We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shay Walters. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shay below.

Shay, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

My husband and I are both in long-term recovery from drug and alcohol addictions. Once we had overcome our own demons, we were determined to help others. We started working in the addiction treatment field, providing outreach for treatment facilities. It’s a hard job, it’s tiring, it takes a toll on your heart. Watching people who need help but aren’t ready, listening to parents and loved ones cry and beg you to please help them. We always wonder if we’ve done enough. Praying for God to give us the right words to reach the broken. After a few years of this, God put it on our hearts that we needed a place for people to meet us, a physical place. Our phones were nonstop, but we couldn’t open our home up to that many people. The idea was fostered. We need our own facility right here in our hometown. We need a place to say “yes, bring them here at this time and we will meet you there.” We put everything we had into our idea, late nights, lots of paperwork, and a lot of prayer. At this time we were also newly weds, and COVID-19 was just hitting America. While businesses were shutting down, ours was opening. We pushed through and started a small office space for our new behavioral health facility. All of the furniture was second hand, and we worked long hours for free for many months. Since that time we have helped thousands of people overcome addiction, we have moved to a much larger building and have another location in another state. We employ roughly 70 individuals and many of them are in recovery themselves. This year will be our 5th year open, and we couldnt be more proud of everything we’ve accomplished together with our community.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My husband and I are both in long-term recovery from addiction, which is how we came to open up our own behavioral health facility. Almost every family in America has been touched by addiction; the need is huge. We provide outpatient services for mental health and drug addiction. I have also opened 6 recovery homes and run a non profit where people can stay while getting sober. What separates us from other places is our hearts for the broken. The majority of our staff are also in recovery, and we deeply care about each person who walks through our doors because we have been there ourselves. Full circle is when our clients graduate and come back to work with us!

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Community. The burnout rate in this field is astronomical. But the community we have built is a lifestyle. We rely upon each other, we love each other, and we deeply care about the outcomes for our clients.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Never turning anyone away. We pride ourselves on helping people no matter what. So, if the phone rings and someone needs help, we do our best to get them the help they need, even if it isn’t a good fit for us. We work hand in hand with other providers to get individuals the help that they need. When you’re struggling with addiction,the last thing you want to do is jump through hoops to get help, and we knew that from our own experience. I truly believe that people know that if they call us, we will help figure it out with them. They won’t have to leave a message, find the right extension, or wait for a call back. We answer, and we act fast because the window of time can be very small to get someone the help they need before it’s too late. Not only that, but we are active in our community. We are boots on the ground, people trust us, people know we understand. We don’t judge, we guide and love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://peer-solution.com