#18 Lewis Finch

[00:00:00]

Lewis Finch: If there's a crisis, and we, to some degree, that kind of came from my willing way days because we would go above and beyond. Which I, again, I that's a point of difference from a lot, from us. So most other iops, most I believe, are either run by or controlled by clinicians.

Lewis Finch: Sure. Okay. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. But they think like clinicians, so there's a, you guys have a protocol you have to follow, there are things that you can't do, that I can do as an interventionist, as an example. True. So we pull out all the stops if we think it's, if it's needed.

Lewis Finch: And that's everybody at, Wind has done that. We've gone to people's homes when we've gotten phone calls that they're in trouble and helped them go. Get into the hospital to detox for treatment.[00:01:00]

Justin Mclendon: All right. So today on the Finding New Waters podcast we have Louis Finch with us today as a guest, and Louis Finch is the founder of Well Win Outpatient Center here in Raleigh, North Carolina. You are correct, sir. And and we're pleased to have you with us. We appreciate you taking some time outta your day.

Justin Mclendon: Thank you.

Lewis Finch: Absolutely. My days are pretty empty these days. Are they? Semi-retired.

Justin Mclendon: That's cool. I'm glad to hear that. I did not know that. Yeah, I know a time very, not very long ago where your days were not very empty for sure. No, they were not. But

Lewis Finch: yeah, it's nice to get old hey, and do what I'm doing now, but yeah, that's cool.

Lewis Finch: Yeah, man, that's

Justin Mclendon: cool. So Lewis, would you mind maybe we could start by just telling the audience, a little bit about you and well, when and how things started and all that good stuff.

Lewis Finch: Okay. I am 67 years old. I got sober at 51, so you can do the math on that. Sure. And it was a [00:02:00] pretty rocky ride.

Lewis Finch: I, I started drinking and doing other things at the age of 13. And so I had about a 38 year drinking and drugging career. But during that time span, I was also a fairly successful businessman. I founded an advertising agency that One time was a fairly large player in the market here in Raleigh primarily because of our largest account, little sandwich chain called Subway.

Lewis Finch: But during that time period my addiction ramped up pretty quickly. When I got sober I ended up going to a small treatment center down in Georgia, Willingway. Which some of you may know. And coming out and after I got sober in order the very next year my father died. The year after that my wife died, and the year after that my mother died.

Lewis Finch: Now I'm sober. I, but I am batshit crazy. Okay. I'm, it's, I'm out, I'm outta my mind. So I ended [00:03:00] up selling the agency and I. Literally spreading all the stuff that I had, my, our, we, I sold our homes. I sold our, I gave our furniture away to my daughter's. And I moved up to a lake about an hour north of here and a buddy's double-wide mobile home.

Lewis Finch: Wow. And just tried to repair myself. What I realized was, and that was my first retirement. What I realized was, I don't do very well at retirement I say I'm semi, I'll be semi-retired till I'll drop dead. But when I was up there, it allowed me to focus on a lot of things one of which was my recovery.

Lewis Finch: And I ended up going back to work for the same treatment center that I went to willing way. Okay. As the admissions and marketing director. I learned the business of addiction treatment from the ground up. So everybody who came in there I met their families. I got to work really at a very very base level.

Lewis Finch: I gotta work. So we [00:04:00] we had virtually no advertising budget. It was it was a kind of a joke. So I was able to convince them the people owned at the time to let me contact the folks at the intervention TV show the a and e put on. Okay. So we, during that time period, we got We had three, three of their clients that came through us and we got na.

Lewis Finch: We actually, we had not only got national exposure there, we also got it on Dr. Phil. Oh, wow. Okay. But, and where I'm going with this is I learned the business of interventions too. That's what introduced me to it. About a year into my stay with them, it was apparent they were gonna be sold. So I came back to Raleigh and I had this idea, I had for a, a, a.

Lewis Finch: Outpatient treatment center. I really didn't under, I'll be honest with you, I didn't really understand it. All I knew was that when I went to treatment at 51, I was in there with 18 and 20 year old meth and heroin addicts. Other than the fact that we're [00:05:00] suffering from the same disease, I didn't have a whole lot of life experience that they had.

Lewis Finch: Most of these people didn't, hadn't even had jobs. So I thought to myself, what if you could build something? That would appeal primarily to executives, professionals, and their families. That's what win. Is it serves a niche population of people who I now know. If there if we weren't there, a good chunk of them wouldn't get help or they would come outta their experience.

Lewis Finch: Criticizing what they'd gone through in all cases, cuz they wouldn't be with their peers. So ours is a peer to peer. You guys know this. It's there are treatment centers that cater to emerging adults. Men, women. So it's really no different than that.

Lewis Finch: It's just we took a demographic that I felt like was underserved and we applied. Certain things, so certain things to it it's really nice. Lot like new orders, right? It's one of the reasons we refer here. Sure. Our folks are great fits for you guys. And we treat people like adults.

Lewis Finch: It's, it really does boil down to [00:06:00] that. We're very holistic in nature. And we've been, we opened in May of 2016, so we're, we've been open. Over seven years. So Radio seven. That's awesome. Seventh anniversary. Yeah, it really is. And we've done, we've, I think we've done some really good things.

Lewis Finch: I'm I'm pleased from that standpoint. So that's great.

B Reeves: Cool. What are you gonna do now with your

Lewis Finch: semi-retirement? Just keep yourself busy. I'm getting back to the intervention thing. So when we first opened up, We were having people come to us who typically would be our clients, like older adults, people my age even who had children who needed help, they didn't know where to go.

Lewis Finch: This is, and this is strictly my opinion, they came to us because they felt comfortable because of, because we were, we appealed to an older group. And. As a result we were referring to interventionists [00:07:00] and I was getting blow back from a number of people I referred to. They either weren't doing the job or they weren't doing the job that the client expected 'em to do.

Lewis Finch: So I said you know what, if I'm gonna get the criticism, I'm gonna build into my business model. Several of us went off and got trained. I. How to do interventions. Now, again, if you remember, I told you I, I had some help in that. Cause I'm the interventionists on the show intervention really helped me.

Lewis Finch: And just simple conversations with them and watching how they dealt with it. So that, to, to answer your question I, Justin, I couldn't do what you do. I've said this, I sitting across from somebody and listening to their them whine and complain all day long. It's not my idea of fun.

Lewis Finch: I can take short bursts of that. That's what I like about that process because it usually is a, I don't know, the most, a one month process. In most cases it's a week. In some cases it's a day. So that's, and that's, so we've over the last, [00:08:00] I don't know, seven we, yes, we did do 'em seven years ago.

Lewis Finch: We didn't do as many. We've probably done 150, 200 interventions. Okay. Wow. And it, there, up to this point, everybody we've intervened on has gotten help. That's great. But it's because we use tactics and because I. The client in our case, is the person who's coming to us for help.

Lewis Finch: It's not the person of concern the, at the at or alcoholic. If we can get the parent or the spouse moving in a certain direction, usually that will trigger the person personal concern. To go, to get, go, get help and and, do what they need to do. And then we also we case manage folks but I moved to a lake about an hour away from here.

Lewis Finch: And I spend a good chunk of my time with my grandchildren and my daughters. That's great, man. Yeah. So that's great. But I still come in

Justin Mclendon: still staying active. I think I know you, I've known you for a while now anyway. Yeah. And I feel like I [00:09:00] know you well enough to where I can't imagine you would ever be able to completely pull away from it, i,

and

Lewis Finch: I learned that when I retired that first time. Yeah. It was, I was, to say I was miserable is an understatement. Sure. I just, I've gotta, I've gotta keep moving. Yeah. And I, I've heard that I think some, to some statistic that if you, once you retire, you're dead within two years or something that some I can see that cuz with, without that purpose in life There's really no motivation. Yeah, absolutely. And this, the work we do guys is a whole lot different than, in my past advertising career if I made a mistake, the worst thing that would happen in a commercial would run wrong.

Lewis Finch: Sure. In this particular case, people die. That's the truth. And lives are ruined. Yeah. This is really important stuff we're doing.

Justin Mclendon: Yeah. And I think you mentioned purpose, and I think that's true for the clients that we serve, right? Is that, really at the essence of it all.

Justin Mclendon: I think that's what we're trying to do in this industry as a whole, is trying to tell, help people find that purpose again, essentially.

B Reeves: Correct. Yeah,

Lewis Finch: absolutely. Yep. It's not always, it's not [00:10:00] always evident either. Speaking of

B Reeves: purpose of, I was I was, I had been sober about five months.

B Reeves: I got sober, went back to my job, and then resigned. And then all I did was play golf and go to AA meetings for five or six months. I had lunch with my stepfather one day and he said, so what's going on with the work? And I, I said I've been doing this and doing that, and, I'm sober and gonna all these meetings.

B Reeves: And he said I'm so happy for you. I'm so proud of you. It may have been the same day. I actually made an amends to him. And we were having lunch and he said, but what? You need a purpose. And I I was sitting there just tooting my own horn for being sober for five whole months. And then, I look back on that time and it was really dangerous to have that much time off newly sober or any, or anytime.

B Reeves: And I know what you mean. I, when I'm, I used to be a loaf and now if I'm not doing something, I feel almost guilty about it. Sure. I have to be almost. Told by my friends in recovery to take some time and just hang out because I I need a purpose and I have an [00:11:00] amazing purpose now.

B Reeves: It's not just a job, cause I did have a job for a couple years in sobriety before I started working in this field. And like you said, yes, sitting in the wrong invoice to somebody three or four years ago for me, would be the worst thing that happened. But now it's Somebody is not getting help and that can lead to death or worse.

B Reeves: And I talk to family sometimes, when I'm talking about what could happen, I say, he or she can end up dead or worse. And they say, what can be worse? And I say, they hurt or kill somebody and they stay alive, and yeah, it is, we are

Lewis Finch: doing important work.

Lewis Finch: It's funny you should bring us up real early when we opened up, we had a situation where a mother called in and her son who was going to East Carolina. Had come home the weekend, the day before and had they had found white powder, which turned out to be heroin. And she was asking what we should, we what for our, again, the intervention kind of thing.

Lewis Finch: Question. She wouldn't have been a fit for us cuz it was a college kid, but she wanted to know what to do. And I, and we said, [00:12:00] you need to get him treatment now. Yeah. It was the end of the semester. And he had to take exams. This was on a Monday. He had an exam on Thursday and one on Friday.

Lewis Finch: And she said, oh, we'll get him in here. He, and he also, he was gonna, he was gonna graduate on Saturday. Okay. So Thursday, Friday, Saturday he died Friday night. Ugh. And it, what that taught me, because you can soft pedal this, if you, I mean you can, yeah. You can soft. I don't soft pedaling anymore.

Lewis Finch: Yeah. I've seen if you've been in this business long enough, you've seen the problems that come with this and it, so that family has changed now forever. It'll never be that they'll never have grandchildren from him. They'll always, they'll be a always a hole somewhere in that family.

Lewis Finch: Yeah. And I don't, I when I talk to particularly parents of kids and I've got six grandchildren I'm thinking of them the whole time, cuz I know how I would do, if I found [00:13:00] anything and my grandkids know my story. And you I just I don't soft pedal anymore. You can't. It's too, it means too much.

Lewis Finch: Yeah. Absolutely.

Justin Mclendon: And that's a horrible story. But I think the reality is that we do, we hear those kinds of stories all the time. It's unfortunate, and I think a message to get across to people is exactly that. And I know we have these kinds of conversations I know you do all the time.

Justin Mclendon: Is that when you're on the phone with someone or you're seeking help, if it's gotten to a point to where there is an issue and someone is trying to address it, right? To your point, Lewis, I think the time to take action is then, right? Not tomorrow, not a week later. And especially, at New Waters, Primarily what we do is detox and stabilization.

Justin Mclendon: So it's always interesting, even though we see it over and over again. It's very interesting how we're on the phone with someone on the kind of pre-admission side of things, and they're trying to kinda, quote unquote schedule their, they're negotiating

Lewis Finch: with you, they're negotiating.

Justin Mclendon: Negotiating. It really is. It's right because, yeah, absolutely.

Lewis Finch: So it's and you know this, no one comes on in here on a winning streak, correct? No, [00:14:00] absolutely. Something has happened. Things are not good. Usually several things have happened. It's usually one final event that somebody's in their history.

Lewis Finch: Yeah. Or it could be the legal system. It could be parent or spouse. Or their employer. Yeah. But you, I jokingly say no one walks through our front door with a smile on their face. Yeah.

Justin Mclendon: You're exactly right. Yeah. Yeah. So people will try to, they're trying to schedule their admission.

Justin Mclendon: And we get it right. We get it. Life's going on. There's things that are happening. Kids gotta go to things like all the excuses and all the reasons, real reasons. However, that story is a good representation

Lewis Finch: of so is, again, let's know the story here we had a woman, I would say 45 ish or so who kept calling and talking to us about coming in, but she could not she couldn't work it around her work.

Lewis Finch: She could not, we have three groups that may, she couldn't get it to work around her schedule, but she kept calling and her situation kept getting worse and worse. Every call she made when the last time she called, We scheduled for her to [00:15:00] come in and she was planning on coming to the program the very next day.

Lewis Finch: Her children were taken away from her. And she didn't, she never came in. Because it was over with. Yeah. And that's, we, I, the other thing, I was telling somebody this the other day, you, you've, if you remember before Covid more people. Were dying from alcohol related abuse, alcohol related abuse, alcohol abuse then we're from drugs.

Lewis Finch: Overdoses. Yeah. Look, you look it up. I think it's I think the number is like 70,000 people of al from alcohol and maybe 55. But the number was growing, right? The real, the problem now is it's so dire. It's one thing to drink yourself a death. Another thing to, to Snort what you think is Coke, or, shoot up what you think is heroin. And it turns out to be fentanyl. Yeah. And any, you're done. You're toast. Yeah.

Justin Mclendon: Yeah. And we see that, I'm sure you guys do too. Oh, yeah. But on a, sometimes daily basis individuals that were, yeah, they thought they were snorting [00:16:00] cocaine or they thought they were taking, Pills that they were getting from a friend.

Justin Mclendon: And just the whole spectrum of individuals and walks of life that come in here. And it's not until they're here and we're doing a drug test and finding out what's going on that, that they are very amazed that they have fentanyl on their system. Oh yeah. And it happens all the time. And then of course, there's a portion of individuals that they're very aware that's what's going on.

Justin Mclendon: But it happens all the time. It's a, a, a. A stay-at-home mom, or just literally anybody, right? And they come in and they're like I'm just doing X, Y, and Z. And then they're very taken aback and we're like you have fentanyl in your system. And that really changes the trajectory of the

Lewis Finch: detox, right?

Lewis Finch: And luckily the media is playing it up. Yeah. Absolutely. They are. But at the same time the alcohol related stuff, we, so we've had five people who were in our program that once they. Discharged died. Five Four of 'em for alcohol. One for drugs. Which doesn't match the narrative that you hear in the media.

Lewis Finch: True. But that's, but again, it takes you a while to, to [00:17:00] drink yourself a death. You can die from a heroin overdose or a fentanyl overdose the second you do it. Yeah. As yeah. And then talk about the, when Coronavirus hit, none of us were prepared for that. I know you guys have seen this, but there's been a a uptick in mental health issues as well.

Lewis Finch: Absolutely. And you had, you had people having wine parties at home by themselves and so last fall, we applied for our mental health license and so we're now a duly licensed addiction and mental health treatment program. That's great. On an outpatient basis. Yeah we can We can treat practically anybody who comes in the door, mean to some degree, where it's still outpatient, so let's talk

Justin Mclendon: about that a little bit, because I know, just for anybody that's watching or listening to this more specifically like the levels of care and like what you guys do. So it is outpatient, so there's no kind of residential component to it

Lewis Finch: whatsoever?

Lewis Finch: No. Yeah, no it's, it is, the term is in iop. And it basically, Boils down to your attending group sessions and some [00:18:00] individual sessions. And over the course of a week, you might get 10 hours or more of therapy. Okay. As opposed to, say when you go to residential treatment you would be you'd be there 24 hours a day and be monitored.

Lewis Finch: Or like you guys, you'd be here, observed heavily for seven to 10 days. But yeah. And that and. Out. So there, there are different levels of it, obviously. There's php, partial hospitalization. You guys know it's a more intense, it's like I refer to it as residential treatment in your own bed, cuz you, I don't think you can work.

Lewis Finch: I guess you could, it'd be difficult. But yeah, we're a and the reason that when I chose the business model, I did, the reason I chose i o P, there's a study online. That some government agency did. I've got a copy of it. I just don't but it was done about comparing residential treatment to intensive outpatient is what we are, and it showed the results were about the same, which I found [00:19:00] fascinating.

Lewis Finch: Why would you go away? The answer is very simple. You need to be, you, you brought up, you need to be stabilized. Most, you can't be coming into our groups. Doing your drug of choice, it doesn't work very well. Yeah. That's, we done, that people try it all the time.

Lewis Finch: But intensive outpatient is to me, is unique because it allows you to come in on Monday, get some help, leave and go home, interact with your family and friends, sleep at home. Think about what you've learned. Spend another day in the real world then come in for treatment the next day and process it.

Lewis Finch: Yeah. Which, and it's in its real world. It's not a bubble. It's damn near impossible to relapse when you're in residential treatment program. You gotta really work at it. Yeah, absolutely. You can relapse all the time in intensive outpatient, but it's the work that you do. To get someone away from that mindset that really, to me, separates people [00:20:00] that separates residential treatment from intensive outpatient.

Lewis Finch: What

B Reeves: percentage of your clients at Wind come from residential treatment versus their stable to come in? Object question.

Lewis Finch: Or they come from a place like New Waters? And you guys are in that same boat. You guys refer to us. That's correct. I wanna say,

B Reeves: but residential, like a 28 to 30 day program versus just

Lewis Finch: detox or, yeah.

Lewis Finch: Or didn't need Okay. Maybe 25% coming from treatment centers. Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Or they've, they may not be referred from the treatment center, but that's not true. They that think it's about 25% and then remember the, as I brought up to the beginning, no one wants to go to treatment.

Lewis Finch: So they'll do anything they can to get, okay. So that's, so it'd probably be a lot higher if they recognize what they were doing. Cuz if you're, and Justin, you, I know you, you've done screenings all the time and assessments. If you do the assessment you should know from the assessment if the person's a fit for intensive outpatient Absolutely.

Lewis Finch: Yeah. Versus PHP or residential. We don't keep people [00:21:00] just because they want to come to us. Now, if they are too acute we might give them some parameters around which they they can't, they gotta test negative for whatever substance is and they. We can put together a plan for them, but it doesn't behoove us to bring somebody in.

Lewis Finch: It's been disruptive. You ran used to run groups for us. That's exactly right. Actually, you did. It's very disruptive to have somebody in there, right? Oh, absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Another one, the habits here, but they're already here, right? Yeah.

Justin Mclendon: I, one thing I'll comment on just. As you mentioned, previous history.

Justin Mclendon: Full disclosure, I actually did used to work for Lewis. Back in 2017. No, I worked for you. Some combination of that. So one thing I think just to sing the praises of, win a little bit here that I think you guys do different than a lot of other iops. Your typical kind of standard IOP setup is that you guys are really typically willing to.

Justin Mclendon: Really pull out all the stops and meet the client where they are. So even though it is I intensive outpatient i o P, which is like you [00:22:00] said, about 10 hours a week, I know for firsthand experience, if a client meets that criteria for that outpatient level of care, but they really need more, support than just 10 hours a week.

Justin Mclendon: I've seen you guys, just time and time again, be able to just create something that's gonna work for them, which is

Lewis Finch: really cool. And it is cool. I didn't know everybody didn't do that when we first opened up. Sure. I didn't, I thought that was just part of the gig. Yeah. Yeah.

Lewis Finch: If there's a crisis, and we, to some degree, that kind of came from my Willingway days because we would go above and beyond. Which I, again, I that's a point of difference from a lot from us. So most other iops most I believe, are either run by or controlled by clinicians.

Lewis Finch: Sure. Okay. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. But they think like clinicians, so there's a, you guys have a protocol you have to follow, right? They're things that you can't do that I can do as an interventionist, as an example. True. Yeah. So we pull out all the stops if we think it's.

Lewis Finch: If it's needed. And [00:23:00] that's everybody at, Wind has done that. We've gone to people's homes when we've gotten phone calls that they're in trouble and helped them go get into the hospital to detox or to treatment. I You've brought 'em directly here. From there I've gone directly view Exactly.

Lewis Finch: Yep. Yeah. And

B Reeves: right now we have a former client who they're customized a treatment plan where they go see her at her house. Yep. And. Do. Do what needs to be

Justin Mclendon: done. Yeah. Which is great. Yeah. I think that's just great because the reality is there is this kind of gray area I think that exists in between like residential treatment.

Justin Mclendon: Like you said, which you know, I think is absolutely appropriate in certain cases. But there's just a big difference in between that 24 hour supervision and support that's offered at the residential level and an IO at an outpatient level, regardless, even if that is a partial hospitalization where they're doing 20, 25 hours a week.

Justin Mclendon: Yeah, there's still gaps there, right? They, if they're early enough in their recovery process, they're still gonna be struggling with cravings and just emotional dysregulation and things like that. And there's just, there's nothing really in between those two levels of care.[00:24:00] And again, I think that's something that's really unique about when is the fact that you guys can just pull in other services, be able to, go into the home, whether that's a sober coach that can be there, that you guys can employ to work with you guys. Just checking in on them, having 'em come into the office. And do I remember, back when I was with when we'd have people, I'm sure you guys probably still do this they worked from home and like it just didn't make sense for them to be in the house working alone.

Justin Mclendon: So they would just bring in their computers

Lewis Finch: and put 'em on office. Yeah. I forgot. I forget about that. But we have, we've had several people. We had one young lady who studied for and got her master's degree. On our couch. That's great. But that's, but to your point, yeah. She couldn't stay home. She was gonna, she was gonna do something that she shouldn't do at home.

Lewis Finch: So we just said, come in eat our snacks. We order lunch. When it's time for lunch, sit down and enjoy the couch. And she did. And it's, and she's, to my knowledge, she's still sober. That's awesome, man. That is awesome. But that's, again, it goes back to that, I, that's probably.

Lewis Finch: There's probably some problem with that in the, in your field. Okay. It's [00:25:00] not in mine. Yeah, I hear you.

Justin Mclendon: Okay, I hear you. Yeah, and that's great, man. I think it's great because, again, I think. We have to be able to meet clients where they are, right? And everybody's needs are unique and different.

Justin Mclendon: And I think that's something that's very concierge about, about when is the fact that you guys are willing to, work with them and identify what those needs are and just get creative about, how can you help 'em, right?

Lewis Finch: And I was thinking about this the other day.

Lewis Finch: When someone comes in, when someone calls in, we set up two screenings. Excuse me, three screenings. One is a the typical screening that a therapist would do. The second one is a cultural screening. And it may sound bougie to, but it's meant to protect them and us.

Lewis Finch: Sure. Because if they're not a fit culturally for us we have to figure out where we wanna refer them to. Yeah. As an example We had a father no, actually that's not true. You're guest in your last show trip. Okay. Trip [00:26:00] Johnson called me up one day and said, I've got a 20 year old college student.

Lewis Finch: I think it would be a good fit for you. And Trip knows who we see. And he go, I said, he, I said, trip, that didn't sound like somebody that we could take in. He said, just talk to him. This kid was much more mature than I am at 20. He was the president of the American Marketing Association at NC State.

Lewis Finch: The campus version. He was in MBA school, I think at 20. Oh wow. He just couldn't stop drinking. And so we talked to his parents, we talked to him and we, I interviewed him and at least one other person interviewed him and. He really wanted to come in. So we said we'll give it a shot.

Lewis Finch: It, he went, he didn't, he did everything he was asked to do, and he felt more at home because now, not this anything wrong at all with Green Hill, they address a population I wouldn't touch. Because they're but he wasn't gonna fit in with that group. Does that make sense?

Lewis Finch: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I remember I've heard you tell me that I've heard that story before you and it We, and then in addition to [00:27:00] the, those two, the other two screening, we'd also do a financial screening. Oh wow. Okay. And it, that's not to convince them to come into our program. They're either gonna do it or they're not. But it's to figure out if they can't come into our program, what's the best ne next option? I think that's smart. I think, I wanna say 90% of the people who contact us and come in are referred somewhere else. Either to you guys for detox or to a residential treatment program for, again, stabilization.

Lewis Finch: Yeah. Or to another iop. Okay. Yeah.

B Reeves: That's great. Yeah. I would say somewhere between 80 and 90% of the calls we get referred to somebody for whatever reason, whether it's wrong level of care insurance resources,

Lewis Finch: whatever it is. But you know that you're gonna refer 'em to the best place.

Lewis Finch: Exactly, yes. They would never

Justin Mclendon: know where to go. Exactly. And I think that's, one of the marks of a quality treatment center right? Is that, you're not you're not an establishment that's gonna just try and make it work, whatever it is, right? Is that you really [00:28:00] understand you know what you do well, and if that person's not gonna be a good fitter, you're not gonna be able to provide the services that are gonna meet their needs, then that is our job.

Justin Mclendon: Right? It's our role to find them the place that can provide that,

B Reeves: and when, like new waters are independent and not affiliated or owned by anybody else, so we're only gonna send them Correct. To what makes sense. And there's no exactly, no expectations for the mothership to get 'em somewhere else or anything like that.

Lewis Finch: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And they look when anyone comes to either us or you guys, They have no clue. They're cl they don't, they've been told lot of stuff. They'll Google everything. And everybody's website looks great. Except mine, by the way. Okay. But everybody's website looks awesome.

Lewis Finch: But they're, you, we know the good programs from the bad ones. Because we intentionally get to know that was the other thing. I forgot to mention this. So we, as a result of when we first got into the business. There was virtually no collaboration going on. None. You had two camps.

Lewis Finch: You had the unc healthcare camp, you had the Duke [00:29:00] Hospital Camp, and they weren't talking to each other either. And they weren't referring hardly to anybody, so we started having a we started a networking event, right? We do it once a month. It's done the third Thursday of every month.

Lewis Finch: And it, we'll see anywhere between. 35 and 95 people therapist other treatment providers in the market or even outside of the market, will come to it, and it's created this dynamic where it really opens up. The well you had you had trip on last week. You had the week before. Didn't you have I saw her, the therapist. Which one? There's been a lot of, we have a lot. That's kinda anyway but that's the way we get to know these people. Absolutely. Otherwise we wouldn't. That's true. So that to me is probably just as important as getting them into treatment, getting 'em to the right place.

Lewis Finch: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I, I'm gonna toot y'all's horn. Graham came, I met Graham, When I first got into the business, [00:30:00] I was, went to Moments of Change down in west Palm. And I think his, when he was he was the business development person for Voyage communication.

Lewis Finch: Voyage. Voyage, yeah. Voyage Communication, voyage. Treatment Center. Voyage Recovery. Recovery. And I ran into, and then he took me over to the facility and showed it to me and. And I really didn't even understand what I was looking at back then. I was, seven years ago. But he stuck with me and he he, I learned cuz that was one of the first people that ever paid any attention to me at all.

Lewis Finch: Okay. I'm just, I'm this guy from North Carolina who has this i o P that just opened up and, so what, over time, over the years he and I stayed in touch with one another. Wasn't anything. I don't even think I referred to him until until he left. Okay. Down to voyage. But about two and a half or three years ago, he called me up and he said he was coming into town and he presented this idea to me of a detox.

Lewis Finch: Addiction. I that's another reason I don't, I'm not a therapist. I hire people with a lot more common sense than I do and it's a more structured process. Yeah. Because evidently those people are a lot more fragile. And things can trigger them a whole lot quicker, I've been told.

Lewis Finch: The IOP process is very, the IOP mental health process is more structured. It has a curriculum that you really don't waiver from in, in iop, typical [00:33:00] iop you'll go, the therapist will come in with a plan, but the plan can blow up if someone comes in the group and reports that they're having a problem, right?

Lewis Finch: You've seen it, right? Absolutely. Okay. I don't know. I don't necessarily think that happens that much. And when the mental health side now it, if someone comes in obviously distressed, then I'm sure they're gonna address it, but. It's just more structured process. The other thing I was gonna say too, we, one of the things I'm most proud of with us I did a I looked at, I looked back at our our clientele two years ago and last year.

Lewis Finch: This year, the average stay at our, at us. And this includes somebody who would come in and stay for a day and leave. Or it could be a guy who's been there and he's gone through i o p, he's in continuing care and or he's doing individual counseling. The average stay for a person in that census was 120 days.

Lewis Finch: A hundred twenty two days. Wow. That's great. And you and I know that. [00:34:00] The key to recovery is length of time and consistency. Absolutely. You have a better chance the longer you're there. Even residential treatment programs, you're better off keeping 'em 90 days if you can, than 30 days.

Lewis Finch: So I think we do a really good job in that regard of making a place they want to stay. Cause they don't have to stay with us. There, there are plenty of other places in town to, to get help. Sure. But, I that, that's one thing I've always been proud of. That number to me.

Lewis Finch: And I, I didn't realize that, was that unique.

Justin Mclendon: So a question for you around that. What do you think it is, and I know we're talking a lot about the things that make well wind different, but what do you think is the thing, if you had to put your finger on something Yeah, I knew you were gonna ask me that.

Justin Mclendon: What's the thing that makes them wanna

Lewis Finch: stay? I don't know. I've been we, again, we have a mindset. We have a mindset there, and you can't last if you don't match our culture. You're not gonna wait, you're not gonna last very long. You're not, we have people come and go, but they're coming and going for most of the time, all the right reasons.

Lewis Finch: Like they're going, they're moving their [00:35:00] careers on. You're a good example, right? Sure. But the people who come in have the mindset of being I'm trying to think of the Servant's hearts. That's, I think that's the key to what we do. That regardless of whether that person who calls in and we have people who call in all the time, who absolutely you can tell on the phone, they're not gonna be a client of ours.

Lewis Finch: Okay. For whatever reason, we don't just kick 'em off the phone. We will, we'll, everybody's asked to come in. Everybody is screened and then we provide them with an alternative. If we're not it. And I, to that point, I don't, I think that's the difference. Okay. And we don't always get it right, but Sure.

Lewis Finch: What we bend over backwards to so that we can rest at night. Absolutely.

B Reeves: Absolutely. 100%. I was, I would've said the answer to that would be the same way that New Waters is very nice facility. One's a very nice facility, very welcoming. But all that's material.[00:36:00]

B Reeves: It's all about, it's all about the people and the people in there doing the next right thing. And I feel love in there when I go in there and everybody seems to be very happy in there. And that,

Lewis Finch: It's, we have a, and I don't, I honestly don't, I can't take credit for it.

Lewis Finch: I, I can, I am no longer at the top of the food chain Will guest is, he's our new ceo. Been there way since the first of the year. And I'd been looking for somebody for I, an old man. Okay. I had hair when I started this. No, I didn't. No, I'm lying now. So I was, but and this is another ironic, I just thought about this.

Lewis Finch: So Will is exactly 25 years younger than me. Oh, wow. And I've been looking for a successor, someone to take, literally he was born the same day I was born. Really? How about that? January the third? How about that? Only 25 years before. But he carries that on. He's probably, if I would, he's probably a softer, gentler version of me, I think.

Lewis Finch: I don't know. Maybe he hasn't been beaten down by life like I have but he's he fulfills what [00:37:00] I felt like was needed in that position. That's awesome. Is a good pick? I think. I think so. I don't, he just, he plopped in my lap. Yeah. You brought the the nice, the look of the place, right?

Lewis Finch: The appearance of the place. It, I did the math on that. It's amazing to me how little difference it was to buy the stuff we bought, to fill the place. We've got antiques there. Some of it was given to us. We've got, but our furniture is nice and comfortable. The cost difference to run to that, to, to build that out.

Lewis Finch: Was not a whole lot more, if at all, than if you just did the basic clinical look. And it's just more, it's more, it feels more warm, right? Absolutely. Yeah. We've got two rooms that, that no therapy's done in the two biggest rooms in the entire place. One on the mental health side and one on the addiction side.

Lewis Finch: And it's just a place for people to gather. It's where that girl, the young girl, sat. And got her mba. That's great. Or masters, whatever it was. But yeah, that's, but [00:38:00] that's, and that's to the difference, right? Yeah. It's a

B Reeves: reflection too of how things go there too. Yes. But it's really all about the people.

B Reeves: And the

Lewis Finch: ethos that you practice there. And we've had, we've had issues from time to time, but we like any business, right? But, and I tell, I said, look, Don't let the clients see the sausage being made. Just feed 'em the sausage. Okay. Because if you watch the sausage being made, you won't eat it.

Lewis Finch: Okay. And it's, and every business is like that. You always, there's always this chaos in the back that you don't want your clients to see. Particularly our clients who are, Going through some life. Tough stuff in life. Absolutely.

Justin Mclendon: Absolutely. Cool. Lewis, we appreciate it.

Justin Mclendon: Thank you. We appreciate you coming and chatting with us. You much, man. Very welcome. It's a pleasure. And guys we'll make sure to put like in the show notes, we'll make sure to put some links to. To win and websites I, so if you wanna learn more about, win, we'll put some information there where you can read a little bit more on the website, even though Lewis says it's not a great one.

Justin Mclendon: We think it is. I'm,

Lewis Finch: again, coming from the advertising [00:39:00] world, I'm very critical of it, it is what it is.

Justin Mclendon: Yeah. And we'll also make sure to put contact information as well, because. Another thing I know that wind does is anybody can call you guys and you're willing to bring 'em in and do a screen.

Justin Mclendon: Oh yeah. And like you said, whether a good fit for Wellman win, or if they need other services, you guys will help navigate them through that process.

Lewis Finch: So getting to that point we get calls for folks needing medication management. Matt. Sure. M a t. And we don't chase 'em away.

Lewis Finch: We don't give them a number. We ask 'em to come in so we have a conversation to figure out exactly what it is they need. That's great. And then we will refer them to the proper, to the best next option. That's great. Yeah. Yeah.

Justin Mclendon: So that's a huge service, hugely needed service. For sure. So again, Louis, thank you.

Justin Mclendon: It's always a pleasure hanging out with you man.

Lewis Finch: Are you gonna come back to work for me? I'm not gonna answer that. Graham. Graham. I'm sure Graham would not approve of that. You ready? You ready? I'm just

Justin Mclendon: All right, Louis. Thanks man. We look forward to talking to you again soon.

Lewis Finch: Okay. Thanks guys.

Lewis Finch: Thanks. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.[00:40:00]

In this illuminating episode, we welcome Lewis Finch, a trailblazer in the field of mental health and addiction recovery. With a successful career in advertising and marketing under his belt, Lewis' life took an unexpected turn when he confronted his own battle with alcohol addiction.After a successful recovery, Lewis began to observe a gap in the field of addiction treatment, particularly for professionals who could not afford to leave their work and home life for rehabilitation. He noticed that professionals were more receptive to therapy when interacting with peers facing similar challenges, leading him to establish Welwynn Outpatient Center.

Welwynn Outpatient Center is a pioneering institution that provides individualized intensive outpatient treatment exclusively for executives and professionals, ensuring the utmost discretion and privacy in every phase of the treatment process. The center caters to professionals' unique needs, recognizing that the skills that have led them to professional success can also contribute to substance use disorders.In our conversation, Lewis shares the principles behind his practice, the center's emphasis on creating a confidential and upscale outpatient setting, and their commitment to developing a truly personalized treatment plan for each client. This episode is not just for professionals battling addiction or mental health issues, but for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the unique challenges in treatment and recovery for high-performing individuals.

Whether you're a loved one, a professional in the mental health field, or someone in recovery, join us for an inspiring episode about transforming personal adversity into an opportunity to help others.

#LewisFinch #WelwynnOutpatientCenter #ExecutiveRecovery #AddictionRecovery #SubstanceUseDisorder #PersonalizedTreatment #ExecutiveAddiction #RecoveryJourney #ProfessionalHealth #MentalHealth #AddictionTreatment #SubstanceAbuse #SuccessfulRecovery #RecoverySuccess #HolisticTreatment #ConfidentialTreatment #OutpatientRehab #Rehabilitation #SubstanceAbuseRecovery #ExecutiveHealth

Lewis Finch Links:

⁠https://www.facebook.com/welwynn⁠

⁠https://welwynn.com/⁠

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/welwynn-outpatient-center/⁠

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewisfinchwelwynn/⁠

Podcast Website: ⁠⁠https://www.findingnewwaters.com⁠

New Waters Recovery Website: ⁠⁠https://newwatersrecovery.com⁠

Watch & Listen on Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/4NOV2g85KExFWU5mTz5Gjw?si=f485f70900204da4⁠

Apple Podcast: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-new-waters/id1684075608⁠⁠

Youtube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjfAIXtiOgy1XFcwAduXgXw⁠

Youtube Music: ⁠https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuJOc6yLcjibGGAKgLYPCN47etJCY89mn&feature=share⁠

Google Podcast: ⁠https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9kZmI2YTk3NC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw⁠ Follow Us on Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/newwatersrecovery⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/newwatersrecovery⁠⁠

Linkedin: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/new-waters-recovery⁠

Tiktok: ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@newwatersrecovery_nc?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc⁠

For more information, to submit a question for our show, or to explore our affiliated detox center, visit the Finding New Waters website at ⁠⁠https://www.findingnewwaters.com⁠⁠ and the New Waters Recovery Center at ⁠⁠https://newwatersrecovery.com⁠⁠. Join us on this transformative journey!