#106. Jamaica Bartz | Quiet Courage: Detox, Healing, And Hope

Scott Hammond: Hello and welcome to the 100% Humboldt podcast with your host Scott Hammond and my new best friend, Jamaica Bartz. Is how you say it Bartz?

Jamaica Bartz: Bartz, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Tell me, Jamaica, who, who are you? What's your day job? What do you do?

Jamaica Bartz: So I am the executive director for

Jamaica Bartz: a, um, medical detox and a dual diagnosis residential treatment program-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … um, called Waterfront Recovery Services.

Scott Hammond: Right. You guys are over by Target, right?

Jamaica Bartz: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Used to be Pepsi.

Jamaica Bartz: No, it's still… Pepsi's still there.

Scott Hammond: Oh, they're still there.

Jamaica Bartz: So the building used to be the MAX, the Multiple Assistance

Jamaica Bartz: Center.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: So like a homeless shelter for families at first and then-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … I believe they took the family shelter part of it out, but it was still a, a shelter right before-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … like maybe six months before we, we moved in there.

Scott Hammond: Tell me what you guys do there.

Jamaica Bartz: So we, um, detox people, you know. We, uh, manage their

Jamaica Bartz: withdrawal-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … from various different substances.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: And we have nurses and, um, a nurse practitioner and a, a doctor to,

Jamaica Bartz: um, they, you know, s- go over their screenings, uh, determine like what kind of tr- you know, protocol they're gonna need.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and you know, adjust medications as necessary to make them as comfortable as they can be.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and we, uh, nurse them through that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: You know, we have detox technicians who check on them. We got a 24-hour-a-day nurse, uh, detox technicians.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and you know, help them come back to life and then move them on to, in the-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … continuum of care is what we would call it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I'd say a huge, a, a, a vast majority of those individuals will move into our 30, 60, or 90-day, uh, residential portion of the treatment.

Scott Hammond: So they live on, right there on campus.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Yeah, they live right there.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow. Wow, what a heavy thing that must be to watch, to have

Scott Hammond: somebody-

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … go through DT, is it DTs too, so alcoholism?

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. DTs, um, yeah, alcohol, you know, y- there's this big, you know, opioid epidemic.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: It's been going on for quite some time, and has evolved into fentanyl, which has

Jamaica Bartz: become-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Jamaica Bartz: … more deadlier than-

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy

Jamaica Bartz: … you know, even the, um, heroin.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: But, um, alcohol is by far the most challenging, um, substance to get, uh, individuals off of.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: The, the withdrawal from that is not only dangerous, but it is exceptionally hard. You know, they are, um-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … they will hallucinate sometimes.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: They can, they can get severe tremors, um, sometimes even-

Jamaica Bartz: … uh, sometimes even seizures.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And the seizures can happen, like, they can be eight days into their withdrawal and be off of the medications and still have a seizure.

Scott Hammond: And still seize up. Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: And still seize up, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So we'll come back to that. I wanna talk about you. So tell us-

Jamaica Bartz: Okay

Scott Hammond: … tell us the Jamaica story.

Jamaica Bartz: The Jamaica story is, um, I am in recovery myself.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I will have 11 years in March.

Scott Hammond: Yay.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I did a lot of, um, ripping and roaring up and down Humboldt County, um, doing, doing, doing meth. Meth was my drug of choice.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, selling drugs, you know, um, in and out of

Jamaica Bartz: jail.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And, um, you know, you get to a s- you know, people have to have that moment mo-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Jamaica Bartz: … most times. Um-

Scott Hammond: Hitting bottom.

Jamaica Bartz: Hi- hitting bottom, and everyone's bottom is different, you know?

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I, I never was in the position to where I just didn't know where I was gonna sleep or how I was going to

Jamaica Bartz: eat-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … or, you know, I always had what we would call a hustle.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, but, you know, you get to a point where you're just like, "What am I even doing with myself right now?" You know?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: I'm 37 years old, and I have nothing to show for my life.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, now I'm just using meth to just be functioning, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: I'm not even really getting, getting high anymore. I'm just functioning.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: And, um, you know, uh, looking over my shoulder, always having warrants because I just c- couldn't bring myself to court.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and it's just not- … not the way you wanna live.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: You know? You can't really get a job because, you know, your, your addiction really doesn't, doesn't really mesh well with a job or any type of-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jamaica Bartz: … uh, responsibility-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jamaica Bartz: … really. Um, but you also can't get, like, food stamps and, uh, Medi-Cal because you have warrants.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And then you're always looking over your shoulder because you don't know when a cop… When, when you're doing-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jamaica Bartz: … the kind of things I was doing, you, um, the cops know you.

Scott Hammond: See-

Jamaica Bartz: You're in and out of jail so much-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jamaica Bartz: … the cops know you.

Scott Hammond: So you're this underground person, s- citizen, like persona non grata.

Jamaica Bartz: I mean, I'm, if you, you can call it that if you want to.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Without, without a… Well, yeah. So tell us where you grew up and how, where'd you go to school?

Jamaica Bartz: I was born and raised here. Um, and-

Scott Hammond: In Eureka or…?

Jamaica Bartz: In Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: I mean, I was born in Arcata, but I was raised in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. And, um, you know, I went to u- I went to the local elementary schools, went through Winship, went to, went to Eureka High. I went to, um, March of my senior year. Um, but I did have my first kid when I was 17.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: Right. And, um, well, I went to school one day, changed his, changed his bottom.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Came back home. He had a rash halfway down his leg, and I was like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … "Okay, we're not doing this. I'm not."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: "I need to make sure I'm taking care of my kid," so.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, but I did take my GED, and I passed that, got, you know, the full points for

Jamaica Bartz: that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And, um, you know, uh, had another kid at 19.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I don't, I don't think… So I started using when I was 15.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and I was still going to school and stuff, and, um, I was– I'm a third-generation addict.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: So I was already predisposed to… I didn't, I didn't grow up with my, um, my real family.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I was raised with a really good family and-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Jamaica Bartz: Gave us all, all the good things and, um, all the good memories and all the things that I needed to have. But, you know, it was– I was just still genetically inclined to wanna party.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: And, you know, it was introduced to me and, you know, ooh, I like this.

Scott Hammond: This is fun.

Jamaica Bartz: This is, this is real fun. Let's do that again.

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Jamaica Bartz: Let's do that more.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and I, I don't– I was doing it a bunch, but I don't think I was in my– in a really hardcore addiction

Jamaica Bartz: until, mm, early 20s.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: You know, 'cause I was using off and on-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … um, for the first, you know, that first, what, five-ish years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And I had another child at 19, so-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … um-

Scott Hammond: Are your kids still local?

Jamaica Bartz: Um, yeah, all my kids are local.

Scott Hammond: Grandma?

Jamaica Bartz: I am a grandma.

Scott Hammond: Look at you go.

Jamaica Bartz: I know right, well.

Scott Hammond: You're too young to be a grandma.

Jamaica Bartz: I am gonna be 49 this year.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, so I have a 32-year-old son-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … and a 30-year-old, 30-year-old daughter. I have a 20-year-old daughter.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I have an eight-year-old daughter.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful.

Jamaica Bartz: And then an eight-year-old grandson and a six-year-old granddaughter.

Scott Hammond: How old do you think I am? If you, if you get the number right, you'll win an early Dick Taylor chocolate bar. If not, you'll have to do the quiz, which is more arduous.

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, um-

Scott Hammond: Ready? Get it in here nice and close up.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I feel like it's a trick question.

Jamaica Bartz: Uh-

Scott Hammond: I'm 78.

Jamaica Bartz: Fifty– Ah.

Scott Hammond: No, I'm kidding.

Jamaica Bartz: Ah.

Scott Hammond: I'm pulling your leg.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay, 54.

Scott Hammond: Fifty-four. Close. You'll have to do the quiz, however.

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, okay.

Scott Hammond: Winner, winner. That– I've never asked anybody on the show what my age was. So, so I'm trying to lighten it up here a little bit. So, uh, went to school here locally. Had, had kids. Started the, the addiction career early. 'Cause pa– there's no question partying's fun.

Jamaica Bartz: Right.

Scott Hammond: Until it's not fun.

Jamaica Bartz: Sure.

Scott Hammond: And you found out, you hit that wall and it wasn't fun.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, it really– it honestly, like, it-it's exactly how it went.

Jamaica Bartz: Like, I know there are fun components to it, and there's a lot of misery attached to being in-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Jamaica Bartz: … your active addiction. It's just-

Scott Hammond: Slippery

Jamaica Bartz: … there was a, there was a lot of times where it, it was fun.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And we would all, you know, walk around town in the middle of the night and bump into each other.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And we'd party, be partying, and go hang out at people's houses and that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Thru-throughout the years, it just started to become more and more obsolete, you know? I think-

Scott Hammond: That's interesting, yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … pa-part of it is, like, the cops were cracking down. Like, you didn't wanna be caught walking out past, like, midnight, you know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I know one of my first stints of trying to get clean, I just, I couldn't wait till I could walk down the street at, like, two o'clock in the morning just to go get ice cream.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: Just so a cop couldn't roll up on me and be, be like-

Scott Hammond: "What are you doing?"

Jamaica Bartz: … "What are you doing?" I'm getting ice cream.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Is that a crime? You know, that, that was my-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … thought, you know. Just- … it was a silly goal, but it was a goal nonetheless.

Jamaica Bartz: And it was-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … it was a healthier goal, you know.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: Be out at two o'clock in the morning getting ice cream and not-

Scott Hammond: That's, that's healthier.

Jamaica Bartz: I mean, it's just the mindset, you know.

Scott Hammond: I l- I like, I like the notion, though, 'cause the, that partying has an arc and an obsolescence.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And you– it's the same old stuff, same old buzz, same old people. What started really fun, and it's not bad to have fun, it's not bad to have connection, right?

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm, yeah.

Scott Hammond: With people that you care about. Um, and then it goes sideways.

Jamaica Bartz: It goes, it goes way sideways.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Um-

Scott Hammond: Which is sad. It's, it's got that slippery slope el-element to it.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, people just start getting shady.

Jamaica Bartz: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … everyone starts trying to steal your things.

Jamaica Bartz: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … start stabbing you in the back, start telling on you to the cops and-

Scott Hammond: I remember as a teenager in San Diego, so we had– we, we weren't very rough. We weren't junkies or anything. But when I started seeing guns, I'm going, "What happened to our little pot party here?"

Jamaica Bartz: Sure, yeah.

Scott Hammond: We're drinking Heinekens, man, and you had a gun. What, what is– What- Oh, I'm just holding it for a guy. Well, that's weird, bro. And-

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, that is weird. And keep your guy over there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Who are you hanging out with there-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … brother man? So yeah, to, to see that obsolescence and where it's, it doesn't have the, the panache and the fun-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-mm

Scott Hammond: … that it did.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So I wonder, um, we'll talk about that later, but I wonder what, what next level stuff is, uh, what do we replace all that with? 'Cause I think we do have a need for human connection.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And for fun. That's all good.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, well, you know, first of all, I'm a very social person.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I've always been a social person. I am the type of person, I could be in a whole 'nother country and make a

Jamaica Bartz: friend.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: You know, just, I, that's just who I am.

Scott Hammond: Right on.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and I was never the type that just I wanted to just be hanging out by myself, but that's what it became.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I was just like, "Ah, I don't wanna be bothered."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, you know, don't– I don't, I'm not gonna answer my, answer my door.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I'd just rather be by myself and-

Scott Hammond: And party privately.

Jamaica Bartz: I– not even r- I guess, again, not even partying anymore.

Scott Hammond: You-

Jamaica Bartz: You're just-

Scott Hammond: Solo

Jamaica Bartz: … you're still using. You can't stop. You're a slave to it now. Like-

Scott Hammond: So it's not even partying, it's maintaining

Jamaica Bartz: … it's, it's just you're maintaining. That's just-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Jamaica Bartz: … what you do now. And-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jamaica Bartz: … and, like, what is it? What is that?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. The disappointment of the, uh, the promises never

Scott Hammond: kept.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And the, the story of addiction, yeah. And we'll talk about that a little bit. So, um, who are you? Uh, so I'm just gonna go right for my questions.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Who are you, Jamaica, and what do you want?

Jamaica Bartz: You know, I want– Well, first of all, I just want anybody with addiction, I al- this is what I always say. I always say, um, you know, 'cause it's not gonna be perfect once you get clean and once you eat better, but if you have even just, like, this, this much-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … just a little bit, just a little pinch of anything that I was able to have-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … then, then you're already doing 100 times better because it's something.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: You know? Some, some type of happiness. I just want people to be better and-

Scott Hammond: I like that

Jamaica Bartz: … um, live up to their potential and see their potential and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … love themselves.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Love themselves enough to, you know, keep fighting the fight.

Scott Hammond: Small beginnings are a good thing.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. There's a, a proverb that says, "Don't despise the day of small beginnings." So I think so- we gotta start somewhere.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It is… You don't get perfect overnight, and-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … the healing, whatever that is you're looking for, is never, uh, never that, uh, the, the big dream. It… I think the dream is, comes with some chunks of reality in it.

Jamaica Bartz: Well, yeah, because like you have this… You have an idea. You can have an idea of what that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … healing's gonna-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … look like. It's just, it's gonna-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … unfold on its own.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: You, you can't… You, so you're gonna set yourself up for an e- expectation that you don't, have no idea if you're gonna hit.

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Jamaica Bartz: You know?

Scott Hammond: So I like what you want. You want people to be just incre- maybe incrementally

Scott Hammond: on the way.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love it. Um-

Jamaica Bartz: And just enough to where want more.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Keep wanting more, because that, that's what happened. You get addicted to-

Scott Hammond: It's good

Jamaica Bartz: … the next good thing that's gonna happen.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: So.

Scott Hammond: So addictive p- personalities need something positively addicting that's, uh, I'm sorry, that's a positive thing that they can be leaning into-

Jamaica Bartz: Of course

Scott Hammond: … and addicted to.

Jamaica Bartz: Of course.

Scott Hammond: Like maybe fitness.

Jamaica Bartz: Not, not me.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Jamaica Bartz: But sh- but sure.

Scott Hammond: Some people.

Jamaica Bartz: For, for a lot of people, sure.

Scott Hammond: Like Nick. Nick's very fit.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Not me, but a lot of people, yes.

Scott Hammond: Or, you know, ar- art or, you know, music or-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … whatever they're gonna be into or-

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, art or music or… Um, sometimes it's just the simple things, you know? I personally, I, I, right now, like I love… My thing right now is, and it was before too, is just I love to just be… I like to stream and watch shows and just get, or go to the movies and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … ooh, what good scary movie's gonna come out? Just pretty sim-

Scott Hammond: Chill out

Jamaica Bartz: … pretty simple things. I mean, I like-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … vacations and experiences too, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … um, s- sometimes it's not like the, the best thing you're gonna, you know, the most exciting thing you're ever gonna do, but it's just gonna be-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … something that makes you

Jamaica Bartz: okay.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I like that. Makes you okay. So Joni and I have a, uh, routine called the quiet night in.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So tonight's a quiet night in, so I'll, I'll leave the podcast, drive to McKinleyville, and put on my, uh, my cozies.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Kind of thick sweats.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Costco thick hoodie, and, uh, we will make our senior citizen salads. And instead of 35 years of dining at a table with kids that

Scott Hammond: are crazy-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … we'll sit in front of the TV and watch our senior citizen programs.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And chill out and, uh, hey, I might go to bed before 10.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And actually sleep, which is really f- actually at this age is really fun.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'll give you my age, by the way, when we do our quiz.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So you gotta hold out for that a little bit.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Um, hey, if you're just joining us, my new best friend, um, Jamaica Bartz with Waterfront Recovery Services.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: That's correct.

Jamaica Bartz: Yes.

Scott Hammond: I read the letterhead. I got it right.

Scott Hammond: So t-

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, you printed some stuff out.

Jamaica Bartz: I see you.

Scott Hammond: Oh, no, I got your whole deal here.

Jamaica Bartz: You're cheating, you're cheating over there.

Scott Hammond: I don't cheat. I just do a little homework. I try not to do too much homework 'cause I don't wanna wreck it. I want it genuine, so I wanna keep it real. So, um, you told us where you, you come from, what your education. What kind of jobs did you have before you did this?

Scott Hammond: Did…

Jamaica Bartz: Um. I, you know, I was a meat clerk for, like, three and a half years. I did that-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jamaica Bartz: … for, like, three and a half years. I-

Scott Hammond: Where was that?

Jamaica Bartz: Ray's Food Place in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: Um,

Jamaica Bartz: I… What else did I do? I worked, I was, worked at a private residential care home for-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … you know, I feel like three and a half years was, like, this, this number I couldn't get past with-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … relationships, a job, and I didn't… Not, not consciously, of course, but then when I, in hindsight, I'm like, "Well, I did this for, like, three and a half years."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Maybe three and a half-ish years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I, I worked at the, you know, bulb farm.

Scott Hammond: Every… Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Everyone's worked there.

Scott Hammond: Didn't they? Didn't they?

Jamaica Bartz: Well-

Scott Hammond: Didn't we all?

Jamaica Bartz: I mean, at one point I was just like, "Yeah, I wanna do better. I'm gonna go get a job," and that was, someone told me to do that, and so I did.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: I mean, oddly enough, you, you relapse while you're doing that too because there's a lot of, there was a lot of, you know, drugs out there and stuff, so.

Scott Hammond: Sure. Sure. Ray's Food Place, man, they're a legend back in the

Scott Hammond: day.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, I really thought I was gonna be, um… I'm a little bit of a weirdo when it comes to meat and certain things.

Jamaica Bartz: I just am.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: But, uh, I thought I was gonna be, like, uh, traumatized by it. Like, "Oh, my God." But I, I didn't. It made me feel better actually. And, um, but it also made me appreciate a better quality of meat as well. You know? So-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they had great beef back in the day.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, so I, um, you know, went into cutting meat. I cut the counter-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Wow

Jamaica Bartz: … um, a couple days of the week or helped cut, and so, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Do you know there's no tri-tip cut in Texas? They don't understand it back east. It's a California thing.

Jamaica Bartz: Really?

Scott Hammond: It's sirloin of some sort, right?

Scott Hammond: It's s-

Jamaica Bartz: Well, what are they gonna, what are they gonna do with-

Scott Hammond: I think they call it brisket or something different.

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, oh, I was like, "But what do they do with it then?"

Scott Hammond: Those weird Texans. My friend got mad at me 'cause I was getting on people on the East Coast and their attitude last episode. She goes, "You can't get on East Co-" I go, "Of course I can," 'cause they're just East Coast people. They're not, they don't roll like we do. California, all mellow and, "I want a mocha," and-

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They're, they're just straightforward, which w- we love you East Coast guys, and we appreciate you. So let's talk about, uh, addiction in Humboldt County, and so what, what drives addiction generally in our county? How d- how does it happen? What's typical? What, who would we… What does that look like?

Jamaica Bartz: I, I wouldn't, I, I'm not going to, um, like, pinhole it into just Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: But a, a, a lot-

Scott Hammond: It could be anywhere

Jamaica Bartz: … a lot of addiction is real- really is, um, stemming from some type of trauma-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … mo- in most cases.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, you know, uh, we, as a medical facility, uh, we do, we do like the, um, like a half-hour screening, you know, and we ask for records, uh, if someone tells us some things about maybe-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … some mental health conditions we wanna look at, and so we'll get records. And it's just, aside from that, you know, we do, like, these, um, assessments on them, you know, to determine their treatment.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: And it asks them, like, bio-psy- psychosocial, um, questions. And, uh, I, I don't wanna say you'd be surprised 'cause I'm, 'cause I'm sure you can imagine, I'm sure anyone can imagine.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: But just the, the amount of trauma Histories you hear.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: And y- and some of it they tell us and some of it we see in these records, and you just, you can't make these things up.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: And they are just– They're pretty bad, you know?

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I think that-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … there's a lot of, there's a lot of instances where clients will know that's where it's coming from.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And there's a lot of instances where they don't even realize, you know, they still can't admit that that's maybe something-

Scott Hammond: It's a blind, blind spot

Jamaica Bartz: … that's, that's driving or that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … keeps leading them back to using even though they try to get clean.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Because if you're not working through or trying to address that issue-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … it's probably gonna continue to come back and bite you.

Scott Hammond: Right. So you're addressing that along with the detox-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … piece.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Well, we try. We can't make them go to therapy.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: We, we can't try to make them do grief counseling.

Scott Hammond: But you have therapy s- sessions where people could come and do group whatever.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. We have g- we have group therapy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: We have, um, we do one-on-ones with them.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Uh, for people that have, um, who report significant trauma-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … uh, we do put, uh, we set them up with therapy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Outside therapy, like with, um, LCSW or MFT or something.

Jamaica Bartz: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … if it's grief, we send them to, like, grief therapy-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … or grief, uh, group. Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So we're talking, uh, I mean, my mind– Let's talk about trauma.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: My mind immediately goes to profound sexual abuse.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Profound ongoing verbal-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … abuse.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Profound, uh, beatings and, and hurt.

Jamaica Bartz: M-mental abuse.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Mental, yeah. And trafficking, I'm sure, is p-piece of some of

Scott Hammond: that.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Do you know Katrina Sims? You know Tina?

Jamaica Bartz: Um-

Scott Hammond: Up in McKinleyville. She's, uh, she's a big advocate, uh-

Jamaica Bartz: Yes, I know Katrina, yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Around, um, a, human trafficking-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … awareness.

Jamaica Bartz: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hi, Tina.

Jamaica Bartz: Hi, Tina.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Tina. Hope you're doing good. So you're native, so you got your Yurok Tribe hoodie.

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, yes.

Scott Hammond: Tell me about the, uh, being native in Humboldt County and that, that piece.

Jamaica Bartz: Well, I, I am, I'm a Yurok tribal member.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, you know, it's just funny because when I was in s-school for addiction and we were doing special populations, they were talking about the, you know, basically, like, white privilege and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Jamaica Bartz: … or people being, just being a minority, and I just have– I don't feel like I've ever felt like a minority.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I mean, I, I guess maybe because of this area, it has a lot of, uh, you know, big native

Jamaica Bartz: community.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: But I just, I've never, I've never felt that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I, my, one of my biggest regrets is, you know, I spent, you know, the better part of 20 years growing up in my addiction. I mean, with some spots of clean time, you know. And I, I didn't engage in my culture enough.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and you always know that, like, if you're under the influence and you're using, like, you just, you don't do that because it's really bad medicine. I'm very superstitious. I don't want any of that bad juju on me.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: So, um-

Scott Hammond: So it's a big no-no in the culture.

Jamaica Bartz: It, it's a big no-no.

Scott Hammond: So don't come in high to the, the white deer dance.

Scott Hammond: The, the-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm, the-

Scott Hammond: Whatever. The, what's the dance they do in Hoopa?

Jamaica Bartz: Um-

Scott Hammond: It's a d- it's some sort of white…

Jamaica Bartz: I'm, I-

Scott Hammond: Anyway

Jamaica Bartz: … I'm not sure what they do in Hoopa, but, um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's different

Jamaica Bartz: … yeah.

Scott Hammond: But you wouldn't do that.

Jamaica Bartz: I would absolutely never do that.

Scott Hammond: Don't go, don't go high to the thing.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-mm. Um, so-

Scott Hammond: It's just like getting high and going to church.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Jamaica Bartz: Pretty much

Scott Hammond: … kinda weird. Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I mean, people do it, but…

Jamaica Bartz: People do it, but if you– I mean, I, I, even, I could be– No matter what kind of, uh, substance I'm using, I'm knowing I'm not doing that.

Scott Hammond: Although I have stories with friends that had, or associates that knew stories of hardcore LSD use that led them definitely to a religious, to, to God in some way that, that it made them go, "Oh, no.

Scott Hammond: This is, this isn't right." But I'm not, we're not suggesting that for you kids out there

Scott Hammond: today.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm. I mean, they do have certain therapies that where you do, like, they have, like, the ketamine therapy and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … there's, they have that-

Scott Hammond: Do you guys do some of that? The, the, uh, ketamine and, uh, therapy in the program or people associated with the program?

Jamaica Bartz: Not in our program.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, we have-

Scott Hammond: They do, they prescribe it locally.

Jamaica Bartz: They do do it locally.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: And it's like a micro dose. Um-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Right

Jamaica Bartz: … so we, none of our clients have done it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Not while they're in the program at least.

Scott Hammond: I see.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and you know, it's, I mean, that's actually a really good question because no one's ever asked, but I just, I'd have to, I'd have to really be thinking about that because of course it would be helpful for them, right?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And I, I'm not opposed to anything that's gonna help someone get better, but then-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … but then you have to beg the question, like, okay, I guess I can think of it as I wouldn't send someone to the hosp- we wouldn't send someone to the hospital and tell them, "You can't give them a medication," and then they can't come back. We wouldn't do that.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: But it would be a little bit weird, you know? I think it would be a blurred line just because, you know, you come back, you're intermingling with the rest of the

Jamaica Bartz: residents.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And you might be talking about that you had this ketamine therapy.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Could trigger somebody. I mean, I know it sounds… It is what it is. Different things trigger different people.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: You don't ever wanna put someone in the position to, um, be triggered.

Scott Hammond: Or wanna use again.

Jamaica Bartz: Or want– That's what I'm saying, though.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Like, wanna use again. I mean-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … at least if they did, they'd be in a safe spot that you just-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: It's so d- Addiction is so diverse, and what leads people to relapse or wanna leave treatment-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … it's just so many different variations of what that could be, and we just n- I, I don't ever, never wanna be a part of it.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: But I wouldn't be opposed to s- you know, letting a, you know, having them set someone up for after-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … treatment, you know?

Scott Hammond: I know it's certainly effective. I l- In a podcast, we'd laughed about that. I heard it in a podcast. Um, yeah, England has studied that and with, with some success and, you know, for veterans with severe PTSD and things of that nature, so. Um, so tell me more about the program. So I come in, I'm addicted, strung out on, say, heroin or fentanyl or, or meth and there's an assessment and then I can begin to get treatment and then live there?

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. So you do the screening.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, we-

Scott Hammond: How many, how many beds do you have?

Jamaica Bartz: It's a 56-bed facility.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: So 36 are for residential client 20 of them are for detox, although we never hit that

Jamaica Bartz: capacity.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I think the most we've ever really done, we ever really do anymore could be, like, 12, depending on the acuity level.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And that just goes back to, you know, if we bring more than that in, like how much the staff can handle-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jamaica Bartz: … um, it kinda becomes, uh, we need more staff to bring more clients, to be comfortable bringing more clients. But then we need more clients to want to f- to be able to afford the more staff, and so it's like a chicken-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jamaica Bartz: … the chicken and the egg thing.

Scott Hammond: Sure. Funding, yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, so it's like, you know, hashtag goals.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: But, um, right now we just wanna make sure that, uh, we're not overdoing it for the staff.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: We're not overdoing it for the providers or nurses, and we're not gonna leave the, the clients in a position-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … to where they're not getting the best care that they can get.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Jamaica Bartz: So.

Scott Hammond: I find this really holy work. I think it's cool. I, and I, I gotta think it's really brave, um,

Scott Hammond: for, uh, for me, quote, "the addict" to come in. It, it's a kind of a, an act of courage to go, "I wanna g- I wanna get sober."

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: "And I wanna pull my, my shit together."

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: "And I wanna live life and, and participate again and, and check back in."

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I think, I think that, um, aha, an epiphany moment for me. I, I get it, and I love it 'cause I think people are Imago Dei. They're created in the image of God.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And that love and the creator is there, and it's like, "Oh, and you're gonna come back and be with us." That's so

Scott Hammond: cool.

Jamaica Bartz: It is pretty cool. And it is-

Scott Hammond: Welcome home. Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … and it is, and it is brave, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I remember when I was in treatment, the, you know, the question was-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … "What do you think it, if you, do you think it's easier to get clean, or is, you think it's easier to stay clean?"

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: And mine was, uh, it's easier to stay clean

Jamaica Bartz: because-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … the getting clean, like just… And I'm, I was only meth. I don't say only meth lightly, but-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Jamaica Bartz: … that's, that consists of a lot of sleeping and maybe eating, you know, and just not having a lot of energy. But it's not otherwise uncomfortable, you

Jamaica Bartz: know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, but I just, I didn't like it. I didn't wanna do it. I didn't wanna do that on purpose.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I didn't wanna go through that on purpose. So once you can get past that, to me, okay, I've got past that now. Like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … you know, let me, it's to me-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … it was just easier. You know? Ev- everyone's gonna be different. But it's uncomfortable, and especially if you are-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Jamaica Bartz: … coming off an opiate or, um, you know, alcohol. Like some people-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … walk, come in there, they just only didn't drink that morning, or they maybe had a little bit that morning and they're already, like, starting to withdraw and it's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … it is brave and it is scary and, um, unfortunately, that keeps some people from coming in.

Jamaica Bartz: But-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … um, I think the best thing about it is that we are medical and we can-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … we don't got any de- Okay. L- let me backtrack.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jamaica Bartz: Before we became Waterfront Recovery Services-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … the, the, um, agency, the organization is Alcohol Drug Care Services, which has been around since like 1990.

Scott Hammond: Is it private? County, what?

Jamaica Bartz: It… What?

Scott Hammond: Is it pr- is it privately held or is it county organization?

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, it's a-

Scott Hammond: State?

Jamaica Bartz: No, we're, we're a nonpro- We're, yeah, we're a nonprofit.

Scott Hammond: You're a nonprofit.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, yeah. We're a corporation.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, but we, so I think they started out with just having like a detox. It, it goes way back and they were all, everything was ran out of houses.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: But I started working for the organization in two thou- Jan- actually 10 years this, um, 10, 10 years this month.

Scott Hammond: Congrats.

Jamaica Bartz: Thank you.

Scott Hammond: Happy anniversary.

Jamaica Bartz: Thank you.

Scott Hammond: Thank you for your service.

Jamaica Bartz: You're welcome. Um, but we were a social model.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And I worked in detox at that time and we did, we did the screenings 24 hours a day. The– We don't do that now. We have business hours. But when people came, we would have to sit… We were social, which means we don't have medical.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: So we would, of course, give them their medications-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … and we would check on them and, and we would do vitals.

Jamaica Bartz: But the clients would have to go to the hospital to get a medical clearance.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: And people would be walking all the way. We're, we– I was on 14th and C, so they'd be walking all the way across town to the hospital.

Scott Hammond: St. Joe's and back.

Jamaica Bartz: Sit there all how, how, you know, they're, they're, they're, they're not like a higher need in the emergency room, so they could sit there for hours.

Scott Hammond: They were waiting. So they might change their mind in the journey.

Jamaica Bartz: They might change their mind in the journey or-

Scott Hammond: Geez

Jamaica Bartz: … just maybe they go, they just, they don't wanna sit there and wait all day.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: They don't wanna walk across town-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … wait there for hours. Then they would get prescribed medications and, you know, there would be some doctors that were in there that were really like, you know, they were sensitive and compassionate to it and you'd get an okay-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Jamaica Bartz: … um, uh, they would call it a kick pack, but you'd get an okay kick

Jamaica Bartz: pack.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And it might be even for opiates, have a Ativan with it-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jamaica Bartz: … you know?

Jamaica Bartz: Um, but you know, there was one who, and I, uh, I just, I won't do it, I won't say her

Jamaica Bartz: name-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … but she was just so mean and-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … she wouldn't give them something to make them comfortable, and she would say, "Well, they're not gonna die. They're not gonna-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jamaica Bartz: … die with, from withdrawing." And I'm just like-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jamaica Bartz: … "But they might die if they keep using."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and so those were the, that, that was, that was really soldiering up in my opinion-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … because you were going through all those motions and you might not get good medications to help you m-make you comfortable and they, people would still sit through it, you know, would still go through it.

Scott Hammond: And you might get one shot at it and if they're not taking care of you.

Jamaica Bartz: I mean-

Scott Hammond: But now you guys do it right. You dispense on the spot.

Jamaica Bartz: We do it all right there and it, it-

Scott Hammond: That's beautiful

Jamaica Bartz: … wasn't successful. You didn't get, it wasn't a high success rate, you know?

Scott Hammond: No.

Jamaica Bartz: And it was before they were really d- um, before, you know, medicatio- medicated assistant treatment was more prevalent. Like now it's like everywhere and it's more accepted.

Jamaica Bartz: It's-

Scott Hammond: It's pretty dialed in science, right?

Jamaica Bartz: It's, it's pre- Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: But I mean like there's just more doctors prescribing it. Like the hospital has their own-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … um, you know, like the Bridge program and they have-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … uh, a substance use navigator and they're just, the community and, is really coming around-

Scott Hammond: That's cool

Jamaica Bartz: … is the way I would put it, you know?

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Jamaica Bartz: Um-

Scott Hammond: So you have relationships with St. Joe's and Providence-

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … and all that.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Um, so-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jamaica Bartz: When we take it over here to now we're a medical model-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … we are really able to, um, like I said, make, make someone very comfortable-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … and help them through it and monitor them until they, they can, they can get through it and then-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … start the real work.

Scott Hammond: It's a sad, hard thing to hear about, and also beautiful.

Jamaica Bartz: Sure. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love it. I, I'm getting it.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so why do you do this?

Jamaica Bartz: Well-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, what drives you to do this thing?

Jamaica Bartz: Well, you know… Okay. I-

Scott Hammond: It's not a, it's not a check, I'm sure.

Jamaica Bartz: It's-

Scott Hammond: A check doesn't hurt, but yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: You said earlier, like how much, how much of it is heart.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And I, uh, and I would say at least, obviously I gotta live.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I have to have a paycheck.

Scott Hammond: Should be paid. Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: But it definitely isn't for the paycheck.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and it is 90% love-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … and, um, understanding-

Scott Hammond: Good

Jamaica Bartz: … and-

Scott Hammond: Compassion

Jamaica Bartz: … compassion and, um, want- wanting people to make it like I did.

Scott Hammond: Well, it's gotta be hardcore to watch somebody detox in DT and, and all the things that I can just imagine to, to be part of that and to… It ain't pretty. And it-

Jamaica Bartz: It ain't pretty-

Scott Hammond: … it's got a-

Jamaica Bartz: But it is pretty. It's-

Scott Hammond: And it's ki- it's kind of a paradox.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. So if you're just joining us, um, my paradoxical friend- Jamaica Bartz.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Thanks for being here, by the way. It's, we're having fun.

Jamaica Bartz: You're welcome. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: This is great. So I, I relate 'cause my friend Jeff, uh, had not one, not two, but three detoxes at St.

Scott Hammond: Joe's.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: We had to escort him from his apartment in Old Town num- time number one and down the stairs by the belt loops and get his butt to-

Jamaica Bartz: Kicking and screaming

Scott Hammond: … St. Joe's. Oh, just a mess. You know, dying in his couch, just a pool of, of death and, um, here's a classy guy that had a beautiful life and an apartment and just got, um, crawled into a vodka bottle over what, months and weeks, and his roommate let him do it, which is also icky and ugly. But, uh, took him three times.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Went through Redwood Teen Challenge, got sober for the better part of a

Scott Hammond: year, and got out. Was gonna go to, uh, was, so you know where this

Scott Hammond: is going.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: He, uh, had to stop over at Motel 6 in Arcata and drank himself to

Scott Hammond: death. So it doesn't always go well, right?

Jamaica Bartz: It doesn't always go well.

Scott Hammond: So you've seen some death in this?

Jamaica Bartz: You know,

Jamaica Bartz: yes.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And,

Jamaica Bartz: and, you know, I always try to think it out, like try to think about it in my mind. Like, is it because I'm getting older-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … that I know more people that are dying, or-

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Jamaica Bartz: Yes. But also the line-

Scott Hammond: Yes

Jamaica Bartz: … of work, because now you are that m- that much

Jamaica Bartz: more-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … connected-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … or have, you know, um, pa- you know, came in passing with-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … more people that are, that are now dying.

Scott Hammond: Small town.

Jamaica Bartz: And it is, it's-

Scott Hammond: You're gonna… The answer is yes. I'm, yes.

Jamaica Bartz: It's just a lot. It's surrounded by death, I feel like a lot, you know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: But also surrounded by a lot of miracles, too, so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Which makes the, makes, makes it easier maybe to-

Jamaica Bartz: It, it, uh-

Scott Hammond: … survive and, and thrive in it.

Jamaica Bartz: Uh, people always say, "I don't know how you do it," you know? Um, but you just do it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Because you care about it, and it's meaningful.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: And we need it. People need it.

Scott Hammond: Love your heart, and I'm sure it's the same heart that beats in I'm sure most all the staff-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … to do that kind of work.

Jamaica Bartz: 100%.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: 100%.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, I love it, and it's, it's so cool. Um, so let's do the quiz. Are you ready to earn one of

Scott Hammond: these, uh- Oh, look, an amazing… Nick, did you see this? The brand-new Dick Taylor, uh, bar and bag. Hey, this is a Belize.

Jamaica Bartz: I don't know what a Belize is.

Scott Hammond: Belize is a country where they get the-

Jamaica Bartz: Oh.

Scott Hammond: … where they get the chocolate. Central America. Belize, it's Toledo, which is, uh, part of Belize, and it's from the Maya Mountain Cacao. It's dried plum, tart cherry, and jasmine flavors. Isn't that appropriate? So are you ready?

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Are you ready for the quiz?

Jamaica Bartz: Sure.

Scott Hammond: You don't look very nervous. Either you're… I, I, I'm not here to scare you about that. But here we go. We'll put that… You don't get that yet till… Here we go. Is that, did I tee it up okay? I, I, maybe I make, I'm making it weird.

Jamaica Bartz: I don't know. I'm, I'm still, like, trying to process, like, "What, what's he gonna

Jamaica Bartz: ask me?"

Scott Hammond: Wait, what's he gonna ask? You'll have fun. I'm gonna… I'll have fun if nobody else does.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Question number one. Jamaica, you get to do anything you want for a day in Humboldt, 9:00 AM to 9:00

Scott Hammond: PM. Cost is not an object. What do you do with your day off?

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, man. Ugh. That's a really hard question.

Scott Hammond: Well, there's a lot of options.

Jamaica Bartz: Well, you know, I think I probably

Jamaica Bartz: would do all-day self-care stuff.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jamaica Bartz: That's from the hair to the fingers to the massages to the toes.

Scott Hammond: Love it. Best answer ever.

Jamaica Bartz: You know.

Scott Hammond: You're all nervous about… You gave me the best answer.

Jamaica Bartz: Ah.

Scott Hammond: Let's see the nails just for grins 'cause you have the beautiful nails. Look at that. Would you look at those?

Jamaica Bartz: Those are my Valentine's Day nails.

Scott Hammond: Those are pretty good. I like those.

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, yes, my girl, she, she does good.

Scott Hammond: You wanna see my nails?

Scott Hammond: So- You're going, "No, thank you."

Jamaica Bartz: But buffer them. Just all you gotta do is buffer them. They might shine a little.

Scott Hammond: You know what? I think I will. You're right. So they have stuff you can buffer and then put that little coat on it.

Jamaica Bartz: It's just a… Yeah, I mean, like if you just did a normal file, you can, um,

Jamaica Bartz: like… They have, like, these files that have different sides, and it's just, it doesn't seem like it's doing anything really.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: And you go like this, and all of a sudden it's shiny.

Scott Hammond: So where I go for this-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … to my, uh, my spa, Frederick and Charles.

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, yeah?

Scott Hammond: Oh, they're great. What's up, Ted?

Scott Hammond: Um- But they do manicures, so I'm gonna get me a manicure.

Scott Hammond: Thank you.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm. You're welcome.

Scott Hammond: Question number two.

Scott Hammond: What is soul-crushing for you, and what's life-giving?

Jamaica Bartz: Soul-crushing.

Jamaica Bartz: Well-

Scott Hammond: I like the other answer, by the way, a whole spa day. Like self-care.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. But I-

Scott Hammond: Good answer

Jamaica Bartz: … but I'm very, um, s- specific and- But loyal, so each of these things would happen at a different spot.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool. That's fair.

Jamaica Bartz: Well, two things would happen at one spot.

Jamaica Bartz: Anyways. I forgot the lashes too.

Scott Hammond: Oh, and the lashes, yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, what is soul-crushing?

Jamaica Bartz: You know, I guess you…

Jamaica Bartz: I guess it's hearing some of the stories that you hear, um, just the pain that people have gone through.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: You know? Um, you just hear these things, and I just, oh, you just stab me in the heart, you know? It's like you can't, can't, you can't take that from

Jamaica Bartz: anybody.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: You, you can't, even if you wanted to, you don't got no-

Scott Hammond: It's theirs

Jamaica Bartz: … you don't got no superpower to just be like, "Zzz," I would just take it from

Jamaica Bartz: you-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jamaica Bartz: … if I could. Um, you know, that, that ha- that's their own journey. But it, but it is soul-crushing, and it's, it's, it's really hard to hear that, um, there's humans out there that do these-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … vile things to their kids or to other people's kids-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … whether that be, you know, physical, emotional, sexual-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … mental, um, you know, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Y'all knock it off.

Jamaica Bartz: Knock that shit off now.

Scott Hammond: Quit that shit, man. That's bad. You're talking about bad juju.

Jamaica Bartz: I'm talking about really bad juju, and, um-

Scott Hammond: That's-

Jamaica Bartz: … there's just a lot of evil people out there.

Jamaica Bartz: It's just-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's too bad

Jamaica Bartz: … there's some gross, gross people out there, and it's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … um, and it's, it's not like i- they're not just doing these things to these people. Like, these things are lasting effects.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, trauma.

Jamaica Bartz: And, and, and, and then it sometimes it trickles down to, to their own kids because maybe they're just-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … uh, whether it be their addiction or them just-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … being, you know, um, emotionally, mentally like, uh, stunted, you know? Uh, all the… It just, it, it trickles downhill.

Scott Hammond: So you're breaking the generational stuff.

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's the goal.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So what's life-giving?

Jamaica Bartz: What's life-giving?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. What fills up your cup?

Jamaica Bartz: Fill up my cup is probably my kids, you know?

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Jamaica Bartz: The work is amazing.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I love what I do.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: I love, um, I love seeing the success stories, but, you know-

Scott Hammond: I could tell

Jamaica Bartz: …

Jamaica Bartz: I just, um, you know, they're my world.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: I wasn't the… Well, I was a young mom, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: And that was in, uh, my addiction, and I, I wasn't completely gone, but I wasn't completely there either.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, I was able to pull my head out of my ass when my now 20-year-old was, like, nine.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Good.

Jamaica Bartz: Just in time 'cause she's such a great kid.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: She's one of my best friends.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: I just… My little deuce right there, my little mini-me.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, but I like to be very involved. I like to, um… I volunteer for, uh, youth cheerleading and football. I've been doing that for-

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool

Jamaica Bartz: … this'll be my fifth year.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: So I am on the board, and I do the cheer coordinating, and I also love that. I just love-

Scott Hammond: Do you know my friend Tracy?

Jamaica Bartz: Uh, Tracy Day?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Uh-

Scott Hammond: Hi, Tracy

Jamaica Bartz: … her, I've known her for a very lo- I've known her for a very long time-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … since probably the better part of… Since my son was a year old, so he's 32.

Scott Hammond: Amazing person.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and Jacob.

Scott Hammond: Jacob.

Jamaica Bartz: I've known them, and her daughters were my daughter's cheer coach and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they coached, right?

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: They were really into it.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. They still do.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, they're pretty cool.

Scott Hammond: That's neat.

Jamaica Bartz: But, um, I, I love that too. I just love watching these kids come there and, um, not feeling that confident or not really even ever cheering before-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … or maybe even playing football and then just gaining their self-confidence and learning their craft and just-

Scott Hammond: It's so cool

Jamaica Bartz: … ooh, I'm like, get goosebumps thinking about it because, like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … they just, um, it's like I feel proud of them like I'm watching my own kid.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: You know?

Scott Hammond: Being part of a team.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. So I really love that. I really love, um, you know, anything that's volunteering with my kids'

Jamaica Bartz: schools.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: Anything that I, I really should have did when I was-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … with my older kids. Unfortunately, we just, me and my son grew up together, you

Jamaica Bartz: know, like-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … that, that wasn't what it was.

Scott Hammond: What I'm hearing you say is that it, the game's never really over unless you quit.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And then, but so we could always have the comeback trail.

Jamaica Bartz: 100% because I was 37 when I decided, okay-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … s- this is stupid, and this isn't the life-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … I wanna live anymore.

Scott Hammond: So my dad, who was an addict, he was an alcoholic-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … from World War II. He was a P-51 fighter pilot.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And he was kind of, he was kind of, he was a badass. He was, he was just a great American killer pilot. He was an ace, and he came back, and he drank for 40 years 'cause they didn't have drugs for that.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm.

Scott Hammond: They had Budweiser in a bottle.

Jamaica Bartz: Right, right.

Scott Hammond: And it- when I was 13, he got sober, and he became a new man.

Jamaica Bartz: That's cool.

Scott Hammond: And he, and he was beaut- Bob was a beautiful man, and he… SOB, sweet old Bob, and he would hug people and-

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, not son of a bitch?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, no. He's, he was that. He became the new SOB.

Jamaica Bartz: Oh.

Scott Hammond: And-

Jamaica Bartz: SOB two, SOB 2.0

Scott Hammond: … 2.0, and, um, just a new dude and, and sobriety, uh, he wore it well and knew all the stories and all these AA guys, he dragged me to AA meetings in San Diego.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And I'm going: Yeah, these guys are all drunks. I can smoke weed and drink Heineken. I'm fine. You know, these guys, these, this is stupid. And it went in one ear, and it stayed. For me, by the time I was 19, I was sober.

Jamaica Bartz: Cool.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it was really cool.

Jamaica Bartz: That's cool.

Scott Hammond: And I was able to not, you know, die, die of drugs. And so, um, yeah, thanks, Dad, and thanks for the example and what a great-

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … what a great guy, what a great model and, um, you know.

Jamaica Bartz: Well-

Scott Hammond: So sometimes we can come back as parents or as friends or as people-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … or as spouses and come back and be, be there for people.

Jamaica Bartz: Well, yeah, and I know, like, I've had some clients be like, just be so ashamed, like, "Oh, my parents… I mean, my kids are always gonna know, like-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … they were in foster care." And I was like, "But sure, they're gonna remember they were in foster care, but they're also gonna remember that you fought for them."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: And that you're a mother effing warrior, and they're gonna remember that too.

Scott Hammond: And you're gonna come back.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: So, I mean-

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Don't forget, you're a warrior.

Jamaica Bartz: Don't forget.

Scott Hammond: It's a good word. I like that. I had a friend tell me that once. I was grousing and, "You know, this deal, it's such a bad thing," and I, I, d- It was… We were selling a home, and it was so terrible. And he goes, "Scott, you know that God called you, calls you a warrior, so start acting like one."

Jamaica Bartz: Ah. Called you out.

Scott Hammond: Thanks, Michael, for that. Question number three. You're not quite done with this yet either.

Jamaica Bartz: Oh, okay. Okay.

Scott Hammond: So question number three. Are you ready?

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: What was your best day and what was your worst day in life?

Jamaica Bartz: This isn't fair.

Scott Hammond: I know. I know.

Jamaica Bartz: I don't, I don't know what to say a worst day was.

Scott Hammond: Maybe one of the worst days.

Scott Hammond: You can-

Jamaica Bartz: One of the worst days?

Scott Hammond: And one of the best.

Jamaica Bartz: I think one of the worst days, it's hard because I can say this was the worst day, and I'm a firm believer in everything happens for

Jamaica Bartz: a reason.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Good, bad, or indifferent. It might not be real, but I believe in all the forces that made the universe and all the forces that may be.

Jamaica Bartz: But… And it was from the, it's what got me clean. I was already sick of it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: But I got arrested with my son.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Jamaica Bartz: We got arrested together.

Scott Hammond: Wow. How old was he?

Jamaica Bartz: He was, um, 20. He was 20.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hauled in together?

Jamaica Bartz: Um, yes.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: He got out, I stayed in.

Scott Hammond: Of course.

Jamaica Bartz: That, that was my fourth felony at the time. But just, like… And I'm just like, "Ew." Like, this is ew.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Jamaica Bartz: It's not, it's not, it's-

Scott Hammond: Hard

Jamaica Bartz: … I mean, I… Okay, I'm not embarrassed. I'm not ashamed of my past. I can't be. That's who's-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … made me what I am today. Like, it's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … everything's part of my story, you know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And I'm not, I'm not scared to say it.

Jamaica Bartz: I'm not ever gonna hide it from anyone.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, that's, that's not who I am. You asked me who I am. Well, that's not who I am. I'm not gonna… No one's gonna make me feel bad because-

Scott Hammond: Good

Jamaica Bartz: … of my past, any of that. But in the time, I was like, kind of like ashamed. Like, God, like, who gets arrested with their own kid?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: That's just-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … come on. You know what I mean?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: But it is, like, what turned it over, you know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: I've-

Scott Hammond: I love it

Jamaica Bartz: … that's, here I am now.

Scott Hammond: You're making a great point that I've, I've searched for for a minute, and that is, you know, we talk i- in the circles I run in, shame is bad. Shame, you know, don't shame people. Of course you don't shame people.

Jamaica Bartz: Sure. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But my friend Steve goes, "There's a positive shame," and you just talked about it.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: There's a place where you go, "Oh, crap, this is, this is not the best version of me ever, and I c- I, I'm feeling some shame." Shame that changes and

Scott Hammond: transforms.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And converts into something cool and transformational.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like it. Well, uh, okay, that's… What's your best day? And then you're getting close to the chocolate, by the way.

Jamaica Bartz: Best day? I can't… I don't know. I don't think I can say there's any one best day.

Scott Hammond: A best day that something was amazing.

Jamaica Bartz: I don't know why, why this question is so hard.

Jamaica Bartz: Well, I can tell you a really good day that was actually happened not too long ago. And my grandma turned 85.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: And, um-

Scott Hammond: Happy birthday, Grandma. What's her name?

Jamaica Bartz: We, her name is, we call her B- It's, we call her Bubs, Grandma Bubs, but her name is Barbara.

Scott Hammond: Bubs Barbara, happy birthday.

Jamaica Bartz: And, um-

Scott Hammond: Is she local here?

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. She's from-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Jamaica Bartz: … yeah.

Scott Hammond: 85.

Jamaica Bartz: 85.

Scott Hammond: Is she sharp?

Jamaica Bartz: She's pretty sharp. You know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: She has her moments, but yeah, she's pretty sharp.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Jamaica Bartz: So I'll be like, "I wanna be like Grandma when I grow up." It gives me hope, 'cause you know, you, you turn almost turn 50, you're getting, getting close to 50.

Jamaica Bartz: You're like-

Scott Hammond: You're so old right now. Yeah, right.

Jamaica Bartz: Come on, it's a hard pill to swallow. But then I'm like, shoot, that's, I might have 35 more years, you know?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, but, and a lot of the family gathered. You know, we got pictures of-

Scott Hammond: Beautiful

Jamaica Bartz: … you know, all of her kids, and then-

Scott Hammond: Barbara

Jamaica Bartz: … um, we did, like, some generational, um, you know, all, all her kids, all her grandkids, and then all of the great-grandkids.

Scott Hammond: So in your culture, that's, she's an elder.

Jamaica Bartz: Yes. Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: And they're venerated, right?

Jamaica Bartz: They're who?

Scott Hammond: Venerated. They're loved and listened to and respected-

Jamaica Bartz: Oh. Oh, I mean-

Scott Hammond: … honored and-

Jamaica Bartz: Of course

Scott Hammond: … all the things

Jamaica Bartz: … you should, if you're doing it right.

Scott Hammond: If you… I like that.

Jamaica Bartz: If you're doing it right.

Scott Hammond: If you understand it.

Jamaica Bartz: Right.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Um, so I, I really loved that. Um, there's just something about, you know, when you have a really big family, 'cause I'm, I'm the oldest of eight, you know?

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jamaica Bartz: So, um, and everyone comes together-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … you know, and celebrating the person that, you know, we all came

Jamaica Bartz: to be from.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Jamaica Bartz: And, uh, that was pretty cool.

Scott Hammond: That's magical.

Jamaica Bartz: I really liked that.

Scott Hammond: Magical.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Well, guess what? You are the winner of a Dick Taylor chocolate.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: This is for you. Don't eat it all in one sitting, although you, they're delicious. Um, I wanted to ask about fentanyl real quick before we go.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And then how we're gonna support you and-

Jamaica Bartz: Okay

Scott Hammond: … the program and how people can reach out.

Scott Hammond: So f- fent- two, two different things. So fentanyl, of course. So fentanyl is really super dangerous, and we all know people that have died from it. I mean, I know a handful of people, and I don't… Uh, that have been affected. Their, their kids o- OD'd and got some, some bad drugs and, and people that were really cautious about fentanyl and still died.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, it's, it's, it's… T- Talk about that for a sec.

Jamaica Bartz: Well, I don't… When it comes to something like fentanyl, and I think any drugs that you can overdose on, but fentanyl is a, an exceptionally evil beast. Um, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jamaica Bartz: … you know, there's, it's coming from all kinds of different places.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Like, you know, they're pressing it, say, if they're gonna press it into a pill, they're, they're gonna call it a Perc 30, but it might not be evenly pressed.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: You know? You can split that pill in half, and half of that might have, like, almost none of the fentanyl in it, and the other half be, like, full of it.

Scott Hammond: All of it.

Jamaica Bartz: Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Or, um, it's, it's in, it's in the, um,

Jamaica Bartz: meth.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And, you know, they do have kits where you can test your meth for it, but you… A lot of people aren't, they're not thinking on the, "I'm-"

Scott Hammond: On the meth.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Like, "I, let me test this real quick." I- it's, they're thinking on, "I'm gonna get h- I need to get high right now."

Scott Hammond: "I wanna do some pure drugs."

Jamaica Bartz: "I wanna do…"

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. But, um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jamaica Bartz: … and same thing, like, if, I don't know if you've ever seen, like, when the cops bust people and there's big old chunks, like these blocks of fentanyl. Well, you know, however they're mixing it might, again, certain… Your bag, your bag of, uh, fentanyl might be, this bag of fentanyl from the same piece might just be some and this might be very potent, you

Jamaica Bartz: know?

Scott Hammond: So it's not uniform. There's no-

Jamaica Bartz: It's not uniform. You don't really know what you're taking.

Scott Hammond: It's not FDA, FDA controlled here.

Jamaica Bartz: You don't know what you're doing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Right.

Jamaica Bartz: You know, they've had Xylazine in there.

Jamaica Bartz: They, that, horse tranquilizer, basically.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, and you know, of course, if you're clean for a while and then you go use, then that, that, that, you think that you can do-

Scott Hammond: Your tolerances are all shot.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, there's, again, different variables, but-

Scott Hammond: There's a spectrum of variables-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … that could kill you.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And do. Uh, so we've had a lot of, plenty of fentanyl deaths here in the county, right-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … over the years.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Sad.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: High risk. It's a high-risk behavior. That, that's kind of the scary thing.

Jamaica Bartz: Very much so. Like, you're, you know, used to be… Well, the other thing is people stopped, like, uh, using it intravenously because-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … because of that. Because of it being so dangerous.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: But, um, I think that it, it doesn't really matter which way you're doing it. You know, the people think that they're being safer by smoking it, and sure, it's lower risk, but it's still high risk.

Scott Hammond: You could still die.

Jamaica Bartz: It's still… Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: It's still gonna, you know, suppress your breathing and lower your heart rate and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … you know, if there isn't someone there to see that, then you might not wake up.

Scott Hammond: Right. So epidemic, if you will.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So how do we support y'all? What do we do to… Can we… If one s- one wanted to volunteer, give you money, throw you gold

Scott Hammond: bullion. What, what can, what can we do to s-

Jamaica Bartz: One, one gold bullion, please.

Jamaica Bartz: No.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. A big bar.

Jamaica Bartz: Uh, I… You know, um, you know, volunteer, volunteering is helpful. Like, we, we have four… We, we don't typically take volunteers in the facility.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jamaica Bartz: But I this, did take a, a, one of the first volunteers we've had in a really long

Jamaica Bartz: time.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, so but also volunteering, like right now we're trying to, um, we have four sober living houses, which the program used to be ran

Jamaica Bartz: out of.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And they have a lot of work that needs to be done to them.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jamaica Bartz: You know, things like that. Um-

Scott Hammond: Like construction.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah. Contractor.

Scott Hammond: Contractor. Hey, hear that, Nick? Yeah, so, so somebody that wanted to volunteer that could swing a hammer.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Do drywall to put up a…

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, like right now we have to replace siding on one of our houses.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jamaica Bartz: Um-

Scott Hammond: So that's really practical.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, it's really practical.

Scott Hammond: You guys could buy materials and we s-

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, we could buy the mater- we could buy the materials.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, we need, one of our houses need to be painted. I, um, w- been in contact with Heidi Binzinelli, who said, "Well, maybe we might be, might be able-"

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … to get one of our painters," but then we would maybe get all the guys out there to help paint. Um-

Scott Hammond: Have a paint day.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, things like that.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.

Jamaica Bartz: Things that, like, you have to really-

Scott Hammond: And they could call you directly or call the program?

Jamaica Bartz: They can call me directly or, um-

Scott Hammond: What's a good phone number for the program?

Jamaica Bartz: It's 707-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … 269-9590.

Scott Hammond: 269-9590.

Scott Hammond: Operators-

Jamaica Bartz: And my extension is 204.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Um, but if you were to leave a message, just leave a detailed message.

Scott Hammond: I love it. And you could volunteer and just help the, help the team.

Jamaica Bartz: Volunteer your time. Volunteer, volunteer your s- volunteer your skill.

Scott Hammond: So you're a, that you're a nonprofit, so you could take a donation too.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Jamaica Bartz: So yeah.

Scott Hammond: Why not?

Jamaica Bartz: Why not?

Scott Hammond: All right. So awkward silence, and then we're gonna ask about you and your legacy. What, what do you wanna be remembered for at your, at your celebration of life? Who, who were you and what did you do?

Jamaica Bartz: I, I'm happy being remembered for what I'm doing now. And I, and I have to tell you, again, when I was in treatment, they say one of the, one of the tasks was your old identity versus your new identity.

Scott Hammond: Ooh, cool.

Jamaica Bartz: My old identity was, if you said my name or saw me, you instantly thought of drugs.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: Okay?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: But now when you say, see me or say my name-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … people instantly think of treatment and recovery.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jamaica Bartz: And that, that's all I could ever ask for.

Scott Hammond: That's beautiful. I love that.

Jamaica Bartz: No longer the person who can-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jamaica Bartz: … get your drugs or sell you drugs.

Scott Hammond: Right on. Right on. I think identity is so key.

Jamaica Bartz: Sure.

Scott Hammond: It's, and leaning into the right identity, 'cause it's assigned, attempted to be assigned by so many people.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Our parents, coaches, spouses.

Jamaica Bartz: It is.

Scott Hammond: It's like, nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. And then we all have a fake ID. Here's my fake ID. Do you see the… Oh, here's another. I have a whole wallet full.

Jamaica Bartz: I'm all, I'm all, that looked like-

Scott Hammond: I could be everybody

Jamaica Bartz: … that looked like your bank card.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. But these fake IDs that we carry around that are not who we

Scott Hammond: really are-

Jamaica Bartz: Oh. Yeah

Scott Hammond: … metaphorically.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That I'm not, um, I'm not my job.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: I'm not just a husband or a dad.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Those are all part of who I am.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'm not just good at being social, like you said, as social people-

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … we kind of get life from that. That's not exactly who I am.

Jamaica Bartz: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So I think it's, uh, really key to do the work. So there's some recovery work to figure out who the heck God made you.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And how you're wired, and how you're gonna lean into those gifts.

Jamaica Bartz: Sure.

Scott Hammond: And that becomes beautiful.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then telling the truth, that's the other part of what I've learned, is just be honest. Just tell-

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … tell yourself the… Let's start with telling God and yourself the truth.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? A- and be honest with people, and just be straight, 'cause it's, it's way better to work with facts.

Jamaica Bartz: No one, no one likes a bullshitter.

Scott Hammond: No one likes a bullshitter. Another way to say it, folks Well, delighted to have you. But last question, what, what's on your tombstone? You're getting tired of all my li-

Jamaica Bartz: No, well, I don't know, like-

Scott Hammond: My deep questions.

Jamaica Bartz: Probably just, um, "Here lies a, a no-bullshitting, tell-it-like-it-is mother, daughter,

Jamaica Bartz: friend-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Jamaica Bartz: … with a big heart."

Scott Hammond: Ooh. You heard it here, folks, first. That's awesome. I love it. With a big heart. That's gonna take a big tombstone just to write all that.

Jamaica Bartz: Hey, but I'm, I'm, I'm short, but I'm big.

Scott Hammond: But you're big. I get it. I get it. Yes, you are. Well, thanks for coming. Appreciate you.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah, no problem.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, thanks for being available.

Jamaica Bartz: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Well, folks, uh, join us again next time on the 100% Humboldt podcast, and you can find us guess where?

Jamaica Bartz: On YouTube.

Scott Hammond: YouTube, and, uh, Access Humboldt on TV.

Jamaica Bartz: Oh my God, this is going on TV?

Scott Hammond: That's why there's cameras.

Jamaica Bartz: I know.

Scott Hammond: Say, say, say hi, Nick.

Jamaica Bartz: I was tricked.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Jamaica Bartz: Dang it. And then he also let me cuss.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's okay. We-

Jamaica Bartz: You can cuss on YouTube. I don't know if you can cuss on TV.

Scott Hammond: Cuss a little bit. Yeah. We, we-

Jamaica Bartz: I cussed a lot of it. I toned it down for you.

Scott Hammond: We didn't f- we didn't do m- too many F-bombs. We're good here.

Jamaica Bartz: I didn't do any just for you.

Scott Hammond: I didn't hear any. I haven't heard any yet. Frigging F-bombs. So, um, oh, and b- brought to you by, uh, Dick Taylor Chocolate Quality Body, Dutch Bros.

Scott Hammond: Coffee, um, and Nick Flores, who is with Growing Pains, his, his podcast. So a lot of people make this possible, and, um, shout out to all y'all. And join us next week when we, uh, have a new guest with 100% Humboldt, the movers and shakers, difference makers that make this place iconic-

Jamaica Bartz: Love it

Scott Hammond: … amazing on 100% Humboldt. Scott Hammond.