
See you've taken his lessons and past sing then yeah,
so nobody can say that you don't get trauma or grief,
totally get it. Can you say a little more about
your personal healing? Like, I know your spirituality has been
important to you, but what are some other tips and
(19:19):
tricks People that are don't know where to start in
their healing? What would what would you say to encourage them.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Go to counseling that first of all, go to counseling,
because let me tell you, what do they you know
what they say, good therapists have good therapists, right right.
Number one, I absolutely have never in my life hesitated
to go to counseling when I needed to go to counseling.
Sometimes we go for a little bit and then we're
all good, and then we're rocking and rolling. Something crops
(19:48):
up and we go back go to counseling. Oh my gosh,
go to counseling. Also, you and I visited about this
before we started the podcast. This is something I I
want to share that that is meaningful. I believe and
I want people to understand that I truly believe this.
The only way we heal is inside relationships. Yes, we
(20:11):
never ever ever heal alone. And if somebody tells me
they've healed alone, I would say, let's sit down, have
a cup of coffee and chat. I could probably find
some holes in their their argument. We never heal alone.
I have healed inside my relationship with my God. I
have healed inside my relationship with a lovely counselor. I
(20:32):
have healed inside my relationship with my very dear friends
and with my children, and with my mother and with
my coworkers. Oh my gosh, my co workers, they're amazing.
I heal inside my relationships with my clients. Their work
(20:52):
is not about me, it's about them. But I grow
so much from working with clients. That's purpose.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
It's like filling a mission. How could you not right
feeling what you do.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
So people say no, I just healed on my own.
I'm like, how'd you do it?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Well?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
I just prayed? Well, Then you healed inside a relationship.
And it doesn't matter what the therapeutic modality is, if
it's CBT or DT or RBT, all the alphabet right
E and d r art, it requires two humans minimum
coming together, building some form of rapport, deciding to take
(21:29):
a chance and trust each other to use that modality
to heal. So look around you, this is what I
would say. Look around you, who is in your circle?
If you don't have an inner circle, create one. Find
a place where you can find people who love you
and who support you and who encourage you. Because you're
(21:51):
not going to heal alone.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Healing and community is a must. Whatever that community looks like.
That was really beautiful. Okay, So maybe we should transition
out to talk about warriors Heart because they seem to
be You're actually my first exposure to them, but what
(22:15):
I've read so far has been pretty impressive. Like, how
would you summarize the agency's work in a nutshell?
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Oh, my gosh. The summary is the mission. It's to
bring one one million warriors home. The mission is to
treat those that we as a society rely on, desperately
require and need their services, but then don't know what
to do with them when they provide those services. Our
(22:45):
mission is to It's one of our things that we
say is healing through She's been warriors, healing warriors. Part
of the goal of Warrior's Heart is to bring warriors
together and let them start healing together and let them
look around and go, Wow, all of these people around
me relate to me, even people that work there. I think,
(23:07):
I don't know the exact number, but it is a
ridiculously high number of people that work for a Warrior's
Heart that are also in the Warrior class. And the
Warrior class is active duty military, active duty law enforcement,
active duty firefighters and first responders, paramedics, EMTs, but also
retired retired law enforcement and veterans. So that's the Warrior class.
(23:29):
So we have a very very high percentage of people
that are also the warriors, and then most of the
rest of us are like me. We're surrounded by warriors,
and it's uncles, parents, siblings, children, spouses and so we
get it. That's right.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
My brother has served and my husband has served, so
I have an uncle that was in Sir Dar in Vietnam,
So yeah, I get. I think that's a great point.
It helps to be around a community that gets pieces
of what you've been through, or just the lifestyle and
what it means, what it means to sacrifice, you know,
(24:12):
what it means to not have your own time off
to be guaranteed like it is in the civilian world
for most people when you're when you're serving, it's different.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
And when people come to warriors Horn, I think one
of the things that they quickly discover is that they
can share. They can sometimes for the very first time
in their lives, open up and start talking about for
trauma and their addiction and their alcoholism in the setting
where people are nodding their head and they're like, yeah, man,
me too, me too. I don't know the exact numbers,
(24:46):
but the warrior class has a very very very high
rate of dropout in residential treatment for drug and alcohol
abies because get in there and they don't relate to anybody,
and they really can't share their stories because they're surrounded
by people who haven't have no commonality. And I'll tell
(25:07):
you the stories that they share. The average person doesn't
need to hear. They don't. I don't need somebody else
traumatized by listening to this trauma. But when you share
it in a room full of people who have had
the same experiences, the trauma does two things in that moment.
(25:28):
It's almost like it starts to lift away and melt.
But it also it's validated when you see me too,
Yeah I did that, that happened to me.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
And so.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
I currently am working with a ward right now that
is talking about traumas that these never before discussed. It's
the first time in his entire adult life that he
has felt safe enough to talk about his trauma and
it's remarkable.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
A giving voice to that is so healing. Yeah, what
great work you're doing. I know Warriors Heart has locations
been Texas and Virginia. Is are there plans for the
industry to go to other states as well?
Speaker 4 (26:17):
There are plans to do that. I don't know all
the specifics of those plans, but Warriors Heart's plan is
to grow and continue to heal as help as many
warriors heal as possible. And we are super excited to
be in Virginia. We've been in Texas now for a
little over eighty years and we just celebrated our first
(26:37):
year anniversary in Virginia on September eleven. They opened the
doors and accepted the first client on September eleven of
twenty twenty three, which was so amazing. So they've had
the doors open in Virginia now for a year and
it's been it's been a really interesting and incredible journey
in Virginia, seeing people like, oh gosh, you've got a
(26:58):
Virginia facility now, and we work a lot with active
duty so there's a lot of bases around.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Yes, there is a huge need for your program in
Virginia for sure. Yeah. Referrals have definitely been strong.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, and the bases don't have enough therapist.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
They don't. It's and I think also we see that
people you know when you're on when you're on the
base and you're still trying to do your job, I
think I see if they stay more guarded because they're
still in work mode. But when they can lift out
of that and go sit someplace and be in that
twenty four to seven structure, a therapeutic environment, that's when
(27:45):
the guard starts to drop. And Warrior's Heart definitely is
primarily we are primarily a substance abuse facility, So in
order to come to Warrior's Heart, you have to have
a diagnosis of either drug or alcoholiction or abuse. However,
we are duly licensed, so we do treat the PTSD,
the depression, the anxiety, and we have partners where we
(28:08):
can refer people for TBI treatment outside of Warriors Heart,
but we also have TBI treatment within Warrior's Heart in Texas.
So we really look at you coming in for just
drug dependence or this alcohol issue, but we're going to
look at the whole package.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
All in their environment. Yeah. Absolutely, that's so powerful. Okay.
So Warrior's Heart in Virginia, it's a residential program, is
what I'm here? Okay? Is there also like what happens
when people graduate from the program with what happens next
with them.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Well, we have lots of different resources for them. One
main resource which I am a huge fan of, is
back in Texas. We have an intensive outpatient program coupled
with a sober living home, and we have a very
very unique souther living home, not like any one I
have ever been affiliated with. And that is there's time limit.
(29:09):
If you go pay at Worshart Sober Livid, there's a
fee to stay there, depending on what type of room
you want. But if you pay the fee and you
live there and it's room and board, so you get
your room and then you're there's the chow haul right there,
so all your miller included, all bills are included, and
as long as you stay sober and you are following
(29:30):
the Sober Living Home rules, you could stay there in perpetivity.
There's no time limit. And you know, we have folks
that come and say, I just need to be here
for a few months, get my really get a solid foundation.
And others stay six months, eight months, a year, two
years longer, and it's really incredible because they get that solid,
(29:53):
solid foundation. So we actually have warriors that finish our
program in Virginia and then they go to Texas and
they do our IOP, which is intensive outpatient program. Our
IOP program last eight weeks, so you're in the sober
living environment and going to the intensive outpatient program and
then when that ends, then you just stay in the
sober living program if you wish. So we do have
(30:17):
folks in Virginia because we don't have sober living in
Virginia yet, so they will travel to Texas for it.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
That's what I call true wrap around services.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
Absolutely, and in that sober living IOP environment, there's also
a bi treatment as well, and we also we do
something called MERT which is a form of TMS, and
we have our own amazing, amazing psychiatric nurse and she's
a family practice nurse practitioner, but she is a merke
(30:50):
slash TMS specialist. So we actually do brain treatment right
there on site at the sober living home. But we
also have folks that we can refer to as well.
Let's say somebody says I can only do the program,
I can't do sober living IOP. Perhaps their active duty
and they need to get back to active duty, or
(31:10):
maybe they're retired military, or they they're veterans and they
have a civilian job and they must return. Well we're
going to do. Then we look and say, okay, where
do you live? What's your area, and we help set
up services in their home area, whether it's an IOP
program as anged or it's straight out patient. But what
(31:30):
do you need? You need outpatient counseling, you need medication management, potentially,
you definitely need support. You know, where are the doll
step programs? Where to celebrate recovery? Do you need a
marriage counselor does your whole family need it? We're going
to be digging and looking in their home area. So
they leave, we have it all set up. We also
(31:51):
have a very unique situation that again I've never seen
anywhere else. I think I could probably say that about
all the things that we do. We have what we
call recharge, so you can recharge is very cool. So
let's say you leave warriors aren't and you're doing great,
You're sober, and you're just working the program you're in,
(32:14):
working your recovery program, happy healthy, everything's well, but you
want to come back and visit. So you call us
and we set up a room and you get to
come back and spend a week or a weekend and
engage in some of the activities and just kind of
re immerse yourself in the recovery program. And it doesn't
(32:38):
mean that you've relapsed or anything terrible to happen. But
what if you've gone out there and you are still
sober and you're still working the program, but some tragedy
does happen in your life and you're struggling, you have
relapsed and you're okay, but you're struggling. Your support pick
up that phone and say hey, can I come for
(32:58):
a recharge? Absolutely, And what I hear from what I
hear from that is, man, I just needed that weekend.
I felt so much better after I left. I just
needed that weekend. Something that we say, Karen when a
when a Warrior walks in the door, is welcome home.
(33:19):
And sometimes they'll look at it's kind of funny, but
we say welcome home because once you're a part of
Warrior's Heart family, you're a part. So coming back for recharge,
coming back to the fireside. We do fireside chats and
sometimes they'll come and they'll they'll even be a get
(33:39):
a speaker. So we have we have alumni that work
for us. Now, very few people go through rehab and think, wow,
I want to go back here and work. Who says
whoever said that? But at Warriors Heart, we have quite
(34:02):
a few alumni that now work for us, and to me,
I have never worked anywhere if all these decades in
this industry where people left and wanted to come back
as an employee. This is the only place I've ever
worked where that happened.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
That's incredible. We are away over time. I suspected when
we chatted before that this would happen and I would
keep going, except I have another person in one minute.
So in the one minute that we have left, there
is a warrior listening that is worried about reaching out
(34:49):
for help. What's something you could say that would encourage
them to make that step.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
We are ready to help you. The very hardest thing
you will ever do is pick up the phone and
call waters Heart. It is courageous and brave and scary,
and we know that. But when you call us, someone
will answer twenty four to seven, and they will give
you all the time that you need, and we will
facilitate all of the ins and outs of getting you here.
(35:21):
There is no better time to come than immediately. There's
just not ever going to be a better time. And
it's the most rewarding thing that you will ever do.
But we are ready and We're here to help.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
You, beautiful. Thank you Stacie. Our chef staysiche I said
it right.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
Good too.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
I have to mess up names of purpose now because
you know I'm known for that. Thank you so much
for the beautiful discussion with me today. I really believe
it's going to be helpful to people, So thank you.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
If you have suffered from emotional abuse of any kind,
then your story is my story too. My name is
Gina Coviello, and I know how it feels to be
betrayed by people who are supposed to love you. I
know the emotional pain of feeling utterly alone in the world,
unable to feel safe with others. Embracing self love changed
(36:25):
my life and my relationship struggles. Self love can do
the same for you. Please join me on a path
of healing through self love. My story is your story too.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Thank you for listening in today. Please join us next week,
same day and time. Also, I would love for you
to check out my website healthrivedream dot com.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!