50. Overcoming Stigma and Building Resilience: Stroke Recovery and Life After Incarceration with Will Schmierer and Chris Hennessy

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Yo. Yo. Yo. What's up? What's up? What's up? All right. We're at episode 50 of the Love Will's forever podcast. In this episode, before we get up into it, I wanna give you a little background story. This episode is with my friend, Chris Hennessy. He is an amazing guy. Is, somebody who is not a stroke survivor. I wanted to bring on somebody with a different perspective into the episode. The good friend he's helped produce this show in the past, and I love working with Chris. He's really just a cool guy. So many good things. It was really good to catch up with him on the podcast. So we we talk about a lot of things. We did not get as far as I would have liked, but we could have talked for 10 to 12 hours, I'm sure, without even thinking hopping to some big topics. He is a, formerly incarcerated. He has been out for quite some time now. He was on the inside for about eight and a half years. Why I wanted to bring this to you because I wanted to reach outside of the show community. I think it's important to hear other survivors' stories, consider himself a survivor per se, but he certainly is in my mind. So, yeah, this is a different perspective. Obviously, unique story, unique challenges. But in all in all, I think, between the 2 different communities you know? I mean, there's tons of different communities, throughout the world, but with a lot of things, a lot of challenges, identity laws, like isolation, reintegration, mental health challenges, physical and emotional resilience, support systems. The big one for me is, and I think him as well because he has his own show around the topic of this, the stigma. I think, formerly incarcerated individuals and stroke survivors often face stigmas, whether you have fully rehabilitated or really reintegrated, from either stroke or, you know, other other difficulties or obstacles in life that you might face. It really dealing with uncertainty and, you know, information and the growth that doesn't happen with everybody in the system. It's just like it doesn't happen with every stroke survivor, but I think he's got a good solid grasp on things. He's doing some really cool stuff that I'm a big fan of. He he's always doing cool stuff. I'm gonna post a bunch of links for Chris and his, the work he's is here and fentanylist terrorism, and I just think, you know, Chris is really trying to help, like myself, help those who have been through it and who have been on the dark side, seen bad stuff, need help, want help, are willing to put in the work to get the help. So, yeah, I love everything Chris is doing. I think he offers his unique Yeah. So at the beginning of this episode, you kinda hear us chitchat for a bit before we really kinda hop into his story. Hopefully, you enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. It was fun as hell. It's always a good time talking with Chris, and I can't wait to have him back to kinda dig in more next time on some of the other topics and see how he's doing in a couple months.

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Yeah. So, again, 50 of the global sorrow podcast with your host, Will Schmerer, starts now.

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Yeah. But, yeah, you have been having a busy year, been doing new different things. I know Yep. Tough year. Right? Yep.

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Very tough. I don't know if it's a pandemic or what, but it seems like every year has been getting a little bit tougher year after year, at least for me, since, like, 2018.

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I maybe 22 was a bit of a break, but not even really because yeah. Because I was paying for college and yeah. Mhmm. It's just a lot.

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Yeah. So for for those that aren't familiar, Chris, Chris and I are friends. We had met on LinkedIn probably 2021, I'm gonna say, because I don't think I really got active on 2020. But, Yeah. I got on in the end of 2020, so it would've been 21.

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21. Yep. Yeah. And it's, it's weird that we kinda gravitated toward each other pretty quickly. I know you had a lot you have obviously tons more followers on LinkedIn than I do because you really put effort into it, whereas I do not. I should I should, but I'm really I'm kind of this way in real life. My friends, I'm picky with who I Yeah. Yeah. I'm you know what? And you're good at this year. You're good at supporting everybody on LinkedIn. I love that about you. I just I I try so hard. Even as strokes tomorrow, I feel like I've undergone these changes over the last 5 years, but, like, I just can't muster up the strength to give us certain things to certain things. I don't know. I love networking. I love meeting new people, talking to new people, but I can't. Sometimes it gets a little too phony for me, and I can't handle it. And I wanna take my computer and throw it across the room. Yeah. I don't know. It's weird. Yeah. And I've had a I've tried I've tried to have, like, chats with very different people that, you know, are supposedly connected to, like, people like you, me, and Ariel. I'm like it's like, you know, it's just after 5 minutes, I was just like, okay. Well, I'm gonna go. I'm kidding. Yeah. I don't know. It's painful. You know? Yeah. We both I'm I'm sure you could agree. We both been through a lot of our lives. Yeah. I've had a lot of conversations like that with people.

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I'm just like, oh, that's why I quit trying to do Zoom coffee chats. Yeah. Well, especially 1 on 1. Like, you know, we used to do those Yeah. Zoom part yeah. In the early days. Those were alright. But, sometimes still, man, some people show up and, you know, they don't know anybody.

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And so when you're hosting, you gotta delete the conversation and make them feel welcome, and I'm just like, oh. Yeah. Which is always a tricky thing. I find tricky because, like, it's in silence for hours, especially with good friends. Like, my wife feels at me because I'm, like, not talking. I'm, like, no, honey. I'm fine. I love you. Like, I'm just enjoying sitting here watching something with you.

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Like, we it's cool. We don't have to talk. Like, that's why we've been married for 13 years. Like Right.

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But on the other hand, when people aren't talking, I feel this.

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Sometimes a stranger to perform because of comedy and improv, and I'm just like, okay. Well, you know, everybody signed up for this. So, you know, not yours, but say a coffee chat. Right? And then nobody's chatting, and I'm like, well, who wants to hear a ridiculous a fucking ton of them. Right? I mean, I was literally I was like, Chris, I was thinking of, thinking of some posts for for the future for LinkedIn. I was, like, thinking of, you know, hope you would do the two truths and a lie. And I was, like, I came up with 3 I I I just immediately in my head, I had 3 stories I thought were insane. So I couldn't come up with a lie because I was, like, oh, these are all through. We're like, it's really it sounds ridiculous, but it's tough. That's funny. I mean, yeah. And then I'm trying to take one of my stories. I'm like, how can I make this, like, less true? And I'm like, oh, boy, do you change, like, a country, something? But I feel like everyone's gonna know that's I mean, I guess this is supposed to be a well, it's not really that important, I guess, because it's LinkedIn. Nobody cares. But Right. Right.

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I did find myself in a bit of a pickle. I was like, oh, yeah.

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Too much as usual. Yeah.

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So so it's been a while. It's been a couple of months, actually. And for all of us, those listening who don't know, who are new to this show, you produced a couple of episodes for me last year, which was, I gotta tell you, fantastic. It was great. I was ahead of schedule or at least on schedule, being held held accountable.

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Really helpful. Yeah. And then, and then the New Year came, and I dipped for a little bit. I did not record an episode in the Q1 of the year, which was really yeah. I I lost a little motivation there. But I'm back. I'm back on track, back on schedule. So we're you know, this that'll be that's not bad for a year and a half. I mean, that's almost close on track. Almost. You know, 50 would be great if I had scheduled them breaks and told the audience, hey. We're not gonna have an episode next week. Right.

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Yeah. But I feel reinvigorated, which is good, but I do I've been trying to have some fixing, like, I love talking about stroke recovery. Chris is obviously you're not a stroke survivor.

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I brought you on today because I'm just interested in having more more interesting conversations besides with myself.

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But, yeah, I just you have a unique perspective. You've had a interesting life as well. Sure.

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I just I don't know. I just I just wanna be able to share your story with my audience, and I just think there's a lot of crossover.

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So, yeah. I I guess, if you don't mind me saying, I'll I'll say it if that's cool with you that No. Go ahead. Lock your surface. Yeah. Previously incarcerated, you know, the timeline so you can clear all that up for us. But I I think Chris is obviously been been through it. He knows a lot of things. He's come out the other side, you know, still deals with everyday life like like we as stroke survivors deal with, with our new set of unique challenges. So I just kinda wanted you to kinda tie things together and because I think you you offer a unique perspective, and I I always love hearing your stories, Young, because it kinda reminds me of Miami days. You know, I was in in a in a little bit, but probably not to the level that you got to, thankfully. Yeah.

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Maybe I was lucky, you know, and I so not not not a little not a long time, but enough time in Miami Dade County Jail. That was, 36 hours of, fun for me. Thankfully, it got out. But yeah. So yeah. I mean, if you wanna kinda go back, you know, to to where you feel comfortable telling telling, like, kind of the backstory just so everybody know. Okay. I know bits and pieces, but I'm I'm curious to kinda hear more because I don't think I've ever actually heard it together. So Okay.

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Where do I start? So I was raised in a really good house. Like, my parents are still married. They you know, I'm the oldest of 7 kids.

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A real strong Christian house. Like like, by all means, shouldn't have gone down the path I went down. When I got out of the house and and started tasting freedom and hanging out with people that I shouldn't have and got introduced to meth, started doing meth. Started off on the weekend, you know, and by the time it was over, I was doing a lot.

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So so so not to it's a rough run off the bat, but so you went from, you know, pretty straight laced kid with a good home, you know, by all accounts, pretty good home for a good upbringing.

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So you went straight to meth? Well, I mean, I drank. I mean, I drank too. I I drink. Yeah. Who knows? Yeah. That that was I mean, and I smoked weed one time, but I didn't really like it. So, yeah, went went went into meth and just went down the whole road of doing all the dumb stuff. Like Yeah. Just to I could we we could talk for hours on just the stupid stuff that I did on drugs. You know? Yeah. I feel that.

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Drinking the drugs, they never really work out, do they? They never work out. No. It doesn't. It doesn't. And, yeah. It just it doesn't come at all. And I still drink a little bit, especially now that I'm off parole. I couldn't while I was on parole, but, it's not it's not crazy. It's a it's it's it's a controlled thing.

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Yeah. No. That's good then. That that was our I like to control the Yeah. The ability to go into a liquor store and the I beer, alcohol, whatever you wanted. And I did that from pretty early. He's just a big guy. Yeah. Yeah. So, so you got into meth, and then it let out let obviously down to a pretty wild path for you for a bit there.

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But Yeah. And it went too long. Like, it was not as far as addicts go. 3 and a half let's see.

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Yeah. About 3 and a half years. And the only reason I quit is because I got arrested. Well, no. No. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Let me back up. K. I got arrested for possession, didn't quit. Mhmm. I had some other charges like an cool, another possession charge.

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I think that was it. So were those separate, or did they nail you for position twice in the same deal? Because I feel like they 2 separate it was 2 separate deals. I feel like I've heard enough weird stuff, so that wouldn't mess that wouldn't make sound that weird to me.

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Yeah. No. No. No. No. No.

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Bonded out, got probation, ended up not doing anything I was supposed to do on my probation. So there was a warrant out for me, and they arrested me for it. Go to prison.

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I get, well, I get 15 years. Were you up to 18?

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Yeah. That that seems extreme, if I'm being honest. Like Yeah. It's Texas, man. I love Texas, but, you know, we're a hang on high kinda state.

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Yeah. Yeah. But I feel like there are significantly worse for almost everybody that Yeah. At 15 years. Yeah. You're really not that you're not obviously, drugs are not good. We all know that, especially especially meth. I mean, I don't think we can make a case scientifically that Oh, no. No. You know, mushrooms, psychedelics, some of those things are are showing signs in the science world of of having something, but I don't think I don't think meth really. No. And I'll be honest, I actually have done it as well, but not very much and only really by accident when I was trying to do other things. It just back in the 2000 in Miami.

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So Yeah. I bet. Yeah.

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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I bet that. Yeah. Bet bath salts became a big thing in Miami where people were jumping over causeways and I'm not hearing a story with somebody in Miami. Yeah. Somebody in Miami is kinda where I was living at.

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Somebody was on Bay of Salsa, and they ran through a traffic light at one of the major intersections in downtown Miami, and they literally bit somebody's face apart.

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That's that was enough of a warning for me that I mean, I was already kinda done at that point with drugs, but, like, I was just like, it's not good for anybody. Like, that's yeah. But, really, I mean, meth isn't good either. But, again, the 15 years sorry. I I cut you off completely. I'm the worst host. No. You're good. Years, it seems so extreme for Yeah.

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We're not really hurting anybody but yourself if I'm being They were mad though because I absconded on my probation and, you know, didn't do anything I was supposed to. And it was just it was a whole ordeal. Yeah. I I guess it was more more complicated than just doing meth in your your house. Yeah. Yeah. You can do your house. Yeah.

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Fair enough. So I end up in prison, and I it was it was it was an adjustment. Like, it was a big adjustment because, you know, they threw they threw me in a 68 man dorm. It was all bunk beds. The bunk beds were so close together. I can stand between them and my shoulders just slack just a little bit on either side from from touching, like, just crammed in there like sardines.

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And, you know, prison's very racially divided. Very you know, you don't you don't eat with people of a different race and especially with whites and the blacks. Whites and the Mexicans get along pretty good, most of the time.

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But, you know, that was never my thing. I never I mean, I grew up in a small town in Texas, but where racism was abundant, but, you know, I'm not gonna not eat with someone or not talk to someone just because they were black. Right. So I never was really accepted because one of my best friends in prison, like, he slept there was rows of or or 2 rows together like this, and, like, we slept head to head. His head wasn't that far from my head.

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You know? Right. And so we ate all the time together. And, so I never was really just accepted, which was fine because, like, I didn't go there to make pretty fucking fucking friends. I'm still you know, that I was locked up with that are out now and but it wasn't like I was going in there to win brownie points with anyone. I was gonna be me.

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Right. Moved to another unit that was a lot better. It was a 56 man dorm I was in, but like little 4 by or 5 by 7 cubicles. So I had my own little space. Like, I was there still, you know, you're right in there next to everybody, but I had my own little space, which was really, really nice. Didn't have to worry about anybody sleeping above me or behind me. Like, it was just it was I thought I was in heaven after 2 years.

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And that unit was actually not a bad unit. It was pretty cool. There were some cool people there.

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Like I said, I'm still friends with a lot of those guys that are out and still inside. But it was on that unit that involved with I opened up the faith based storm. So Texas mandated that every unit had to have a faith based storm. It was open to all face. The classes that were taught were primarily Christian classes, and there was some that everybody were required to go to and some that wouldn't.

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I knew that going in. Like but but the thing is, like, you don't have as many Muslim volunteers wanting to come in and teach Muslim classes. Either the Christian volunteers were way more abundant because there's a church on every street corner that wants to do something. You know? Right.

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And that was really a cool experience, man. Like, it really place where I can forgive myself for being such a retard.

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And, you know, the bible says all kinds of good stuff about us, and none of them are bad. And kinda got me to a point where I didn't see myself as a convict, or as a felon, or as a drug head. So that was cool. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. It is. I mean, I have an amazing support system. Like, my family, you know, came and saw me all the time. They were putting money on my books. I had guys I talked to. But, you know, there's still that feeling of isolation and still that feeling of being still that feeling of walking back from visitation. Man, that walk back never got any easier. You should spend 2 hours with your family laughing and sitting across the table from them and eating snacks and, you know, drinking sodas, and it's a good time and you love them, and then you gotta go back to what your reality is at that time. Like, it's just such a it doesn't never get it never got easier. In 8 and a half years, it never got easier. Yeah. I was just gonna ask, so how long did you so you wound up spending a total of 8 and a half years in there? Almost.

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Almost. It was, like, 8 years, 3 months, and 3 weeks to the day.

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I I figured it out when it got cut out. Well, I'm not laughing. I'm just laughing at the precise. Alright. Precisely. Yeah. I can I can I can understand that? Yeah. So the first two years sounded like they were pretty rough.

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So I imagine getting switched into that other unit after year 2 certainly help with some of that some of the feelings of isolation.

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Probably your mental health overall is just it seems like that was a big switch towards where, like, it was It was. Still it's not ideal. Nobody wants to deal with being not have inside the deal. Yeah. I mean, sometimes I think, well, you know, I love my kids, but I could also imagine all of them not being bothered for you. But I think eight and a half years is a little A little. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny as a joke for, like, 8 and a half hours. Shit. I take 8 and a half days at this point, but, you know, maybe this would be a little long for me.

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Yeah. So so yeah.

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So was there there, but, No. You're good. You got into that that unit after the first two years. So was it were were you pretty much there in that next space for the remainder of the time there, or did you Yes. Pretty much. I spent, the last 6 months at another unit, going through treatment, and I had to go through a treatment before I got out.

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I mean, it was a that was a terrible unit to be on, and it stressed me out. But, because it was a lot. It was at a big unit and so, like, it was wide open there, man. People were smoking k 2 and being hauled off the off in an ambulance multiple times a day. You know, drugs, fighting, all the all the all the stuff. Of case now. Yeah, man. And this was like a, like you see in the movies and on TV. Like, it was it was 3 rows of 2 man cells. You know, you had a cellmate, but it was still, like, it was a fix by 9.

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You know? This is, like, a final step before you give us that seems I mean, they had all of us that were in treatment on one wing so that we weren't, like, being subjected to a lot of that stuff. But, I mean, it was just the atmosphere.

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People were still like, they were still smoking k two on our wing.

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But So were you missing something? Whole atmosphere.

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With, like, the entire population or do they like, how do they segment the populations based on like, because I'm not that super familiar with the prison system, but, like, I assume there's people that have done significant things that are never getting out. Like, was that even part of their Oh, no. No. They were at the other end of the other end of the unit. Okay. So you have the main hallway, and then the wings are blocks or cell block. Right. When you hear people talk about a cell block, it's a block, that has all those rows of cells. And the only people that were in my block in treatment. Okay.

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Now we still, you know, we had to go to classes and we ate with general population. And so it wasn't like we were just, like, totally segregated, but that's where we lived just to try and keep us out of trouble as much as possible. Right. So so even though you're in treatment the last 6 months, your mix up with potentially people serving life sentences or that may not even at your prison? Because I'm just curious, like, when you go Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not on the wing, obviously, because they were all we were all fixing to get out. But Right. When you go to eat, you want an example. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I do remember that one that time, it's Miami Dade County Jail. I remember the meals not being particularly good. I can still if I think hard enough, I could think of the smells, and I remember the paint on some of the walls and the the prison in Miami Dade County Jail. And I'm pretty sure I could really close my eye. I mean, it was like I don't have to close my eyes just to picture that. They'll remember vividly. So so real quick, my my brief stint there was over New Year's Eve and into New Year's Day and a little bit passed. So everything was closed.

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There were no Yeah. It was It's pretty much the worst time if you are not going to be in there for more than a week, to find yourself in in prison or jail for even a short stint. And, of course, they, did my intake, and I was out of it.

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And they so that's why I was in there for an extra bonus time because no one knew where I was because nobody had spelled my name correctly. So people are, like, maybe he went and, like, one of my friends had found out that I and one of my friends had found out that I sorry. We lost connection there.

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Us. Yeah. We So, yeah. One of my friends that I got sent down there because I should have been in, like, a what do you call it? Like, when you go to, like, a local station, but because it was New Year's, I had to go I got shipped downtown because it was already full. So yeah. Yeah. They eventually found me.

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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I should've gone to a kitty cop or a drunk tank. Right. I got such treatment and got to go downtown and spend extra time. Nice. And I just remember that food, it was, like, really slimy looking baloney looking stuff. And I, I thankful, I think I might have enough brain damage at this point to not remember it, but I feel like I yeah. So okay. So back to that. So so so it's a little bit more weird ending to where you get out, but on at in the in a half years you're there, you did do some things that, they did give you patient. You were able to do some things. Am I mistaken or misremembering? So you were able to Oh, no. Pretty good pretty good advantage of your time there eventually. Right? Oh, absolutely.

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I took all kinds of classes. You know, all obviously, all the ones that I had to to be in the faith based storm, took some reentry type class that just I mean, I did it may mainly so it would look good, so it would show that I was, you know, checking the boxes. Oh, but just serious about getting out and serious about trying to to Right. Right. But like reentry stuff where they teach basic life skills and anger management and I don't even remember.

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Oh, but, I did take some college while I was there. Probably I didn't take much though because they pulled it off the unit I was on while I was taking it. I took 1, 2, 3, 4 classes, I think.

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So I think that they they offered it and they took it away. That's annoying, but It was. It was very annoying. It's back on the unit now with a different college. Yeah.

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But, it seems it's such an opportunity for people that are really trying to make some like, you know, they like you like, you know, I have no idea what the numbers are, but let's say it's 20% that actually go in and they wanna change because they know they're gonna be there for 5 plus years. You might as well take the time to, like, go to school, get a degree. It's just a shame that they kinda it seems more to it, but it seems to me kind of random, especially now that they're redoing it with another school. So it's, that's a bummer to hear that you you took classes and you you potentially could have earned at least an associate's while you're in there.

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I mean, I should do a fair amount of colleges, big university or a community college. The degree is pretty much the same at the end. Yeah. They had 2 degree plans. It was associate arts and associate in science. So I get was the only Yeah. But, I mean, it's it's It's yeah. To to to yeah. I mean, because because because yeah. Because when you get out, right, and you we're talking about checking the boxes, but you also want to tick the box. So when you got out that you were able to, like I assume, maybe wrong, but, I assume you wanted to get to work because you're on parole, as you said. So you wanna get to work.

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You wanna try to get the I'm sure limited because of this They are. That we will be able to talk about more. Yep. But, yeah, you wanna give yourself the best opportunity, especially because you've spent in half years of your life again for, you know, making some mistakes, but ultimately and thankfully, not hurting anybody else self, but, which I can relate to. Yeah. I don't know where it's going to get sexy with that, but I yeah. I wanted to kinda hop into, like, that next step where you start to reintegrate into when you get out. I know I've seen some pictures, shares some stories, but, yeah, maybe we can dive into that a little bit where you the process and how hard it was and what what are some things that you now know, several years out that you wish you knew sooner and yeah. Yeah. What do you think? So I didn't even work for the first May till September maybe.

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Okay. September or October. I think it was September. They let me yeah. I moved in with my granddad when I got out. He had a spare bedroom and he we got 40 acres here. And so they shall let me I was working for him because I was. I was mowing and helping, you know, maintain the property and stuff like that. I wasn't getting paid, but I took that time to just kinda ease back into it. So just having to get out and get get a job the next week. A buddy of mine was by leasing. He hired me here.

00:30:43.423 --> 00:30:50.464
That didn't work out because I'm not really a car guy. Yeah. I don't like working on cars. It's like it doesn't interest me. Yep.

00:30:50.865 --> 00:31:20.244
So an opport an opportunity came up. A child I say childhood friend we met when I was, like, 14 or something. He was part owner of the company I'm working for now. His mom had saw a post on Facebook. It was like, oh my god. God, I didn't even know Chris was out. Like, if he needs a job, tell him to call Dannon. Here's his number. So I called Dan in and, went in and talked to him. And it's an electronics recycling company. I didn't know anything about it, but I knew even doing you know?

00:31:20.865 --> 00:31:44.454
So I knew that. But I know knew even shuffling pallets around and checking in computers would be better for me than trying to sell parts to somebody. You know, they want you to diagnose everything over the phone. Well, my car is doing this, and they'd asked for a part I've never heard of and wouldn't even know where to look it up. You know? I don't know. Like, I just don't know. So it it didn't have any desire to learn it either.

00:31:44.454 --> 00:32:20.220
So it was just like, let me get let me get away from this. Sorry. It's it's just so funny because I can totally relate to that too because yeah. I grew up in Jersey, and I I literally worked, in high school at a gas station. I so a a wrecker driver for because our gas station handled AAA calls. So I did that. But, yeah, changing the tire, fine with but, like, beyond changing a tire, maybe a tire patch, like, I don't even have any interest in changing my own oil. Like, one of my buddies used to do it for us. We work together. We all went to high school.

00:32:21.099 --> 00:33:03.025
He would change my oil, but, like, I would never do it because I didn't really wanna touch it. And I just really didn't, frankly Yeah. Give a crap. Like, it was one of the jobs. It's like, yeah. I'll pay $30 to have my oil changed since somebody else can pay. Yeah. Exactly. I'm not trying to like, I'm trying to save money, but I'm not trying to save $30 on an oil change. So yeah. Yeah. It's it's funny though because I literally have zero interest in cars. In fact, so much so that the only thing I'm a little pissed about in the last year is that I decided to get rid of my truck so my daughter could get a truck. So I took her old car, which is the worst. I mean, it's fine. It runs, and I only drive, like, mile to the 2 miles to draw my son to football this fall.

00:33:03.025 --> 00:33:49.529
But Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm no I'm no longer the primary driver, so it's fine. But yeah. Yeah. I I yeah. I just I was thinking about how much how little I care about cars and how how many people are so into cars? I just man. I can't do it. Give me give me I'd rather talk about bigger beds or, like, literally anything. I literally would spend rather spend money on anything besides cars. I don't care what you like, yeah. I just get on the hinges so my car doesn't blow up, and I bring it in for regular maintenance. And I don't go to the dealership because that's a rip off. But other than that, I'm Yeah. A fun f about cars. I know it's easier. Does it work, and will will it keep working? That's all he gets.

00:33:49.670 --> 00:34:21.945
Exactly. And yeah. I'm so I'm so old. Well, not old. I guess, I'm not that old. I'm middle age, but triple a because I just don't wanna deal with all the other options. I just I grew up on triple a, and I'm like, yeah. Like, the battery doesn't work. Cool. I'll call triple a. Like, car needs to cool. Cool. It's all triple a. It's like the best 100 months I spent a year. Yeah. And I always wind up meeting it now because my I got my daughter's hand me down car, which was supposed to be her hand me down. Me and yeah.

00:34:23.465 --> 00:34:26.985
Had a couple couple things this year. It's an annoying year.

00:34:26.985 --> 00:34:39.239
So, sorry. So so yeah. So back to what you were saying about, kinda getting out and reintegrating. I like that plan, by the way.

00:34:40.820 --> 00:34:47.460
It was, like, worked out pretty well for you because I think that's probably something a lot more people I don't know. I hate to buy it.

00:34:47.460 --> 00:34:59.974
It's a plan for people to slowly integrate, but it sounds like it it worked for you. And I It did work for me, and I and I was blessed to be able to do that with my granddad, because I you know, you have to have a job on parole like you have to. Yeah.

00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:04.099
So I was able to fudge a little bit.

00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:09.460
She didn't know I wasn't getting paid. But, I mean Yeah.

00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:35.909
Yeah. It's interesting to hear that they don't really I thought the maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I don't know enough of the prison system to to say this eloquently, but I the impression that they really helped you as as somebody getting out on parole. Like, as long as you tick their boxes, they would at least provide resources and help you get the job? Like, you or They they do to an extent.

00:35:36.369 --> 00:35:59.260
Okay. They're not gonna actually help you get the job, but they'll give you a for felons. Okay. Or, you know, tell you about job fairs coming up that are that are second chance friendly. And and they do have some resources, but they don't actually just, like, help you right, get a job. There's so their caseloads are so high, man.

00:35:59.260 --> 00:36:39.505
Like, any given time, we'd have 40 to 50 people on their caseload. Right. And imagine that they're driving around place to place all over Texas. And not everybody's living, those Well, I mean, they do it they do it yeah. They do it regionally. So they had but, I mean, like, they Cherokee County does not have this so Smith County took care of it. So they'd have which is north. And so my parole officer may have people from the north end of Smith County all the way down to the south end of Cherokee County, which is at least an hour and a half, 2 hours. You know? Yeah. Forgot to spread out Texas.

00:36:42.284 --> 00:36:45.965
Yeah. 40 to 50 people at the all of the same neighborhood would be fine.

00:36:45.965 --> 00:36:53.079
40 to 50 people are handicapped in, you know, 200 And this is and we're talking rural very rural area.

00:36:53.460 --> 00:37:12.775
Yeah. So, like, the biggest city in my in my county's 14,000 people or 14 or 15,000 people's Big. And there's a ton of country, people living outside the city limits. So they're traveling all over hill and creation. You know? Yeah.

00:37:14.869 --> 00:37:22.090
Sorry. I remember you were earlier in your story. You were telling us how you were working out Now place you're out.

00:37:22.389 --> 00:37:33.485
Yep. Yep. I've been there, this October this next month will be 8 years. Wow. That's yep. That's a good run. That's, Yeah.

00:37:33.485 --> 00:37:59.815
So yeah. So so now you've been out for a number of years. So, I mean, at the beginning seemed like a good transition for you, great for everybody who works for, glad that you got a gig at where you're at now, and you've been sticking it out there, continuing to work there for them. And so I guess you, in a sense, probably didn't run into as many issues.

00:38:00.835 --> 00:38:25.855
We did, man. As as some could. No. I really didn't. I was blessed in that area, but I'd have to go to, you know, recovery groups and stuff like that. And you'd hear people talking about how rough I was to find a job or, you know, whatever. Find a job, find housing. I've got a buddy. As a matter of fact, he got his bachelor's in prison.

00:38:27.755 --> 00:38:30.074
I don't remember if he got his master's or not. I don't think he did.

00:38:30.074 --> 00:38:52.565
I think he got his master's when he got out. I think he went and got his doctorate. And he is now an adjunct professor for Lee College, and that's the college that's back that's in the unit that I was at. So, like, talking talking to him, like, he knew some of the same guys because he was they were in his class.

00:38:54.704 --> 00:39:09.079
But he's also, like Lee College, has a reentry division where I'm not from prison. Brandon helps them find jobs and housing and all that stuff.

00:39:09.219 --> 00:39:25.244
Anyway, this dude has a doctorate degree. He's a professor at a college, and he still has trouble finding housing because of his past. Like, they don't look at what he's doing now. Right. They just you know, he checked the box.

00:39:26.818 --> 00:39:37.239
It is weird too because you would think, especially in that case scenario, he's a professor. He has a PhD or at least a master's degree. Yeah. He has a PhD. He is doctor Brandon Warren.

00:39:37.460 --> 00:39:58.068
Yeah. That's that's wild to me. That's unfortunate thing. So, yeah, societal trust, you know, I think it's just it's it's sorry. This, like, blow my mind that he, like, has trouble finding housing. He has a full time job, professor. I could say Yeah.

00:40:00.769 --> 00:40:08.144
Yeah. Now but he I remember he he moved, like, he was moving or just moved right after we first met, and he was telling me about it.

00:40:08.144 --> 00:40:36.914
I, dude, I had to look all over the place. You wouldn't believe how hard it was for me to find the house. Yeah. That's wild too because especially I'm sure you've seen it now. If you just look around the world and you see people renting for a long time, what, almost into my thirties before I we bought our first actually, well, into our thirties, before we bought our first house. And, like, I remember seeing those people, like, what people do to apartment buildings and apartments and, yes, All the reviews that you read online. Yeah.

00:40:37.855 --> 00:40:59.715
Yeah. But meanwhile, this well, I think you made some of them felt yeah. So weird that they don't, you know, you check that box and, actually, I kind of I kind of virtually do a crossover point, you know, because you always you do that show, what's the name of the show again? The In ending the stigma? Ending the stigma. Yeah.

00:41:01.235 --> 00:41:45.769
With stroke survivors, I think there's a very similar thing actually kinda cross over with the work thing that we're talking about. Like, I'm considering going back to work. I'm looking at jobs that are in the psychology field because now I'm in in school getting my master's for psychology, and I'm, like, picking, you know, looking at jobs. And I'm, like, I you gotta keep making this mistake where I keep checking the box that I'm handicapped because I am. But maybe I shouldn't be checking that box. So I wonder if that box is just getting me thrown into a pile where people aren't considering who I am as a stroke survivor or Right. Somebody living with MS. They're just saying, oh, this well, we don't really we don't need to fill our DEI quota right now, so we're gonna decide.

00:41:46.869 --> 00:41:54.284
Like Right. Meanwhile, I see people with jobs that shouldn't be in the You check that box, but they already have that box checked. So Yeah.

00:41:54.605 --> 00:42:28.804
Yeah. It's, yeah. And I'm sure you do deal with the same thing. You see see see people in daily life do I could definitely do that, you know, or even if I couldn't do that, I could definitely figure out how to do that with a little bit of training and a little bit of time. You know, you should pay me a little less while I get to strength or to whatever you need, but, yeah, it's it's wild to me. Yeah. No. It is indeed. And it's one of the leading Yeah. Not being able to find a job and not being able to find a house. You know? I mean, you can you can there's a ton of felony friendly places. Subway is one of them.

00:42:30.719 --> 00:43:17.005
And that one comes to the top of my head just because there's a guy in my group that managed. He was a manager. He managed Subway. But still, like, you know, a a manager at a fast food joint gonna make a ton of money. Like, if if especially if you come home and you got a wife and kids, or even if you don't have a wife, if you have kids, it's hard to live on what you make by yourself, let alone Yeah. You know what I mean? Let alone trying to have a fam Yeah. I was gonna say maybe during the pandemic, you could kinda scream by on, like, by yourself on $20 an hour, maybe, but not even really because, like, with inflation now, like, my daughter is 21. She's still in school. She lives at home.

00:43:17.545 --> 00:43:40.085
But, of course, she's 21, has a boyfriend, and is like, I move out into our own first place because she's already been away at school. But because she's back here, she's kinda getting fed up. And she's doing the math, and she has a job in retail where she make she works for a fancy schmancy upscale women's clothing store called Aritzia, and she makes good money.

00:43:40.945 --> 00:44:05.449
And she's, like, doing the math and she works pretty close to full time. And it's, like, well, she can move out, but she definitely needs her boyfriend to move out too with her and then just split that apartment because by the time we had a you know, she had to have that truck last year. So I was like, alright. Well, I'm not paying for the whole truck. You gotta make a pay Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I pay I pay more than I wanna pay on it.

00:44:06.525 --> 00:44:08.943
Right. You pay it's half. Let's say it.

00:44:11.085 --> 00:44:45.375
Yeah. And the 2 of them are, like, struggling. I mean, I it's the same thing. It's so that it was that way when I was a kid. It might have been that way when you were a kid. Maybe maybe maybe maybe a little bit short, but, you know, I think across the board now and because I look all the time, I don't care if you live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, or my grandparents were used to live, you know, you live in Podunk, Alabama, Mississippi. Like, I don't think there's any place on the planet you couldn't find a 1 bedroom in a you couldn't find a 1 bedroom in Carol City, which is, like, in downtown Miami.

00:44:45.434 --> 00:45:14.059
You did crack houses, like, you could find a 1 bedroom for a 1,000 there. You know? It's ridiculous. I mean, it's, so yeah. I don't know where it's going with that exactly, but, oh, yeah. But that part is, I think stroke survivors and and and that's what's wild. Right? Is that you're you have to check a box now because you well, I don't know. Do you Slack check the box or don't you?

00:45:16.920 --> 00:45:20.300
Now that you're off parole, are you still No. Yeah.

00:45:20.920 --> 00:45:47.210
I'm I'm still a felon. Yeah. Right. And and that the problem with that box is that box is for people that might have committed manslaughter or some degree of murder. Right? And you had a lesser significantly lesser charge, but still counts as but you're judged the same. So that right. I mean, is that is that fair? Is that accurate? Yeah. So you judge the same.

00:45:47.210 --> 00:46:02.579
They said that they don't have it. You know, you have to check felony, but they don't follow-up. They don't most people don't even care. It's just like me with stroke. It's like, well, you know, how many times a day do I hear people tell me, you had a stroke? Well, yeah. Thanks.

00:46:02.820 --> 00:46:13.699
Thanks. 5 year 5 years are work to to look like that, but everybody reading my resume when I apply for, like, a thing probably thinks of, like, what whatever comes to mind when you think of a stroke survivor.

00:46:13.699 --> 00:46:20.315
Mostly, it's like that somebody that's, like, 85, 75, 65, and, like, they're either retired or wrapping up.

00:46:21.574 --> 00:46:40.050
Whereas I am a parent of 3 kids. I have a wife who is deaf. Like, I have all these things. Shit, man. I just crossed 11,500 miles of running. Like, Nice. As a stroke survivor with MS. That's you know, you're wearing a hoodie every day in Florida. You're running. Think you are absolutely insane.

00:46:40.909 --> 00:46:47.635
Which I am insane for. But I'll tell you what, Chris. I I gotta tell you this. I've had a revelation again about the hoodie.

00:46:48.574 --> 00:47:33.199
I can withstand almost any amount of heat. You will never hear me complain when I'm out there running, when outside watch my son play football this fall, watch my other son play flat. I never bitch about the heat because to me, it's always it's always a 100 degrees because I'm always a 100 degrees wearing a hood and, like, this is, like, anti MS. This is, like, this is all the things you shouldn't do with MS and stroke cyrus. Be that hot all the time, but because I maintain that level of heat and working out, I can withstand any temperature. So I never complained, but it's it's always wild to me when, like, people here in Florida like, I see my son playing football. Sorry. He's I was talking about that. He's just been had breakfast last night, so I'm thinking about it.

00:47:33.199 --> 00:47:40.215
Like, all these kids are their moms are out there with towels, giving them wet. Oh, well, your poor baby must be so hot here.

00:47:41.494 --> 00:48:15.425
I think it just it bothers the hell out of me that and they're kids. I'm not even saying about that, but, like, it's it's kind of the bigger picture. It's like, whether you're checking that box, but you've overcome all these things, but somebody's looking past you because you have to check that box. Yeah. And I feel the same way. It's like, man, that's me. Like, do you see like, some of these things that I'm looking at, it's like, did they want people to have remote experience? Well, who has more remote work experience than me? Like, I've been doing this before 2010. I can't think. Right. Right. You know?

00:48:15.425 --> 00:48:48.028
Like, if I could survive a stroke, and I'm lucky to, and I could do all these and you're very similar. You're like you've reintegrated. You've made a positive impact. And, again, we'll get to that here coming up, but, like, it's it's just like yeah. It's frustrating when people look past and that that's actually kind of what I wanted to have you on partly because I wanted to kinda have that conversation with this crossover because I think there are 2 world don't really think about, but also the sigma and it's real. I mean, it's it's This is real. It's annoying. You know?

00:48:50.088 --> 00:49:05.525
I don't know if you experienced this. If you ever have to tell you probably don't. But, like, every time I have to tell someone, somehow it'll come up. I'm like, oh, I'm a stroke survivor. The first thing people say to me is, oh, was I walking around asking for sorrys? Right. Right.

00:49:05.744 --> 00:49:16.190
Sorry. You're like, okay. I mean, yeah, it's not great, but, like, I don't know. I don't know. I I don't know if you get something similar, but it's like, or or you probably get more of a, oh.

00:49:17.050 --> 00:49:20.190
Or a really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:49:20.889 --> 00:49:34.244
Yeah. Because I don't look like it. Like, I didn't come out covered in tattoos or in prison. I mean, I have tattoos now, but I got them after I got out. Yeah. So I don't have I don't have prison tattoos all over the place, you know, all sleeved out or whatever. No teardrop.

00:49:35.105 --> 00:50:01.684
Yeah. No no teardrop. Yeah. You know, I have a decent job, so they're not fancy, but they're in good shape and they're clean. But, you know, so I don't people think felons coming out of prison are always gonna look like a felon. You know? Yeah. Like, they're still living in the streets. Right? Because there's 1 in 3 people 1 in 3 people in the US are have either been to prison or been on probation. So they're like, somehow.

00:50:01.905 --> 00:50:21.099
So you put 3 people in a room and there's a good chair. You put a 100 people in a room, there's a good chance that 33 of them are gonna have been justice involved in some Yeah. I mean, shit. Fashion or another. Even you, even having to go to jail one time, you know what I mean? It's I mean, thankfully, it wasn't a for me, it wasn't a a a felony. So no.

00:50:21.440 --> 00:50:46.710
I don't need no more boxes to check. I'm fucking full of boxes. Like Yeah. Oh. Yep. So it's just it's a it's a terrible thing. And that's how I started doing my show ending the stigma was, my buddy Nathan Winsen Reed Yeah. Was on LinkedIn. He was at where he was looking for a job, so he was posting. And, you know, he'd post about the struggles he was having because he was a felon.

00:50:46.710 --> 00:51:23.164
And, so I connected with him. And, actually, no. I don't think that's how that worked. I think I found out he was a felon is because, we were on a Zoom party, and he said some or I said I said he looks like he's, the, like a villain from NCI not NCIS, like CSI or or law and order or something because he his room was kinda dark and his, his camera was kinda off to the side. And so he'd be doing something on the computer and then look over here. He just asked it. And he said, well, now that you mentioned it, and he pulled it.

00:51:23.164 --> 00:51:26.605
He had an ankle monitor. He showed me his ankle monitor. I was like, hey.

00:51:26.605 --> 00:52:01.574
I used to have one of those. So then, you know, we'd see each other's posts about having having been to prison and and ending the ending the stigma towards, you know, being a felon and just trying to normalize, the fact people who've been to prison not normalize the fact they committed a crime, but normalize the fact that they've been to prison, got out. And some of us, and I don't know what the stats are on us, so don't ask me about how many what the recidivism rate. We were talking about that earlier before we're we started recording. Like, you know, you're gonna look at 10 different sources and they're all gonna say something different. So it's whatever. It is.

00:52:03.800 --> 00:52:07.500
But I forgot where I well, went down that.

00:52:08.119 --> 00:52:35.519
Who was this saying? Oh, we were posting about stuff and, here he I was already livestreaming. I started livestreaming for fun. I had a I had a show called So I Did A Thing. And, that's the new one. Sorry. So I Did A Thing was that one. Yep. Yeah. I've been on remember. Yeah. I was gonna say you were actually a guest on that one. And he was, like, and he was live streaming, basically, the same format. Just bringing cool people on and just having a conversation with them, you know, just for fun, really.

00:52:37.579 --> 00:52:48.335
They said, man, what what do you think about starting a show talking about ending the stigma? And just have guests on that have been justice involved in any way.

00:52:50.795 --> 00:52:58.974
I was finding guests that may maybe he hadn't been to prison, but, you know, had the addiction stand or from a drug pastor or whatever.

00:52:59.599 --> 00:53:12.315
Because that I I could relate to that. So that's how that's how that started. And we did that for a couple of seasons together, and he got a job, and he kinda pulled out a LinkedIn, and I I still do it. I cohost it by myself now. Yeah.

00:53:13.014 --> 00:53:30.190
And it's here lately just because of everything that happened this year. Yeah. And we can talk about that in a minute. Those are the ones. Heavily, heavily focused on people that are, in addiction or have come out of human trafficking.

00:53:32.010 --> 00:53:52.925
Yeah. Actually, yeah. Let's get into that because And a little less on the prison side, even though a lot of them have been to prison and we talk about it. It's it's a little less focused around prison as much as it is Recovery. And, trafficking survivors. Yeah. And we can dig into that right now if you want to. We can Yeah. Yeah.

00:53:52.925 --> 00:54:32.170
Because I'm interested in the, well, I've been interested in it because I'm following along this year. I mean, I don't know if you wanna tell why you Oh, I don't have any problems at all. The more because that's this and we so I my brother, he was 32. On March in on March 7th this year, he died from fentanyl poisoning. He was in Phoenix. He had a good job. He was in Phoenix laying fiber optic. He was in his camper. Him and my uncle were over there. And he bought an Adderall from the girl in the camper across the road in the trailer park, and went to the his next door neighbor's.

00:54:33.545 --> 00:54:58.630
And I guess they snorted it. I'm not really a 100% for sure there were when I don't know what happened. They were they were probably My brother wasn't even an addict. Like, he we call him a pop up user because, you know, he'd go buy an Adderall sometime sometimes or he may go buy a little sack of Coke some every once in a while. Like, he wouldn't like he was strung out. He was just he liked to party every once in a while. Yeah. And the the pill was laced with Fentanyl.

00:55:02.065 --> 00:55:05.764
And him and the other dude both died from it.

00:55:06.304 --> 00:55:28.750
And so that led into this whole frenzy that has been in the past almost 7 months now. Like, it's just been insane. Because we didn't know because, you know, it took it was fentanyl, but after the toxicology report came back, there was 2 different types of fentanyl in the system and amphetamines, which was the Adderall.

00:55:32.255 --> 00:55:35.795
And so I kinda went down this rabbit hole of researching Fentanyl.

00:55:35.855 --> 00:55:42.355
And especially when we got the toxicology report back, something in there called parafluorafentanyl.

00:55:44.010 --> 00:56:08.824
And so that went down a whole another rabbit hole researching that stuff. And that stuff is being made in labs in China, and then be it shipped to Mexico, and the cartels are doing whatever they do with it, putting it into pills, putting it in whatever. So they're selling they're cutting their pills with this stuff and repressing them.

00:56:10.164 --> 00:56:16.730
And that's how because it's cheap. Fentanyl's cheap. It's very cheap to make.

00:56:18.150 --> 00:56:59.394
And, you know, if you're making it in a lab picked up labs somewhere, They're not being real precise with with how they're making it. So it's just toxic stuff, man. Like, you I was reading the Dallas County's website the other day, and it said on there that, like, even pills that came from the same batch have the same amount of Fentanyl in them. Or if it does, it's it's it's not as strong because it wasn't mixed right. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's the whole synthetic or synthesis or whatever synthesizing process is not Yeah. Precise.

00:57:00.974 --> 00:57:19.048
Wow too because, you know, I know originally, and all there you a lot of from what I know. I mean, obviously, I wasn't around when I was doing things. No. They weren't around when I was doing stuff. Around 10, 15 years ago. 20 years ago, I guess, in this point, that's that's painful to say.

00:57:22.764 --> 00:57:29.885
Yeah. So I can't even wrap my head around because I've heard, obviously, all the stories about Fentanyl. We've seen it all over the news the last couple of years.

00:57:29.885 --> 00:57:44.730
Like, I know. I think, if I'm not mistaken, a lot of states, and this varies by state, that, like, a lot of places are giving away test strips so people that are gonna do something can last I heard, Texas is not one of those states or is kind of Yeah.

00:57:44.730 --> 00:58:09.940
But we can still we can still get them. Yeah. I don't know the state given what we can do. You can't yeah. You can't distribute them, I think. It was somebody who's trying to, like well, I I forget. There was somebody I think it was Tony Hinchliffe who wants to start, like, a is starting to give away free test strips with every water bottle, but there was some reason he couldn't do that. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm might have the wrong people, but it yeah.

00:58:10.559 --> 00:58:19.554
Something weird about it. And who knows? It was probably probably from a Joe Rogan podcast, and who knows how long ago. It could have been 6 months ago that was such a thing. Right. Right.

00:58:21.135 --> 00:58:58.800
But what's crazy is, you know, it makes sense to me as somebody who used to do things and probably to you too that certain drugs would be cut with ethanol because you're cutting it. So you're not wasting as much product. So you're cut you're putting that in as as killing people, which is ridiculous. But on top of that, I I can't wrap my head around this, like and I apologize, but the I can't even think of why somebody would take an Adderall and then, like, put then all in it unless they're taking what?

00:58:59.420 --> 00:59:06.940
Like, Adderall pills are pretty solid. They're not like one of those pills that are gel caps. They're they're a solid Yeah. No.

00:59:06.940 --> 01:00:06.965
They're like, have their your capler. Yep. Yeah. How would you even, like or why would you even waste the time to, what, cut it in half and, like, manufacture fentanyl the other half of the bill? Like, I mean, I think they were and this is speculation because I don't know either, but I'm I'm guessing they're grinding it all up and mixing it and repressing it. Yeah. But it still seems, like, ridiculous to me. It's I know. Like, it's just usually a lot of effort for not less the price of Adderall's have gone up tremendously. I mean Yeah. I have no idea. Their mother is it's just Yeah. I mean, yes. So that's yeah. I'm sorry to hear about your brother. I I know I said something a couple months after it happened. I did not wanna be one of those. I went out of my way not to be one of those people that text you in March because I just knew you were gonna be overwhelmed. But, yeah, I texted you. It was crazy. And why you know, while I appreciated all the text I did not wanna get another freaking message or call. Yeah. Yeah. I think I waited the proper amount of time.

01:00:07.025 --> 01:00:14.244
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. By the time I messaged you, you're like, oh, thank God. Thanks for saying something. Just thank God you waited a couple months. Yeah.

01:00:14.389 --> 01:00:17.429
Because I know how it is. You gotta, like, wrap your head around what's happening.

01:00:17.429 --> 01:00:24.809
Yeah. Because although I didn't lose my parents to my parents, in 2018, and, like, I didn't wanna talk to anybody.

01:00:25.110 --> 01:00:28.684
Mhmm. I barely wants to talk to my sisters, and I had to. Like, Right.

01:00:28.684 --> 01:00:43.179
Right. It was yeah. I need that. You need several months to process it. And Mhmm. Yeah. Let's let's get into what you're doing now because I love how you kinda are very similar to me. I've turned I don't know.

01:00:43.179 --> 01:00:49.838
I don't know what the word phrase is for this because I hate when people say make your mess your story because it's Or or pain into purpose.

01:00:50.059 --> 01:00:59.835
Yeah. Yeah. It's so cliche. I mean, it's true. But I mean, yeah, it's fine that it's true, and it's fine that we we say the cliche. I just don't want to be, like, what other people talk to my own cliches.

01:01:01.094 --> 01:02:08.829
That's it's an important message because I think and I think people out there need to know that, like, you know, felt whether you're a fellow stroke survivor or somebody who's been, on the inside or or even this that you're doing now, like, you know, just I just wanna caution people that but, like, not everybody has to do it. Like, sometimes just getting your story and telling people your story is helpful, you know, like, contribute however you wanna feel like. Because I I know a lot of stroke survivors also feel like they have to, like, get out there and say stuff and do stuff and it's it's their own. It's a weird community of strokes. It's just like sometimes, like, I wanna connect. Because sometimes, like, I think they just don't wanna connect with me or I mean, typically, they are older. I I did I do connect with the younger ones, which is weird because I'm 40, so I'm just lost in between. You know, my brain feels like it's 75, but my body feels like it's 25, but I'll actually 40. I don't know. But, yeah, let's get into kinda how you turned what you what you're doing now with with everything because I think that's really important for people to hear about.

01:02:09.690 --> 01:02:31.695
Yeah. So, again, through social media, met a couple named Ben and Jesso, and they have a couple of nonprofits in Memphis. One is focused so addicted and homeless vets, and, the that one's called Flanders Fields. They have another one called We Fight Monsters where they work with, addicts and human trafficking survivors.

01:02:33.739 --> 01:02:38.400
They were guests on they were the first guests on my livestream after my brother died.

01:02:41.099 --> 01:03:03.219
And Memphis is, like, it's the deadliest city in America. It's the 10th most dangerous city in the world, and it's the only US city on the top ten. Everybody else was a third world country. So Fentanyl they they see people dropping like flies literally from Fentanyl every day. But they are doing straight Fentanyl.

01:03:05.039 --> 01:03:12.239
Yeah. Straight Fentanyl. Like, it it blows me away. Like, there's not you said there's not even any heroin in, Memphis anymore.

01:03:12.239 --> 01:03:22.025
It's all everybody's doing Fentanyl. So, anyway, we had that common bond right off the muscle. Like, right off the respond to friendship.

01:03:25.204 --> 01:04:17.635
And then we have the sequence of events. Okay. So I was sitting at my desk one day at work. It was on a Wednesday. And this was a few weeks after they were on my livestream. And I texted my sister and I said, hey. Do you wanna go to Memphis? Because I thought we'd go up there and meet them in person. They they do something really cool. They buy old trap houses, dope houses that drugs and women were trafficked out of, houses that they bought drugs out of, overdosed in, almost died in, got stabbed in. Like, all this stuff happened to them in these houses, and they're buying and turning them into they call it dope houses into hope houses where they now they're renting them out to people that are in recovery, but they're they've totally eradicated crime on 2 of the deadliest blocks in South Memphis. Crazy stuff they're doing.

01:04:17.869 --> 01:04:56.239
Yeah. Sounds like. Yeah. So, like, man, we can go up there. We can help them on a house or just go kinda, you know, see what they do in person or whatever. And she was like, oh my gosh. Josh is her husband's name. She said, Josh and I were just talking about this yesterday. Yes. We wanna go. So I texted Ben, and I was like, hey, bro. Like, we wanna come to Memphis to see what y'all are. It's dirty or whatever. And he was like, yeah. Y'all come on. Just give us a date. And, so that was on a Wednesday. On Monday, between us talking about it and being excited and all this kind of stuff, we're not cut out. We'll see if Chris comes back.

01:04:56.940 --> 01:05:00.079
Uh-oh. There we go. You're good. Okay. Yeah.

01:05:01.065 --> 01:05:04.844
What happened? I wonder. It just froze. It's probably on my end. Okay.

01:05:04.983 --> 01:05:45.190
Okay. So, yeah, they're doing all this crazy stuff with these houses. My sister and I are talking and brother-in-law. By Monday, we knew it was 9. No. Sorry. I should have You're good. You're good. Yeah. Okay. By Monday, we knew that that we wanted to do the same thing or something really similar. Now, obviously, you know, I've been out of the game for a long time. I can't use and I wasn't doing crack and heroin. I was doing meth, so I hung out with a totally different group of people, the hood, and just automatically start trying to buy up houses and they'll shoot me.

01:05:45.190 --> 01:05:50.250
You know what I mean? Like, it just wouldn't be good. So it's gonna be a little different, but also the same.

01:05:52.005 --> 01:06:43.568
So we went up there in July and just it was a life changing experience. It really was. Just to meet the people that, they people that they did dope with, almost died with, living in these houses, and just everything that they're doing, man. Like, it was really cool. So we came back, and we started a nonprofit called The Raven Is Here. We're gonna do the same thing. We're gonna have a little more just because it's a good foot in the door for us here. Yeah. We can go into the homeless camps and under the bridges and and stuff like that. And the the reason we're doing the human trafficking, even though that doesn't really touch us, we hadn't been touched by it. But drug trafficking we're still recording, though.

01:06:46.764 --> 01:06:54.144
Drug trafficking and human trafficking go hand in hand. We're not live, so he can edit this out. There we go.

01:06:54.605 --> 01:06:57.585
Yep. You are back. We are back. Alright.

01:06:58.340 --> 01:07:49.684
Yes. So you were telling us about, sort of how the queue because I was just in this to how how how the human trafficking connects because I'm a little unfamiliar with that. I mean, I've heard thousands of stories, obviously, but I'm less knowledgeable about that, I'd say. So and the only and the reason is is because it's like, I have firm faith in the fact that we will be working with drug. Like, Ben and Jess are working with drug dealers now. The houses that they bought and basically kicked the drug dealers out of, we're working with them now to be productive get get real jobs and and all that kind of stuff. But the thing with drug dealers is they're dealing drugs. They're probably dealing women too.

01:07:51.119 --> 01:08:09.255
I've heard that. That's where the connection is for us on that is we don't wanna and and they're an addict as well. The the the women being trafficked. Not chances if they're if somebody's pimping them out or drug dealers pimping them out, they're addicts.

01:08:11.394 --> 01:08:53.979
And so it's just because they're so closely intertwined, that's how that comes in. That makes sense now that now that you stated it, the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. And, no, not all homeless people are on drugs, and not all addicts are homeless. But those three things are so intertwined, We're gonna have more of the homeless outreach aspect of it than they do, and we may not have as much, I mean, we might eventually buy an old trap house and make it a whole house. I have, like, some sober living houses where people that have gone to treatment have a place to come back to where they can stay until you know, for 6 months or a year or whatever it is until they get some money saved up and can get back on their feet or or whatever.

01:08:55.554 --> 01:09:16.310
Because you can't just send someone to treatment. Like, we can get anybody into into rehab. They gotta want it. What are they gonna do? Yeah. They well, yeah. They definitely have to want it. But what are they gonna do when they get out? Like, they have to have some resources. They have to have somewhere to go. You can't just especially if they're homeless, you can't just drop them off back under the bridge you found them under.

01:09:16.310 --> 01:09:49.385
You know? Like, it's Yeah. There's gotta be something there for them. So that's kind of our our goal and our vision, and we're brand new in it. Like I said, we just got this thing rolling in in June, July, August. Like, we've been doing it for 2 months tops. Yeah. I feel I feel like you've been doing it for for longer. Maybe maybe that's because you're so good at talking about it and promoting it. And then I've seen it the whole year. I've seen you really take this We decided we were gonna go to Memphis in May?

01:09:49.864 --> 01:10:44.465
In May. Yeah. In May. And so I've been and we knew in May yeah. We started the nonprofit in May, but we didn't actually start doing any of the breach stuff, and in the street stuff until we got back from Memphis. So I've been posting about this is what we're doing. This is what we're gonna do since May. Yeah. I mean, this is this is awesome stuff, honestly. It's, I don't know why. I don't know if I gravitate towards sort of I think we're we're similar. That way, we love helping other people. I wouldn't call myself a people pleaser, but, like, I know how hard it is to overcome drugs and addiction. You know, I've told the story a 1000000 times, but, you know, and there's no clear answer on why I had a stroke at 37. But I certainly wasn't doing myself any favors because I was not I didn't get cheap because I had just let myself go by the wayside.

01:10:44.524 --> 01:10:54.238
I stressed out for a variety of reasons, mostly because of working. My parents and, like, I had kids. I still have young kids. I was just quietly drinking.

01:10:55.100 --> 01:11:05.965
Again, it's not you know? But I've I've certainly done my fair share of different drugs and or drugs, I guess, you call I I don't know what you call now. I hard drugs sounds so weird. Yeah.

01:11:05.965 --> 01:11:34.845
I found myself, you know, going up the ladder like most kids. I started with cigarettes. I got into pot. I kinda don't mind pot. You know, I could see the medical uses for pot now, but, like, in college, I went to Miami and myself enjoying, uppers. And that's no surprise, I think. Miami is a town that doesn't sleep. They say Vegas and other doesn't sleep. Like, well, guess what? I grew up in New York. I went to school in Miami. Two places that don't sleep that are not Vegas.

01:11:35.465 --> 01:11:38.984
Right. Right. And so, you know, I found myself there.

01:11:38.984 --> 01:11:53.409
I get yeah. Coke Coke Coke just became like a problem, and then kinda went by the wayside because you eventually run out of money. And eventually, you just went through, like, I'm fucking tired of this. Like Yeah. There's no plus side to doing it.

01:11:54.029 --> 01:14:16.050
You just it it it seems fun, and then you realize you're an idiot. But we just talked nothing for 5 hours. You're Yeah. You have nothing to show for it. And the same thing with drinking really in hindsight for me, like, I just I love to go now. I love partying. I love socializing, which is weird because I'm an introvert by by nature. Yeah. I guess in Miami, I was an extrovert and, you know, I just kinda continued that and I just I guess I'm drawn to it because I know how hard it is to overcome the addiction. In fact, it wasn't until I had my stroke that really I broke that habit of smoking cigarettes and drinking, entirely. And I didn't realize I mean, I think I did realize, but not necessarily in the early days. Like, I had to go rehab. I was an inpatient or so I was inpatient for 30 days after my stroke, got diagnosed with MS. So I went up spending most of February 2020 in the hospital getting diagnosed while they waited 2 weeks to figure out that I had MS. And then another 30 days in inpatient therapy because my left side was fucked up from the MS, after the right side was hit with the stroke. So I was totally non functioning by March. And really, now I look back and I'm like, yeah. Why did I ever drink? I mean, I'm never gonna drink again. Mostly because I don't want to because I don't care anymore, but it's also like, man, I don't wanna I feel great and I appreciate that. And I do work hard to to function but, like, you know, you've been through addiction, you've been through the prison system, you know, they're I'm trying to think of the correlation but, like, the core stroke, it's literally like you're in a prison, but in your own body. If that makes sense. I can imagine. You should not I bet. Especially with the paralysis. Not not everybody has paralysis as a stroke survivor, but, like yeah. It's just your hand doesn't function the way it used to. It's a Yeah. Thing thing the way you get you can it's a nice do a nice is the wrong word. It's it's an unpleasant wake up call. Probably, like Right. To be honest, probably, like, waking up in a prison for the first time and you're like, well, this is gonna be a weird 8 and a half year. This is Yeah.

01:14:17.710 --> 01:15:22.994
Yeah. I just think there's so many common things by what you're doing this year, and that's the I mean, I'm following you because I'm always always been a friend and a fan of what you do, but I I really this to me is one of those important things because I feel like, you know, we both come from good upbringings and by all accounts, probably shouldn't have been people that frustrated or found themselves to be a stroke survivor at 37, pretty much on my own accord of bad habits, you know, some of that could have been avoided. Yeah. Nope. And once and I wanna mention this too real quick. Just Yeah. Like, the and the goal is to, like because right now, we're doing this in the evenings and whatever, and it's just it's it's it's exhausting. So the goal, especially once we get our our like, we're registered with the state as a nonprofit, but once we get the 5 0 5 0 1 c 3 tax exempt status back from the IRS, we'll really start ramping up fundraising. But the goal is for my full time, like, work for the nonprofit.

01:15:23.534 --> 01:15:29.475
Like, it's totally taken over. Like, if you notice, I don't even post about live streaming and and social media management anymore.

01:15:30.789 --> 01:15:55.284
Like, I wouldn't mind having, you know, a client or 2 on the side, but it it's not definitely not the focus for me to make it my full time gig anymore. Yeah. That's crazy. It's it's totally like, my my whole life shifted and, you know, painting the purpose, whatever you wanna call it. But it just it's it's something I'm passionate about now. My sister is too and so is my brother-in-law.

01:15:57.359 --> 01:16:33.310
Yeah. That's great. You have a big family behind. Seems like a week. Some of them are are on board with you know, I'm sure they're all on board in in but some of them are actually looking to help build this into to a much bigger thing. Know. And, honestly, I had it's it's funny to me that we always we live in Jacksonville, but, 2 different states. I was just thinking states. Yeah. It would be great if you guys are doing it over. Yeah. I mean, I we see it over here too in Jacksonville, Florida. It's really not much different than Texas and in very similar issues with peep I mean, it's all over the country, but Yeah. No. It's everywhere. It's everywhere.

01:16:35.210 --> 01:17:00.010
Yeah. But it's it's it I just I yeah. I've seen bridges and seeing things. I mean, down here, by all accounts, is a nice area in Florida where I'm at, but, like, there are still people I mean, they just cleared out. I mean, where I live in Jacksonville is, like, outside Jacksonville, so there's a lot of new, unnecessary developments being built. So they're clearing trees like you wouldn't believe.

01:17:01.189 --> 01:17:36.524
Like, literally, Yeah. They're plucking people out of tents who are living in the woods. It's it's kinda like if you imagine go to Everglades in Florida. Can't. See people yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a camp behind one of the fast food restaurants here. Yeah. And it's in the woods, and you can't tell it's there. And the this this little this little trail, and you go in there and there's there's only 4 people staying at that one, but there's no tents and canopies. And one dude like, I don't know where he got the supplies, but he's built a little shack with insulation and as in like, it's it's crazy.

01:17:36.744 --> 01:17:39.965
I was gonna say we had something very similar. It was, like, very sophisticated.

01:17:41.944 --> 01:18:00.113
And that, you know, that's another thing. Not every homeless person is a drug addict. Like you said, like, some are just they fall on hard times. No. I mean, yeah, a lot are probably down on their luck with drugs, but, like, think about, you know, from my side, my perspective, medical bills.

01:18:00.894 --> 01:18:08.274
I wasn't in the position I was in. I mean, so many stroke survivors I talked to are, like, literally inundated with bills. They're paying their own insurance.

01:18:09.630 --> 01:19:00.024
Even if they're older and they're on Medicaid or Medicare or whatever, like, that's not enough to cover this shit. I mean, because costs are astronomical and it's like it's a shame. I mean, honestly, you know, and I think both situations too. Like, being back in school and doing research a lot for psychology. These are 2 topics that I actually do quite a bit of research on, obviously, because I'm biased with Strokes Harbor stuff, but, also, we talk a lot about intervention within the prison system because a lot of, people in my program are also kind of psychology in that that direction. So, and so, yeah, I love like I said, I love all the work you're doing. I think you're doing awesome stuff. It's great to see your passion. I mean, I know you love livestream, but I see I've seen a new I don't know. Just a new jump in your sort of approach.

01:19:00.965 --> 01:19:04.680
Just, like I said, I I wanted to introduce you to my audience.

01:19:04.680 --> 01:19:26.444
I really think you have a great message and a great story. And, of course, I always love chatting with you. So, you have me on with him. Yeah. Yeah. Appreciate you being on. I'm I'm sorry for the technical difficulties. I don't know. No. You're good. But I'm I'm sure the glitching part is my kids here on the East Coast as we're recording this, playing a story. Story. Yeah. Yeah.

01:19:26.444 --> 01:19:47.948
Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's probably 27 TVs on stream. It's something that nobody's watching and every light in the house is on. I guarantee it. And, yeah, I I live I'm living the dream. I'm so glad I worked so hard as a stroke survivor to overcome all these things to deal with these little lovely nuggets in my house and their extraneous boyfriends and yeah. Yeah.

01:19:48.895 --> 01:19:52.274
Yeah. I'm complaining about my 21 year old daughter living at home.

01:19:52.814 --> 01:20:21.425
My boyfriend always seems to come over here, and she never seemed to go over there. That's Yeah. Yeah. So good. I love being the dad. Right. But yeah. So, anyways, thanks to you, Chris. I'd love to have you on another time. I'm sure Sure, man. Talking about things for hours, but I'll let you know. And, I'm gonna hit and record. Thanks again to our our guest, Chris Hennessy. He is an amazing awesome guy as you heard. Hope you listen all the way through conversation.

01:20:21.645 --> 01:20:34.810
Really looking forward to having him back again soon. Anyways, I want to say thank you for listening. Check out Survivor Signs. Check out the description for all the details in this episode, and bye for now.