Mom & Rehab Founder Talks Street Drugs, Teens, Addiction, Rehab

She and her husband Cole are the founders and owners of Solstice recovery in Wimberley, Texas. It is a 30 day residential Recovery Center for men. Unfortunately, due to the impact of COVID they will be closing their doors as of June 1. If you would like to help out in any way, please visit their website at www dot Solstice recovery.com. Or contact Tara at Tara Ta ra at sostis recovery.com. Tara and Cole are no strangers to the devastation of addiction, and they have their own miraculous

stories of redemption. Tara is a wealth of information. She knows what our kids are getting faced with what's really in the street drugs, how to talk to your kids about it. And the signs to look for. Her story is powerful. I'm sure she can speak to you or someone you know that struggles and bring hope and light to such a heavy topic. My name is Tara shifflett. And I'm ill a wife a mother of a 13 year old girl and a 14 year old boy. Oh boy. Yeah, it's uh, they're good kids, though.

We've, we've gotten lucky. They're very grounded. What I do right now, I am the CFO and co founder of a nonprofit center for men in Wimberley that's Wimberley, Texas for drug and alcohol abuse. And it's a 30 day center, we have 12, guys, and we've been doing it for about six and a half years, my husband and I, and we geared towards chronic relapse errs, and we take them through 12 steps, the

12 steps in 30 days. And it's for men that have already done the medical side of it, that therapy side of it, and they just need a safe space to get away. And we are closing June 1. So so it's just for men, it's just for men. Yeah. And what made you decide to do that? Well, my husband, it's, it's his second place to open, he opened the first one when he crashed, I can't remember he got sober at 30 years old at a place called Mark Houston's and this was

patterned after that. So he opened another place with some investors called last resort. And when that started to go a different direction that he wasn't willing to go in. Then this opportunity came along, and the original investor of Solstice and had to pull out and so my husband and I had this woman who's amazing woman, Angel donor, and she actually lost her son, and he was a big part of our lives. And she was like, I want to help you keep it going.

And so he and I decided we tried to a nonprofit because that kind of like fed our hearts more. And he's like, Well, you helped me and I was already doing the accounting for it. And so I was like, Yeah, let's go. So we just jumped, dumped with no money, and just, you know, that God would just take care of it. Right. And he has for six and a half years through some amazing people that we've met along the way, you know, to help us financially with with donations

and stuff. Yeah, so I know you're really struggling with that for a bit. Yes. Right. Yes. Probably still are. Yes. Yeah, that's what I'm, that's why we're closing. Yeah, it's just gotten too hard. And, you know, worrying every two weeks about taking care of your team and grants don't apply to us because we're not a licensed facility. And we don't want to be licensed because that takes away from the kind of care that

we're trying to offer. Yeah, so Well, one thing I know about you, is that even though because we've just were talking about this a minute ago, like even when these things happen, there's a reason why Yeah, for sure, do you can you see it or feel it? Why? Yeah, no, but I I'm very much into the energy and then God and so it's like, I know it's there in the field, but it hasn't made its

way to me yet. And I don't want to get too much in the way so I'm just kind of like getting out there and like saying yes to things like being here with you and just, you know, seeing what you present. Yeah, your way and that's true. Yeah, really? Yeah. That's walking. Yeah, you have to? Yeah, yeah. So we'll see. Wow, no. So tell me about your story. Like there's a reason why he

went went through all this. Yeah, I mean, I, I had gotten sober in May of 2013. And that really was the day of my I call it my spiritual experience. It's like, I've had a couple of those in your lives where God just comes in, and you feel it, and it changes your whole life. And so that just changed my life, it changed the way that I look at things spiritually, and I no longer consider myself in recovery, because that doesn't fit me anymore with my spiritual

journey. But everything that's happened has gotten me to where I am now. And so I think that, you know, I can help speak to some people and what they're going through. And well, one of the reasons I asked you to come in here and do this is because even though I've known you and your sister Lindsay, for just a short amount of time, maybe almost a year through class, the last time we

talked, I was just in awe. You both were just talking and just saying so many wonderful things and things that I didn't know, you know, and one thing that I know that I can learn and other people can learn is just about your experiential experience. Like what was that? Like for you? What was it that flipped that switch for you then? Because I know a lot of people who struggle with drugs and alcohol, and it's a long battle, and I have friends, and no people who lost that battle?

Yeah. So I was a really heavy drinker. And what you know, you would call an alcoholic, but they say sometimes in the rooms like a high bottom drunk, and I guess that's what mine looked like. But I don't consider myself a high bottom drunk yet. Like I wasn't living under a bridge, and I wasn't drinking the minute I woke up to not have the shakes and get. Yeah,

exactly, yeah. But what I've learned through all of this, and all the people that I've met is I'm no better than the person that was under the bridge and lost, you know, because it's a spiritual brokenness. And so I just, I woke up every day not liking who I was in the mirror. I mean, I was a mother, my kids were four and five, when I stopped drinking, and just just feeling broken. And I was in church one day, and it was

Father's Day, really. And yes, and the pastor said, you know, close our eyes, and we're praying, and he said, all the men in the room, raise your hand, if you feel like you're failing, your families are failing yourself, and you need God and whatever else he said, and I just had tears pouring down my face, like when I did EMDR, where you don't even know you're crying, it's just coming out. I raised my hand and he was like, even a woman in the room was up, and up. And I was

changed. Right then in there, I was different. And I knew it. And I went home. And I told my husband, and he set me up with this amazing woman who was my first sponsor, and I didn't leave and have to go to treatment, which was amazing. So I didn't want to leave my kids, but I got sober in the rooms, by just and I told myself, I was going to tell everybody that I met probably to the point of scaring people away, you know, the new moms and kindergarten and whatever, just blah, yes,

story. This is what I am. This is what I don't do blah, blah. And is that where you figured out your boundaries that you're telling me about tip longer to figure out my boundaries? I think in the past, maybe take us does Yeah. Because at first and you just like want to help anybody that comes to you and not recognizing that they maybe have ulterior motives, or they can be taking from you without lifting you up? And you know, you have to have

be reciprocal. Yeah, but um, anyways, so so that feeling like you're sitting in church and it came over you like that? Can you how would you describe it to somebody that's never felt that before? Gosh, I, I mean, with just like, chills and just knowing like the, the other leg of a veil like lifted or was that a whole bottle was

like a whole body thing. I was just like, it was like happy crying and no fear, like shame was gone no more like hiding no more secrets, just the chain like I knew it was gonna be Yes, chains are broken the chains of addiction. That's what my grandmother showed up in a in a spiritual medium reading one time that I did. And she showed herself with chains and breaking the chains and said that my sister and I broke the chains of

addiction on our family. And that's really what it felt like, we're arval Yeah, where I kind of, I stopped worrying. And I stopped worrying what, what it was gonna look like tomorrow. And like, the sadness left me. Just yeah, yeah. Wow. And your husband kind of had. Did y'all come along at the same time? No, he was sober. I think seven years before me. So Wow. Yeah. Which I don't know how he did it. But like I said, mine was it

looked a little different. When I had babies, you know, I didn't really drink and I was able to slow down and do the baby thing. Whatever started ramping up as kind of it progresses like it does, you know, later on as the kids got a little bit older and stuff, but that's no, he was high. He was sober for seven years before Wow. Yeah. system like he would there was never

any judgment or, you know, because that's how he leads. And so I had no problem coming to him and saying like, Hey, I think I have a problem. And he was just like to talk to her. And he knew like that, you know, that's just what I needed. Yeah. Wow, look great. Love you to have a great relationship I've known since I was 15. I know there's so many stories between you Tara and yeah, she made she made a smackdown one time. Yeah, there's a lot of stories.

So tell me what one of the biggest spiritual experience that has changed your affected you besides them, like you were telling me a lot of things that you guys, you have gifts, spiritual gifts, you know, the other spiritual and I think I told you this, the other spiritual experience that I had that compared with that was when I decided to have a baby for my friend carry a baby. And it was like, gosh, yes. And I was like, my friend who couldn't carry a baby.

Can I just preface this real quick, so I don't have to cut it and edit later, because I'm really gonna want to say that as another thing that I was just in awe. When the last time we met, and I find out that you're a surrogate. Yeah, you were you're not an AW, more than I was because I hated being pregnant. And yeah, it was crazy. Like, but tell us about that. Yeah. So my friend couldn't carry a baby. I don't know. And her her husband grew up with my husband. And so

they're like best friends. And I was getting ready again for church one day, and I was flat earning my hair shirt. Yeah, look what it does. Yeah, I know. It's crazy. And I was flat ironing my hair. And then this voice just goes give her your egg. And it wasn't like it was my voice. But it was very firm. And it was like I dropped a flat arm. My hands were shaking. And I went and I picked up the phone to call her like, and I knew she was like at church already cuz she was serving there. And she

didn't even answer. And I think I left her message like, hey, I need to give you my egg or whatever. Yeah, that on a message. Yeah. Because that's how she knows me. That's how she is. And that's how I know. Yeah, I'm gonna send you it's gonna be in the mail. Yeah, no, I'll you know, flat out. Yeah. And it was and but it was like, I was so sure. And I didn't know why. And I but I just like, knew I had to, you just had to. So yeah, I did. And we didn't go through doctor's

office. We didn't do any of that. We just he, you know, brought over his his cup and Turkey base today. After the third try, but the spiritual medium that I had spoken to also before had told me that I was going to have her son. And so and like, that happened that came to pass as well. Wow. Yeah. It was interesting. So Lindsay, your sister and I were asking you about that. And about, oh, my gosh, what about the son and that you had a boy in the

relationship that you have? And it's because we were like, Oh my gosh, that's your baby that came out. And not only that, but God gave you like the perfect love for him. Yeah. And the perfect like, I don't you know, yeah, it's in the right spot. Oh, yeah. I have no attachment. I mean, in terms of like, he's not mine, you know, he's their son. And I, you know, from the very beginning, even the pregnancy felt different. Like, you know,

I wasn't indifferent. But I it wasn't the same because I knew he wasn't, he wasn't for me, he was for them. But for you to just know that it's so inspiring and just admirable. Or I'm a sociopath. So I don't know. Maybe? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Cool. But I have a very, I have a very keen intuition. Like she and I both were Munzee my sister would like we should be like, private detectives. Like, I just kind of like the bullshit meters is there and it's always

there. And it's right away. Like I can tell like my husband like, no, don't not not him. Don't don't work with hammer. It's just you get ya feel and intuition. And you're an empath. Yeah, we talked about Yeah, for sure. That can be bad. And it can be it. Can you have to protect your energy for sure. Well, when I was talking to Aaron yesterday, the therapist she really curious on what you knew about what was going on in the world today with

the drugs and the teens. It's a different world than when we were growing up. Yeah. You know, you hear these things like, Oh, the marijuana it's fentanyl on it or it's got this or that. You were talking to me last week. That's why you're in here because he was just like, I need a mic on them. Because I learned a lot and I want other people to know because I Whether you believe that your kid does it or not, you know, other kids. I mean, do you know a statistic? How many kids are using or have

tried? Or? I don't know, my, my husband is so good with those statistics. Yeah, my brain doesn't really work like that. Yeah. But I just know that it is. It's so prevalent and just from watching the men that that we know and the families and what they go through like the fentanyl is in everything. You know, it's in like the street Xanax, you know, it's in, it's in the marijuana, it's in the street pain pills. And so and it's to make it

stronger. And so people want to buy that product, but there's no way to like regulate kind of like that dose they take so they could just take one pill, and they just die. I mean, it's it's Oh, yeah, we've lost so many people. I mean, it's been devastating that just come to that was coming to Solstice. Are you been through? Yeah, through like, we the amount the amount of men that we have lost since we opened six and a half years ago is it's it's pretty devastating. And so

how many? I mean, we're up, we're up probably in the 40s. Just in six and a half years. 40. Men? Yes, that we have some way now saying they passed away? Yes. Yeah. They're no longer on this or now. Now. How many people were coming into your facility over the past six and a half years? Just guess if you can, we tried to keep our we tried to keep it full at 12. Guys, um, 12 hours a month. 12 guys every 30 days. So, you know, if people couldn't pay, we took them in any ways.

Were they taking their own lives? Or were they X was an accidental overdose? A lot. Were accidental overdose. Really? Yes. Yes, some, some committed suicide, or you don't know if they did because the product they were using had fentanyl. And then we had you know, we had a couple out alcoholics that passed away from alcoholism or complications due to alcoholism. But it's way more prevalent for the opiate

epidemic. Yeah, well, with my two cents in this, and the only thing that I know about is when all this went down with Miles, you know, in the second episode, if you haven't heard it, he discusses about what he went through last summer. And he has his own story, and what he believes that happened. And of course, we all have our own experiences and stories. But you heard him discuss mushrooms and acid on that. In the hospital. He had no drugs in his system. And so it's not what caused it, it might

have helped it along. But because he was very open and honest and worried about that, you know, I did the mama bear thing, and I jumped in the pool and swam around all in it. I mean, I'm not kidding you. And I said that we had a Texas Ranger, an ex Texas Ranger, it was over 10,000 Men check out every single person at his work everywhere and dug deep sent a private detective down into where downtown San Antonio and actually did some work to find out where this was coming from.

I ended up finding out like all the names of these mushrooms, you know, there's like a purple Latina or whatever, there's a fat gorilla or, you know, they go by these names, and then I find out that they're putting acid in some of them because they want it to be potent the same way. Well, not that mushrooms are any better. But maybe they are. I mean, yeah, I don't know. So I got to know about that. And then, you know, everybody's a Netflix watcher.

We all think that we know because we watch all these cool Netflix shows. But let me just say this. When all that went down, and I'm working with an API detective, I'm calling people all over Adam and I are driving around. I had no idea what was really going on out there. And we're clueless, and we don't want to be Yeah,

knowledgeable in that. Yeah. But this is where I think that we really need to not be scared but have our eyes open. Because this is the world that we live in. These are the kids that we have that are it's there. Yeah, there are kids selling jugs of liquor out of the back of their trunks of their cars. So there's that. And again, I'm not trying to be funny. You're full know, tossed aware? Yeah, tell them

this is what's happening. Yeah. You know, I wouldn't say, are you doing that it's all about having a relationship and just connecting. Yeah, yeah. And trying to give them information in a way that's not a lecture. And you know, our kids, for better or worse, they, we've been super honest with them. And they've been exposed to all of it. And a lot of the men that we have lost, we're also close with them. And so that was hard. But I also hope that it's just kind of made them

more knowledgeable. Like I always say to them, this could be the wrong thing to say, but, you know, I'm not under any illusions that they're not going to experiment. Obviously, we hope they want it, because that

would just be great. Wouldn't it be amazing, but I say if you're going to, like, maybe drink that beer, open up that beer, or if you take an edible, like, make it sure it's from one of those bags that comes from a dispensary, and from, you know, people get it from Colorado and California, whatever, don't take anything that you don't know where it came from, because everything is laced, you know? And it's just scary. And like, they could just try something one time and you know, they fall

out. And then it's, it's done. Yeah. And that's why I don't know if that's the right thing to say to them. But it's, you know, just making them aware of like how much stuff has been altered right now, you know, even the vape pen, some of them are just have the THC in it. And instead of nicotine, you know, kids are vaping. And you just think they're doing nicotine and it's weed, you know, it's, it's everywhere. And now, what would you suggest to a

parent? I mean, you're sitting here looking at me, you know, I have kids, we live in the same area, you know, so many more, you've seen so much more, shockingly more, is of the industry that you are in? Is there anything that you really feel like, look, parents, this is really something that you should pay attention to? Or maybe talk, say this or ask your

kid anything? Yeah. Well, I think kind of like, what you were saying, have, you need to have like an open dialogue with them, and you need to let them know that they can come to you and trust you. And there won't be necessarily repercussions for them being honest. But, you know, start asking them about, you know, it asked them like what they you know, do you have friends at school that are doing drugs? Do you have friends that are doing,

you know, using the vape? Do you know what's in it, like, just start trying to, like, ask questions and have a conversation with them. You know, I know we're not supposed to be their friends, but where they can just kind of have a dialogue with you and try to warn them about like, what's what's really happening with these drugs without an election lecturing kind of way, you know, and I'm guilty of that. I'm just gonna say that right now, you know, growing up in the we were

just grew up different. And our parents were different drugs, friends, activities, different world, no phones, right? Yeah, here we are. Don't assume if your child is the straight a track star or football star that they're not, they're still kids, their brain chemistry is still changing. It's wired, they're wired for experimentation. Even the good kids are gonna go probably in high school and crack open a beer and try beer with their friends. So don't assume my kid doesn't do that. They're the

football star. They're this they're straight A's. All kids want to experiment in some fashion in at least by high school. And so just have the conversation, like you said, know where he's coming from, if it's gonna happen, you know, talk to us if it's gonna happen just there. Because they're smart. We got away with so much oh my gosh, you can blind your parents if you want to, you know, and get us home, which your friends are using when you're not, you know, and you're not quote

unquote, but you are. But you think you're being honest about your friends, and you're totally hiding everything you're doing to their stuff you can drink to pass your urine tests at home. I mean, kids know this stuff. It's out there on the internet. And so don't think like, if you have a suspicion, then you drug test him and they pass it. They're not using I mean, it's, I remember what I was gonna say,

I grew up very that way. And I took what I the way I was raised and did the best I could and felt like, you know, I could protect them from those things. Yeah. And when your kid is born, it they are born with that personality. I don't care what anyone says. There's only so much environmental and raising that you can do. So you're dealing with this personality. And I think that you really need to just deal with each child with their own unique personality. Exactly. What is

their love language? Yeah, you

know, I got this book once about what is your teenager's love language? I'm sure you've heard about that. Yeah. What's your love language? And I saw it for teenagers and I thought, wow, I need to do that. It's not just about my marriage and me It's about that. And so it talks about the personality traits and the teenagers in them and how to figure out what their love languages. So I started there because I was more like, you don't need to be doing that on

nobody calm suck it up. Yeah. And then I thought, you know, I keep doing that. They're not going to tell me one day. Yeah. So if there is this fine line, you don't want to be their best friend. You can't. Yeah, you know, so it's trying to navigate those waters too. Right? It is. Yeah. So maybe just saying, like you said, when you said, there, there'll be honest with you and tell you about all their friends. That happened me. I mean, it was looking you in the eye? And there's I believe you

Oh, 100%. Yeah. You know, you've never knew that. So as much as you believe that just these children were given to you by God. So we tend to just kind of put, put them off. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'll do it later. I'll do it later. Yeah, I'm almost 51 years old. And here. I am going. I just told this to my husband and one of my daughters the other day. I said, I got 20 summers left God willing, right. And I'm not saying I'm gonna be done at 71. But I'm gonna be enjoying my life and relaxing a

little bit. Yeah, think about 20 summers. Yeah, that's not a lot of time. And this time does go by fast. And one big lesson that I learned too, is, no matter where you are, no matter like, hard, hard place, you're gonna get through it. And it's gonna pass. Yeah. And you can't see it. And you can't feel it. But with this, that little mustard seed of faith you're gonna get through. Yeah. And there's gonna be something for you on the other side.

Oh, yeah, exactly. I think so about talking to your kids. Yeah. And I'm and the only thing that I would, that would kind of piggyback that is if, you know, you do find out that they're using or experimenting, or some parents, you know, it's because of the fear we have, there's a reaction to get, you know, angry or start like, cutting off friend or, you know, giving all

these consequences. But I really do truly believe it's important to try to find out, like, why where it's coming from, because most people that are self medicating, it's for a reason. That's exactly what I'm so glad you brought that up. I have been thinking about that for days going. We as in me too. So judgmental, you know, the homeless people down there, under the bridge. My kids and I, we were part of this program with some great people who that was their mission is to help the

homeless in Austin. And one of the little ways I'm just, I'm not saying oh, look at us, but I wanted to show my kids. Yeah, you go down there and give back. Yeah, you know, so we had the whole socks and everything. We had our bikes, and we would do a little route and give it to them. And I'm looking at them. And I would just think what happened. Like there was, you know, there's so many things that happened to get you here, but where was that breakdown? You know, I would judge me like

it's all drugs. But it's, there are so many reasons behind why did you choose it? What were you medicating for? What was your pain? What was your wound and to have more of a heart for that? Well, a lot of them have mental illness, because that's how they're trying to deal with it. self medicate? Yeah. And make them feel better. Yeah, it's all about just trying to make yourself feel better. Aren't we all?

Yeah, right. Yeah. So what if there's someone in your life and they have that struggle, instead of quickly judging it? Kind of look and see why and how so? Okay. What if someone heard this? And they just found some a little bag of weed and their kids backpack? What do they do now? I mean, because your first reaction Yeah, it depending on your personality? Yeah. Different ways. Yeah. Might be to be angry. Right. Some shit up around. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, with, with with me personally, and my husband, the way I think that we would handle that is we would, you know, talk to the kiddo and find out kind of like, is there something going on? Or, you know, like, when did you start? How long has it been going on just kind of, and then just start to see, like, what's been going on? I think, honestly, and people may not agree with me, but just listening to your children talk

and share their stories. A lot of this has to do with kids and the social media and spending too much time their little brains are growing, and that stuff is rotting their brains, it's making them depressed, it's making them anxious, they feel pressure and, and their brains aren't even wired correctly yet, and then you throw in drugs and they're gonna start acting in ways that they wouldn't necessarily act and do things they wouldn't necessarily do because they, their brains

aren't functioning correctly already. So I think as a parent, you have to start It's hard. Oh my god, it's so hard. Sometimes it's easy to select them go right and do their thing. But you're gonna have to like, start spending time and looking at stuff and you know, pulling them away from some of that and start letting their brain start to kind of heal. But what kind of action? So say, say you say parents said, Yeah, I would say you would start drug testing at

home. That's really easy. You can go get him out from the pharmacy. All right, back up. Okay. We found that in mouse's room. He was in high school. Right. And we're not oblivious. We did it in high school, college. That's sorry. We did. We know all those things that you're saying. Yeah. Our biggest thing is, don't drive. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Don't drive. If you want to see me do, like, just lose it. Yeah. Because one time I thought that had happened when he drove and I

didn't lose it. Yeah. And I was. And he and what's funny is the look on his face. He was in high school. 1617 years old. The look on his face. I thought I will. He was like, I'm fine. And you don't need to worry about me. And I was like, oh, no, no, no, no. Yeah. ain't worried about you anymore. mofo? Yeah, I'm worried about the family that's driving their kids to soccer practice right now. And it's 630 in the evening. Yeah. And I'm sure you'll live, and they won't. You have ruined? This is

not about you. Yeah. Yeah. It's about everybody. Your actions affect everybody around you. Yeah. I don't think kids are thinking about that. Oh, no, it's just about right here right now having a party have fun. Yeah, fine. You know, what, if you're gonna do that, don't drive because that's gonna mess up your whole world and change your life forever. That's when I, I kind of don't have a solution for because the moment I mean, we knew not to not to do that. We did it

anyways. Right? I mean, yeah, I don't know if you did. But I did. You know, and I don't know what the solution for that is just except for to have that conversation with them about like, looking, you know, how you can affect other people. But we've told ours that you can call us anytime and you're not going to get in trouble. Right?

We also have a safe where they can text us if because if they don't want to get on the phone with their friends and say something or, or, you know, they're uncomfortable, whatever it is, like a word they text us. And so then we call on make up an excuse to come and get them or, or whatever. But I've heard of that. And we've done that. We do that, too. We haven't had to probably won't have to do that until Isabelle

gets a little bit older now. But that was really a nice tool for them to have to feel like they have the way out of an uncomfortable situation. I don't I don't know how to get them not to drive or like I said, you know, their brains are rewired or wiring until they're 22 years old. And so I say, you know, talk to them about because when I said that to miles, he kind of shifted a little bit. Yeah. Oh, no. It's like, yeah, this ain't about just you getting in trouble,

because you smoked. Yeah, it's about you hurting other people, as well. And that's pretty much all you can do. Like, take away their damn car if you catch him doing it. Yeah, exactly. Again, put a breathalyzer on it. Right? Yeah. So that's another thing that we did. So after that, the way to gain trust back was just so you know, if you're going out, when you get back home, we're doing a breast cancer breathalyzer drug test? Test. Yeah. And they haven't met Walgreens.

Yeah. And he was fine. And they didn't. And there's, we got no problem with doing that. And if your kids get mad at you, or they hate you for not trusting them, they'll get over it because you care. I mean, you're fighting for them. My son said to me the other day, like in the car, he said, Mom, you know, I used to look at some of the things that you and dad did about being strict because they have a very strict even now like, their phones and stuff go

off at a certain time. And they don't their friends get to do later and just some things right. And he's like, I used to think that, you know, we weren't very lucky and he's like now I realize we're the lucky ones like because you guys care. And I was like well, yeah, I said it's harder to be an active parent. You know, and I get it, you know, it is but I just think you have to be present and pay attention. If they are mad at you. They're mad at you. You know, to deal with it. Yeah. So

about the border about it. And once the borders opened up kind of like free for all more started coming in again, the fentanyl and it was the fentanyl is coming is being added. Right. By the drug cartel? Yes, yes. And where's that fentanyl coming from? It comes in from Mexico and it comes in from China. Okay. And so, is there a increase in the fentanyl coming in? I believe so. And why is that? I think because the borders have been opened, like free for all. Okay. When you say open, what do you

mean? Well, how just get to ser governments allowing it? Yes. Governments allowing it, okay. They always have that's, that's better. That's part of how they make money. They're, they're a party to it. I mean, they don't care. Yeah. They get paid. There's enough people starting to be affected that people are

starting to do something about it. There's, I wish I knew the name. There's a mother that her son Lindsay and I went to high school with him. He was like one of our first friends Casey Copeland. Oh, that we met when we moved to Texas and her son just passed away from fentanyl. And he was like a personal trainer. And he, he's our age 45. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Well, it's the story. He, he was a personal trainer, he like cared about his health. And I don't

want to get the story wrong. She was it was just on the news, too, because she's getting ready to do this, like mother's rally about fentanyl overdoses. And it was just on the local news on Austin. So somebody can like look that up. But his name was Casey copelan. And he had a fentanyl death. And he was like getting ready to go to the doctor because I don't I don't know if he was managing pain. And you know, with the whole like, pain medication thing where people get hooked on pain

meds, right. And then you can't get them anymore because we're cracking down on it. So then they have to get pain medication from the street because they go into withdrawals, and they're very uncomfortable. And so I think that might have been his situation. And he died. What did he take it pain pills that he got on the street? Yes. Yes. He wasn't like smoking heroin, or shooting heroin. It was pain medication. Did he take

too much or did he was it? No, that's the thing like we see you can take we have a friend who took one pill and he was at Kirby lane. It was a pill. He got off the street and he ended up overdose in the Caribbean bathroom. And luckily, he survived. I think they had Narcan. They may have gotten to overtime. And that's another thing. We have a Narcan shortage. Now, let's not Narcan is what you can carry with you.

It's a nasal spray. And if somebody overdoses, you take it and you spray it up their nose and it brings them out of an overdose. Yeah, but in Austin right now, my sister's boyfriend is an EMS, there's a veterinarian drug that's being added to the drugs on the street, that it's taking eight times the amount of Narcan to bring them out of an overdose. Yeah. So it's just the whole thing's crazy. There's, you know, it's just scary. It's really scary. And it's being done on purpose, in my opinion,

by who? The government why they're, they're letting it come in? Because it fuels their other business. It's all part of it. You know? It is? Yeah, yeah. So it's dirty. It's a dirty, dirty, yeah, there. And I hate talking about it, because it doesn't make you feel good. And I stuck my head in the sand for a long time. So but this is something we need to talk about. Think about not

create fear. This is the last one is to create fear awareness, when awareness education, let's just be real with where we're at, and the times that we're living with our teens and our families and what we can do about it. Yeah, you know, so one last thing we were talking about, because I keep thinking about, there's a mom or a dad. Yeah, and they're gonna be okay. Well, how do I handle this right now? I just saw this and you want to talk to him? Like you said, Do you seek help

professionally? Or how would you go about that in dealing with the think you've got to find first the depth of it. We know there's there's a teenager that's close to our family that's going through this right now. And they found the depth of it, which they didn't expect at all. And he started going to meetings, to a meetings, he's got a counselor, he's got a psychiatrist.

So instead of punishing the act, yeah, let's go find out why we're trying to self medicate, because what is her tireless was a trough that's yeah, the issue not and not that. You don't need to do I guess, some form of punishment? Right. You try to like figure it out? Yeah. And maybe take them from away from some of the, the the children that might be enabling the behavior, because we, you know,

that's what they do. But yeah, you need to find out what's the root cause of it and how you can help them and there's so many ways to get help that everybody can be comfortable with, you know, I am a huge believer and community so I love meetings. There's so many adolescent programs like where kids go to Like sober meetings with other kids, they have retreats with other kids, they have sober parties. Yeah, there's a university high school run by UT. That's a sober High School.

There's an organization called Keystone. That's for adolescents in recovery. And so anything that they can do to get involved in to make it more normal air quotes, because it's hard to be a teenager and not use if other people are using or drink or

whatever. But if if they truly are having a problem with it, where it's not just experimenting, you have to find a way to get them into a different environment that also feeds their spirit with other like minded people and kids, you know, where they can start to feel like themselves again. Yeah, you know, but anyone can reach out to you right now. Talk to you about your business or ask you questions or directions. Great. And then what's your website? Our website is Solstice recovery.org.

I know that this is all God ordained. I know that six and a half years was on purpose. Oh, yeah. And that God is just shifting your direction girl because he's got even something better planned. I know it. Yes. And I'm so excited. I do have met y'all and, and be able to watch where this journey goes with all of you. And same. Feel the same? Yeah. All right. Thank you for having me all.

Thank you for listening to chatterbox radio, unraveling the untold if you have a great story that you want to share to inspire courage for just reach out. Please do email us at podcasts at the chatterbox radio.com Until then, imagine breathing and all the love all the joy that you can possibly imagine filling yourself up and go be a blessing to the people around you. Because they need you