What happens after addiction treatment ends?

For many individuals and families, completing treatment isn’t the end of the recovery journey. It’s the beginning of learning how to build a sustainable life in recovery.

Host Andrew Bartolotta sits down with Will Taylor, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Recovery Is The New High, for a conversation about addiction, recovery, second chances, and the systems needed to support people for the long term.

Will brings both professional expertise and lived experience to this work. He is in long-term recovery from mental health and substance use disorders and has worked as a clinical counselor, helped develop addiction treatment programs, collaborated with faith communities, and contributed to behavioral health initiatives in Tennessee.

Today, Recovery Is The New High operates as a statewide Recovery Community Organization with nine locations across Tennessee, providing recovery support, recovery housing certification, and helping communities develop recovery-oriented systems of care.

Andrew and Will discuss the difference between treatment and long-term recovery support, the biggest gaps facing people trying to rebuild their lives, recovery housing, employment and community support, the role of churches and businesses, reducing stigma while maintaining accountability, and what Tennessee and the nation can do better.

Will also shares what National Recovery Month means and why it’s important to tell not only stories about addiction, but stories showing that long-term recovery is possible.

For anyone impacted by addiction—whether personally or through someone you love—this conversation offers perspective on what it takes to move beyond surviving and begin rebuilding a life.

Learn more: https://recoveryisthenewhigh.com/

How do you hold onto faith when life hurts? What happens when fear, grief, loss, self-doubt, or circumstances you never chose begin to reshape the way you see yourself and your future?

In this episode of the cityCURRENT Show, host Andrew Bartolotta sits down with Janette Owens, founder of Be Inspired For Real, Nicole Hicks, Certified Biblical Life Coach and founder of Faith Over Fear Coaching; and Mary Holmström, a coach specializing in anticipatory grief, identity, and purpose after loss.

Together, they have a deeply personal conversation about navigating the real stuff of life while holding onto faith—and why struggling doesn’t mean you’re failing in your faith.

Janette shares how Be Inspired For Real began in 2017 after she saw friends struggling and becoming discouraged in their Christian walk. What started as a platform for encouragement has since evolved to include faith-based life coaching designed to help people take actionable steps through challenging seasons.

Coach Nicole opens up about her own life-changing health crisis and the season of anxiety, depression, chronic insomnia, and other challenges that followed. She shares how that experience transformed her understanding of faith and now informs her work helping women move from surviving to thriving and from fear to faith by addressing identity, self-worth, boundaries, and the negative thoughts that can keep people stuck.

Coach Mary introduces an important topic many people may be experiencing without having a name for it: anticipatory grief. The conversation explores grieving a loss before it happens, caregiving, estrangement, losing relationships that still technically exist, and the difficult question of, “Who am I now?” after life has fundamentally changed.

Andrew also shares some of his own experiences with grief and family estrangement, opening the door to an honest discussion about the intersection of faith and pain: How do we leave room for grief, fear, anger, and questions while still trusting God—without pretending everything is okay when it isn’t?

Ultimately, the conversation comes back to community, grace, purpose, and the reminder that you don’t have to do life—or faith—alone. Life will bring seasons we didn’t choose, and growth doesn’t require forgetting what happened or pretending it didn’t hurt. Sometimes growth is simply taking the next faithful step.

Learn more about Be Inspired For Real, meet their partner coaches, and explore coaching resources at:

www.BeInspiredForReal.com

As Janette puts it: trust God, live with purpose, laugh often, and keep it moving.

Host Jeremy C. Park interviews Kelly O. Finnell, Founder and President of EFS ESOP Consultants and author of "The ESOP Coach: Using ESOPs in Ownership Succession Planning," who discusses the importance and power of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs).

Kelly shares how he accidentally entered the ESOP field in 1979 while working at a law firm in Massachusetts during his first year of law school. After being assigned to research ESOPs for a white paper, he developed a passion for the topic and eventually built his consulting practice around it. Jeremy and Kelly discuss ESOPs, explaining that from a business owner's perspective it serves as an exit and succession strategy alternative to selling to private equity or strategic buyers. Kelly describes how ESOPs function as retirement plans from an employee's perspective, with the company fully funding them and the investment being limited to company stock. Jeremy notes the power of ownership, highlighting how it can transform employee perspectives and create a legacy for business leaders.

Kelly discusses the performance benefits of employee-owned companies, citing academic studies and Higginbotham as examples of improved employee performance and business outcomes. Jeremy agrees with these points, sharing his firsthand experience of the positive impact on responsibility and ownership at all levels.

Kelly outlines the criteria for determining if a company is a good candidate for an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), including financial metrics like adjusted EBITDA and employee count, as well as subjective indicators such as emphasis on company culture, legacy, and philanthropy. Jeremy agrees, highlighting how outside ownership often leads to changes in culture and philanthropy, making an ESOP a viable option for preserving a business's legacy and values.

Kelly advises business leaders that implementing an ESOP or any exit strategy typically requires a minimum of three years of planning and preparation. He emphasizes the importance of becoming educated about different options, including sales to private equity, and involving trusted advisors like lawyers and CPAs in the process.

Kelly discusses the positive outlook for ESOPs, highlighting the bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans. He explains that ESOPs function as an effective wealth distribution vehicle, offering tax benefits to companies and providing a way for business owners to sell to employees with government support covering 40% of the cost through tax savings.

Kelly shares contact information, including the company website www.execfin.com and LinkedIn page for EFS ESOP Consultants. He discusses his book, which was written specifically for business owners and includes case studies in plain English to explain complex ESOP topics.

Visit https://execfin.com/ to learn more and connect with Kelly Finnell and EFS ESOP Consultants.