Empowering Change: The Transformative Story of Boomer Rose

In this powerful episode of the "Pathways to Prevention" podcast, Dave welcomes Boomer Rose, a fervent advocate and inspiring figure in the realms of prevention and recovery. Boomer shares his profound journey from overcoming personal adversities including addiction, incarceration, and homelessness to becoming a leading voice in community transformation. His story highlights the importance of lived experience in crafting interventions that truly resonate with vulnerable populations.

What You'll Learn:

• Boomer's personal path through recovery and how it has shaped his approach to helping others.
• The role of gratitude, love, unity, and empowerment in healing and prevention.
• Insights into Boomer's non-profit work with Glue Tampa Bay and the holistic programs they offer to combat substance abuse and foster life skills in youth.
• The innovative ways Boomer integrates technology into recovery and prevention efforts, including the development of a mobile app aimed at supporting those struggling with addiction.
• Strategies for engaging youth and the community in conversations that lead to meaningful change.

If today's episode inspires you, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Your feedback not only helps us improve but also helps others find us. Subscribe to ensure you never miss an episode, and share this podcast with someone who could benefit from today's discussion. Together, we can spread the message of hope and transformation far and wide.

Episode Links:

• https://www.boomerrose.com/   
• https://www.facebook.com/boomerroseofficial
• https://www.instagram.com/gratefulboomer/ 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/boomer-rose/
• https://twitter.com/the_boomerrose
• https://www.humanistictech.com/ 

Drug Free America Foundation Links:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Twitter

Transcript

Dave: All right, podcast listeners, welcome back to another episode of the Pathways to Prevention podcast. I'm here today with my newfound friend, Boomer Rose. Boomer, welcome to the podcast.

Boomer: Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm grateful, humbled, and blessed to be here and to, uh, share a little bit about, you know, my prevention story and my, uh, story of recovery.

Dave: I'm excited to, to really dig in and hear more about all the work you're doing around lived experience and prevention and with youth as well. I was just. Blown away when we grabbed dinner in Tampa during the Drug Free America Foundation's annual summit. So yes, yes, let's get into it.

Boomer: Absolutely.

Dave: Let's start with, uh, where in this world are you located?

Boomer: I am located currently in Tarpon Springs, Florida, which is about 45 minutes north of where we were at the Drug Free America, uh, Prevention Summit. Um, so it's about 45 minutes to St. Pete and it's about 45 minutes to Tarpon Springs. So it's in a good location to get to, you know, everything, whether I'm flying out or I want to go visit the beach,

Dave: Yeah, I would say so. And how would you explain, what is your current role? What do you do? What?

Boomer: you know, that's a good question. I would say if I could, if I wrapped it all up before I get into every little thing that I do. I'm an advocate for the unheard and the individuals that feel like they are not seen, uh, in this society and in this world. And what I mean by that is I have my own historical trauma and my own life experience being a recovering addict, um, being formerly incarcerated, formerly homeless, a survivor of child abuse and domestic violence.

And those are all, you know, Communities that are near and dear to my heart, so I have found a way to kind of shape my life around helping those different communities. And in doing so, I am the founder and chief operating officer of a, uh, here in Pinellas County, Florida, called Glue Tampa Bay, which is gratitude, love, unity, and empowerment.

And we focus on drug education and prevention by teaching a holistic program. So we don't really talk about drug education and prevention. We have one section about that, but it's about, okay, let's talk about nutrition. Let's talk about, uh, soft skills. Let's talk about hard skills. What's the difference between those?

How do we communicate with another individual? What is a healthy relationship? Um, and what strengths do you have in yourself that you don't realize? Can you show up on time? Okay. That's a strength. Let's lean in on that. What else is there? Um, and then I also do technology with a I'm an owner of a company called Humanistic Technologies Incorporated, and we develop mobile technology for marginalized and vulnerable communities.

So we primarily work hand in hand with non profits. We also work in the addiction recovery community and the re entry community. And other than that, I'm a dad, you know, I'm a normal person. I'm a dad. That's that's the full time job right there.

Dave: I, I feel you there. I may have been upstairs this morning, uh, feeding baby L her bottle. Then I had to, you know, go to work.

Boomer: Yeah. Hey, that that's the best start to your work day, you know?

Dave: absolutely, absolutely. And I'm, I'm intrigued and also inspired by how you have. Have woven your lived experience into all that you do. You don't have just a J O B or a job you clock in and clock out of. And you bring your, your heart, your passion into everything. And I can't wait to really get into to unpack and learn how you do that and what impact that has on your life and the lives of those that you're, you're working with as well.

Where do you want to start? Gosh, you've got your, your life, your lived experience, uh, the glue, the nonprofit, the, the tech. Oh my goodness. Like so much. I can't wait to dive into. And let's, let's hold on to talking about glue. Uh, let's we'll work up to talking about the work you're doing with youth. Cause that, I think we could spend a lot of time there. Can, can you give us sort of a quick background on Sort of your lived experience. So we can really see how you've woven your lessons learned there into the work you're doing.

Boomer: Absolutely. Um, you know, I think my lived experience and. And the trauma that I had as a child was extremely normalized to me until I, uh, went through the recovery process and, and entered academia. So growing up, um, you know, I was the, I, I was born from an affair. So, you know, my mother, uh, you know, had an affair while she was married to one gentleman, and it actually ended up being her first husband.

And, uh, business partner that was my father. Um, and she was in an abusive relationship with this individual who suffered with his own demons, um, of alcoholism, um, and did not have a strong relationship with, uh, his biological children or myself or my mother. Um, and then eventually my mother left. And, um, you know, My mother and I, uh, moved into the neighbor's next door, right?

So, you know. Not necessarily the best place to go when you're leaving a domestic violence relationship, but you know, times were different in the early 90s, um, and the education and information that we had around, you know, how to be successful in that was was different. So we moved next door and then eventually.

you know, after moving three or four times, um, found out who my real father was and my mother and I moved in with, with him. But the, the, the witnessing of domestic violence, the witnessing of child abuse was all normal to me, right? I didn't know what a healthy family was, what a healthy relationship was.

Uh, watching somebody drink alcohol all the time was normal to me. You know, I, I. We used to tell this funny story and I still tell it that, uh, when I was about four or five years old, my mother and her first husband were out of town and they left me with my older siblings and they threw a house party and I found a bottle of Malibu rum at four or five years old and took it under the table and was drinking it.

And I always used to laugh about that, you know, Oh, it's so funny. No, that's kind of crazy. You know, and the fact that I liked it, you know, that's a sign right there. Um, so, you know, I had a really early introduction to substances, uh, earlier than most, you know, unless you're talking about like prenatal, you know, exposure or, or any, or accidental, you know, overdose with children or anything like that, right.

Accidental exposure, but I had a really early introduction, uh, to substances and, Then once we moved in with my mother's with my father, uh, my mom and my father eventually got married and everything kind of settled down, but there was still interesting family dynamics. You know, there was still a struggle with her 1st husband and all the issues that were going on there as far as verbal abuse and uncomfortableness.

in the community in which we lived because we still lived in the same community. And then my father had his own children as well from his marriage, which he left to be with my mother and trying to find my pathway into those family dynamics was always a struggle. Um, and then I think the pivot point for really when my addiction took off.

I was 15 years old and I woke up one day and my mother was paralyzed on the ground. Um, it was the first day of summer vacation and I woke up that morning and my mom was supposed to get me up at like 730 to go golfing. And I woke up and I, I was yelling because it was like 830 and I was like, mom, you were supposed to get me up to go golfing.

You know, and I'm like all mad and yelling. And I just hear her screaming for help from the, from the room next to mine. And she's laying on the ground, clinging to the bed, trying to pick herself up and she can't. Um, so I called my dad and he came and picked her up, took her to the hospital and he came home that night and my father was a big, strong, stoic, individual community leader, citizen of the year.

Um, amazing with youth and I had never seen him cry. And he came home that night with tears in his eyes, and I said, you know, How's mom? He said she's not doing too good. And, um, I found out later that night that, um, she had cancer. So all of my siblings, I'm the youngest of 11 total, but six on my mom's side.

So all of them flew home to, you know, um, Be with my, to figure out what was going on, to be there. And my sister, Melody, she flew up and then we went and picked up my other sister, Brenda Lou, um, from the airport. And I remember we stopped at a TGI Fridays in Leesburg, Virginia, and we were sitting there having dinner.

And my sister, Brenda Lou made a statement and said, if mom only would have done this sooner and my sister, Melody, I felt her kick her under the table. Like, you know, be quiet. And I was like, what's going on? And it was at that moment that I found out that my mother had actually been sick with cancer for two and a half years.

And everybody in my life knew my siblings, my father, my next door neighbors, my best friend knew everybody knew, but me. And, you know, my mother, the person who I slept next to, who I shared a room with through this transitional period through all the struggle and the trauma of trying to get to this stabilized environment.

It was us. She was my rock. Well, she went from being my rock and the person I loved the most to the person that I all of a sudden I had a deep seated hatred for. Um, and then I started drinking, you know, very heavily, uh, especially on the weekends, you know, access was a little harder when you're younger.

Um, but I was a blackout drinker and, and, and, you know, throughout my time and, and my mother eventually passed away and then my father had a terminal illness as well, and I watched him struggle with that for 10 years, um, after he had his liver and kidney transplant, um, my addiction progressed alcohol to marijuana to, um, you know, party drugs to eventually opioids and heroin, which would eventually be my downfall.

And as my addiction progressed, so did my trauma, right? Because I found myself in an abusive relationship when I was in high school because the girl that I was with for three years, You know, she would beat me. She broke my eye socket. She would spit in my face, you know, verbal trauma, um, verbal abuse. And, uh, I stayed because she had a family and I had no one at home.

You know, my dad was in the hospital struggling this illness. I'm 17 years old, living by myself, eating dinners by myself from a microwave, you know, but I could go over there for dinner every night, you know, so it was, it was, you know, Something that I needed, I needed to be around a family environment. So I stayed and I dealt with this abuse and, and codependency and, and that was kind of my cycle, you know, up until, um, I decided to get clean.

Um, and you know, there's incarceration woven in there. And I think that's a whole, that's a whole nother, you know, conversation. Uh, you know, the criminal justice system and, and, and my experiences there are near and dear to my heart as well. Um, But, you know, that's a little bit about my lived experience.

There's a lot to unpack, you know, but I could share a bunch of war stories, you know, and all of that, but that's not the nature of, of, you know, why we're here and what I do now, you know, that's experiences that I went through and I, I, I've learned from it all and kind of transitioned that into helping, uh, you know, other individuals not go down that same pathway.

Dave: Thank you for, for going there and sharing such vivid and powerful. They're more than memories. They're traumas. experiences, feelings. Just thank you for sharing that with us. And if you don't mind, I'd like to ask a little bit about your father and, and your mom in that, that time period where they got married and you had said things, I believe you were use the word settled down.

Your father's a very, very stoic man and you'd never seen him cry. You shared a room your mom, she was your rock through the, the transition period, that tumultuous time, what were some of those things that they, they did that helped you in those situations? Some of those, those positive behaviors, acts, actions.

Boomer: Absolutely. I would say that. That most of the positives, you know, came from my mother, you know, she, uh, would always make sure that I had anything that I needed. Um, I think she over spoiled me, which is, you know, okay. Looking back now, though, I was definitely a spoiled kid. Um, but she was always there for me and, and, you know, she would, you know, rub my back and scratch my back.

You know, until I fell asleep at night up and up until I think I was like, 13 or 14, you know, she, uh, you know, uh, we would always eat dinner together. Um, you know, laugh, hang out. Um, I think some of my favorite memories is, you know, even being 9, 11 years old, you know, when she had her friends over, I wasn't playing with their kids.

I was sitting at the adult table, having adult conversations and being a part of it. Um, you know, and I always, you know, felt included and, you know, my mom, she was like my best friend, you know, that's, that's the, the best way to put it. And as I, I almost get choked up, you know, talking about it because, you know, uh, she was just an incredible individual.

And I think all of my siblings would say that about, you know, my mother and, you know, she provided all of the positive experiences that I needed at the time. Um, my, my father, not so much, you know, like I said, he was a stoic man and a community leader and. really big in the youth community. He, uh, he coached youth sports for 40 years.

Um, he's in the Babe Ruth baseball hall of fame as, as, you know, a coach, uh, for youth and, uh, a regional commissioner. Um, but when I look back at my father, um, he was an amazing person. And he was an amazing father. He was an amazing father to the community, right? But not so much to me,

Dave: hmm. Mm

Boomer: you know, we didn't really have that type of relationship.

And I'm not sure if it was just because, you know, I met him a little bit later and in my life and found all that. Out when I was 10 or 11, and it was just harder to build that that bridge. I knew he was my father, but, you know, it's not the same as, you know, being there from the beginning. Um, and, you know, he gave his all to the community.

But, you know, as far as a relationship with me, we. Didn't really know how to communicate and then it was worse after my mother passed away because I feel, you know, communicating with me reminded him of my mom and all the struggles that they went through to be together. And now she wasn't there, but I'm still there and I'm this piece of her, but he was, you know, the entire time after my mother passed away, I would say now that, you know, I've gone to school and I understand a lot more.

My father was, he never, you Got over the grieving process or got through because that's something you never get over. You get through it, but I don't think he ever got through the grieving process. And I think that really, um, put a barrier in our communication and our relationship.

Dave: Just a couple things I'm going to take away from just this part of our conversation is the communication piece that that was a barrier, a block in y'all's relationship and the importance of communicating with youth, with your kids in a productive, healthy manner. It takes intention. It takes effort. But then also I'm taking away. the love your mom gave you showed you and that it came out of what on the surface some may call small actions scratching your back and just being there with you being present with you and the powerful impact those small actions of presence of love have and that it's not necessarily big grand gestures those small moments Yeah.

Boomer: and, you know, it's from small moments that we create monumental change. You know, it's the same way as we get clean, you know, as we recover from any type of trauma, as we reenter society, you know, we have grand plans, we have grand ideas, but to get to that grand level, you have to go through the small steps, you know, um, the biggest pyramids in the world, you know, and like, there's, there's That one that has all those steps, you know, well, when you get to the top, there's a grand view, but you have to remember there's a million little steps that you have to take to get there.

And sometimes we lose sight of those steps, but all of those steps are are extremely important in the way that we communicate and in the way that we treat other individuals and. Um, you know, my mother provided all of those small steps, um, for me to get to that grand view. Unfortunately, um, you know, the, the stairway eventually, you know, came to a stopping point.

Um, and, and that's okay, right? Because eventually when the time was right, um, I was able to start climbing up those steps again.

Dave: she gave you the love and the, those moments of love have always been inside of you. And they're there now fueling the work that you do moving forward. So, Tell me a little bit about the, the tech, how you, what you are doing with tech and how that relates to, you know, addiction to recovery, to prevention, to intervention.

Boomer: Absolutely. Well, I I mean, before I got into technology, you know, my tech background was I love video games, you know, right? Like that, that I was a gamer, you know, growing up and still, when I have time, I like to hop on and play games here and there. Uh, my son would like me to play Fortnite every day, but that's not, you know, gonna happen.

I don't have the time for that here or there. Um, but it was during COVID. And I had, um, 3, 3 years clean, I was coming up on my 3rd year clean cove. It happened. And all of a sudden, you know, everything that I was seeing on Facebook online, you know, just through my communication channels with my friends in recovery.

was this person's passed away, this person's passed away, this person's struggling. And I said, there's gotta be some way that, that I can do something to help, you know, other individuals that are struggling with substance use disorder like myself. And I downloaded every app for recovery that there was in, in, on the Apple store, right?

I downloaded every one. And I was like, Oh, this is great. But. Man, it's missing this, or this is great. And it's missing this, this has all you can do here is find meetings. That's not enough because you know, you can't get to a meeting right now. Uh, it's all virtual. Um, so then I had an idea to develop, uh, an app, um, to help individuals.

Struggling with addiction. And, uh, I had this idea. I. Was dead set on getting together one of my best friends. He is a higher up in his own, several tech companies. And I approached him with the idea and I said, I want to build this. Will you help me? And he was like, you need to come up with a plan. You need to, you know, Tell me exactly what you want this piece of technology to do and you know go through the whole ideation process so i flew to virginia to meet with him about this i was living in california at the time i flew there cuz i was i was hungry i wanted this to get done and i stayed up all night at his house.

And I did the ideation process for the whole app, every screen, every, you know, feature, everything that I wanted. This is what we have to have. This is the, this is a hope. This is a dream, you know, uh, let's not do it this. And I talked about other technology that was out there and, you know, what it had, what it was missing and how we can come into the marketplace.

And then he said, okay, I, I see the idea, you know, do you have a name for it? And I was like, well, let's call it guiding light. And then that evolved to being called clean, um, which is the, what the tech is now. And, um, he said, I need you to find somebody, a resource that we can work with on this. And I had just started my 1st semester at Long Beach City College in California, um, to go get my associates degree in social work.

Um, which that's what it ended up being at. Originally, it was going to be addiction counseling, but it evolved into social work for other reasons. Um, and I was in my class and I was the student that. Ask questions every class, right? And was very engaged in my professor, Dr. Garcia, uh, from Long Beach city college.

She said, I have an individual coming to be a guest speaker in two weeks. I think you're really going to like her. And, uh, it is now my business partner, uh, Ruby Guillen. She was our guest lecturer and she has her and her, uh, brother in law, um, have a, had, had a tech company called humanistic technologies incorporated.

And. And she's a hacker and, you know, done amazing things, won several hackathons and, um, she was talking about technology and, and, you know, systems and innovation. And I started asking question and question and question. And then finally, she said, uh, Dr. Garcia, will you give Boomer my number so we could talk after class?

And we had a conversation the next day for three hours on the phone. I was telling her about my app and the idea. And then, you know, we met with my best friend and, you know, we started that process and that kind of fell through, but I was still hungry. I still wanted this to get done. And Ruby said, um, you can build this yourself.

And I said, you are crazy. There's no way I can do this. Not that this isn't, there's no way, you know, I can do a lot of things. This is not one of them. Um, and then she introduced me to, uh, you know, how to develop applications without writing any lines of code. And, um, I started playing around with the system.

I took two classes, uh, from an expert, uh, to kind of help me get over some barriers. And, uh, we developed clean, um, which is, uh, uh, free, uh, resource guide for individuals in recovery. Um, it's only in three markets right now because it's hard to get resources in every market, right? That takes a lot of time, but if you're in Virginia listening to this, if you're in the Tampa Bay area, or if you're in Minnesota, like St.

Paul and Minneapolis, uh, it's available to download there. Um, and we developed this piece of technology and, uh, Uh, we actually released it on August 21st of 2021 at the recovery center that I went to, we had a party. And the coolest part of the whole experience is, uh, that's also my son's birthday and he was there and I have a picture of him hitting the launch button when we went live.

Um, yeah. So

basically. The technology is my lived experience and all of the, um, all of the things that I wish I knew when I first got clean. And when I first got out of jail, we put into a mobile application. How do I find resources? How do I track my gratitude? How do I get rewarded for the small things that I do?

Well, we do that through badges on the piece of technology, you know, on, on the app. Um, how do I. Log my meetings, you know, to, to show that I'm going to meetings and see proof of all of this work that I'm doing. And well, we do that and then you get badges for it, you know, and the more that you interact with the app, the more that there is, uh, my old podcast I used to host is on there, shameless plug in the app, right.

But, um, and then other podcasts too, like Dak Shepherd, and now I'm going to put, you know, pathways to prevention in there as well, you know, I'm going to add that in, so there's a link to that. And, and meeting, um. you know, Amy with Drug Free America and just saying, Hey, can we utilize some of your educational resources and put them on there?

So, you know, there's educational tools as well. We, you know, partner with Every Brain Matters, which is marijuana advocacy, um, and put some of their educational tools in there. So it's kind of like a pocket guide, you know, to, to reentry, but it's for yourself, you know, the, it's a very, Personal process is recovery.

Um, I would love to build a community oriented app at some point, but you also have to understand that you're dealing with traumatized individuals. And then also you're dealing with individuals that might be predatory, right? So I don't allow. Users to communicate with one another. Um, it's, it's their tool and it's always free.

It will always be free. Um, and you know, that kind of got me started into technology. And we've partnered with the University of South Florida's Department of Public Health. They're studying the data. We're seeing amazing findings, but that was kind of the introduction to technology for me and the first piece of technology that, um, you know, I ever developed.

And that really opened the floodgates for everything else that came.

Dave: So I'm, I'm curious, I've got a few questions that I've been holding on to, um, the first one, I want to go back to, to Ruby, you said she's a hacker and for, for the non hacker techie in me, I hear that and I think negative thoughts like, oh gosh, that's, that's, that's trouble. Like, what do you, uh, so what do you mean by.

Hacker and one hacker awards. What even is that?

Boomer: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, um, you know, everybody does think of hackers as people that are like breaking into government databases and stealing your information. But you can also hack for good. And there's a thing such as ethical hacking. So when you look at that, it's, um, you know, how do we look at the systems that we have and how do we adjust them to actually do good and work better?

You know, so that, that's, that's. What she is, she's a, she's a hacker. How do I get it? How do I not get into systems, but how do I create systems? Right. How do I look at the current standard and how do we optimize it? Right. How do we better, uh, collect data, right. That we can be more efficient with, for the outcomes that we know that we need, um, and hacking awards, you know, so there's these things called hackathons.

And basically what that is, is, um, you know, you have, you know, Hundreds of individuals or sometimes thousands, depending on where they're at. Um, they show up to a facility, uh, during COVID, they did a lot of them online, but the best ones are in person. Um, you show up and on Friday night or Thursday, they, they give you an idea or a category, and then in two days, you come up with the concept, you develop an app and you come up with a pitch deck and then you pitch it and, Then you can win prizes, you know, you can lose a lot of companies go to market and we actually took, uh, Ruby took me to my first hackathon, um, at MIT of all places, right?

I had no idea what I was doing there, um, to, uh, two years ago, she took me to my first hackathon there. And it was one of the most incredible experiences. And, um, we did not place in the top three, uh, that year. Um, but then we, uh, Showed enough that we were invited back for a special track of previous participants where they liked the idea.

And, um, we went back last April, um, and they invited five teams back from previous hackathons. We are the only team that was there that, um, is not in the market with the piece of technology we were working on. Uh, one of the companies was worth like a hundred million dollars. Um, and they're to showcase their idea and everything they had worked on.

And the three of us, Ruby, Joseph, and I, and our little idea, uh, actually beat them all and we won the hackathon using no code, low code. So, you know, you, you hear hacker and you think negative terms and, and you absolutely should, because there are individuals that, you know, don't ethically hack, but you can also be used for good.

And I think that that's something that, you know, we all need to understand. Yes, we need to be careful with technology, but we also need to lean into into technology and individuals that are trying to create technology that does good, right? That really helps communities. And I think that that's what sets the technology that I create that we created HTI apart is.

We're building every piece of technology with a deep seated understanding of lived experience of having individuals that have worked in the field of social work as, you know, child protective services as as counselors. Right? So we understand. What we're creating and we always make sure that it's going to do no harm and that it's going to do exactly what we say it's going to do.

Dave: That is beautiful right there. And I think I need to change my, my internal dictionary to where when I hear hacker to be intrigued and almost more, it sounded more like just focus on continuous improvement. How can we make this better? What are those gaps? Where are those opportunities for growth and innovation?

Not I'm going to break in and steal your information. Yeah. Continuous improvement. Okay. Okay. I like it. I like it. 

Boomer: Just make sure you keep two definitions, right? Because there is the other is the first one. There are still two. So it's a one and a two.

Dave: Yes. Yes. To yeah. A little, uh, subset in the dictionary there. Yes. Valid point. Valid point. So you mentioned your app clean. Is only in a few markets. And you also shared, you know, you're going to be adding more educational material and resources to it as well.

What. What, if anything, could our listener base do to help expand the reach of your app and, or contribute to the resources?

Boomer: Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, if you're listening to this podcast and you're a part of a coalition or a part of a community, and, um, you know, you want to. To have access to clean and you want clean to be in your area. Um, it can certainly be utilized in any area as far as the features, right? As far as the, the personal development tools and the access to the educational materials, that's accessible from anywhere.

But if you're on a coalition or a part of a nonprofit or in an area that, that needs this tool, um, you know, reach out to me via email on the website, uh, through social media. And, uh, We'll have a conversation and, you know, if we can work together to get the resources for your air, your specific area, we'll, we'll release it there and add it to it for free.

You know, um, the biggest hurdle is, is the resource collection and understanding what resources are in an area. So that's always the, the toughest part to collect because, you know, there's only three of us at humanistic technologies and we've got about 14 projects going on, right? So we don't have the time to sit and, and, you know, collect resources for an area, but if there's a coalition that already has a resource database, we can easily add that in, add that region to the application, and that will be, um, included in the app.

So if you want it in your area. Just, just reach out, you know, I mean, I'm always willing to collaborate and, you know, especially for my populations, you know, and, and communities and individuals that are struggling. So just feel free to reach out and we'll make sure that you're included on clean because I would love to 1 day.

Take that, you know, global, that's the dream, you know, but baby steps and walking up the, the, those steps one at a time to get to that grand plan.

Dave: Be careful what you wish for. We have a listener base and our audience is global from across the world, literally. So, yes. All right. All right. Well, we may come back to that a little bit more. But I, I've been holding on to. Sticking with glue, and I think it's time to unpack, to dive into glue. What is glue?

Boomer: Absolutely. So glue is a, a nonprofit here in Pinellas County. We just got our five Oh one C three, uh, at the end of last year. So we are in our planning process to hold our, our first, uh, real in person, uh, you know, services. Um, but what it is, is. It's a 2 part program, um, that understands that our youth, uh, you know, in any area have adverse childhood experiences, right?

And coming out of covid, uh, every 1 has at least an ACEs score of 1, right? Covid is not on that list, but we know that that's a traumatic experience. So, um, everyone has an ACEs score of 1 right now. Um, but we want to, we want to, you know, Attack adverse childhood experiences without ever talking about them, right?

We don't want our youth and our participants to understand that they actually have this trauma. Instead, we want to just bring in the positive experiences that can counteract those. So in the first course, um, which is gratitude and love. We focus on healthy eating, healthy relationships, one class on, uh, you know, drug education, um, and, and prevention.

Um, we talk about, uh, soft skills, hard skills, communication, uh, how to be a servant leader, right? And that takes up a seven week class where we do 45 minutes of facilitation and, and not. teaching, but conversation, right? We converse and create a group dynamic. And then the second hour of the program is actually a hands on activity.

So, uh, one week they might be doing yoga. The next week they might be painting. Uh, one week they're going to actually make themselves a healthy snack, right? Or a healthy meal. Um, and you know, just really, these skills and, and, you know, yoga is a coping tool, right? It's a coping skill. Um, you know, so how do we utilize that, these physical activities as coping skills, how do we do this, you know, for coping skills, how can we use music as a coping skill, right?

So really just teaching and providing them with coping skills. So by the time they're done with those seven to eight weeks, they have a toolbox. That they can pick from now, we know that they're going to sometimes pick up a Phillips head screwdriver when they need a flat head, right? But that's part of the learning experience.

And they'll really understand what tools they need for what time. Then there's a 2nd level called unity and empowerment. And that's where we focus more on active listening, have purely peer. Peer support, right? How can I speak with another peer and not tell them what to do, but give them suggestions and walk with them and share this common experience with them?

Um, and that's really going to be built to train youth mentors, right? Because the ultimate goal of glue is we will always have a master's level facilitator. Right? Um, they're facilitating the course, but we want our co facilitators to be the youth that have gone through the gratitude and love portion.

Right? And then we want to have a club at the school where we have this mentorship aspect. And in addition to just the curriculum as well, we plan on doing some backpack giveaways. We're also going to do a theater. Class that takes about a year where we bring the youth in. We have them share poems that they've written, have them share their ideas, their stories.

And then my background is also in theater. So I'll be facilitating that. And, um, Together as a group, I will help them harness these ideas into an actual play slash musical. And then we will take that into the school system and perform that. So, um, right now, the idea for that is called Through Our Eyes because we want it to be their experiences.

You know, we want them to share what do you want youth to see and know? Um, you know, What is important that needs to be talked about that might not be talked about and there's other pieces as well as far as like partnering with local organizations to teach financial literacy and and all the things that they're not learning in school or possibly not learning from home.

Um, and the hope here is that by empowering our use, right? We always talk about like, you know, trickle down, you know, okay, if we if we if we can. You know, teach this individual, then maybe, you know, they'll be able to teach their child. But what if we can empower the child to teach their parents? That might not have had these same skill sets, right?

Hey, guess what? I learned in class. I learned this. Oh, well, I've never heard of that. Well, teach me about that. Okay. Well, now we're actually attacking it from the bottom up, you know, because glue is developed for middle school to high school students. It can be done with elementary school, but it can also be taught to adults, right?

Because we know a lot of adults like myself, you know, at 30 years old, right? Had no healthy coping skills, right? So by teaching their children, they can also teach the parents. They can teach their grandparents. They can teach their community. And it's really about building a community of love. Right of love and understanding that we all come from different areas, right?

We all have different experiences, but you know what we all have in common for the most part We all wear shoes. We all walk, you know, we all get around somehow we might get around differently We might wear different types of shoes, but we all get around together so let's break down these barriers and these stigmas and and And all of the outside noise and really get to that root of we are all in this together.

So let's build that here with glue. And we really ultimately want to become the glue of the community and, and then take, you know, take it hopefully throughout the state, throughout the country, that, that, that's the goal. But we got to start here in Pinellas and, and with the understanding that there's a huge need here in this area.

Um, And without getting into all the data, there's a huge need here in this area.

Dave: Mm hmm. Yep. No need to do a data deep dive here, but a couple, couple thoughts and one of them I might be reaching, but what seems to me to be a common thread through out glue is that earlier you shared the challenge with communication with your father, you also talked about those moments of, of love.

With your mother and you talked, you're, you're, you didn't have a toolbox of, of healthy coping and life skills and that's what you've put together and built with glue.

Boomer: Yeah. I, you know, and that's, that's my lived experience. Um, and understanding the path that I went down, not knowing any of this information and, um, Now, how can we teach that to you today that are also not getting that information? And I think, um, one of my favorite aspects of glue is, you know, it's founded by my sister and I, right?

So my sister, Brenda Lou, who I live with here in Florida, her and her family, um, we're doing this together and I've been through addiction. Um, you know, I, I, it's something I'll struggle with for the rest of my life. You never get over it completely, right? It's, it's always there. Um, but she's also. Witness me go through it, right?

So she has this deep seated understanding of the process and, and how difficult it can be. And, and she has her own lived experience going through what she had to with, uh, not only myself, but with, uh, you know, my mother and then her father and, um, together, I think, you know, we make a really great pair to, to bring this.

And, um, you know, my sister and I, we had, uh, there's a period of time where none of my siblings and I talked. You know, and there was a period of time where they wouldn't even let me in their house, you know, because they were afraid, you know, to have me in their house, um, whether I would steal or whether something would happen to me while I was there.

And now none of my siblings ever want me to leave when I see him. I mean, I'm living with, you know, my sister, Brenda, Lou and her family, and they love having my son and I here and. And we love being here. But, um, now we've built this together. You know, we've come together and built something together for the community.

And I think that's my favorite part of of what we're doing is bringing both of our lived experiences and our shared experiences to the table as parents as well, right? To help the youth in Pinellas County and, and all over to, um, to have, you know, The skills and the opportunities to move forward and to thrive and, and it's about that communication.

It's about that love. And, you know, for anyone that's listening today, you know, one thing that I always say. is I don't have to like you, but I have to love you. You know, there's people in this world that I might not, you know, care for as much as others, you know, but I still love them. We need to communicate with every individual with love because we don't know what another individual is going through.

And we also don't know if another individual has ever really experienced love. You know, that unconditional love. I'm here for you. I will listen to you. Tell me what you need. How can I help you? Right? And that's the way we want to approach the youth. We don't know what their dynamics are at home, but if they can come into our space for two hours at a time and feel safe.

and know that we are going to communicate with them through love, through empathy, with compassion, to create a united environment that empowers them to thrive. We're doing our job, you know, and eventually that will sit with them to where every week, I've got to go to glue. I've got to go to glue. I've got to go to glue. Okay. This is your safe space. Keep coming back, keep coming back. And then hopefully they'll take over the program, you know,

Dave: Yes, I, you have that, that legacy, that sustainability built into the design, and I, I also think it's important that you said you facilitate folks, adults, youth, college students, nobody wants to be lectured to or talked at, you facilitate, you have a conversation with them. I think that is a. Often overlooked, but very powerful approach as well. Yeah.

Boomer: absolutely. I mean, Our youth are already in school for, you know, eight hours a day, you know, they don't need to hear another lecture. They don't need another textbook to read. Now, you know, the curriculum for glue from the teaching perspective is like almost 200 pages, right? The workbook, the kids get maybe 20, right?

It's, it's a workbook, you know, um, We're not here to give them something to read. We're here to have a conversation, to talk about some stuff and to facilitate, to facilitate. I mean, you know, I know nothing, you know, except for what the individual across from me is teaching me, you know, and I think that's the best way that we can live our lives.

Tell me about what you want me to know, because I know nothing, right? Let's leave the bias behind. You know, yeah, you know, there's proof behind what we're doing. Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Erickson, PRJ, all of this other stuff. Okay. Leave all that aside. I do nothing. Let's have a conversation. Okay. Let's be on the same level.

And you've got to, that is the way you have to. to approach prevention, right? That's the way you have to approach, uh, facilitating. Otherwise, they're not going, no one's going to retain it. They don't want to be talked at, they want to be talked with.

Dave: hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. And I too can, I can see how that was informed by your lived experience. You mentioned your, your mother included you. You sat at the adult table and had conversations with the adults. You had a voice, you, you had a space to, to share your, your voice and you felt the, the impacts of that.

And now you are helping youth find and better communicate and uplifting their voice and creating space for them to share their voice and just the bringing that power, that impact to them as well.

Boomer: Absolutely. You know, and Their ideas matter, right? Everyone's ideas matter. And I, and I think it also circles back to, you know, like you said, growing up, I sat at that adult table and, and I shared my ideas and my opinions and my, my voice, and I knew how to converse with adults. Um, but then as I, Picked up the letter of, and the stigma of addiction, right.

And the scarlet letter that comes with incarceration and, and having a felony. Right. Um, I lost my voice, I lost myself. And, you know, it was through mentors like, you know, Ruby and, and Joseph and, and working with Dr. Salinas at USF. And, uh, one of my professors at Long Beach City College, uh, Dr. Garcia and Dr.

Anaida, uh, Mondavi West. And then. You know, Amy, Amy at Drug Free America, you know, that I started to get my voice back, you know, when I, the first time I prevented at Drug Free America Foundation and the prevention summit, and I was like, well, why am I here? Why, why am I here? Okay. Because. I'm meant to be here, right?

But 

Dave: Your voice matters. 

Boomer: exactly. My voice matters and my, my experience matters. And, and it's about individuals seeing in you what you don't see in yourself. And that's what we want to provide for youth. We see you, we hear you. You matter. You are the most amazing individual in the world. Let us help you figure out why.

What are these skills that you have? Okay, you might think that's a negative, but let me tell you how it's a positive. It's about validating. It's about reframing, right? Um, you know, we can beat ourselves up over the smallest little things, or we can just move on. Right. And focus on the positives and, and that's what we hope to cultivate.

And I think that's what we are cultivating and what we will cultivate. And, um, that's what I cultivated in myself. Right. So it's possible. Anything is possible in the right environment, you know, even in the desert, plants still grow, you know, in the coldest environments, they still grow.

Dave: Mm hmm. I've probably shared it on past episodes. It's a quote from my friend and colleague, Dr. Jeff Linkenbach, and I've just held on to it and kind of turned it into a mantra even. And that the positive exists and it's worth growing. I have to remind myself of that, uh, you know, there is positive. You just have sometimes have to look a little bit harder for it, but it's there and it's worth growing.

That's what you're doing. It's with glue. You're finding uncovering and lifting up the positive that already exists. Yeah.

Boomer: I love that quote, you know, the positive exists, you just have to grow it. know, and, and I think that that's something that we all need to remind ourselves of, um, and you know, whether it's through glue and the direct services, whether it's through technology, the positive exists, you just have to grow it and, um, you know, not to circle back to the technology, but I think that that's the, the piece of the technology as well is that.

It empowers the individuals to grow through technology, you know, empowerment through technology. It sounds like a crazy idea, but it's not, you know, it's, it's possible. You just have to give them the opportunity to access tools and resources and, and break down barriers that exist in the, in the. And the current system, um, which is a, that, that's like a lifelong, you know, project, right.

The, the fixed broken systems, but, um, but baby steps, right. Baby steps. And, um, I'm really excited about launching our first, uh, you know, our first class with glue. We actually are, you know, in conversations right now to get our, the space and the facility that we're going to utilize it in. And, um, it's going to be an amazing experience.

And.

The concept works, so I used to run a nonprofit and be the executive director of a nonprofit in California that does something very similar. I took that experience. I learned from it. Adapted what I thought should be done, and now that has become glue.

Dave: I'm pumped and we'll have to have you back on so you can, uh, share with us what, what the experience was like, how it went. Give us, give us a after action report saying, Hey y'all, here's what, uh, here's how it went down. And, oh, it was amazing.

Boomer: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that, you know, when we do that, uh, you know, we have some of our glue mentors come yeah. right. Cause, cause my perspective is one thing, right. But it's really their perspective. I want to hear how awesome it was from them, you know, um, that that's what really matters. I can have the worst day in the world.

As long as somebody that I'm working with is having an amazing day. My day instantly got better, you Yep. Yep. Uh, I'm game. I'm game. The more, the merrier, because prevention is better together.

Yes, it

Dave: So one last question. We've been chatting for a little bit now. If you were to tell our listeners, if you're going to remember one thing from this episode, remember this, what would that be? Mm hmm.

Boomer: That's a good question.

Dave: Take your time, putting you on the spot here.

Boomer: I would say to Live our life full of gratitude and love, and if that's the way we live our life, we can cultivate an environment of unity and empowerment, and not to sound cheesy and bring it back to the glue aspect, but when I look back at my life, when I look back at all of my trauma, my experiences, my incarceration, and where I am now, the power of gratitude got me here.

And being grateful for the little things like we talked about those small little steps. You might not have the best car in the world, you know, you might not have the things that you want, but what do you have? Be grateful for those things. Treat every individual with love. Most importantly, in order to do that, you have to love yourself.

And if you can't love yourself, then you can't love anybody else. And if you can live a life of gratitude, of positivity, of love for yourself and love for the world, then you cultivate a community of love. And it can just be the community around you of your peers that is united. That is the vibe that, uh, attracts your tribe.

You know, that, that really moves forward. And then we empower the communities that might not be a part of the gratitude and love that we have. Right. And then we bring more in. But so if we live our life in those three phases, then we empower the world. Gratitude, love, we unite and we empower

Dave: That was beautiful. And I will not add to it because it was so well said, but what I will say is thank you for living with love and leading with love and doing the work you're doing and being who you are. Your voice matters and you matter. And thank you very much. It's been an honor to connect, to converse, and I'm, I'm so glad we're friends and connected.

Thank you.

Boomer: me too. And thank you for the opportunity to be here and for, um, you know, allowing me to be seen and heard. Um, grateful to have you as a friend, as a colleague, as, uh, And to be a part of Drug Free America Foundation and to anyone that's listening, thank you for caring about prevention and caring about, you know, our most vulnerable communities.