24: From Crisis to Connection: Daniel Hostetler's Compassionate Revolution

00;00;07;24 - 00;00;39;15

Narrator

Hello and welcome to Cherie Lindberg's Elevated Life Academy. Stories of hope and healing through raw and heartfelt conversation, we uncover the powerful tools and strategies these individuals use to not only heal themselves, but also inspire those around them. Join us on this incredible journey as we discover the human spirit's remarkable capacity to heal, find hope in the darkest of moments, and ultimately live an elevated life.

00;00;39;17 - 00;01;07;24

Cherie Lindberg

Welcome, listeners, to another episode of Elevated Life Academy, where we are talking with healers and change agents around the world about stories of hope and healing. And so I am excited with our next guest. Here is Dan Hofstetter and I. I was trying to figure out Dan Paul and long has it been since we've known each other. Now.

00;01;07;26 - 00;01;14;09

Daniel Hostetler

It was September of 2016, I think. I think you looked it up.

00;01;14;11 - 00;01;36;26

Cherie Lindberg

Yeah. I'm going to let Dan introduce himself. We've had a lot of fun having existential conversations over the years, and I'll let him talk about the work that his own story and the work that he's done add above and beyond. So let's let's begin. Dan, please introduce yourself and share a little bit about your story and then we'll talk about above and beyond.

00;01;36;28 - 00;02;10;29

Daniel Hostetler

My name is Dan Hostetler. I've been in the management and business side of the for profit world for really just about all of my adult life in leadership positions and so forth. So I know a lot about business. I have also drank and used substances abusively for 39 years, ever since I was 18 years old, and I got sober in 2005 and I've made a lot of attempts at it beforehand and I don't have a life of misfortune.

00;02;11;00 - 00;02;30;24

Daniel Hostetler

I don't have a life of, you know, broken relationships. I worked for one employer for 19 years, climbed to the top, became president of the international division. I have been married to the same woman, my best friend, for 42 years, so I don't have a history of that. But I there's no question whatsoever. But what? I'm an alcoholic.

00;02;30;24 - 00;02;52;11

Daniel Hostetler

I've said all of the characteristics and descriptions of an alcoholic, so I came into my first AA meeting in 2005, and I listened to what I heard. I didn't like a lot of it at all. And I did what they said and I followed their orders and they have all these quip isms. If you are what we have, you must do what we do.

00;02;52;13 - 00;03;18;19

Daniel Hostetler

Wearing the body and the mind will follow. Shut up and suit up. They've got a million of these little quips. Follow those and my sponsor and got sober. And that changed my trajectory in life. And I didn't want to do what I had done before. And I went back to school. I got a master's in nonprofit management, which I had spent a lot of time in nonprofit management or nonprofit consulting anyway, so I know a lot about it.

00;03;18;21 - 00;03;53;22

Daniel Hostetler

And I went down that path of nonprofit counsel. And so I had a couple of lower level jobs before this job, and it came to me kind of as a call out of the blue. I didn't realize I had a resume up on nonprofit types, some nonprofit types. And as a consequence of all my drinking and misbehaviors, I have a daughter who drinks or drank alcohol, actually, and I had her in a car with me and it was driving her to drop her off at a market were a two day program.

00;03;53;25 - 00;04;09;18

Daniel Hostetler

And I got this call from this guy. His name was Brian Crusty. Well, I didn't know who that was. And he said, I'd like to talk to you about an opportunity. And so I happened to be at a crossroads where opportunity was was welcome. I would listen to it. I was employed, but it was only for a limited period of time.

00;04;09;18 - 00;04;26;19

Daniel Hostetler

It was only a seven month gig, and the end of that was coming up shortly. So I said, Let's talk. And he said, Let's talk right now. And I said, Well, I'm in jeans. I haven't shaved for a couple of days. And he said that, that'd be better. You know? And I said, Well, I'm dropping my daughter off at this rehab center.

00;04;26;19 - 00;04;48;09

Daniel Hostetler

And he said, Well, why don't you go do that? And so I did that. And I was really just amazed by him. I was gripped by his demeanor and who he was. He's a philanthropist, and I decided to give this a try. And it was a startup. I mean, they just had a building, they had a manager of the place, but no executive director.

00;04;48;09 - 00;05;09;20

Daniel Hostetler

So I was the first executive director. I remember walking in here and it was just four walls, large contractors, a whole bunch of therapists, therapists in the place. And I didn't really know much about, but they certainly didn't like me at all. They didn't really care for me. I had to have some discussions about, you know, boss employee relationships.

00;05;09;23 - 00;05;32;21

Daniel Hostetler

So I started saying, Well, I accepted the position that Billy Edward and I'll move it at the way that I think it's best to pursue that. Do you have a book to recommend? Maybe you could give me a book or a title of the book. And I think the first book I read was Becoming a Human. That was the first book, and I think the second book was Bodhi Keeps the Score by Bessel Bender from Vastly.

00;05;32;23 - 00;05;53;04

Daniel Hostetler

One unfortunate part of this job is that I have a commute about an average of an hour and a half a day, so that gives me 3 hours to read. So I started buying books at their recommendations that I found. A lot of times they had misquoted the books. So I books up and highlight and, you know, put what tabs in to remember.

00;05;53;04 - 00;06;15;15

Daniel Hostetler

And so I'd be bringing these things in to say, Well, you gave me this book to read, but your what? You said this contrary. So let's, let's start with the book. That's where my knowledge of psychology really counts from. It's from that and from you. So I remember hearing about brain spotting at an AA retreat. I was in a retreat it and I was talking to a psychologist and he was saying, Well, you might be interested in brains.

00;06;15;17 - 00;06;36;19

Daniel Hostetler

You said, I'm a brain spotter and I've forgotten his name now. But he set me up for this meeting. And of course, I was in a room full of psychologists and I felt very intimidated. But I was fascinated with your content. Your content blew me away at those. A case studies that we had, the pure, pure experiences were believable to me.

00;06;36;19 - 00;06;58;06

Daniel Hostetler

I'd never seen anything like that happen right in front of my eyes. And I was smitten. Immediately I thought, I'm going to follow this. And I was also so impressed with you and your ability and all a group to handle this sense. There were some people that as kind of deceptive comments that they made you listen so carefully, you let them finish.

00;06;58;09 - 00;07;21;00

Daniel Hostetler

Even asked additional questions to understand exactly where they were coming from. You thought carefully and then you responded. And I think everybody there appreciated all of that. And so then I took off on my own road with brain spotting and loved it. But back here at above it. Yeah. And we had to put together programs there was nobody everybody was AA.

00;07;21;02 - 00;07;40;21

Daniel Hostetler

And hey, I come to find out I didn't know this at all, but AA at the most has a 10% success rate. So 90% of the people that were coming in were failing. And I happened to be one of the lucky ones. So it hit the jackpot that it worked with me. So we were having all these meetings in here and we, you know, we said, well, let's have an alternative to that.

00;07;40;21 - 00;08;03;24

Daniel Hostetler

And that's that's what Brian had in mind when he So I started looking around and I found smart recovery and so we picked up Smart recovery. And now we have six different self-help icon mutual programs that people come in to in their all anonymous neuro open meetings. You know, we have all certifications and training from the original authors of the materials.

00;08;03;24 - 00;08;24;24

Daniel Hostetler

We buy all the materials from their offices and so forth. So we have these that we have available. And then I started looking at EOP and OPI because we didn't really have any patients, we didn't really have anybody coming. We couldn't make appointments, they wouldn't come in, you know, we never had even a 20% show rate on the appointments.

00;08;24;26 - 00;08;50;21

Daniel Hostetler

And so we had all these relationships with these other organizations at town that I was trying to mimic, and they had the same problem. They told me, Well, don't ask us, you know, this is a a general problem. People that that decide to get out of addiction change their minds and they get. So, you know, I just decided, you know, we're just going to kind of scrap that model and do what works and we're going to experiment.

00;08;50;21 - 00;09;10;20

Daniel Hostetler

I've never been scared of experiments, and I have kind of a history of doing weird things. I just want to do something that works. I want to see that it works. So we just became a walk it so anybody would call up. We said, We don't make appointments, just come down. How far are you away? So we caught them in that moment of lucidity, you know, where they could think for themselves.

00;09;10;20 - 00;09;34;16

Daniel Hostetler

They were rational, they were making decisions, you know, for the first time, perhaps uncomfortably, on their own behalf, for their own benefit. So we would get them in. And I mean, I started noticing the benefit of passionate, you know, just listening skills, just paying attention, just letting the clinician talk about what they have going on. And so we started fashioning the place in that way from the beginning.

00;09;34;18 - 00;10;03;20

Daniel Hostetler

And I remember telling people at the very beginning to, you know, smile, you know, smile, be nice to them. We'll let them finish. You know, I sometimes walk in the conversation where they were being told by the counselor, and I said, Would you just slow down for a minute? And I want to just ask a question, you know, what were you say before and so that was I was kind of forcing a lot of I've just slowing down, not following that old model, letting them talk.

00;10;03;23 - 00;10;28;02

Daniel Hostetler

And of course, we had these groups. So I discovered Johann Hari, you know, his connection and the power of connection. And we started putting together groups. And so at the beginning we didn't have many, but we had, you know, more and more. And I started trying to look at what they want, what they needed, and put it into other groups that we could see.

00;10;28;05 - 00;10;51;22

Daniel Hostetler

Does is this getting any traction? And at one point, Brian came down here, this is very early and he said, you know, we were just spitballing and thinking about different things. You said, if you ever read this book, man search for Meaning. And they said they had a I had read that book a long time ago. So they had a big effect that said it did for him to read it lost time, which said, I wonder if they teach that or that's available.

00;10;51;24 - 00;11;13;25

Daniel Hostetler

Well, I started looking around and I started the Viktor Frankl Institute. He was the author of that book and discovered his nephew grants that were still I contacted him and found a way into local therapy. And when I got there, they call it a diploma. It's a two year program for their advanced degree. So I got that and we started involving that year.

00;11;13;27 - 00;11;41;10

Daniel Hostetler

We got introduced to Terry London, who was studying with Albert Ellis. He's and Ari Beatty were actually motor behavior therapy specialists. And one of the topics sports in that and we started fashioning all these programs. So what's happened now over this? I guess we're into eight years going on nine years we've been together. We have 30 groups. We're doing still about 2000 intakes a year.

00;11;41;12 - 00;12;02;13

Daniel Hostetler

We have a 46% graduation. We just won Excellence in Mental Health from the Illinois Association of Behavioral Health Association. We won National Association of Treatment Professionals. We won the Organization of the Year year before last year, won an innovation award five years in a row. We won best and brightest place to work because we have virtually no turnover.

00;12;02;15 - 00;12;28;06

Daniel Hostetler

All our counselors have advanced degrees and different forms of mental health. So it's all this thing that nobody had any idea that would turn into. It's wonderful being here. We all really get along. We laugh a lot. We laugh with our patients and they can you can see them. They come in all muddled and kind of caught up in their stories and don't know what's going on.

00;12;28;06 - 00;12;50;00

Daniel Hostetler

They've never been treated with respect or compassion or really listened to. And we're pulling them in and we're helping them figure out why they're alive. And when they get this idea that they have a purpose meaning in life, because they don't have that all stuck in this existential back then, it's like all the other programs to get traction.

00;12;50;02 - 00;13;13;28

Daniel Hostetler

It's like they're paying attention now. We're looking around and listening. We have about 100 patients in the building a day. We have about 40 staff and interns in the building, so it's a pretty good ratio of healers to patients, always somebody's ear. And I don't mind making mistakes at all. So I just make a lot of mistakes and we just catch the ones that work, you know, some mistakes work.

00;13;14;00 - 00;13;38;10

Daniel Hostetler

And that's what this whole thing is a product of it. Both lab, all of this into our staff. So they're not really too afraid of making mistakes. You're just trying things. And of course, we're trying to be rational. We're trying to do what seems like it's the right thing to do, and that seems to be revealed when we're not trying to force our selves into programs or trying to make things happen a certain way when we can give up control.

00;13;38;13 - 00;14;03;20

Daniel Hostetler

And of course, this is very central to this whole thing of being in the tail, the comet, allowing that, you know, having a completely patient centric relationship, listening and suggesting from the backgrounds or this is just so brain spotting. So we let them lead. We kind of let them determine where they're going and we're happy. We're having a lot of success with a lot of fun.

00;14;03;23 - 00;14;38;19

Cherie Lindberg

Well, then you didn't use this word. But as you're talking, I mean, clearly, you know, connection and attunement and humanity, I mean, those are some of the themes that I'm hearing as you're talking. If folks could even just feel the energy through this podcast of your genuine care for people and that, you know, your role modeling that to your team and then your team and yourself are all doing that for people that walk in, like you said, are overwhelmed with their life stories.

00;14;38;21 - 00;14;58;05

Cherie Lindberg

They don't know where to go, and then your staff surrounds them with some support. And over time, that support and that security helps them get there. Their feet on the ground helps them get a little bit better grounded. And then the sky is kind of the limit. They start to learn different things and they I've seen it happen.

00;14;58;11 - 00;15;02;28

Cherie Lindberg

What can you share where you're you're located and so that folks know where you're at.

00;15;02;28 - 00;15;24;15

Daniel Hostetler

And sure, we're in Chicago, so we're on the west side of Chicago. I wouldn't say it's a fantastic neighborhood. This isn't probably a place I look to live. And the personality, the neighborhood changes after dark, but we're on West Lake Street, at the intersection or near the intersection of Sacramento and Westlake. So on the Green Line, it would be the California stop.

00;15;24;15 - 00;15;43;04

Daniel Hostetler

On the CTA, It would be the California stop. We're down a couple of streets. We open 830 in the morning and we run it till five Monday through Thursday, and then we close at four on Friday. It can come here early and will begin taking care of because there's a number of people that also do housing and employment as well.

00;15;43;11 - 00;16;07;26

Daniel Hostetler

We want people to be kind of self-sufficient, take care of themselves, and we want them to be able to appreciate resource and their own value. Underlying all of this stuff that we do in all of our groups is this idea of giving without any expectation of return. Most of them are used to transactional relationships as most medicinal addiction treatment is is very transactional.

00;16;07;28 - 00;16;39;12

Daniel Hostetler

So we kind of steer away from that. And we've come to understand that probably most of their childhood, most of their family experiences has been transaction. You know, I'll give you love if you give me food, this kind of things where it's a complicated scorekeeping and you had up winning and losing, it's black or white, up or down and we are in here to just shatter that, you know, to let them know that it's in the relationship and that's giving out expectation of return.

00;16;39;12 - 00;17;04;20

Daniel Hostetler

We help them define what friendships mean, loneliness. We allow them to practice their social skills, a lot of different stuff that we do. When you're removed, their ambitions stop judging people and we attunement. Attunement. There couldn't be probably a more or word is if we can allow them to just pay attention to what they're saying. So we have to be there with them as they're doing it.

00;17;04;22 - 00;17;25;21

Daniel Hostetler

Almost think with felt as they're going through the process and as they get things out and talk about the awful things that they have been subjected to. We introduce this internal and external locus of control, the amount of things that they actually can affect and the things that they can effect, because a lot of Americans are trying to change world conditions.

00;17;25;23 - 00;17;56;02

Daniel Hostetler

You know, they're trained. It changed who's president. They're trying to change all these things that they don't have any control over whatsoever. So we just kind of help clear some of this debris away so they can start looking at the things that they do and can have control, like their own reactions, like their own initiatives. You know, that they start out with even just expressing themselves, even if they can't language out something that's going on, they can begin and we can hold space for them so they can learn how to do that.

00;17;56;04 - 00;18;17;05

Daniel Hostetler

And a lot of what they they do, they are happening all around. So they hear these things going on around these people coming out of their shells. People are exposing things and experiencing joy. We don't really have judgment. In fact, we just are in the process of destigmatizing why, you know, lying is is a coping mechanism. They have acquired for their own self-protection.

00;18;17;05 - 00;18;37;19

Daniel Hostetler

While they were a kid, they learned they could escape a beating or a strap or whatever consequence were enhanced. Aren't stories attract more attention if they just juice things up a little bit? So how can we judge them? We're trying. We're not judging them on their their substance misuse. Why would we judge them on the truthfulness, their ability?

00;18;37;19 - 00;19;11;01

Daniel Hostetler

They don't just come in and suddenly become virtuous. It's a divider, you know, between us, when we start judging them and whether they're telling the truth or not, and we start pointing out the benefits of being honest and transparent, and they try that out, you know, that these are new legs are I think we kind of hacked in a little bit to how our construct is because it just kind of naturally unfolds like they're they're very interested in knowing their purpose and meaning and they're interested in pursuing that and they ask questions about other things.

00;19;11;01 - 00;19;30;18

Daniel Hostetler

No, they're not interested in lists of rules, things to memorize, things that are abstract. You know, they're interested in knowing how anybody might have an interest in what they have to say. And the more interest they have, we can just gently push them in the direction that they kind of self navigate in that direction. They can do that without us at that.

00;19;30;18 - 00;20;02;19

Daniel Hostetler

With the T, we help them flatten out their spikes. You know, they end up with these spikes and these compulsions that kind of control that end with rational, emotive behavior therapy. We're telling we're we're introducing them to metacognition so they can actually become observers of themselves, which is, you know, new. They've never thought about the difference between the mind and the brain, how they can actually look at a thought and make a choice and what they do with that, what they they think compulsions are mandatory.

00;20;02;21 - 00;20;10;00

Daniel Hostetler

You just suppress them until finally spring early spring up and take control and that after they go into a relapse.

00;20;10;00 - 00;20;37;05

Cherie Lindberg

Or what I'm hearing is as I'm listening, first of all, as you're meeting people where they're at versus expecting them to be somewhere where they may never have learned those skills on some level. I'm also hearing that we've heard buzzwords like inner child work or re parenting or those kinds of things, but you're helping them connect to skills that no fault of their own that they did not receive coming into this world.

00;20;37;07 - 00;21;05;14

Cherie Lindberg

And you haven't said it, but I'm listening. And it's like the populations that you work with, a large proportion of them seem to have a large trauma trajectory and you're taking whatever comes into your door. However, they show up, meeting them where they're at, and then you're offering these possibilities, these skills, so that they can connect that to who they are and who they want to be moving forward.

00;21;05;14 - 00;21;13;19

Cherie Lindberg

And you do it in a way that's connected and caring and attuned. And so it sounds like that attracts your clients.

00;21;13;19 - 00;21;31;02

Daniel Hostetler

Yeah, you touched on a couple of things. Trauma is a part of everyone who comes in here. Is that some form of trauma? We developed a piece that goes through different types of trauma, some of the different types of trauma out of the DSM five. We really wish there were alternatives to the DSM five. We're looking at high top right now.

00;21;31;02 - 00;21;39;23

Daniel Hostetler

We're looking at actually moving to kind of clusters of symptoms in ways that we can just describe that without saying you have or disorder.

00;21;39;23 - 00;21;41;05

Cherie Lindberg

The word disorder.

00;21;41;08 - 00;22;05;03

Daniel Hostetler

Really depends on the individual, not that anybody was serving it. So we have a big poster of it in the back so people can self-assess. But we look at addiction as an attachment disorder. You know, you have a relationship with this substance. Many people look at that substance being the most important issue in their lives besides themselves. Even more important, a relationship with their spouses, with their kids, with their family.

00;22;05;05 - 00;22;29;25

Daniel Hostetler

And we look at attachment styles and inform them. And it's really amazing because you're going to homeless populations are populations that have not finished high school, don't really have much more limited reading skills, but that does not mean they're not intelligent, They are very intelligent, and they deserve every ounce of credit for their street savvy and being able to survive out there and in these households that they grew up in.

00;22;29;26 - 00;22;51;17

Daniel Hostetler

And so as they learn about themselves and they have great interest about that, they can look up at the chart or the piece that we have and say, Well, I grew up this way. And these statements describing it helps them realize this is the style at which I approach my healing towards the traumatic events that I have. And they can have historical trauma.

00;22;51;17 - 00;23;12;17

Daniel Hostetler

They can have collective trauma. There's all kinds of chronic forms of trauma that they have. But more importantly, and I guess I never really sat this alive, I haven't said era like you pick an episode, everything is with AA and some of the more traditional programs of recovery. It calls for a constant vigilance. They call it white knuckling just lean on it.

00;23;12;17 - 00;23;35;06

Daniel Hostetler

I just remember doing that seems like years and you just have to follow the rules and be constantly vigilant. So for us, it's just as important to have a goal and say, What am I running towards? And that's purpose and meaning carries a big heart. And the reason I'm breaking this out here is because we look, we like to put out PTG post-traumatic growth.

00;23;35;06 - 00;23;59;11

Daniel Hostetler

That's where we're going. You hear this term every once in a while. You don't really find places that have gripped it or have really recognized it as a destination. It's more like a side effect, it seems like. And I don't want to criticize other other use. We have it here as a goal and then, yes, on display with the graduation.

00;23;59;13 - 00;24;18;00

Daniel Hostetler

So every Wednesday at 9:00 at the end, if anybody hears that same way, rise in interest. WALKER And we have graduation every month. The first one, it's that we give out heavy gold coins. We get a certificate gets and they're framed and everyone gets to get up there and say, This is my journey. This is what I did.

00;24;18;00 - 00;24;45;18

Daniel Hostetler

And we're not looking for advertised from above and beyond for a yeah we have enough that back not are there ways we try to make sure that they are capable of languishing this out so they can describe their destination a post-traumatic growth. They've arrived. So instead of looking back, what they've done is a shameful period, as many of them do, or they look at back and say, I had so many mistakes and they despair and they're embarrassed, so forth, and they might cover that up.

00;24;45;18 - 00;25;14;05

Daniel Hostetler

That's a tendency to do that. But we help them understand that this is a tremendous victory and what they've been through and all the pain that they've caused and suffered themselves was the road that they needed to travel. But this is what they've accomplished and we help them to be able to enunciate that so it can not only serve to help them process everything that they've been through in a helpful way, but it also serves as an example for all the people to watch.

00;25;14;09 - 00;25;19;15

Daniel Hostetler

That person was me. I knew that story. It just felt perpetuates. It's a wonderful thing.

00;25;19;21 - 00;25;44;02

Cherie Lindberg

Well, in your own way, stories of hope and healing, right? I love that because oftentimes you read about ACS adverse childhood experiences and it's not positive, let's put it that way. It's like you're going to have these deficits, those deficits, this, that and whatever. And, you know, I don't know if that's more sexy than post-traumatic growth. I mean, there's research out there.

00;25;44;09 - 00;26;06;25

Cherie Lindberg

There's books out there. But I can't remember the name of the author that wrote a book on post-traumatic growth. And he basically said how hard it was to get funding because they were more interested in the cause and effect of trauma and how trauma ruined people's lives. Then, okay, how do we connect this to post-traumatic growth And even like flourishing?

00;26;06;29 - 00;26;36;09

Cherie Lindberg

It was hard to get the funding to do that research. And so I think that's great that you're tying it to a goal moving forward because we're meant to move on. Yes. That is your story. What did it teach you and how is it impacting your life and purpose now? And who are you evolving into and who are you moving into and moving out of the language of disorder and instead looking at this is the way I had to adapt to survive.

00;26;36;09 - 00;27;13;01

Cherie Lindberg

And this is the way my central nervous system is organized and that I can learn all of these new skills to reorganize it. We know the brain has neuroplasticity. We know we can grow and we know we can change and rewire the brain. So that's very inspirational. Do you have any stories in particular that when you think of the years that you've been there that surprised you or was very inspiring, like you witnessed someone's healing or shifting into something that was like really, you know, surprising, but then also exciting from the work that you're doing there at A&E.

00;27;13;03 - 00;27;34;28

Daniel Hostetler

We have started a while back now we have diagnosis and diagnosis needs to involve study. So there has to be substance use disorder because of our licensing. And then we had no diagnosis and no diagnosis. I think it was 24% of everyone that we we did an assessment or we usually ask them six dimensions. We're on a fourth edition of this right now.

00;27;34;28 - 00;28;02;16

Daniel Hostetler

Fourth edition is fabulous. They made unnecessary changes to the six dimensions. We began with this what's called early intervention. Yeah, many. I mean, surge, no diagnosis or there wasn't a substance use disorder. However, they have problems. They have problems with the court system, the judicial system, and they're mandated to us. So we said we're going to take the responsibility of coming up with a four great program that they can get into, that we mandate them into it.

00;28;02;16 - 00;28;21;23

Daniel Hostetler

So there is a diagnosis, the diagnosis either sudden or die. We have no more no diagnoses. So they go into this and it's kind of like detention. Nobody wants to be there and nobody wants to teach it. We came up with our own diagnosis of addiction to the street, like we went through all the symptoms we made up.

00;28;21;26 - 00;28;42;03

Daniel Hostetler

And I had some experience because I've got prison work for our jail work excuse me, for ten years, and I noticed that I could get their attention when they start talking about street noise and you're talking about adrenaline, high speeds, waking up at 5:00, up all night, transaction is fast pace girls, a loud music, you know, all of that stuff.

00;28;42;03 - 00;29;06;08

Daniel Hostetler

And all of them immediately said, Well, I have that. So we began our group with that and we have four groups, so we have ended up now with a room packed because we have so many people and they could continue going after for weeks. They continue. I mean, we have one guy in particular that has now got become a process and he is wearing a jacket here, is volunteering.

00;29;06;08 - 00;29;23;13

Daniel Hostetler

And he's been here for a year and a half. And he was one of the hardest cases. I mean, he didn't want to go on the ropes. Well, it's, you know, going to wrong. We can't acknowledge that we had an assessment. But he finally begrudges he came in and he's been here since then. So that's one way we didn't even have any substance use disorder.

00;29;23;13 - 00;29;44;12

Daniel Hostetler

He found enough there that he's a member of our team. We've hired a bunch of people in here. You know, they come from our patient population. So that's a lot of what we do. Herman Russell we hired into and he's also on the board of directors now, and he just won a national award from the National Association of Mental Health.

00;29;44;15 - 00;30;08;28

Daniel Hostetler

They just had a big convention in Saint Louis. And he won Peer counselor of the year, got some big publicity for that. And he came from the street. That's where his life was. So we've had a number of those. I guess the most gripping stories are the SMI, serious mental illness, because when they come in, it's our mandate to send them to a higher level of care and we have not been able to find a higher level of care.

00;30;09;03 - 00;30;31;02

Daniel Hostetler

We have tried multiple times with all the people that are supposed to be while the organizations and foundations and hospitals, so forth that are supposed to be higher level of care and they're not the people come back with their stories about didn't work. So we have what we call sidewalk counseling and we will actually they won't be in the building.

00;30;31;05 - 00;31;01;23

Daniel Hostetler

So we are keeping notes on them. They are they don't have a diagnosis, but we treat them with professionals that understand mental health and can show them compassion. And we've we've found that they do respond to kindness. There's one I won't mention his name, but he's been coming here for four years now. And I remember the first day he made it in our door and he had taken a shirt off and was in the middle of the room ready to just you know, he had his fists up and he just wanted to fight Anybody who came here.

00;31;01;26 - 00;31;32;25

Daniel Hostetler

And he's talking 110 decibels. Well, he is an indoor voice now. And he comes in. He knows everybody. Everybody knows him by name. He's got a purpose and meaning. He's got an apartment. That's probably the hardest case where I looked at that said there's just no possibility he had another one. We don't put anybody out. I think we had to excused from the building for violent interludes, maybe five people a night, Christmas, maybe every couple years we had one and we ended up with a guy.

00;31;32;25 - 00;31;50;18

Daniel Hostetler

He ended up in the back and it took like 12 of us to get him out the door. And of course, my chest is pressed against his is is like six sex is is huge. And we got him outside and he went reach for his backpack and there were like three people with, you know, spraying him. Police were called.

00;31;50;25 - 00;32;06;10

Daniel Hostetler

We had four or five incidents like that. He comes in though, he keeps to himself. We don't have a diagnosis or we have to watch where you watch for it. But he's welcome to be with us. We're about to get him a place to live. These are things that I look at and I say, Well, you would be incarcerated.

00;32;06;15 - 00;32;19;09

Daniel Hostetler

So I don't think it really matters how bad it is that we see them. Hopefully we can prevent them from getting worse, even if we can arrest it and let them know that they have some kind of value.

00;32;19;12 - 00;32;58;08

Cherie Lindberg

Yeah, I hear you. Not just communicating then that you are recognizing their value, but I'm hearing the compassion, the humanity, the care and respect with which you are showing up. And I'm hearing intentionality and consciousness. And when you go into the medical field right now and especially into mental health in some areas, that is missing because there are so many practitioners that are burnt out, so many practitioners that are not conscious and they'll judge, they'll judge when people come in in a certain way and so forth.

00;32;58;08 - 00;33;20;12

Cherie Lindberg

So to your credit and above and beyond of, you know, let's show up with compassion and kindness and nonjudgmental, You're also, whether you know it or not, creating as some sense of safety for folks where they can take their guard down and show some of their true sides and not be judged for that. That's beautiful.

00;33;20;17 - 00;33;40;22

Daniel Hostetler

We have probably five or six different individuals that seem to go on a cycle and they come in, they get an apartment, they get some measure of success, and then we can start seeing the trail being frayed around the edges. They start acting outside the norms that we're used to. So we'll talk to that and so forth. And then they disappear for a while and they come back.

00;33;40;22 - 00;33;58;25

Daniel Hostetler

Typically, what we have found with relapse is they don't go back to the same place. They go to different places. They don't like what we've seen. They don't like to go to the same meetings with us. They come back. You'll be welcome. When you come back, we don't judge you. And most of us lived experience and I certainly have a lot of experience with relapse.

00;33;58;25 - 00;34;11;24

Daniel Hostetler

We work with them that way. And I think that's another kind of telling indicate that what we're doing is working because our spirit longs for that kind of acceptance of camaraderie and unity.

00;34;11;26 - 00;34;28;09

Cherie Lindberg

So as we're getting ready to wrap up how on an individual basis, seeing this, I mean, this to me is such purposeful work that you're doing. How is it impacting you to see the success and see how this has expanded over the years?

00;34;28;11 - 00;34;49;05

Daniel Hostetler

I'm 73, so I end up with people at my age that are saying, Well, are you going to retire soon? And I kind of seem feel like I'm in retirement now. I love coming year. I love an opportunity to do something like this. Just talk about it. It's so fun. It's something that is unique. There's nobody else doing this that I've heard of.

00;34;49;05 - 00;35;09;16

Daniel Hostetler

So I kind of like to impact other people with the idea, Let's get out. But a lot of them can't do anything because they're not in decision making places in their organizations and they're so rigidly controlled by their billing and reimbursement cycles what they can or can't do. We have a lot of very good relationships with people. I love coming in here.

00;35;09;18 - 00;35;32;04

Daniel Hostetler

I never get tired of the stories. I'll never get tired of seeing people revived. And not only are we helping them attach to new futures, but we're preventing or sidestepping all of this potential damage. All of the people in here were actively drinking and using this whole section of town. It beyond sight. But it's it's a force for for good.

00;35;32;11 - 00;35;50;28

Daniel Hostetler

I mean, it impacts me and that I think I've done something in my life that I think redeems all all my other whatever that was, I've forgiven myself This, I feel, is redeeming. And of course, I could live another true lifetimes and do this is every day. It's new. Every day is something different that I didn't expect that.

00;35;51;01 - 00;36;11;28

Daniel Hostetler

Keeping the edge on, making sure we don't judge, making sure we don't go back to these old behaviors. So that's a little bit of work, but not too much. Just make sure we get the right people up on the bus and really are helping. It's been the most wonderful thing that I've ever experienced. And you were a that, you know, at the very beginning.

00;36;11;28 - 00;36;37;15

Daniel Hostetler

So I don't want to allow you to diminish your role in all of this because you were the first bright light that I received in the field of healing, where I started seeing some benefit coming from psychology. Because other words, as I just saw with talk therapy, I saw people going on for years complaining about their therapists are really not getting any place where they can actually see a difference, which being made a lot of therapists, you know, very lonely.

00;36;37;16 - 00;37;03;23

Cherie Lindberg

While it's been it's been an absolute pleasure, you know, watching and seeing above and beyond expand and how you are serving the community and folks that otherwise might be judged or not given chance after chance, you know, as they're trying to change their lives. And I've met a lot of wonderful people, your team, that have come and have dedicated their lives to supporting people.

00;37;03;23 - 00;37;28;29

Cherie Lindberg

And I see all of you as as change agents. And it's it's wonderful to have the deep existential conversations. And I just want to say, if we were to boil it all down, I think it's about attunement and connection. I mean, I really think that that's at the core of all the programing and that's why it's working. So thank you, Dan, for spending time and sharing about your unique program there and your philosophy.

00;37;28;29 - 00;37;42;14

Cherie Lindberg

And thank you for sharing your personal story. And I look to continue I'm going to be coming there this summer and hanging out there for a couple of days, so that'll be fun to visit. So thank you so much for being part of our podcast today.

00;37;42;17 - 00;37;45;16

Daniel Hostetler

Thank you for.

00;37;45;18 - 00;38;16;13

Cherie Lindberg

I hope you enjoyed listening to an innovative program that is running in Chicago. And as I said in the podcast, the level is connection, service, caring and humanity. And if you are a listener out there and you're a healer and you are connected to a nonprofit or an agency that could benefit, hearing about this program and maybe sharing some of their knowledge, let's spread it, everybody.

00;38;16;16 - 00;38;54;13

Cherie Lindberg

We want to teach everyone or support as many people as possible and living an elevated life. And this program that above and beyond has is teaching folks that we're never tired and they're doing it in a way that is filled with compassion and love and care. And so if if you find that program helpful, if you could please share with an agency or a call worker or you just never know what will happen, and let's keep sharing and teaching, working towards all of us living an elevated life.

00;38;54;16 - 00;38;57;11

Cherie Lindberg

Thank you.

00;38;57;14 - 00;39;16;11

Narrator

Thank you for joining us. On another uplifting journey on Cherie Lindberg's Elevated Life Academy Stories of hope and healing. If you found resonance or connection with what you've heard today, we encourage you to share this episode and consider becoming a subscriber. Please spread the word so others can live an elevated life.