The Voices for Voices Podcast Episode 20 with Guest, Rebecca LeMasters, Voices for Voices Board Member
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Welcome to the House of You Podcast, sponsored by Voices for Voices. I'm your host, Justin Alan Hayes. And with me today is Rebecca LeMasters from Ark Behavioral Health. First and foremost, thank you for joining us for definitely the audio portion for the podcast, but then also for the live stream for those that are tuning in tonight.
Rebecca LeMasters: Yeah, for sure. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Yeah, I think we have a ton of things in common, so we'll try to steer it in the somewhat of a straight-ish direction. Maybe if you want to just start for those individuals that want to know what you do, and maybe a little about your story, how you got involved with Ark and those types of things. And then we can go off with stories and those things.
Rebecca LeMasters: So professionally, I got involved with behavioral health about five years ago. Previous to that, I was in the medical field in nursing. And I had some issues with drugs and alcohol, and it led me into a life that just I couldn't lead that life anymore. So I went into behavioral health to actually find my way. And I went into that really wanting to find out more about, I guess, treatment because I really didn't get the treatment that I really give to people, or that people receive. So I figured the best way to find out about it was to work in the field.
So I worked internally in treatment centers first. And I went through a process of becoming a recovery coach and becoming a credentialed, I guess, an assistant to a counselor. And then just working my way up into business development. And what I do now is really I am a director now of a behavioral health unit. And the reason I got into that, obviously, like I said, was because of my own issues. And I think I am surrounded by it. Every time I go somewhere, every time I talk to someone, it's either substance abuse or mental health. And I don't think that it's something that I seek out. I think it's just our world today. I think everybody is struck by something. Reality is tough, and we don't all handle it the best ways. So there's great professionals out there to navigate for us and steer us in the right way. So yeah.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Great. And I know you mentioned as you were going through your treatment versus the treatment and the care and the support that you give, they're different of what you may have received versus what you do. From that learning process, could you maybe describe maybe one or two things that maybe you noticed, that you're like, okay, if I ever have the chance to do this type of work-
Rebecca LeMasters: Rectify the situation. Yeah.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: ... here's how I would change it. Because I have some to add in as well. I'm just curious to what you-
Rebecca LeMasters: Yeah. So I think when I went through it, I mean, I just started talking about my story maybe a year, a year and a half ago because the first thing was the embarrassment of it all. One, I was a professional. Two, I was a mother and a wife. And I don't think that I was the poster child for a person that should be using substances such as... Well, first of all, alcohol wasn't really looked at as a drug or a substance. Although I was using it to numb a lot of things in my life. And you can hear the shake in my voice. I still. Someday, I'm hoping that that goes away, but I don't know if it really ever will. It's because of some of the trauma that comes along with even coming out with some of these things.
When I tried to come out with these things, it was like I was always told, "It's just a phase." Everybody has stress. And I was actually pushed more towards it. Go have a beer, go have a drink, or have a night with your girlfriends. But that never really was just one. And it was never really a night. It was devastation. It was like divorce. And I mean, it just compiled. And the treatment that I got was shunning from my employers, from my colleagues, from family, from friends. And it was a lot of isolation. It was losing jobs. It was a lot of things like that. I mean, it was horrendous. It was a lot of hospitals.
But I mean turned to an AA community, and that's who accepted me and that's where I really got grounding. And I really believe in that still today. I have to be honest, I don't go to a lot of meetings today. It doesn't fit my lifestyle necessarily. I still believe in the core values. But those are the people that accepted me, but I was still very hush hush about it. There were meetings I went to very early or very late, but they were still there. But I didn't get hospitals. I didn't get cushy pillows and comforters.
But even though people get those and I think they deserve those things and they deserve the best care, what I didn't get, I fight for people to get today because they deserve it. They deserve that care because everybody deserves the best care because we're human beings. And when we're hurt, we need to heal. And if you have a cut, I'm going to give you a band-aid. And if your heart is sick and if your brain is sick, I'm going to give you something to heal it. Just because I can't see it, doesn't mean I'm not going to try to help you. And if that means I give you a hug or if I give you a great clinician or whatever I need to give you, that's what I'm going to try to do.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And just as you're going through that scenario, that experience, the thing about mine as well in the corporate community, having it being shunned. You just need to get through this situation. You just need to get this project done. And I even found with one of my last or most recent employers where there was an individual, and she had gone through a loss of a family member. And so the organization had put together, I don't know what type of a partnership with an organization, to get three free visits. And so I found out about that. I think at that point I might have been two years into my recovery. And so I have psychiatrists, I have a therapist. And I was like, oh, I could get the organization, I could get three free visits. Because even if you have insurance, there's still a cost that has to be paid. There has to be a payment somewhere. And so I went to HR because I was like, oh-
Rebecca LeMasters: They get that. I get that.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: ... so everybody gets three free visits. It's like, "Oh no, no, no, no. That's just because she went through something a little bit intense or more traumatic." And those might not been the type of words. But basically it was like, "Well, no, you don't get that and this individual does." And there's many parts of mental health and behavioral health that's broken. And unfortunately there's a lot of room to grow. But I found at that point maybe, yeah, I was trying to, I don't want to say game the system, but it wasn't like I was trying to pocket a million dollars of the company's money. I was like, well, if I could see somebody for three visits, and not have to even have the co-pays that run through, whether my insurance, my wife's insurance, whatever it was, could I do that? And I was like, okay. And so that's kind of-
Rebecca LeMasters: Sometimes I think we're just searching for, Alan, I don't mean to even interrupt you, but I see you even now struggling. I'm struggling to even say it. But we're struggling for someone to just help us define why we are not being told that we... Like why we're hurting, why we're just being told to just keep working. And why are you constantly patting me on the back for such a great job high as a kite or drunk as a skunk? Or I mean, why are you patting me on the back for working so hard, even though you see that I'm completely inebriated, or I'm taking pills every hour on the hour? You see me doing these behaviors. But yet, because I'm successful at my job, and I look successful at my life, and I'm thin and my hair looks good, and all of these things look so great, I'm not. I'm just not great.
But this is how it is when the outer shell looks great, people, they want to be the hands on is like, oh, the pat on the back. Because that uncomfortable space of saying, "Hey, you have a problem. You need to seek treatment. Let's get you some help." That just wasn't how it was. And I mean, this is just, what, 11 years ago. So we've learned how to crack that shell in the behavioral health field. And I know that that's why you're here too. That you've learned that too, with what you're doing with your projects.
And I think that we just had to be the examples. I mean, in life, some of us have to just be, I mean, and I'm not being a martyr, but that's just how it is. Some of us have to come out with these stories and have to talk about them because it makes it better for the people that are suffering now, or maybe people that are still suffering from back then. I still am helping men and women from the Vietnam era. They're suffering from so much trauma, that have PTSD and have physical problems and have issues with homelessness. I mean, they are chronically homeless because they don't mentally know where they fit in because they were never given the treatment that they deserve clear back from then. But now we're trying to rectify that situation. That's our job now.
So that's why I'm in this field. I mean, I am in this field to fight the good fight, and I will do it until I frigging die. I love what I do. And I fight for the big guy, the little guy, the medium guy, whoever, and the woman, the man, whoever it is. And I mean, it's just that you can hear the passion in my voice. I hate when people are mistreated. And I allowed myself to be mistreated for so long because I also allowed myself to be held on a pedestal. You look so good. You're this, you're that. Because I was scared. I was afraid to let that facade crumble. And when it did, man, did it crumble. And that's a rough place.
But that also helps me with my job. Because when someone calls in, or a family member calls in, and they say, "I need help," or, "A loved one needs help," I really honestly can put myself in their shoes and I can say, "I know what you're going through. So how can I help?" And you just have to stop and you have to listen. I mean there's times when there are people that are too close to me and I have to remove myself, because I mean you can't help everyone. You do have to remove yourself at times. There have to be boundaries that you put in place. But you just have to love everyone.
But most of the time I can put myself in their shoes, and I can put them in a program where they belong. I work for an amazing company. I'm really, really honored and really blessed that this company picked me up. I mean, I've been praying for a job like this for a really long time. I was hired by some great people. They've shown me amazing support. Our center in Ohio is going to be opening up, and I mean, it's just blowing everything out of the water. They just really care about what they put in to every single center and every single treatment plan that they put out there. I mean, they are just not willing to take a shortcut. Ark Behavioral Health is just, bar none, some of the best care that you're going to get in the business. That's just all there is to it.
But there are other wonderful treatment centers out there. And I refer to them every day. I mean, because I have colleagues that are working just as hard as me, and they're doing a wonderful job. And the people that I refer to them, they go into the program and they recover. They're going and they're doing great even today. But that's because those colleagues that I work with, I'm close with them, and they offer a full continuum of care. I mean, they go through a detox, they go through residential, and then when they get out, they go through sober living. And then they get into a program where they have a great support system and they do things like your program. I mean, your program offers... I mean, what don't you guys offer?
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And I'm glad you bring that up because the organization and Voices for Voices, as many organizations do, they do have those evolutions of here's how we start. And as time goes on, here's what the needs are. And looking a little bit at the competition and saying, what do some organizations offer and what do some that don't, and how those line up with my expertise and what I can do? And so informing and educating the community. I think that's huge. That there's people that just don't know, they don't want to know, they don't want to read the news story, hear what's going on, whatever that may be. And that's great. And we need organizations out there.
And that's one of, I guess, the foundations of Voices for Voices was, okay, well I can help inform and educate those individuals kind of going through those times. And when those individuals, as you mentioned, when they call for help, and knowing from my experience as well, they need help then. They don't need help in two months. Maybe they do in two months, but they need help right at that time. And so, well, I can't get you seen for two months because you don't sound like you're in kind of dire straits or whatever that may be. That led me to the ER three times because I'm like, well, I'm being told that it's not dire enough. So I got to go to the ER, and then that whole getting over myself and the stigma, the mental health.
And so bringing it back to Voices for Voices, I want to do action. I don't want to just here's information, here's literature. We do an annual event, but we want to do more. And so by giving options that might not be available. Or the individual, when they're going through that crisis, if you say, "Hey, go to this website and check this out," that might just be a little bit too much for them at that time to even do that. And the driving situation. Okay, how am I going to get there? This is great. You're giving me information for Portage County, I live in Summit.
And really just connecting those dots of, okay, what and who are the great organizations that are able to help. And if and when that calls do come through, who are those organizations that can potentially get them seen in less than maybe a larger organization, and not have that individual have to resort to call 911, having an ambulance come, and have them tell, which I was told, "Oh yeah, you just have anxiety." Like, excuse the language, "No shit, I have anxiety, but I need help." And it was that crying out.
So bringing that and giving those individuals just the opportunity of like, okay, I can go through my growing list of here's five organizations, and you're in what county? Let me reach out to them. And then let me, as we're on the phone and be texting and get those set up while you're still on the phone or that individual or that family member is going through that crisis. And then once that individual or family member, or friend of the family, or just an acquaintance, maybe you just run into and they're overdosing and they just need help and you have no tie to them, as they go through their treatment program of helping them reintegrate with society. Not of, okay, now I'm a human again. Or I wasn't a human. But just more of, okay, now I'm ready to go back to the workforce.
And maybe that job that I was doing, I loved aspects of it, but it was really toxic. And so bringing that to me, there were things that I loved about the corporate world. And then there were things that I didn't. And finding how toxic and how long the hours were. The expectations, the unset expectations, the happy hours that you have to go to. And if you're not drinking, you might not go on that next business trip. And all these things that were really tied together. So these individuals at Voices for Voices that go through, at some point, maybe they want to start a business. Maybe they want to teach maybe at local high school. Maybe they want to help the jail population. I was actually meeting-
Rebecca LeMasters: They want to pick a completely different corner.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Yeah. A completely different corner, but give them the option. Maybe they wanted to be into the trades. But their whole life, they had the family that everybody goes to college. And then you go and you get the corporate job for 25, 30 years. Well, oh wait, I got laid off two or three times because of whatever the situation. And tying it back to just not being able to vent and get away from things. Again from the Vietnam era, not for me, but for things years ago that I didn't deal with and I won't say nobody wanted to, but maybe there was part of me not wanting to do it myself. But if there were the resources out there, just a group to go to. And so-
Rebecca LeMasters: It resonates more with your story-
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: It resonates-
Rebecca LeMasters: ... and with what you guys do, right?
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Absolutely. Yeah.
Rebecca LeMasters: And that's really cool because we're on different spectrums with what we do, but we're meeting in the middle and we're treating the same people. We're just treating them at a different timeline. I'm meeting them when they're down and out, they're at ground zero, and there's really not much further to fall. And I mean, I'm talking for everybody from CEOs to doctors, to nurses, to lawyers, to baseball players, to tradesmen, people that are in the union. Or students, or people that have never been employed, housewives. I'm talking addiction touches everyone. It literally has no preference. It just doesn't. It has no branding. It's just is like it touches you and takes you, and that's what it is.
So I mean, we treat everyone. And that's kind of like we take them and put them in the right program. And then we are talking about when they get out, their brain is kind of remapped. And they're at their Etch A Sketch has been shook. And you're taking them and you're giving them this book, and saying, "Hey, we have all these resources. You just got out of Ark. What can we do for you? Can we help you? Can we help you do something different that won't lead you back into or back down that rabbit hole?" Because that's what's insanity, like going back and doing the same thing.
And that's what I'm talking about. Joining with colleagues and joining with people that see a person and don't want to send them back into that same family dynamic. So you do stuff. You have to reach out to the families too. And that's what we do at Ark too. I mean, we're invested in families. We're invested in if they have a job, and we have to work with their employer, with FMLA, and have to do all of those things, or if we have to reach out to a union, or if we have to reach out to a non-profit like yourself because they're no longer going to be taking that avenue any longer, that's what we do.
This is a full continuum of care. We exhaust everything. And that's why I'm doing this podcast today because I want other colleagues to do the same thing. I want them to reach out to you. And because not everybody has... I'm going to be honest. I'm going to reach out to you after this, and we're always going to be colleagues, and I'm sure friends. I know we're going to be friends because we have crazy stories. But I don't have the time that you have and that you have invested in this. That's why you're doing this. That's why I'm going to text you, and be like, "Hey, I have this Jane Doe. She went through our program. I had her at day one. Now she's at day 70." I can't do it because I've got 10 more Jane Does at day one. It's not justified for me to try to do. That's where professionals like myself, where we exhaust ourselves and we have to learn our boundaries.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Boundaries.
Rebecca LeMasters: Especially if we're in recovery. And that's where I have become. That's where I am now. That's where I think that's why I'm in the right spot now. Five years ago, I wouldn't have been good at this job as a director, because I couldn't have said that. I would've taken on day 70 and day one, and all the days in between. But now I've sought someone else out like yourself, and I'm going to say, "She needs you. She needs you because she was a teacher, and it was so stressful for her. And gosh darn it, she absolutely hates 11 year olds, and she teaches sixth grade. And she wants to make knives for a living and work." You know what I mean? So I'm going to send her to you.
That is so what's so amazing about recovery. It is you can absolutely bloom and be and do whatever you want. I was in the medical profession. I did hair for a living. I did hair. I still have my cosmetology license. I mean, I did it out of necessity. I was a young mom and I was good at it. I made a living out of it. I still dabble in it or whatever, but it's not what I wanted to do. So I went into the medical profession. It didn't work out. So I fell on my face. I recovered. And recovery is my life now. It became everything to me. It became everything to family members. And my whole life, this is it. And God made it my income now too. So it's a beautiful thing that all of us can just crack open this whole new world, and we get to help them do that. It's so exciting. It really is.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: It is. Especially with people like you and I having been through, and we're still, I mean, I don't think recover really ends.
Rebecca LeMasters: Still going through.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: It's not like, oh, well you're better now. Yeah. I have a lot more tools to use whether it's therapy, whether it's ideas, whether it's medication, whatever that is. But it doesn't mean that, when I was sitting in Crete, Greece a couple weeks ago and I ate dinner, and not having had a drink of alcohol.
Rebecca LeMasters: First of all, I'm so jealous. Why does everybody get to go to Greece and I do not get to go to Greece? I'm so jealous.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Yeah. Luckily I was able to go for a couple of marketing conferences that I'm the president for. So I was very lucky to do that. And after dinner it was just customary, I guess, at this restaurant, is they bring a shot class and some, I'm guessing it was vodka, some alcohol. And they said it right there. It was just kind of like, "Okay, well you had your dinner, and here's the dessert drink."
Rebecca LeMasters: Yeah. Cleanse your palate.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Cleanse your palate.
Rebecca LeMasters: Have some alcohol.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: So I was like, okay, well for a fleeting moment, I'm like, well, I could just do it because this will just be one time. But then I was like, well then if I do that, then I'll probably go to the next place, and then I'll start drinking. So even though that time just saying, "Hey, I don't drink. Thank you for the gesture." Finding just that strength of being 3,000 miles away from home and having those types of temptations that come up so many that I found I can steer myself away from to not even kind of see. But then there's others like that where it's like, okay, I'm eating at a restaurant, and I don't know what's customary in a different restaurant in a different country. How am I going to act? I was like I didn't know until that situation.
So I'm with you, recovery, it's not something where it's like, oh, well I got out of the hospital at this date and time. And so that's when my recovery ended, or when it started and it's ended it. And that's one thing that I'm struggling or I work towards with some of my acquaintances and some family members at times of I'm in a much better spot. And so the optics look really, really, really good of, oh, well he's functioning and he's doing this. And he wrote his book and he's done this organization. He's got this podcast and all these things.
But it's still though taking that energy that would usually be put to, hey, I'm going to go out with friends and drink and get wasted, and taking that energy. And I talked with kind of a mutual, it's now colleague, a friend yesterday, and we were talking about that. And they mentioned, said it so perfectly, that whether it's alcohol, drugs, whatever that is, that our body just has this energy and it's looking to mask something. Whether it's just to pass the time, whether it's for a real reason of a relationship, whatever that is that things happen.
And I've found with Voices for Voices, and it sounds like you with our being in the position you are of really taking that energy, that you still have kind of that nervous anxiety type of energy, but instead of going to the left, you're kind of decided, no, I'm going to go more straight, or more to the right. I know that's there, but I'm going to take my energy. And if I spend enough of my time and energy without burning myself out, that I'm going to do more good then just going down this other path.
Rebecca LeMasters: Yeah. Well, I mean, I always tell everybody, I guess that you have to live your life in recovery as hard and wild and crazy as you did your life when you were in active addiction. When you're chasing the drug or you're chasing the alcohol, or you're chasing the women or gambling or food, whatever you're chasing, you're chasing it hard and fast. And your dopamine is crazy. And you're like, you're up, you're down, you're all the way around. And you kind of have to chase recovery that hard.
But you do learn coping mechanisms and you do learn how to put blinders and semi-blinders on. And you do learn how to hone yourself in and you do learn how to set up boundaries. Now, not everybody around you learns how to do those things. And that is not for you to worry about. And that is when your serenity prayer kicks in. And so when you find that happening, let it kick in. Say it at a stop light. I mean, it doesn't matter. There's a lot of times you can say it. You can pray it. You can shout it. You can whatever you need to do. I mean, whatever that is, whatever your higher power is, do all those things that you need to do to keep yourself on the straight and narrow, and you will be successful. Have your mentors in place, have your plans written down, have your journals filled up, have your pencils short, have your erasers broken, have your pens empty, have your ink wells dry. Those are my pieces of advice to everyone who's in recovery.
I don't always follow my own advice, especially with people that are super close to my heart because I love super, super hard. But I am learning. And I have amazing mentors in my life who have yanked me up by the reins, and have said, "Look, would you give this advice to the people that you're treating and to the clients that your treatments [inaudible 00:32:56] treating, is this good advice? Would they be successful?" And if I cannot answer that, yes, then I'm not living right. And that's how I live every day. And so that's kind of my success story. That, and I guess my kids. They're my number one success story. And I can't talk about them because I'll cry.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Yeah. And to that point of in the past, just using myself as an example, of doing things selfish just a 100% for me, even if I felt like they weren't, to now to have the higher power having, whether they're religious or not, there's something going on, whether people want to admit it or not, how paths get crossed, how it might seem like things aren't going well for a few days or a week or two. And then you get reached out to put an article together about your experience or something that you're doing in a positive light.
That's I think when things are validating, and from somebody that wants and has wanted to be the center of attention, when those things happen, it's super cool. And for years I was like, well, I didn't want to do those kind of, I guess, for the good reason and in a good way. And so now when things like that happened, whether it's the book or having a podcast, or can't say too much with the little bit of the trip that I was just on, more to come about travels to pull in and how Voices for Voices is helping internationally as well as domestically when given the opportunity.
But when things like that happen, and you're in that moment of, wow, I wouldn't have got to this moment if these other 20 things that I didn't know at the time were really being lined up. I wouldn't have ended here if these things that I had no control over that lined up, but once things lined up enough and it kind of hit my radar, then the mind, instead of pushing it aside, is like, oh, okay, I'm actually going to do this because it meets kind of the mission, the vision.
But yeah, bringing that energy, that anxiety, whatever we want to call it has been what I've found of being, I guess don't say with it, but just kind of a little more of a purpose, and then bringing it back to my daughter. Everybody has kind of different opinions about kids. If they don't have the kids, and oh, well I'm never going to have kids, or whatever that may be. And it wasn't until we had our daughter and that first, okay, when they start to cry that first time, that's actually a good thing because that means they're starting to breathe for the first time.
And so from that point on, getting back to that purpose of, there's somebody else that is looking up or looking to me, whether I want them to or not, because they're my child. And so I completely relate. And I think things like those situations and those people are put into our lives at certain points to either keep us going in a direction, or like me, I was in a very fragile state just a few months before getting out of the hospital with my inpatient stay, and then finding out my wife was pregnant. It was like, oh, okay. And then reality and all that sort of set in.
And then ever since then, I was like, okay, now this is another purpose, a reason why I should continue this way. That when I was in the emergency room for the third time and was given the option, "Well, we can admit you. We don't know how long it'll be. Average is five days or so. Or we can release you because you're not dying right now."
Rebecca LeMasters: Just the slow death.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Yeah. Just the slow death. And so when things like that happen. And even you and I crossing paths on LinkedIn, kind of the things that we're doing, and trying to continue and just elevate the field, individuals. And then one of my other big things is not celebrities. And I know you've talked a lot, that addiction, whatever want to call it, it doesn't matter. You can have millions of dollars, hundreds of million dollars. You can have no money to your name. You can be in one field, can be an athlete, an entertainer, that it really knows no boundaries.
So with Voices For Voices, I want it to be an organization that is just kind of the average everyday person that isn't going to get the press that an NBA basketball player or an entertainer that's worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And hearing you talk about your story and how your organization, and sure some of those individuals may touch some of those different areas, but you're treating the person as a human. It's not like, okay, how much money do you have, and how many hit songs, and how many championships do you have, and how much is your house worth? Yeah. It's just, hey, this person needs help. So I'm going to do everything in my power to give them that opportunity.
Rebecca LeMasters: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's just an average Joe or average Joanne who is coming in most generally. And I mean, they're struggling. You see those stories on TV because media, that's sensationalized and that's who gets the word out. But if you look at a lot of our local media and things like that, a lot of people are investing in a lot of local stories that are out there. And you and I are trying to get our stories out or other people's stories that we're just average people just doing good things because it catches on. It really does. It's like just like bad things catch on. Look at TikTok. I mean really dumb, bad things catch on really fast.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: They do.
Rebecca LeMasters: But really good things catch on too. I've seen my daughter do some really good charitable or otherwise things. And I'm like, "Where did you see that? How did you even know how to do that?" And she's like, "Oh, I saw it on TikTok." It does. You know what I mean? So you just have to choose what you just keep doing. And people are people. There's always going to be a mix of both, but we just have to keep doing both. And I mean, even if there is celebrities in our treatment centers, we're never going to know. We're never going to tell anybody. So people always want to ask those questions and go there. But we base it on just the average community and labor and person.
And there's other communities too, like the LGBTQ, and there are other letters that go along with that, and I'm not going to act like I am an expert on that. But I am trying to educate myself more on that because we have a large community now that I have very good friends that are part of that community. And I'm asking them to educate me more because they're suffering too more. And they're hurting. And they're hurting and they're using drugs and alcohol to masks pain because of trauma, because of simple things of not... And I see things changing. There's restaurants where it doesn't matter who uses this restroom.
And that is why I wore this shirt today. And I wore this shirt. It's the WAT shirt. And there's someone out there listening who will understand. W-A-Y. Because this there's a young lady in Cincinnati who makes this clothing brand. And it is We Are Young. And actually, she makes it because it is males, females, anyone can wear any of this clothing. It's shirts, pants, socks. I mean, it's pink, it's purple, it's green. Actually, I don't know if it's purple. So I take that back. But it's pink, it's green. I went and I bought $180 worth of clothes from her. She was at one of our events. I love it. And my daughter and I, and my significant other and I, and we all wore all of it.
And like who cares? You know what I mean? Everybody has trauma, everybody's suffering. And nobody should be told what they should be and what they shouldn't be. And nobody should be having to mask any of their feelings because they love someone and/or they want to look a certain way or be a certain thing. You know what I mean? I'm naturally a dirty dish water blonde, but you tell me any day of the week that I can't go and get this done with my hair, you better forget it. And I know that's very menial compared to the other things that I'm talking about, but is it really? You know what I mean? Is it? You tell somebody that they can't be something that they feel in their heart and their soul that they are and make them feel so traumatic about it from a young age on, and they're using drugs and alcohol just because of that. Bullshit. I'm not going to stand for it. So I'm sorry. I'm educating myself on it. Excuse my language.
But I used to feel differently about it because I was raised Christian. And I still say that I am Christian, but I am changing my Christian skin. I am metamorphizing it and I am growing with it. And I have Christian mentors in my life that will disagree with some of my philosophies, and that's okay. They can do that. But anytime I see somebody suffering and in pain, I do not believe the Jesus that I love would stand for that. And these treatment centers, the one that I work for and a lot of the other ones, have a lot of great clinicians that understand these things and will help these people. And there are a lot of programs geared strictly for that because that is a specialized training that you have to know about. And we need to open ourselves up to that too.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: We do.
Rebecca LeMasters: So sorry, I'll get off my soapbox. But I had to get that in because I wore this shirt I'm for that reason. And it is another, we say male, female, male, female, but there's pronouns out there now. We put them on LinkedIn and we do these things for a reason because we need to just start just saying we're just humans. And some of us are as low as the reptiles and some of us are as high as the giraffes and otherwise. But we're all just trying to get by.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: We are. Couldn't have said it better. What should our listeners and our viewers know about upcoming for Ark, for you, that's happening in the future? How to learn more about you, the organization, get in contact with you.
Rebecca LeMasters: What's upcoming for Ar is we are having some really, really cool events coming up. I just spoke to our digital marketer today, Erin Dineen. She is amazing. I love her to death. She worked with me previously at a previous treatment center and she just is a genius. And she's going to help me with a lady's tea that I have going on. It's a Mad Hatter's tea. I'm sorry. It is just a lady's Mad Hatter's tea. It's a spinoff of Alice in Wonderland, which is a book that is built on mental health and psychedelics and things of that nature. And we are going to be doing that, which I think is a great Ohio event to be having. We're going to be doing it in Bolivar, Ohio. Which we're going to be doing it at the Vesper Hall, which is a great little place, which we'll be coming out with that.
Then we'll be having a golf outing later on in the year. And we'll come out with all these dates and we'll market those dates. Those dates aren't solid yet because there's a lot of stuff that comes along with those. The treatment center in Ohio is in Van Wert, Ohio, and it is beautiful, gorgeous. We have Molly. She is the head of that treatment center. I mean well not the head of the treatment center, but she is there running it, killing it, getting all the construction workers in and signing papers and getting people interviews going on. I mean, she's wonderful, but we have a lot of stuff going on there. But we are going to be opening doors. We will have a grand opening there, but it's Ohio Recovery Center. And it's going to be detox and residential, and it is a beautiful piece of property.
It's going to be a beautiful place for people to recover, and it is just detox and residential. It is co-ed. And those will all be on site on the same property. It's about a half an hour outside of Fort Wayne, Indiana. So actually, we've been making a lot of friends in Indiana here recently. It's been really nice to meet a lot of the people that are in Indiana, and they've been inviting us to a lot of events. And it's been really great because I didn't work in that area a lot before. So otherwise in Massachusetts, we have our treatment centers there, which I gave you the pamphlets on. We have Bedrock, and we have Recovering Champions, and we have Spring Hill, and Northeast Addiction Center.
Any one that is having any type of issue with substance abuse, primary, mental health, secondary, they can contact myself. I am primary in Ohio, but my colleagues in Massachusetts are amazing. I contact them. And we will get anybody into our programs to get into these individualized programs and to recover. And it's not an issue. If you're from Ohio, you want to travel to Massachusetts right now. And it is commercial insurance obviously, but we can help you out with that. It is in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield. We can definitely help you. The numbers are on the back. I don't know if you want to say those or if you want me-
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Yeah, if you'd like to. Yeah.
Rebecca LeMasters: ... to say that. But it's 1-877-295-7815. My number is 234-228-3273. And I am 24/7 on the go. Anybody who has any questions about substance abuse can always contact me. What do I have going on? All that and more.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: And more. Yeah. Wow. So is there anything we didn't cover that you want to plug, you want to want to share with-
Rebecca LeMasters: One more thing. I do want to say one more thing. We have a nonprofit in Midvale, Ohio, Meeting of the Minds, and this is our pamphlet right here. And we have some great events coming up. We are going to be obviously at the Tuscarawas County Fair. We'll be there, actually with Ark. Ark will be there too. Ark will be at a lot of different conferences and fairs and things. But we do a ton for the community. I mean, the people that are a part of this have just... We have a new girl that's a part of this with us now, but we've really bent over backwards to help out the community, get people what they need, get people educated. We had an Narcan training a couple months ago. Things like that. Just things that people don't think about. We take on pretty much all the cost for everything. We meet and we talk to one another about what we're going to do next. The next thing that we have coming up is we do have recovery softball-
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Yeah, I saw that.
Rebecca LeMasters: ... right there. Yeah. We have recovery softball. Actually it's at the Midvale Fields each week. They practice there and they have games there. You can get a hold of Travis Garrett for that. He is on Facebook. I don't know your number by heart, Travis. I know you're going to give me crap later for that. But you can get a hold of him for that. But we do have our tournament coming up in August. If anybody plays softball in the state of Ohio or otherwise, any treatment center, anyone has a team, please get a hold of me on Facebook. My phone number, anything.
This is a tournament that we are in recovery. We do not drink. We do not have alcohol there. We do not have drugs there. We are a little bit lenient on people that smoke. You have to smoke away from the fields. But we definitely want you to get a hold of us because we've done really good with this tournament. This will be the third year. And this is becoming an annual thing, and it is great. I mean, softball is amazing for people that are in recovery. So get a hold of us because this is becoming a thing. I know there's softball all over Ohio. It's great. But this is definitely recovery softball. So yeah, so long winded. I'm long winded.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: I'm glad. I'm glad. Because you're like I am.
Rebecca LeMasters: But that's it. That's it. But yeah, I just want to thank everybody. Thank Brenda and Travis and Lindsay and Tiffany and Hailey. And I want to thank Joan for letting everybody listen tonight.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Yeah. Thank you for that. That's amazing.
Rebecca LeMasters: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that's it.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: Great. Yeah. Well thank you so much for joining us-
Rebecca LeMasters: Yeah, thank you.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: ... today and tonight. Rebecca, it was a pleasure meeting in person, swapping stories, talking about the professional side things, but then also just as humans and the needs we have, the care that sometimes we need. And how we can, at least potentially, start to navigate that of who can I reach out to first and how can I get into that loop versus potentially another loop that might take a little bit longer? And that will be more short term. That the continuum of care that Ark has, the programs with Voices for Voices, that we want the individual to succeed after that diagnosis, after that treatment plan is put in place. And we want that individual to be whoever they want to be and not what others want them to be.
And I think that's good for people to hear nowadays, especially there's just a lot of craziness out there. And just to know that it's okay to whichever angle you want to go in. If you want to go down one way and maybe that doesn't work, then maybe try something else. Well, do it. I've learned over time, I like to say I coined the phrase, but I didn't, but the answer's always going to be no if you don't try it. So if you don't try that thing or that occupation, the answer's always going to be no. And that might turn out to be something just for you where you're like this kind of is lining up with who I am, where I want to be, where I want to go for now. And having something that has meaning, that isn't just an income stream. Need to have that income to pay bills, hopefully have some forms of health insurance. But then when you come home, are you still able to be yourself, and be like, yeah, I feel like I'm doing a good job?
And that's one of the reasons why having this podcast is huge to me to be able to talk to people that are like, "Yeah, I'm doing things that are kind of lining up with what I want it to be. Yeah, I've taken some crazy turns." And so have I. And there probably isn't going to be any straight lines anywhere for me here on out for my life. But just to know that have the options and have the resources to reach out to. So just wanted to thank you for joining us-
Rebecca LeMasters: Thank you.
Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: ... on the podcast, and definitely will continue the conversation, continue the networking, sharing events, and all that good stuff. So with that, thanks to everybody tonight, today, that has joined us and who will be listening to this, the House of You Podcast, sponsored by Voices for Voices. I am your host, Justin Alan Hayes, and we'll see you next time.
This has been the House of You podcast, sponsored by Voices for Voices. I'm your host, Justin Alan Hayes. Thank you for joining us both on the audio podcast, which will be forthcoming, and those who are joined on the live stream. We're excited, glad you joined us, hope you continue to join us and continue to learn more about Piper's Key and help out where you're able to.
Please donate to Voices for Voices, a 501c3 nonprofit charity today at: https://www.voicesforvoices.org/shop/p/donate
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