Introduction
Richard Taite, an entrepreneur in the rehabilitation industry, joined us on the Sober Speak podcast. Richard shares with John about his journey to sobriety, his family, and how he has made it as an entrepreneur in the alcoholism and addiction rehab arena.
This is part 2 of the conversation. You can read about part 1 here.
In part 2, Richard discusses:
- What he calls “crack coupons.”
- Phrases “A Love call” and what that is AND…. being “heart-centered”
- Richard’s conversation with a well-known Swami altered the trajectory of Richard’s life.
- Topics like self-care, self-esteem, and self-love…
- Richard’s goal is to fill 1000 beds for both veterans and the mentally ill who need the help.
- Fentanyl is discussed with a focus on how dangerous that is and explains it in a simple way using the analogy of a chocolate chip cookie.
Summary
Richard Taite and John M discuss the importance of creating a safe, supportive, and empathetic environment for addiction treatment. Richard shares his struggles with addiction and postpartum depression and emphasizes the need to care for patients rather than just treating them. They also discuss the importance of prioritizing heart-centered approaches in addiction treatment and the potential positive impact of this approach on their lives and the world. Additionally, they address the urgent need to address the opioid epidemic and support veterans, emphasizing the importance of providing resources and care for mentally ill vets.
Links
- Carrara Treatment Center
- YouTube Channel for Carrara Treatment Center
- Shaping the Future of Addiction Recovery with Richard Taite
- Richard Taite on Real Time with Bill Maher
- Link to Episode 356
Transcript: Love Call
Richard Taite
Okay, everything I just explained to you 30 seconds ago is a love call it’s all. The foundation for everything we do is to create a safe, supportive, empathetic, respectful environment.
John M
Well, hello, friends of Bill W and other friends you have landed on sober speak. My name is John M. I am an alcoholic, and we are glad you’re all here, especially newcomers, newcomers that is both to recovery as a whole and newcomers to this podcast. Sober speak is a podcast about recovery centered around the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. My job here on sober speak is simple. My job is to provide a platform to the amazing stories of recovery all around us. Consider sober speak, if you will, your meeting between meetings, please remember we do not speak for AA or any 12 step community. We represent only ourselves. We are here to share our experience, strength and hope with those who wish to come along for the ride. Take what you want and leave the rest at the curb for the trash man to pick up greetings from Studio A a deep in the heart of Texas. That was the voice of Mr. Richard Tate at the beginning of this here, episode number 356 that you heard, and you are going to hear so much more from him in just a moment. But first things first. This here episode is brought to you by David Adrian Kate and Michelle. What you may ask the David Adrian Kate and Michelle do well they visited our humble, little website, www.soberspeak.com, W dot sober speak.com they clicked on the Donate tab and they made a contribution. So thank you so much. David, Adrian, Kate and Michelle. This here episode is coming right out to ewans, and Adrian put a little note in the contribution, he said, Thank you for your great service. John, well, thank you, Adrian, for your contribution, and thank you for being a listener. I sure do appreciate it. So I just thought of a passage from the big book right here before I started to record, and I thought, well, maybe that’s just what I’m supposed to read for whatever reason. So I’m going to read it right now. And this is from page 20 of The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. And it says our very lives as x problem drinkers depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs. Let me go ahead and read that again. It says page 20, the big book Alcoholics Anonymous. It says our very lives as x problem drinkers depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs. And I read that today as a well for a couple reasons. Number one, I guess that it popped into my head. And then secondly, because I need to remind myself of that today. And then, thirdly, it is apropos for this episode that you were about to hear. First of all, this is the second part. We had an extended interview with Richard. We set up some additional time you. If you didn’t hear part one, you want to go back and hear part one of this. It was the episode right before this that would be what episode number 355 this is the second part of the interview, and this one we are calling love call. And maybe you could tell that from the opening audio clip that we had there. So Richard got sober on March the third of 2003 and he lives in Santa Monica, California. This is the gentleman that founded a treatment center called cliffside Malibu, and he is now the owner of a luxury. Carrera treatment and center and spa. And I said this last week, but I’m gonna say it again, just in case you didn’t hear it last week. This is not kind of my typical guest, but you know, I need to keep myself entertained, and I was keenly interested in Richard as an individual when I met him, so I wanted to move ahead with this interview. Richard is one of a kind. For sure, if you want to hear some more traditional type of talks, just go to one of our other 350 ish other episodes. But on this one, we’re going to be coloring outside the lines just a little bit. We definitely talk about recovery in AA and other things, but Richard discusses in this part of the interview what he calls crack coupons, which I love, and you’ll have to hear him talk about that, and what it means crack coupons, by the way, is it coupons or coupons? I hear people say in a different way. But anyway, some phrases that I love during this interview that Richard uses are being heart centered, as he calls it. And what we’ve already discussed a love call, we talk about his conversation with a well known Swami, and how that altered the trajectory of Richard’s life. He discusses self care, self esteem, self love, and his goal to fill 1000 beds for both veterans and mentally ill that need the needs of the help. He also discusses fentanyl and how dangerous that drug can be, and explains it in a very simple way, using the analogy of a chocolate chip cookie. All right, everybody. Enjoy Richard Tate, and we will have plenty, oh, listener feedback at the end of this episode. Enjoy. Okay, everybody. So we are back again with the one and only Richard. So I’m gonna would if you didn’t catch us on Episode One, I’m gonna recap it in just a second. But Richard, first things first, why don’t you go ahead, introduce yourself, give your sobriety date, if you wish, and tell people where you live in this great land of ours, please,
Richard Taite
sure. Thanks for having me back. I really appreciate it was a good time last time. My name is Richard Tate. I’m an alcoholic. My sobriety date is 3303, and I live in Santa Monica. Santa
John M
Monica, the beautiful Santa Monica, California. What a beautiful area out there. And we’re going to talk a little bit about that, and I want to get into a little bit more of the business side of things this time. But last time, when we were here, we talked about things like your therapy, the turning point you had within your therapy. Also, we talked about how you were a personality that is not for public consumption, as you called it.
Richard Taite
Why do you find that so funny? I mean, know thyself, right? I mean, even in the book, they talk about rigorous honesty.
John M
I just love the phrase, though, and it is so apropos for you.
Richard Taite
Well, thank you. I’m always, I’m always very concerned about how I’m presented in the world. And by that I mean not at all.
John M
Oh. We also talked about your your your postpartum depression that you had after your daughter was born, which I thought was very, very interesting. We talked about your relationship with God. We talked about the the phrase that you have in your life says filling, feeling the pool, the pool, not the pool, and several things like that. So, but this time, I wondered, we never really talked about last time your business, that you you made reference to it that you were the, the founder of cliffside Malibu. And how many years did you have that business? 1515,
Richard Taite
years, 15
John M
And, well, what was the DR How did you get into the business? What was the driving factor there?
Richard Taite
Well, I always, you know, I didn’t get sober in rehab, you know, I knew I needed it, and one day I called promises, right? Because all you knew was, back back in the day was promises and Betty Ford. And I’m like, oh, Betty Ford’s too far, so I’m not going to Palm Springs in the summer. That’s ridiculous. So I’ll call this promises place. And so. I called it, and, you know, it was the West LA promises, it wasn’t the Malibu promises. And I called there, and I said, Listen, I’ve got a problem with cocaine, and I need rehab, but I need it now, like today, right? And she’s like, great, it’ll be 28 grand. And I looked at her and looked at her. I was on the phone with her, and I said, Hey, if I had 28 grand, I wouldn’t have a cocaine problem. And she goes, Excuse me. And I said, You don’t understand what I just said. And she said, No. And I said, well, then you can’t help me. And I hung up the phone, right? And it’s like, I don’t know what the hell your question was, but that just popped into my head, and it was the it was the preamble or the foundation for what the hell your question was, and I just lost it. So I apologize. You want to ask it again, yeah?
John M
So what got you started? Well, I do want to ask you the question, because we talked about it on the last episode, you said you had had a concussion. Was that concussion recently? Or is that like something you had, like a long time ago?
Richard Taite
No, that happened on January 3 of 2018 and it just never got better. It just never got better. I mean, I did whatever I could. I went to the hyperbaric chambers probably 80 times at the setting for the concussion protocol. I went on the high fats diet. I went, you know, I did everything. I went to the neurologist. I did my you know, you know how you have physical rehab, so there’s mental rehab. So I did that, and, you know, I’ve gotten significantly better. Not gonna poopoo, the progress, right? But you know, I still, you know, like, like, if I ran for President, I’d be Joe Biden, right? I mean, that’s just where I’m at right now. Okay, God bless his soul, too. But whatever.
John M
So how did you get the concussion? I
Richard Taite
got into a really bad accident on PCH. And
John M
for those who don’t know, piece of that specific goes highway, yeah, right. And
Richard Taite
dangerous, yeah, it’s dangerous. And you know, someone just pulled out without looking, and I wasn’t even speeding and totaled the car. It looked like when people see the accident, they just want to know how the hell I’m alive. I mean, it’s that bad. And I just, I just got lucky. So, you know, it’s not the worst thing in the world. I’ve learned how to live with it. I’m still competent. You know, Warren Buffett said, or no, it was Charlie Munger. He says, I want to buy stock in Coca Cola. That’s what I want. And the guy looks at him and goes, Why Coca Cola? He says, because the CEO was a drunk yet it still keeps going up in value. I want to buy a company where someone’s so brain damaged that it doesn’t matter, you can’t not make money, so I’m like, Cool. I can do this. I’m brain damaged. No big deal, right? I mean, I don’t have Coca Cola, but, you know, never know, right?
John M
So you’re so you you’ve gotten better. It isn’t all the way back. Does it affect your memory and such like that?
Richard Taite
Oh, my God, I have to my my sweet angel, my one of my best girlfriends in the world, who’s been with me for over a decade. She sits in my office on the other side of of the office, and I will literally stop talking. And she knows me so well that she goes, you were saying, dot, dot, dot. I go, thanks. And then I finish my thought. I mean, I’m just super lucky. I’m just beyond lucky.
John M
Okay, so what I was asking you before, though was, how, what got you started in the treatment arena, what, you know Malibu, what? What started that all off. Got
Richard Taite
it so after my failed attempt at rehab, I went to a sober living. I was completely out of money, and I went to a friend. I asked him for $1,000 he was like, Oh, God, not again. I said, No, no, I want to go to rehab. He said, sober living. He says, you said that the last time. I said, No, no, listen to me. And he gives me $1,000 says, Get out of here, right? And I said, I put the $1,000 back on his desk. And I said, you need to walk me across the street to the bank, and you need to get me a bank check, like cashier’s check for $850 and then I need you to go with me in my car to fill up the tank, buy a carton of cigarettes and some beef jerky. I had like 10 bucks left after that, I said, he goes. Why do you need me to do all this? Because he doesn’t know. And I said, because when the cash hits my hand, Kevin, they turn into crack coupons. That’s why. So just. Do it. He’s like, no problem, baby, all right. And you know, I didn’t stay sober that time, but I got two years nine months, and this was in 98 and, you know, I didn’t get sober till 2003 for good. But that foundation, you know, the best treatment in the world, the best harm reduction treatment in the world, is top notch treatment. And with the therapy I was getting, and the sober community that I had in AA, and sober guys I was with in in Reha, in sober living, that that made all the difference in the world for me, right? So I took that experience, and when I got sober, and, you know, I’m now in 2004 right, my and I’ve got a year sober, my dream now is to give back and to open a men’s sober living, because that was my experience, and I opened it up, and I started giving people therapy there and everything else. And then, you know, the authorities, or somebody I don’t remember, said I was operating illegally, and I’m like, What the hell are you talking about? It’s sober living. And they’re like, no, no, treat. You’re giving them treatment. I said, I’m not giving them treatment. I don’t even know what the hell you’re talking about. They’re like, No, no. You’re giving them therapy. I said, Well, therapy isn’t treatment. They go, of course it is. And I said, Look, you mean to tell me that I can’t give people more than I promised. Is that what you’re telling me? And they’re like, Yeah, you’re operating illegally. So I got my ticket right, and my lawyer get my ticket, and I started cliffside, and that’s how it began.
John M
What do you mean, your ticket? What’s your ticket? My license. My license got you so you started cliffside. And was that difficult? I mean, was there a lot of trial and error? Was it successful from the beginning? Talk to me about that.
Richard Taite
Well, you know, I’d get it right, get it right. Get it wrong, get it right. Get it wrong, right? But we were full in 30 days. And I got to tell you, we had, I don’t even know if we had a website yet, right? No marketing, no business development, no nothing. It was just me and a couple of my guys from sober living, and I’m like, Yeah, let’s go do this. It’s nice. It’s what we know it. We just, let’s go do it. And I never thought to monetize it. And it was not, you know, and, and that’s how we started. I mean, it was just, it was, it was a mistake. We didn’t know. We just, we just, I just followed the light, you know, I felt the pull, and I just went that way. And I didn’t have any of the answers. I didn’t know any of this was going to happen. I never dreamt any of it was going to happen. It’s just do your best today and then the next day and the next day and the next day, and you’re just putting good days together, doing the best you can every day, and then after a year, your life looks completely different than it did when you started. And then you put years together, right? And there’s something about 10 years, okay, my buddy cam told me I had nine years sober and I was depressed as hell, and I own cliffside, and I’m sitting down with them, we’re having coffee and a cigar outside, and he says to me, said, Hey, babe, I got 17 years. All my guys have the same story, every one of us at 10 years something happens in that 10 year period. It’s not on your birthday, but somewhere in that 10 year period, your head gets pulled out of your ass, and you just, everything gets clear and you’re just running. And it like 10 years and and and nine months. I call cam, and I go, Jesus Christ, I thought you were full of shit. Okay? And, you know, it’s just, it’s a truism, you know, you just have these milestones that you know, you just get better and better and better and better. And that’s, you know, if you put good days together and good years together, then you know what? You know, I told my buddy one day, he’s crying to me, and he says to me, all I want is $100,000 a year job so that I can live like a regular guy. And I said, Dude, do me a favor. Just ask God for what you want, not what you need. Ask Him for what you want. And he didn’t listen to me. He asked God for $100,000 job, okay? And three weeks later, four weeks later, he had $100,000 job, and he. He says to me, I’ll never forget it. He says, you know, dude, I feel like I walked over to the ocean with a teacup, right? I said, Dude, come on, okay. God loves you as long as you’re heart centered and and you’re gonna do good with this thing. Okay? He wants, what you want His will is your will, trust me, as long as you’re a good person, and you leave this place better than you found it, and you try to help everybody you can Okay, you’re good, and that’s how I live my life.
John M
That’s another term that I’ve heard you use, that I really like, and I want you to kind of expand on that a little bit more, because I’ve heard you before you talk about the term heart centered. We we’ve had conversation that came up when you’re talking to me. You just gave one example there. But when you think about being heart centered as an individual, what does that mean to you?
Richard Taite
Okay, so I’ll apply it to my business, right? The treatment industry is wrought with fraud and people that only care about the money, right? I’m the worst CEO on the face of the earth. In fact, I hired one because I’m not an operator. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I help people for a living, right? I don’t know how to run a business, nonsense. But what made cliffside different, and now that I’ve taken everybody from cliffside, that was, you know, all my friends decided to come, you know, I didn’t try to hurt anybody, okay? That was my legacy, right? And I was proud of it. But when I started working and opened Carrera, they all wanted to come, and so they came. And the reason they came, and I don’t know how they did things there, but most of the places, most of the treatment centers. They treat you like a number. They’re just in and out, fill the beds, in and out. And the way we do it is everything has the foundation of love. People come in broken and full of shame, and we want them to know, hey, you’re important to us. Okay, if you saw yourself the way we see you, this, this nonsense, be done. You’re perfect. Okay, you’ve got this talent, you’ve got that talent. It’s wonderful. And you just, you love them, and that’s the foundation that you give them, and it’s why, it’s why we’re so successful. It’s why, after six months and 10 days, we’ve got 30 out of 30 beds filled, and we still have two beds, two homes to grow into, right? Because, remember, I had these homes, and, you know, to help me, right? I don’t want people. I don’t want to rent them. I’m not a landlord, right? And I just, you know, and you know, it’s different, man, there’s nothing to me, just to me and and the people that work with with us because we’re an invitation only place. If, if you’re desensitized by the process of helping another human being, you’re shown the door. Okay, I got nothing but lovers. And you know, that’s what makes us different. We just we care, and we’re emotionally invested. You know, when you’re in therapy, they tell you, Well, don’t get emotionally invested. Okay? They don’t do that because it’s, it’s good for the for the patient. They do it so that they don’t get worn down themselves and they have a longer career. Okay, here, I don’t let anybody work in a treatment setting for me for longer than seven years, I’ll move them off from a from a primary therapy position to a group therapist. Okay? I’ll let them go into private practice and send them business for two, three years to recharge. Okay, but a treatment setting that’s like a that’s like a cross between a mental hospital and a an emergency room. Okay, you can’t last in that that place longer than seven years. So, you know, here, it’s a different vibe. We actually, we don’t just treat our people, we care for them, and they can call anytime when they’re gone. You know, if you come to Carrera, then your family, and you can call it anytime, speak to your therapist, whatever, speak to the alumni person. You can call and speak to me. Okay, it’s like, it’s a different vibe. It just is. It’s one of. One in every way.
John M
I’ve heard another term that I’ve heard you call, and it really kind of dovetails into what you were just talking about right there. But I’ve also heard you talk about the term love Call. Can you say what that means to you? That term, it’s, it’s so I, I just love it, right? A love call versus, I don’t know, just a call or something like that. Where did you come up with that?
Richard Taite
No, no, that everybody makes fun of me for that, except the people that work with me, because they get it right, everything I just explained to you 30 seconds ago,
John M
yeah, is a love call.
Richard Taite
It’s all. The foundation for everything we do is to create a safe, supportive, empathetic, respectful environment. Look, I don’t do the punishing program. We’re not bad, we’re sick. We think we’re bad, but we’re sick. Okay, so in what universe are you gonna punish a sick person? I mean, that just sounds stupid to me. Okay, when people say, you know, you know you need the tough love, it’s like, Shut up, you idiot. You know, talking about, okay, tough love, right? Moron, you know what another one is. You know what another one is? Here’s another one that I hate. You’re only going to get sober if you do it for yourself, and if you don’t want it, you’re not getting it. Well, guess what? Nobody wants to get sober until they run out of money, okay, idiot. I mean, no statement has killed more people than that, okay? I mean, just, you know, and that’s what I hate, right? You’ve got enough people talking about something, and they just heard it from this one person who they respected, and then they parrot it on to somebody else who respects them, and it just goes on and on and on and on. Okay, can I tell you a really good story for a minute? You’re gonna love this story. So I opened cliffside in 2004 as the men. So we’re living and when you open up a place, evidently, you have what’s called an open house where all the other therapists and addictionologists and all the other people from other centers come and look at your place, so that they know, you know, they get the vibe of people, and they see what your program is, and you know, they want to make certain that when they send somebody to you, okay, that You know they feel good about it, right? So we have this open house, and there’s this one woman, she’s got to be in her 60s. She’s got the long, perfect nails, her hair in the pompadour, right? With about, I don’t know, a half a bottle of hairspray in it. She’s a little overweight, okay, with, you know, the fat clothes, you know, you buy the biggest clothes you can so you don’t look as fat as you are, right? And she running around, okay, with all these other therapists in tow, and she’s the shot caller. Now, this is 2004 the flat screens that came the flat screen TVs that were just being put on the walls, just happening, right? So I put one in every bedroom, and this woman is appalled, and she’s talking shit about it to everybody who’s there. I’ve never right that, that thing. And so I walk up to her and I go, Hey, what’s the problem with the TVs? And she said, here it is, people in treatment should focus themselves. Are you fucking nuts? Are you out of your fucking mind? Okay, yeah. Sure thing. Lady. Okay. So I look, I look at her, and I say, so hold on a second. You want me to teach these people how to fall asleep in 30 days? And she’s like, What are you even talking about? I said, Oh, you’re not an alcoholic. She says, No, I’m and she rattles off her CV for what seemed like five minutes. So defensive, right, pain in the ass. And I said, Listen, lady, these people have been passing out sometimes for more than a decade or two. They don’t know how to fall asleep. Okay, I don’t want their head chewing on them at night. Okay, working them over. So they go, Fuck it, I’m leaving. And they go shoot dope after three weeks in treatment, and they die because they don’t understand the tolerance. And then she started giving I said, I’d rather have them fall asleep to the news or sports center or whatever the hell they like, and pass out to that. Okay? And she’s like, she’s. Already giving me shit, and I just clapped my hands and screamed, everybody out, okay? I threw every 60 people out of that place. And my buddy looked at me, and he said, we are never going to get another client from anybody in this community ever again. And I said, I don’t want clients from these people. Man, I don’t. These people are idiots. And you know, I just get back to common sense. That’s what I do. Let’s just all get back to common sense, right? Okay, that was a monolog that lasted.
John M
No, that’s good. You’re gonna good. Me
Richard Taite
come back a third time.
John M
No, you’re great, by the way. We haven’t talked about it, but you’ve been puffing on that cigar, and it just looks very cool. Hey, let me ask you this real quick. Has anybody ever told you? And I mean, this is a compliment, okay? First of all, let me say, when people look at me, they say, Hey, you look like Howdy Doody or Danny Partridge like that. You look a little bit to me like and I’ve been watching these things on TV lately. You ever see Goldberg, the wrestler?
Richard Taite
You mean? Brad Pitt? No, no,
John M
no. The the wrestler? Goldberg?
Richard Taite
Oh. George Clooney. Come on, dude. I don’t need another reason to feel bad about myself.
John M
I don’t I think he’s a he’s a good looking guy.
Richard Taite
I don’t know, I don’t know who he is, but he’s part of the tribe, so I’m cool with it.
John M
Yeah. No, no, no, no. Goldberg’s a handsome fellow. I wish I look like Goldberg and I that’s what I’m saying. I mean that as a compliment, but I’m
Richard Taite
gonna look it up. I’m gonna look it up and decide whether or not I’m ever gonna speak to you again after the show.
John M
I’ll send you a picture after we’re done. But anyway, I’ve heard you talk before about being with a an experience you had with a with a Swami?
Richard Taite
Oh, wow, that’s great.
John M
It. Talk to me about that. And do you still go to Swan How do you find like, I wouldn’t even know, in Texas here, where to find a Swami? How do you find Swamis? How did you come about this person, or people or group? Talk to me about that. So
Richard Taite
I made friends when I moved to Malibu in 20 in, 2023 right? When I got sober and I moved to Malibu and I bought a big house, you
John M
mean 2013 is that right? No, I think you said 2023
Richard Taite
Oh, okay, well, 2003 2003 okay, you know, I apologize, and I bought that house and and so I made friends that that house, by the way, turned into cliffside Malibu because it was too big and it made me uncomfortable. And I just, you know, I just, you know, it’s like being stoned and walking into the market, right? You’re always going to buy too much shit, right? I bought too much home, and I made friends with this guy, Gary, and Gary was my trainer at the beginning, and so I go to the gym every day and meet him. And he’s now, I think, probably 75 but when he was 18, him and his best friend went to India, and his best friend stayed. These are two Jewish kids at 18 who went to India. One comes back, Gary, his best friend stays, and his name is Swami radhanoth. Fact is probably Radhanath Swami, okay, but anyway, the kindest, most godly man you’ve ever met, ever you cry in his presence, right? Just good to the core, and I would go to him every year. Now I don’t like crowds. It just pisses me off. But Gary knows me, and he knows what I do and that I help everybody I can, so he says it’s okay come to my house. He’s staying with me, and he’s in he’s bald head, and he’s in this orange garb, and I would see him every single year for an hour, just the two of us. And this is a guy who shows up at the airport, right? And there’s like 1000 people waiting for him. Okay? Like, I don’t really have a full understanding. It’s not like he’s the pope over there, but he’s kind of like a big shot, right? And so I was guilty. I felt guilty because of my he. Street in AA and for the length of time, and all my friends are in AA, or they come from AA, right? I was guilty. I felt guilty that I was making money off people being sick. I couldn’t get my head around it. I’m supposed to do this for fun and for free, but I just can’t, so I can’t get my head around it, and so I’m crying to him, and I’m crying to him, and for three years, for three years, so three total hours, this guy said the same thing to me every single time I’d be crying and he’d say, wouldn’t the world be a better place? If everyone could help some, if everyone could help people for a living, where, where, where? Ah, wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone could help people for a living for three years, he said this to me, you want to know, you want to debate whether or not I’m slow. I mean, I’m slow, and after three years, I got it, and I’ve been cool since, but that’s the only time I started making a living, and this was in 2011 I had this place from 2004 and I never I just couldn’t get ahead. I was a rat on a rat wheel, and I didn’t understand that it was my own limiting beliefs. And once I could be like, Oh, I’m doing good here. I’m different than them, like, my heart is good here, okay, I am actually helping people here. Right then I felt good about it, and then I just took off. And that’s when we started expanding and helping everybody we could
John M
and and that to me, you’re you’re very consistent in your thoughts and beliefs, like when you say being heart centered, you know, love call feeling the pull, right? That all kind of goes back to, you know, wouldn’t it be wouldn’t the world be a better place if we could help people for a living? And that, to me, is, seems like it’s your big driver. It’s what it gets you up in the morning.
Richard Taite
It is, but in all fairness, just to give equal time, okay, that was the carrot. I also needed the stick, okay, because I don’t operate in one way, okay. I needed the carrot and the stick. The Swami was the carrot. Then I went to my buddy Ron, okay, I grew up in his house, and I called him up, very, very wealthy man. I mean, very, like, one of 2600 people in the world, wealthy, okay? And I call up, and I speak to a secretary. I’m like, hey, it’s, it’s Richard Tate. Just tell Ron I need him. And then I go to the second secretary, and, Hi, this is Richard Tate. Just let Ron know I’m here. And then the third Secretary answers the phone. I snap and I just lose it. Tell him I’m on the goddamn phone. What the fuck is this? And he picks up the phone laughing. Hey, baby, how you doing? I said, I need to come see you. He says, When I said yesterday, and he says, Be here at 530 tomorrow morning. I’m like, where are you? He says, Sylmar. I’m like, Where the hell is Sylmar? He goes, figure it out, and hung up on me, right? So I show up and I see him, and I tell him the truth. Listen, man, I’m in a depression. I’ve been stuck for a while now. Okay, I sit in my pajamas all day long. You know I’m stuck. I’m like paralyzed, and you know I’m getting by, and you know I’m providing for the family and everything and but I just, man, I’m just worthless. And for 25 minutes, he told me what a bitch I was and how that’s not how men do it okay, and he just worked me over in the worst way possible. And after 25 minutes, I had enough, so I got up out of the chair, I walked behind his desk, I grabbed him by the face, and I kissed him, and I start walking out the door. And he goes, we good. And I said, of course, we’re good. You don’t think I knew what I was coming here for. You gave me exactly what I needed. I love you. He goes, I love you too. And I left. So between the carrot and the stick between the SWAMI and Ron. Okay. There was no room to go anywhere else. It was just this is what we’re doing. We’re putting our best foot forward. We’re okay doing it. You’re doing a good job. Okay. You deserve to be set free from this limitation and know that you’re on the right path. You. Hmm.
John M
So we’ve been talking a little so we we’ve made reference to it, but we haven’t really talked about your current, what you’re doing right now in business. So as as we’ve talked about, you were the founder of cliffside Malibu, and after 15 years, I believe you sold that out, right or not, sold it, you sold that business, and what was it like when you sold that business
Richard Taite
the first week, like on Friday, it happened at Friday. I’m thinking three, between three and four, the wire hit. Now, I’d never seen anything like that before. I walked out of my center with I was 52 years old. I’d saved $400,000 in my entire life, and I had a bunch of homes, but that was dead money. These are used for the center right, but I had $400,000 cash. That’s all I had after 15 years of working because I kept reinvesting in the business all the time. Right? Then I’m walking out of the place for the last time, and the controller runs up to me, and he hands me a check for $404,000 and I’m like, What the hell is this? He goes, Oh, it’s called working capital. Like, what the hell was that? And he says, Oh, that just means it’s your money, Ridge, see you later, have a good life. Throws me out, right? And then I realize as I’m walking to the car that my accountant made a mistake and that I owe $2 million in taxes for the year before, right? So Now picture this. I’m a 52 year old man who has just given up my life’s work. I’m walking out with $800,000 to my name, right? But I’m really negative 1.2 million because I gotta, I gotta come up with money for right? So I’m like, I just can’t get my head around it. And a half hour later, the wire hits, and I’m like, I don’t get it. I don’t understand it. This is insane to me, right? And so, oh, wow, we just had a faux pas. What was the question again?
John M
So it’s, that’s okay. I was asking you about what it was like in, you know, when you sold the business and you went through that first week, got it. So
Richard Taite
then on Friday, I’m good because, you know, the weekend is like a little easier, right? So I’m not missing the place, right? But Monday morning, when I got ready to go to work and I realized I didn’t have anywhere to go, I went insane. That was the single worst week of my life. I had two people who worked with me. I took two people, and they told me they almost left, and these were two of my closest friends that I brought with me. And, you know, I’ve lived the last five years, man, and not the last year, because I’ve been, you know, working, but the five years that I was in Purgatory, it was, I was living the life of a Malibu housewife. I mean, when I got back, I had completely atrophied like, you know, it was, it was just the worst time man of my life. Now, the good part of it was I became a much better father, much better so I learned how to be a better dad. So, you know, your children are all you got, right. So to me, that was great. But my work life, man, I was, I was devastated. Wow.
John M
Okay, so that was for five years now, and we really haven’t talked in depth yet about what, what Carrera is all about. And so that’s when you, you found the house, you started kind of, you know, move in that direction you felt the pull. When do Carreras start and talk about that journey.
Richard Taite
So we were licensed on January 1, 2024, this year. And Carrera is different. It just is. Now. Every therapist we have there has at least 10,000 hours of treatment experience. Some have 20, right? And you know, mastery is about the 10,000 hour rule, right? If you’ve done anything for 10,000 hours, you’re a master at that. You’re an expert, right? And so and they’re all the most loving present souls around, right? I mean, they just are, or they wouldn’t be here. And so forget the fact that it’s the finest clinicians and the finest program in the world. That’s like, not even debatable. I mean, cliffside was that, and they’re here, right? So let’s not even talk about that. That’s just like an asshole conversation. Okay? But what makes this different is not just that obviously, but I had an epiphany in probably my fourth year in Purgatory, and what I thought was I’ve never met an alcoholic ever who was trying to kill themselves with drugs and alcohol, ever that didn’t truly love themselves because I was working on loving myself, right? I still don’t have it completely done. I’m farther along than I’ve ever been, okay. And then I thought, well, how do you get there? Okay? And I’m like, How did I get here? And see I came up with self care turns into self esteem, which turns into self love, right? So I wanted to teach these people self care, and that’s why we do what we do here. That’s why I have a world class spa. I actually took the spa director from the Ojai Valley Inn, which is a world class, top 100 spa in the nation. Now, it sounds like a vanity play, okay, I get it, okay, and it is to certain degree, okay. But really, what it is, if you dig deeper, is you deserve it. You deserve it, right? You get facials, massages, acupuncture, wraps, scrubs, whatever you wake up in the morning, you go to the juice bar, and you have your ginger shots and your wheatgrass shots or your green drink, or your smoothie or your protein shake, and then you go, move your body right, and then you sit down for six hours, okay, with breaks, obviously, and you get the best education and the best therapy money can buy. And when you’re done with that, okay, you have dinner. And you know, we grabbed Stevie Wonder’s chef. The funny part about that is I grabbed her without tasting the food, and everybody that worked for me gave me the riot act, right? And you don’t hire somebody without tasting the food. What are you an idiot, right? These are my friends, right? I’m like, oh, okay, sure, you’ve got better taste buds. And Stevie Wonder, shut up, get out of here, right? And, but it made me nervous, so I went and tasted the food, and it was perfect. It’s the only time even at cliffside, people would complain about the food. Not one person has complained about it. I drive if I’m in the city, I never, don’t stop off at the place to eat. Her food. Chef Deb is the best. Like, like restaurant, like, high end, high end restaurant. Quality fit, right? And so, you know, I’ve got this saying, right? And I learned it in AAA, I think I learned it in the Pacific Group. And what I learned was, if you don’t know where you’re supposed to be at every minute of every day when you’re newly sober, you’re in a bad neighborhood, right? And so I took that and moved that into this. And when you go ahead and you do and you design somebody’s calendar, daily calendar, right? You want to do the same thing we’re doing here, right? You want to wake up in the morning. You want to move your body. You want to do some workout. Whatever that workout is, doesn’t matter what it is, okay? Then you want to put something good in your body, right, with the juice, right? Or anything. Just do something healthy, Food Matters, right? And then you go to work. You’re not in therapy now, right? So you go to work, and then you come home, and you have to know how to decompress without the drugs and the alcohol. And for me, that was self care. You know? You come in, you don’t know anything. You don’t know how to take care of yourself. These people haven’t gotten their eyes checked in a decade. They haven’t been to a dentist in a decade. They haven’t you know nothing. You have to teach them life skills, right? Even people with big lives that run big companies, okay? There’s something wrong with everybody. They don’t have relationships with their kids. Well, wait a minute, dude. Okay, that’s all you got. Well, I got, man, shut up. Please listen to me. Okay, and you let them you. You expand their life so that if your life is a pie. Right? If it’s a circle, and you cut the circles into eight slices, each slice of the pie is a different area of a life that they want to design, the life that they always wish they lived, a life that they could be proud of. And you’re strong in four of them, let’s say, and you’re weak in the other four, and you got to build that out, man. When you play a game, Okay, you go to your strengths. When you’re at practice, you work on your weaknesses, okay? And that’s how everything is a sports analogy. Everything I’ve learned was either from my dad, okay, or from playing football, everything.
John M
So we’re talking there about your luxury treatment, but I know that you have a heart for veterans. You have a heart for the mentally ill. You have a goal to fill 1000 beds for those particular genres of people. I’m sorry. I’m probably not saying that, right, but talk to me about what you want to do. What is your what are your goals here, not only for the Carrera, but for treatment in general.
Richard Taite
Excuse me. Well, look, Carrera was designed and created because it’s what I know. I don’t need help. You know, creating a world renowned brand, if you’re the best in the world at something, you know, people notice, okay, so I knew how to do that, but the reason I did it was different. See when I stopped, when I sold cliffside for the next four years, every treatment center bought the keyword Richard Tate in Google because they thought that if they people looking for me, are looking for treatment, right? And so that’s how they’d fill their beds. Now, after four years, people stopped doing it, and I’m like, Oh, I’m nobody. I’m nobody again. And it hit me, if I’m going to, if I’m going to pull people off the streets, okay, out of encampments and treat them okay. People have to know who I am again, and nobody knew who I was. I was gone too long. So, you know, I had to build a world renowned brand so I could be on podcasts and the news and Bill Maher and all that other shit that I did forever, okay, minus the podcast, because that wasn’t a thing back then. Okay, if it was, I didn’t, I don’t get it. Still, don’t get it. I’ve got my own podcast that’s coming out. I just don’t understand it. But anyway, I don’t listen to podcasts. I’ll never listen to this one, you know, I don’t read my own press. I mean, you know? I mean, it’s never right. And my dream, look, I live here. I grew up here. I’m 57, years old. Okay, if I see another kid in an encampment, my I’m gonna snap my throat closes. I can’t stop crying. I’m wrecked. I think about it, my throat starts to close. Okay? It’s too much for me and our heroes. Okay, the people that protect us, 75% of them, are on drugs and alcohol, and they’re living in squalor on our sidewalks. They’re not called encampment walks. They’re called sidewalks. Okay, I can’t take it, it’s too much. So right now, I’ve got, you know, I’ve got a separate house, okay? That, you know, I’ve got to build out, because I got three heroes in my place right now. Okay? And my goal is to have, you know, we’re gonna have to have a 25 person or 50 person pilot program to follow these people along and show the effectiveness of this stuff, right? Because my goal with this platform is, is, hey, I’m somebody again. I can be trusted with this. Please, let me do this. Help me out. Okay, let’s, let’s clean up these streets. Let’s help these veterans. Let’s help them. We’re only as strong as our weakest link, okay, another football analogy, okay, you cannot live this, not in the fifth we are the largest economy on the globe. California, on its own, is the fifth largest economy on the face of the earth. What the hell is going on here? It’s not that hard. It is. And you just have to give a shit. That’s it. The end, that’s like water is wet. That is it. It’s done. Just care okay and get this done. It’s stupid. Just drives me insane. Sorry. No,
John M
I’m glad I love your passion. And so those 1000, if I remember right, it’s 1000 beds for is it that you want to set up for mentally ill vets? And was it a third category?
Richard Taite
It’s, it’s the vets, it’s our heroes, and it’s the people on the street. I want to clean up the street, okay? And I want to take care of our heroes. Look, if i I wish one of my biggest regrets was that I wasn’t in the military. Hand to God, but my parents didn’t know any better. I never heard about that. I didn’t even know about that. You know, children have a healthy narcissism. Okay? It’s just like I didn’t know, right? And if I would have been in the military, two things would have happened, only two, I would have been a four star general, or I would have been thrown the hell out of there, probably thrown the hell and it’s probably 8020 with the throwing out being the 80, okay, but you never know, right? And I just wish I had done that. And, you know, I love politics. I just do. It’s my you know, I really do, and I look at how these people are treated, the people that you know, put themselves on the line for us, and it’s just this is the most selfish thing I’ve ever seen. It’s ungrateful, it’s repugnant, and I just can’t take it. So, you know, you got to leave this place better than you found it, man. You only get one turn at this. So
John M
the other thing I wanted to make sure that I brought up here with you was your passion, your concern for those who are hooked on fentanyl, and I know you’ve been talking about that, so I want to give you kind of a platform here to discuss how you see it, what the solutions Are, and what’s been going on in that arena?
Richard Taite
Well, listen, it’s the worst epidemic we have the worst. I think 112,000 people died last year, but that’s nothing. It’s coming. It’s, it’s, it’s worse. It’s getting worse all the time, and it’s really affecting kids and young adults the worst. Now there is nothing more unnatural than burying your child, nothing. And when we were kids, back in the day, I’m 57 when I was kid, everybody experimented with drugs and alcohol. It was a rite of passage. It’s everybody got one. And when you’re young, your frontal cortex isn’t developed until you’re like, 25 so it’s like you got brain damage, right? It’s like your executive function doesn’t work. So you think you’re invincible, right? And this is your, this is your right. You get a right? Everybody else had one. You get to experiment too, right? Only they don’t this time, because 70% of the pills and 70% of the powder is laced with fentanyl, okay? And we’ve run out of time. Think of this. Think of it like this. It’s terrorism. Actually. The chemicals come from China. They go to Mexico, and then you’ve got these guys who are in a hazmat suit, okay? And they dump this, this chemical, into the this big vat, and then they take this big wooden stick, and they move it around, right? And then they make pills in it, right? So think of it like a chocolate chip cookie. Sometimes you bite into the cookie and you get a ton of chocolate chips. Sometimes get one, if you’re lucky, right now, that’s a fentanyl pill. If you get one with a lot of chocolate chips in it, you’re dead, right? It’s just the way it works. And you know, I have this kid who was sober seven years got in a car accident. The doctor put him on opiates for two months, didn’t titrate him off, nothing, just cut him loose. So now the kid’s sick and he’s doctor shopping and we’re not back in the day. We could doctor shop for a year. Error before we got caught. Right? This time you get away with it for a month, because all the systems talk to each other, right? Well, this kid exhausted that, and then he went on the street looking one time. And I loved this kid. I loved him, and he died, and I was not invited to funeral. His parents didn’t say it, but they blame me. I know it, and so that was one of the reasons I came back to work, because I felt like if I didn’t, I was going to be punished. And I don’t have a punishing God, but I have two young kids, and I’m not. I can’t risk it. I just can’t. So I came back. Now you’ve got Carfentanil, which is 100 times stronger than fentanyl. What’s Carfentanil? It’s just some bullshit. That’s 10 that’s 100 times stronger than fentanyl. It’s just fentanyl on steroids. Is how I understand it, okay, I’m not a chemist. This is, you know, with a pharmacological degree. It just, this is what it is. Then there’s something called tranq. Tranq is fentanyl mixed with xylazine, okay, and those two together are like a zombie flesh eating drug there. Narcan doesn’t work on that, and it’s so hard to get sober on that. It’s like I haven’t even been able to put my head around it yet. That’s how bad it is. Okay. Now that’s coming. That’s coming to a suburb near you, it is right now. It’s hitting people on the street, okay, but it’s coming, and
Richard Taite
it’s just a bad time to be a kid. And I was telling my son this morning, okay, you know, man, we stopped, and there’s this old man walking on a walker. And every time I see him, he’s got to be 90, and every time I see him, I feel like I just my heart warms, right? Because the guy’s struggling. And so I pull over, and I said, Hey, man, I just want to tell you, right? And I was going to tell him, you know, every time I see you, it makes me feel good. You’re, you’re the greatest, right? And he lashed out of me. I can’t talk. I said. I said, Well, I just wanted I can’t talk, right? And I turned around, I was with my, my 11 year old, and he goes, Why do you do that? Why do you talk to people like that? And I said, because I love all old people, and I love children, it’s the people in the middle I have a problem with right? You have to set an example for your children. You have to
John M
Mr. Richard, this has been fantastic. I have so much enjoyed spending time with you. I think that’s a great point to wrap it up, that we have to be examples for our kids and others. And I just want to make sure there’s nothing else you want to say before I go ahead for and put a bow on this one.
Richard Taite
Now I just wanted to say you’re doing great. I’m thrilled for your success here. I know you’ve got a lot of listeners. You provide comfort for a lot of people. And I just think that’s fantastic. Everybody leaves this place. Every heart centered person understands that we help whoever we can. You know one my kid asked me so nuts, he’s so smart, okay, what’s the meaning of life? And I said, to be a maximum service to God and to your fellow man. And if anybody tells you different, you tell them. Your father says, Go fuck yourself. I. Okay, that’s it, that’s it. That’s the way you live, right? Thank you. God, I love you. Amen.
John M
It’s a great way to end. All right, I’m gonna go ahead and read, as you know, I read from the big book, page 164 to wrap us up, and it says, abandon yourself to God as you understand God, admit your faults, to him and to your fellows, clear away the wreckage of your past, give freely of what you find, and join us. We shall be with you in the fellowship of the spirit, and you will surely meet some of us like me and Richard, as you trudge the road of happy destiny. Once again, Richard, I really appreciate you coming on and joining me today.
Richard Taite
Thanks, buddy. I enjoyed it. If I didn’t, I would have told you.