Our Story

A long, long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away… two years ago in the Valley to be exact, I got a call from someone in my recovery family. She let me know a good friend of ours relapsed with 28 years clean, had psychotic break, and was wandering through the desert in Las Vegas. I drew the short straw and was asked to go get her because, after all, I was the psychologist in the family. Without thinking I rented a car, drove out to the desert, found her, did an impromptu intervention, and managed to get her and her broken down 1992 Mercedes on the road.

I knew if I could just get her in the car and back to LA we would be able to find a place for her in treatment. Mission accomplished, thus far, and it was only registering 111 degrees on the world’s largest thermometer in Baker, CA, no A/C in the car, and windows rolled down so I could barely hear when my closest friend with over 35 years clean (and a titan in the treatment industry) said, “you can’t come here. I don’t know where you can go but absolutely not here.”

“If I, with over 20 years clean and a doctorate in f-ing psychology am having this kind of problem getting someone help, what the *&$! are other “regular” people going through?

I almost threw the phone out of the car and gave up right there in the desert. I’m calling my recovery community, and all I was getting were “no’s” and “we don’t know,” and “not sure where she could go.” By the time I hit LA it was approaching midnight, or at least it felt like it. I had to drive her to Mission Community Hospital and help her get put on a 72-hour hold for suicide watch. As I was leaving the hospital it was definitely 3:00am. I checked twice because I couldn’t believe it; how long the day had been and what we just went through. Bordering on tears, and at the intersection of relief, sadness, overwhelm, and exhaustion I thought, “If I, with over 20 years clean and a doctorate in f-ing psychology am having this kind of problem getting someone help, what the *&$! are other “regular” people going through? There must be an app for this.”

The next day I was obsessed. I looked and there wasn’t anything. I talked to a few people who had started apps and was listening to Richard Branson’s book, The Virgin Way. He talked about starting an airline because he wanted a better travel experience. If he could start a freaking airline then I could definitely start an app. I set out on a path to create a tool that would help anyone, anywhere find treatment fast. I had no idea what I was up against, as you will soon read about in this blog. Here you’ll find a lot about what I’ve learned along the way, some things to hopefully make your job and experience a little easier.

Here we are, two years later in what seems like a Galaxy far, far away from that August in Baker, CA, with just the beginning of a vision… that everyone can GET HELP when they need it and want it. With that I welcome you to www.GetHelp.com and, invite to you download the GET HELP App available for download on the iTunes Store, and thank you for joining me on this adventure to turn the current system upside down and inside, and create the GET HELP ecosystem where everyone is the beneficiary.