Episode 154 Finding Home in Healing: Branden Barranger’s Story of Growth at Peaks Watch Now https://youtu.be/uERspSzRf40 Listen Now Description

In this episode of Finding Peaks, Chris Burns sits down with Peaks Recovery Centers’ Operations Manager Branden Barranger to explore his inspiring journey from program participant to leadership. Branden opens up about his path to Peaks, the pivotal moments that shaped his recovery, and how grief and self-discovery helped him find purpose and identity. Together, we discuss what it means to truly identify behavioral patterns, how healing transforms leadership, and how Branden now helps create the meaningful guest experience that defines Peaks today. Thank you, Branden, for your endless passion and focus on curating the best guest experience for everyone who steps into Peaks Recovery Centers.

Talking Points Introduction to the Show Meet Branden Branden’s journey to Peaks Identifying behaviors Identity and purpose Looking into grief Alumni to Operations Manager The guest experience at Peaks Branden’s life today Final thoughts Quotes “—ADD HERE–” – –NAME HERE — Episode Transcripts





Episode -154- Transcripts

I always define my life as like having some serious bumpers on my bowling lane and being able to navigate throwing strikes because I have such great bumpers, i.e. community, brothers, young men in recovery, gender specific treatment. We’re able to have these conversations of like what’s that next thing that we can put into recovery centers to benefit the clients in their long-term care. Our responsibility to our patients is to provide them the best care that that they can have, right? Whether it’s the medical team, whether it’s the clinical team, case management, intake team, right? There’s there’s so many valuable key team members that play a huge component of their journey because there’s so many intricate parts to what Peaks Recovery Center brings.
Hey everybody and welcome to another amazing, exciting, and of course enthusiastic episode of Finding Peaks. yours truly, chief executive officer and founder here at Peaks Recovery, Chris Burns. So grateful today to be joined by a good friend, colleague, and long-term recovery friend, Mr. Brandon Behringer, everybody. And to be clear, that’s Brandon with an EN. Welcome to the show. Thank you, Chris. Pleasure being here, man. Yeah, so stoked to have you. We were just talking a little bit before the show. Uh Brandon is an alumni of Peaks. He was back here in 2015. Uh we produced a video uh in regards to his story right around seven or eight years ago. So, I was blown away that we haven’t had him back on the podcast because a lot of things have changed for him personally, professionally. And I just kind of want to walk through um the experience at Peaks, where you sit today as the operations manager, and kind of all points in between. And so, uh for the for the viewers who didn’t get to see Brandon’s initial story, I just want to talk about kind of that front-end experience. You’re living down in Florida, kind of doing your thing, struggling with your mental health, um, informed by some coping with substances, and life was kind of going down the tube. What was it? I know you had been to treatment before, right? Yep. Um, what was it about Peak’s recovery, and what was it about that time in your life that enabled you to make such a good decision? I have to imagine it was yourself, family, and kind of all points in between, but maybe just bring us back a little bit. Yeah. to to kind of go back to the story, right? Like I mean for me it all started with what I believe to be a God moment, right? I was actually on a family vacation um in South Carolina and you know my my you know my father and he’s a very business person and he was actually you know staying up late one night and I remember my parents were both in the hot tub and actually I got into the hot tub with them and you know on this family vacation it wasn’t my purpose or intention going there to ask for help but there was a moment that struck me that just I cried out for help in that moment and I remember breaking looking down and just saying and looking at both my parents and just saying I need help again. Um because at that point I was struggling with my mental health and substances for you know going on six plus years at that point and you know few different treatment centers that I’ve been to. Um you know I learned a lot from them but I wasn’t able to sustain sobriety and you know find my purpose again. Um and that was that moment that um you know inside of 72 hours after that moment um my parents got on the phone and found Peace Recovery Centers in Colorado and you know next thing I knew I was on a flight coming out here and you know landed in a detox facility meeting a gentleman that was at Peaks at the time and you know I walk in the doors at Peaks Recovery Centers and I think for the first time in my life that was actually like my decision. Um the two treatment centers prior to it was more I wanted to do it because I had no other choice, right? I was withdrawing, you know, money ran out, all those kinds of things. And it wasn’t a decision that I was making on my own. But the difference this time around coming to Peaks was um I made the decision on my own and I actually felt genuine care for the first time. Right. You walk through the doors of Peaks Recovery Centers and you know you’re met with the likes of the Chris Burns. You know at the time you know the different staff members who were here the house managers and you know you go through a different experience than I received in Florida and in New Jersey. um because there it just felt like they didn’t care about the clients, right? It just felt like another number sitting in those in those rooms. And the group therapy and peaks was a model that was 6 months. And you know, for me, I think I needed um a larger time frame to find out who I was and my identity and go through a true curriculum that guided me to identify like what I was struggling with in life as well as the camaraderie inside the houses, right? Like all the the young men who lived inside that house. like we created a a dynamic that was impactful and a dynamic that we were all there for, you know, getting better and Peaks kind of created the model to make sure that we were in those rooms and we were engaging with the community and we were engaging in our therapeutic benefits from Peaks. Um, and I think that just made the world of a difference because at the end of the day, it’s so easy to just take things easy and not dig where Peaks made you dig into the things that you felt uncomfortable talking about. And it made it easy in the in the setting that we were in to actually talk about those things and let loose because as a man, man, you don’t want to talk about those things. But at the end of the day, you don’t heal without like being able to identify what those things are, things you’ve done, the things you’ve experienced. And you know, throughout the time at Peaks, man, it was it was just uncovering and unraveling, you know, the layers that I never wanted anyone to see. But I was able to get to that place, you know, with the guided experience of, you know, the therapist at the time and, you know, Peaks as a whole to kind of process through all that stuff. Um, then the benefits of going to afterare inside of Peaks too, right? Like you’re in a bubble like we’re inside the house 24/7. we’re being monitored and then you’re able to kind of navigate into that secondary level of care, you know, designated PHP and you have a level of freedom that comes along with this, right? A lot of people gain that freedom and they go back to old behaviors. Whereas we had a model that, you know, kept the accountability in check. You still have the therapeutic benefits, but you’re still able to make your own choices and live with your choices. But then you’re able to go to group and be like, you know what, I messed up here. It wasn’t substances, but I I landed back in a place where I was relying on old behaviors again and identify those things and then be able to bring accountability yourself to the group and then be able to work on those things again. So to me, Peaks was just the beautifully well-rounded treatment at the time to make sure that like I received the services and the the benefits that I needed and identifying who the hell Brandon Behringer was again because that got lost along the way. To me, that was the beauty of Peace Recovery Centers back in 2015 and still to this day. I love that. you know, being able to identify, which I think is important for the viewers too, is like we can identify behaviors prior to inevitably falling down the path of addiction again because it is, you know, you often hear it referenced in our field that the relapse comes before you actually use. Mhm. And so I think sometimes in our outpatient levels of care, specifically the ones that you walked through, we’re able to kind of be like I always define my life as like having some serious bumpers on my bowling lane and being able to navigate throwing strikes because I have such great bumpers, i.e. community, brothers, young men in recovery, gender specific treatment. And so having people that really care about you, like the friends in my life today, the closest five friends I have in my life, if I’m falling off on something or I’m not doing something right, they’re always like, “Bro, what are you doing?” Mhm. And that’s a true friend. And I had never really been introduced to those types of friends until I found recovery. So I really am grateful that you mentioned that because I think a lot of people think they’ll get into recovery and they’ll be isolated, disconnected, and all alone because I’m this addict or I’m I struggle with bipolar, I do this thing. when in fact there’s a recovery community of like-minded men and women that are marching to the beat of a very similar drum that is infectious and community creating. So, I love that about the recovery process and I had never known that prior to that. How was it because you have a little different experience like I know your family really well. Um, I was uh privileged and honored enough to to do your wedding and you know to give your father a hug and your mother a hug and your brother a big ass hug and each time I do that they just say thank you and your experience with your mother and father was a little bit different. What why was it so difficult do you think and maybe this could help the viewers too for people that are struggling. Why was it so difficult to let your family know that you were struggling? Um, see it’s funny, right? Because you want to hide it, right? Like growing up my entire life, all I ever knew was sports, right? Because at the end of the day, my my parents put me on ice skates when I was 2 years old and I played hockey and baseball year round. And, you know, through school, I was a pretty good student. And, you know, I always did everything, I’m going to say, right. um I wouldn’t say a model citizen but you know at at every turn every grade I was not always on the right track and then there became a moment in time where um my senior year in high school I I you know a pivot happened inside of me and the pivot to me was like we were identifying right it was the people the community that I built around me it all shifted um and with that shift came a level of substances whether it weed um you know Roxy’s at the time and that kind of became the norm of the people that I was hanging around and it’s a behavior that just continued right with smoking weed thinking it was the cool thing to do to fit in because I was losing my identity along the way um because I knew the the end of the line was coming with sports so like the identity was kind of like shifting and I knew at the time that I didn’t really necessarily want to go to college but I could um inevitably down the line I chose to go to community college. But the difference there was um it was hard to kind of share with them because it was a whole different situation that I was in comparatively to the other the beginning parts of my life pretty quickly and there was shame with that, right? Like and they could see it, they would call it out. Um, but you know, as people in addiction, like we’re so good at just creating narratives and stories that it makes it sound better than it really is. And there did come a time um where I did inevitably share with my mother that I needed help, right? And that’s what led to me going to my first treatment center, which perpetuated u moving to Florida and going to that treatment center. But I definitely think the shame of like of where I was in life and the huge shift of where, you know, I believe I should be or where I believe my parents want me to be in life compared to where I was on a downhill trajectory. Um it it was scary to tell them those kinds of things, right? Because like you don’t want to let down the people that care about you the most. Mhm. Um cuz my parents were there for me throughout thick and thin through sports being there year round, hockey, baseball, throughout school, vacations, the whole thing, right? We had a very tight-knit family and then that, you know, I had an older brother as well and you know, same thing. He goes on to college, you know, has this successful career and, you know, I kind of become that oddball in a way. So that’s what held back the the want to overshare in regards to, you know, hey, I need help because it took a little bit of time to get to a place to actually um admit I needed the help. Not wanted the help, but needed it. Mhm. Um so and then again that launched into just the next five years that just became really challenging and again tying it back to the identity like that’s what I lost when I can look back on my life 2020 back to you know 2008 2009 my senior year and moving forward it’s just I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know where I wanted to be. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I know um at that time it’s it’s hard to make the change. And the change I needed to make was going to take treatment. And I didn’t want to do it. Like it was one of those things at the time where it’s like I know what this is going to take. It’s going to be a hard change, a new trajectory, but at the end of the day, it’s so hard to break those patterns and it’s so hard to disconnect the community because the community is disguised to be your friend. The community that you have at that moment is disguised to be your identity in a lot of ways, but in some ways, you also don’t realize in the moment that like it’s not helping you. It’s dragging you down a a further darker path that inevitably you’re going to have to climb back out of. Mhm. Um, and again tying it back to Peaks, like that was that moment where I can actually begin to just one step at a time climb out of that hole and reidentify like who I want Brandon Baron to be. And, you know, sitting here today, I wouldn’t change any of this for the world. It’s a beautiful thing, man. And I think you bring up such a valuable point in my opinion. Not only is identity and purpose part of our curriculum because most young men and women face that inflection point. It’s somewhere oftentimes in their young adult life, but um in their mature adult life as well. And I love how you detailed something because I think a lot of people that maybe struggle with substances, I’ve heard it before where they say, “Yeah, but my mom and dad were [ __ ] really great people. Like it’s not like everybody in group has something to complain about because, you know, they had childhood trauma and they walked through all this stuff.” But you brought up something so subtle. It’s like this internal shift and I had a both and like trauma and childhood and an internal shift with sports with identity. And it’s not something that you do psychologically. It’s far more physiological in regards to your body knows, your nervous system knows that, hey, this hockey thing that I’ve been doing forever, I may or may not be able to go to college, but something’s going to change. this baseball thing that I’ve really hung my hat on that I’ve gotten a million compliments from 2 years old to 18. Everybody sees me, they’re like, “Hockey player, baseball, Brandon, how was the game?” All this stuff. Your parents are like, “Great job, great job.” And then this internal shift happens. Unbeknownst to you, cuz I mean, you stated it really clearly, but you didn’t state, “I thought to myself, my sports career is over. I ought to try something else.” It was this internal shift of identity and purpose in that inflection point and not seeing which way to go. So, I really really love that because I think a lot of people that struggle with substances think, “Oh, I have to have um family of origin trauma. Um dad had to be an alcoholic. Mom had to be really abusive or never come home.” And you define a path that, you know, we can go down to campus right now and probably 30% of the guests have experienced what you have and need to hear this today. And I think the way that you brought it up so eloquently, it it really is this internal shift and all of a sudden you’re magnetized in a different direction than you were from 0 to 18. It’s pretty profound. Absolutely. You know, and that could be difficult, too, because it’s like, where do I go next? And all I want to do is make my parents proud. Yeah. You know, I love that, man. Um, as you progressed in Peaks, obviously you did the six-month program. It was probably longer than that. It was six months, two months of afterare. Okay. Two months of afterare. Um, what did you find when you got out of Peaks? What was one of the like people always say, “Oh, I didn’t know I was going to face this or you know, even the six months of afterare and you know, boundary to accountable care didn’t set me up for this.” You formed really, really great friends and um some of those friends aren’t here anymore. Maybe that’s one thing, but what are some of the things that kind of hit you? I think for me, leaving Peaks in, you know, I’m going to call it a roughly a year into my sobriety. I think some of the the challenges that we were facing at the time, exactly what you’re you’re identifying is we went through I personally went through even prior to peaks. The way I like to represent this is I’ve had a lot of good friends in my life. Um not many of them are alive anymore. Um not all due to substances, some you know some health situations that transpired at a young age. Um a lot of it due to overdoses and substances and mental health. Um, but definitely the battle with discussing and like really opening up about like grieving, right? It’s hard to grieve for me. And it’s still something I struggle with to this day. It’s one of those things where you know it’s there but it stays locked up inside of you because again it it’s hard to discuss these things. Um, you know, when I was a client at Peaks, I grew very close with a handful of clients that we had and unfortunately a few of them, you know, lost their battle with substance use. And, um, they were people that I grew very very close to, a very large community base with and, you know, it was challenging because again, those happened while I was in or, you know, after I graduated from Peaks. The next challenge inside of that too, and I think this ties to a things that I think that people in society struggle with all the time as well, but and again tying this back to the family dynamic, that was the first time in my life where I was on my own in a completely new state. Um, paying, you know, paying all my bills, you know, the rent, you know, all of the things and financially having to make it on my own. Um, which I’m super grateful for because it led me to where I am today where I’m, you know, I live the life I do in terms of being frugal because I like to save money based on the experiences that I’ve had through that time because again there’s you leave treatment, I didn’t have much, didn’t have really anything if I’m being honest. and you’re able to kind of grow. And that’s again where like the identity comes in and the growth because you’re able to identify if I want this in life and I want a family and I want a house and I’m striving for these goals, these are the things I have to do and these are things that along the way I’m going to have to sacrifice to get to the place that I want to be in life. Um because now at this point, right, you have a couple a year of sobriety under your belt and you’re starting to look into yourself in regards to like what’s that next area that I need to continue to work on? Um because, you know, I had the balance, I had the community, I was going to AA at the time, I was doing all the things to benefit my sobriety, but like what’s that next step for me? Mhm. Um, and that next step for me was identifying, you know, the professional life that I wanted to live and also having I I equate money to freedom in a lot of ways. Um, and to be able to find security financially so that I can support my family in the future and my home, which again, at some point in our story, we can probably get to that. Um, but man, it’s it’s awesome to just think back of, you know, the moment walking through the door at Peaks to where we are now and the professional growth inside of Peace Recovery Centers, all the mentors we had along the ways. um you know to jump from position to position to position inside of Peaks, learn from really well experienced people inside of this organization, the mental health and substance use field, be able to bounce ideas off of each other, all for the the purpose of identifying what is the next best care that we can provide our guests. And you know, that’s where we stand today. And it’s amazing. It truly is. To be able to put your head on the pillow every night and just know like, man, what I do every single day affects people in such a magnificent way is one of the most beneficial things a man can experience. And you probably didn’t know when you came to Peaks that you were going to choose this as a profession, but it’s interesting what comes up when you put mental health to bed and allow passion to kind of be alive and well. you know, you have that connected spirit that I think is is really really cool to not only in part on our guests but other staff members and your experience going through Peaks I think speaks volumes. That’s one of the things we didn’t have in the curriculum back in the day was grief and loss. And I’m grateful that you mentioned it because it is such an important topic especially with men. Not to say that there’s, you know, women as well that struggle struggle with kind of um being a part of that story or at least living that out loud. But with men specifically, I mean, I went back to the Meadows with six, seven years sober just to process grief. Yep. Um, so I think that’s really cool that you mentioned that and I think it’s a it’s certainly a uh it’s certainly something that each and every person will have to walk through a prerequisite. That’s what I was thinking of. It’s a prerequisite for this recovery process and not only a prerequisite but an ongoing process throughout your recovery because things come up. You know, I had similar to you. I had a buddy of mine um who I got sober with same day like we called each other. I’m going to treatment. and I’m going to treatment. We picked up one years, two years, three years, four years and then he fell off the map. And I remember just thinking to myself because I didn’t know how to process the grief because I was just sad. I missed my friend. Um I got angry and I moved into community with anger and I’m like that’s what happens when you’re addicted when it’s like that’s not as authentic as what you just said. You know, moving into an authentic process where I can admit things like I’m feeling sad, I’m feeling anxious, I’m feeling disheartened. And being able to process those emotions, I think is the gap of which we all must cross in order to find this authentic foundational recovery that we have today. Absolutely. So, I love that you mentioned that, man. You you literally mentioned two weeks within our curriculum with grief and loss and identity and purpose. Um, fast forwarding a little bit, something that’s been really difficult for me lately as the president and founder is to sit with 95% of our guests who say that Peak’s Recovery is one of the top five things that ever happened to them in their lives. And then there’s this 5% of people, and it breaks my heart, that sometimes come in and are like, “Oh, I don’t I don’t know if this is going to work. I’m not sure.” And oftentimes it’s people on their first treatment who don’t have a lot of experience with the behavioral health setting. Mhm. My question is is how does that feel as being an alumni and now a staff member and how do you curate and or connect with guests to ensure that not only work do our eyes and crossing our tees but they’re having a phenomenal experience. How is that imagine it would be different than your average staff member being an alumni because it’s so so near and dear to your heart. No, absolutely. And you know, as the operations manager, right, like I think our responsibility to our patients is to provide them the best care that that they can have, right? Whether it’s the medical team, whether it’s the clinical team, case management, intake team, right? There’s there’s so many valuable key team members that play a huge component of their journey because there’s so many intricate parts to what Peaks Recovery Center brings. Um, and I reflect on this commonly because like to me it’s representing and introducing what peace recovery centers has to offer, right? There’s so many clinical modalities that we can practice. There’s so many benefits to having n nursing team touching patients across the way. um inside of our stabilization unit, the providers as well, um the intake team and doing that, the activities team, um you know, in our director’s meeting, we’re able to have these conversations of like what’s that next thing that we can put into Fuks Recovery Centers to benefit the clients in their long-term care. And we’ve adopted a few different um strategies in regards to even bringing um you know PT into our our curriculum and engaging further into activities and you know um not just yoga and hikes but just more intricate activities that we can place into our curriculum to ensure that we’re touching every patient because not every guest you know loves the idea of hiking. Not every guest loves the idea of um you know going you know on the incline or doing yoga or going to the gym like they all experience life and things that they enjoy in different ways. So to me Peaks Recovery Center is like we continue to navigate these conversations in a way where it’s what is that next thing that we can do on behalf of what is being represented from that 5% that you identified. Um, and you know, we do that with surveys and trying to gather this information to make sure that we’re continuously receiving the data but utilizing the data truly to identify what are we missing because to me there’s always areas of improvement right the world continues to grow around us whether it’s the cars whether it’s the houses whether it’s AI whether it’s technology there’s always advancements that are being made and I believe that in the mental health and substance use field too I want to make sure that we can put every possible modality, activity, um, community building tool and in front of our patients so that they can experience it and then through that experience at Peaks Recovery Centers be able to utilize it when they enter PHP, be able to utilize it when they enter IOP because I we we kind of changed away from the modality that we had back in the day. like we’re going to kind of you need to go to 2A meetings every single day, have a sponsor, do coffee dates, work the steps, do all these things where I believe I I love the idea of placing all of these things in front of the patient, allowing them to experience it, and then be able to hone in on, you know what, that was impactful to me. You know, Monday, you know, doing art class with Mo, like that’s something I want to hold on to and continue to navigate into the real world in PHP and IOP. the activity with Bobby and going on hikes like you know I never knew that I enjoyed getting in the sun as much as I did especially in an environment like Colorado man we have so many different um hiking trails and you know the ability to go to these you know different trails and you know just that one experience can change someone’s life again tying identity and purpose to it right so just being able to utilize our staff and be able to just present all of these different things to our clients so they can experience it. And when we’re able to capture that 5% of like, you know, what people believe that we can improve upon, you know, being able to collect that information, discuss it as a team, and see, you know, is this something that we can implement into our program on behalf of the guests we serve to make sure that the next client who has similarities to this guest, we don’t feel that friction. And we make sure that their treatment episode is as smooth as we can possibly make it. and make sure that every guest who walks through our door um experiences something unlike they’ve ever experienced at another treatment center. That’s super dope, man. You’re hitting it out of the park today. Um because what you’re talking about is this tagline that we have in behavioral health and everybody does it. A lot of people do, but it’s individualized care. So, you know, the treatment programs I went to, individualized care, individualized care individual treatment program, but then I came in and they’re like, “You sir are an alcoholic. Alcoholics go to a meeting every day. They get a sponsor. They work the steps. They do 90 and 90. And that is what I did and that’s what I chose eventually. But the box was over my head. It just happened to fit. Thank God. So you talk about this process when you come into Peaks. This what I love about Peaks. It’s not like being in a fifth grade classroom where everybody gets the same test. All the scores get averaged and equaled out the same. Literally, when someone comes in, outside of the curriculum that they’re going to walk through in the group process, Joey’s treatment will look so much different than Debbie’s treatment. And for really, really good reason. And I love what you’re talking about is like, let’s load them up with resources. Let’s let’s check out some a let’s do some dharma. Let’s do some drum circle. Let’s check out the yoga studio. Let’s uh let’s check out some grounding outside. Let’s get some sun on our face. And you take from this alakart package what fits you. And I said this the other day to a family and I think it was or not a family but I was talking to another colleague. We want to make sure that your treatment plan and even more specifically your afterare plan fits you like a glove that was made just for you. Exactly. And when you have a glove on that is made just for you or an outfit that fits you perfectly, it has this ability to be really sustainable because you have there’s passion within it. Maybe we can talk about that a little bit. um the difference between when you went through peaks and the folks that are going through peaks now and what you really really love outside of like what we just kind of spoke about, but some of the things that you love that you think we honestly I’m I’m actually surprised we kept peaks together back when you were there. I mean, I was like, Cass and I were doing HR. We’re doing all these things. We’re trying to like hold it together. And now it’s ve it’s very sophisticated to your point, well thought out, informed by surveys, incident reports, getting it right, getting it wrong, conglomerating all that information, and informing a solid care structure. So, what are some of the things as you sit in your operations post and you’re imparting on your team or that’s been imparted on you and the guests that you really love right now? Yeah, I mean I think one of the coolest things that we are currently doing and we’ve been doing this for a long time is you know our systematic and procedural approaches to each and every single department right because at the end at the end of the day like we have a vision of we want what we want a BHT role to be. We have a vision of what we want a clinician role to be. Um we have a vision of what we want a provider role to be. Um and being able to capture that and not only capture it but implement it into our you know daily operations like that’s one of the coolest things because at the end of the day right we using BHA terminology right we launch into our comprehensive assessment everything that goes into a guest for 72 hours like their experience right this isn’t the operational side of things this is actually the things that a client is facing as they walk through our door um which for us includes going to the guest intake room and what do we want our intake specialists to be providing in that moment and what do we want them to understand about our curriculum and then going over to our nurses and entering that assessment like what do we want um outside of you know the documentation that needs to transpire but how do we want our nurses to show up what do we want them discussing with our clients then hopping in with the provider and doing the HMP and the psyche val and then being able to again How are our providers showing up in that moment? You know, not just as, you know, changing medications and learning about the biomedical conditions on behalf of our patients, but being able to like identify, you know, what’s going on, you know, help me understand and then launching into the BH the BHT intake and it’s the same thing. But along that journey, there are so many people that are touching our clients in that 72 hours. Then that client finally gets into bed, gets them, you know, well-cooked meal on behalf of our culinary team and throughout the next 48 hours that we have more guests who are, you know, having experiences with our intake team and then having experiences with our nurses who are back in stabilization. So I think creating a well orchestrated system that creates the best client experience as we walk through this and we’re you know in you know starting Thursday going into our service plan and being able to identify you know from day four moving all the way up until discharge now what does that look like? How do we improve upon that care? And to me, it’s so important because in treatment, right, there’s a lot of autonomy that you gain in your positions. And that’s beautiful because people bring different um benefits to the conversations that they have. But how do we again individualize the care to make sure that um each person can receive care in a different way? Because like you touched on um each guest, you know, in my experience, they don’t love every single staff member as they go through treatment. Some people challenge them. They don’t like being challenged. They, you know, maybe dislike a BHT because they remind them of someone from their past, right? And again, that’s why it’s important for me to have all those people interacting with that guest inside that first 72 hours cuz man, walking in a treatment and you and me can attest to this. It’s anxietyprovoking. There’s nothing comfortable about this. You’re walking in sometimes into a new state into a facility with a bunch of people. you’re you’re around a bunch of other guests who are experiencing hardship in their own life and they’re and it’s a hard thing to navigate through and I really enjoy the challenge of making sure that all of our staff are up for that challenge to make sure that we can simplify and lessen the anxiety and calm the nervous system for that 72 hours to make sure that that guest can begin receiving services when our providers obviously um allow them to from a medical perspective. Um because landing the client is in a lot of ways probably the hardest thing to do because again there’s nothing easy about walking through the door of a treatment center. You don’t know what to expect. And it’s it’s one of those amazing things that we can just continue to navigate, continue to look into, continue to receive data points that reflect on this is informing our decisions and this is how we’re going to continue to grow on behalf of the client experience. And I think for me that’s one of the huge differentials that we had from back in the day to where we are now where back in the day I can speak from a client perspective right it felt like everyone had the autonomy just kind of do what they believed was what we should be doing right we didn’t necessarily have a curriculum but you know there was guided clinical practices um same thing with being in the house like there was a lot of structure um but there was autonomy inside of that structure And same thing like I just want to be able to make sure that throughout the guest experience man like we’re able to touch everyone’s hearts. We’re able to make sure that they leave Peaks Recovery Centers ready to launch into life and be able to put one foot in front of the other and be ready for the next moment of man this is going to be hard but you know what I know I can do it. Yeah that’s huge man. And I never thought 11 years ago when we opened the company that like you know one of the passion points would be systems and processes. But it’s it’s very very important not only to like guest satisfaction but client safety, connectedness, the whole thing. You touched on um the first 72 hours and it’s it’s one of the my favorite things to talk about on a tour where I start out up front. I go over to the intake office. I say this is where the intake team comes out. They meet the guests and their family. We get that settled. They go back to the intake office. They ping the nurse very connectedly. The nurse shows up. Hey, I’m so and so. They take him to the nursing intake room. We get done with the nursing intake. We move on to the next thing. It’s very succinct. And you and your team and certainly Dr. Prince and her teams and things of that nature have found a way to systematize each new guest feeling like or at least us informing that you’re the most important person in the room right now. And so I love the idea where the admissions does kind of this listen first solve later. nothing is rushed throughout that process. And the concierge and hospitality approach that we aim to inform in that first 72 hours is something that I love talking about because when folks are coming into treatment, to your point, they’re definitely not there there are two things for sure. Distrusting, not trusting anybody, anxious, scared, isolated, and probably disconnected in some form. And if we can begin to put those pieces together in a very authentic way by just suiting up and showing up, I think it can curate the guest experience for the next 27 days. Absolutely. And it often does. Yeah. When we nail that first 72 hours, which we do more often than not, people go on to have phenomenal experiences at Peaks Recovery. And it’s interesting that you talk so highly about that, you know, 10 years into your career. That’s the same thing that you mentioned in a different season when you said, “I walked into Peaks and I just felt the care.” Now it’s shifted. It’s professionalized. It’s matured as it should have. Um, but it’s still alive and well in a really profound way. And I think that’s really really cool for people that are like holding that big phone in their hand right now and like I don’t want to go in there. And a lot of people have experiences like you did at like a psych ward and they’re like just please tell me it’s not that. You know, absolutely. So I really appreciate you saying that. Before we jump off, this has been a phenomenal show, but before we jump off, I want to talk about life today personally, what does it look like? It’s been a long time since you did that recovery video. A lot of things have happened. Absolutely. Big changes, man. Um, yeah, since since that video has transpired, right? You know, I began working at Peaks to kind of go throughout the entirety from a timeline perspective. And, you know, multiple positions inside of Peaks Recovery Centers. And you know, I’ll never forget the day where I was actually at peaks in my office and I received a phone call from my at that time my girlfriend, now my wife, saying, “Hey, Brandon, I’m pregnant.” And you know, speaking to what I was speaking to probably 30 minutes ago. Um, just the growth in identifying like this is that next big step for me in in my life, right? because now I’m bringing a child into the world um in a state in that you know I’m relatively familiar with and you know again just identifying this is that next big hurdle that comes in all of our lives doesn’t matter if we’re in recovery or not like people in society we all have that next big hurdle that’s coming along the way and that was mine and man again there’s I wouldn’t change it for the world man it’s I have a daughter I have a a 12-year-old son as well and my wife. We got married um January 3rd, 2023. Um Chris, you were able to um lead our wedding in that regard and be a part of that process as well. Chaplain. Chaplain. Yep. Exactly. Burns. Um so been married um throughout that process. We purchased a house back in 2022 as well. um which is again just identifying those goals which I made in early recovery and just step by step just chipping away making those smart goals making sure that you know this is the obtainable goal that I want but here are those micro steps to make sure that I get to that place and um just growing as an individual throughout that and like tying this all the way back to the beginning of like what is my identity in this world um I believe I found that in a lot of ways like working in this field and working with the people who are walking into their own personal recovery journey whether that be mental health substance use um you know addictions in regards to screen time it’s another big thing um I think for me finally I’ve stepped into my place as being a father being a son being a role model for my children being the best husband I can for my wife and being able to show up as a professional each and every single day And that is what I tie my identity to now in this current moment to make sure that you know I know who I am. I know where I want to be and continue to set goals. I have many goals that I still want to obtain and you know just along the way just taking those micro steps to make sure that I hit those goals and just continue to continue chugging away at it. Man, day by day. What a cool life, man. What a really cool life. And I just I want to end with making sure the viewers because you’ve imparted so much wisdom today and from an authentic and very kind of what I would consider an obtainable perspective is you came in no relationships not a lot of close friends disconnected with your family a tremendous amount of shame. You came into this program sight unseen had a tremendous amount of courage. You walked through the steps. You took the suggestions even when you didn’t want to. you followed your heart. You became a father. You became a professional. Um, and now you’re a mentor for many, having been in recovery over a decade now. I think it’s really, really phenomenal. And, and just to mention, like, you know, the amount of lives that you impact at Peaks Recovery Center, the amount of times I get to sit down and hear your name brought up um, is astonishing. It’s an absolute miracle. I’m grateful to be a small part of that. And I just want those people that are watching out there right now to understand and inherit this idea that this is for you as well. One step, one breath, one day. Thanks for joining us, my man. Appreciate you coming on. Um, we’ll have to bring you on a little bit sooner rather than later. Man, that was a really cool show. I think the viewers and guests and alumni that watch the show are really going to gain some value from this. So, thank you for showing up um with a whole heart. It means a lot, man. Appreciate you. Thanks for having me, Chris. Cool. Until next time, my beautiful people.