00:00 - 00:06
Kevin Zundl: This is what it sounds like when you have to make a tough decision, but know you ultimately made the right 1.


00:06 - 00:13
The Child's Mom: I wish I was more open to it sooner, but I'm glad we made the choice that we did.


00:14 - 00:33
Kevin Zundl: Welcome to the Turning Winds podcast. My name is Kevin Zundl. Turning Winds provides teens with the clinical treatment and specialized academic support that they need before entering adulthood. Today I sit down with a military family who was able to use their tri-care coverage so their son could get the help he needed.


00:34 - 01:11
The Child's Mom: It began about a year ago. We were obviously, I guess, a lot clueless of what was going on. We thought we ran a pretty tight ship, but he was sneaking out, us not knowing. And 1 day he ran away. He was on the 05:00 news. He was missing for 4 days. And that's just when things started snowballing. So when he was found, we knew he needs to get out of Panama city where we were living. So we put our house up for sale immediately. Psychiatrist agreed. He went from missing to found, to then he went into


01:11 - 01:39
The Child's Mom: the mental hospital. Once he got out of the mental hospital, he entered a 30 day treatment facility. And during that time we use that 30 days to sell our house, buy a house. But his troubles just followed. They came with us to South Carolina and we were had the cops at our house. I can't remember, at least 3 times in the first month we lived here. He was truant, he refused to go to school.


01:41 - 01:42
The Son : Alcohol drugs.


01:42 - 02:13
The Child's Mom: Alcohol drugs. He was selling vapes, which we had no idea about. And just sneaking out. I mean, you name it, he was doing it. And then he ended up in another mental hospital. He said he was suicidal. I mean, we put air trackers and he kind of carved his shoes. He was just running away constantly. And then the last straw was he went to school 1 day after being true it for like a week refusing to go. He just got up and walked out the door. And then we got a call from the school saying he


02:13 - 02:51
The Child's Mom: was suicidal. Come pick him up. Which was bizarre. He was also during that time using his medication as dangling it over his head. He refused to take it. So once he stopped taking his medication and with the marijuana use, he was just very angry teenager, very angry. And that's when he anyway, bouncing back and forth. But he went to school, he went to the mental hospital, which was really bad here. It was awful. So while he was in there, that's when we decided that we had to pull the trigger on Turning Winds. Turning Winds, we had


02:51 - 03:05
The Child's Mom: spoken to Turning Winds about a month prior and we were kind of going back and forth with the idea as a last resort. But at that time we realized we had no choice. We'll regret this for the rest of our lives if we get in sentence.


03:05 - 03:08
Kevin Zundl: So how did you find Turning Winds?


03:10 - 03:43
The Child's Mom: Hours and hours on the internet, calling every facility in the United States to see what TRICARE covered. And then we finally came across them and, Eric was great. He reached out to us and we are in contact back and forth for about a month. And he helped us coordinate it. So he didn't even come home after he left the mental hospital. Joey agreed. He realized he was at rock bottom and he did help too. So he voluntarily said yes. And my husband flew straight to Montana out of that mental hospital.


03:45 - 03:49
Kevin Zundl: So when you were calling around, I mean, was it your experience that you were calling and just no 1 except a Tricare?


03:50 - 03:51
The Child's Mom: Correct.


03:52 - 04:01
Kevin Zundl: So you started talking with admissions, Eric and admissions, and how did he help you sort of navigate Tricare or was it just easy?


04:03 - 04:34
The Child's Mom: He just walked us through there with a lot of steps with Tri-Care. You know, we had to write letters, essays, and you know, but he. Dumbed it down for us. He walked us through it basically. And, He was helping us with the social workers at the mental hospital. So everyone, because it was a time, it was the timing issue of trying to get those approvals done. With the release of mental hospitals. So it was really just time sensitive. But it all worked out.


04:34 - 04:38
Kevin Zundl: What about academics? How's, how's he doing there?


04:38 - 05:16
The Son : A lot better there than he's ever done in school. I think Turning Winds, they, you know, it's, It's a lot more interactive than your traditional school. So that I think has some of it to do. Joey definitely, like if he had to come home and do homework, he wouldn't do it. He'd just flat out refuse or he would wait till like the last minute and then asking us to help him through it. And I mean, he can actually talk to us about what he's doing, which that's something that you almost had to like, yeah, pull it


05:16 - 05:22
The Son : out of them to find out what he did in school. So that's, that's been definitely a good thing.


05:22 - 05:24
Kevin Zundl: And what about the, the setting?


05:25 - 05:38
The Son : It's Montana is a unique place, especially Montana. You saw a moose, you saw deer, being, having the creek right behind, fishing, swimming, like, you know, it's a pretty, pretty neat setup.


05:38 - 06:06
Kevin Zundl: What have they, how have they interacted with you in terms of learning? I think some of the training that they do there is really interesting. I know Carl and I did a podcast where we talked about, power struggles and using those as learning moments. And just as a parent, I'm not always in a great head when we're in those power struggles, but sure how the, the times that I'm able to reflect on that were better as a family as a result.


06:06 - 06:12
The Son : When we went out for the family grid session, they had a really good speaker there. The doctor.


06:13 - 06:13
The Child's Mom: Foster Klein.


06:13 - 06:29
The Son : Yes, Foster Klein. Just a lot of the stuff that he talked about with dealing with children, not dealing with children, but how to parent was definitely stuff that we took, what took back and those skills are being utilized here.


06:30 - 06:53
Kevin Zundl: Awesome. Thank you. I think you were able to really kind of convey a lot. And I think it's going to be again, helpful for other families who are sitting there and thinking today, the day that I make a decision or not. If you were going to say something to 1 of those families that might be listening to this? And what would you tell that someone that is existing in the 1 month before Joe went over there?


06:53 - 07:17
The Child's Mom: I didn't want to do it. I was very resistant and I was actually really resistant the whole first month he was there, wondering if I made the right decision, but the regret of not making a choice like that would have been much bigger than the latter and, I wish I was more open to it sooner, but I'm glad we made the choice that we did.


07:19 - 08:02
Kevin Zundl: I hope this helps you see that you're not the only 1 contemplating the decision to make the commitment to meaningful change. I've spoken to many parents on this podcast and invite you to listen to those as well. I think ultimately it will provide comfort and confidence in making the decision for yourself. There really is no reason not to have the conversation and make the call just as this family did. 800-845-1380. But there is also wealth of resources on their website at turningwinds.com. Oh, and if you're 1 of the many Turning Winds alumni or families and you'd


08:02 - 08:15
Kevin Zundl: like to be on this podcast just email Carl or Enick. Carl at turningwinds.com or Enick at turningwinds.com I'd love to have the conversation. Until next time, be well everyone.