How Video Game Accessibility Creates Connection For People With Disabilities

In this episode, I sit down with Mark Barlet, a service-disabled Air Force veteran, longtime disability advocate, former founder of AbleGamers, and chief operating officer of AccessForge. Mr. Barlet shares how a military injury left him medically classified as an incomplete paraplegic and how his personal experience with disability eventually grew into more than two decades of advocacy, accessibility work, and creating better experiences for people who are often overlooked.

We discuss how Mr. Barlet’s work in gaming began after his best friend developed multiple sclerosis and lost the ability to use her mouse hand. Because video games had been an important way for them to stay connected, that moment became the beginning of AbleGamers and a 20-year mission to make gaming more accessible. Mr. Barlet explains how he worked with major gaming companies, contributed to accessibility standards, and helped support the development of adaptive controllers for Xbox and PlayStation.

This conversation also explores the positive side of gaming, especially for people with disabilities who may experience social isolation or struggle to leave their homes. I share examples from Japan, including a café where people with disabilities remotely operate service robots, while Mr. Barlet explains how gaming can provide friendship, purpose, mental stimulation, community, and relief from chronic pain. We also discuss the growing variety of games available for different interests, abilities, and levels of social engagement.

Later, we move beyond gaming and examine accessibility in business, travel, hospitality, museums, digital platforms, and faith communities. Mr. Barlet explains that accessibility is not limited to wheelchair ramps and Braille; it is about designing experiences that allow people with disabilities to participate meaningfully. We also discuss the enormous consumer power of the disability community and why organizations that create genuinely accessible experiences can build stronger loyalty while serving people more effectively.

Mr. Barlet also introduces the work of AccessForge and its Accessible Faith framework, which helps churches and faith-based organizations identify barriers and create more inclusive worship experiences. 

https://accessforge.com/

Website: https://coupleonukes.com

Exodus, Honor Your Heart, & Nulu Knives: https://www.coupleonukes.com/affiliates/

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*Couple O' Nukes LLC and Mr. Whiskey are not licensed medical entities, nor do they take responsibility for any advice or information put forth by guests. Take all advice at your own risk.

Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple O' Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and I want you to imagine a scenario where you're in a life or death situation, you go to call 911 and no one answers the phone. What we're gonna be talking about today is what happens when addicts are attempting to get into recovery, they call an addiction treatment center and no one answers the phone. While initially it doesn't sound like life or death, for many of these people struggling with addiction, it can be a turning point in their life where they decide no longer to get help or seek recovery because they feel like people don't care, they feel rejected, or sometimes when people are struggling with addiction, there's far and few chances between where they want that recovery, and you gotta take advantage of that. So how do we go about dealing with this situation? Well, today's guest reached out to me to talk about just that. I was very impressed with what we're gonna get into today because this is a new step forward in prevention, in recovery, and in saving lives. And so I'm really excited to have a very powerful conversation today. Mr. Dave Sysho, so great to have you here, and, uh, like I said, excited to talk about what you've created and this issue that isn't just an issue you saw out there. This is something you personally experienced, so I'm excited to get into that. So let's go ahead and start with just a brief introduction of who you are. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Whiskey. I, I really appreciate it. Um, really appreciate, you know, a little scheduling error or, you know, issues in the beginning. Uh, but yeah, I'm happy to be here. I listened to some of your podcasts. I think your content's really good. But as far as I go, um, yes, you're right. Um, my personal story is, it, it really ties into my, to my business, which is if you can live that, you're living a blessing. So if you could... In my life, my goal, my personal goal, beyond family, friends, all of that, is, um, to help the still suffering addicts. So just to take a step back, I had a business before called Sober Transport, where I would actually take people to treatment. Got certified, but it's funny how things happen because I was working with admissions departments, but I had no idea at that point that this would come five years later. So what happened was I went to, uh... So I had the, uh, worked with the admissions. That business closed down because of COVID. Did some other things during COVID, after COVID, and then when the AI boom- I guess you wanna call it, started to come, I signed onto a platform called, um, it was called GoHighLevel. And, uh, but... A- and it's a great platform. The only thing was was I knew the AI wasn't robust enough for me to be able to roll out the treatment center. So what w- what I always say is when somebody reaches out, finally reaches out after interventions, maybe they've been to treatment six times, seven times, whatever it is, um, there is an issue if the phone's not answered. And what we found is about six... in one area, 60% of the phone calls weren't answered after 5:00 PM, they would go to voicemail. So briefly, I designed an AI. Uh, AI can do anything. That the biggest myth is AI lose, um, takes jobs away. Our AI is a tool for admissions departments, and also being able to answer the phone in that moment of clarity that somebody has, rather than going to voicemail, um, rather than, um, just an a, uh, a call center that might not be, uh, speaking, you know, clearly to them or, uh, during the night may be an issue. That's, that's the... in my personal experience, like we were talking about, that's my thing. You know? Like, I reached-- I know that when I had my moment of clarity, if there wasn't somebody on the on the other end of the phone, uh, it, it wouldn't have been good, and it doesn't last long. So that's a brief kind of thing. I know it's a little longer, but brief. Right. Right. No, I totally agree, 'cause like we said, you had to take advantage of those opportunities. And one of the abilities of AI is staffing, because 24/7 staffing can be a huge issue for companies, especially smaller independent companies, especially just with the work ethic and workforce nowadays. So having an AI that can cover those shifts that are, uh, not as easy to find employees for or to man, or certain times even, it's not always an issue of not answering the phone because of staffing, but just because of the volume of calls, especially with people being more addicted than ever before with, uh, you know, we have high numbers of people trying to get recovery. Uh, so we have a lot more people who are addicted. We have a lot more people trying to get recovery. Uh, so now you have more... f- the same amount of lines, but more people, right? So I think this is a, a great thing that we're gonna get into more detail. But I wanna start first backtracking a little bit with your personal story of addiction. Of course, we wanna get to know you a little bit about what was the cause of it. Looking back now, obviously in the moment you don't always realize it, but you've been sober, and you've been able to look back and reflect on life and get into recovery. So what was kind of the root cause and origin of this, and how did that unfold in life? Yeah, so for my addic- so I always really felt that I was an addict. Like, I acted out on different things before drugs, uh, and that was, like, fantasy. You know, like, I just always felt that I didn't wanna be myself. And my journey started really early, uh, when I was 16 years old. It was 1980. I know that sounds like a lifetime ago, and it, it probably is for some. But, um, so anyway, so I got clean. I went to treatment. I got clean, sober, and, uh, what happened was I stayed clean for 17 years. And then I had this great idea. I was married. A different life. Married with kids. And when you're looking for a reason to relapse, right, uh, it-- When you're, when you're in that mode of relapse, like away from working, you know, a program of recovery, whatever path you take, but once you stop that, your, your disease, in my opinion, finds a way in, right? So mine was talking to me saying, "Ah, you know what? You were really young. Maybe it was a phase." You know, we didn't know then all the things we know now. We did know a lot of things. I was going to a 12-step fellowship. That was there. Even though it was newer in my area, I was still going. Big part of it. Sponsored people. But I had this, well, it turned out to not be a great idea, but I thought it was a great idea at the time, and that would be to smoke pot with my wife. Pot's not a big deal. Wasn't why I was in treatment. I'm a different guy. A million reasons why I, I smoked. And, you know, that story didn't end well, you know? And then, um, and another event happened. Um, I was in bad shape. Moment of clarity Got clean again. Stay-- This time stayed clean five years. And I know it's gonna sound a little like this isn't repeating this, uh, thing, but the disease of addiction, in my opinion, the insanity of it, is doing the thing ti- same thing time after time, uh, again, expecting different results. So, uh, we were talking about it actually funny in the meeting last night about, you know, I was telling somebody I had, after five years, I had this idea that I could smoke pot with my wife. And that's not a rerun, but it is of what I said earlier. Because if you-- we would be talking now, uh, then instead of now, I would convince you. Like, because when you separate from the people in recovery, in m- like, in my opinion, you know, there's a lot of other tools, but just to focus on that one. An addict alone is in bad company, you know? Mm-hmm. So- Yeah, yeah ... what I did is I used again. Same result as before. You know, same exact thing. This time, 12 and a half years ago, I came back. And it's funny, the rehab I went back to is a client of mine now. Mm-hmm. So when I was working-- When I go in there for meetings and stuff, I see people at admissions. You know, you get to talk, say hello, usually wait in a few minutes. They're like, "Hey, does it work?" I'm like, "Hey, I, I was coming in with my trash bags 12 and a half years ago, and now this is my cl- I'm here on, on business." But, you know, that's just one of the benefits of recovery. So, so I got-- I dug in. I did it for myself. I haven't had any crazy ideas like pot's okay. My whole life really, like I said earlier, besides family, friends, and, you know, I have a good network of people, a sponsor. I go to three meetings a week still. And, uh, mostly my most pro-- Beyond trying to do everything I can to help anybody I can- I go to the prison up here once a week. Uh, uh, uh, it's about 45 minutes away from me, and me and another guy go every week, and we bring the message of hope into places where people need it the most. Now, that prison didn't let us... I w- I had it before. They didn't let us in right away, um, for about five years. It was all Zoom, like this. Uh, but now we're in. We started with one guy coming, now seven guys are coming. I say that because, you know, I, I have a belief in a higher power. Um, and my-- I feel like that's part of why I'm back. I gotta give back, you know, to keep it. You know, I don't wanna get too cliché on you, but... So my point is, through the whole thing is, I know what it's like to be clean, get all the benefits of being clean, all the things that happen. I know what it's like to break away and then use, and then back in addiction in a short time. So I know the feelings of, you know, all that. And, you know, I know at the end of the podcast you usually say, "Do you have anything for our viewers?" But what I can tell you is just listen to me and other people. It's never over. If you're not sure today, just call somebody, you know? We'll make sure they answer the phone . But, uh, call somebody. Reach out to a friend, a pastor, whoever it is. You're never alone. So I know that's usually the ending quote, but I just felt like saying it there. So that's a brief history Right, and you hit on some great points that we've discussed before on the show. One of the strongest points being something we've talked about a lot is the justification and rationale of an addict. You know, we've talked about- Mm-hmm ... the reason can be the most minimal or, you know, not even logical reason. Uh, but addicts try to leverage anything to justify using again or to- Mm ... continue using. So in the past, we've shared examples of, uh, from my own personal life with my father, who struggles with addiction. Every holiday is a reason to drink or do drugs or- Mm ... what he and some other- Mm ... addicts who have been on the show have talked about is it's not, you know, gin, it's soju, or it's not vodka, it's whiskey, or it's just a glass of wine, whatever it is. And the most- Mm ... interesting one, uh, you, 'cause you mentioned pot, we've heard of, "Well, you know, I'm only addicted to alcohol. I can use drugs," or vice versa. Uh, but you talked about, "Hey, maybe I was always an addict. Maybe that was just my personality, or maybe I've always struggled with that." And I've seen a lot of addicts are just addictive in nature and personality, whatever it is, that not only is it with alcohol or drugs, but it's with a lot of other parts of their lifestyle. Of course, I've also interviewed some people who can handle liquor, not drugs, or vice versa. I think one of the things we talk about the most on this show is, you know, uniqueness and individuality. You know, some people, their best recovery method has been going cold turkey by themselves. You know, but a lot of people have said, "I need the community. I need to go every week. I don't care if I've been sober for 30 years. It's waiting for me in the corner." You know, like you said, it's always looking for that chance to come back. I agree with that 100%, and we've talked to a lot of doctors and addicts both, uh, who have mentioned that, and it's so important to always be alert, you know, to be on guard for that. And I think, uh, recently with Matt Grace, uh, that was a great interview. He talked about God Doesn't Relapse and the life he lived that almost killed him with sex, drugs, and alcohol, and addiction. And one of the things he mentioned is he said his best form of sobriety was service, was volunteering and helping other people, and finding that greater purpose and identity, while also having community within that. So it really is a multifaceted opportunity for both addicts and just people. I always encourage everyone to get out and help serve others. It's, uh, humbling for yourself. It gives you a great perspective on life, and it occupies your time, and helps shape your purpose and identity. Now, you mentioned being a part of a transportation service for addiction, so I just wanna get into that a little bit about how that worked and how that kinda came into your life. Yeah. So crazy enough, you know, when you get, when you're in early recovery, you, you're trying to just focus 100% on recovery, you know, for me. That, that's my path, right? Again, and I agree with ... I, I just wanted to take a step back. I agree with what you're saying. Everybody has their own path. I have a proven method that works and a proven method that doesn't work. Um, and so what hap- ... So for me, I was driving Uber, just getting my life back together and be- you know, people used to go, most people, believe it or not, would go a few places, obviously the airport. But, you know, I'm at outside Philadelphia and there's a big town here that everybody's heard of is Kensington. It's, you know, I, I don't know if everybody's heard of it, but it's pretty popular. It's like one of the biggest drug places in the world. So people would either go there or once in a while I would take somebody to treatment. And I thought to myself, "Here's the problem. If Uber, if I OD in the back of this car," which for me, and I know a lot of other addicts' story is we're gonna get as high as we can 'cause it's our last hurrah. So if I'm taking pills, shooting dope, whatever, drinking in the back of the car and I need to be Narcaned, what can an Uber driver do? How many people die at that point, right? Mm-hmm. Mm. Uh, and I'm not putting anything on Uber. That's not the service they offer. So what I did is I went out and I started, I went door to not door to door, but calls, LinkedIn, everything with treatment centers and said, "Hey, look, I'll go there." I'll ... I got certified in recovery specially in my state and also in interventions. And, um, what I did was I said, "Look, you know, we talk about the call, but one of the other pain points for a treatment center is the door, right? Getting somebody out of the door." So I started to do it and, uh, you know, I, I felt like I was able to deliver results because people that would've never came, that would've put it off, had come to treatment. On a personal level, I mean, even though it's a b- was a business, on a personal level, that helped me a lot. I talked recovery and my own experience all the way down. But the turning positive point to that, and I was gonna tell you before we started, is I do have a dog who sometimes likes to bark on Zoom. I was gonna tell you that before there. But the reason I say that is I got a rescue. He was five years old, not for this reason again. And, uh, about six months or a year into the business, I started bringing him on the rides. We would go eight, 10 hours up and back, you know, eight hours up, eight hours back, whatever. But- You would be surprised how many people I think I wouldn't have gotten unless I said I had a dog in the car. And people used to fall asleep on him. Yeah, yeah. You know, like, it gives that, you know, it gives some people, it gives people comfortability, you know? And he's been great for me. Uh, like I said, he was a y- a five years old rescue. It was a friend of mine in recovery who was fostering him, and he said, uh, "Just take him home tonight. Uh, if you don't like him, bring him back." Which is the craziest line that you could tell somebody with a dog. Seven years later, he's still here. But my point being that I was able to... I knew the connection. We were interviewed, uh, not... Well, he didn't say anything, but we, me and him were interviewed. Um, we papered. There were stories about us. Um, but if you remember, uh, in 2020 or even 2019 when COVID started... Oh, towards the end of that, I wasn't taking the dog. I was doing flights. Mm-hmm. So I would fly up, say, Maine, right? Meet the person, take them on, uh, the flight, maybe change planes and go down to the treatment center. Wow. Right? So it was going to that too. But nobody knew, nobody knew what the pro- It was a big thing in the treatment industry, 'cause nobody knew what the protocols were. For COVID, obviously- Right, right ... but also for treatment. It's an essential service, right? Like, it's life or death for people, right? So it's essential that way. But also, the other part of it is, is that, um, you know, what do you do? Like, do you bring somebody to treat- Are you liable if you bring somebody to treatment that has COVID? This, early COVID, I'm saying. Right. Has COVID, didn't wear a mask or wore a ma- whatever it is, and gets the rest of the center sick. We didn't know anything, so I closed it down for that reason. And I just don't have the strength and energy to, you know, do those long rides again. Um, unless it's not in my... It's not for business. It's a friend of mine or somebody I know or I meet that needs to get to treatment. Uh, you know, I'd gladly do that in my personal life, you know? But not as a business, just, you know, "I'll take it," you know, or friends, whatever. So yeah. Right. That was Sober Transport. No, I completely agree. You know, that's a long journey. Uh, it seems like you often went out of your way pretty far just to help one individual sometimes, and I think that's amazing. I never even thought about the amount of people using a door drive or a, a driving service, you know, like Uber or, or similar, Lyft, to, uh, go to those kinds of places. And like you said, uh, they're last hurrah, they have someone else driving. You know, I think a lot of us don't think about that kind of stuff. And then the whole COVID part, of course, you know, it's such a strange situation and, uh, glad it's over and, you know, that we've gone through that. So At what point do you have the idea for, uh, the company n- you now run, which I also have to get into the name. I was definitely curious about that. Um, I was gonna wear a blue shirt, but it's in the laundry, so I didn't wear one. Um, that was just a... Yeah, you, you got yours. I've, I've got a blue tie on at least, you know. Um- Okay. Thank you ... but can you tell us a little... Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Y- yeah, so, uh, w- uh, and you're... It's not 'cause you just said that. I was in between blue shirt and blue tie, right? I know it not 'cause you... I know- Right ... it has nothing to do with what I do, right? It's an agency, right? And I don't know. I felt like, you know, there was no AI at the time. Uh, it was back in 2021, and I just formed a new company that was br- like a marketing agency, and back then you used this thing called Google. Yeah, yeah, we all use Google. But, uh, you know, before El- before, uh, Claude and ChatGPT, all the LLMs, I, uh, just f- Googled, like, what's a good idea for a, uh, you know, for a, a marketing agency, and one of the things that came up was Blue Shirt Media. I'm like, that... Because marketing agencies are usually named, like, funky names. Yeah. So I figured that one's neutral and out of the way, so that's why I picked that, that name. Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. That was not the origin story I was expecting. Um- It's... No, it w- I was wearing a blue shirt that day. That's the origin story. And now you always have to wear a blue shirt pretty much. Yeah. I- Yeah don't always, but I try to. Yeah. I have a lot in my closet. For sure. Now, can you tell us a little bit about what exactly do you do? So do you help, uh, addiction treatment centers install the AI you've created to help answer their phone calls, or what kind of is the process? Yeah, so, uh, very simply, we create, um, a done-for-you-product. Meaning that we work, we... Uh, I work with treatment centers exclusively, um, for a lot of reasons that we, most of them we just went over. Right. Um, but also jumping back to that sober transport real quick is understanding how admissions departments, you know, are really the, in my opinion, the most important people in t- in the treatment center. You know, they're the, they're the people that could take the call or whatever. Uh, you know, and all the other things they do. They're so spread so thin in little centers and in big centers just alike. So that's why along with overnight answering, we do long c- uh, long hold times, dropped calls, um- Any way that a call comes in, uh, that they can't do. So we, you know, talking about that moment of clarity, let's just say we call a larger center, right? And, uh, it's a prime time for calls, let's say. Um, so what happens is the, uh, people, um, go, you know, they, they're on hold. That moment of clarity may lose it. So we have an, you know, AI will come on and say, "Hey, Joe, it's Mr. Whiskey from ABC Treatment Center. Hey, can you wanna give us some preliminary information so we can..." So we keep them engaged, the AI. Our AI sounds just like a person, but it's always identifies as an AI agent, so we don't try to misrepresent anybody or anything. You know, it's an AI agent. We also let the caller know the call's been recorded. So the treat- And the call goes into the treatment center CRM. So what we're able to do is, um, they have the information that the AI collects from, from their e- already in, so when they get on the call or it's the next day or whatever it is, they already have the, um, the information that they need. Um, we also ask the client in the beginning of the call if they want a text message summary of the call If they say yes and they opt in, we send a text message. We can also, once they opt in, we could also, if it's an overnight call, for example, we could also send them a reminder in the morning. We can have a, we can ha- do, we also do in situations like that, AI call them if they prefer a phone call. Once we have permission to send, you know, they opt in, that, that's how we, that's what we do. So yeah, so it's multifaceted. It's any... Really the simplest way to put it, it's anywhere the treatment center's funnel of how leads come in. It's any holes in there where, like I said, you know, before in the beginning, we're not there to replace anybody. We're just there to fill in the gaps with a compassionate human s- a- sounding agent. And I'll just say this, is we don't have a out-of-the-box, um, model, right? I do demos for people that are out of the box, right? But I sit with the treatment center and I find out what is, what do they want to accomplish. Obviously, I do all the AI stuff on my end, right? But it's done for you, meaning that it, it fits your treatment center, which, which helps get more people in the treatment and streamline the process more. So yeah, so that's really the whole Blue Shirt Media idea. And how long have you been doing that for again? Yeah, yeah. I've been doing this one year. I, you know, the company's been open before. We had, you know, other projects, other things we were doing. Um, and, uh, I have a VA, a full-time VA that does work for me that fills in the gaps that the AI yeah, unlike any other business. I have a developer that I work with that helps me with anything that I can't figure out. Uh, mainly I'm the frontline guy. So yeah, so you know, no partners, just me Really ... right in that first year is always, uh, both the best and the most difficult year for a couple different reasons. So, uh, you know, how has it been going, and where do you see the future kind of expanding to? I'm gonna answer you ... I sound like a, uh, like you're a reporter, but you're not. I'm gonna answer the second question first. Okay. Uh, I've been asked this. I've done a bunch of podcasts, and I've been a- I'm asked that question, where is it going? I can't ... It's ... Here where I am, it's 10:00 AM, almost 10:00 AM. I can't tell you where AI will be at 5:00 today. That's how fast- Yeah ... it's moving. I wish I knew where we were going, but yeah, so, um, it's been going good, you know. Uh, the clients we have s- you know, are, stay with us. Um, you know, reor- you know, keep going. Um, and my goal is to put the best product possible. What's the i- what's the main ... Like, what's the idea? The idea is, how do we help more people get into treatment that are already looking for help? You know, obviously there's other steps to this home that have nothing to do with me. Right. Business development, um, you know, counselors, all different stages o- o- of the center, of the centers. So, uh, what I do is I try to just stick to my niche. The other thing I wanna talk about real quick is we have another thing that we do s- along the same lines, is when you ca- let's say you called a treatment center today, right? And, uh, you hung up, or you went to a treatment center and you left in three days, right? Or that, or you, um, or you were started to do the form, w- and then admissions called you back. Nobody under 50 answers the phone anyway, so if admissions tries to call you back, addicts most likely won't answer the phone. So we call those people inactive people, right? They've shown interest through marketing, through Facebook ads, Google ads, whatever, however they came in the door. Treat ... Uh, most centers have this huge file of people that they can't, they don't have Admissions is dealing with the guy that calls now. They don't have the time to go back. Even alumni, it's hard for that. So what we do is we get the client commercially approved to send text message. That's a process, um, that we, that we have to take the client through because the phone companies got together 20 years ago and said, "We're not gonna let e- us be emailed." So they regulate, like you gotta sign up, be a legitimate business, otherwise you probably get them all day too. You get these calls that say, "This is spam," or, you know, text messages, "Is this spam?" So when we set a client up, it's their federal ID, all that, they, once they're approved, their messages go through. So my point is once their messages go through, we take the file, we arrange, um, we, you know, we send a message. Again, basic. "Hi, it's Dave," let's just say. It's usually them, but never me. But the, you know, "Dave from ABC Treatment, just wanna let you know, uh, just wanna see how things are going." Something under 160 character, easy. If they engage with that text message, then AI will engage back with them. Just to kind of qu- again, up to the treatment center how far they wanna go with the qualifications. As soon as they hit that, um, hit that, like, uh, point where the treatment center says, "Yeah, maybe this, you know, we got a chance here," they have a click-to-call button. Their also information is also going into their network, so they could call if they wanted to or text, however they wanna do it. When you asked in the beginning of the interview about, like, how my personal experience came into that- I was that guy in a rehab CRM that was never contacted. Now, I'm not blaming the rehab, uh, by any means. You know, uh, people want help, they can get it. But if they can't, if they have all these people they, they can't reach, and we can bring one person back a month, you know, we... As you know from what you, you know, you're experiencing this podcast, you never know how that one life will change, you know? Um, and could change, you know, two people, three people, whatever it is. It's big. It, you know, it is a business, so financially it's a good thing for them. But more importantly, they're able to engage with people. So not everybody comes back to treatment, obviously, or else they would have, you know, uh, no time for anything. Sometimes people are just following up, checking in, "Hey, I'm good," whatever. So they have able to build more data. But what I said earlier, nobody under 50 is really gonna, you know, um, you definitely are under 50. You for sure are just, I'm gonna contact you via text message, right? That's how we're going to connect if you're that person. And I'll just say this last thing about it. Picture the dinner table. You're, let's say, 25 years old, you've been in treatment twice already, and you get a call from a treatment center. Mom and Dad and your sister, brother, whatever, are sitting at the table. You're not gonna take that call. You don't want the family to do it. But if I reach out through a text, via text to the client, then what happens, the client is able to, you know, kind of engage with something less threatening than a phone call, and also the proven way of communication to people, younger people. I say younger, but you know, y- uh, people today. And I, like you, I get valid text messages from businesses I do business with, and I respond to them. But it's the only thing that's 100% read rate. You may not respond, you may hit unsubscribe, whatever it is, but you're gonna read it. So yeah, that's, that's... We call that lead re-engagement. Mm-hmm. No, I, I agree with all this. I think, you know, the importance is we're helping get anyone we can, you know? There's plenty of people who are gonna say, "I hate AI, I'm not talking to this," or, "I'm not gonna answer that text," or, "I'm not gonna answer that call," like you said. But it's not detracting or pushing anyone away, right? What we're doing is we're helping get some people who were gonna be missed out on, and so I think it's really important, you know. And like you said, you never know how it's gonna change a life, and, you know, it's... The, the treatment world is, if it were a water system, it's one full of leakage, right? Not because it's poorly designed, but because of just the way the water itself moves. Uh, and you know, you're helping create a secondary system to try to catch whatever spillover you can and return it back to the main system, you know, and it's better than if you had nothing. So I agree 100%, this is really important work, and I hope to continue to see the expansion that's other addiction treatment centers, you know, hearing this podcast or finding your website, whatever it is, and saying, "Hey, you know what? We need to do something like that, and we need to get as many people as we can." So I encourage everyone listening, if you're not an addiction treatment center, which I doubt everyone listening is, uh, if you're someone who's been affected by addiction, whether personally or in your family, which most families now have been affected by addiction, uh, you know, please help spread this information, uh, maybe to your local treatment center or to anyone you know that, you know, knows someone. I think that's what this is about, that expansion, because, uh, the more people we can reach, the more people we can help, and I, I think that's a really beautiful thing. That's what we're meant to do, is serve and help one another. And like you said, addiction is a terribly painful thing. It's a very difficult thing to fight. Uh, you know, we... I've had a lot of episodes, probably over 50 to 100 episodes, of people whose lives were ruined by addiction. Not just the addicts themselves, but all the people around them, you know, from lost marriages to DUIs, to jail time, to overdosing, to all kinds of stuff. Um, people will do desperate things in addiction, uh, even prostitution. So if we can help prevent that and intervene more, I think that's a beautiful thing. And we're gonna have your website in the description below, of course, for people to check out. And you already said your message that you want everyone to take away, but if you just wanted to, uh, you know, just re-share that again for people to really reflect on. Yeah. So if you're listening to this, e- even more important than spreading my word, because, you know, we, we do, you know, I appreciate that, the company, Blue Shirt Media. That's all good stuff for me. But for you, what you can do is if you're struggling today, I told my s- was wa- upfront about my story. It took me, I came in at 16, 33, and 50, and I could tell you it's never too late. Amen. If you're sh- if you, you know, if you're using drugs against your own will, or if you're just not sure where you're at, don't play it out. There's help available. Local treatment centers, um, you know, community groups, 12-step fellowships, church, Medicaid. Whatever works, there's hope for you. You can do this. So just however you can, just ask for help. Believe me, the benefits are worth it. 100%. So Mr. Seischel, thank you so much for not just guesting today, but for what you do. And like I said, I hope to see, uh, it reach a lot of people and touch a lot of lives. So thank you for your time today. Thank you, Mr. Risky. I appreciate it.