Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in mental health care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Ryan Brewer, Co-Founder and CEO of Zia Recovery Center, located in Las Cruces, NM, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Zia Recovery Center, founded in 2017, treats individuals who struggle with Substance Use Disorder and Dual Diagnosis conditions. We offer a long-term, seven-month program designed around our four core values of Foundation, Growth, Perseverance, and Service. Group and individual therapy, experiential outdoor therapy, trauma-informed yoga, EMDR, and other methods are all included in the program. We house our clients throughout the entire process, and each level of care is a step down in intensity and a progression back into purpose and meaning.

We utilize data insights and recovery capital measurements to analyze outcomes to better serve the clients and improve our methods of treatment. We are ahead of the curve in our area when it comes to newer technologies used in our industry for outcomes measurements and treatment modalities. We truly believe the evidence of trauma in addiction. So we are implementing such treatments to better serve our clients.

Tell us about yourself

Born and raised in New Mexico. I had a promising future and a college education in my pocket. I took a detour or sorted down a rough path. I personally struggled with addiction from my mid-twenties into my early thirties. I had given up the business opportunities I was involved in and crashed mentally and physically. After experiencing an amazing process for recovery in southern California, I was launched on a journey to create a place where others could experience the same sort of growth within themselves.

The experiences, ideas, resources, and relationships that all came together to create Zia Recovery Center had been manifesting for years before I was struck with the drive to create it. My co-founder and I decided to take action and put together a team of passionate people with similar experiences. ZRC was born with the sole purpose of helping and serving others. Since the beginning, it has grown into a multifaceted, systematic, and progressive entity that is paving the way for addiction treatment in our surrounding area. A need that was growing rapidly.

My primary motivation is love. Love for my fellow humans. We have been through a lot as people. We all have unique life experiences, and we can either keep them to ourselves or share them with others and help them peel back the layers of fear and resentment that plague the human race as a whole. When we grow and persevere through our self-created barriers, we can flourish.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Putting together a dedicated team of professionals to serve our purpose. There is so much that goes into that. People all have their own ideas. Allowing space for them to be them and then syncing the ideas together to create a system of cooperation is a huge accomplishment, I think.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

In this field, balancing business decisions and care for clients is difficult. We have figured out ways to always put the client's care first, ahead of business and financial needs. When you have a great system and program, the revenue is a byproduct of the actual goal of best serving your clients.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Do it with people who care more about the purpose than the gains. Money is only a means and not the end goal. A plan with a great product or service as the goal will create the necessary means.
  2. Listen to your counsel, the people you trust the most.
  3. Remain humble. You have great ideas, but so do the people you manage.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://ziarecoverycenter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZiaRecoveryCenter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ziarecoverycenter/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-brewer-a670b823b/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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