We recently connected with David Ludlow and have shared our conversation below.
David, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
In April of 2017, I was a one of fork in the road moments in life, to either keep living life the way I had or seek help & get brutally honest an admit I was suffering and need a serious intervention. Growing up I had everything I ever needed, like many not always what I wanted. My parents did their absolute best, but there was always something missing I felt & couldn’t identify anything particular. There was an emptiness growing inside me that I never felt like I was enough & developed a fear of being my truly authentic self. This manifested over the years & in my late teen years, I discovered that alcohol & other substances took that feeling away. I had found my solution, finally! This worked, well sorta, until my 30’s when a series of events began to occur & I crossed over that imaginary line into full blown alcoholism, addiction backed with anxiety & depression disorders. I was barely keeping it together, thinking I was doing a good job at hiding the pain that I was actually in. I didn’t understand what was going on with me, so I kept digging deep into that hole. In 2005 I was 34yrs old and Halloween night of that year, I experienced the devastating loss of a parent, my dad. This brought me down into the abyss of darkness, as I didn’t have solution to deal with that pain, other than diving deeper. This went on for another 12yrs, with a numerous amount of legal issues as a result of my behavior. I had nothing, sleeping in my car most nights when I couldn’t find a couch to stay on. So finally in April of 2017, my mother offered me the greatest gift, to be honest I didn’t see it that way for quite some time. She offered & indicated it would be the last thing that she would ever do for me, and pay for me to go to treatment. I reluctantly went thinking my life was now going to be over, by going to rehab. This was the greatest act of kindness bestowed upon me. So April 26, 2017, I walked into a treatment center, broken & defeated, quite honestly, I just wanted to die. The truth was, that I didn’t want to keep living the way I was, as I thought I had already thrown away my life, & not worth redemption. Upon checking in the intake person, said 2 things to me which I share, when I talk to folks with the same troubles. First was, that I ” never had feel this way again “, & that sounded great, while not so sure attainable. The 2nd was that if chose to put my recovery first, above everything else, that my greatest days were still to come. I jumped in, went through a tough detox period, then stepped down to the residential part of the program. This is where that I learned that I had a disease and no amount of shame, guilt, resentment or remorse would ever make me well. I took a leap of faith, & just did what I was told to do. I started to feel better & realized that I didn’t want to die, but that I did not want to keep living the way I was. I had to fully surrender. That was nearly 8 years ago, and I keep it as simple as this, since this mindset couldn’t be successfully manipulated, which I was really good at doing. That I needed to treat my recovery like it was the air needed to breathe, other wise without recovery being above all else, that I would in fact die. My life in recovery, hasn’t always been rainbows & unicorns, but learning how to live being comfortable, I have been able to see things through a different lens. This continues to be what I practice daily, for which, what I practice grows stronger. I’ve managed through a lot of hard work been able to find my purpose & become a man of integrity. Today, I am the CEO/ Executive Director of a mental health & substance use disorder treatment facility located in College Station. I speak as often as possible about my journey, sharing the pain I went through, in hopes that another would ask themselves, as I did ” why not me?”
David, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
After being in recovery for 2yrs, I knew I wanted to go work in the treatment field. So in May of 2019, I began working as an overnight behavioral health technician. Later that year, an opportunity presented to be able to manage the alumni program of the company, I went to treatment at. Several months later, I applied to a position for which I knew nothing about & that was being a Quality Assurance and Healthcare Compliance Coordinator. I found my calling and over the next 3yrs continued to rise in the company. In June of 2023, I made my case while only 4yrs in the field, that I would be a great selection to run a facility. The C-Suite of the parent company, say my vision & knew my work ethic, they elevated me to the CEO/Executive Director position at the facility in College Station.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Our people we lead are the lifeline to a successful operation. Listen with intent, be open & transparent with decisions, be collaborative & meet often to discuss them, not necessarily the business. Understand taking extreme ownership & being full of grit, knowing long term success is built.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Being open, honest & transparent. Consistency goes a long way,
Contact Info:
- Instagram: David_Ludlow_Recovery
- Facebook: David Ludlow
