The following program discusses sensitive issues 00:00:01.40\00:00:03.35 related to addictive behavior. 00:00:03.38\00:00:04.96 Parents are cautioned that some material 00:00:04.99\00:00:06.83 may be too candid for younger children. 00:00:06.86\00:00:09.34 Welcome back. 00:00:14.74\00:00:16.11 Um, so you know, we were talking about before the break about, 00:00:16.14\00:00:18.85 you know, these kids growing up in these really crazy homes. 00:00:18.88\00:00:22.62 And when we become adults 00:00:22.65\00:00:24.08 we have all of this behavior that we just don't understand. 00:00:24.11\00:00:27.44 They desperate need to be normal, 00:00:27.47\00:00:29.28 not knowing how to be kind of in social settings 00:00:29.31\00:00:32.75 and we look fabulous, but we just don't know anything. 00:00:32.78\00:00:35.70 You know, what I-- And so it's really a kind of a crazy thing 00:00:35.73\00:00:38.94 because either we're going to go into recovery and heal 00:00:38.97\00:00:42.56 and literally look at all those issues 00:00:42.59\00:00:45.52 or we're going to just learn 00:00:45.55\00:00:47.17 how to mask it and walk through life. 00:00:47.20\00:00:49.49 And always being somewhat disconnected from ourselves 00:00:49.52\00:00:52.71 and using our addictions to give us comfort. 00:00:52.74\00:00:55.09 And so, you know, I want to say, Asheley, welcome to the program. 00:00:55.12\00:00:59.75 And I know that you understand a lot of what I just said. 00:00:59.78\00:01:03.97 Not only do you work with folks like that, 00:01:04.00\00:01:05.75 but you've been through it. 00:01:05.78\00:01:07.15 So tell us a little bit about yourself and-- 00:01:07.18\00:01:11.29 and I'd like to hear everything from child, 00:01:11.32\00:01:13.72 I guess, I like all the stuff. 00:01:13.75\00:01:15.13 Okay, all right. 00:01:15.16\00:01:16.73 Well, I was born in Georgia, 00:01:16.76\00:01:19.04 which is a good old conservative state and, 00:01:19.07\00:01:22.49 but to a single mom who got pregnant out of wedlock 00:01:22.52\00:01:25.68 and she was kind of run out of the church for that. 00:01:25.71\00:01:31.41 And so she didn't-- 00:01:31.44\00:01:32.81 'Cause at one time that was a big deal. 00:01:32.84\00:01:34.21 Yeah, it was a big deal at that time. 00:01:34.24\00:01:36.00 And, you know, she came from a very respectable family that, 00:01:36.03\00:01:39.86 you know, had a reputation 00:01:39.89\00:01:41.45 and here she was kind of breaking the social norm. 00:01:41.48\00:01:44.39 And my grandparents, God bless them. 00:01:44.42\00:01:47.46 They said, "You know, we don't care, 00:01:47.49\00:01:49.55 you know, we want to take care of you." 00:01:49.58\00:01:51.26 And so they took care of her while she was pregnant. 00:01:51.29\00:01:54.02 And my father, my biological father 00:01:54.05\00:01:58.88 kind of had the attitude of, "Well, I don't want any kids, 00:01:58.91\00:02:01.82 I've never had kids, 00:02:01.85\00:02:03.22 and I don't intend to be a dad now." 00:02:03.25\00:02:04.62 So you're on your own type of thing. 00:02:04.65\00:02:06.02 So he just left. He just left. 00:02:06.05\00:02:07.54 And so what I love about your grand--your grandparents 00:02:07.57\00:02:10.30 just because even for the church it's like, 00:02:10.33\00:02:12.10 nobody knew what to do with that, so they usually just said, 00:02:12.13\00:02:14.32 "You know, we're not gonna deal with that." 00:02:14.35\00:02:16.47 And even nowadays, we are a little bit more loving 00:02:16.50\00:02:20.38 'cause nobody wants a teen who are pregnant. 00:02:20.41\00:02:22.52 I mean, you know, 'cause all of the problems that come with that 00:02:22.55\00:02:24.89 and that's a harder life. 00:02:24.92\00:02:27.29 But I think the church right now is more accepting. 00:02:27.32\00:02:29.63 And so at that point, where your grandparents had 00:02:29.66\00:02:32.21 and God bless them as that you're still my daughter 00:02:32.24\00:02:35.27 and I love you, and we'll take care of you. 00:02:35.30\00:02:37.81 Yeah, and my grandmother says she got over the, 00:02:37.84\00:02:40.64 you know, the fear of like, 00:02:40.67\00:02:42.04 "Oh, you know, what's gonna happen with this kid? 00:02:42.07\00:02:44.18 What kind of life is this baby gonna have? 00:02:44.21\00:02:46.04 And start praying going, God let this child be healthy. 00:02:46.07\00:02:49.33 You know, she got passed and said, 00:02:49.36\00:02:50.73 "No, I've got to pray that this kid comes out healthy." 00:02:50.76\00:02:52.77 'Cause she's already got everything stacked against her. 00:02:52.80\00:02:55.28 So I was born, and my mom lived with my grandparents 00:02:55.31\00:03:00.32 and started turning her life around and it had been kind of, 00:03:00.35\00:03:03.81 I would say kind of wishy-washy. 00:03:03.84\00:03:05.21 She didn't really know what she was doing with her life. 00:03:05.24\00:03:08.01 And she decided she was gonna be a nurse 00:03:08.04\00:03:09.67 and applied to nursing school 00:03:09.70\00:03:11.07 and got into nursing school out in California. 00:03:11.10\00:03:13.38 Soon I was 18 months she moved out to California 00:03:13.41\00:03:16.18 and moved in with my great-grandmother, 00:03:16.21\00:03:18.19 so now grandmother's mother. 00:03:18.22\00:03:20.21 And so she started attending nursing school 00:03:20.24\00:03:22.86 and I would live with my great-grandmother 00:03:22.89\00:03:24.68 who would take care of me during the day. 00:03:24.71\00:03:26.25 And then she had this Chinese chest, 00:03:26.28\00:03:28.31 it's like, antique Chinese chest, 00:03:28.34\00:03:29.71 it's over a hundred years old 00:03:29.74\00:03:31.11 and I'd stand on it to look out the window 00:03:31.14\00:03:33.62 to see my mother coming up the road from school. 00:03:33.65\00:03:36.10 And just wait for her. And just wait for her. 00:03:36.13\00:03:37.74 And that was what I remember is 00:03:37.77\00:03:39.35 I don't have any idea what we did the rest of the day, 00:03:39.38\00:03:41.30 but I remember getting up on that chest, 00:03:41.33\00:03:42.87 look out the window and there were some construction going by, 00:03:42.90\00:03:46.15 so I'd count the cement trucks, kind of, 00:03:46.18\00:03:48.32 you know, I couldn't count, but I would count the cement trucks 00:03:48.35\00:03:50.43 and I knew that at a certain point in the day 00:03:50.46\00:03:52.63 my mom was gonna come home and I see her coming up the hill. 00:03:52.66\00:03:55.47 And so my early childhood was a lot of that, 00:03:55.50\00:04:00.26 just waiting for my mom to come home 'cause she was in school 00:04:00.29\00:04:03.24 and eventually my mother's parents 00:04:03.27\00:04:05.02 moved out to California also and we moved back in with them. 00:04:05.05\00:04:09.24 And so the first I would say, six years of my life 00:04:09.27\00:04:13.00 it was a lot of moving in with my grandparents 00:04:13.03\00:04:15.69 and then moving out of my grandparent's place 00:04:15.72\00:04:17.63 'cause my mom would want to try to see 00:04:17.66\00:04:19.03 if she could make it on her own for a while 00:04:19.06\00:04:20.91 and then it would just be too much 00:04:20.94\00:04:22.31 and so she moved back in with my grandparents. 00:04:22.34\00:04:24.97 So even though you were surrounded by people 00:04:25.00\00:04:27.86 that loved you, it still was that--still wasn't very stable 00:04:27.89\00:04:31.53 and it's like I don't know where I'm gonna be tonight 00:04:31.56\00:04:33.70 or where we're gonna live or what's gonna happen. 00:04:33.73\00:04:35.81 It was really weird for me 00:04:35.84\00:04:38.80 because it was like I knew I had this loving family, 00:04:38.83\00:04:41.53 but there was always somebody gone. 00:04:41.56\00:04:43.46 And if I was living with my mom by myself, 00:04:43.49\00:04:45.33 I was over out at a babysitters. 00:04:45.36\00:04:47.27 So as I never had my mother to myself 00:04:47.30\00:04:49.98 and it was like there is always 00:04:50.01\00:04:51.38 this part of me that was missing. 00:04:51.41\00:04:53.60 So when we moved back in with my grandparents again 00:04:53.63\00:04:57.33 it was just kind of just for a sense of relief 00:04:57.36\00:04:59.25 because, okay, now everything is stable 00:04:59.28\00:05:01.12 and it's gonna be, you know, this way. 00:05:01.15\00:05:02.91 And my grandmother is there 00:05:02.94\00:05:04.59 and then my mother comes home from nursing 00:05:04.62\00:05:06.84 and so we're all good. 00:05:06.87\00:05:08.40 And then-- I can trust this maybe. 00:05:08.43\00:05:09.80 Yeah, this is gonna-- this is gonna work. 00:05:09.83\00:05:11.72 And I started attending school 00:05:11.75\00:05:14.69 and I didn't realize that the stigma of being like 00:05:14.72\00:05:18.37 the fatherless child still is attached to me. 00:05:18.40\00:05:22.31 And so I would go to school 00:05:22.34\00:05:24.39 and the teachers would kind of treat me different, 00:05:24.42\00:05:28.05 but I didn't really know why. 00:05:28.08\00:05:29.45 And I didn't know what was different about me, 00:05:29.48\00:05:32.98 so I just kind of shrink in. 00:05:33.01\00:05:35.00 I became really shy. 00:05:35.03\00:05:36.64 And I can remember I was in class one day 00:05:36.67\00:05:39.56 and the teacher shuffled the tables around 00:05:39.59\00:05:41.80 and I was the one who had the odd table out 00:05:41.83\00:05:44.61 and she said, "Well, just go put your table 00:05:44.64\00:05:46.11 with whatever group of tables you want." 00:05:46.14\00:05:48.64 So I started to move my desk 00:05:48.67\00:05:50.04 and one of the girls piped up and said, 00:05:50.07\00:05:51.44 "Ashley, I will be your best friend, 00:05:51.47\00:05:52.93 if you promise not to sit with us." Oh. 00:05:52.96\00:05:55.69 And I was just kind of like I was stunned and it was like-- 00:05:55.72\00:05:58.27 Think I don't know what that means. 00:05:58.30\00:05:59.67 Well, no, I knew what it meant. 00:05:59.70\00:06:01.07 It meant that she didn't want me. Yeah. 00:06:01.10\00:06:03.38 And I'm seeing they're going I'm not wanted here. 00:06:03.41\00:06:07.06 And so I went just pushed my table over to any older group 00:06:07.09\00:06:10.84 and I'd just got in my head that 00:06:10.87\00:06:13.91 there was something wrong with me that people didn't want me. 00:06:13.94\00:06:17.22 And then when I was seven, 00:06:17.25\00:06:19.94 I--my mother decided she wanted to try being a single mom again 00:06:19.97\00:06:23.52 and so she moved us all the way out to New York City. And so-- 00:06:23.55\00:06:26.86 Away from grandparents, away from everything. 00:06:26.89\00:06:29.54 So, you know, and she hyped it up as this big adventure 00:06:29.57\00:06:32.34 and I was the kind of kid. 00:06:32.37\00:06:33.74 I was like, "Okay, mom, where you want to go? 00:06:33.77\00:06:35.14 Let's--what we're gonna do today type of thing 00:06:35.17\00:06:36.66 'cause we would always take off to new trips and stuff." 00:06:36.69\00:06:39.51 And she is like, "Well, we're gonna go to New York." 00:06:39.54\00:06:42.25 And I said, "Okay." 00:06:42.28\00:06:43.65 You know, and so we stopped 00:06:43.68\00:06:45.05 at all these neat places along the away, 00:06:45.08\00:06:46.45 Mount Rushmore and we stopped at the Grand Canyon, 00:06:46.48\00:06:49.19 and I freaked out because my mother 00:06:49.22\00:06:51.27 being my mom had to go 00:06:51.30\00:06:52.67 up to the edges of the Grand Canyon take photos 00:06:52.70\00:06:55.49 and I'm just in my head positive. 00:06:55.52\00:06:57.26 She's gonna fall over the side 00:06:57.29\00:06:58.66 and I'm gonna loose my mother, and I'm freaking out. 00:06:58.69\00:07:01.38 And she goes, "I will never ever 00:07:01.41\00:07:03.02 be able to go to the Grand Canyon again." 00:07:03.05\00:07:04.87 And I'm like, "No." You were so traumatized. 00:07:04.90\00:07:08.31 But, you know, for this little kid that says, 00:07:08.34\00:07:10.25 you know what, you were in my mind, 00:07:10.28\00:07:13.04 you were what and I need you. Yeah. 00:07:13.07\00:07:15.03 And you can't leave me. 00:07:15.06\00:07:16.43 Yeah, it was just-- it terrified me 00:07:16.46\00:07:18.06 that I'd be without her. Yeah. 00:07:18.09\00:07:19.60 So we get to New York, and I'm put into public school, 00:07:19.63\00:07:24.29 which I hadn't been in 00:07:24.32\00:07:25.69 and I'd been in a private school before that 00:07:25.72\00:07:27.09 and I was put into public school 00:07:27.12\00:07:29.04 and the teacher just I don't know what her issue was, 00:07:29.07\00:07:31.47 but she hated my guts. 00:07:31.50\00:07:32.87 I mean, literally I've heard of, 00:07:32.90\00:07:34.27 you know, teachers hating students 00:07:34.30\00:07:35.92 but this is, you know, she would look at me and she'd go, 00:07:35.95\00:07:37.97 "You're so stupid, you can't do anything right." 00:07:38.00\00:07:40.50 And she said, "Go use the dictionary 00:07:40.53\00:07:42.95 since you can't figure out what the definition of a word means." 00:07:42.98\00:07:45.22 And I'm like, "Well, how do I use a dictionary? 00:07:45.25\00:07:47.12 I'd never been around the dictionary. 00:07:47.15\00:07:50.04 It wasn't something that I flipped open naturally." 00:07:50.07\00:07:52.88 And she goes, "You're too stupid 00:07:52.91\00:07:54.28 to even know how to use the dictionary." Wow. And-- 00:07:54.31\00:07:56.61 And for an outrace kid. Yeah. 00:07:56.64\00:07:59.13 And that's what we were talking about earlier 00:07:59.16\00:08:01.05 is that we then try to make sense or try to figure it out 00:08:01.08\00:08:04.03 or we're not gonna ask for help anymore. 00:08:04.06\00:08:06.13 I mean, all of those things start to happen. Yeah. 00:08:06.16\00:08:08.55 And then we look stupid 'cause we don't know. 00:08:08.58\00:08:10.74 I need to ask you for help and yet I'm not going to. 00:08:10.77\00:08:13.34 Yeah, so I kind of closed in. 00:08:13.37\00:08:14.82 I just--I kind of caved in. 00:08:14.85\00:08:16.22 I was like there is something. 00:08:16.25\00:08:17.62 You know, I was like I didn't think I was stupid, 00:08:17.65\00:08:19.33 but it was like you hate me what did I do wrong. Right. 00:08:19.36\00:08:22.95 And so this just kind of kept going all the way through school 00:08:22.98\00:08:28.89 and I got to fourth grade and the teachers would be like, 00:08:28.92\00:08:33.45 "You're so stupid. You're so stupid." 00:08:33.48\00:08:34.85 And yet I would take my CTY test 00:08:34.88\00:08:38.27 and I get the scores back 00:08:38.30\00:08:39.67 and my scores were off the charts. 00:08:39.70\00:08:41.07 Like, they would put me at 99 percentile because they said, 00:08:41.10\00:08:43.41 "Well, we don't have a score for where you landed." 00:08:43.44\00:08:45.86 And I'm like, "Okay." 00:08:45.89\00:08:48.26 So obviously I'm not stupid, 00:08:48.29\00:08:50.57 but yet I've got my teachers turning around going, 00:08:50.60\00:08:53.11 you were the stupidest thing we've ever seen. 00:08:53.14\00:08:55.76 And like I forgot to bring-- I think it was my flute-- 00:08:55.79\00:08:59.38 I forgot to bring my flute over quarter thing for music one time 00:08:59.41\00:09:03.67 and the teacher is looking at me 00:09:03.70\00:09:05.07 and she goes, "I can't believe you forgot your flute. 00:09:05.10\00:09:06.88 How could you be so stupid to forget your flute?" 00:09:06.91\00:09:09.54 And I'm just like, "Well, I just didn't." 00:09:09.57\00:09:12.05 She goes, "Well, how do you expect 00:09:12.08\00:09:13.45 to get into college that way?" 00:09:13.48\00:09:15.15 And I looked at her I'm like, "Really?" 00:09:15.18\00:09:18.67 I'm in fourth grade and you're telling me, 00:09:18.70\00:09:20.79 I'm not gonna get into college 00:09:20.82\00:09:22.19 because I forgot my recorder today. 00:09:22.22\00:09:24.49 Okay, you're just-- 00:09:24.52\00:09:25.89 forget it, I don't care what you think anymore. 00:09:25.92\00:09:28.11 But, you know, just to stop right there and, 00:09:28.14\00:09:31.06 you know, kind of probably where I'm gonna go with this 00:09:31.09\00:09:33.66 is that at one point with the child that's been injured 00:09:33.69\00:09:37.29 is that realization and that kind of rebellion, 00:09:37.32\00:09:40.32 and that kind of, you know, almost sarcasm in our mind, 00:09:40.35\00:09:43.60 at least if we don't say it, 00:09:43.63\00:09:45.00 at least we're thinking it in our mind, is that not right. 00:09:45.03\00:09:47.65 That makes no sense. 00:09:47.68\00:09:49.05 And so you're saying about fourth grade. 00:09:49.08\00:09:51.25 You start to realize that. You know what? 00:09:51.28\00:09:54.12 That's crazy. It was. 00:09:54.15\00:09:55.52 It just--I could not wrap my head around, 00:09:55.55\00:09:57.74 having me for getting my recorder for one day, 00:09:57.77\00:09:59.55 it was gonna bar me from college. 00:09:59.58\00:10:00.99 It just didn't make sense to me. 00:10:01.02\00:10:03.78 And about that time too my mom had gotten married, 00:10:03.81\00:10:06.62 so to my step-dad who adopted me 00:10:06.65\00:10:09.14 and they got pregnant right after that, 00:10:09.17\00:10:11.54 so we had this really chaotic household, 00:10:11.57\00:10:14.46 at least from my perspective, it was chaotic. 00:10:14.49\00:10:16.77 Where I've got a brand new dad who I don't really know. 00:10:16.80\00:10:20.05 I think they dated about three months before they got married. 00:10:20.08\00:10:23.31 And then I have a brand new baby sister 00:10:23.34\00:10:25.22 who I just loved to death, I mean, she was like my doll, 00:10:25.25\00:10:28.49 I got to play with her. 00:10:28.52\00:10:30.45 And then my parents were fighting all the time 00:10:30.48\00:10:32.49 because they were trying to figure out 00:10:32.52\00:10:34.06 how to make a marriage work. 00:10:34.09\00:10:35.61 And they didn't really have the skills for that, 00:10:35.64\00:10:38.71 and so they were figuring out verbally 00:10:38.74\00:10:41.10 and so I'm sitting here and looking at the world's going, 00:10:41.13\00:10:43.30 what the heck happen? Right. 00:10:43.33\00:10:45.29 And there is a lot of anger building up inside me, 00:10:45.32\00:10:48.54 especially towards to my step-dad 00:10:48.57\00:10:49.94 'cause I saw him as like the problem. 00:10:49.97\00:10:52.11 He'd come in and everything just fell apart. 00:10:52.14\00:10:54.47 I mean, just I'd never been around violence before 00:10:54.50\00:10:57.36 and he was a violent man. 00:10:57.39\00:10:59.09 And like I forgot to do my math homework one day 00:10:59.12\00:11:02.66 and he thought I lied about it, and it wasn't that I lied, 00:11:02.69\00:11:05.23 I just literally forgot about it 00:11:05.26\00:11:07.46 and I had these stacks of shelves 00:11:07.49\00:11:09.09 in my room with all my toys and games, 00:11:09.12\00:11:10.62 and he just took them and tipped them over. 00:11:10.65\00:11:12.43 Just throw them over and he said, 00:11:12.46\00:11:13.83 "That's what you get for being a liar." 00:11:13.86\00:11:16.02 And he said, "You're gonna clean this up, 00:11:16.05\00:11:18.07 that's your punishment." 00:11:18.10\00:11:19.47 And I was on the floor sobbing 00:11:19.50\00:11:21.21 'cause it was probably like 7 or 8 O'clock 00:11:21.24\00:11:22.99 and it was bedtime and it took me 00:11:23.02\00:11:24.39 till I think 10:30 that night to get it cleaned up. 00:11:24.42\00:11:27.42 And it was just that was-- 00:11:27.45\00:11:29.97 my world was I didn't know if I was gonna make him angry 00:11:30.00\00:11:33.05 or if I was doing something wrong or, 00:11:33.08\00:11:36.12 you know, how did I-- how do I make it work? 00:11:36.15\00:11:39.12 And I felt like I was always messing it up. Right. 00:11:39.15\00:11:42.65 And so, did you find anything like we talked about the kid 00:11:42.68\00:11:45.93 that find some way to comfort themselves, 00:11:45.96\00:11:48.12 some way to were-- yeah. Yeah. 00:11:48.15\00:11:49.52 For me, it was books. 00:11:49.55\00:11:50.92 I took it because I turned in big time. 00:11:50.95\00:11:52.80 And I was not allowed to be angry. 00:11:52.83\00:11:55.28 I was never allowed to be the angry one. 00:11:55.31\00:11:57.43 So I just turned it all in 00:11:57.46\00:11:58.83 and I started reading these books and-- 00:11:58.86\00:12:00.23 You escaped into. I escaped into fiction. 00:12:00.26\00:12:02.75 I think a lot of kids do that. 00:12:02.78\00:12:04.29 So what kind of books did you grab? 00:12:04.32\00:12:06.87 For me, it was Nancy Drew, 00:12:06.90\00:12:08.68 she was just kind of the epitome of what I thought was perfect. 00:12:08.71\00:12:11.96 She was 18, she was beautiful, she was smart, 00:12:11.99\00:12:14.72 she flew planes, she spoke three languages, I think. 00:12:14.75\00:12:17.92 And it was just one of those things where I looked at her 00:12:17.95\00:12:19.79 and I went that's what I want to be, 00:12:19.82\00:12:22.15 but I knew couldn't do it 'cause I'm sitting there going, 00:12:22.18\00:12:24.41 well, how did she do that, 00:12:24.44\00:12:25.81 you know, by the time she was 18? What pressure. 00:12:25.84\00:12:28.07 I mean, you know what I mean, 00:12:28.10\00:12:29.47 it's like all of the stuffs that were happening around you, 00:12:29.50\00:12:31.26 trying to live up to everybody else 00:12:31.29\00:12:33.02 and then you find something 00:12:33.05\00:12:34.42 that you absolutely cannot live up to. Yeah. 00:12:34.45\00:12:36.44 And it was just I started, 00:12:36.47\00:12:39.02 you know, I hated her because she was perfect, 00:12:39.05\00:12:40.83 but at the same time I wanted to be her. 00:12:40.86\00:12:43.19 And that kind of became who it was? 00:12:43.22\00:12:45.55 It was like, for me, I was the person, 00:12:45.58\00:12:47.75 I wanted to be somebody perfect, 00:12:47.78\00:12:49.94 but I also hated the perfect people, 00:12:49.97\00:12:51.92 because they had everything I didn't have. 00:12:51.95\00:12:53.77 Well, at least that's what I felt like. 00:12:53.80\00:12:55.17 That's what it felt like. 00:12:55.20\00:12:56.71 Because I know you and you're pretty cool. 00:12:56.74\00:12:59.52 But, you know, that was what it felt like at the time. 00:12:59.55\00:13:01.87 And so I know for you through the years that you ended up 00:13:01.90\00:13:06.37 actually even hitting a time where you felt depressed 00:13:06.40\00:13:09.33 and you were going into some of that kind of stuff. 00:13:09.36\00:13:11.78 Was it a result of not being able to live up 00:13:11.81\00:13:15.13 and that the chaos at home, do you think? 00:13:15.16\00:13:17.36 It was kind of a mixture because for me, 00:13:17.39\00:13:19.40 I think I can pinpoint it back to I was 11 00:13:19.43\00:13:21.55 when I hit my first depressive spell. 00:13:21.58\00:13:23.69 And it was I had my little sister 00:13:23.72\00:13:25.67 and there was my mom and my dad and it seemed like, 00:13:25.70\00:13:28.37 they were the family unit and I was just the extra. 00:13:28.40\00:13:31.86 Right, I may be your best friend 00:13:31.89\00:13:33.75 if you don't come and sit with us. Right. 00:13:33.78\00:13:35.34 And my parents didn't know what to do with me 00:13:35.37\00:13:38.11 when school would let out in the summer. 00:13:38.14\00:13:39.53 So my sister went off to a babysitter a lot of the time, 00:13:39.56\00:13:42.49 but they weren't gonna pay for me to go to be babysitter, 00:13:42.52\00:13:44.67 so they shipped me out 00:13:44.70\00:13:46.07 to live with my grandparents during the summers. 00:13:46.10\00:13:48.28 And I loved my grandparents. 00:13:48.31\00:13:50.11 So I thought, you know, hey this is cool I get to go, 00:13:50.14\00:13:53.10 you know, be with my grandparents. 00:13:53.13\00:13:54.50 I didn't really think about it. 00:13:54.53\00:13:56.01 But when I got to my grandparents, 00:13:56.04\00:13:57.41 I had this really stable environment. 00:13:57.44\00:13:59.45 And my grandmother just doted on me. 00:13:59.48\00:14:01.85 I mean, we spent summers painting, drawing, 00:14:01.88\00:14:04.46 planting marigolds, I mean, we did stuff. 00:14:04.49\00:14:08.08 You know, I got one on one time with grandma and grandpa. 00:14:08.11\00:14:11.03 And then they would take me to church every weekend. 00:14:11.06\00:14:13.40 And so I was still connected in with the church 00:14:13.43\00:14:16.43 even though I wasn't in the church. 00:14:16.46\00:14:19.23 And in my head I was getting everything 00:14:19.26\00:14:21.70 like God was wanting me to have 00:14:21.73\00:14:24.01 that I was gonna need in the future 00:14:24.04\00:14:25.53 from those weekends that I was out at church. 00:14:25.56\00:14:28.15 And then summer would end and I'd have to go back to New York. 00:14:28.18\00:14:31.32 And I knew what was waiting for me when I got back 00:14:31.35\00:14:33.49 and I would just ball the whole 5 hour flight to home or 00:14:33.52\00:14:36.96 whatever, you know, it was. And-- 00:14:36.99\00:14:40.17 It's got to be hard to get it as sense or taste of belonging 00:14:40.20\00:14:44.10 and being loved and then walking away from that again. 00:14:44.13\00:14:47.59 Yeah, and I just kind of got it in my head that, 00:14:47.62\00:14:50.76 that was my life, that it was always gonna be there some 00:14:50.79\00:14:54.31 New York and then out with my grandparents 00:14:54.34\00:14:57.63 and I was never gonna be kind of a stable thing, 00:14:57.66\00:15:00.68 I was never gonna have the home environment 00:15:00.71\00:15:03.13 that I thought I wanted and-- 00:15:03.16\00:15:06.50 That you need it. 00:15:06.53\00:15:07.90 That I--yeah, that I actually need it, you know. 00:15:07.93\00:15:09.88 And I just adapted to what was there 00:15:09.91\00:15:13.84 and the volatility of my dad's anger problems and, 00:15:13.87\00:15:19.85 you know, whatever was going on in the house 00:15:19.88\00:15:21.60 and I just kind of went with that. 00:15:21.63\00:15:23.37 And then my little brother was born a couple of years later 00:15:23.40\00:15:27.45 and it just kind of pushed me out even further 00:15:27.48\00:15:29.57 on that feeling of that's their family and I'm just the extra. 00:15:29.60\00:15:34.67 So I had this opportunity 00:15:34.70\00:15:37.49 to go to high school out with my grandparents 00:15:37.52\00:15:40.50 and I started and I went, sure why not? 00:15:40.53\00:15:44.19 I've got nothing here that I want to stick around for 00:15:44.22\00:15:47.18 may be I'll find what I'm wanting there 00:15:47.21\00:15:49.61 because I'm going to a private school 00:15:49.64\00:15:51.18 and that's with kids who were gonna be like me who, 00:15:51.21\00:15:53.21 you know, go to church and who understand who Jesus is 00:15:53.24\00:15:56.23 and because the kids I hung out with 00:15:56.26\00:15:59.02 didn't have that background at all. 00:15:59.05\00:16:00.72 'Cause in New York, you were in public school? 00:16:00.75\00:16:02.20 Right, 'cause I'm in the public school 00:16:02.23\00:16:03.70 and I still knew who God was, 00:16:03.73\00:16:06.19 I knew who Jesus was 00:16:06.22\00:16:07.72 and the Sabbath was still Sabbath to me 00:16:07.75\00:16:09.87 and I knew all of that, but nobody else did. 00:16:09.90\00:16:12.87 And so I was really excluded on that 00:16:12.90\00:16:14.99 and even though I wasn't attending church. 00:16:15.02\00:16:17.59 I thought "Hey, if I go to private school 00:16:17.62\00:16:19.32 and I'm with the kids who think the way I think 00:16:19.35\00:16:21.60 and do the things I do, that'll fix everything. 00:16:21.63\00:16:24.69 And I went out to my grandparents again 00:16:24.72\00:16:27.92 for the summer and I went to camp 00:16:27.95\00:16:30.06 and they had pastor who was doing one of those 00:16:30.09\00:16:32.28 altar calls type of thing at the end of the camp. 00:16:32.31\00:16:35.29 And I just sat there and I went, 00:16:35.32\00:16:36.69 I've got to go up there I've got to go up there, 00:16:36.72\00:16:38.22 that's what I want to be a part of, 00:16:38.25\00:16:40.49 and I couldn't get up out of my chair. 00:16:40.52\00:16:42.14 I felt like somebody was sitting on me. 00:16:42.17\00:16:43.84 And I'm sitting there going, 00:16:43.87\00:16:45.24 "God, I know this is what I need to do, 00:16:45.27\00:16:46.64 help me get out of this chair." 00:16:46.67\00:16:48.37 And then a moment I have this feeling like, 00:16:48.40\00:16:50.74 if you don't get up now, 00:16:50.77\00:16:52.14 you're never gonna be able to get up and go. 00:16:52.17\00:16:53.54 And so I stood up 00:16:53.57\00:16:54.94 and it felt like I had lead weights tied to me 00:16:54.97\00:16:56.34 as I was standing up, and I walked and I kid you not, 00:16:56.37\00:16:59.36 it was like somebody might have manacled my feet, 00:16:59.39\00:17:01.64 I could barely take steps. 00:17:01.67\00:17:03.43 And I got up to the altar and I'm like, "This is what I want. 00:17:03.46\00:17:05.84 I want to have God in my life 00:17:05.87\00:17:08.58 and I want to feel like I belong to somebody." 00:17:08.61\00:17:11.48 Amen. And-- 00:17:11.51\00:17:13.39 That's such a powerful for a kid that has all of that stuff, 00:17:13.42\00:17:17.45 does anybody loved me. 00:17:17.48\00:17:19.05 For God through the Holy Spirit to break through to your heart 00:17:19.08\00:17:21.76 and say stand up, I love you. Yeah. 00:17:21.79\00:17:24.48 To me, I wish that everybody could get a sense 00:17:24.51\00:17:27.01 of how amazing that moment was for you. It was. 00:17:27.04\00:17:29.65 It was just-- it was so powerful. 00:17:29.68\00:17:31.59 And I wanted to just keep going, I didn't wanted to stop, 00:17:31.62\00:17:34.35 and then I got back to the cabin 00:17:34.38\00:17:35.75 and I was like, we're done, okay. 00:17:35.78\00:17:38.00 And I'm like, "Really?" That's it, go on-- 00:17:38.03\00:17:40.03 Does anybody gonna come talk to me? I know. 00:17:40.06\00:17:42.72 And I wanted somebody who can talk to me, so God-- 00:17:42.75\00:17:44.12 I really want to turn around. 00:17:44.15\00:17:46.52 You know what I mean? 00:17:46.55\00:17:47.92 Almost to the world and say never do that to a kid 00:17:47.95\00:17:50.62 'cause I don't think we realize 00:17:50.65\00:17:52.12 and in recovery I see this all the time is, 00:17:52.15\00:17:54.63 as we see these injured individuals 00:17:54.66\00:17:57.30 that finally have hope enough to stand up. 00:17:57.33\00:17:59.79 And we don't realize the next step 00:17:59.82\00:18:01.59 and the next step is somebody has got to touch them, 00:18:01.62\00:18:04.27 somebody has got to say, "You know what? Good decision." 00:18:04.30\00:18:07.28 And God loves you and that follow up is critical. Yeah. 00:18:07.31\00:18:10.75 But that didn't happened. 00:18:10.78\00:18:12.15 And I'm glad in a sense that we're gonna cover that 00:18:12.18\00:18:15.07 that didn't happen because your life continues to spiral down, 00:18:15.10\00:18:19.01 even though you had that moment. 00:18:19.04\00:18:21.06 Yeah, it just got worse actually, 00:18:21.09\00:18:22.57 that I might have been like what they call 00:18:22.60\00:18:23.97 mountain top experience 00:18:24.00\00:18:25.37 because for me, that was like the high point 00:18:25.40\00:18:27.44 and then I just kind of roll down the hill after that 00:18:27.47\00:18:29.86 and it just got worse and worse. 00:18:29.89\00:18:31.26 And I started at academy. And I'm from-- 00:18:31.29\00:18:33.46 I'm gonna let you go on, but I want to tell you, I'm sorry. 00:18:33.49\00:18:36.38 All right, go ahead. 00:18:36.41\00:18:38.57 So I started at academy, and I'm from New York City, 00:18:38.60\00:18:41.05 so I'm pretty rough around the edges at this point. 00:18:41.08\00:18:43.27 I've had to, you know, fight my way to having a place 00:18:43.30\00:18:47.53 where I can defend myself 00:18:47.56\00:18:48.93 if somebody is gonna come and attack me and I just really-- 00:18:48.96\00:18:50.77 You had everything, but the plan. Yeah. 00:18:50.80\00:18:54.00 And I just didn't really know what the social norms were 00:18:54.03\00:18:58.63 and I didn't get it and I started feeling that ostracism, 00:18:58.66\00:19:02.85 and so I started hating the kids because, 00:19:02.88\00:19:05.58 you know, they were pulling away from something 00:19:05.61\00:19:07.26 they didn't recognize and so I turned around 00:19:07.29\00:19:09.27 and hated them back for pulling away from me 'cause I'm like, 00:19:09.30\00:19:12.09 "You're supposed to be my kind of people. 00:19:12.12\00:19:13.67 What's going on here?" 00:19:13.70\00:19:15.32 And there was one guy who, you know, was nice to me 00:19:15.35\00:19:19.37 and we started dating 00:19:19.40\00:19:20.77 and I got really hooked into that relationship 00:19:20.80\00:19:22.52 'cause finally I had somebody who's paying attention to me 00:19:22.55\00:19:25.46 and who is telling me that they love me and-- 00:19:25.49\00:19:27.45 And I felt like I belong. 00:19:27.48\00:19:28.85 Yeah, and I felt like I belong. 00:19:28.88\00:19:30.25 And so I just put everything on to that relationship, 00:19:30.28\00:19:32.92 and I allowed it to progress to the point 00:19:32.95\00:19:35.29 where it was sexual, and I was 14 years old. 00:19:35.32\00:19:38.19 And I had no idea what that was gonna do to me. 00:19:38.22\00:19:41.54 And eventually we broke up because it was just, 00:19:41.57\00:19:44.47 you know, it was just too much of intimate thing 00:19:44.50\00:19:47.35 and it was just too hard to, you know, maintain that at-- 00:19:47.38\00:19:50.33 And you were so needy. 00:19:50.36\00:19:51.73 And I was so needy, so needy, and I drove him away 00:19:51.76\00:19:54.13 and it's not his fault, but it was just-- 00:19:54.16\00:19:56.25 But and the reason I say that is that most people come in 00:19:56.28\00:19:59.00 and they judge your behavior and this is just a bad kid 00:19:59.03\00:20:01.31 and I just want to say, no way. No. 00:20:01.34\00:20:03.33 So needy and everything was stacked up 00:20:03.36\00:20:05.72 to make then another wrong decision. Right. 00:20:05.75\00:20:07.98 And I just didn't know how to handle that-- 00:20:08.01\00:20:12.14 not rejection, it wasn't necessarily rejection, 00:20:12.17\00:20:14.41 but having that emptiness again-- 00:20:14.44\00:20:16.13 I'm alone again. I'm alone again. 00:20:16.16\00:20:18.03 And I've been taking some muscle relaxants for pain, 00:20:18.06\00:20:22.16 legitimate, you know, this is from a doctor I can take this, 00:20:22.19\00:20:25.19 but there was 215 of these pills in a bottle. 00:20:25.22\00:20:28.57 And I just sat there around, I can't deal with this anymore, 00:20:28.60\00:20:32.07 I'm tired of being alone and so I took the whole bottle. 00:20:32.10\00:20:34.85 And there would have been-- I've been taking them slowly, 00:20:34.88\00:20:39.18 so I'm gonna guess there is probably 00:20:39.21\00:20:40.58 185 pills left in that bottle and I took the whole-- 00:20:40.61\00:20:43.78 whole lot in one go. 00:20:43.81\00:20:45.32 And my grandmother to this day I don't know what I did to her. 00:20:45.35\00:20:50.97 She came in and she found the bottle empty 00:20:51.00\00:20:52.98 and she asked me and she goes, "Did you take these?" 00:20:53.01\00:20:54.89 And I said, "Yeah, I took them." 00:20:54.92\00:20:57.16 And the next thing I know I'm being run off to the ER 00:20:57.19\00:20:59.77 because, you know, I've taken I don't know how many hundred, 00:20:59.80\00:21:02.32 you know, painkillers 00:21:02.35\00:21:04.62 and they're pumping my stomach and they're looking like, 00:21:04.65\00:21:06.92 "Well, why did you do something so stupid?" 00:21:06.95\00:21:08.74 And I'm looking at the nurse going, 00:21:08.77\00:21:10.63 "Really, do you have any idea?" 00:21:10.66\00:21:14.14 It's like, "Why would you ask me that question? 00:21:14.17\00:21:16.04 Why do you think I took them?" Right. 00:21:16.07\00:21:17.82 And but, you know, 00:21:17.85\00:21:19.39 and then well, this is what I think the devil is so strategic 00:21:19.42\00:21:22.55 because he uses the same words. Yeah. 00:21:22.58\00:21:24.56 You know, the same word 00:21:24.59\00:21:25.96 that you've heard all your whole your life is you're a stupid. 00:21:25.99\00:21:27.91 Why did you do something so stupid? 00:21:27.94\00:21:29.84 And so for you, 00:21:29.87\00:21:31.24 that's just like somebody just slamming you again. Yeah. 00:21:31.27\00:21:34.89 And so, you know, and I guess when I hear that 00:21:34.92\00:21:37.86 I just want to say that 00:21:37.89\00:21:39.26 somebody's got to say the right thing, 00:21:39.29\00:21:41.27 you know, as definitely as Christians, 00:21:41.30\00:21:43.74 but as adults as at sometimes we got to say the right thing 00:21:43.77\00:21:46.57 that this kid took it for reason. 00:21:46.60\00:21:48.97 Yeah, I wasn't-- I wasn't kind of showing off, 00:21:49.00\00:21:51.96 I wasn't, you know-- Trying to get attention. 00:21:51.99\00:21:54.21 May be I was trying to get attention, 00:21:54.24\00:21:55.62 but not it was at the same time it was a real intense pain 00:21:55.65\00:21:58.63 and I was trying to get rid of that pain. 00:21:58.66\00:22:00.80 So they stuck me in the psychiatric ward 00:22:00.83\00:22:02.70 with kids who were in there for anger management problems, 00:22:02.73\00:22:05.58 prostitution and drug addiction, 00:22:05.61\00:22:07.59 and I'm in there for suicide attempt. 00:22:07.62\00:22:09.77 And they're like, we're gonna have group therapy 00:22:09.80\00:22:11.61 and so we do group therapy and it's all about 00:22:11.64\00:22:13.47 why you're not gonna drink alcohol. 00:22:13.50\00:22:15.47 And I'm going, "Oh, why?" I don't drink. 00:22:15.50\00:22:19.13 I'm like, "Wait a minute. I don't--I don't do that." 00:22:19.16\00:22:21.74 And it's like well, how does this help? 00:22:21.77\00:22:23.67 I didn't--I didn't understand that. 00:22:23.70\00:22:25.34 It didn't make any sense to me why it was helping. 00:22:25.37\00:22:28.52 And I had no respect for the staff at that point 00:22:28.55\00:22:32.14 'cause they would come in and they're like, 00:22:32.17\00:22:33.54 all you're gonna go do this group therapy thing? 00:22:33.57\00:22:35.29 And it had nothing to do it what my issues were. 00:22:35.32\00:22:39.73 And finally they got me into see the psychiatrist, 00:22:39.76\00:22:42.73 and the psychiatrist sits there and he's got his notepad 00:22:42.76\00:22:46.56 and I'm sitting on the couch, you know, across the room 00:22:46.59\00:22:49.10 and he does one of these things, and he goes, 00:22:49.13\00:22:51.52 "Okay, tell me how your week has been." 00:22:51.55\00:22:53.81 And I'm like, "It's been bad. 00:22:53.84\00:22:58.63 You know, what do you think?" 00:22:58.66\00:23:00.81 Until you will see this here your life stop, leave me. 00:23:00.84\00:23:04.74 You know, 'cause I think that you've got all that 00:23:04.77\00:23:06.61 rebellion and that anger and that stuff 00:23:06.64\00:23:08.85 and to have somebody to really look at a pad more than you. 00:23:08.88\00:23:11.35 Yeah. He never looks at me. 00:23:11.38\00:23:12.75 There is no--yeah, there's no way. 00:23:12.78\00:23:14.68 And that's another thing is that 00:23:14.71\00:23:16.09 there is no way you're gonna open up. 00:23:16.12\00:23:17.93 And I can't even--my heart just breaks when you say that. 00:23:17.96\00:23:20.68 It just--it was one of those things 00:23:20.71\00:23:22.23 where I sat there and I went, you want me to tell you 00:23:22.26\00:23:23.75 how my week has been. 00:23:23.78\00:23:25.15 What do you think it's been like? 00:23:25.18\00:23:26.58 You know, no, it's been great. 00:23:26.61\00:23:28.16 Actually, you know, everybody is welcome me back to school, 00:23:28.19\00:23:30.48 they don't think I'm a freak, my boyfriend's taken me back, 00:23:30.51\00:23:32.89 it's great, you know, kind of like, "Really?" 00:23:32.92\00:23:36.22 And, you know, they put me on antidepressants and just, 00:23:36.25\00:23:39.19 you know, for teenager that's like giving them dynamite. 00:23:39.22\00:23:42.23 You know, and I was on antidepressants. 00:23:42.26\00:23:44.18 I went up and I went down and I'm all over the place. 00:23:44.21\00:23:46.41 And sometimes suicide and even homicidal stuff is exaggerated. 00:23:46.44\00:23:50.54 And I got more suicidal for that too. 00:23:50.57\00:23:53.20 I was one of those people I had that reaction. 00:23:53.23\00:23:55.07 I would just come up real high and then I crash real low 00:23:55.10\00:23:58.11 and the kids at school would pull even further away 00:23:58.14\00:24:00.03 'cause now I'm really a freak. 00:24:00.06\00:24:02.21 They don't know how you're gonna be any given time. 00:24:02.24\00:24:04.41 And so they would make fun of me in the hallways and stuff 00:24:04.44\00:24:06.92 and I'd just, I sat there and I went, 00:24:06.95\00:24:08.32 "You guys are all awful, I can't stand you. 00:24:08.35\00:24:10.59 You have no value at all in my life." 00:24:10.62\00:24:13.45 And I went through three years of that academy 00:24:13.48\00:24:16.47 and then my parents would finally say-- 00:24:16.50\00:24:20.44 they would call up one day and say, 00:24:20.47\00:24:22.37 "Oh, we're gonna buy house. 00:24:22.40\00:24:24.40 Okay, well, next year we're gonna buy house. Okay." 00:24:24.43\00:24:28.26 Well, my junior, they finally did buy the house 00:24:28.29\00:24:30.74 and they said, "We'd like you to move home." 00:24:30.77\00:24:32.41 And I said, "Sure, I will do anything 00:24:32.44\00:24:34.00 I can to get away from this because I'm so tired of this." 00:24:34.03\00:24:36.95 I don't fit. Yeah, I don't fit. 00:24:36.98\00:24:38.83 They don't want to be friends with me. 00:24:38.86\00:24:40.76 The youth pastor won't even talk with me 00:24:40.79\00:24:42.46 and have a serious conversation with me. 00:24:42.49\00:24:44.94 I said, "I can't handle this anymore." 00:24:44.97\00:24:46.34 What's really--what's really tough in the situation you have, 00:24:46.37\00:24:49.93 and tell me if this is true for you 00:24:49.96\00:24:51.33 or sometimes we can't stand ourselves? 00:24:51.36\00:24:53.21 You know, I know that I'm all over the board 00:24:53.24\00:24:55.03 and I know that I don't fit in 00:24:55.06\00:24:56.52 and I know that I don't know how to talk 00:24:56.55\00:24:58.20 and I know that was stupid for me to say, 00:24:58.23\00:25:00.88 and yet I don't feel like I have any control. 00:25:00.91\00:25:03.31 My emotional junk is following me. 00:25:03.34\00:25:07.08 It's like tied to me. Yeah. And I did things wrong. 00:25:07.11\00:25:10.87 I know I did, but I just didn't know how to do them right 00:25:10.90\00:25:13.29 and I didn't have anybody showing me how to do them right. 00:25:13.32\00:25:16.42 My grandparents were busy, 00:25:16.45\00:25:17.82 struggling with trying do raise me. 00:25:17.85\00:25:19.65 You know, here I'm this volatile teenager 00:25:19.68\00:25:21.94 and I've got, you know, issues all over the map 00:25:21.97\00:25:24.46 and I'm grabbing onto whatever is there as a lifeline, 00:25:24.49\00:25:27.94 just going please somebody save me. 00:25:27.97\00:25:29.34 Whatever comforts you? Right. 00:25:29.37\00:25:30.80 And I go home to New York in the summers 00:25:30.83\00:25:33.76 and I'll be back in that volatile world of my home. 00:25:33.79\00:25:36.77 And so I would just go out to any party 00:25:36.80\00:25:38.77 'cause there's parties in New York City 00:25:38.80\00:25:41.27 that a teenager can get into. 00:25:41.30\00:25:43.23 And they'll hand you alcohol, they'll hand you drugs then, 00:25:43.26\00:25:46.36 you know, and the backrooms and, you know, sleep with you 00:25:46.39\00:25:49.74 because, you know, hey, why not you're there? 00:25:49.77\00:25:52.07 So now that we talked about 00:25:52.10\00:25:53.47 during the first part of the program is that 00:25:53.50\00:25:55.21 when you take something or find something 00:25:55.24\00:25:57.73 that for even a moment gives you comfort 00:25:57.76\00:26:00.50 how addicting that becomes. 00:26:00.53\00:26:02.26 It was very addictive. Yeah. 00:26:02.29\00:26:03.66 And for me, it was going to guys and finding that love for, 00:26:03.69\00:26:06.36 even if it was just for 15 minutes, 00:26:06.39\00:26:08.64 it was something that I felt that was-- 00:26:08.67\00:26:10.04 I just want to cry for you 'cause, you know, 00:26:10.07\00:26:11.48 I know so many kids that, you know, 00:26:11.51\00:26:14.73 for them to make a statement 00:26:14.76\00:26:16.16 even if it's just for 15 minutes, my heart breaks. 00:26:16.19\00:26:18.81 And I just want to say is, man, we got to wake up to that. 00:26:18.84\00:26:22.80 We do. And it's I don't think I'm the only one. 00:26:22.83\00:26:26.08 And I had friends who just took it even further, 00:26:26.11\00:26:29.52 they got into prostitution, they got into gangs. 00:26:29.55\00:26:32.79 You know, my friends that I was in, 00:26:32.82\00:26:34.19 we took it to kind of the occult level. 00:26:34.22\00:26:36.29 We got into vampirism, which means 00:26:36.32\00:26:38.11 that if in order for me to show that I trust you, 00:26:38.14\00:26:42.13 I have to let you hurt me. 00:26:42.16\00:26:44.51 So I'm gonna let you cut me open and let me bleed. 00:26:44.54\00:26:47.93 And I'm gonna bleed for you 00:26:47.96\00:26:49.33 and that's how I'm gonna prove that I trust you. 00:26:49.36\00:26:51.88 And that you're okay-- And people don't realize that 00:26:51.91\00:26:53.56 that is not an uncommon thing, yeah. 00:26:53.59\00:26:56.51 No, it's not, you know, cutting on yourself 00:26:56.54\00:26:58.90 'cause you're in pain, it's like, 00:26:58.93\00:27:00.30 I'm gonna take this trust level up a notch 00:27:00.33\00:27:02.66 'cause I need to trust somebody that much. 00:27:02.69\00:27:04.21 Yeah, go ahead. 00:27:04.24\00:27:05.61 So, yeah, and then you take it, 00:27:05.64\00:27:08.74 you know, from just the trust level into the sexual nature 00:27:08.77\00:27:11.15 and the whole thing just become so ridiculously demonic. 00:27:11.18\00:27:14.70 I mean, it is, it really truly is. 00:27:14.73\00:27:17.23 And it just distorts your idea of what love is, 00:27:17.26\00:27:20.38 relationship is supposed to be like and, you know, 00:27:20.41\00:27:23.70 what trust is supposed to feel like, 00:27:23.73\00:27:25.38 and you don't feel like, you can trust anybody 00:27:25.41\00:27:27.11 'cause even the people you trust are 00:27:27.14\00:27:28.51 literally they're hurting you. 00:27:28.54\00:27:30.40 So I moved back with my parents 00:27:30.43\00:27:34.03 and got in with another boyfriend 00:27:34.06\00:27:37.57 and I'm, you know, it was pretty bad. 00:27:37.60\00:27:40.27 And being able to say when you would say, 00:27:40.30\00:27:42.34 I moved back and I got in with another boyfriend 00:27:42.37\00:27:44.49 is at that point in your life, 00:27:44.52\00:27:45.98 I don't know how to stand on my own? 00:27:46.01\00:27:47.76 No. I have never done it. 00:27:47.79\00:27:49.16 And if somebody even said, 00:27:49.19\00:27:51.68 "You know, stand up, just be yourself." 00:27:51.71\00:27:54.19 You're like, what does that mean? 00:27:54.22\00:27:56.00 I had no idea. 00:27:56.03\00:27:57.40 And for me, I thought, you know, 00:27:57.43\00:27:58.80 if I move back to with my parents 00:27:58.83\00:28:00.20 maybe I could start over 'cause my mom was like, 00:28:00.23\00:28:02.07 "Well, you can always start over." 00:28:02.10\00:28:04.51 And I totally believe that you can truly always start over, 00:28:04.54\00:28:07.79 but at that point I maybe started over 10 or 15 times. 00:28:07.82\00:28:11.41 And I didn't know what that meant anymore. 00:28:11.44\00:28:13.76 So I know, you know, 00:28:13.79\00:28:16.60 that we are like on a time limit, 00:28:16.63\00:28:19.26 just doing a program like this. 00:28:19.29\00:28:20.94 So I got to say, you know, what happened? 00:28:20.97\00:28:23.32 What started this kind of? How did you turn this around? 00:28:23.35\00:28:27.21 How did God come in? 00:28:27.24\00:28:29.11 'Cause I want to just grab you 00:28:29.14\00:28:30.66 and just rescue you like, "Stop, don't do--" 00:28:30.69\00:28:33.23 Don't do anymore. Don't do anymore. 00:28:33.26\00:28:35.96 Well, that boyfriend I'd gone down to visit him in New York 00:28:35.99\00:28:38.95 and he had gotten pretty tired of me at that point, 00:28:38.98\00:28:42.19 and so he was like, "Well, how can I miss you 00:28:42.22\00:28:44.65 if you're never gone type of thing." 00:28:44.68\00:28:46.33 Was what he told me? And it's a same message. 00:28:46.36\00:28:48.69 The devil is so strategic. 00:28:48.72\00:28:50.09 If you don't sit here, I will love you. 00:28:50.12\00:28:52.54 You know, the message in your life it's like, 00:28:52.57\00:28:54.93 it's just the same. 00:28:54.96\00:28:56.45 And, you know, for people in recovery, 00:28:56.48\00:28:58.83 I would love you to start listening to the message 00:28:58.86\00:29:00.87 'cause a devil doesn't change that much-- 00:29:00.90\00:29:02.54 It doesn't, it's maybe a work here or work there. 00:29:02.57\00:29:04.74 Yeah. And I was so broken. 00:29:04.77\00:29:06.62 I walked out to there is a bridge near the mall 00:29:06.65\00:29:09.22 where I'd been and I stood on the bridge and it was-- 00:29:09.25\00:29:13.09 I don't know how far above the water is, 00:29:13.12\00:29:15.05 but it's one of the New York City bridges 00:29:15.08\00:29:16.90 and I was gonna jump off. 00:29:16.93\00:29:18.30 Right then in there I had decided 00:29:18.33\00:29:20.47 and I started arguing with God. 00:29:20.50\00:29:22.53 Of all the things I'm arguing with God about 00:29:22.56\00:29:24.89 why I'm gonna do this. 00:29:24.92\00:29:26.29 And I'm telling Him, "God, it's not you, it's me really." 00:29:26.32\00:29:29.87 Yeah, I don't want You to feel bad about this. 00:29:29.90\00:29:32.19 It's not your fault that I'm gonna commit suicide. 00:29:32.22\00:29:34.50 You didn't do anything. This is all me. 00:29:34.53\00:29:35.90 I just can't make it work anymore. 00:29:35.93\00:29:38.15 And I heard God in my head going don't--don't do it. 00:29:38.18\00:29:43.21 And I'm like, "You don't understand." 00:29:43.24\00:29:45.59 I can't do it anymore. I'm tired. 00:29:45.62\00:29:48.16 And I said, "God, I need a different life." 00:29:48.19\00:29:50.58 And He goes, "If you don't do it I'll give you a different life." 00:29:50.61\00:29:54.65 And I'm sooner going, "Well, what if I got to loose really?" 00:29:54.68\00:29:59.78 You know, and I go, "Okay, God, You're gonna have to put-- 00:29:59.81\00:30:02.26 You're gonna have to fix everything 00:30:02.29\00:30:03.89 'cause I have just completely messed it up at this point." 00:30:03.92\00:30:06.49 And so I turned around, walked off the bridge 00:30:06.52\00:30:10.65 which I have to explain. 00:30:10.68\00:30:12.05 The bridge I was on nobody else was on it. 00:30:12.08\00:30:14.03 There were no cars passing by. There were no people walking by. 00:30:14.06\00:30:16.60 If I'd jumped, nobody would have been able to stop me. 00:30:16.63\00:30:19.62 And so I turned around and I walked off 00:30:19.65\00:30:21.43 and I still had two more low points 00:30:21.46\00:30:25.03 because I got pregnant twice after that, 00:30:25.06\00:30:27.67 and I had two abortions. 00:30:27.70\00:30:29.60 And I really came this close to committing suicide 00:30:29.63\00:30:33.23 after those because it was just-- I was like, "That's it. 00:30:33.26\00:30:35.62 I've screwed it up. I'm beyond fixing." 00:30:35.65\00:30:38.33 Even, you know, and to me were there are lot of people 00:30:38.36\00:30:40.40 don't realize even when you step into the, you know, 00:30:40.43\00:30:42.88 well, now I've hand an abortion is not only have I hurt myself, 00:30:42.91\00:30:46.16 but I have hurt someone else, I have murdered my own child, 00:30:46.19\00:30:49.49 and it almost seems like there is no light 00:30:49.52\00:30:53.77 at the--there's-- I can't. 00:30:53.80\00:30:55.89 I'm not redeemable. I'm not, yeah. 00:30:55.92\00:30:57.72 I've got--I got that that I've gone too far. 00:30:57.75\00:31:00.77 And God kept working with me, and kept working with me, 00:31:00.80\00:31:02.85 and kept working with me, 00:31:02.88\00:31:04.27 and I'd sit in the shower and pour my heart out to God 00:31:04.30\00:31:07.57 and He's like, "I'm gonna fix it. 00:31:07.60\00:31:08.97 I'm gonna fix it." Yeah. 00:31:09.00\00:31:10.37 And so that counseling thing 00:31:10.40\00:31:13.11 that I had with that psychiatrist, 00:31:13.14\00:31:14.51 I remember looking at him and thinking you're so awful. 00:31:14.54\00:31:17.26 Nobody should have to have a psychiatrist like you. 00:31:17.29\00:31:19.59 So I spent-- from the time 00:31:19.62\00:31:21.07 I was 14 until the time I completed college 00:31:21.10\00:31:23.85 and working in psychiatric clinics 00:31:23.88\00:31:26.47 to get experience and I took a bachelors degree in psychology 00:31:26.50\00:31:29.60 and I went and--right after that 00:31:29.63\00:31:31.00 I got my master's degree in clinical psych. 00:31:31.03\00:31:33.07 'cause I said, "Nobody should ever have to have 00:31:33.10\00:31:35.10 a counselor that does not care." 00:31:35.13\00:31:37.65 Yeah, that does not even look at them. 00:31:37.68\00:31:39.47 And so I started doing my internship 00:31:39.50\00:31:43.06 and I worked with kids and I saw these kids who-- 00:31:43.09\00:31:46.19 they might coming from loving families, 00:31:46.22\00:31:47.66 it doesn't mean that their parents don't love them, 00:31:47.69\00:31:49.16 but they're still floundering. 00:31:49.19\00:31:51.50 And I'm like, "These are kids that we need to be reach out." 00:31:51.53\00:31:53.83 And I totally understood, I totally got 00:31:53.86\00:31:55.68 where they were coming from and I can look at them and go, 00:31:55.71\00:31:57.66 "Yeah, I get that. 00:31:57.69\00:31:59.06 I get where you're at because I've been there." 00:31:59.09\00:32:01.34 Right. I understand, and-- 00:32:01.37\00:32:03.49 Now what's really interesting to me, 00:32:03.52\00:32:05.22 Asheley, is that I really believe that probably 00:32:05.25\00:32:07.68 during even your education 00:32:07.71\00:32:09.08 that God did incredible healing in your life. 00:32:09.11\00:32:11.10 There was--I think it was, but it was so subtle, 00:32:11.13\00:32:14.32 I didn't know when it was happening 00:32:14.35\00:32:16.30 because now I can sit there 00:32:16.33\00:32:17.70 and look at all of them and I go, 00:32:17.73\00:32:19.10 "That's over there. That's not me anymore." 00:32:19.13\00:32:22.13 To me, is the counselor who wants to work 00:32:22.16\00:32:24.50 and help feel--help people feel better about themselves 00:32:24.53\00:32:28.48 and find a way to get pass that pain 00:32:28.51\00:32:31.74 and to have relationships. 00:32:31.77\00:32:33.80 When did you feel like? You know what? 00:32:33.83\00:32:36.49 I think I'm in my own skin and I like it 'cause I know-- 00:32:36.52\00:32:41.93 I'm still getting there. Good. But, you know what? 00:32:41.96\00:32:43.95 'Cause I've--you know, you and I have had lunch before 00:32:43.98\00:32:46.11 and I sense that about you is that God is allowing you, 00:32:46.14\00:32:50.49 you know, through the count and through what you do, 00:32:50.52\00:32:52.81 but he is allowing you to be in your own skin 00:32:52.84\00:32:54.71 and actually liking it. 00:32:54.74\00:32:56.51 So the healing even though it's been subtle, 00:32:56.54\00:32:58.91 it has been relentless. 00:32:58.94\00:33:00.31 It has been. 00:33:00.34\00:33:01.71 It's--it took me getting married and having three children. 00:33:01.74\00:33:05.73 In my head, this is probably going to sound weird, 00:33:05.76\00:33:07.42 but I look at them as replacing the two that I aborted, 00:33:07.45\00:33:11.78 but they are my life. 00:33:11.81\00:33:14.17 And everything I do-- my work, I do it for God. 00:33:14.20\00:33:18.00 And I can tell, He is there, He talks back to me, 00:33:18.03\00:33:20.93 I have that conversation and it's like, 00:33:20.96\00:33:23.40 I screwed up as my life might be going for a moment. 00:33:23.43\00:33:26.27 I know that, "Hey, he's gonna pull me through." 00:33:26.30\00:33:28.60 And now when I have those moments of depression 00:33:28.63\00:33:30.60 'cause they still hit, it's not gonna go away. 00:33:30.63\00:33:33.02 I don't have depression for two weeks anymore at a time. 00:33:33.05\00:33:35.67 Now it's maybe I have a day 00:33:35.70\00:33:37.65 and I know who my support group is, 00:33:37.68\00:33:39.67 I know who my friends are that I can go to and go. 00:33:39.70\00:33:42.02 I'm--you got to help me. 00:33:42.05\00:33:43.42 I'm like totally spiraling out here and they go, 00:33:43.45\00:33:46.18 "We're here with you. It's okay." 00:33:46.21\00:33:48.38 And it's just awesome to have that, and to know 00:33:48.41\00:33:50.71 that my husband loves me for everything 00:33:50.74\00:33:53.14 and he knows everything about me. 00:33:53.17\00:33:54.54 Right. And he loves me anyway. 00:33:54.57\00:33:55.94 Your friends love you. Yeah, my friends love me. 00:33:55.97\00:33:58.22 You know, it's like, I sit there and I go I have 00:33:58.25\00:34:00.09 everything now that I wanted so much growing up. 00:34:00.12\00:34:03.83 Except for the plane. Except for the plane. 00:34:03.86\00:34:06.20 But, you know, even-- You know, I have to say that, 00:34:06.23\00:34:08.66 you know, in all of our recovery 00:34:08.69\00:34:10.18 we do really wanted to happen overnight 00:34:10.21\00:34:12.53 and God says, "You got to trust me. 00:34:12.56\00:34:14.62 As you surrender to me, as you really make 00:34:14.65\00:34:17.42 the commitment like on the bridge, 00:34:17.45\00:34:18.82 you made a commitment to live, 00:34:18.85\00:34:20.22 as you make that commitment I am going to-- 00:34:20.25\00:34:22.33 you may not even see the changes, 00:34:22.36\00:34:24.32 but I'm gonna make changes in your life." 00:34:24.35\00:34:26.19 And so what I think is hysterical about 00:34:26.22\00:34:28.80 where He is taking you right now, 00:34:28.83\00:34:30.60 is that we go to the same church. 00:34:30.63\00:34:32.27 Yeah. I love you. 00:34:32.30\00:34:34.03 You know, I watch you with your kids, and your family. 00:34:34.06\00:34:36.85 And at one point, we needed someone 00:34:36.88\00:34:39.64 to work with their adolescence. 00:34:39.67\00:34:41.37 Yes. Oh, my goodness. 00:34:41.40\00:34:43.25 I have to explain I did not want to work 00:34:43.28\00:34:45.00 with adolescents because I had been one 00:34:45.03\00:34:47.24 and I see here going, "Why would I do this to myself?" 00:34:47.27\00:34:51.26 And I had a foreign exchange student living with us 00:34:51.29\00:34:54.36 and she said, "Well, 00:34:54.39\00:34:55.76 I don't know why I go to church." 00:34:55.79\00:34:57.16 And I sat there and I went, it clicked, 00:34:57.19\00:34:59.26 you know, it's like God was saying, "That's it. 00:34:59.29\00:35:00.94 That's why you've got to go do this." 00:35:00.97\00:35:02.35 And I went, "Kids don't know. 00:35:02.38\00:35:05.26 They don't have that personal relationship with Jesus." 00:35:05.29\00:35:08.01 And if we don't help them develop that, 00:35:08.04\00:35:11.42 it doesn't matter what we teach 00:35:11.45\00:35:12.89 them about going to church or how to live. 00:35:12.92\00:35:15.20 If they don't have that relationship, 00:35:15.23\00:35:16.60 they're gonna end up floundering just like I did. 00:35:16.63\00:35:18.41 Right, in not all kids, but you're talking about, 00:35:18.44\00:35:20.24 you know, lot of kids go, they don't know 00:35:20.27\00:35:22.00 why they're going, they're not connecting with each other. 00:35:22.03\00:35:24.44 And your heart said, "Oh, I remember that. 00:35:24.47\00:35:26.88 I know how that feels." Yes. 00:35:26.91\00:35:28.86 And you've got to have something there to pull them in. 00:35:28.89\00:35:32.11 And I love 'cause at that moment, 00:35:32.14\00:35:33.86 you knew you had to say yes. 00:35:33.89\00:35:35.26 I was like, "Yeah, sort of like you're going really, God, 00:35:35.29\00:35:37.15 you knew I didn't want to work with adolescents." 00:35:37.18\00:35:39.15 And now I need to go around help find the youth program 00:35:39.18\00:35:41.31 and we've been running it. 00:35:41.34\00:35:42.71 And I'm having the best time in my life. 00:35:42.74\00:35:44.85 The kids that I worked with, 00:35:44.88\00:35:46.80 you know, they are just some of the most awesome kids-- 00:35:46.83\00:35:49.83 With issues-- And they do. 00:35:49.86\00:35:51.27 They all have--they all have their issues even if it's, 00:35:51.30\00:35:53.76 you know, time management some of them are doing really great 00:35:53.79\00:35:56.16 and they just have time management issues for school. 00:35:56.19\00:35:58.77 Other kids, you know, their world might 00:35:58.80\00:36:00.79 as well just be completely upside down. 00:36:00.82\00:36:02.80 They don't know what house 00:36:02.83\00:36:04.20 they're gonna live in this weekend, 00:36:04.23\00:36:05.60 you know, they don't know what's happening, 00:36:05.63\00:36:07.59 and they're just going, "What do we do? 00:36:07.62\00:36:10.92 How do we make this work?" 00:36:10.95\00:36:12.70 And so to me, it's--can you explain 00:36:12.73\00:36:16.38 how God not only reaches in our life 00:36:16.41\00:36:18.81 'cause I loved the way He reached in your life 00:36:18.84\00:36:20.61 even on that bridge and all through your education, 00:36:20.64\00:36:23.98 but then how does He wake up that passion and, 00:36:24.01\00:36:26.38 you know, that that's--that's 00:36:26.41\00:36:28.27 what He anointed me for, that's what this gift is for. 00:36:28.30\00:36:31.21 It was kind of like, I sat there and I went, 00:36:31.24\00:36:32.88 when I'm arguing back with God, 00:36:32.91\00:36:34.52 it's probably something I'm supposed to do. 00:36:34.55\00:36:38.31 And the more I've started working with the kids 00:36:38.34\00:36:40.57 and seeing what they needed, the more I sat there I went, 00:36:40.60\00:36:43.21 "Hey, I know how to fix that because I've been there, 00:36:43.24\00:36:47.02 I've had that peace missing, so I know how to fill that in." 00:36:47.05\00:36:51.87 And we started making relationships with the kids 00:36:51.90\00:36:54.85 and they know that they can come to us whenever. 00:36:54.88\00:36:58.21 I've got-- I've got 00:36:58.24\00:36:59.61 what I call a 24-hours cell phone service. 00:36:59.64\00:37:01.22 You can call me up anytime of the day 00:37:01.25\00:37:02.82 and I will talk with you. 00:37:02.85\00:37:04.33 I've had kids call me up in the middle of the night-- 00:37:04.36\00:37:06.76 And, you know, what really interesting? 00:37:06.79\00:37:08.16 I've got to say for somebody that will think, you know, 00:37:08.19\00:37:09.99 that sounds a little bit codependent or whatever. 00:37:10.02\00:37:12.90 Some of the kids that we have are literally in blended 00:37:12.93\00:37:16.77 families, mothers an addict, dealing with that kind of stuff. 00:37:16.80\00:37:20.56 And so what you and your husband 00:37:20.59\00:37:21.96 decided is to behave-- let these kids have access 00:37:21.99\00:37:25.96 to their youth directors at the church. 00:37:25.99\00:37:29.05 And so, you know, even though it may sound. 00:37:29.08\00:37:33.28 I mean, there is little bit of be careful with that. 00:37:33.31\00:37:36.14 You guys are careful with that. We are very careful with it. 00:37:36.17\00:37:38.58 And part of that thing to is I'm a--since I'm a counselor, 00:37:38.61\00:37:40.96 I'm a licensed counselor now, especially in the city of Idaho. 00:37:40.99\00:37:44.75 It's very--I have to be very careful with my boundaries. 00:37:44.78\00:37:48.88 So the kids know that the girls come to me. 00:37:48.91\00:37:52.90 The boys go to my husband Brad, 00:37:52.93\00:37:55.12 and we have a very strict boundary on here's 00:37:55.15\00:37:58.04 what we're gonna do and here's when we can do it, 00:37:58.07\00:38:00.39 but if you are in crisis don't-- you know, not call me, 00:38:00.42\00:38:03.92 call me 'cause if you're-- if you're not point of, 00:38:03.95\00:38:06.39 you know, downing the bottle's pills. 00:38:06.42\00:38:07.83 I'd rather have you on the phone with me 00:38:07.86\00:38:09.49 because I can call the emergency services-- 00:38:09.52\00:38:11.71 And we're your church? 00:38:11.74\00:38:13.60 Yeah, I'm part of your church family, 00:38:13.63\00:38:15.00 and it's like, I want to be there for you 00:38:15.03\00:38:16.68 and not make you feel like, 00:38:16.71\00:38:18.08 you have nobody that you can turn so. 00:38:18.11\00:38:20.09 So now the next thing which I think is funny. 00:38:20.12\00:38:22.59 So the next thing is you and your husband decide 00:38:22.62\00:38:29.42 that maybe the church is in our conference, 00:38:29.45\00:38:33.33 so it's like I love the way God does that, 00:38:33.36\00:38:35.43 it's like okay so now our youth group is running really well. 00:38:35.46\00:38:37.63 Yeah. Yeah. 00:38:37.66\00:38:39.30 Kids are feeling comfortable coming to Christ, 00:38:39.33\00:38:42.42 literally having a stronger relationship 00:38:42.45\00:38:45.04 and being able to just settle in who they are spiritually, 00:38:45.07\00:38:48.37 having a connection with the body, I mean, 00:38:48.40\00:38:51.62 you know, when they walk around, 00:38:51.65\00:38:53.02 they really look at everybody as family now, 00:38:53.05\00:38:55.03 so all of that is being developed really well. 00:38:55.06\00:38:57.65 And then God tells you well, 00:38:57.68\00:38:59.05 what about the other churches in the conference. 00:38:59.08\00:39:00.49 It was, He didn't just tell me later. 00:39:00.52\00:39:02.40 It was like I got the whole thing in one whammy. 00:39:02.43\00:39:05.07 It was just we're gonna do all of it at one time 00:39:05.10\00:39:07.86 and the first thing was to fix the church that you're in. 00:39:07.89\00:39:10.71 So we started working on the program. 00:39:10.74\00:39:12.56 And then I sat there and I went, well, 00:39:12.59\00:39:13.96 why is our church here and there is another church over here 00:39:13.99\00:39:16.62 and there is like another church over here 00:39:16.65\00:39:18.09 and we're not talking and I had and idea 00:39:18.12\00:39:20.69 who my conference leaders, you know, 00:39:20.72\00:39:23.64 who they were and how I suppose to utilize 00:39:23.67\00:39:25.77 those resources and God's like, I would love to see happen. 00:39:25.80\00:39:30.88 And He is telling me, this kind of like inside of my head 00:39:30.91\00:39:33.18 type of thing is we need to get 00:39:33.21\00:39:35.24 the churches working together, you know-- 00:39:35.27\00:39:37.07 Especially with our youth, yeah. With our youth. 00:39:37.10\00:39:39.39 And so now we're working there, 00:39:39.42\00:39:41.56 I've been meeting with some of the other church leaders 00:39:41.59\00:39:43.82 and youth leaders specifically. 00:39:43.85\00:39:45.37 And we're looking at how do we bring 00:39:45.40\00:39:46.77 the youth together for big events 00:39:46.80\00:39:48.72 to just get that support system going. 00:39:48.75\00:39:51.71 And it doesn't mean that we're gonna do everything that way, 00:39:51.74\00:39:53.94 I mean, we still have our own little church events, 00:39:53.97\00:39:56.13 but now we're taking it to the conference level, 00:39:56.16\00:39:57.88 so that the kids see that they have 00:39:57.91\00:39:59.28 this whole network that is out there. 00:39:59.31\00:40:01.29 And, you know, what I love is that, 00:40:01.32\00:40:04.79 because of where you're wounded and that says, 00:40:04.82\00:40:08.45 you are stepping into the church 00:40:08.48\00:40:10.27 and healing that wound for the church, 00:40:10.30\00:40:13.47 because God healed it for you. 00:40:13.50\00:40:15.02 And that's where I think that recovery and spirituality 00:40:15.05\00:40:18.97 and who got is it's just brilliant. 00:40:19.00\00:40:21.10 I think, you know, I want to kiss, God on the face, 00:40:21.13\00:40:23.17 I just think you're brilliant that He just takes 00:40:23.20\00:40:25.69 everything about who we are and blesses us. 00:40:25.72\00:40:29.36 I would like to open it up. 00:40:29.39\00:40:31.61 We don't have a much time, but open it up 00:40:31.64\00:40:33.35 for a few questions before we close. 00:40:33.38\00:40:36.21 And so I know that, you know, 00:40:36.24\00:40:38.51 you guys have been just hearing this testimony 00:40:38.54\00:40:41.28 and this incredible journey 00:40:41.31\00:40:43.00 and so I was wondering if anyone had a question for Asheley. 00:40:43.03\00:40:48.27 I've one. So Brad. 00:40:48.30\00:40:50.28 Asheley, I just want to say, thank you so much, 00:40:50.31\00:40:52.16 for sharing us someone who I've seen in my church 00:40:52.19\00:40:54.56 I had no idea and just God bless you. 00:40:54.59\00:40:57.84 My question to you, 00:40:57.87\00:40:59.24 and Cheri and I are actually are parents of a child 00:40:59.27\00:41:02.69 who took a bottle of pills once. 00:41:02.72\00:41:05.69 And I want to, you know, having to go with her 00:41:05.72\00:41:07.61 to a psych facility which for a few hours and stuff. 00:41:07.64\00:41:10.81 Can you, talk just a little bit of more about 00:41:10.84\00:41:13.54 like teen suicidal just say even in Idaho? 00:41:13.57\00:41:17.05 Teen suicide it's a big problem like 00:41:17.08\00:41:20.10 I know the statistics kind of change every year 00:41:20.13\00:41:23.18 and what the rate is, but I think what I saw this last time 00:41:23.21\00:41:26.10 was that Idaho ranks number third in the nation for suicide. 00:41:26.13\00:41:29.76 I think Washington and Alaska were head of us. 00:41:29.79\00:41:33.48 So it's a real issue and what it is a lack of kids 00:41:33.51\00:41:37.69 feeling like they have somebody they can go to 00:41:37.72\00:41:40.38 talk about their problems and the pain just builds up. 00:41:40.41\00:41:43.46 And so they're only out. 00:41:43.49\00:41:45.87 It seems to them is that they feel is to commit suicide, 00:41:45.90\00:41:49.17 because everything else, you know, 00:41:49.20\00:41:51.61 it might look perfect from the outside, 00:41:51.64\00:41:53.50 but what's going on inside is not perfect 00:41:53.53\00:41:56.31 and so that's tends to be what I think happens is that, 00:41:56.34\00:42:01.46 you know, they feel like I've got nobody 00:42:01.49\00:42:02.96 I can talk to about this, nobody is gonna understand. 00:42:02.99\00:42:05.64 I don't want to go to mom and dad, 00:42:05.67\00:42:07.04 'cause mom and dad will wholly freak out which, 00:42:07.07\00:42:09.28 you know, we do, we do freak out, 00:42:09.31\00:42:10.80 because something is wrong with our kid and we want to fix it. 00:42:10.83\00:42:13.77 But they don't feel like they have somebody safe that-- 00:42:13.80\00:42:15.71 And even so when they do go to somebody and there are times 00:42:15.74\00:42:18.08 when people say,"Oh, you shouldn't feel that way." 00:42:18.11\00:42:20.60 Instead of allowing them to feel. 00:42:20.63\00:42:23.10 We have one more question, Melody, 00:42:23.13\00:42:25.21 I know that you had a question. 00:42:25.24\00:42:27.08 Yes, Asheley, I think you're remarkable lady, 00:42:27.11\00:42:29.26 but I want you to expand 00:42:29.29\00:42:30.66 a little bit more on that vampirism. 00:42:30.69\00:42:32.89 I've never heard of that before. 00:42:32.92\00:42:34.54 Okay, vampirism for those who don't know it's technically 00:42:34.57\00:42:38.21 it's a sexual fetish which does not make it in addiction, 00:42:38.24\00:42:41.70 but it can also become an addiction and what it is, 00:42:41.73\00:42:44.93 is you literally you cut on your skin anywhere, 00:42:44.96\00:42:48.60 you know, it can be here, it can be on your arm 00:42:48.63\00:42:51.13 and you allow somebody else to drink your blood. 00:42:51.16\00:42:53.73 And the idea is that it's a form of trust building 00:42:53.76\00:42:58.51 if you're taking on that level, 00:42:58.54\00:42:59.98 if you're taking it on the relationship level, 00:43:00.01\00:43:01.80 it's a form of trust where I'm trusting you to hurt me, 00:43:01.83\00:43:05.65 but not cut me so bad 00:43:05.68\00:43:07.31 that I will bleed to death type of thing. 00:43:07.34\00:43:09.87 And it's a very--I don't even know how to put it nicely. 00:43:09.90\00:43:14.89 It's just a very distorted view 00:43:14.92\00:43:16.62 of what a relationship is supposed to be like, 00:43:16.65\00:43:19.08 what trust and love are supposed to be-- 00:43:19.11\00:43:21.45 And you have, you have books and movies 00:43:21.48\00:43:24.47 all about kind of the vampires and romantic, suspense 00:43:24.50\00:43:30.29 and really seductive thing 00:43:30.32\00:43:33.26 and so that has kind of blood into 00:43:33.29\00:43:35.76 how people want to be looked at. 00:43:35.79\00:43:37.71 I want to be other worldly. 00:43:37.74\00:43:39.59 I don't want to be in my own skin. 00:43:39.62\00:43:41.46 And when you don't like being in your own skin 00:43:41.49\00:43:43.24 and you've been wounded for that long to have some escape 00:43:43.27\00:43:46.38 whether it was like what you did with books. 00:43:46.41\00:43:48.46 And I did with Nancy Drew 00:43:48.49\00:43:49.86 or I'm gonna become the walking dead. 00:43:49.89\00:43:52.37 I'm gonna become a vampire, it really does build up 00:43:52.40\00:43:55.99 its own society and there is it's huge. 00:43:56.02\00:43:58.24 It is huge, there are clubs, there are underground societies. 00:43:58.27\00:44:02.27 There are, you know, it's own world. 00:44:02.30\00:44:04.68 It's huge. 00:44:04.71\00:44:06.24 You know, we're gonna go ahead and break 00:44:06.27\00:44:08.16 and I--even want to come back and close this, 00:44:08.19\00:44:10.81 but I'd like you to join me, 00:44:10.84\00:44:12.21 'cause I know that you have a few more things to say, 00:44:12.24\00:44:14.52 you know, we could do another program altogether, 00:44:14.55\00:44:16.52 but few more things to say 00:44:16.55\00:44:17.98 and then I want you to talk to someone out there 00:44:18.01\00:44:20.20 that maybe is feeling alone, 00:44:20.23\00:44:22.35 standing on a bridge even in there own head. 00:44:22.38\00:44:24.58 So we'll be right back. 00:44:24.61\00:44:25.98 Thank you, for staying with us this long, but don't go away. 00:44:26.01\00:44:28.73