Episode 45
Sharing Krystle’s Story

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Description

In this episode we are joined by a family that holds a special place in our hearts to remember and celebrate Krystle’s story.

Talking Points

1. We are introduced to the nonprofit organization that was inspired by Krystle and her brother Kevin’s lives, called KK Fearless.
   
2. Going over possible ways to tell Krystle’s story and celebrate her life in an uplifting way.
   
3. Remembering the greatest ways Krystle impacted the lives of the people around her and what they carry with them from knowing her.
   
4. Revealing our surprise to Krystle’s family of how we plan to honor her in the future.
   

Quotes

“Sometimes it feels like addiction is such a big thing and like addicts are just numbers. And so to hear that there is actually a memory and connection tied, that she wasn’t just passing through your program, like just another number, is really encouraging from a family perspective.”

-Stephanie Scott, Krystle’s cousin

Episode Transcripts

Episode 45 Transcripts

[Music]
hey everybody and welcome to another
amazing episode of finding peaks so
grateful to be here on this beautiful
winter day 2022. um to my right we have
our trusty steed i don’t know i always
call you that i don’t know either it
just feels like a prize
you’re always here and you’re consistent
jason friesma our chief clinical officer
and we have our lovely guests over here
we have brooke
as well as stephanie who are the family
of um crystal perez who came through our
program back in 2016 and we are here
today
in an effort to just celebrate crystal
and celebrate her cause and celebrate
her loving energy her connecting spirit
and as we just talked about her
tremendous fight with her mental health
but before we kind of get into the weeds
with some of that stuff i’d love to talk
about
brooke as well as stephanie they’ve put
together and mom
have put together a non-profit and so i
want to just let them have the stage a
little bit talk a little bit about this
non-profit and how they’re raising
awareness for addiction and mental
health through their beautiful cause so
i’ll turn it over to you brooke yeah
thank you um so we started my family and
i started the nonprofit kk fearless
after the loss of crystal my sister and
my brother kevin as well
to an overdose and so
we’re just it’s our way of honoring them
of keeping their legacy alive and we
hope to raise money and give to local
rehabs all around colorado to create a
music room where their residents can use
music as a tool to help them on their
road to recovery
that is awesome now was was music
something that crystal was passionate
about yeah so we chose music because of
crystal and kevin who they were
super musically talented you might know
this as well but uh she she had the
tattoos
yeah yeah we all did all three of us did
okay
but and i’m not musically talented
that was them
but i do love music and so yeah it was
just kind of that was how we
we knew initially we wanted to give to
rehabs um but we weren’t really sure and
then and then we found like our niche
where we’re like oh we can incorporate
music and that also honors them because
they were so talented and
loved music and loved to play music um
so that’s where we get the music piece
from that’s so awesome we get so many
artists on our side of things
and sometimes you know artists i’ve
found is certainly in family systems
sometimes they have a tough way of
expressing themselves exactly and giving
them that opportunity to really express
it through music through art whatever it
might be it’s just such a phenomenally
connected outlet
um
where do you show up in that cause
stephanie
yeah so i am
married into the family with brooke so
we’re cousins but not blood related and
so obviously through that connection
with the family and knowing crystal and
kevin for the past almost 14 years since
i’ve been a part of the family
but personally like most of us
also know many addicts
have lost friends to addiction
know a lot of people that are still
struggling i have close family members
that are also addicts and so i um
i think at first
they
you know going through crystal and kevin
i hadn’t opened up about like my
connection to addiction with brooke as
you know both sisters
um in a relationship and so
that has been
um
an area for us to be strengthened by
like our relationship to
just be able to talk about it in a space
where we both know what we’re going
through understand each other understand
each other help support um
and so
yeah my just
knowing addiction knowing the challenge
being close is like family members to
to the cause is really what sparked us
to
start just wanting to do something we
didn’t know what it was going to look
like but we just wanted to do something
yeah i just i really really honor that
action-oriented step you know i
unfortunately talked to a lot of
families of ones that have lost loved
ones and in every family’s like what can
i do what can i do how do i do it
you all are doing it it’s a pretty
magical thing i’m sure they’d be looking
down and be like those are my people
let’s go you know
jason what was your relationship
potentially with
crystal and i want to talk about kevin
too here in a little bit just because i
didn’t get to meet kevin um so we’re
going to give him some time here too but
what was your relationship crystal’s
going to get more time probably because
we knew her
um
i mean
obviously
uh she was a client in our program and
it was back when our program was a lot
longer you know now we’re a 45 day
program with with iop on the back end of
it but um
you know
i don’t know if this is the time to talk
about it but like i i can remember like
crystal i think came to our program like
right before we went on a hut trip
um
like maybe the day before maybe two days
literally right before and
um i i swear i told her this later like
i thought she had like the coolest
glasses because i couldn’t see the arms
oh yeah but then she didn’t have enough
glasses
yeah yeah your glasses were broken i’m
like oh like how is that
[Laughter]
and the one thing that immediately stuck
out i mean that trip was amazing to be
with her but she was
tough as nails that one um like
she literally
uh
was going through withdrawals you know
in the middle of nowhere and complained
zero times
she just needed to be by the fire which
makes sense yeah checks out um
but immediately uh
you know there was just something about
her like there was
there’s this essence to crystal that was
so
um engaging and so
um
i know she just brought a life uh and
when you were talking about music brooke
like
i don’t remember what the event was i i
i’m pretty sure one of the other clients
had to go to the hospital for some
reason and it’s back when
like our whole house would
travel as a pack so everybody went to
the hospital and there’s a piano in
there and she just sat down and like
blew everybody’s hair back with what she
could do on the piano and um
everything she taught herself
yeah which makes sense um
and
i just always remember wanting her to
like express more and more of herself
and like she would like do it and then i
think she would not feel embarrassed or
ashamed or i don’t know what or like
self-conscious maybe
um
i don’t know but there was always just
something uh that i just really
that just profoundly touched me about
her and and
her path um
uh and then obviously with logan too and
like walking through that and there’s
just a lot of
um there’s so much life and then so much
pain inside of that young woman um
it just was uh
she was easy to like and easy to invest
a lot of time and energy into trying to
walk with her
on her path
yeah
thank you for that jason um i want to
talk before we jump into it um kevin
um i didn’t get the opportunity to meet
kevin tell us a little bit about kevin
yeah kevin um
he
was just as musically talented as her um
he they both i feel like
um had this like energy that just drew
people to them they were always um loved
and liked by so many people they were
the popular people all the time
everywhere they went
kevin struggled with his addiction
probably for just as long as crystal
so probably over a decade
and
he the last year of his life he was
diagnosed schizophrenic
and went through that with his
medication and everything like that
and then
he yeah i mean
i don’t i don’t know what else to say
about him i don’t really want to speak
to his addiction but
um yeah he just was a very loving
kinding human being so talented he drew
that picture he’s artistically talented
musically talented yeah and what year
did he pass
he just passed in 2020 november mm-hmm
yeah it sounds like you know mental
health
um and i love what you said there is
like we don’t need to go into the
addiction
because it actually is it’s mental
health yeah and people are struggling
with mental health today and um you know
us here at peaks we’re doing it putting
our best foot forward to bridge that gap
um because it is that unnecessary shame
spotlight that gets shined oh he’s a
substance a user it’s different it’s not
different
and we talked about that pretty candidly
before the episode so
sounds like a phenomenal human yeah i
would have loved to admit i don’t know
yeah so he’s great yeah he played a
bunch of instruments uh he mostly played
guitar uh he was really good at playing
guitar
um crystal was the one that was
guitar and piano and violin
and any of them sing
no no neither i think i’m the i’m i’m
the one i just haven’t started that yet
here we go
lead singer of the non-profits of her
voice there’s potential
why don’t you just sing a little
foursome oh yeah
let’s just jump right into the people we
actually have two women in programming
right now that are literally after the
commencement upon my last two groups
they got a guitar out and they sang a
song that they wrote at peaks wow
so yeah i wanted to get into some
questions about crystal and just kind of
pick your brain a little bit because i
want to make sure that
we’re telling her story in the right way
i want to make sure that the energy that
we’re putting out into this world
fits
and so as her family and really as maybe
one of her closest people in her life
um
how should we be telling crystal’s story
i don’t know i mean that’s a great
question i would tell her story in the
way that you knew her um
because that’s how i tell my story i
don’t go off of what people tell me
about her i go off of what i how i knew
her and who she was to me and that’s how
i think you guys should share that
because um i love like meeting people
who knew her and them telling me stories
and like you guys telling me stories
about her hike and her sledding and like
that’s your guys’s stories that you have
of her and i hope you continue to share
those because that keeps her alive
um and i’ll continue to share everything
that i know about her and the great
memories i have of her
yeah that’s that’s that’s really
beautiful and
i appreciate you saying that it
it can be really difficult at times as
we talked about before the show to
really carry that message on
in a really infectious way and i always
feel
geez i kind of feel a little bit guilty
because the only thing i know of your
sister is
absolutely perfect
you know it’s i i get to watch her come
in hopeless and i get to see hope come
alive and that’s the last i remember of
her
and so
the way that i want to tell her story
moving out there is just in that way is
i saw someone come in a fighters fighter
and fought a great fight um and
experienced significant happiness and
recovery
and that’s how i remember yeah and
that’s what i love to hear i love to
hear different perspectives of how you
guys knew her and connected with her in
different ways
how would you tell her story stephanie
from what you know
i mean
what comes to mind is just
her intensity for love like
whenever she was around anyone it was
like
she was just so present right like
and i never remember i mean we all have
like phones and stuff but i just always
remember her being like so present and
like
whatever whatever we were doing it was
like playing games at the table like we
played games and puzzles and stuff it
was just like she was always just so
there and just wanted to connect and
just
genuinely loved being around these
people that
she cared for
that she was safe with
that made her laugh like she was like i
just keep going back to her laugh like
you can’t um
yeah she she made her presence known by
the joy that she like filled the room
with
yeah i don’t think you can speak about
her unless you bring up her laughs yeah
yeah
yeah i was just saying you yeah everyone
knows her laugh i mean she would
she would make fun of you and you’d
still be laughing with her
because her laugh was so infectious but
you didn’t care yeah
it’s weird i hear a little of her
laughter yeah yeah i do i hear myself in
it a little bit too yeah when i laugh at
certain times it’s usually like when i’m
around people that knew her which is
really kind of cool uh and then some
pictures i noticed i’m like oh my gosh i
look like christian
well your mom even talks about when you
were growing up like baby pictures and
stuff you were like the same like people
didn’t know like wait which daughter is
which
i was i was at the parking meter out
there and i saw you and i was like i got
lit up with chills like oh yeah brooke
yeah wow
yeah yeah i get that a lot from
stephanie when we had crystals um we did
we celebrate her birthday every year
and stephanie came and she was just
staring at me and was like it is uncanny
like how much you look like her and it
freaks me out to stare at you right now
i get that a lot
and it’s really cool how you all have
stayed pretty well connected we were
talking a little bit before the show of
some of our other peaks alumni that were
here with crystal
it’s really cool that you all have been
able to stay in touch with them a little
bit and um yeah it’s really cool that
they have supported us through this and
have reached out to you guys to have you
know it’s it’s really a cool tight-knit
community i think yeah yeah
jason how about for you i mean what
i know that crystal
um positively impacted you in a number
of ways i mean i train with jason in the
morning in the gym too so we’ve been
talking about this a lot leading up to
this and um i just know she holds a
special place in your heart personally
and professionally
yeah i think
you know interestingly like it’s
you know like when we started serenity
peaks and invited women into you know
there’s a men’s program and then and
then we start serenity peaks and really
you know crystal was in that kind of
first cohort of young women that came
into our program and um
and with it being a new program and and
um
a new kind of adventure i guess for me
and i think for us chris i think
um
it just created these really special
bonds like with that first
group of people and and i do think of
that hot trip that we went on like i i
mean i will never forget that and
um and i mean i i do have so many
pictures in my phone of of what we were
doing and the hikes and
this silly beanie that crystal was
wearing is like red i think in white
but just a smile and and like
um
so i think there’s a there was a piece
of crystal too that just signified just
a really
fun part of
my career too like selfishly that just
like there’s an intersectionality there
of like this is
fun and like um
[Music]
and i think during that time too we you
know chris you and i would
not joke but like just be in amazement
of like
how
um how different the women’s program was
from the men’s program and how
just the depth of pain and trauma that
came in versus
the men not that they don’t have their
own problems but like
with what the young women walked in with
um
it felt really heavy and so i do think
we we invested i invested a lot of time
into
really kind of wanting to make sure
peaks did well but then of course as a
result of that like just really getting
to know
um
just that whole group that that that
you’ve been mentioning and um
yeah and then uh just yeah crystal like
she just
she was in it man and like uh
and
when i think about her too like she
definitely was kind of the life of the
party in a way but not like i’ve been
around people who are like the party and
they’re really forcing it or like it’s
about them yeah
um in her it was just yeah it was just
how it was her setting
and um
and like she was just always in for it
was just always a yes like we’re going
to play this game cool
uh yes
let’s do that or
we did
we did a charades on that hud trip and
like we had just funny things of like
riding in the van or
the best chris burns oh my god yeah
that’s great
and she just was in for that even though
she felt
terrible in in that um
that sledding video that we had that i
if you remember that like i mean it
she just did it all out and like she
went over that jump and her glasses one
arm glasses go flying everywhere
they may have had two arms at that time
i can’t remember but like it was uh um
yeah it i and i remember
i don’t mean for this to sound morbid
but like i remember thinking that you
know with these with this group two of
like
you know
unfortunately you know i’ve done this
long enough i’m like not everybody makes
it out of this
like i remember it broke my heart at the
time and then
you know unfortunately not everybody
made it out of them
and that
hurts and sucks
and um
yeah
i don’t know that that gets me yeah
um
she was such an amazing
i don’t know is i guess i think we’re
carrying her forward in a lot of ways
and and like i said that
that that picture of her sits on my desk
like right like i just have a spot for
it and i’ve moved that desk
dozens of times now i think but like
it’s always the first thing to put back
up because it’s just a reminder um you
know and
we’ve in the last year peaks have have
said that we are here to save lives
um and i want that reminder that like
this is what saving lives really does
mean um and
because it is a life and death battle
and not everybody gets out of it alive
yeah
it’s cool to hear
such a personal connection
coming from
i mean i see you guys as like you guys
work for with the rehab right and
being on the family side of it like we
hear
some stuff what happens you know while
in recovery while in different programs
but to sometimes it feels
like you know addiction is such a big
thing
and
addicts are just numbers you know and so
to hear that there’s actually like a
memory and connection tied and like it’s
you know wasn’t just passing through
your program is just another number
is really encouraging from a family
perspective that it’s like you know
there is there is so much more than just
the step by step and cranking through a
system type thing and so
that’s cool yeah yeah because i think
yeah not everywhere right right but i do
think
um
yeah i think
how we’ve chosen to run peaks to and and
this comes from chris and how he started
it is like we
we don’t have to be three steps removed
from our from the people we’re helping
like
we’re all just people yeah doing the
best we can and
crystal was doing the best she could and
um
yeah that
and we didn’t have to create some sort
of barrier to say hey we can’t be in
alignment with people who are just doing
the best they can and
um
we have to be there with them yeah
yeah you guys bring up an absolutely
great point as well and we touched on it
a little bit before the show is just
disrupting an industry too really
ensuring that the people that you know
are treating our vote most vulnerable
have the resources to do so
and if they don’t have the resources to
do so it can end up causing more harm
and so that’s been something that our
ceo my brother brandon burns has been
tried and true on over the last year
he’s like we are disrupting this
industry this is crap the way people are
being treated to your point as numbers
and things of that nature i mean i i
find no greater joy than getting on an
introduction call and say i can’t wait
to i can’t wait to have a smoothie with
your loved one you’re like what
yeah i’m the founder like that’s my
thing
i just drink smoothies with people in
early recovery and celebrate they’re
like wow
because it does matter different yeah
because we’ve never had more than 12
beds in our women’s program it’s always
been very intimate and very very cool
let’s say never we had 16 for about two
weeks
never
then we learned way too many yeah
so let me ask you brooke
what would you say that one of the
greatest things
that you carry with you today that
crystal left behind
one of the greatest things that maybe
you got from her
throughout your guys is close connection
that’s a great question i i think i
think it’s hard to pinpoint just one
thing
i carry a lot of both of them with me
and i think like i was saying to jason
that sometimes
i i can hear myself or i can hear her in
me
um and i think that’s a gift really like
i i find joy
in that sometimes i i may look at like
her in pictures or sometimes i may laugh
like her
um i think is really cool but i think
that’s probably one of the things is
like it’s it’s her laugh
it’s
being able to like still hear her laugh
in me which is really weird
just laugh just to hear yeah
that’s cool
yeah it’s it’s weird it’s trippy um but
and i i have like lots of dreams about
them i feel like they come to me you
know which is really weird but
yeah i mean i still feel like they’re
with me everywhere i go it’s
um i haven’t really separated myself
from them i guess
yeah what about the connection with
fearless
and like the way she lived fearlessly
because we’ve talked about that a lot is
like
we strive for that and like yeah she
just
she
she had a lot of shame i know
that was
really hard for her
because she was also gay
and i know that that was hard for her to
talk to other people about um so it’s
not only like you’re gay but you’re also
an addict and so you look down like
doubly you know it’s like
double marginalized because of that um
and so
she but like you guys were saying like
anywhere she was just the life of the
party anywhere she went
um and
it was more so like behind closed doors
i feel like is when
she had that shame and stuff with her
but i think when she was out in front of
other people people saw this confidence
in her and this sort of like fearless
component to her
and so the whole fearless aspect that we
have incorporated is like the ring she
wore said fearless but it’s also how she
acted you know and how people saw her
did you have a question
i have a lot of questions
[Laughter]
um
so
i mean what a gift to kind of carry your
siblings
around like that and have them visit you
and your dreams and all that yeah
my question too is like what’s the
weight of that
yeah
um
the the dreams it’s it’s heavy
uh because that crystal and i always
talked about our dreams um just how
vivid they were and we would go to the
bookstore every you know every week and
read dream books and it was something
that like we connected and bonded with
um and so it’s yeah the dreams are hard
um especially after the the deaths they
were really hard but now it’s like
now they’re like really you know they’re
they’re like good dreams now you know
and so it’s kind of
refreshing in a way but
i don’t think anything else is as heavy
as that
i don’t know
i love what you brought up too is
that’s exactly my experience with
crystal is
even though we knew obviously through
working with her that
that shame lived inside it was never in
the center of the room
yeah it was something that fortunately
or unfortunately
she dealt with a little bit more
independently
you know
i think that’s a
great point she always was kind of this
happy joyous
kind of persona and it attracted the
people around her and wanted people to
get closer to her you know i remember
her graduation that must have been maybe
the coolest graduation of our first you
know first couple cohorts of clients
that have come in yeah i mean it was
just jam-packed in there i remember yeah
sitting on the floor
you know it is interesting because like
i remember as you were talking about her
shane it’s weird to talk to you because
like it just keeps
flooding
um but like her her shame was also like
some of the most sacred space like i
think some of
my my best conversations with her were
about the things that you just kind of
brought up and
and that burden she carried which
that’s when you felt the heaviness that
she was carrying around yeah and
and i just remember you know my own
reaction to that too
was just almost feeling desperate to
help her
unburden herself with some of that
because um
almost wanting her to see her as
everybody else saw right because i think
sometimes she missed that
i
i feel bad
sometimes and guilt is kind of sits in
me because it’s like i i had this whole
like tough love approach
and a lot of the times when she would
tell me she didn’t want to do something
she was self-conscious or she
shame or whatever and it was like and i
didn’t understand i was just like what
do you mean like just who cares like
you’re beautiful
who cares what what anyone else you know
and it’s um it’s just kind of like naive
for me to to even think or say that to
someone who you know when i can’t even
relate to that
um and i see now in retrospect but
yeah that’s unfortunate yeah how could
you have known though i mean
i talk about it all the time i’m a new
dad
so i was reading the dad to be book in
like where’s my mental health section
there’s nothing there so we all show up
and to jason’s point i think we do the
absolute best that we can do
yeah you only know what you know yeah
but when jason brought that up about
crystal and the shame is i have
experienced that and it was heavy
um and there was a piece of her that’s
like i just
somehow someway want you to be able to
see the way that the world views you
because it’s
spectacular right you know and that’s
that’s the age-old journey of recovery
with young people who’ve experienced a
tremendous amount of shame and pain is
like can we get them to see what we see
before it’s too late right you know
and i think that’s what i that’s a
something i plan to do with this
non-profit is to be an advocate for
those people who are feeling that way
because i know how crystal and kevin
felt that way and
i
i wan i know what it looks like and i
know how it makes them feel and i want
like everyone to know that i’m an
advocate for you you know it’s like i
you can come to me and you don’t have to
be afraid to tell me that you’re using
right now or whatever the case may be
and i’m not going to look down on you
and i’m not going to judge you because i
saw it firsthand
and so i think that’s kind of what i
want to bring with this non-profit as
well as just being an advocate for those
who are suffering and in all this pain
and the shame and just break that stigma
yeah
right really i love the the niche that
you guys have thought about too of
creating um a musical space because i do
think um
it’s easy
you know for us to meet people like
doing sporting things or like physical
activities and yeah
all kinds of things but it does leave
like a segment of people
wrestling and get sober that
need to engage with the arts and like i
think we do try to include arts in what
we do but
um that specific musical space um i
think that’s a powerful uh gift i think
to give people um
and and we’ve certainly you know over
the last you know five and six years or
whatever like we’ve had certainly people
come through that like we have a
i mean not the best keyboard in the
world
maybe we can hook you up with it yeah
right
yeah it’s not i think it’s just fun to
watch people who really get it yeah you
can sit down
and also that’s a vulnerable space too
because i think uh
you know to exhibit your talents like
that um you can feel really well
vulnerable and really uh
scared it is it is like
i remember crystal would only let it out
a little bit here and there like little
pieces and then
it was of course amazing when she would
but
it was very incriminal yeah i think
that’s how they
expressed themselves crystal and kevin
both i saw that because they
had a hard time kevin i mean wore his
heart on his sleeve really like he was
really open and transparent with you but
crystal was much harder to crack and i
think
the music helped
her a lot with that and expressing it
and i know from
experience her and i just listening to
music was like our way of bonding and
like talking to ourselves yeah just
through lyrics
but yeah i think the music part i hope
will help a lot but i’m really glad that
we incorporated that into it for sure
yeah that’s really really cool
i love it it just creates vulnerability
i don’t know what it is about music
she’s like man i’m gonna sink into that
right you know i can remember being a
new professional and
that was the music therapist and i have
no idea how i got that must have been
music it must have been an
therapy i’m like done man i like music
and i like therapy so
let’s put them together but i remember
sitting in there and i had no idea what
i was doing i just had a big heart to
help people but i remember there was
this guy in there who
passed away was one of my friends his
name was yaya
and he would never talk in group
but he’d say hey can i play song
and you he would just belt and you’d
move to tears because he would just you
could heal everything he’s trying to
express
in that one song right and you’re just
like oh
just so moving yeah so i love love what
you’re doing and i think that um longer
term we’d love to get a music program
going here at peaks i think it’d be
exceptional because there’s nothing
greater than sitting around and just
watching
these amazingly giftedly talented people
in recovery jam out
it’s like the coolest thing ever well we
experienced just a small bit of it at
our first drop-off and so we’ve you know
from raising money to getting
instruments to dropping off at recovery
center
just pulling up we hear all this music
happening you know like they’re already
playing and tinkering and it was like
they’ve had the instruments for 30
minutes and they’re like already
creating songs together and it was just
like this like organic thing that it was
just by the instruments being there like
something was happening right like
nothing that we did like it was just the
music was there and then
they just like lit up and we just sat
there and watched them just jam out and
just organically just like play together
they’ve implemented a um a music theory
program into their rehab and so if you
didn’t know music before here’s an
opportunity to learn music and now we
have the instruments to do it and they
have a church band now brook went to go
listen to the church band so they now
have a band in their weekly
sessions and so that was a really good
experience to go see them and do that
and people after the session would come
up to me and like thank me um was yeah
so powerful and just like you have no
idea how much this has helped me and
like i’ve never played an instrument
before and i picked up the the bass and
love it and it’s helped me so much for
this recovery yeah um was and he’d only
been there for a few weeks and so that
was really
powerful it’s really cool to hear that
you can feel that in that video too yeah
and just hearing that you know some of
the guys that got on there and just said
simply what this is doing for him
yeah wow like we hadn’t known them for
more than 30 minutes and they’re
bringing up their past with their you
know trauma with their parents and like
all this stuff and it’s just like
holding this guitar in your hand for 10
minutes and suddenly you’re just feeling
free that vulnerable space we talked
about right like i now trust you to have
this conversation and this is opening up
so much for me to be able to talk and
we have grand plans about the future of
opening a storefront space a physical
space that can be sort of like this
drop-in jam session that is like a space
to just like
you know you don’t need to have a guitar
but you can come and play ours or
private rooms where are you know they’re
a handful of people that want to just
start maybe creating a band or just like
have something to do you know like we
like you mentioned sports there’s you
know 24 7 you know
recovery like gym workout spaces and
like you know what if you want an art
space to come and just do the art thing
and tap into that side of you but you
don’t have a space to do it that’s sort
of the grand vision yeah or the money
right like just come hang out with
like-minded people and we’ll have a
stage if you want to put on a show like
let’s put on a show like we’ll give you
an audience and so that’s the grand plan
is to create a community and we know
there’s so many
aspects you know recovery isn’t just one
thing
but if this could be the one thing that
helps you know that coke that healthy
outlet that coping mechanism that one
thing that like
you can
lean on and get you
to that next step whatever that looks
like
that’s you know worth it in itself for
you know and that is like you know
crystal and kevin will live on through
each one of those moments so that is a
really cool thing actually phoenix
multi-sport yeah yeah does it for sports
right it’s like all you got 24 hours
sober you come in come home yeah
you bring up a great point and we’re
gonna wrap up here shortly but um
touching our passion every day
and a lot of our artists too i had a
female in our women’s program just
graduated
she’s on itunes i mean so gifted and i
sat down there and i said that was the
most amazing song i’ve ever heard played
in front of me
and she goes
yeah my mom told me how to do something
a bit more reasonable and i’m like oh
right and so what what i think our
artists are told or at least they’re led
to believe throughout their lives that
that’s that’s when when you want to get
serious come over here
you know and so that i think they’re
they tell themselves a narrative like i
can’t do this i can’t be
i’m pushing the the
the energy today that says we should
touch our passion every day if you’re an
artist we paint if you’re a singer we
sing if you play guitar we play guitar
yeah because no matter what we do in
this world in the name of recovery we’ll
be fulfilled
so i love that cause i’ve loved having
you all on here um i want to talk about
something really quick that i’d like to
do for
you and your family and most certainly
in crystal’s name
um
i don’t know if i told you but we’re
getting ready to build a 13 000 square
foot state-of-the-art treatment program
right up here in north colorado springs
wow we have the real estate we’ve been
fighting for it for the last two years
annexing it rezoning it so
congratulations thank you we are
breaking ground um this month wow and
our treatment team would like to
dedicate a portion of that building to
crystal
wow
a
corner we want to call it crystal’s
corner
in an area where people can go and they
can play music oh man that’s amazing we
can carry on crystal’s name um forever
wow yeah that’s amazing thank you
you’re welcome
thank you
and i am hopeful that that starts coming
here
i’m hopeful that that starts
the ball rolling for a music therapy
program
that we’d love to start with well you’re
a music therapist
i’m gonna be heading up the charts
but i am just as i told you before the
show i’ve just been we’ve been thinking
about ways how do we let these beautiful
faces live on and
crystal’s face is going to live on a
peak’s recovery forever and we’ll go on
and tell her story and we’d also like
for you all to come out each year and
talk to our team and talk to our clients
about how much this matters to you
so we’re gonna let that beautiful face
live on
certainly on our side of things and it
is our promise and our commitment to you
all that will continue to disrupt this
industry and continue to have the
personal touches in our program that
connect people to things that really
matter
so that is our commitment
thank you thank you all so much for
coming on it’s been so nice having you
on thank you for driving down in this
horrible weather
thank you jason for accompanying me on
this show it’s been really special to
connect with you all in here um
yeah i’m really grateful
it was actually fun to sit and talk to
her and talk about it and talk to you
guys yeah it was great
yeah
well it just reaffirms i mean
nothing about addiction for anyone is
easy right there’s so many different
layers but
the fact that
the efforts the talk the discussions
like the stigma the shame all of that
just
there is a reason for
continuing to have the conversation and
i mean we
we’ve been up and down with like where
we’re going with this non-profit ever
since crystal passed away and
as soon as it hit it hit and like this
is just a perfect example that like
when you follow your passion right when
you like
see a gap you feel a gap and like it’s
coming from a place of just you know
this can work and that there is that
need and there’s people
that um appreciate that that it’s all
worth it
so we’re grateful for you for
having continuing to have the
conversation and the dialogue and
um seeing
seeing crystal and kevin and everyone
else that you come in contact with as
people and doing the best that they can
yeah
thank you all so much for coming on and
sharing this vulnerable piece but i
think it’s just a really important piece
we’ll let that memory live on in a
really infectious enthusiastic and
relentless way because that’s what
crystal left for me was this relentless
approach
to the work yeah so
thank you all
and that’ll do it everybody uh thank you
all for uh coming on tuning in please
find us on all of your podcasts
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the brand ambassador please tune in to
the tick tock it’s a good time
um but until next time um thank you so
much for joining us today uh we miss you
crystal and we love you peace
[Music]