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Have you ever wondered how someone could transform his life from addiction and homelessness to creating a safe haven for others battling similar issues? Our guest, Tommy Hawthorne, founder of the San Diego Detox Center, takes us through his incredible life journey. He offers a raw account of his escapades on the streets of New York and San Diego, his addiction struggles, and his encounters with the law. Amidst this chaos, Tommy met his soulmate, giving him a glimmer of hope and the courage to change his life dramatically.
Not only did Tommy get clean, but he also started San Diego Detox, Boardwalk Recovery, Pacific Beach Health, and Soledad House, all treatment centers aiding those battling addiction, mental health issues, and homelessness. He firmly believes in the philosophy of turning no one away, taking a personal interest in each call that comes in. Tommy's story exemplifies that our struggles are not just for us but might be an inspiration for someone else. Listen in to this transformative journey, from a life of addiction to being a beacon of hope.
Welcome back to a brand new episode of let's Just Talk About it podcast. I'm your host, chuck, and if you're here for the first time, this platform was created to give genuine people just like you an opportunity to share a portion of your life's journey. So, with that being said, today I'm excited to have special guest Tommy Hawthorne, the founder of the San Diego Detox Center in California, where he shares how we went from being addicted to drugs and homeless to now being the founder of treatment centers for mental health and drug addiction. So you don't want to miss this inspiring conversation. As a matter of fact, do me a favor go and grab your husband, your wife, your children, or even call a friend and listen into my conversation with Tommy on let's Just Talk About it podcast. Hey, let's jump right in. Welcome back to a brand new episode of let's Just Talk About it podcast. Today, I have Tommy Hawthorne on with me today. Tommy, thank you for being a part of let's Just Talk About it podcast. I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you having me. Yes, sir, man, tommy, I love to have those genuine conversations with genuine people just like yourself, to share a portion of your life journey, where you come from and what are you up to now. So, with that being said, man, let's jump right in. So, first of all, where are you from?
Tommy:Originally I'm from New York. Left New York when I was 12 and I've been in San Diego almost 40 years. So you left San Diego, California paradise. You said paradise, Paradise, yeah.
Chuck:Wow. So you grew pretty much up in New York until you was 12 and then you left and moved to San Diego. So you've been there for 40 years. So how was it for you in New York, from one or five years old to 12? How was that?
Tommy:Pretty rough. I come from a pretty tumultuous upbringing. Parents divorced extremely. Poor Pop did the best you could with me, but we'll just leave it at that. And then had a really troubled youth that turned into being asked to leave. I was sent away. Got you, got sent away at 12.
Chuck:At 12,. You got sent the way to San Diego, or you got sent the way to like an alternative school, or something like that.
Tommy:Yeah, my well, my mother picked me up, so that was a whole nother chunk of years of struggle, wow. So ended up in San Diego and bouncing in and out of treatment centers, things like that, and so I was 30 the last time I was incarcerated. That really enters into a whole another chunk of my life.
Chuck:Got you, so it's like in and out of trouble.
Tommy:There was no out, it was just staying in. Got you, got you. Got you, it was just staying in trouble. Wow, Basically, yeah. So you know, I got to San Diego and really kind of struggled in the house, you know, being incarcerated and being put into you know psych hospital and you know this, that and the other thing. I ended up just on the streets, you know, and so I think I hit the streets at about 15 and didn't really make it back indoors for a while, so about 18 or so.
Chuck:Yeah, so when you talk about psych hospital, man, what was that all about? Like you put yourself there or somebody admitted you did.
Tommy:Yeah, my mother admitted me into a hospital. She assumed that there was something wrong with me based on my behavior Got you. There had to be something wrong, something wrong. And really, you know, what was wrong with me was just being just really tore. Apart from the divorce man, you know, I think the divorce really really shakes kids to the core. That's deep, that's what I believe and I mean, you know, not everybody can pinpoint their trauma.
Chuck:Right.
Tommy:I mean, I think, where things took a turn. I can absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, pinpoint exactly where my whole soul, my whole spirit took a turn, took a turn. Wow, yeah, took a turn. Didn't really recalibrate until I made it into recovery at 30 years old. Wow.
Chuck:People never know, man, how divorce messes with a kid's mind growing up. You know that's deep.
Tommy:I mean, I see it all the time in my line of work and you know your own experience is all the evidence you really need. You can see it in other people, hear about it in other people's stories and you may or may not believe them, but when it happens to yourself, that's all the evidence you need.
Chuck:Yeah, so you're in San Diego and you're growing up. You're on the streets, living homeless. Talk about that, man.
Tommy:You know. I mean I was hustling on the streets and when you say you were hustling, like what you were doing, commercial burglaries and things like that Got you. That was always my shtick. I wasn't really a fan of robbing people. That really just wasn't my deal. I was much more into commercial burglaries and I really kind of stuck with that Into my adult years. But yeah, being on the streets just selling dope, doing commercial burglaries, and I might hook up with a girl and sleep indoors here and there, but all in all I was. I was sleeping on a On the sidewalk, you know, and little crevices of shelter. All that I could yeah and somewhere around 17 or 18, I met my soulmate. Got you, wow, she's my wife now. We've been together 32 years and I met her and really we tried to put it together. Yeah, the best we could. We continue to struggle together For, you know, several years until she got pregnant.
Chuck:Wow.
Tommy:She had our baby, she had our first child and shortly after that I ended up incarcerated again and More struggle for the next. I mean, like I said, when you, when you said in and out of trouble, you know.
Chuck:I got up. I've pretty much just stayed in.
Tommy:I never got why made it out Including after we had our first child. You know we continued to struggle, and for several years Wow that's deep man, yeah, I got sober, I think when she was about nine, if I remember correctly Got you, man.
Chuck:I was, um, you know, doing my time on the streets. Man, I use heroin, so I know it's like you chasing something and it's like you have to hustle every day To get that fix or whatever. You know what I'm saying. So was that you doing that time?
Tommy:Yeah, yeah, every minute. I wouldn't say every day, I'd say every minute, yes sir, the heroin.
Chuck:You know what I mean.
Tommy:Yeah, with the heroin I mean, you get sick so fast.
Chuck:Yes, sir.
Tommy:And so you get well, and then you got to get right back to it and don't let nobody say, you know, dummy, you really in trouble.
Chuck:So I get it. It's 24 seven.
Tommy:So look at 24 seven. I'd say that that really instilled the grind.
Chuck:In me Okay, okay.
Tommy:I say a lot of the grind I have that's made me so successful Comes from my experience on the street Like managing people, yeah, like look when I did do well Out there right and I was running 100 150 pounds a week. I had to manage people, I had to manage situations. I had to manage crisis. I had to manage pressure. Everybody in the room's got a gun. There's a lot of money on the table.
Chuck:Etc, etc, etc. So your eyes are moving around, yeah.
Tommy:You know what I mean. So when I'm hustling, whether I'm hustling and I'm at the bottom of the barrel and I got to figure it out Mm-hmm, or I'm on top of it and I'm moving weight and I'm I'm at the top of it, there's pressures, there's hustle, there's grinds I bring that into recovery. Got you and it's on wow. You know what I mean.
Chuck:Yeah.
Tommy:I credit my previous lifestyle For the hustle in the grind.
Chuck:I have in my current lifestyle. That's deep. Never heard that said before like that.
Tommy:Yeah, I got you. Well, look, I was active out there and I'm active here, I'm active in recovery.
Chuck:So now you away from that. So let's talk about what you up to now. You are entrepreneur of what I own three substance abuse with two.
Tommy:Technically, I own two substance abuse treatment centers One mental health center, wow and I manage Another substance abuse center. So let me ask you all I'm responsible for four different treatment centers.
Chuck:So let me say this you come from New York At 12, you leave to go to San Diego. You end up in the site ward, you're homeless, you're hustling, so now you own different. Wow, amazing.
Tommy:Yeah, it's crazy. Now look, I didn't end up owning and operating and managing four treatment centers right out of the gate. Got you talk about it, when I got sober I had to hustle even. Look it, when I got sober I lied to get into my very first sober living. Wow, I came out of jail I didn't have anything. I literally had a backpack of clothing and a stolen Jeep Cherokee. That's all I had. I had nothing else, Nothing. And so, through a couple of connections cause, I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't know much about this whole recovery thing, but I knew that if I got loaded again I was going to go to prison. So I asked a friend. He led me to another guy, connected me to a sober living. That guy didn't really want to let me in because I was pretty shot out even after a month in jail. And I lied to that dude and told him I had the money to move in and he let me in and I started hustling right off the bat just to come up with the rent that I told this guy I had.
Chuck:Yeah, yeah.
Tommy:And I would do that. I would be in the parking lot of meetings every single day and I would be shaking people's hands and I'd be running up on everybody in the meeting and I'd tell them stuff like hey, what's up, man? I'm telling me hey, you got a job. Hey, you guys hiring.
Chuck:Got you.
Tommy:Hey, what's up, man? What do you do you guys hiring? Did it like that? I had to hustle like that. Just to you know, come up with anything. And the very first job I got in recovery it was remodeling a house and I didn't have no tools. I borrowed all of the tools to do that remodel and I would walk those tools cause I didn't have a car. I skipped the part where the cops took the Jeep Cherokee my first day in sober living but I had to carry these tools and buckets down the street to my very first job. Did you know how to remodel? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I pulled it off, okay.
Chuck:Got you.
Tommy:I pulled it off. I made enough money on that job to pay my rent at sober living and buy a little $450 car. You know what kind of car you get for $450? What'd you get? A burner, you get. A pile, a hooptie. You get a car that would work for more than $450. You know, yeah, and so that's how I started. And you know I spent my first eight years working as a carpenter in early recovery and my first eight years in recovery I was a carpenter Got you Just trying to do the best I could, you know.
Chuck:Wow.
Tommy:And then I was invited to come and help run a treatment center, and while I was there I started plotting and scheming on opening my first my own and that's what I did when I started my own.
Chuck:Open your own treatment center.
Tommy:Yeah, that's how I started From the ground up, Ground up. Not a nickel in my name.
Chuck:That's amazing man. So talk about the treatment center. What is that all about? So I have one detox.
Tommy:Residential, that's an inpatient treatment center. It's called San Diego Detox, full medical team on staff 24-7. Wow, therapists, counselors, doctors, the whole deal, a whole team of support staff, et cetera, et cetera. Um, san Diego detox definitely want to San Diego's premier detox centers. And then I have boardwalk recovery. That's down at the beach, also in San Diego. That's an aftercare program where we do a php and IOP. Um, we also have sober living homes to support all those guys. And, uh, that's an 80 bed aftercare program. Uh, right now I'm opening a mental health center. It's called Pacific beach health, gotcha, and that's really for people with primary mental health issues. They may or may not have substance abuse issues, but they have serious anxiety, serious depression, schizophrenia, you know things like that. Yeah, and that'll have supportive housing for those folks as well. That'll also have doctors, therapists, counselors. And then I'm responsible for managing a female aftercare program called Soledad house Gotcha. Really, my job there is to help with the marketing, support the executive director there, but, yeah, I'm responsible for that place as well. So that's the four places that I'm responsible for. And Soledad house is San Diego's premier female aftercare program. I think they're about 60, 60, 80 beds as well. And, um, you know, there are no joke over there. That is San Diego's finest, right there.
Chuck:Got you Yep. So when people say I need help, I'm going through anxiety, I'm fresh out of prison, you know I have no way to go. Is it hard to get in there? Is it a waiting line or something like that?
Tommy:You know, we take every single call, you know, seriously.
Chuck:Yeah.
Tommy:And um, I always have people in my programs that were scholarshiping. When somebody calls and our scholarships are being taken, we will connect every single call at our resources, no matter what. But nobody calls us without having resources by the end of the phone call. So, whether you come into my program, got you uh, or you're not a good fit for one reason or another, by the end of the phone call you will have resources. It doesn't matter what state you're in, it doesn't matter what your financial situation is private health insurance, state insurance we're a resource, no matter what.
Chuck:I got you. I like what you said, no matter what state you're in, so so I'm in Virginia, right? So if somebody's listening right now, they can get in contact with your facility.
Tommy:Absolutely. You call us at San Diego detox, for example. Tell us that you're in Virginia and you have no resources. We will still help you figure out how to find the resources in your area.
Chuck:Before you get off the phone. Absolutely yeah. Do you have a number they can call?
Tommy:Uh, san Diego detox is area code 619-433-4971. But go to the website. Just go to this. Just go to San Diego detoxcom and call any of the phone numbers that are on the website. That that'll connect it to us. Every single one of my people that answers. The funds are extremely professional, extremely helpful, and they will not let you off the phone without some resources. Whether those resources are coming out to California, which a lot of people do, we were picking people up from the airport all the time, you know, several times a week. So people come out to California for treatment all the time. So, whether that's you or you can't leave for one reason or another, we'll help you out with resources. Got you, got you To San Diego detoxcom. That's the easiest way to get a hold of us.
Chuck:Amazing man, Amazing Two questions. What would you say to somebody right now, If you had a chance and you saw yourself in them, Tommy, like you, you know, in the streets of San Diego? What would you say to them? And they came to you on the street one day? What would, what encouragement would you give them?
Tommy:That happens to me all the time. Talk about it. It happens to me all the time. One of my top level employees I found on the street sitting in front of a Starbucks with a grocery bag of his clothing They'd be the best and that man that man has made his way through recovery, volunteered, came on as an employee and then made his way up the food chain. He is the number two in charge of one of my companies.
Chuck:Wow, never judge a book by its cover.
Tommy:Go ahead, yeah Well. So here's the deal, man. Yeah, when somebody's ready, you know. My most important question is are you ready? Because not. Are you ready to get off the streets? Not. Are you ready to, you know, have some food in your belly? Not. Are you ready to have a cell phone? Or you know this, that and the material? Are you ready to change your life? Are you ready for something new? Are you ready to give this up and try something foreign? Try something new. It doesn't matter what it is. You know. Look, when I got sober, if my sponsor told me, in order for you to stay sober, we're going to go door to door and give out alcoholics anonymous pamphlets, I would be going door to door right now handing out alcoholics anonymous pamphlets, and I wouldn't have time to talk to you on the phone right now. I was willing to do whatever it took, and so the question is are you ready to do whatever it's going to take? That's the bottom line, and the guy that I just mentioned. I told him you know, what would you do with an opportunity? Now I'm in a situation where I was able to send a van to come and pick him up. Not everybody's in that situation, of course, but there is resources for any individual in any situation. It's really all about digging into those resources and embracing the opportunity.
Chuck:Right.
Tommy:The problem is that most people, they don't embrace the opportunity. Most people never embrace the opportunity. They piss it away for one reason or another. And once they start getting stuff back, once they start getting some of the blessings of recovery if they get them they fade out, they fade out. I have hung on to my blessings, I have hung on to my opportunity, every opportunity with a death grip.
Chuck:Because you don't want to go back to where you were with a death grip.
Tommy:I never want to go back, and so, at 19 years sober, I sit here today with all the amazing blessings life has to offer, and I am still just as willing to participate in my recovery today as I was when I had 30 days sober and I didn't know how I was going to feed myself.
Chuck:Man shout out to you man. Last question, tommy. If you had a chance to go back and talk to the 12 year old Tommy, what would you say to him right now?
Tommy:You're going to be all right, man, hang in there.
Chuck:Sit it right like that.
Tommy:Sit it one more time You're going to be all right, young man.
Chuck:Yes, sir.
Tommy:You're going to be all right. It doesn't mean that you're going to enjoy this path, this journey, but you're going to be all right. Wow, wow.
Chuck:Thank you so much, man, for being a part of let's Just Talk About it podcast man, I really enjoyed this conversation. I wish it could be longer, but I know you have a schedule you gotta keep, man. But I really appreciate you.
Tommy:I appreciate you having me.
Chuck:Yes, sir man, thank you so much and talk to you soon. Tommy, it was a pleasure.
Tommy:Yes, sir, take it easy, bye, bye.
Chuck:Wow, what an amazing conversation. Shout out to my friend, tommy, for having this dialogue with me. You know, one of the things that really stuck out to me was when he said what he went through prepared him for where he is today, and that is to reach back and grab somebody who's going through the same battle he went through. So after listening to this conversation, we can realize now that what we go through today may not be meant for us, but it may be meant for someone who's coming behind us to help them make it through their battle like we did. So shout out to you, tommy, as always. Thank you so much for tuning in to let's Just Talk About it podcast and please check out my website. Just google let's Just Talk About it podcast dot com and then hit that subscribe button to receive all the new episodes every Friday. You can also find me on Facebook. Just type in Chuck L J T A I, which means let's Just Talk About it. So, as always, until next time, don't hold it in, but let's Just Talk About it. Talk to you soon.
