Ashley Spivey with High-Five Society, Carie Shugart with The Arena Recovery Community Center and Lauren Samanie with Faithful Hands VA

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fund raising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits. Dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:45] Good, fabulous Friday. It’s another fabulous Friday morning. We’ve got three more fabulous guests. And again, if this is your first time listening to Charitable Georgia, this is all about positive things happening in the community. And we’ve got three great folks doing some great things in their communities. So I do have to share though. Last week I shared the news that we were great grandparents of five black mollies that had quintuplets. Well, two of them have passed already, so we’re down to three. That’s sad. But anyway, I guess that’s life. Anyway, now we’re going to lighten the mood, right? Anyway, happy Friday, everybody. We’re going to start this morning with Miss Carie Shugart. Right?

Carie Shugart: [00:01:22] You got it.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:23] Awesome. So that’s twice in a week. I’ll get there. I’ll say it right. You are with The Arena out of Bartow County, Cartersville, correct?

Carie Shugart: [00:01:31] That’s correct.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:31] So you and I have talked on the phone. You have an incredible story that I’d like for you to share, and we’ll talk about what the arena does after you’ve shared your story, if you don’t mind. Okay.

Carie Shugart: [00:01:39] So my name is Carie Shugart, and I am a person in long term recovery. And what that means for me is that it’s been four years since I’ve needed to or have used anything to change the way that I feel physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. And I tag on spiritually as well, because that was a big component of my substance abuse and recovery. And and. Learning how to trust my higher power, which I call God. And so I guess a little bit about my story is. Substance abuse happened after being prescribed pain meds. I’ve got several chronic orthopedic issues. Had my first hip replacement when I was 30 and was prescribed opiates pretty much immediately. My mind, body and heart was like, I like this, this I don’t have to feel anything. I don’t feel have to feel the bad stuff. But you know, you don’t feel the good stuff either. But it just works so well for me. And over the past ten years after that, it just progressively got worse as my my, my pain levels got worse and I didn’t have the tools to to deal with them. So, you know, you keep going up in prescriptions and and strengths and there’s no choice but to become dependent and then possibly addicted, which I did. And so I guess the irony of the situation is that I am an addiction counselor and I was an addiction counselor when I began my substance misuse, but because of chronic pain and I say that out loud and it still feels kind of weird when I say it, but I want people to know that because addiction and substance abuse can happen to anybody.

Carie Shugart: [00:03:39] We are your counselors. We are your doctors. We are your teachers, wives, mothers, friends. It happens to anybody. So as an addiction counselor, I thought I knew a little bit about addiction and recovery, but not until I began my own journey. Did I did I fully understand what it was that we were dealing with? When I and I say this because it’s this big important it’s a big part of my story, too, is that when I went to treatment, I chose to go to treatment. For me that was necessary. I was just I had so much shame from being an addiction counselor and becoming, you know, a person with an addiction. And I didn’t know what I was going to do with my career, but God told me, You’re going to use your story and part of your work now. And I didn’t know what that looked like. But as time progressed over the last four years, I started on the journey of peer support. And that means that’s not a clinical role, but that is a support role where we walk along, people that are experiencing the same stuff. We’ve been trained to use our lived experience to support others in their recovery path. And so I’ve been able to accomplish probably more goals in the past four years than I have in my entire life. And I credit that, number one, to God, but to my recovery.

Brian Pruett: [00:04:58] So I’m glad you pointed out about the counselors. I mean, they’re human, just like everybody else, you know? And, you know, it doesn’t matter if you’re a counselor with addictions or if you’re a Christian counselor or whatever. They are human. They got things, too, going on. And so it’s their life’s not perfect. I’m glad you pointed that out, because I know when I was going through some some counseling for some things that, you know, I always thought, man, this guy’s got got everything. He’s got his whole life control. But I’m sure he had to have a counselor to talk to.

Carie Shugart: [00:05:24] Absolutely. I mean, we all have environments and circumstances that we grow up in. We all experience trauma that looks different for every single person. And the way that we end up processing that and learning how to cope is what dictates how well we do in our total life as we become an adult, you know? And so for me, I just had it was a perfect storm. I had mental health stuff such as depression and anxiety. I had some, you know, trauma obviously, that I had gone through. And when the opiates came on the scene, it was it fixed everything. So I didn’t have to worry about understanding or trying to deal with anything. That was it. You know.

Brian Pruett: [00:06:10] I also think it’s it’s sad that I watched Dopesick and I know if you watched that at all on Hulu with Michael Keaton, but, you know, he’s the one that kind of started the opioid addiction. And I don’t think obviously it wasn’t on purpose. He just was trying to help everybody in their their pain. But if somebody is listening and has the chronic pain or whatever, um, I know a lot of people who are who have former addicts and they have pain. They asked specifically not to have that given to them. But can you give some advice to somebody who may be going through that right now?

Carie Shugart: [00:06:45] Sure. And that’s a good point. You know, if you’re if you’re struggling with chronic pain, even though you stopped using opiates or you start your own recovery, the pain doesn’t go anywhere. You’ve still got to find ways to deal with that. And so I actually so I’ve had to learn alternate ways to cope with my pain. I just completed a training at the beginning of this week with the Christopher Wolfe Foundation or Christopher Wolfe Crusade learning how to be a it’s a it’s a life care coach. And what that did is that taught us kind of a chronological way and gave us some tools to support somebody specifically if they are post-surgical, if they’ve been prescribed opiates. And that is to start by understanding what the medication is, what it does to the brain, how it interacts with other medications, understanding that opiates are there’s not anything to deal with chronic pain. That is a silver bullet. There’s just not you know, and that’s kind of the same thing for addiction, too. There’s not a silver bullet for chronic pain. You’ve got some you know, we can’t change the way we feel physically, but we can change our perspective and how we think about it.

Carie Shugart: [00:07:54] So doing as much as you can to identify your support system, what is uplifting to you that you can focus on that can help shift your perspective? Also, you know, things like deep breathing and what we call tracking is looking at scanning your entire body, finding an area of your body that’s not quite as on fire and kind of focusing on that for a minute. Some other tools, like other grounding tools like tapping or progressive muscle, muscle relaxation, guided imagery. If meditation, some people just like there’s a million apps on our phones now to help us kind of zone out. The point is, is we’re not trying to ignore the pain. We’re not trying to act like it’s not there. But let’s do some tools to help us make it through because the pain will not last. It ends at some point or it wanes like a wave. It goes up and and down, right? So these tools are to get us out of that crisis moment.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:57] Are you familiar with infrared light therapy? I am, yes. Is that working with any of the stuff for chronic pain, do you know?

Carie Shugart: [00:09:02] Well, the thing is, is different things work for different people, you know? So what works for me may not work for you and vice versa. They’re all tools in our toolbox. And so absolutely, the red light, infrared, the cryotherapy or the the, you know, getting in the the cold room and getting that’s great for inflammation. Some people do better with heat. You know, a hot tub. I sleep every single night. For the past ten years, I’ve slept with a heating pad on my feet because I have a lot of nerve pain. And it just it helps me with my pain as I’m going to sleep. So just knowing that there’s so many tools. One thing that we identified as one of the top things that you feel when you have chronic pain is that you feel out of control. You feel like something’s happening to you and you can’t stop it. And so that’s a powerless feeling. So finding something that you can have power over and that is your heart, that is your mind, and that’s the way we cope with it.

Brian Pruett: [00:10:01] I think it’s important that you talk about knowing the tools, but also knowing the triggers on anything, because when I was going through my counseling and my big thing was how I dealt with grief, that wasn’t very healthy. And and it wasn’t until the last time I was in therapy that they taught me what the triggers were for that. So I’m sure that’s probably a big thing you guys talk about as well.

Carie Shugart: [00:10:20] Absolutely. That’s a huge part of it is knowing because there are so many things that can and so triggers can we can identify triggers in correlation to chronic pain. We also talk about triggers with addiction and recovery. Right. And a lot of times there are a lot of the similar similar things, especially the emotional stress, physical stress, things like that. So being able to identify your triggers, being able to identify your physical triggers, like what is your body feel like in those moments that you’re going through crisis, whether it is pain, whether it is a high risk situation with addiction is do I feel some chest tightness right now or am I clenching my fist? Am I pacing, Am I feeling swimming my head? Then you can know that something’s coming on. And so you can begin using some of those tools to kind of, you know, decrease the momentum of that.

Brian Pruett: [00:11:13] So let’s talk about the arena. Share what you guys do, the vision, how it got started.

Carie Shugart: [00:11:18] Absolutely. So it got started as a an effort from a wonderful lady and mentor, Barbara Hoffman. And she she’s okay with me saying this as she has struggled with a child, a son that’s had a 20 year opiate addiction. And so as an ally, from that point of view, that’s very that’s very unique as well. And so in 2019, she realized that there was just not a lot of resources for families. So she just started researching and she, you know, God placed that in her heart and she contacted the Georgia Council for Recovery, which is kind of a larger organization in the state, that that kind of not governs us but supports us and said, what do we need? What do we need to do to be able to get something like that in Bartow County? And they said, we need a champion. And Barbara said, I can do that. So with prayer, hard work, assembling, you know, an awesome group of peers that were in recovery in Bartow County and some stakeholders that began the course for what is now the arena. And so the arena is we are part of recovery. Bartow So recovery Bartow is kind of the umbrella. So the Recovery Community Organization is a place where we support and provide resources for people in recovery or seeking recovery. So that means walking along with them and using our lived experience because everybody that’s employed there is in recovery. We’ve gotten certifications, trainings to be able to teach us how to use our lived experience so we can help them find what their recovery pathway is.

Carie Shugart: [00:13:05] Because what we’ve learned is and what I believe is there’s a lot of different ways to do things right. What again, what works for me doesn’t always work for you. So we can help present them with a lot of different options and help them identify what are their strengths, what are you interested in? How do you learn best? Helping them identify their where they’re at in their stage of readiness and change, you know? And so if they if they’re wanting to go to traditional treatment, then we find a place, then we we, we start that referral process. If it’s if it’s an outpatient situation, if they’re wanting to do one on one peer coaching where they just meet with us and we kind of support them and walk along them, that’s part of it. A lot of people have found that’s very helpful. It’s a little bit it’s a it’s a non-judgmental place where you’re sitting with someone who’s been through it. So also we connect with resources in the community, whether it be food, health care, behavioral health care, resources for housing, transportation, helping people get jobs. We partner with family treatment court. Let’s see mental health court defects supporting those families as well. So again, we provide resources and support for people in recovery or seeking recovery anywhere on that spectrum. Also families and friends.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:27] So how did the name The Arena come about?

Carie Shugart: [00:14:29] So the name of the arena came about from Roosevelt’s famous speech, The Man in the Arena. And so I don’t have the whole thing memorized. I’m not even going to try to act like I. But in it it talks about the perspective of anybody outside the struggle. Does it matter? What matters is the man that’s in the arena walking the walk, fighting the fight. That’s the perspective that matters. And so we need to champion those who have gone through struggles. We need to champion them and believe in them 100%. If Barbara Hoffman and I’ve had a lot of people believe in me in my life, but Barbara Hoffman believed in me and has given me the opportunity to grow and develop into a leadership role that I’m in now and being able to head this up. And it’s it’s just a joy. It is my work is as important to my recovery as anything else is. I love it. I can’t imagine doing anything else now. And I wish everybody could have a job where they’re working their passion.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:32] And that’s important because that’s why I started my my business B’s Charitable Pursuits and resources. It’s it’s a passion for helping others. And yeah, if you don’t have a passion of what you’re doing and you’re very unhappy. Find your passion. I have a question, though. You talked about the arena being under the umbrella of recovery. Bartow So it’s you guys don’t have a separate 501. C three.

Carie Shugart: [00:15:54] So the 501. C three is recovery. Bartow All right. And then so there’s a larger vision for recovery. Bartow A, you know, crisis or safe house programing for teens that were working on sober houses, things of that nature. And so the arena is one offshoot off of recovery.

Brian Pruett: [00:16:14] Bartow So if they if somebody donated and they donated recover, can they specify that it goes to the arena?

Carie Shugart: [00:16:20] It’s all in one pool right now so recovery Bartow recovery bartow.org there’s a way that you can give there.

Brian Pruett: [00:16:29] So I don’t even have to ask that. She already did it. That’s good. If somebody is listening, though, and wants to get a hold of you and talk about some how you can you can help them or get somebody at the arena can talk to them, how can they do that?

Carie Shugart: [00:16:39] Absolutely. So we are located at 109 Stonewall Street in Cartersville, Georgia. It’s easy, pretty easy to find. Our telephone number is (470) 315-4025. And we are there Monday through Friday from 9 to 5.

Brian Pruett: [00:16:53] Awesome. Do you guys have anything coming up, Any fundraisers coming up you want to share that you or anything going on that you can share?

Carie Shugart: [00:16:57] So I would like to just share some of the events and programing that we have going on. We have a Narcotics Anonymous meeting on Tuesday at 1230 and all recovery meeting on Thursday at 1230 and another Narcotics Anonymous meeting on Friday night. Today, a couple of my staff have gone to Crossroads Treatment Center in Calhoun. They’re having a big resource, fair and open house. And so we’ve gone there. Yesterday we had a big event with DFCs family treatment court, a big lunch and learn yesterday. Tomorrow is pretty busy. We’ve got one team going to Bless Coalition down at Glade Road, Allatoona Resource Center. That’s something that they do every third Saturday of the month. And it’s just an outreach event. We’ve got another team going to the Boys and Girls Club color run that they’re having and setting up. So our next fundraiser is going to be our motorcycle ride for recovery and that’s going to be on August 12th, I believe. You can follow us on Facebook at the Arena our and follow us there. You can find out all the information. But this will be our first motorcycle ride. We’re really excited about it. I think there’s so many different groups of our community that want to be involved. And so we’ve got to create opportunities for that to happen. And connecting with, you know, all the parts of our community. So we’re super excited about that.

Brian Pruett: [00:18:27] That gives me an idea of stone. But instead of the motorcycle ride, let’s do a golf cart ride.

Stone Payton: [00:18:32] I like.

Carie Shugart: [00:18:33] It. I’m down for that, right?

Brian Pruett: [00:18:35] We can do do that.

Carie Shugart: [00:18:36] For totally down for that. We had an art we had we set last month was Mental Health Awareness Month. So we worked with mental health court and we had just kind of a celebration day for them and had an art class. And one of the judges came out and it was just so joyous and fun. And so we were sitting around and she was like, you know, I just one of the girls was like, I don’t paint very well. And I’m like, I don’t either. She was like, Now give me some Legos. I’m like, That’s it, That’s it. Nice Lego, Lego party.

Brian Pruett: [00:19:08] There you go. There you go. So it’s kind of if you guys know Bob Brooks, he’s been on the show or Ben Hanks and the Castle Business Club, they preach collaboration over competition. And it’s awesome to see several nonprofits doing that because there’s more than just you guys in Bartow County dealing with the addictions. We’ve had Kevin Harris on talking about all in our ministries. I know he does some work with you as well as Rebecca Reeves from the Cartersville Women’s Outreach that’s coming aboard. And they’re doing the same thing for women because. So can you speak about how I mean, multiple organizations coming together because Kevin just helps men. Rebecca And them just do women, but you guys do kind of everything. Are there different? Everybody does something different, but they all can do the same thing, right?

Carie Shugart: [00:19:50] Oh, absolutely. And when you were saying that naming off those organizations and those people, I literally got chills because that is it’s awesome. It’s awesome. We need as many people championing this effort as possible. We need we need men. We need women. We need faith based. We need evidence based. We need clinical. We need peer base. Everybody deserves a seat at the table. We all have an area of service. And being able to collaborate just it magnifies the things that we already do. And our partnerships are as important as anything, because if I’ve got somebody coming in and they’re they’re, they’re newly pregnant or they’re needing some child care issues, I can refer to Bartow Family Resources. If I’ve got somebody that’s got rent issues like that, I can call Susan Barfield at Bartow Community Resources. If I’ve got a man that needs some mentoring, I can call Kevin. It’s just an amazing opportunity. And the network that we have built in Bartow County so that we can all work together to to to be more effective and efficient.

Brian Pruett: [00:20:59] And I’m guessing that if somebody is from outside of Bartow County but needs the help of you guys can work with them as well.

Carie Shugart: [00:21:05] Oh, absolutely. So, you know, we we refer all over the state, multiple states. You know, as far as treatment goes, if somebody is moving into an area or lives in an area, and we can also connect with another RCO in that county because a lot of counties in Georgia now are having the recovery community organizations. So I can call Brittney down at Living Proof in Rome and say, Hey, what all you’ve got going on here? I’ve got a I’ve got a peer that’s either moving there or their case is out of here. How can we support them?

Brian Pruett: [00:21:37] Awesome. You spoke briefly just a little bit. Obviously, financial donations are good for you guys. Are there other ways that businesses could get involved and volunteers can get involved with you guys?

Carie Shugart: [00:21:46] Sure, absolutely. So the events are one of the big opportunities, but we need volunteers all the time. And so obviously financial sponsorship, financial donation is the bread and butter of of the financial support. It just is. Our money comes from donations and grants. You know, grants are hard to do. They’re hard to get. And that’s just the way it works for a non profit, you know. So any any support, if you hear about us, tell somebody else. Follow us on social media, share our posts. I found that that’s one of the best ways to get information out and, you know, come to our events.

Brian Pruett: [00:22:28] So other than the reason of your your story, your history, wanting to help the people with addictions, why is it important for you to be part of the community?

Carie Shugart: [00:22:37] It’s important for me to be a part of the community because of that connection. My life is filled with hope and joy and abundance and connection. An addiction is the opposite of that. It’s isolated, it’s secret, it’s dark. You don’t want to talk to other people. You don’t want to connect. So for me, it’s kind of necessary to kind of always be connected with with others in the community and. You know, I do what I do because I want people, other people to be able to experience what I do. I want other people to understand or experience that recovery can be the expectation and not the exception. I just love working with other people and other organizations and us helping each other out. You know, that’s we live in a tough world. A lot of pain and darkness in this world, but we can help each other out. It’s all about relationships and offering the hope to each other.

Brian Pruett: [00:23:34] All right. So one last time, share the website.

Carie Shugart: [00:23:36] W-w-w dot recovery bartow.org.

Brian Pruett: [00:23:39] Awesome. All right. Don’t go anywhere because we’re not done. But we’re going to move over to Miss Ashley Spivey.

Ashley Spivey: [00:23:44] All right.

Brian Pruett: [00:23:44] Good morning. So we’ve had people, Stone so far from Gordon Cobb, Cherokee Bartow, and now we’ve got somebody from Polk County in the studio.

Stone Payton: [00:23:53] All right.

Brian Pruett: [00:23:54] Where I told I told Sharon this one, I said on the air, I’m gonna try to get all the way down to Macon. I’m going to try to get everybody from State somehow, so we’ll do it. So, Ashley, thanks for coming being on the show. You’re with High Five Society, correct?

Ashley Spivey: [00:24:05] Yes, sir. High Five Society.

Brian Pruett: [00:24:07] So we’ll talk about that here in a second. But it’s if you don’t mind sharing your story, share your story, and then we’ll talk about why you’re doing high five society.

Ashley Spivey: [00:24:16] All right. Well, my story. I graduated from college in 2017 with a bachelor’s in Health and Human Services and a Bachelors in Health Care Administration. I have two absolutely amazing boys who both were diagnosed with autism in 2020. They have autism and ADHD. Um, let’s see. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2012. And all of that together. I’m not that great at talking about myself, but all of that together helped me want to form half of society. Half of society has given me back so much purpose in my life for, you know, me and my boys. So go ahead and.

Brian Pruett: [00:25:01] Share what you’re doing with High Five Society.

Ashley Spivey: [00:25:02] Okay, great. Okay. High five Society. We’re a nonprofit for individuals with special needs kids, teenagers, adults. I want to help them all. But we have monthly social groups where they work on their so many things, their fine motor skills, their socialization skills, which are needed throughout life for their. Their own learning to take turns. Basic stuff. Learning to take turns. Sorry. My mind just went blank. Thank you so much. Communication. Taking turns. Communication. There’s one more. My mind went blank. I’m gonna come back to that. But anyways, we have our monthly social groups during the summer. We’re meeting more frequently every Tuesday right now. But I’ve had some people come to me that’s not working, but we’re meeting more frequently throughout the summer. We also have our parent support groups where the parents, they come out to our events and they can get their needed resources. While if I have enough volunteers, I try to make it to where when the individuals come out, they can go be taken to go do something of their choice while the parents can do something of their choice, which is usually just to sit back and get a breather, connect with people. That’s really half of society. I want to connect everyone and have fun.

Brian Pruett: [00:26:39] Right. Yeah. No, that’s cool because, I mean, you think about it, this is another, a group that I think is forgotten about or looked down on is the special needs. And then most people don’t think about the parents of special needs kids. They need a break. They need something to do for themselves every once in a while to get that, to have a date night or whatever. So it’s awesome that you’re doing this. So Polk County right now is where you’re at, correct?

Ashley Spivey: [00:27:03] Right. In Polk County, very small. Polk is very small. I believe it has a population of 55,000. I moved from a city that had 150,000. So one thing that got me to start high five society was the lack of resources. Um, man. There is just nothing there. It was a complete culture shock. It still is. But the lack of resources. I wanted to create something for my boys to be a part of.

Brian Pruett: [00:27:35] So can you share about what some of those resources may be like?

Ashley Spivey: [00:27:38] I can’t bring therapies to pull out now. I’m working on that. But the resources, like the parents support the family support. The resources that I was used to.

Brian Pruett: [00:27:54] Yeah, I mean, you just talk about the resources. I mean, that’s a good start. So because I think people think about the special needs and the resources may be when they may have just what is the resource for that.

Ashley Spivey: [00:28:07] So resource could be anything from how am I going to pay my light bill this month to what are we going to put on the table? Well, what can our kids go do to interact with other kids and. Those to me are resources that I feel that everyone should be able to have, not just because you’re from a small town and. Right.

Brian Pruett: [00:28:29] And I also think I mean, there’s other organizations out there that do this, and I’m assuming you’ll get to do this as well. But teaching some of these kids how to live on their own.

Ashley Spivey: [00:28:38] Life skills. Yes.

Brian Pruett: [00:28:38] Life skills. Yes.

Ashley Spivey: [00:28:40] You want to get to that point. We’re still fairly new. I started this organization about a year ago, and then I had a really bad flare up. Really took me off my feet. And then I got over the flare up. I was like, okay, January. This past January was like, Let’s do this. So got it. Started back up and. Right now, I believe we have 155, 154 people in our Facebook group. But for Paul, that’s a lot. Yeah, I mean, right.

Brian Pruett: [00:29:15] So if you somebody who’s listening may not know multiple sclerosis. You’re just distracting her.

Ashley Spivey: [00:29:25] Oh, no, she.

Lauren Samanie: [00:29:26] Oh.

Ashley Spivey: [00:29:26] Let’s let Lauren be.

Brian Pruett: [00:29:27] I know. I know. Somebody who’s listening may not know what multiple sclerosis is. I know. It’s been a while. Can you maybe share how that affects you and what kind of what? Basically what it is.

Ashley Spivey: [00:29:38] Well, multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system. It’s where your myelin South. No, your nerves protect that and nerve damage. I mean, if it causes lesions in your your brain and your spinal cord. So, like, for me personally, I get brain fog a lot. I can’t think right. People see me and, you know, that’s maybe what they think. I don’t know. And that. But yeah, it has so many challenges in it and I think that’s where I can really. Relate to the individuals that I want to help because. I have my challenges. They have theirs, right?

Brian Pruett: [00:30:24] Well, I think it’s important. I mean, even with Kerry, right. You talked about if you haven’t lived in something like that, even though you may want to help those people, it’s somebody who’s lived through or living through that. Helping those is going to be much, to me, much more powerful than. I don’t have special needs. Well, Lauren may say I do, but I don’t have special needs. But but, you know, but somebody who comes in and can say, you know what? I know what you’re going through. I’d love to sit down and talk to you. There’s other things I can do that with other people. But I just think it’s great that we have people who are. Unfortunately or fortunately lived through that or living through that that can provide those the resources for that. So obviously, you said you’re you’re fairly new, so you guys need a lot of things. How can people get involved and help you?

Ashley Spivey: [00:31:11] Yeah, we do need a lot of things. We need everything from financial sponsors to volunteers. If I can have enough volunteers come out to the events, then I can really focus on the parents and they need it a lot. It’s great for the kids to be able to come out and work on everything and make friends. But the parents are exhausted. You can see it in their eyes that our first event, one of the first things I noticed and I was like, we’re adding parent support to this, so I want to help because I grew up with a special needs brother. Also, my momma never got a break. There wasn’t anybody. And then we move up here and there was not anyone because my mom passed away. And most of these parents that I’ve made these connections with, they don’t have any family. So we kind of just connect and become each other’s village of support.

Brian Pruett: [00:32:01] All right. So, Sherry, if someone’s listening and wants to help you, how can they get a hold of you? How can they help you?

Ashley Spivey: [00:32:05] Our number is (678) 675-3303. Our website which you should check out because I did it all myself. Nice job. Thank you. Our website is w-w-w dot five society.org. No hyphens. So remember that for the website, no hyphens. For our Facebook page there is a hyphen. It’s high dash five society and then our Facebook group is high dash five society parent support. Try to keep that one more private because the parents like to vent. But if you’re from from Polk County and you have a special needs child and you haven’t heard of us, definitely join the group.

Brian Pruett: [00:32:51] Yeah, definitely. If you’re listening and you do need that, do reach out to Ashley. That’s amazing. So you shared a little bit of stuff that you’ve got going on, but anything immediately coming up, any fundraisers coming up that you want to share?

Ashley Spivey: [00:33:01] We do have, um, let’s see, this Tuesday we’re going to peak Forest Park and on the 24th we’re going to Big Springs and Cedar Town. I need help with fundraisers. I really do.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:18] I think I know a guy.

Ashley Spivey: [00:33:20] Really?

Lauren Samanie: [00:33:21] There is a fundraiser that’s about to start. Hi, I’m Lauren, by the way. Um, there is a fundraiser that’s about to start. We’re going to do a bunch of different little things. We’re doing t shirt, fundraisers, sensory bag fundraisers. We have somebody in our group that actually made a quilt. Yes, Heidi Libby. She did give a handmade to her quilt that is for autism support. It’s very beautiful. It’s on our it’s about to be on our page. But we do have a lot of different small fundraisers that are going on on the website. And on the Facebook groups and pages.

Ashley Spivey: [00:34:01] So yeah, we do currently have sell t shirts. If someone could buy a t shirt, you know, there’s a little link you could donate. If you don’t want a shirt, that’s okay. Right? Right.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:12] Awesome. So other than the reason of of having kids, you’re yourself going through things and stuff of helping these folks. Why is it important for you to be a part of the community?

Ashley Spivey: [00:34:23] Oh, man. Carrie Mcturk connections. Oh, to be connections to know. I don’t want to say connections to to be a part of the community means to help bring greater things about and with the with the support of the community we can help these individuals really shine and reach their full potential. And that’s what I want to do.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:44] Awesome. So Sherry, your website one more time.

Ashley Spivey: [00:34:46] High five society.org.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:48] Awesome. All right. Don’t go anywhere. We’re going to move over to our next guest. I’m going to do let me see if I don’t chop it up. Lauren Samanie.

Lauren Samanie: [00:34:56] Samanie.

Brian Pruett: [00:34:57] See? I did it.

Lauren Samanie: [00:34:59] It’s so many like harmony.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:01] Well, you know, I got. I got to do it wrong all the time anyway, so. Okay.

Lauren Samanie: [00:35:04] It’s fine.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:05] So, Lauren, she’s actually come aboard and being my assistant and. Amazing. And she’s obviously involved with High Five Society. She does a lot of things. So faithful hands, virtual assistant and cute and peachy gifts. Things. Well, it’s gifts to sure. Things.

Lauren Samanie: [00:35:24] It’s okay. It’s cute things.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:26] You can tell we don’t get along, so. Not at all. So if you don’t mind sharing your story because you had to kind of reinvent yourself.

Lauren Samanie: [00:35:33] I did. So I’m actually going to start a little bit like at the beginning. Okay. Yeah, that’s great. All right. I don’t think you’ve actually ever heard the beginning.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:41] Well, I’m waiting to hear.

Lauren Samanie: [00:35:42] Okay, let’s hear. Okay. So I actually was homeschooled and I finished school really, really early and early, being like 14 years old. And I’m not extra super smart. Don’t say that. But I really didn’t know, okay? I just really wanted to get done really fast because I didn’t want to do it anymore. And so I just sped through my classes. I passed them and I was like, okay, we’re good. No more. We’re done. So being so young and graduated, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. And my mom kept me very involved in our church and and different things. She had a lot she has a lot of friends and they would offer for me to come and work for them. So I’ve worked for a tax firm. I’ve worked for our church. Being a pastor’s assistant, I’ve worked in a daycare, I’ve started my own daycare. I’ve I’ve done everything because I had no idea what I wanted to do. And then when I was 17, my chiropractor asked me to come and be a chiropractic assistant. I will have to say I had no idea what a chiropractic assistant was, and I absolutely love it still to this day. So it was just it was a full time, but it was a part time. It was only three days a week and I absolutely loved it. But I did not. Being a chiropractic assistant, you’re more behind a desk and in the details of the business part, instead of in the back room with the patients.

Lauren Samanie: [00:37:20] And as much as I loved being at the front desk and being in the details, I loved being able to see patients coming in like doubled over and hurting and then being able to walk out straight. And I was like, Well, that’s not fair. I want to be a part of that. And so I prayed and I prayed and I was like, God, what do I need to do to be a part of that? And I actually injured my ankle during high school. I was at a I was in a co op and I was a cheerleader and I had sprained my ankle and it just kept re spraining. And then in January 2014, I ended up having to have ankle surgery and I was down. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t do anything for like eight weeks. And I was like, okay, this could be my time to really try and become that person that helps the patients instead of just taking money from the patients, you know? And I prayed and I prayed and I went and I had to get a massage because I was in so much pain with my having to be laid up all the time. And so the massage therapist that I had seen, they’re like, Are you a massage therapist? And I was like, No, I’m not a massage therapist.

Lauren Samanie: [00:38:28] What are you talking about? And they were like, Well, I can just feel like and I was totally creeped out by this. But they were like, I could just feel the healing off of you. And I was like. You’re giving me a massage. Like I should be feeling that from you, not the other way around. They’re like, I don’t know. Maybe you should just look into it. And so I was like, okay. So I went home and I looked up massage school and it was only going to be seven months long. And I was like, Well, maybe this can happen. And at this time that I don’t know if you’re familiar with that Jesus calling book like they had the daily things. That was very popular then. And one of the doctors that I worked for, she had given it to me during my healing process, and I opened it up that day and it like basically that one was like, you’re about to go through an amazing adventure and you just need to jump in head first. And I was like. Headfirst. Are we really going to do this right now? I mean, I hadn’t worked. I hadn’t decided. I mean, I was supposed to go back to work. And so I had contacted the doctor that was over. And I was like, um, I think I want to go to massage school.

Lauren Samanie: [00:39:32] And she said, I think that’s a great idea, you should do that. And I was like, okay, but what about work? And she said, It’s going to be here for you, you know? And so I went to massage school and I absolutely loved it. It was amazing for me because I really felt like I blossomed because I took what I had learned at the chiropractor’s office. Being her assistant, she did bring me back whenever we weren’t busy in the front office, she would bring me back and she had taught me some things and I was able to watch her manipulate some of the bones and like being able to see the patients change and move and and all of the different things. So that knowledge that she had taught me went hand in hand with massage. And I absolutely loved it. And then I found out that I was pregnant two weeks before I graduated massage school. So all of my plans of being the absolute best massage therapist that first year kind of went out the window and I didn’t go back to work right away because I was terrified of being pregnant. I was told when I was 18 that I wasn’t going to be able to have kids. So the doctor that told me pregnant that I was pregnant, I was like, You lied.

Lauren Samanie: [00:40:49] You totally lied to me. And he was like, Well, something’s happened. And I was like, Yeah, something’s do. So I had my little man and I did not want to let anybody else raise him. Like I didn’t want to take him to daycare. I didn’t want to have to do any of that. I wanted to. I had always dreamed of being a stay at home mom. But you can’t do that when you’re a single mom and you’re only 22. And so it worked out that the chiropractors office was only three days a week, and I lived close enough that I would be able to go and take my lunch break at home and be with him. And my mom was at home with him. So it was it was great for me. And so after about a year, I started my own massage practice. I was ready to really dive into that massage and I loved it. And still to this day, I still love it. But I had my own massage practice for almost, almost seven years. And then last August, unfortunately, I had a very bad back injury. All we can really find out or all the doctors can really tell me is that I just overused my back because I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia when I was 23 and I never took any medicine. I didn’t do the normal treatment for it.

Lauren Samanie: [00:42:15] I just took care of it on my own. I did some diet changes, I exercised and everything and then in August, because of the overuse of so much, my body was just like, You’re done. You can’t you really can’t do this anymore. And I was really, really mad because I didn’t feel like I was working whenever I did massage. I absolutely loved it when y’all were talking about that whole passion thing. That was me. I loved it. I could not wait to get to work. I could not wait to be able to watch those people change. And it was because of what God had given me, the gift of healing and everything. And then I felt like it was completely ripped away from me. But it wasn’t ripped away from me because I still had it. I just couldn’t use it anymore. And I was mad. I went into a very deep depression and I was really mad because I’m still a single mom and I can’t can’t work. I can’t. I couldn’t do anything. And I was like, okay, well, maybe if I just take a couple months off and just really rest. No, it got worse and it just kept getting worse. And I was like, okay, God, well, then what am I supposed to do? So I started what was a hobby and like a creative outlet for me. One of my friends, Anna, she told me, Hey, you should start a really like an actual business out of this.

Lauren Samanie: [00:43:41] And I was like, Oh, I don’t know about that. She’s like, No, I think it would be really good. And we can gear it towards businesses, not just personal items, but let’s do businesses where you take the businesses logo and you put it on the promotional items, whether it be t shirts, cups, bags, you know, whatever the thing is. And I was like, okay, let’s do it. Well, that was really slow. Um, it yeah, everybody and their mom can do this. So it’s very, it’s a very competitive thing. And so, and I am not a competitive person. If you want to use somebody else, by all means, do it. I’m good, you know? Um, but it was something that I loved doing. Still, it was still a really good creative hobby for me. And so I did that. And then she started asking me about like, Well, what else can you do? And, and I was like, I really miss the business side of stuff because I can actually do it. Um, I love being in the details and being in the, in the midst of all of the chaos and being able to organize it and, and it be beautiful for everybody else to see. But I’ve got all the craziness with me, you know? And so that’s where Faithful Hands came from.

Brian Pruett: [00:45:02] Well, you I’m going to disagree with you on one thing, because you said everybody and their mother can do the promotional items. I had a business doing promotional items and it was an absolutely pain in the patootie. Oh, because of the details on the back end of the promotional items sites. So you can have all of it. Trust me. Thanks.

Lauren Samanie: [00:45:18] So I’ll.

Brian Pruett: [00:45:19] Take it. Yes. Um, no. So, I mean, that’s. That’s great. So faithful hands share with somebody. Obviously it’s in the name, but share with somebody who might not know what a virtual assistant does.

Lauren Samanie: [00:45:29] So a virtual assistant really can do anything. Every virtual assistant has a specialty. Mine is. I really like the details and the things that you don’t like. And you would think that I wouldn’t like. I really do. So organizing email accounts, I like doing that. Sending out emails for some of us like Mister Brian over here. Um, I like to word up like you give me what you want to say and then I’ll make it pretty with the help of Anna sometimes.

Brian Pruett: [00:46:05] And then. Or my wife does that to say help. She helps a lot of stuff I send to you. It’s already.

Lauren Samanie: [00:46:10] See, that helps me out a lot, right? But also I can help with organizing, scheduling phone calls. If you have a list of people that you need to say, hey, you know, yada, yada, yada, but you don’t have the time to call, I can be your girl.

Brian Pruett: [00:46:29] So virtual assistant, meaning you can be with your a client of yours Could be. You’re working with somebody in Washington State. Yeah, it can be.

Lauren Samanie: [00:46:36] Um, I do. I am a more personable, personable person, so I like to meet with them at least once. I don’t have to. That’s not a requirement. But because I like to be personal with somebody, I, I enjoy seeing, like, I’m a very visual person, so I’m really good at following directions. So you tell me how you want it done. You got it.

Brian Pruett: [00:47:04] Which is kind of odd that you say that because you told me not too long ago you’re engaged. I am. And you’re going to be moving to Nashville.

Lauren Samanie: [00:47:13] 45 miles north of.

Brian Pruett: [00:47:15] Nashville. I know, but that’s not here. So you and I can’t meet in person.

Lauren Samanie: [00:47:18] So I still have family here. And I will still be coming to Georgia. And it’s really only like a 3.5 hour drive. Right? Right. And there’s Chattanooga.

Brian Pruett: [00:47:29] Which is in between. Right? Right. No, but I just think it’s cool, though, because also obviously virtual. I mean, obviously, that’s before Zoom, there were Skype. You could just do all that on online.

Lauren Samanie: [00:47:38] So and if you upgrade to an apple, you could FaceTime me.

Brian Pruett: [00:47:42] Well, just say some of us are peaches more than apples. That’s why you have.

Lauren Samanie: [00:47:47] I’m just saying. I know, but I’m a peach and an apple.

Brian Pruett: [00:47:50] Well, there you go. There you go. All right. So you are doing a lot of things with, like I said, with myself, helping all the nonprofits I’m doing with Ashley and High Five Society. Why is it important for you to to be a part of the community and helping as many people as you do?

Lauren Samanie: [00:48:09] That’s a really hard question.

Brian Pruett: [00:48:11] You heard me ask the other two. You knew it was coming.

Lauren Samanie: [00:48:12] I knew it was coming. But I really my biggest my passion has always been to help people. I, I like to like I said, I’m a visual person. I like to see the change. I want to be a part of that change. But I don’t want the credit for that change. You know, I’ve always been a behind the scenes kind of girl, and every now and again, you know, somebody’s saying thank you or Hey, she really helped me or whatever that fills my bucket so much. Just those small little words I have always loved, loved, loved seeing. The community changing and getting better and bigger and growing in those things. And like Ashley was saying with hers, she wanted to see Polk County, you know, include the special needs community and different things like that. But what she doesn’t see is that they’re growing. They are expanding there. She wasn’t able to tell everything, but there are people in McDonough that are contacting her to ask for some help with this and people all over. She was invited to Haralson County to do some other things. And I love seeing and being a part of those little details, you know, And so that’s my biggest thing for the community.

Brian Pruett: [00:49:33] Well, that’s cool because I tell people all the time, my three passions are sports fundraising and connecting others to others because I love when I like You connected me with Ashley and I love when I see the connections working. Yes. With with, you know how now they are not going to work. There are some people that just fall off and whatever happens, happens. But. All right, so share. How can somebody get a hold of you if they want to talk to you about your faithful hands or if they want to talk about some promotional items? How can they do that?

Lauren Samanie: [00:50:00] My phone number. My phone number is (678) 699-5076. And the best email and the easiest to remember is cute. The letter in peachy things at gmail.com.

Brian Pruett: [00:50:17] So I got to tell you she she was the one that provided my mother and my wife their Mother’s Day gifts. And my mother absolutely loved it. I got her a bag with She likes elephants too, and I got her the bag with. But Lauren, obviously she’s a very perfectionist. She didn’t like the it came out, but my mother loved it.

Lauren Samanie: [00:50:36] So and I said, if she doesn’t like it, I’m going to make another one because I am a perfectionist. And I was like, I don’t think.

Brian Pruett: [00:50:42] I like have to worry about it. And it was all good. So. All right. So I got two more questions for each of you. You cheated and listened to the one, but I’m not going to ask that one yet. So I was prepared. You asked me.

Ashley Spivey: [00:50:54] That one because I didn’t.

Brian Pruett: [00:50:56] Know. Yeah. So all three of you have had to reinvent yourself, right? So. Chair. Some advice. And this is all three of you are going to share advice on reinventing yourself because there’s people listening that are probably going through that exact thing right now. So, Carrie, I’ll start with you. How can you help somebody going through that? And what can you share about reinventing yourself?

Carie Shugart: [00:51:24] Right. So, you know, one of the themes among all of us is that word resiliency. And that was one of the things we were talking about in this training this week is what is resiliency? And I usually think of a ball bouncing up a rubber band rubber ball. You throw it down, but it bounces up, right? It’s the ability to come back after something hard after going lower, you know? And I think number one is realizing that you’re going to make mistakes and you’re going to get it wrong. And that’s okay. That’s part of the process. The only way you can succeed at anything is crapping out on it. You know, ten, 15, 99 times, that’s how you know. And that was something I didn’t understand for so long in my life. I just wanted to succeed. I wanted to achieve that high goal, didn’t know how and then couldn’t and was a failure over and over and over again until I started accomplishing some smaller things, you know, and understanding that the failures is what has brought me to today. And that’s what gives us the wisdom, the the wisdom that we do. So being kind to yourself and understanding that that that not getting it is part of the success.

Brian Pruett: [00:52:36] So we I shared this a couple of weeks ago. I was told to read the book Fail Forward from John Maxwell. And it’s an amazing book because you talk about failure. And before I started this business, I shut down three businesses and I was like, Man, I am a failure. I’m not providing for the family. But you’re right, it’s things you learn and it gets you to where you need to be. And don’t look at it as a failure. It’s just a stepping stone. So, Ashley, give me something that somebody listening needs to reinvent themselves. What can you tell them? What kind of advice can you give them?

Ashley Spivey: [00:53:05] I really like that you said not the only way you can carry sorry is something about crapping out. And that’s. Yeah, exactly. That’s. That’s perfectly the only way you can fail is to not try with, you know, the miss the depression with everything. If I just sit on the couch and feel, feel bad, feel like crap, then things are just going to keep being crap. But if I get up and try to do something. Then we’re going to have something. Does that make sense?

Brian Pruett: [00:53:37] Yeah, it does. That’s awesome. All right, Lauren.

Lauren Samanie: [00:53:42] Well, I was in a church service earlier this year, and one of the biggest things that this pastor said was to pray. And ask God, how can you be thankful for the place that you’re in whenever you feel like a failure? And that has hit me so hard because I did feel like a failure because I couldn’t do massage any more. And I knew that God had given me that gift of helping somebody heal. And so I just kept praying and I kept praying and I was like, God, how can I be thankful for something that I didn’t want to happen? And it was very difficult, but that I just I still you know, I’m going to be honest. I don’t know how I can be thankful right now, but I’m thankful that I’m still able to walk. And I’m thankful that I may not I may be in pain 24 over seven, but it comes in waves to where I’m not having to be on, on, on. I don’t have an addiction to pain medicine and I don’t have the things that normal normally would be really difficult or whatever. Um, so that’s where I’m at. My thankful, but I’m not sure how I can be thankful that, you know, that kind of thing. So that’s one of my things.

Brian Pruett: [00:55:04] So you talk about the thing going again, Somebody else’s different person told me to start a gratitude journal. So every morning I write down three things that I’m thankful for and it could be you could repeat them, you know, But that’s that’s kind of helped me as well.

Carie Shugart: [00:55:16] Yeah, that’s one of the number one first things that I ask somebody that I’m working with doing peer coaching to do. Okay, start a gratitude list, whether it’s in the morning or at night. I don’t care whether it’s in your head or on paper, I don’t care at least five things and then we move out from there. Five things that you are grateful for, whether it is that you just opened your eyes, whether you had something to eat, whether you had toothpaste, brush your teeth with whatever count it, you know, and some of the stuff will be the same every day. And also do a list the same way of five things you’ve accomplished that day. Again, whether it be just waking up, feeding your kid, that kind of stuff, taking your medicine, whatever, after time, that helps become part of your foundation and it has the ability to shift your attitude and your perspective.

Brian Pruett: [00:56:13] That’s awesome. Absolutely. All right. This last question is going to sound redundant, but I want you to share something different. I always like to end the show by having you guys share one word, one positive quote or something just to people that are listening to live today, the rest of 20, 23 and beyond with. So, Carrie, give me something.

Carie Shugart: [00:56:30] All right. Here you go. Y’all ready for it? Yeah. How do you eat an elephant? How? One bite at a time.

Brian Pruett: [00:56:38] So share with. Yeah, just. I mean, Tyra. There you go. There’s your elephant thing for the day.

Carie Shugart: [00:56:44] But so my deal with that one is that, like I said, I had struggled feeling like a failure for so many years of my life. And I just had these these unrealistic expectations and would bite off way more than I could chew and then would feel like a failure when I couldn’t accomplish it. But there was really no possible way I could. You know, once I heard that actually from a client of mine miscarry, How do you eat an elephant? It was a joke, but then it was like the a like huge light bulb. God was one of those God moments, like something in this. And I was like, Oh my gosh. And I literally started applying it every single day in my head. And it just it gives me freedom, you know, if I can just buy one little piece off at a time, that’s success. And one more piece and one more piece. And finally, you got the whole elephant eaten.

Brian Pruett: [00:57:35] That’s. That’s awesome.

Ashley Spivey: [00:57:36] Ashley Um, mine would be never to judge a book by its cover because individuals with special needs are often.

Speaker7: [00:57:51] Discount.

Ashley Spivey: [00:57:52] Discounted. Thanks. We rehearsed their alternate. You can’t tell. But we rehearsed. They’re just discounted for their abilities. Look, look a little bit deeper and oh, my goodness, they’re going to be the ones that changed the world, you know? They just need a little bit of support and we’re here to give it to them. There you.

Brian Pruett: [00:58:14] Go. Lauren.

Lauren Samanie: [00:58:16] On my business card that I love, it’s one of my things that I always say. It says, worry ends when faith and God step in. Well, my business card says Lauren. But when faith and God step in.

Carie Shugart: [00:58:28] I thought you were going to say when Lauren steps in. Well, that’s.

Lauren Samanie: [00:58:31] What it says on my business card. But it’s really my thing that I say is worry ends when faith and God step in.

Brian Pruett: [00:58:37] So your name should have been faith is what you’re saying.

Lauren Samanie: [00:58:39] No, I like Lauren. Thank you. Easier. It would have been easier, right?

Brian Pruett: [00:58:44] Well, I also say this. I’ve been doing this the last several shows as well, and I’m going to continue doing this. As to so everybody who was on before the last three weeks, it’s a thank you. So the thank you is a lost art. It’s just a simple thank you. So, Carrie, thank you for what you’re doing for the people in the community in Bartow County. Ashley, thank you for what you’re doing for the for the folks there in Polk. And, Lauren, thank you for helping me as well as everybody that we’re helping. So. All right, everybody out there listening. Let’s remember, let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.