Turning Scars into Strength with Kimberly Clark

In this inspiring episode of "Conversations with Rich Bennett," titled "Turning Scars into Strength with Kimberly Clark," sponsored by Eco-Cool HVAC, Rich delves into the profound story of Kimberly Clark, a Navy veteran who transformed her life's greatest challenges into avenues of empowerment and healing. Kimberly explores her struggles with addiction, the harrowing experiences of childhood and military sexual trauma, and the journey towards recovery that led her to become an inspiration for others facing similar challenges.

Kimberly's commitment to healing led her to discover the therapeutic benefits of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the role of a peer support specialist, where she leverages her experiences to guide fellow veterans on their paths to recovery. Her work as an author and motivational speaker amplifies her message of resilience and the possibility of triumph over adversity.

Throughout the episode, Kimberly shares insights into the importance of therapy, particularly EMDR, and the power of discipline and routine in maintaining focus and advancing in one's healing journey. Her story is not just one of overcoming but also of using her past as a foundation to build a future where she continues to inspire and support others through her advocacy, speaking engagements, and written works.

This episode is a compelling narrative of transformation, showcasing how the deepest wounds can lead to the greatest strengths when faced with courage, support, and the willingness to heal.

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Transcript

Rich Bennett 0:00
Thanks for joining the conversation where we explore the stories and experiences that shape our world. I'm your host, Rich Bennett. And today, I am thrilled to welcome Kimberly Clark, a motivational powerhouse. Kimberly, a Navy veteran, has overcome immense challenges, including drug addiction and confronting childhood and military sexual trauma. Her journey has led her to become a bestselling author and a recognized trauma expert. She is passionate about empowering young adults, speaking from a place of deep personal experience beyond her speaking engagements, Kimberly is a dedicated practitioner of Brazilian jiu jitsu, a committed volunteer for veteran organizations. Thank you for that and serves as a peer support specialist. Oh my God. I can not wait to get into this. Her mission is to ignite healing and drive transformation, inspiring others to lead successful, fulfilling lives. Kimberly, first of all, thank you for everything you're doing. And as a veteran myself, I know sometimes we hate to hear that. Thank you for your service saying, but thank you for your service. But above all else, wow, Thank you for everything that you're doing to help other people in recovery. And we've talked about this on the podcast a lot, especially about peer support specialist, how somebody that's in recovery is a better peers. Well, I think dirty old music can really be a peer support specialist because they've been there. So first of all, thank you for that. And I want to say congratulations, because did you just reach a milestone of three years sober, Right. 

Kimberly Clark 1:53
Three years. January 3rd is graduate lations. 

Rich Bennett 1:58
That is awesome. That is awesome. So I just first of all, I want to get. Before we get into the addiction and the trauma and all that, 

when you were back in school, because you know how schools are. They're always pushing college day you through it and all that. When you were in school, what what was your plan? What was it that you wanted to do after school? 

Kimberly Clark 2:23
Well, I wanted to study psychology. I wanted to become a psychologist. Yeah, that was always the plan to do that. 

Rich Bennett 2:30
Okay. But that's not what you did when you got out of high school, is it? 

Kimberly Clark 2:35
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I end up talking to these recruiters, and they ended up filling my head up with all of this and go to school and travel and, you know, do all the things all at the same time. And I was like, Oh, my God, 17 year old me was super excited about it. So I ended up joining the Navy at 17 years old instead at 17. 17, Yes. 

Rich Bennett 3:01
Okay. All right. Now, at that time, because you're younger to me now, I know when I went in, I was 17 and my parents would have had the sign. Was it the same with you? 

Kimberly Clark 3:13
Yeah, it was the same. It was the same thing. 

Rich Bennett 3:15
Okay. So how long were you in the Navy for? 

Kimberly Clark 3:19
I was in for two years, and I was cut short by getting a medical discharge. 

Rich Bennett 3:28
If you don't mind me asking, what happened? 

Kimberly Clark 3:31
A military sexual trauma. I ended up. 

Rich Bennett 3:34
Oh. 

Kimberly Clark 3:35
Yeah? Yeah. Military sexual trauma. I was diagnosed with PTSD. And. And then soon after that, you know, they. They basically forced me out with a medical discharge. 

Rich Bennett 3:45
Okay. Wow. Okay. In only two years. 

Kimberly Clark 3:49
Only two. 

Rich Bennett 3:50
Plus. And correct me if I'm wrong, you also had childhood trauma as well, right? 

Kimberly Clark 3:56
That is correct. Yep. Childhood trauma as well. Oh, my God. Inappropriately bullying. All their emotional, emotional damage and things like that as well. So, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 4:09
So when you got out of the Navy, is that when you decided you wanted to learn more about psychology? 

Kimberly Clark 4:17
Well, when I got out of it, no, I wanted to all pretty much my whole life, ever since I was a young child, believe it or not, like, Well, I want to study psychology. I always love studying people. But when I got out of the Navy, that's when I was, you know, introduced to drugs, like maybe two weeks after I got home, came back to the States, I was introduced to drugs. And that just started a 15 year chaotic movement. 

Rich Bennett 4:45
Probably helped you forget about all the trauma, too, didn't it? 

Kimberly Clark 4:48
Right. Yeah, that's what that's what initiated it. I wanted to. Yeah, I wanted to find ways to cope. 

Rich Bennett 4:55
Oh, God. And you did that for 15 years. Yep. 

What was it That which. What drug did you actually start with? Because I know some people. It's alcohol. Some people it's marijuana. Yeah, Unfortunately, some people just go right for the hard stuff. Yeah. What was it for you? 

Kimberly Clark 5:15
I started with alcohol, and that actually started in the Navy. But it got worse after I got out. 

Rich Bennett 5:22
Mm. And what was the hardest? The hardest drug you have done? 

Kimberly Clark 5:27
Crack cocaine. 

Rich Bennett 5:28
Oh, my God. Oh, geez. Do you ever look back and say to yourself, How is it that I'm still here? 

Kimberly Clark 5:39
Oh, no, I know that it was God. I know that it was God. 

Rich Bennett 5:44
Had bigger plans for you? 

Kimberly Clark 5:46
Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 5:47
I love that. I love. So when was it when was it that you actually seeked recovery and was it more than once? 

Kimberly Clark 5:58
I was multiple, multiple times. The first time my family did an intervention and my brother came down from Arkansas in the middle of the night, which is like maybe a four hour drive. And him and my cousins and a few of my aunts, they came together to do an intervention on me and I ended up going to Temple, Texas, The VA out there for the first time. But yeah, over the course of what was close to 15 years, I was in and out of rehab and out of jail, in and out of psychiatric units, at least seven or eight rehabs. I know. 

Rich Bennett 6:30
Wow. Now, did the VA covered it? 

Kimberly Clark 6:34
Yeah, the VA covered it. I've been really 100% service connected pretty much since I got out into. 

Rich Bennett 6:41
Oh, okay. Okay. So can you share a moment in your life that actually sparked your journey towards healing and self-discovery? 

Kimberly Clark 6:53
I can. I know in 2020, when I read I graduated Veterans Treatment Court and got some things expunged off my record. And and, you know, the then the pandemic hit and everything kind of shit that way. Everything did sit down. 

Rich Bennett 7:09
Yeah. 

Kimberly Clark 7:10
And the only thing was open was the liquor stores. Right? And so I end up going to the league, start thinking it out. It was all good and ended up relapse. And so the end of 2020, I was I was tired. I was tired. It was a mindset thing like I got tired of, of, of basically not getting hurt no more and just getting paranoid. I was paranoid all the time. Even when I wasn't high, I was paranoid. I got tired of being around people who didn't who had who didn't have my best interest at heart, who really wanted to harm me and hurt me. And sometimes, you know, and I got tired of living beneath what I know. You know, my life was called, I believe, the living beneath my purpose. And so that that mindset shifted. And then I came home for Christmas and my mother, before I left out the door, she was like, Come, you can come home. You can come back if you need to. And that gave me a way out because I'm like, All right, I don't have to be out here homeless and doing all the things I can go back home. But if I do come back home, you know, it got to be it because I didn't drink or get high around my mom, my family. Right. Yeah. And so that kind of that that mindset, first of being tired and then having that family support just shifted everything. And so I made a plan then and stuck with it. 

Rich Bennett 8:34
And you said, What did you say you went through? Veterans something? Court. 

Kimberly Clark 8:39
Yeah, Veterans Treatment Court. 

Rich Bennett 8:41
VTC Where exactly is that? I never heard of it. 

Kimberly Clark 8:45
Yeah, it's, it's kind of like drug court for civilians. Just for veterans, though. Yeah. When you get in trouble or whatever, you have the option of getting your record expunged or getting that particular charge expunged by going through treatment court for 18 months. 

Rich Bennett 9:02
Really? Yeah. I had no idea about that. I wonder how many veterans know that. 

Kimberly Clark 9:09
Mm. That's true. 

Rich Bennett 9:11
Probably not a lot, I would think. Wow. So also, in your experience, what are some key strategies for building resilience in the face of personal trauma, especially with everything you've been through? 

Kimberly Clark 9:29
Right. So therapy for sure. Mm hmm. You know, you can't be against therapy. You can't be against healing. And so EMDR therapy was life changing for me, coupled with the physical, physical part of as well, like doing Brazilian jiu jitsu. When I started doing that, start working on my mind and my body at the same time, like everything changed, but EMDR therapy, um, journaling, even talk, just regular talk therapy, having somebody to talk to, having a professional to talk to that can give you some insight on your trauma. But you got to be ready to be honest, because if you're not ready to be honest with yourself, none of it is going to work. It's not going to work. You're not going to get any healing. You're not going to move forward. So definitely honesty, open mindedness and willingness is definitely the way to go. 

Rich Bennett 10:22
Now, for those of the people listening in case they don't know, before we get into the Brazilian jiu jitsu, because I just think that's cause. Explain what EMDR therapy is. 

Kimberly Clark 10:36
Our movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy. It's basically a type of therapy where there's this like there's this machine and it has a green light on it. And while you're talking about a specific trauma, once one trauma at a time, you're watching this green light go from left to right, left to right. And it's something about the eye movement while you're talking about the trauma that rewires your brain. So you won't be in, like survival mode every time you think about this trauma or you won't be triggered every time you think about this trauma. But you'll be able to accept that, okay, this happened, it's not going to kill me. It's not going to take me out of here. It's already happened. It's in the past. I've survived. And so it rewires. O'Brien. I was a little skeptical at first, but I live. I have faith and I am pretty much because I did so many other things over the course of all those years. Literally everything from DVT to CBT, all different types of therapies. And this was the last thing to try. And I tried it. And when I tell you, it worked, after about maybe two or three sessions, I started feeling a difference. Like I wasn't always in panic mode. I didn't always have anxiety. I didn't always I wasn't always depressed all the time and wanting to live outside of my body right? And so definitely EMDR therapy is it's it's magical. It's magical. 

Rich Bennett 12:01
Holy shit. Wait a minute. 

Kimberly Clark 12:02
Now. 

Rich Bennett 12:03
So childhood trauma, military sexual trauma, addiction, 

anxiety, 

depression. And correct me if I'm wrong, PTSD. 

Kimberly Clark 12:18
Is. 

Rich Bennett 12:19
What's that? What else? Anything else? 

Kimberly Clark 12:22
Oh, now you got you covered it all. 

Rich Bennett 12:25
Oh, my. How in the. Okay, 

man, 

you are living proof. And I've had several guests on here that are the same way. But you, too. You are also living proof that 

these things are not going to beat you, right? You're going to overcome them and beat them. And I applaud you for that. That is awesome. I want to get back to the military a minute. When you were in the Navy. Mm hmm. What happened around the time that the sexual trauma occurred? 

Kimberly Clark 13:07
I've been a I've been at my duty station for about maybe six or seven months. We did a few deployments, and, you know, we were party on the weekends. I was hanging out with tomboys where I was even more tomboys back then. So I would hang out with most of the guys. And I caught that with my brothers. Like I would literally lay down my life for theirs and vice versa. And so I was hanging out with friends. We would party on the weekends and, you know, get drunk or whatnot, and we ended up, um, drinking on one weekend and we had this party and a friend of mine, I got drunk like extremely, extremely drunk. And I'd ask my friend, my brother, to take me back to my barracks and, you know, he took it, took me back in and took advantage of me. And I remember not telling anybody for like a few weeks. 

Rich Bennett 14:01
But. 

Kimberly Clark 14:02
I finally told somebody. And then my other friends, they basically got together about seven or eight of them walked to his barracks, confronted him in front of everybody. And that got back to my chain of command. And that then started a chain of events. I was talking to NCIS every day for months. They had me wear a wire. They had me call him. Wow. So they can try to get him to confess all these different things. And it was just overwhelming. You know, as I said, I was 17 years. I think I might turn 18 cause I turned 18 a few months after that. And I was I was doing I was having to go through all this. And I was thousands of miles away for I was stationed in Guam, thousands. 

Rich Bennett 14:46
Of. 

Kimberly Clark 14:46
Miles from home. And yeah, I my chain of command talked to talking to NCIS and I ended up, you know, getting suicidal and tried to commit suicide. And they medivac me back to the States, back to San Diego. And that's where my medical discharge started. 

Rich Bennett 15:04
Oh, my God. So 

this is what scares me, because 

you're seeing this now more in the military. The co-ed I wouldn't say co-ed, but but with the females and males together, 

in your opinion, do you think stuff like that is on the rise because of that? Possibly? 

Kimberly Clark 15:31
Well, yeah. It was on the rise back then and now it's more noticed, it's more talked about now. But a lot of it has been going on for years now. It's just being talked about now. 

Rich Bennett 15:45
Do you know what happened to that guy that assaulted you? 

Kimberly Clark 15:49
I mean, they actually he got away with it. They actually let him get watch because of alcohol was involved. So they couldn't prove anything because he was a they actually we did the last video court session when I was in San Diego. And yeah, they ended up let him get away with it. They kept me updated on every duty station he went to after that for a few years after that, even when I came home and was a civilian. But then they just I just stopped. Yeah, he ended up getting away with it. 

Rich Bennett 16:23
She's dead and. Oh, that burns me up. 

F1 S3 16:29
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:30
God, Yeah. For those of you listening, you think, God, you can see this because right now I'm probably blood red ready to just punch something that just. That irritates the hell out of me. 

All right, I want to get away from that because of a blow against it. 

So the Brazilian jiu jitsu, how long have you been doing that? And you've already said that's helped you a lot. 

Kimberly Clark 16:58
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:59
So, yeah, I should be doing that now. 

Kimberly Clark 17:01
Oh, well, I started in 2018 and then, yeah, I was kind of when I started in 2018. And then, you know, I relapsed in 2020, so that was like completely off. And so I picked it back up in 2021. And yeah, so 28 since 2018, I've been doing Brazilian jiu jitsu. 

Rich Bennett 17:19
What made you decide you wanted to start that? 

Kimberly Clark 17:23
Well, it started with boxing. I went to this, this gym, and I started doing fight boxing with some other ladies. And I've always loved boxing. I've always loved to fight even more so when I was drinking. But I've always loved combat sports, right? Contact sports. Right. And so I started out with boxing and they also did jujitsu there. And I was like, Nah, cause I don't think my body moves like that. Like, I don't really want to try it. And my coach, he convinced me to try it one day. And it was such a loving and welcoming environment. There was no room for embarrassment. There was no room for like you can just literally start where you at. And I just started it. I started it and I'm like, Oh my God. Like, I'm really learning martial arts. And it was it became peaceful for me, became an outlet, you know, for my PTSD, because back then, like I was still in the thick of my PTSD. And so, yeah, it became so healing for me when I did it. And I was also training with other veterans who are who also struggle with PTSD and anxiety and even some with TBI. And so I was there amongst my comrades and it was it helped a lot with mental health. Right. 

Rich Bennett 18:40
And now you're are you teaching at as well now? 

Kimberly Clark 18:44
Oh, no, I'm not. I'm not teaching it. Oh, I'm still okay. 

Rich Bennett 18:47
Yeah. Okay. But I I'm sure you suggest others that you talk to to try it out. 

Kimberly Clark 18:53
Oh, yeah. My God. 

Rich Bennett 18:55
I'm going to have to try that. Now, just from listening to you, I didn't. You should. I should know this because it seems like with any type of 

martial arts or even the boxing, it. It does help with your mental health a lot. Yeah, And I. You need to start seeing more of these gyms pop up and open boxing. So with with that, when was it that you actually became a peer support specialist and how was it that that came about? 

Kimberly Clark 19:29
Well, I got sober in 2021 during work, and I started I wrote this when I wrote my I took that whole year to write my book. And and then I also kind of just wanted to get some time under me. And while while I was healing before I actually started, like, this life journey. Right? And so in 2022, I found out about peer support and how, oh my God, like literally nothing I went through can be wasted because I can help anybody else who's going through this thing. And so I looked it up for Louisiana. I went to through the Louisiana Department of Health, did the training, paid the money to do the training out of my own pocket. The training was, I think was about like maybe two, three weeks, something like that. And so after they applied for the job with the state and I was thinking like, man, there's no way they're gonna hire me because of my my background, because of my, my history. Right? And, um, yeah, pretty much being a peer support specialist like you, they expect you to have a background. They expect you write history. Right? And so I ended up getting a job with the state of Louisiana as a peer support specialist after going through the training. 

Rich Bennett 20:50
I think that's something that a lot of people in recovery are. Yeah, I think they think the same thing that you were thinking because of their background, they ain't going to get the job. Whereas quite the opposite. It's because of your background. You are going to probably get the job. And I said this in the beginning, Who else do you know? Who better to help somebody in recovery than somebody in recovery? You? Yeah. You know what they're going through. And I mean, you've been there yourself. It's a lot easier for you to talk to them and it's a lot easier for them to listen to you. Mm. Yeah. Which makes a big difference as well. Now, you mentioned your book, but you've written two books, right? 

Kimberly Clark 21:35
I have, yeah, two books. 

Rich Bennett 21:36
Ah. Which was the first one. 

Kimberly Clark 21:39
The first one was my memoir Stuck Between Pleasure and Please and God. 

Rich Bennett 21:44
And that's the one that took a year to write. 

Kimberly Clark 21:46
Yes, it is. It is. 

Rich Bennett 21:48
How ah, how many times a day were you working on that one? How many hours of this. 

Kimberly Clark 21:55
At least maybe two or 3 hours a day. 

Rich Bennett 21:58
Okay. 

Kimberly Clark 21:59
Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 22:00
Okay. That's still pretty good. Now, was that self-published or did you have a publisher on? 

Kimberly Clark 22:06
I did Self-Publish, and honestly, I wasn't worried about marketing. I wasn't worried about none of that. I just wanted to get it out, like, get it out of me and get it out into the world. 

Rich Bennett 22:17
Right. Well, it was therapy for you as well, wasn't it? 

Kimberly Clark 22:20
It was definitely, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 22:22
And your second one is make up your mindset, right? 

Kimberly Clark 22:27
Correct. 

Rich Bennett 22:28
And that's technically using that like two books is the book and then you can get the workbook with it. 

Kimberly Clark 22:34
Yeah. Yeah. I wrote Make up your mindset for teenagers and college students pretty much like the life lessons that I wanted, that I needed to know and the support that I needed around that age and that book. And it's not long. It's like 55 pages. And, you know, the workbook kind of goes along with the chapters and stuff. But yeah, it's, it's all about mindset and not comparing ourselves and not taking our feelings as facts and loving ourselves, things like that. 

Rich Bennett 23:07
So And you said you wrote that for teenagers. 

Kimberly Clark 23:11
I did, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 23:13
What made you decide to write that for teenagers? Was it just because of everything you went through as a teenager as well? 

Kimberly Clark 23:19
It was, yeah, in part, yeah. And then like I to I started doing speaking by then and so I you know, you kind of when you're when you first get into something, you kind of got to find your flow. You got to find the time. So I did all the things and I like talking to teenagers and so I decided I wanted them to have something. Even after they left me, I saw this this when I wrote it. 

Rich Bennett 23:47
So what do you do? Do you go speaking at the schools and everything? 

Kimberly Clark 23:51
Schools? Conferences? Yeah, 

universities, things like that. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 23:57
All right. I have to get you hooked up with a friend of mine. So he actually has. He has a band, and that's what they do. They go around putting on a program at the schools, talking about, you know, mental health and they play all their music. Now, is about that and they'll speak to it. But I think, yeah, you two together and you're doing the speaking thing as well. Did you ever think that you would actually be a why would you? Because you're a motivational speaker, right? Did you ever think you would be doing it? 

Kimberly Clark 24:34
No, I'm an introvert. 

F1 S3 24:36
I don't really. 

Kimberly Clark 24:37
I'm super introverted. Like super people scare me. But yeah, I've never no, I never thought I would be in front of people. Even want to be in front of people. All right. 

Rich Bennett 24:51
Kimberly, the first time you got up on stage were you hide behind the speaker? What? 

Kimberly Clark 24:56
I wanted to run. So I did take off running. Of course. 

Rich Bennett 25:03
All right. I got to hear about this. Tell me tell us all about the first time that you did that when you got up on stage. Well, first of all, how did that come around? And then tell us about the first time you got up on stage. 

Kimberly Clark 25:17
It came around like after the book, people start calling me to speak at church. Used to speak their events, to do their part, to be on podcasts. I mean, like that. Oh, the book opened up like so many other doors, right? So the first time that I got on stage to speak, I think like the first 3 minutes of it, I was probably like, I know I was like super nerd. I know you can hear it in my voice. I literally stood in one spot, like just stuck holding the microphone, speaking like, but you can literally tell like, I was so super, super nervous. But after that, three or 4 minutes, it just kind of just it just started flowing. I'm like, okay, I can do this. And then when I started hearing like the response and see how the audience was receptive to what I was saying, I'm like, okay, all right, this might be my calling. But yeah, the nervousness, I'm still nervous today. Like, still nervous to this day going up and speaking. I have a speaking engagement next weekend in College Station and I get nervous. I get nervous in the beginning, but after those first three or 4 minutes, it's like it just it just flows. 

Rich Bennett 26:29
Yeah. Kimberly That's a good thing. In all honesty, that's a good thing because I, I'm the same way, believe it or not. I was always very, very shy. Did not like talking in front of people the first time I did radio and that on air like, came on, I froze. I was scared to death because I knew, yeah, I'm talking to thousands of people when I was DJ in the clubs. That was different. I mean, I was, you know, I was doing stupid things back that do. So they yeah, it was everything was blurry. But now I've had a lot of speakers tell me that, that when it gets to the point to where you're not nervous, when you get ready to go on, that's when you need to step back and say, All right, wait a minute, what am I doing wrong? 

Because it's just there's you become too confident, I guess you could say. 

Kimberly Clark 27:27
Hmm. Yeah, I understand. 

Rich Bennett 27:29
Yeah. And you're not focused as much. Whereas you go up there, you're nervous, you want everything to be perfect. You. And that's how you said it? Yeah. After a few minutes, you start getting more comfortable because you don't know how the crowd's going to react, Right? That's probably what makes you more nervous than anything. 

Kimberly Clark 27:47
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 27:48
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Artigas, are. Are you going through to me? Is that me? Are they are they going to be on stage or. Yeah, but I'm sure all these things are going through your head. And how do you even know how many speaking engagements you have done yet? 

Kimberly Clark 28:02
I have no idea. I used to keep a list of them, but now I don't. I don't remember how many I've done. I'm just I'm. I'm following. I'm just, you know, right at this moment and going where I'm late. 

Rich Bennett 28:17
Now. Do you any plans on doing any TED talks or TED talks? 

Kimberly Clark 28:22
Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely. That that's a plan. Yeah, for sure. 

Rich Bennett 28:27
A lot more easy after you start doing it for a while, isn't it? 

F1 S3 28:30
Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 28:34
So have you actually shared the stage with any other speakers that people may know about or know of? 

Kimberly Clark 28:41
No, not at this time. No. No, not. 

Rich Bennett 28:43
Yet. 

Kimberly Clark 28:44
Not yet. Not yet. 

Rich Bennett 28:46
Hey, don't be surprised if maybe Tony Robbins calls you up and says, Hey, Kimberly, need you come in? Yeah. Speak. Speak for me as well. Or speak with me as well. 

Kimberly Clark 28:56
Yeah, for sure. 

Rich Bennett 28:58
Yeah. Good. You never know. You never know. So to speak. But you said you were nervous about going on podcast as well. Yeah. What was it like when you did the first your first podcast? 

Kimberly Clark 29:12
Well, my first podcast was in-person and I went to a studio in Shreveport with a friend. Actually, we tried jujitsu together. Okay, Yeah, I went to the studio and I'm like, He had all the things and I'm like, Oh my God. And, you know, it was different. But he made it welcome, you know, like you did, like, make it welcoming. And so it was it was easier that way instead of, you know, speaking in front of like a whole bunch of people, it was just me and him and, you know, the engineering guy. But he made it welcoming and he made it feel like home. We kind of, you know, did a talk before the talk before actually recording and yeah, it just flowed after that. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 29:56
And how many have you done now? Do you even know that podcast. 

Kimberly Clark 30:01
Yeah. It at least. 

Rich Bennett 30:03
In a lot of interviews. 

Kimberly Clark 30:05
Yeah. I want at least at the very least 15. How much over that? I'm not sure, but yeah, I've, I've done a lot of interviews. 

Rich Bennett 30:15
Podcast but actually haven't you been having like radio stations or TV stations also interviewed you as well? 

Kimberly Clark 30:23
Yeah, I've done radio and TV as well. 

Rich Bennett 30:25
Mm hmm. Okay. See, you're stepping out of your comfort zone. Doesn't it feel good? And does 

now something very important. And I would tell everybody your website, because I've looked at it, you have an excellent blog, which is awesome. And of course, everything else is on there. Your blogs, your your, your about speaking and so forth. But tell everybody your website. 

Kimberly Clark 30:54
Is Kimberly Clark speaks dot com. 

Rich Bennett 30:58
And if somebody wants you, where will you go in Louisiana speak or are you just staying in that area. 

Kimberly Clark 31:05
Oh no. Anywhere I go anywhere you. 

Rich Bennett 31:07
Go anywhere to speak. Okay. Something else I wanted to talk about because I just think this is very cool. You say you're doing you're volunteering for veteran organizations. Mm hmm. What is it that you're actually doing with with the veteran organizations? And if you can go ahead and name them. 

Kimberly Clark 31:30
Okay? Yeah, I have. I'm in a few here locally. The women veterans of the Army. 

I'm with the team AWB. I do one nationally, Mission 22. I've been the state leader, the Louisiana State. 

Rich Bennett 31:45
Oh. 

Kimberly Clark 31:45
22 for the last two years. I've had to actually step willingly because of everything else is going on my life. But yeah, I was mission 22 state leader for the last two years as well as the Warriors, and there's a few other ones here locally that I volunteer for as well. And any time they need me, they know they just call me or if they need somebody to, you know, get in a rehab or get off the street, just call me. I'm going to make it. We're going to make it happen. 

Rich Bennett 32:14
Now, you're your peer support specialist, you said for the state, right? Yeah. But do you actually also talk to any veterans that are, you know, going through that are in recovery or is that not allowed because of what you're doing for the state? 

Kimberly Clark 32:32
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Is definitely allowed. I have man, I have veterans reach out to me all the time, like over Facebook by email like that. I mean, that's what I'm known for here in Louisiana recovery because I do it loudly and boldly and so good. Yeah. Veterans, they reach out to me all the time and they it's important to stay connected to the resources you have in your community, in your state. So somebody reach out to you. They need something. You already know who to contact because you're connected. 

Rich Bennett 33:06
Yeah, you're. 

Kimberly Clark 33:07
Captain with the resources. And so, yeah, I have people reach out to me all the time with one thing or another. And so I connect them with the right resources. 

Rich Bennett 33:17
Actually. Can you share a success story or a particular memorable experience from your work with veterans? 

Kimberly Clark 33:25
Yeah, a veteran female veteran read my book, So between Pleasure and Please and Guy and she had never when I say never like she got out of the military in the nineties never talked about her experience with MSD until after she read my book and she then started speaking publicly about her MSD, her sexual trauma. And it was such a release and such a healing experience for her because there wasn't a lot of women. I mean, there's still not a lot of women. It talks about it and yeah, and now I'm seeing more women, veterans, especially here in North Louisiana, that are openly talking about MSD and how they survived now, how they struggle with it, how they survive. And that's important, right? 

Rich Bennett 34:16
Very important. And that's one of the things I noticed. Yeah. Since I started the podcast a lot more people are coming out. They're talking about their trauma, everything that's happened. And you it's it's funny when you're talking to them, just looking at them, even virtually like this, even if they've told their story a hundred times, it's like each time you can see like that ton of bricks just being lifted off their shoulders. MM Yeah, I mean it sounds weird, but it is. You can literally just see that and I love that. So with the book, both of your books, especially your second one, tell everybody where they can buy them. We started your website. We knew that. 

Kimberly Clark 35:04
Yeah, yeah. On Amazon both of my Amazon stock between and please and God. 

Rich Bennett 35:08
Okay 

now are either of them in audible as well audio I keep saying audible. That's a form, but in audio version. 

Kimberly Clark 35:21
They're both just, they're both on paperback and Kindle version. 

Rich Bennett 35:26
And any plans on you know, doing them in audio. 

Kimberly Clark 35:30
I am I'm actually in the middle right now I'm working really high school with we're doing the audio version of my first book year. 

Rich Bennett 35:39
Awesome. Great. You know, it also could be come. And if you tell me you're already doing this, I'm I need you to fall down a podcast. 

Kimberly Clark 35:51
I'm in I'm in the middle of creating the Kimberly Clark Speaks podcast as well. Are you kind of. 

Rich Bennett 35:59
Areas. 

Kimberly Clark 36:00
At all the things? Yeah, yeah, for sure. 

Rich Bennett 36:04
That are there. That is great. More people like you need to do that. But I mean it's, it's a lot of work, but it's worth it. It is definitely worth it. So looking ahead, what are your aspirations for the future, both personally and professionally. 

Kimberly Clark 36:25
Both personally and professionally? I want to make an impact. I don't want it to ever be about me, but I want it. I want to be able to keep helping people. Young, old. I want to let people know that, you know, no matter what they go through in life, if they're willing to be honest with themselves, that they're willing right to to move forward, that it is definitely possible. So I want to keep making an impact. I want to travel as much as possible to meet people exactly where they it whether it be stages or the trenches. I want to leave there and show them that, you know, recovery is possible. 

Rich Bennett 37:09
I love it. So actually, what would you tell someone struggling with addiction right now? 

Kimberly Clark 37:18
I would tell them that they are not alone, regardless of how it feels, regardless of their and the environment they're in right now. They are not alone. And it takes literally just a change of perception. If they're willing to change their perception on themselves, how they look at themselves, then that can be the first step in healing. And it is a much better life than they are living right now and they are worth it. My God, they are. The reason why they're alive is because they're worth it and somebody needs to hear their story to 

something else. 

Rich Bennett 38:01
I like to ask you, because I was doing another podcast for a while called Lifetime of Strictly Talking to Active Military Veterans and First Responders, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, and we talked about this at the very beginning when you go into the military, you hear from a salesperson, which is also known as a recruiter 

or or you know, a lot of people will talk to a lot of people that haven't gone. And yet we talk to somebody that has never served. So the reason I wanted to do that start that was so people would hear from other veterans, not not as a recruiter, but as a veteran themselves or active military. The other reason when I started it was it seems like veteran. And I think I, I think I was wrong on this, to be honest with you, because I had a hard time getting anybody to come on. I wanted to talk to veterans and first responders. I thought it would be easier for them to talk to another veteran about PTSD today. 

And I only had a few of them that would come on. And a lot of them still, I guess, did not want to open up about it On a podcast. What would you tell a veteran that is struggling with PTSD? Not about the podcast, just in person. I still think a lot of them don't want to come on a show and talk about it in person yet. 

Kimberly Clark 39:36
That that they can heal from everything that that triggers them. 

Everything that came with the trauma and after the trauma that they can heal from that. It may seem like this is something that they're going to have to struggle with for the rest of their life. Like it may seem like literally a crutch, like you're going to have to deal with this, but there is a way through therapy or therapy or exposure therapy that, you know, you can go through these traumas, you can heal from them. You don't have to be triggered two or three times a day. Right. You can live, I guess, what's said to be a normal life without all the anxiety, without all the limiting beliefs, without all the insecurities, if you are willing to go through it, but you have to go through it, it's not going to kill you to go through it. 

Rich Bennett 40:33
All right? Yeah. 

So before I get to my last question, is there anything you would like to add with your laugh, or do you know what the last question is? Did you did you cheat? 

Kimberly Clark 40:47
I don't know. 

Rich Bennett 40:48
I'm like, okay, 

this is so very good. The last question Is there anything you would like to add? 

Kimberly Clark 40:58
Um, no, I just I just want to say thank you for having me. And this is been, like, extraordinary for real. Thank you so much for having me here. Oh. 

Rich Bennett 41:06
It's my pleasure. And anytime you want to come back on, just let me know. I would love to do another episode with Wendy as my co-host. Wendy is she co-hosted with me a lot. She actually started a non-profit celebrating ten years this year called Rage Against Addiction, in which she directly talking to people in recovery and helping them out mainly, I mean, of course, women. 

But yeah, I would love to have you on for that. So you've talked to several different people. You've been on several interviews. Is there anything a host has never asked you that you wish they would have asked you and? If so, what would be that question and what would be your answer? 

Ooh. 

Kimberly Clark 42:00
You got me with that one. Let's see. I be back. 

Rich Bennett 42:04
So I ask everybody that. So you really can't cheat on that question because I ask everybody. 

F1 S3 42:10
All right. 

Kimberly Clark 42:12
I'm not sure I haven't I can't think of anything that I haven't been exhausted. 

Rich Bennett 42:17
It doesn't have to do with addiction. It could be anything. 

Kimberly Clark 42:21
Hmm. 

Maybe. 

How do how do I stay focused every day? 

Rich Bennett 42:33
And that's actually a very good question. Very good question. How do you stay focused every day. 

Kimberly Clark 42:40
Discipline and routine, like having a set routine, 

working on myself physically, emotionally and spiritually every day, and that discipline, motivation, we don't always have motivation to do anything. And that's where the discipline comes in. It. 

Rich Bennett 43:03
I love that. Kimberly, I want to thank you so much and thank you for everything you're doing again. The door's open. I'm we are going to be getting you back on one way or another. So and I know your podcast is going to kick ass. It's going to be very good, actually. Any plans on writing another book? 

Kimberly Clark 43:26
Yeah, I am going to write another book. I don't know when I'm going to start. I have the title and everything, but yeah, there's definitely plans for multiple books. 

Rich Bennett 43:37
Well, that's good. I love it. Which means you're just going to have to. You know what you're in 

for an introvert, you are going to be out speaking a lot. Well, you already are, but you're going to be you're going to be everywhere. Kimberly, thanks so much. 

Kimberly Clark 43:56
Thank you.