Christie serves as the Executive Director for Rock Recovery, a nonprofit that helps people overcome eating disorders and mental health challenges by combining clinical and community care. Having gone through recovery herself, she understands the depth of support needed to recover and is passionate about spreading the message that freedom from disordered eating is possible. She is an active speaker and shares her story with organizations and media outlets across the country. Before coming on staff at Rock Recovery Christie worked as a consultant with PwC and served as Associate Development Director for Habitat for Humanity's 7th largest national affiliate in Charlotte, NC. Christie now resides in Washington, DC with her husband, Ryan.

• CEO Hack: A play- The Next Right Thing
• CEO Nugget: Feel good, don't be too hard on yourself, and don't get stuck on being perfect
• CEO Defined: Servant leadership, creator and being responsible

Website: http://www.rockrecoveryed.org/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/rockrecoveryed
Instagram: http://instagram.com/rockrecovery

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FULL INTERVIEW

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[00:00:02.20] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

[00:00:26.10] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Christy Dondero Betwe of Rock Recovery. Christy, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:39.39] – Christie Bettwy

Thanks for having me, Gresh. Good to be here.

[00:00:41.39] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Christy so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Christy serves as the executive director for Rock Recovery, a nonprofit that helps people overcome eating disorders and mental health challenges by combining clinical and community care. Having gone through recovery herself, she understands the depth of support needed to recover and is passionate about spreading the message that freedom from disordered eating is possible. She is an active speaker and shares her story with organizations and media outlets across the country. Prior to coming on staff at Rock Recovery, Christy worked as a consultant with the Prince Waterhouse Coopers and served as an associate development director for Habitat for Humanity's seventh-largest net national affiliate chapter in Charlotte, North Carolina. Christy now resides in Washington, DC with her husband, Ryan. Christy, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:32.59] – Christie Bettwy

I'm ready. Yeah.

[00:01:33.90] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Let's do it. So I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit and hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. We'll let you get started with your organization.

[00:01:42.09] – Christie Bettwy

Sure. So I'm an accidental CEO, I think. I don't know about the common trade or not that people have, but I got involved in recovery about a year after it was founded. So I joked that I adopted the organization. I didn't birth it, but I'm very attached to it now. And I so I have personal lived experience with an eating disorder, which is what brought me to this field. And after recovering and going through the hard work of recovery, I realized, wow, there are a lot of people who don't have access to things that I had to act to that you really need to get better. And what are these people gonna do? Who's gonna help them? And so kind of over a period of years, I got involved with Rock Recovery and realized this organization is doing so much to bridge gaps for people in the mental health space and helping them get the care that they need.

And I, you know, you read my bio, I had a very interesting past. I think if you look at a resume, you'll be like, this person didn't know what they wanted. Mhmm. Life for really a long time. I was a PR person at a college, worked for Habitat for Humanity like you said, that I love, and then I was a consultant for a bit too. So I think the beauty of being a CEO now is that all of those skills I developed over the years come in handy daily. Even though it seems that they were all super varied and kind of random. They helped me flourish in my role now, and it's been really neat to see how even a random resume can wind up being a really big asset for you down the road.

[00:02:58.19] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah.

[00:02:59.40] – Christie Bettwy

And then Rock Recovery a bit about the organization, if you wanna hear a bit about our official work is that we have people overcome eating disorders, which is a huge issue that people just don't talk about in our society even though it's super prevalent. You know, mental health generally is definitely ramping up as a society, and there's a lot more work to be done to educate and to treat and to support people who need, you know, extra help. But we provide clinical programs and community events. As you mentioned, I speak quite a bit and share my story of recovery, and I always I don't have fancy letters behind my name, like all the therapists that we have on staff with us, but I have a story, and that gives me some street cred in a different way.

[00:03:38.09] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. I would definitely say that, and I think that so many times, you know, as you kinda, you know, touched on as well too, people don't know that there's a way out, you know, whenever they're going through an eating disorder or any kind of frustration. And I think by you being able to tell your story, for one, obviously, it's an incredible story. It gives you the opportunity to talk about how you overcome, but it also kind of empowers people as well to say that it is actually possible when sometimes you think that it can't be.

[00:04:04.90] – Christie Bettwy

Absolutely. And that's one thing I always joke about. I pity the person who sits by me on a plane and asks what I do for a living because, you know, depending on what flight is, they might be sad they asked me that question. But the more I share my story and talk about my own experience, you know, I can't really say what I do for a living without mentioning that I am recovered and it's personal, so, like, things get serious real quick if you meet me at a dinner party or on an airplane. But the more that I share, the more people share back.

I mean, it's so much more common that someone's like, oh my gosh, me too, or my brother or my partner or my sister. Like, it's just so much more common that people have the stories. They're just not talking about it because there still is stigma, there still is shame, and my whole life's work is to remove that shame because people don't need to be ashamed for struggling. We're human, of course, things get hard, and mental illness is a really common thing to struggle with and it's okay, it's okay to go through these hard times.

[00:04:55.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I appreciate you, you know, doing your part in speaking and letting people know about that because I think, as you said, it's definitely prevalent in so many different people. Even the most high-performing people, a lot of times, don't realize that they're dealing with something because we all are in some form, shape, or fashion. So I appreciate you for having that vulnerability and also kind of letting people be connected to you so that they can, you know, feel at home and feel like they're safe in terms of being able to kinda express that.

[00:05:25.19] – Christie Bettwy

Absolutely. And I think one of the biggest lies that we believe in our own personal struggles, whether it be work relationships or mental, is that we're alone and we're the only ones, and it's just not true. You know, we all have something that we go through at some point in time, and so to be able to share the story of recovery, you know, it gets better is hope that we can really offer people. But it it does. It does. There's real there's real improvement and freedom that's possible.

[00:05:48.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. So I know you touched on it a little bit. Could you take us through, like, exactly, you know, how rock recovery works, how the programs and process work for people that might be listening?

[00:06:00.00] – Christie Bettwy

Absolutely. You know, I really do love this organization, and our programs are so unique. So we uniquely combine community support and clinical care. A lot of our programs are done in a group environment, so virtual or in person. So group therapy, group meals, and then because we believe in the power of clinical experts. So we have most of our groups are run by actually licensed clinicians, but we believe in the power of peer-to-peer, you know, we call it the gift of I get it. You know, for someone else across the table to say something that you've thought your whole life and thought, gosh, no one else thinks these horrible things or no one else struggled with this, and then someone else mentions the same thing and you realize, oh, man, someone does get it.

People with eating disorders, often have great family or great friends, but if they haven't gone through it themselves, it's hard to know how to support somebody. So we give that peer that shoulder-to-shoulder gift of I get it. We also give clinical expertise that people really need. You need the experts. You need the fancy letters behind the name. And then we also help just with the cost. So all of our programs, because we're a nonprofit and because there's a lot of different barriers in the health care system right now and especially with mental health and insurance generally. A lot of places aren't able to take insurance and everything is privately paid out of pocket. So our clients are paying two hundred dollars an hour for a therapist, and if you're a teacher, if you're a single parent, I mean, you just can't afford that. It's just not sustainable.

You need to put groceries in the fridge and, you know, keep a roof over your head. So we also provide all of our programs on a sliding scale and work with community partners, wonderful donors, a lot of donor support of ours, and generous support of ours to help make the cost accessible for anybody. And because we don't have to work through the insurance company, we're able to do a sliding scale so that all people have access to the care that they need. Right now, we're just in the DC metro area in Virginia, DC, and Maryland, but we're looking at expanding across the nation because we think this is something that the entire nation, the entire world needs, this clinical and community piece really coming together.

[00:07:55.69] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That makes so much sense, and as we, you know, talked about it in the beginning that, you know, it's not something that is, in one pocket or one place. It's literally all across the world. , it's something that people need and they need a place to go, and I get it is a huge thing. I love that because so many times we can feel by ourselves by getting the opportunity to understand that not just I'm struggling, but everybody's struggling in their own specific way. And if somebody can relate to me it is such a huge, game changer in my opinion. So, I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and it could be for yourself or your organization. But what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:08:32.29] – Christie Bettwy

A secret sauce. I mean, I think for our organization, our people are our product, you know, like we're a service organization that's providing therapy and resources through humans. And the thing that makes us really unique and the thing that I've really seen help us thrive is that we care for our people, you know, we care for our staff, we care for our clients, we care for the community. It's really easy when you're a CEO or an entrepreneur because you're so passionate about the thing that you're doing that you get caught in the to-do list, you get caught in the next best thing you can do or doing better, doing more, and sometimes that expense means that humans get left behind and that either other people or yourself.

So for me, self-care, you know, it's a kind of trite and corn phrase that people are talking about a little bit more now, but self-care is so critical. It's the whole oxygen symbol, you know, you put your oxygen mask on first before you care for somebody else. So as we're caring for our organizations, as we're providing great service, you have to care for your people and that starts with you.

[00:09:27.60] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I absolutely kinda love that, that secret sauce. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:09:41.39] – Christie Bettwy

There's this phrase that I've come to love called the, like, the next right thing, do the next right thing, and I feel like I early on, especially, as I came on staff with Rock Recovery, got stuck because I was like, oh my gosh. We have millions of people we could serve. There are eight million things I do today. How am I gonna possibly figure out what to do with this next twenty-four-hour period when this issue is so much bigger than myself? And so taking a step back and while not of course, it's important to look at the whole scope of things and have that vision orientation, it's also really important to not get the analysis paralysis and just do the next right thing.

So that's a phrase that I've often repeated to myself. It's actually a book by Emily p Freeman. It's been quoted by many people over the years, but one of the recent books I've really enjoyed is Emily P. Freeman, The Next Right Thing, and it's helped me in the moment. I don't have to panic about a week from now or a month from now or a year right from now, like what am I gonna do right now in five minutes? And it keeps me on track and not getting stuck in, like, a fear-based cycle or loop of of an activity.

[00:10:38.39] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. So, I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or something you might tell yourself if you were to hop into a time machine.

[00:10:48.79] – Christie Bettwy

We are good and don't get so stuck on being perfect all the time. Kinda going back to the analysis paralysis piece, I've always struggled with actionism. I really want to do things excellently, which can be such a great gift but can also be a curse at some point because it can get you stuck. And if I could have gone back and told myself, you know, ten years ago or five years ago even, just, like, give yourself some grace, have some compassion.

I used to think that I would only make progress if I beat myself up and was super hard on myself. Like, it seemed to me like, oh, criticism is what will actually drive performance, but I've actually found that empathy and compassion drive performance for me, not criticism. So, you know, don't be so hard on yourself. Don't try to do it perfectly. Of course, we wanna be excellent, but we have limitations. We are not an infinite resource, you know. We have we have to sleep. We have to eat. We have to do all these things and just we don't have to do it perfectly. We can have some self-compassion.

[00:11:45.00] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. A lot of times, we set the tone of exactly, what we hope to see. So, that brings me to now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And I wasn't sure if you already touched on this, but, if you were to to define CEO, how would you define it?

[00:12:01.39] – Christie Bettwy

Gosh. It's such a great question. So I think if I decide to find a CEO, to some degree, it is leadership, but more so for me, I love the idea of servant leadership. I think I had this moment when I became CEO of Rock Recovery that I realized, oh my gosh, I am driving this innovation. Whatever I choose to do is gonna change the course of our entire program history. It's gonna change our clients' lives. We might save lives. We might lose lives. Like, I have this responsibility to make wise decisions, and it's going to impact real lives and real people.

And so I think of the idea of servant leadership too of how can I care for others around me, how can I actually be a little bit deeper and not look at just the super things, but look at the whole person and the people that we're serving, the people that I get to work with shoulder to shoulder? But I feel like being a CEO is leadership, and, again, that trickles down. And it's it's a weighty responsibility to be at the top of something because you're shifting and shaping it. So I think to be a CEO also means to be a creator. You're you're creating something that wouldn't exist without you, and that's a lot. That's just a lot.

[00:13:07.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. No. But I truly appreciate that perspective and that definition. I think when you have that servant leadership, obviously, as you all have in your organization, I think you understand that you have the ability. I usually say, like, a lot of times the CEO can be like an artist where you are the creator. You create that vision. You paint that canvas for what you have and also for the people that are around you and the organization as well. So definitely appreciate that perspective and that definition, and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know, and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out all awesome things you and your team are working on.

[00:13:45.20] – Christie Bettwy

Yeah. Well, kind of a dangerous thing to pass the mic. I have a lot to say. So, as far as getting in touch with me, people can go on Recovery's website, which is just w w w dot rock recovery e d dot o r g. We've got contact forms there, some great resources for you or your loved ones, and we'd love to hear from you. And then just things I'd like to say, you know, generally as far as this issue goes with disordered eating and mental wellness and mental health in our society, I just want people to know it's okay if they struggle, that they shouldn't feel ashamed, and it's okay to need help. You know, I get to hang out with therapists most days for free without paying a co-pay or any kind of fee to hang out with them because it's my work.

And I am just amazed at the experts that we have available to us, and it's okay to meet them. If we go to the doctor, why don't we go see a therapist? You know, we need to care for our whole selves. So just that encouragement as you're leading, as you're driving, as you're figuring out your goals and your vision, don't forget to take care of yourself and don't forget to pay attention to your mental health in addition to your physical health because it matters and it all kind of flows out of that. And it's okay if we need help and it's okay if we struggle. Just because we're in charge or we're the leaders doesn't mean we have to be perfect and doesn't mean we have to have all the answers even. We all need each other, and that's okay. It's an okay thing because the community is where a lot of life happens.

[00:15:00.50] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. I truly appreciate that perspective, and I appreciate that that, that, kinda leave behind as well too, Chrissy, because I think so many times we can kinda get caught up on, you know, things being perfect, of not struggling, when in reality, everybody struggles. Not only do people struggle on the way to success, people just struggle generally speaking, and you're not alone in doing that. So I truly appreciate you for reminding us of that message. We will have the links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can follow up with you and connect with you. But thanks for being, you know, part of our community and and letting us, you know, learn so much from you. And I truly appreciate you and everything you're doing, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

[00:15:38.50] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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