Faith, Family, And 90 Days: Austin Davis On Saving Teens

Licensed professional counselor and Clear Fork Academy founder Austin Davis joins Rich to talk about rescuing teens from addiction and mental-health crises with clinically rigorous, Christ-centered residential care. He explains why 90-day programs, family-systems work, and even nightly dinners can change outcomes—and what warning signs parents miss most. They also discuss his book, My Kid, My Crisis, a plain-language guide for overwhelmed families. 

Sponsored by Maryland Pickers 

Guest Bio:  

Austin Davis, LPC-S, is the founder and CEO of Clear Fork Academy, one of Texas’s largest Christ-centered residential treatment programs for teens. Since 2017, his team has helped rehabilitate more than 5,000 adolescents struggling with substance use and mental-health disorders. He’s the author of My Kid, My Crisis, blending real family stories with practical tools parents can use right away.  

Main Topics: 

·         The post-COVID surge in teen mental-health and substance-use challenges

·         Why Clear Fork’s model is clinically based and Christ-centered (not either/or)

·         90-day residential care, plus outpatient and step-down options

·         Family-systems intensives and why “if the family doesn’t get better, the kid won’t”

·         Charter-school academics on campus; getting teens back on track to graduate

·         Early warning signs parents miss: changes in people, places, and things

·         Social media’s dopamine loop and permanent online consequences

·         Everyday rituals that heal: tech-free family dinner, shoulder-to-shoulder talks

·         What to do before the ER: seek help early; you’re not alone

·         Stories of transformation and the role of faith, service, fitness, and fun in recovery  

Resources mentioned: 

·         Clear Fork Academy — admissions & info: clearforkacademy.com (ages 13–17; boys & girls campuses; 90-day track; family intensives; charter-school academics; Texas-based outpatient/virtual within TX). 

·         Book: My Kid, My Crisis by Austin Davis

·         Episode Sponsor: Maryland Pickers

·         Supporter: Full Circle Boards

·         Supporter: Sincerely Sawyer Photography 

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Transcript

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Wendy & Rich 0:00
Hey, everyone is Rich Bennett. Can you believe it? The show is turning 10 this year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who've tuned in, shared a episode, or even joined the conversation over the years. You're the reason that this podcast has grown into what it is today. Together, we've shared laughs, tears, and moments that truly matter. So I want to thank you for being part of this journey. Let's make the next 10 years even better. Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios. Harford County Living presents Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

Hey, I'm not here. No, no, no. It's like, no there's

Rich Bennett 1:00
What do you do when your teenager is spiraling and nothing seems to help? 

Austin Davis 1:05
no way to fix 

Rich Bennett 1:05
How do you respond when the crisis hits him? And it's your kid at the center of it all. Today's guest knows that heartbreak all too well. Not because he lived it as a parent, but because he's walked alongside thousands of families who have. Austin Davis is a licensed professional counselor, supervisor in Texas, and a founder and CEO of Clear Fork Academy. One of the largest Christ centered residential treatment centers for teens in the state. Since 2017, Austin has helped rehabilitate more than 5,000. You hear me right? 5,000 teenagers struggling with substance abuse and mental health disorders. He's also the author of My Kid, My Crisis, a powerful book that gives parents a roadmap through the chaos and confusion of adolescent addiction and mental health breakdowns. But this isn't just another clinical take. Austin brings a rare blend of professional experience, spiritual insight, and heart. His work goes beyond recovery. It's about helping kids rediscover their purpose and helping parents breathe again. So if you're a parent, educator, coach, or just someone who cares deeply about the next generation, this conversation might be the lifeline you didn't know you needed. So grab your coffee, grab your water, whatever it is you're drinking, and sit back and take notes because you're gonna learn a lot. How's it going, Austin? 

Austin Davis 2:39
Hey, I'm doing great this morning. Thanks for having me on. 

Rich Bennett 2:42
Oh, my pleasure. My pleasure. Because we talk about mental health and addiction on here a lot, I mean, a lot. And it's heartbreaking when you hear about the kids going through it. And I think, it correct me if I'm wrong, you've probably seen an uptick. But I think especially since COVID, I think you're seeing more definitely more kids with mental illness. But I think even the addiction numbers have gone up. Am I 

Austin Davis 3:16
Yeah, there's definitely an upward trend, right? I think it's too fold. It's right. Consequences of the world shutting down and then also awareness, right? There's policy and things from the highest level that are that systemically changing, you know, how we do behavioral health. 

Rich Bennett 3:35
right? 

Austin Davis 3:35
And so we know diabetes and depression are getting getting the same sort of attention. 

Rich Bennett 3:45
Yeah. Yeah. One of the things I don't understand that, I don't know how it is in Texas, but like Narcan. 

Austin Davis 3:53
Mm-hmm. 

Rich Bennett 3:53
Can you get Narcan for free out there? 

Austin Davis 3:57
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 3:57
Okay. Yeah. And you mentioned diabetes. And this is something that really erks me. The Epic pens. They're not free out there, are they? 

Austin Davis 4:07
No, 

Rich Bennett 4:08
what the 

Austin Davis 4:08
I mean, 

Rich Bennett 4:08
hell? 

Austin Davis 4:09
Yeah. Yeah. No. I mean, anytime we can go on a real big tangent about big arm, and you know, this, this systemic brokenness of, you know, what drives all of those things. 

Rich Bennett 4:21
But it would scary because you think about it. There are a lot of people that die from allergies. 

Austin Davis 4:27
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 4:27
Yeah. And I do believe that restaurants should definitely have them on hand, but when it's like $1300 a pen, and it's gotta be prescribed, you can't. 

Austin Davis 4:39
Right. 

Rich Bennett 4:39
But you're right. That's a whole, that's a 

Austin Davis 4:41
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 4:41
whole other pocket. All right. So I want to go back ways to the start of this. What actually made you decide this is what you wanted to do. And have you always been doing this? 

Austin Davis 4:57
yeah, so I really thought I was gonna work in the local church, uh, as a youth pastor. Didn't grow up in church. Um, went to church for the first time at 15 with a friend, and I was like, okay, this, this makes sense, right? Like, 

Rich Bennett 5:10
Mm-hmm. 

Austin Davis 5:10
uh, God captivated my heart, and uh, 

Rich Bennett 5:21
nice. 

Austin Davis 5:24
grew up in Fort Worth, drove 1,000 miles away, didn't know a person, and did a undergrad in pastoral ministries and four-year degree. There was a seminary across the street, went to that, did masters and divinity. And so all through that time, I was kind of a adjunct youth pastor, part-time full time, those sort of things. So just working with teenagers in that setting. 

Rich Bennett 5:53
Yeah. 

Austin Davis 5:54
And then through like, Every time a kid catches the house on fire, or runs away, or gets pregnant, or gets in a fight, whatever, crisis, I wasn't opening up Romans and we weren't exegiting stuff. I was just looking at the kid going, what the hell? Like, what's happening at home that made these decisions seem logical in your brain? And so had a lot of counseling classes. And so I'd already my thesis. I had five hours left on the M. Div and went to my dean and said, hey, I want to add a master's counseling to all of this. And 

Rich Bennett 6:30
why? 

Austin Davis 6:31
went back and did 24 or so more hours. And that way, I can professionalize those conversations. I'm kind of a nerd and so I have to read a book before I go do something. 

Rich Bennett 6:44
That's smart. 

Austin Davis 6:47
Yeah. And it allowed me to professionalize that and sort of another vertical. And it just kind of took fire into my heart. And so I got a master's counseling, got licensed, moved back to Texas, psych hospitals, case management, kind of the grunt work of early clinician stuff, 

Rich Bennett 7:07
Smart. 

Austin Davis 7:07
and then started working in adult residential treatment. One of my mentors gave me an opportunity and just loved it. I was like, these dudes are my people. So I was 18 and up. And didn't have for about five, six years. But what I noticed was I'm leading a group of eight or 10 adult men. And John starts talking about his story. And I'm like, hey, dude, when did that happen? He was like, when I was 12. And then my cove here goes, oh, might happen the same thing but I was 14. And then Bill jumps in and goes, yeah, mine was 16. And I've got a group of men who are all mentally in their adolescent stage of life. For we're processing while they're drinking a handle whiskey every other day. 

Rich Bennett 7:53
Right. 

Austin Davis 7:54
And so just kind of had this entrepreneurial seizure, you know, it was like man, I've got this youth pastor calling. And I've got this clinical sort of expertise. Can I smash those together. And that's really what clear fork, you know, when it started in 2016 was man, what if what if we can take these 40 year olds and catch them at 12, catch them at 13, 

Rich Bennett 8:19
Yeah. 

Austin Davis 8:19
catch them at 14. And there's a definite clear fork in their life to where they don't end up on this path. All right. 

Rich Bennett 8:28
So Wow. So I have to ask you this because 

and I'll be honest with you when I first started this the first time I talked to anybody in recovery, they were they were, it was around table. It was like four or six peer recovery specialists with our local health department, which I had no idea what a peer recovery specialist was. And then I found then they told their stories. I was just in tears. But Kramer, if I'm wrong. You're not in recovery yourself, right? 

Austin Davis 9:01
No. I have the normy tag, right? 

Rich Bennett 9:03
Okay. 

Austin Davis 9:04
So you know, like when we started the adult treatment facility, you know, I picked up the AA book for the first time. And I'm I'm leading the group of like 32 old timers, right? And I'm 30 something years old and they're like, you know, a little piece of shit? I don't know anything about AA and, you know, I had to have those conversations. But I love the recovery field and mindset. Man, it's just applicable. When I read, like you read the big book, you read the 12 steps that come out of James, they come out of, you know, stoicism and philosophy and the proverbs and you can apply it to any kind of facet of life. 

Rich Bennett 9:44
Well, and that's the thing because, and like I said, everybody I've talked to that's helping other people in recovery. I do believe they maybe think of the exception of one or two. 

Austin Davis 10:00
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 10:01
And which, when you're dealing with people and recovering, you haven't been through it, it can be hard. 

Austin Davis 10:07
Mm-hmm. 

Rich Bennett 10:07
They're gonna say, well, exactly what there's older people say, you haven't been through it. However, the 

Austin Davis 10:13
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 10:13
one plus that you have, you got the biggest support system behind you, and that's the man upstairs. 

Austin Davis 10:20
Yeah, absolutely. And so, you know, I work with teenage boys, and, and so I roll up on campus, I got along here, uhm, kind of a big guy. And so, uh, and I'm the owner, right? So immediately, they're enamored, and they go, bro, what drugs did you use? And I'm like, it isn't used drugs, and like, well, how the hell do you own a treatment center? How do you blah, blah, blah? And your 

Rich Bennett 10:42
they're 

Austin Davis 10:43
poser. And I said, you know, like, I, I, I read through some of your information, and um, you know, uh, did you, I see that you're panstophores, right? And your dad didn't show up and you kind of hate him. And every time he shows up, you want to, you know, use or cut yourself or he's like, yeah, you know, my dad's a blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So cool. You know, I panstophores when I was 10. I remember my dad put me on the front porch swing and said, hey, I'm gone. You got to take care of your brother and your mom. You're the man of the house now. At years 

Rich Bennett 11:13
10 years old. 

Austin Davis 11:14
old. Right. 

Rich Bennett 11:14
Wow. 

Austin Davis 11:15
You know, let, let, let's fast forward, um, a decade and, and I, you know, the other kid standing in the circle. And I said, you know, like, you're, your homie died, right? Like, you're, you're sibling died. You know, whoever, whoever in your family, um, yeah, my, I, I remember the last time I talked to my brother. You know, I slapped him on the head, uh, his helmet. And we, we both had sport bikes. And I said, I you. Be careful. He went one way. I went the other way. Last, uh, the next time I saw him as in a coffin. And, 

Rich Bennett 11:44
oh, was your brother? 

Austin Davis 11:46
He was 18. I was 21. 

Rich Bennett 11:48
Wow. 

Austin Davis 11:49
Right. And so it's not that I could go on 10, 10 more stories like that when I read kids clinical charts and the things that they've gone through. The only thing that makes this different, guys, you used drugs to take care of your problem. 

Rich Bennett 12:06
Right. 

Austin Davis 12:06
And I, and I, and I did it. Right. But so let's not talk about drugs. Let's talk about how you're dealing with your dad. Let's talk about how you're dealing with death. Let's talk about how you're dealing with your heart getting broken. Let's talk about all of the trash that you just don't have the skills to manage. And so that's what makes this the same in recovery. It's not that you used cocaine and I used Molly, like, whatever, like, it's this stuff of real life that we need to learn process together. And so that's where I connect with our kids and our customers and our families and all those things. It's like substance use is is low hanging fruit. 

Rich Bennett 12:42
Right. Are you been doing this since 2016 is when you started clear for? 

Austin Davis 12:46
Yes. Started clear for can 16. They're really been doing this almost since 2008. 

Rich Bennett 12:52
Wow. All right. So, and I'm sure you get asked this a million times. But how hard was it during COVID? I guess you were considered essential, right? 

Austin Davis 13:07
Oh, we were 100 percent essential. 

Rich Bennett 13:09
Okay. 

Austin Davis 13:10
You know, we had with, we had just built a 10,000 square foot building. We moved into it. You know, were hanging pictures on the wall. First of March. And then 10 days later, we're like, everybody go home, right? 

Rich Bennett 13:25
Wow. 

Austin Davis 13:25
Like, no, everybody everybody who's back office go work, go work from home. And then quickly realized like that is not a sustainable concept and model. And so is this really dang, if you do, and dang, if you don't, it's like the people. People 

were demanding that we stay open. And then at the same time out of the other side their mouth, they were like, I can't believe you are staying open. You're putting everybody at risk. So, you know, mentally as a leader, it is a very difficult time, right? It was difficult 

Rich Bennett 13:58
Yeah. 

Austin Davis 13:58
for any business owner, but man, those are the things that we're going to tell war stories are over and for the next two, three, four decades of what that was really like. And but it was just great opportunity to help families, help kids. Our census from like 24 to 40, you know, and in four weeks and, you know, at the same time, nobody wants to work. So it was, it's, it was still paying the price. We're still paying the price of some of that mindset from staffing and things like that, definitely from inflation. 

Rich Bennett 14:31
But the important thing is you didn't shut down. 

Austin Davis 14:34
No, so we actually opened up a girls campus. 

Rich Bennett 14:37
Wow. 

Austin Davis 14:38
And the latter half of that. So, um, glutton for punishment. And so we, we realized, hey, this is, uh, this is a huge need. We were boys only are. 

Rich Bennett 14:48
Oh, okay. 

Austin Davis 14:49
flagship was boys only and so we had you know 38 40 boys kind of all you know around the clock and the the phone kept ringing for girls and so we in 21 built a built a girls campus about 60 

Rich Bennett 15:04
Nice. 

Austin Davis 15:04
miles south and so now that's got 40 beds and so yeah we got we got a boys campus in a girls campus to help the whole continuum care 

Rich Bennett 15:14
so with both of the campuses in your staff is it all faith-based or do you 

Austin Davis 15:25
yeah 

Rich Bennett 15:25
actually have like I mean you yourself you have all the certifications 

Austin Davis 15:30
yeah 

Rich Bennett 15:30
you have some people that are working with you that are actually a recovery themselves as well 

Austin Davis 15:34
so I say we're clinically based right we're 

Rich Bennett 15:36
okay 

Austin Davis 15:37
clinically clinically based in Christ centered right so those two things can can be true at the same time 

Rich Bennett 15:43
yeah 

Austin Davis 15:44
I got all the certifications right we have a I got a medical director who did 20 years of family practice and then 20 years of psychiatry so he knows he's been there and seen that we got two nurse practitioners manage all of our meds and then 24 nursing and then yeah you know two dozen clinicians right that have have letters after the name and so the backbone of our people are tax right and I said that you know they they got the T shirt and the tattoo right 

Rich Bennett 16:15
right 

Austin Davis 16:15
they live they live that that journey in that life and their heart and their passion is to make sure these kids don't end up where they were 

Rich Bennett 16:23
so even though you're based in Texas do you accept kids from anywhere around the country like like here we have Ashley addiction yep you do 

Austin Davis 16:34
yep all over the country but so I think we're probably at 30 states or so you know that we've we've had a kiddo from one from Puerto Rico yeah so it's 

Rich Bennett 16:43
wow 

Austin Davis 16:45
where where the internet touches or you know we had you know social worker here whose cousin lived in in Maryland one time and so you that kid 

Rich Bennett 16:55
right 

Austin Davis 16:56
and so 

Rich Bennett 16:56
well which makes a big difference too with somebody in addiction if they can get away from where they're at it 

Austin Davis 17:02
yeah 

Rich Bennett 17:02
definitely helps out and sometimes they don't even go back 

Austin Davis 17:05
right 

Rich Bennett 17:06
you know well it's something very important then because I don't want to wait till the end tell tell everybody how they can get in touch with you where you know the website and everything yeah 

Austin Davis 17:16
clear fork academy com you know that has all of your information phone number in the top right hand corner calls to our admissions triage center so I mean if you have a your early stage and just have a question of signs and symptoms or your sitting in the ER and need to find a place you know for treatment today then then we can we can help 

Rich Bennett 17:38
all right so is there a certain age range 

Austin Davis 17:42
yeah 13 to 17 

Rich Bennett 17:44
okay 

Austin Davis 17:45
is our niche we can occasionally treat an 

Rich Bennett 17:48
smart 

Austin Davis 17:48
18 year old right and so we we you know each room has its own kind of context for you know put in a 13-year oldness 17-year-old same room not not smart so you know the younger house and then the older house and things like that 

Rich Bennett 18:06
a hell over the usually in for the average 

Austin Davis 18:09
yeah average 

Rich Bennett 18:09
that doesn't 

Austin Davis 18:10
brought 

Rich Bennett 18:10
sound right does it how long are they in for 

Austin Davis 18:13
oh they'll they'll they'll 

Rich Bennett 18:16
okay 

Austin Davis 18:16
tell you they'll tell you they'll count down the minutes yeah our program is designed for 90 days and so we we kind of have this this scope and sequence we follow our road our curriculum and so follow our values interventions and skill concept every single day and they go through each one of those 

Rich Bennett 18:37
you guys accept the assurance from anywhere right yeah 

Austin Davis 18:41
any any and we're in network with a dozen or so and then if it's out of network or something we'll figure it out do single case agreements and you know was working on one this morning trying to trying to write it up for some folks so so 

Rich Bennett 18:53
what makes you stand out from other treatment 

Austin Davis 18:57
centers so what I mean our 3 unique right is is obviously having having this faith or Christ centeredness 

you're 

Rich Bennett 19:07
on an apple you're on an apple computer aren't you 

Austin Davis 19:11
yeah 

Rich Bennett 19:11
all right for those of you listen if you don't know what we're laughing about it often just gave the thumbs up and all of a sudden this bubble comes up on his screen with the thumb is like okay 

Austin Davis 19:23
yeah 

Rich Bennett 19:24
it's playing tricks on me I'm sorry 

Austin Davis 19:27
yeah no no it's it's in the way I need to forget to turn that off yeah so haven't haven't a faith centered Christ centered approach to what we do in the steps and recovery concepts that's what brings families to us from the farthest away right 

Rich Bennett 19:42
okay yes 

Austin Davis 19:43
Second is we're family focused and so that really means that we're integrating family systems into all the work that we do and so we know if the family doesn't get better, the kiddos chance of getting better is slim to none and we have 30 acre property sitting on top of the highest point in our county looking over a lake and families come in and drop their kid off and they're like hey can I stay here. And so our joke is yeah you leave the kid at home and you come do 90 days worth of work and I bet our outcomes will be the same, because that's that's how much, 

Rich Bennett 20:19
wow, 

Austin Davis 20:20
believe in family systems and so we'll do a two day family intensive every six weeks to educate the kid educate the family and let everybody kind of get their tears out and their their angry words out in a safe space. 

And then and then thoroughly is is we say we're long term, right, 

Rich Bennett 20:39
Right, 

Austin Davis 20:39
they're long long ish term, right, we're not a seven to 10 days day at a psych hospital and we're not long term boarding school, right, so 

Rich Bennett 20:48
right. 

Austin Davis 20:48
that's, we're right in the middle kind of of that and we follow our process our recipe for the clear for the way. All 

Rich Bennett 20:59
right, so with that since you're not long term, do you work with other organizations, especially since you're working with kids that are between the ages of 13 and 17. Chances are a lot of them have dropped out of high school, 

Austin Davis 21:13
you 

Rich Bennett 21:13
work with other organizations that will help them like either get them back into school get their GED job or whatever. 

Austin Davis 21:21
Yeah, so we have a charter school on campus 

Rich Bennett 21:24
oh 

Austin Davis 21:24
so, 

Rich Bennett 21:24
wow, 

Austin Davis 21:25
90, 90% of our kids are behind in school, have some sort of IEP, you know, probably 50% of them have some sort of IEP or, you know, special education 

Rich Bennett 21:35
Right. 

Austin Davis 21:36
plan. So we have principals, teachers, assistants, we've had kids graduate, right, so they come in at 17 with 12 credits left and they're able to crank through those things because they're in class, they're sober, they have assistants and so we we partner with University of Texas in Austin and so the credits circle through there and so they can come in or, you know, unenroll from their local ISD enroll in our charter school and then transition directly back and if there's a continuing need after that, you know, we'll facilitate and coordinate, you know, how that where they transition back to. 

Rich Bennett 22:19
From what you know, I mean so far, you're the only person I know all of that that has is, do you know if there's any other places like this in the country, especially for this age group, 

Austin Davis 22:33
Yeah, you know, we have we have a couple of in the state, there's a 

Rich Bennett 22:39
really? 

Austin Davis 22:39
couple, couple small, you know, six to 16 bed facilities, but nothing nothing you really pronounced like what we do, right, like with our three uniques that do family system is faith centered, you know, our core values driven programming and so super unique across the country. 

Rich Bennett 23:01
And in that case, so how long have you been getting on podcast 

Austin Davis 23:07
really just this year. 

Rich Bennett 23:09
Okay, 

Austin Davis 23:09
you know, do a couple of week maybe 

Rich Bennett 23:11
has anybody from any other state or even country, reached out to you yet that to get information a bit from you about how to start one in their own place. 

Because if not, I have a funny feeling they will be 

Austin Davis 23:29
yeah. You know, I do I do some like consulting, not 

Rich Bennett 23:33
okay, good 

Austin Davis 23:34
official, right, so every once in a while, people call and say, hey, how did you do that? How 

Rich Bennett 23:38
do that? 

Austin Davis 23:38
did 

Rich Bennett 23:39
Right 

Austin Davis 23:39
you so, nothing like formal, but just kind of like, you know, what So one of the ones I mentioned was literally a couple of therapists who came through and toured our facility, had a brother, die, and they're like, hey, we're going to we want to do one, you know, our family's got some money. And so, you know that it kind of it kind of grows because of because of what we do. So 

Rich Bennett 24:02
yeah, all right, and we keep talking about the addiction part, but I really haven't covered the mental health part yet. Because now with that with the mental health part is that 90 days as well or do you guys like all for where people could, I guess that would be outpatient in and out for like therapy and all. 

Austin Davis 24:25
12 week, yeah. So, uh, about 18 months ago, we, we did outpatient, um, we have, we have two outpatient locations, uh, one in, in Fort Worth and then one in, you know, close to Dallas. And so, uh, mental health treatment, partial hospitalization, those sort of things. And so we'll, we'll treat kind of this whole continuum of care, um, for, for our kiddos. 

Rich Bennett 24:54
Well, that's just a matter of time. I don't know, so what do we do from other states? 

Austin Davis 24:56
So we do virtual within Texas. 

Rich Bennett 24:58
In Texas, that's awful. 

Austin Davis 24:59
Yep. Yep. And so our licensing and stuff doesn't cross, um, state lines 

Rich Bennett 25:06
I hope that changes. 

Austin Davis 25:08
there. 

Rich Bennett 25:08
God, I 

Austin Davis 25:08
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 25:08
hope that changes. 

Austin Davis 25:09
There's supposed to be some legislation and, and I don't know who's holding onto it, you know, so it's like, uh, Texas is really particular about crossing state lines with stuff. So we'll see. 

Rich Bennett 25:21
What you think about it, I mean, how many places do not have the facilities to help, especially kids? 

Austin Davis 25:29
Right. 

Rich Bennett 25:30
Or even adults that have, have a mental health crisis going on. 

Austin Davis 25:35
Yeah. Well, just surrounding Texas, right? Like, you know, Oklahoma, New Mexico, 

Rich Bennett 25:39
Yeah. 

Austin Davis 25:40
Louisiana, Arkansas, like those are kind of rural states, right? Like they don't, they don't have real, uh, robust economies. 

Rich Bennett 25:47
Right. 

Austin Davis 25:48
Hundreds of thousands of clinicians to serve the population. And so it is a huge need. It's a huge need that, um, I think every state's trying to solve. Um, so. 

Rich Bennett 26:01
Now, is that one of the reasons you wrote the book, my kid, my crisis? 

Austin Davis 26:05
Yeah. So that was just kind of a memoir of sorts, right? I've just kind of taking these, um, You know, everybody asked, you know, what's your favorite story about a family? Well, you 

Rich Bennett 26:15
right. 

Austin Davis 26:16
know, like, and so I just kind of took those, those stories. Um, to help parents not feel alone, right? Because, um, when, when families come in and we do our family intensives, you know, one family share in their And in another mom just like bus out into tears and she's like, oh, my God, I thought I was the only one. Um, well, no, there's, there's 30 people in the room that have the same exact story. 

Rich Bennett 26:41
Right. 

Austin Davis 26:41
And so it was really just to help families know under, no, and understand you're not alone, right? It's just, um, making it, uh, normal for. 

Rich Bennett 26:50
So it's like stories, but also a guidebook in a way. 

Austin Davis 26:53
Yeah. So, uh, late on top of the stories are clinical best practices of how I would address those needs and not at a master's level or PhD level. Like kind of common language, you know, 

Rich Bennett 27:05
Right. 

Austin Davis 27:05
here's how we'd use Bowenian family therapy. Here's how we'd use cognitive behavioral therapy. And so you should be able to take those and go. Okay, here's, I relate to this story and then maybe I can apply this communication skill to, you know, our family dinner time. 

Rich Bennett 27:21
Oh, man. And when did this come out? I gotta get this now. 

Austin Davis 27:26
Yeah, it's, it's about a year old. It's about a year old. I probably wrote it four years ago, and it just sat on my desk and, you know, somebody's one of my mentors forced me to, um, you know, get it, 

Rich Bennett 27:36
it 

Austin Davis 27:36
get 

Rich Bennett 27:37
Austin. 

Austin Davis 27:37
Justin printed. 

Rich Bennett 27:39
Austin, man, 

Austin Davis 27:40
So 

Rich Bennett 27:40
why'd you leave us sitting there? 

Austin Davis 27:42
Yeah, no, it's just one of those side side projects. 

Rich Bennett 27:45
Now self published. 

Austin Davis 27:47
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 27:48
Is there audio version as well? 

Austin Davis 27:51
No, I don't think so. Um, you know, then I think we can, we can tailor that to, to Amazon or I could probably do it real quick with AI. 

Rich Bennett 27:59
I was or do it yourself. 

Austin Davis 28:01
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 28:01
I mean, you got, you got the voice. 

Austin Davis 28:04
Oh, yeah, I could 

Rich Bennett 28:05
Yeah, a 

Austin Davis 28:05
definitely 

Rich Bennett 28:05
lot. 

Austin Davis 28:06
read it. 

Rich Bennett 28:06
Yeah, I mean, seriously, because otherwise well, let's use AI then that's free. Um, but a lot of times when you, you know, a lot of people get other people to narrate their book, especially if it's a novel, I understand you have different characters. But 

Austin Davis 28:20
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 28:20
if it's, if it's just you do it yourself and it's free, you got the equipment. Otherwise, you want to be recording the podcast right now. 

Austin Davis 28:28
Right. 

Rich Bennett 28:28
take a little break here. I want to talk about one of my sponsors, Maryland pickers. Maryland pickers is a local junk removal service. And they also have dumpster rentals as well. I actually called Jeremy when we were doing our spring clean this year, and he brought the dumpster out and quick to answer the phone came at the day he said he was going to pick it up, answered all my questions. Everything was fine. He was a phenomenal, very professional to work. So if you're looking for junk removal service, if you're looking to rent a dumpster, contact Maryland pickers greater Maryland pickers. or give them a call at 4432061859. Again, it's 4432061859. Tell them that rich from heart for canny live and sin. So with the book, what was because you said it's got stories in there. Can you share? And if you don't want to, that's fine. But one of the stories that really hits you hard in a good way or in a motion. 

Austin Davis 29:34
Yeah. Yeah. I didn't put this on the book, but it's probably my favorite. We had just opened the tree of facility. We had six kids. I actually lived on campus. We have a ranch style, residential kind of setting. I lived in one house, kids lived another and then we had staff offices and the third house. And so We'll call him Mike. He comes in. He's a big kid. He's 17 years old. He's every single day. He's like, "F everything. I'm not going to do anything. I'm not doing the steps. I'm not going to group. I'm not. You know, just wanted to fight everything. And at day 74. He has a little bit of trouble in the afternoon, kind of like right before bedtime. I leave my house, put my kids to bed, walked on the hill, and I'm sitting with him. And he's like, man, I've, I've tried everything and we kind of go through why he stuck and we tried this and he said, it didn't work. We tried this and he said, you don't work. You tried this. And he said, work. And I said, man, like, what do you think would happen if you he kept saying this phrase? I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know what's wrong with me. 

Rich Bennett 30:53
Right. 

Austin Davis 30:54
And I said, so I knew right, I knew as a clinician, what was wrong with him. I needed him to say it out loud. I needed him to express it and discover it. And I said, so what if what if you just ask God, like, I know you don't want anything to do with him. You just told me that that shit doesn't work right air quotes there. 

Just let's let's just ask him, as you go to bed tonight, ask him what's wrong and eight o'clock the next morning, he, you know, we do breakfast and he's, I have to talk to you. And we go into his room. And there's kind of everybody has gone to group and whatnot. And he's like, man, I did what you said and he goes, I, my, my words to God, where God, what the F is wrong with me. Show me what the F to do. 

Rich Bennett 31:42
Wow. 

Austin Davis 31:42
And he's like, that was my prayer. And I went to bed. And I dreamt for the first time this horrific nightmare. That was my life. And I didn't realize that when we moved from this location to this location at like seventh grade. He said, for the next two years, I would get off the bus and walk home. And the neighbor down the street for me would molest me. 

Rich Bennett 32:09
Oh my 

Austin Davis 32:10
would lowered me into his house and took advantage of me for two years. Right. And he's like, I didn't, I had zero. I had compressed that. I had zero thoughts of it until I ask God what the F is wrong with me. And so we just sat there on this floor at day 74 treatment. Right. We had fought this kid for 10 weeks, almost, and that one moment changes. Life forever, we we hugged, we made a plan. And the next two weeks, you saw a different human, he was like, now my life makes sense. We, you know, it just, it just clicked, right. He was able to kind of reconcile all of the things, right. And so it was just a, it was just such a reminder to the process of recovery. And why we have 90 days and the power of just prayer. 

Rich Bennett 33:11
Yeah. Oh, yes. 

Austin Davis 33:12
Step, step one, step two and step three, you know, this power grade of myself are stormed his sanity. And then, hey, dude, can you help me, you know. And so, you know, just really having that moment was huge. And so that was that was one that I didn't put in there. But that, that's what gets me up every single morning. That's what helps me teach and train our staff to endure the suck. You know, when kids are pissed every day for 74 days, we just, we just keep, keep kind of putting our head down, keep working the treatment plan and engaging in their life until they, they discover what they need to discover. 

Rich Bennett 33:52
Now, have you heard from him since then? 

Austin Davis 33:55
Gosh, it's been like seven years. He went, he went ROTC. He did. 

Rich Bennett 34:01
Wow. 

Austin Davis 34:01
Graduated college or high school. And then I think went to college. So yeah, he's, he's one of those that I need to, that kind of, it's, it's after about three years, you know, I kind of, there's a lot of kids to keep track of. 

Rich Bennett 34:14
Well, yeah, well, and actually with that, and I've never even thought about this until just now, because I'm thinking of like high school and even colleges and trade schools. Do you have like an alumni night where some of the people that have got you do? 

Austin Davis 34:30
Yeah, so it's on Saturday or Sunday evenings, we'll have our alumni come back and speak. So we'll do like speaker meetings, we quarterly alumni events and so we'll do six flags or barbecue in the park. And like we'll just we'll just kind of gather everybody. I think we had 60 to 70 last month. 

Rich Bennett 34:51
that's 

Austin Davis 34:52
So 

Rich Bennett 34:52
great 

Austin Davis 34:52
we just we do one each quarter. 

Rich Bennett 34:54
Make some realize that they're still important. 

Austin Davis 34:57
Yeah, well, it gives them community, right? 

Rich Bennett 34:59
Yeah, 

Austin Davis 34:59
show me your friends and I'll show you your future. And so we just to cultivate this idea of togetherness and unity. So they call somebody when the days suck, you know, when 

Rich Bennett 35:10
yeah, 

Austin Davis 35:10
something happens, right? 

Rich Bennett 35:12
I want to get back on mental health a minute too, because 

Austin Davis 35:15
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 35:15
you've seen the landscape of team mental health shift over the past decade. What are the most significant changes that you've noticed? 

Austin Davis 35:30
You know, there's this in-in-vogue concept or idea that being depressed is cool. You know like like I grew up in the 80s and 90s and we saw all the trends come through. it just seems really cool to cut yourself. It seems really cool to be depressed and it seems this badge of honor almost almost like you get into the war story and the AA this, you know, communities, it's kind of the same thing, but it's just it's it's pervasive, right? It's 

Rich Bennett 36:03
Yeah, 

Austin Davis 36:04
in in to help to to get these kids to understand that Having bad mental health, being poor, you know being mentally ill is not cool. 

Rich Bennett 36:15
no. 

Austin Davis 36:16
And having some vibrato, having some self-esteem, having backbone, man, that's just a whole different concept for some of these kids in this generation. 

Rich Bennett 36:25
That's one thing I have noticed with this generation. You do see a lot more kids talking some of them will even say like they have depression or they're autistic and they they don't. 

Austin Davis 36:40
Right. 

Rich Bennett 36:41
You're right. It's like they think it's cool or something. 

Austin Davis 36:44
Yeah, yeah. And I think the the words, right, I am or I have you know, those are those are powerful words, right? Like I get depressed, right? Like you know, if the sun doesn't shine or I miss workouts or you know like whatever happens in the business. Right. Like they're moments of depressed mood. That doesn't mean I got a tattoo and it's there forever, right? Like it's it's it's a moment. And it's not permanent. Right. I know tomorrow is going to be better. And these kids, they wear it. I am. I am broken. I am depressed. I am anxious. You know, it's it's a lot of education of like, man, you can't you can't keep saying that to yourself or you're going to perpetuate the problem. 

Rich Bennett 37:29
I'll never forget when my daughter was in middle school, was it middle school or elementary school one or the other? I mean, hurt. They weren't that old. And all of a sudden to her friend just out of the blue looks me and says, yeah, I have PTSD. I'm like, what? I mean, just it floored me because me being a veteran at the time, PTSD, you only heard of veterans having it. 

Austin Davis 37:55
Right. 

Rich Bennett 37:55
Now apparently everybody has 

Austin Davis 37:58
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 37:58
gotten 

Austin Davis 37:59
Oh wait. Yeah. I've got PTSD because my mom, my mom took my phone away. 

Rich Bennett 38:03
Yes. 

Austin Davis 38:03
I've heard that one. 

Rich Bennett 38:04
Yeah. That's like 

Austin Davis 38:05
over and over and over. I'm like, no. Like your kid mom controls your phone. 

Rich Bennett 38:09
Uh huh. 

Austin Davis 38:10
Right. You know, so, you know, 

Rich Bennett 38:14
I don't get it. So this is I'm going to be afraid to ask this. 

Austin Davis 38:21
Go for 

Rich Bennett 38:22
it. All right. So what role do you think social 

Austin Davis 38:25
media? 

Rich Bennett 38:26
Yeah. digital culture play in the rise of anxiety, depression and substance use among 

Austin Davis 38:32
Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's if there were embers, you know, in this little campfire, it is the high octane jet fuel that is poured on top of every single day. 

Rich Bennett 38:43
team. 

Austin Davis 38:44
Um, we know it scientifically. We've watched the documentaries that, you know, that were on Netflix. Like we just we just know the minute we put a device in our hand. the dopaminergic parts of our brain light up and we become addicted. It's just what it is. So when we were kids, nothing was encapsulated. We could go to a paper house or not going to door or get in a fight, whatever it was. And nobody was videotape, and it wasn't 

Rich Bennett 39:18
Yeah. 

Austin Davis 39:20
permanently in internet. And so I think the consequences of some of these actions are permanent for some of these kids and they don't know how to overcome them. They can't escape them. And so there's the addiction side of it. And I think there's that permanent sea of that being out in the internet for the consequences. 

Rich Bennett 39:41
So 

Austin Davis 39:42
and so broke up with or so and so had sex with and videotaped it or you know, like what I mean, like we've seen some some horror stories that end up in suicide attempts. 

Rich Bennett 39:53
Exactly. Yeah. It's it's it's scary. And I think, well, I think some states have already passed some laws already where it's, you know, they're coming down on these people that are especially posting like mega photos and videos out there. You know, 

Austin Davis 40:09
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:10
and now if they could just something with the internet bullying, 

Austin Davis 40:14
right. 

Rich Bennett 40:14
And maybe that would help. Is there actually a warning sign you think parents tend to overlook or dismiss early on? 

Austin Davis 40:23
I you know, people places and things. 

Rich Bennett 40:25
Mm-hmm. 

Austin Davis 40:26
You know, those warning signs are like have have the friends changed. Are there new people that come in into that environment, right? Things. You know, or are they where they play it? That the trumpet in their hand. And and now it's no longer in their hand. And they've replaced that was something else. And then, you know, places is is obvious. Right. They 

Rich Bennett 40:49
they yeah, 

Austin Davis 40:50
after school or they're missing school. Right. So they're not at the place they're supposed to be and so they're skipping school and just going hang out at Taco Bell and and doing whatever, right? Like people places and things, it's an old adage, but I think it just holds true of like, you got you got to pay attention and parents, parents are dismissive of the sort of just slow drift that that all of a sudden go ends up in the ER and like, oh my god, you know, nobody saw this coming and we're like, well, yeah, you kind of did because of these last six months. 

Rich Bennett 41:26
Yeah. And actually, with the family, what what do you think of some routines or or even habits you recommend families trying to reestablish trust and stability at 

Austin Davis 41:36
home? I'm a huge fan of dinner. 

Rich Bennett 41:38
Yes. Thank you. 

Austin Davis 41:40
So, uh, you know, I have a I have three kiddos. Um, I just celebrated 20 years with my wife. Um, and I'm just a huge proponent of dinner time without the phone without distractions and we have conversations with our kids. Um, 

Rich Bennett 42:00
it's important. 

Austin Davis 42:01
Yeah, yeah, you know, and it's not just so I frame conversations kind of in two ways or after shoulder to shoulder and there's need and need. Um, and so I have shoulder to shoulder conversations with my son anytime we're in the car, right? Like we're sitting next to each other. We're doing RC cars, whatever we're doing, those are kind of shoulder to shoulder. Um, how's your day, you know, what, what fears you having? What, uh, challenges you have in like what, what, you know, just, just while we're doing things shoulder to shoulder. And then there's times that there are need and need, right? Where I have a specific thing that I want to address with him about his life, about a character flaw or um, an admonition of something I see in him that I want him to, to elevate. And so I've pre contemplated probably written down those types of conversations. And I think, um, I think a lot of parents waste the hundreds of hours in the car. Um, it just blows my mind when I'm driving down the road and I see a kid on with headphones and, you know, it device in his face there's three kids in the back seat doing the same thing. Like, man, those were, those are huge memories and formative times, um, for the last hundred years of, of people, right? And so, um, I think we're wasting those and then, then we're just afraid to have need and need conversations. Uh, because, you know, what, what the kid will do, the kids in control of the family, usually. 

Rich Bennett 43:34
Um, yeah. Without a doubt there. Yeah, that's, that's one of the things I've always said. I remember growing up, we always had the family sitting down at dinner time. 

Austin Davis 43:46
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 43:47
Even if it was something that mom was making and we knew it wouldn't like like liver Nullions. 

Austin Davis 43:52
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 43:53
I think she called the neighbors ahead of time because there are times I remember, I was a, oh, well I'm, I'm going to go eat a keith's house, he invited me over, where you better check, check with his mother first and all of a sudden it was like, no, we didn't invite him. I'm like, 

Austin Davis 44:07
yep. 

Rich Bennett 44:08
I know she called ahead of me, making me eat them liver and onions, but those 

Austin Davis 44:12
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 44:12
conversations you learn so lot, and so much. And the other thing two of those conversations that I, I believe this is missing from families a lot is family history. Yeah. You know, I mean like with our family, unless it's a family gathering at my sisters or something, a lot of the kids don't know about our family unless they go there, and even my niece's husband, he, he, I have to live because every time he comes I think he grabs another paper plate for the family tree trying to keep up with it and he beat, I'll go, wait a minute. When did this one come? It's like, but I mean those are memories that you, you'll have forever. You know, 

Austin Davis 44:58
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 44:58
those family dinners are very, very important very, 

Austin Davis 45:02
yep. 

Rich Bennett 45:03
Um, besides family dinners. Are there any tools, whether it be books, apps, or or even routines that you recommend for teens or families post treatment? 

Austin Davis 45:17
Um, 

So I'm just, I'm just big on communication and routines, right? We use a project management tool just for our home. We homeschool, my wife is a teacher for a decade, um, in public school, and so like we use a sauna and slack, just, just to manage all the things, right? I think, 

Rich Bennett 45:40
yeah. 

Austin Davis 45:40
um, being, because, because when you sit and plan a quarter with your kids, right? So we do this. Um, I did this a couple of Christmas as a go. I said, like, I want each one of you to, you know, write down, um, 12 things that you would like to do with dad over the next 12 months, right? So, 

Rich Bennett 46:01
mm, 

Austin Davis 46:02
um, I had 30, I had three kids. I had 36 items. And I was like, okay, like Emma, you're going to, we're going to do this one on January. We're going to do this one on March. We're going to do this one, you know, like, we can't go skiing in January or on the boat on January, right? So we're going to 

Rich Bennett 46:17
right, 

Austin Davis 46:17
put that to June. Um, and so we just, we just planned it out. And so having, 

Rich Bennett 46:22
love that. 

Austin Davis 46:23
Having a, a forward look and forcing myself to participate in these things, right? And so, um, I'm busy, uh, uh, in, again, air quotes, I'm busy, right? Um, but that, that forces me into my schedule into predicting the future for my and, and those relationships and saying, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to have a one on one date at this little Mexican restaurant with, with Micah in May. 

Rich Bennett 46:54
I love that. 

Austin Davis 46:54
You know, so, um, and that helps those need and need conversations, those shoulder to shoulder conversations happen because I'll, I'll be thinking about, okay, I got to take her, um, you know, uh, and, and, we're going to have this conversation. 

Rich Bennett 47:08
That's 

Austin Davis 47:08
I've 

Rich Bennett 47:08
great. 

Austin Davis 47:08
talked to, talked to her and a, and a moniker in, in this area of her life. 

Rich Bennett 47:13
I got, I mean, my kids of all are all grown up now. And, but still, I mean, the one thing I really do love once a month, sometimes even more than once a month, my daughter and I will always go to a coffee shop. 

Austin Davis 47:26
That's perfect. 

Rich Bennett 47:27
Yeah. It's like, that's our thing. And we, we found a new one. So, you know, it's like, can we go there again? Well, it's a drive, but it's a, can we, can we, well, maybe we'll do a nice weekend with dad's not working or something. 

Austin Davis 47:41
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 47:41
So for you, because, I mean, working with these kids every day, it's kind of take a toll on you emotionally as well. So, what do you actually do for yourself, 

Austin Davis 47:55
mental? Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 47:56
for your 

Austin Davis 47:56
Uh, yeah. So, I mean, for straight I mean my three things are fitness, faith, and then fun. Right? So fitness is easy. I know if I don't work out, expel that energy. It's just going to turn into, you know, me yelling at a kid or an employee or something, right? So I just know how I'm wired, I've got to do that physical fitness, faith community that's journal, that's daily devotion type stuff, service. I had a psychiatry, psychiatrist friend of mine one time. I said do something that doesn't make money. He was talking to a group of entrepreneurs and, you know, like gift back like that's a different part of your brain 

Rich Bennett 48:48
Right. 

Austin Davis 48:49
that fires. And so we do that. We serve at church, we host small group. So that's part of that, you know, faith thing. And then fun. I've got a wall of guitars at home. And a 1971 Chevy truck that I've been building from the ground up for a couple of years. 

Rich Bennett 49:14
Nice. 350. 

Austin Davis 49:17
Yeah, it's got the, actually, I did a gen five engine in it. So it's, 

Rich Bennett 49:21
oh, 

Austin Davis 49:22
it's it's a pain in the butt to get the computer and all that kind of stuff sorted and did a stage two cam. And it's loud as all can I'll get out. 

Rich Bennett 49:31
So 

still now does that. I can't believe I'm talking cars now. But you said it's a 71 

Austin Davis 49:38
right? 

Rich Bennett 49:39
Chevy, 

Austin Davis 49:40
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:40
So with that motor 71 Chevy, that had what the three speed 350? Trees. 

Austin Davis 49:47
Yeah. So when we bought it, so it's a fun story. So when my brother was alive, 

Rich Bennett 49:53
Mm-hmm. 

Austin Davis 49:53
I was in Tennessee, he was just turned 16. His car got stolen, and I found this thing in a junkyard. And it actually had a Camaro 327 in it. So it was a junkyard. They had been wrecked or something. They put it back together. It was nice, and so he flew in, we drove it back, and then when he passed away, it just sat my mom's garage for 20 years. And when I-- 

Rich Bennett 50:21
Wow. 

Austin Davis 50:22
When I was turning 40, know, she's like, hey, I'm going to fix this thing and 

Rich Bennett 50:28
you 

Austin Davis 50:28
give it to you. And I was like, hell, no. You're not. I'm going to do it. Because that was our project. Like, we had, he had a truck, I had a truck, and we were building them and so we were just kind of gear heads. And so trying to brought up since about 21, bringing it back to life, and it's just a slow go. 

Rich Bennett 50:46
Yep. Yeah. Oh, God, I would love to have a truck like that. You cannot go wrong with GM trucks, especially the old Chevy's. Oh, 

Austin Davis 50:55
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 50:55
I keep saying that's what I want to-- oh, I want to old pickup truck with the eight-foot bed, which is some of the hard, hard to find nowadays with the bench, just the bench seat in the 

Austin Davis 51:05
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 51:05
single cap. That's all I want. That's 

Austin Davis 51:07
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 51:07
all I want. Something simple. And what's your favorite guitar that you have? 

Austin Davis 51:13
You know, right now, they, you know, they're just seasoned as I'm a strat guy. 

Rich Bennett 51:17
Okay. 

Austin Davis 51:18
So I love the good old American strat. Got a maple neck, got a mahogany neck, got a ebony neck, you know, like so. And that reason about a PRS, 

Rich Bennett 51:28
did you really? 

Austin Davis 51:29
David Grissom fan. And so he played with a Malford Milligan and some guys here in Austin, and so they followed him for a long time. So I picked up PRS. And 

Rich Bennett 51:40
I believe they're still made here too. 

Austin Davis 51:43
apple. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 51:44
In an 

Austin Davis 51:45
Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 51:46
Close to an apple. Maybe on the other side of the bridge, I don't know. Who knows? It's, oh, God. That, I keep, my son loves guitar. I always say Steve Raven reincarnate it. 

Austin Davis 51:59
For a 

Rich Bennett 52:00
while, he was keeping his guitars. And I don't know what happened. I got a yachting again. All right. So with what you do, I love this question. What's something that you've learned from the teens you worked with that really surprised you or changed your perspective. 

Austin Davis 52:28
You know, every encounter just reminds me of God's grace and mercy. For the shit that we do to ourselves, you know, and he's just right there to say, hey, I got you. Let's go at this again and again and again and again. And every single story is the same the same way. 

Rich Bennett 52:56
I love that. All right. So for listeners who may feel either hopeless or overwhelmed right now, what words of encouragement will you leave them with? 

Austin Davis 53:06
And I think that's it. That last statement, you know, it's like you're not, you're not alone, you're not alone. Um, and, uh, you know, whether it's me you call or the suicide helpline, whatever that is, like just don't wait. Don't wait until you're in the ER. Don't wait until, um, you're facing a wall. Like it help early. Right. Um, so. 

Rich Bennett 53:31
All right. So before I get to my last question, which I have no idea what it's going to be, um, is there anything you would like to add? 

Austin Davis 53:40
No, man. This has been great. This has been really good. 

Rich Bennett 53:42
All right. So I do something different now, whereas before I use, there was particular questions I would ask, but I have a hundred different questions here. Don't worry at all. And I'm not going to ask you all 100 of them, I'm just going to ask you one. So what I need you to do is pick a number between one and 100. And of course tell me why you picked the number. And then that's going to determine what the question is somehow another. These questions have aligned with what we've been talking about. 

Austin Davis 54:08
Love it. All right. So page 64 in the big book talks about the number one offender is resentment. Right. So we've kind of talked about that today. Always go back to page 64. I'm like, where should resentment. How do we deal with it? How do we apply forgiveness and repentance to that resentment? So 64 is. 

Rich Bennett 54:31
This I guess this in a lot and wake it alive. What we've been talking about. Because I mean you started this this business into what you say 2016. 

Austin Davis 54:42
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 54:43
Working with teens. So what's a common fear you've overcome and how did you do it? 

Austin Davis 54:51
Hmm. 

All right. So fear fear failure is just always looming. Right. Whether whether it's building the 71 truck or being a dad or run in a business. And so every, you know, instead of thinking about eating the elephant, it's it's focusing on one bite at a time. And so no matter big, no matter how big the project is, it's like, hey, can I can I turn this screw right here in front of just this one single screw. I can't think about the whole project. If I can solve this one problem in the business or help this kid in this very moment tomorrow will be another day. His mercies will be new, and I will I will tackle another problem tomorrow. So 

Rich Bennett 55:45
I love that. I into quotes. The phrases you come. The we're going to say they're Austin isms. 

Austin Davis 55:54
Yeah. There's there's a lot of them. 

Rich Bennett 55:56
Book of Austin isms out there, man. 

Austin Davis 55:58
A little, a little toilet guide, you know, 

Rich Bennett 56:02
Austin, I want to thank you so much. Thank you for everything you're doing. Those of you listening, make sure you purchase the book after you read it, leave a four review and actually purchase more copies for everybody. This, this mate, this book would make great gifts for people 

Austin Davis 56:22
because 

Rich Bennett 56:22
everybody's, you know, always dealing with mental health, one way or another. And where can people get the book? 

Austin Davis 56:28
Amazon. Yeah. Easy. 

Rich Bennett 56:31
Mike. Was it my kids, my crisis. 

Austin Davis 56:33
My kid, my crisis. 

Rich Bennett 56:36
My Austin Davis, do it people. Austin. Thanks a lot, man. 

Austin Davis 56:41
Thank you so much. It's great to be with you. 

Rich Bennett 56:43
Thank you for listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learned something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love it if you could leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at conversations with Rich Bennett.com for updates, giveaways and more. Until next time, take care. Be kind and keep the conversations going. You know, it takes a lot to put a podcast together and and my sponsors help add a lot, but I also have some supporters that actually help me when it comes to the editing software, I'm just kidding. There's a lot that goes into putting this together. So I want to thank them. And if you can please please visit their websites, visit their businesses, support them however you can. So please, visit the following Full full circle boards. Nobody does charcuterie like full circle boards. And that's it for now at fullcircleboards.com. Sincerely, Sincerely, Sincerely, so your photography. Live in the moment. They'll capture it. Visit them at SincerelySoyer.com.