From Addiction To Purpose: Chuck Day’s Testimony Of Recovery, Redemption & Building A Behavioral Health Empire (Inspirational)

Have you ever felt like giving up, even while trying to do the right thing?

In this powerful episode, Reginald D dive into the inspiring transformation story of Chuck Day—a former addict who turned his life around, from overcoming drug addiction, to becoming the founder of a thriving behavioral health treatment center and a behavioral health leader. Chuck shares raw and unfiltered moments from his journey, from struggling with addiction and betrayal to building a purpose-driven company that saves lives every day. This episode speaks to anyone seeking healing, hope, or the courage to walk through fire and come out with purpose.

So many people silently battle addiction, discouragement, or the aftermath of poor choices—while searching for a way out. This episode shows how Chuck’s darkest moments laid the foundation for his greatest impact. Whether you're in recovery, supporting someone who is, or simply looking for a story of resilience and purpose, Chuck's message will show you that even in pain, there's a plan.

What You’ll Gain:

• A real-life roadmap for turning pain into purpose – how Chuck moved from active addiction to starting his own recovery center.
• Wisdom on overcoming adversity and choosing the right people – powerful, street-level advice on surrounding yourself with mentors, not enablers.
• Leadership insights from the trenches – what it takes to run a behavioral health facility while staying true to your purpose.

Press play now to hear Chuck Day's drug rehabilitation story, and how he turned his lowest moments into a life-saving mission and his addition recovery —and why believing in yourself might be the breakthrough you've been waiting for.

Chuck's info:

Potter House Recovery Website - https://potterhousetreatment.com

Potter House Phone:

Transcript

Welcome to Real Talk with Reginald D. I'm your host, Reginald D. On today's episode, I have Charles Day, better known as Chuck Day. He's overcome adversity, drug addiction, and walked in faith, and is the owner and CEO of Potter House Recovery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Welcome to the show, Chuck.

Uh, thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you for inviting me out. Um, I've been anticipating this moment all week.

My pleasure. Yes, sir. Likewise. Likewise. So tell us a little bit about you. Where did you grow up and your upbringing?

Ooh, my upbringing was, I was a, it was a family of five. So I had my mother, I had my father, I had my sister, and I had my brother, and I was the middle child. So a lot of people tell you that I was the black sheep of the family, but I would, you know, often classify our family being the black sheep of the families in the neighborhood. Besides my dad, he ended up, you know, pulling it together and doing a lot. But my upbringings were, you know, lower class, or growing up in a trailer park. My mother, my father, they separated at the age of eight. My mother, she was an alcoholic. When they separated, she moved down the street. And he got an apartment and she lived in Section 8 housing her entire life. She never had a job. She never had a driver's license. Ever since I could remember, she had some form of alcohol beverage in her hand, whether it was a beer or some type of liquor. And when I was eight, her and my dad, they were fighting. over the fact that she couldn't quit. He sold drugs. He ended up stopped selling drugs because he realized he had to be the responsible one for the family. And she would cheat on him, bringing multiple guys. And one time I even seen her have a boyfriend over and my dad showed up from work and they got in a fist fight. He broke his wrist over his right over his face. and then threw this guy outside out the front door. And the next day, that same guy came back and my dad was at work again. So there was a point where my dad, you know, wanted to be traditional, keep the family together, but there was only so much verbal abuse that he could take. Even like, you know, physical abuse. She tried to stab me with a butter knife one time. And he ended up, you know, having to make a decision. He grew up Catholic. So he thought, you know, through his religion, the way he thought, like, regardless of what was going on, he was supposed to keep the family together. But eventually, enough was enough. And he had to do what he had to do. He stepped away from that relationship. He got custody of me and my sister. And my brother was still there at my mother's house. He was the youngest one of all of us. And we didn't know why he didn't take him. And he was like, well, your mom's going to mess up. And he called it. He was having to predict the future. And he said, it's just a matter of time before I get my son, your brother. And shortly after that, he got a phone call from the cops. And my mom was found in the trailer, passed out beer cans all over the place. And that's when they said, will you take Tyler too? And he ended up raising all three of us, ended up being at a position where he had to work late hours to be able to pay the bills, keep food on the table. And at that point I was, you know, thinking of ways where I could be of help in the family. So I got involved in the street life, very young, selling drugs, doing drugs, hanging out with people that would commit crimes. I started, you know, getting in trouble myself up in and out of 2020, which is juvenile jail. And I think I started selling crack cocaine right when I was like 12, 13. I remember vividly I was selling marijuana and then right shortly after started selling crack cocaine. And I was back and forth from my mom's house and my dad's house. I was able to do that type of behavior with my mom. She bought drugs off of me. I sold drugs to my mom down the road. I sold drugs to my brother. I sold drugs to my sister and many other people in the community. And growing up around that, I almost thought it was normal. Um, I didn't think too much of it. My dad used to frown on a big time, trying to get me to do straight. And that's when I would just, go hang out with my mom and we would steal from one another. If I was falling asleep, she'd be trying to get in my pockets or I would try to go in her pockets. And I remember her at a young age messing with a lot of men at that time, uh, to the point where she wouldn't let me in the apartment, sometimes banging on the door. She'd be in there messing with different guys. And I think I developed this, this, the abandonment issue real young, her choosing another man over me, which caused up, a lot of hate, a lot of resentments towards her. But at the end of the day, she was still my mother. So I tried my best to keep that relationship, just felt like she wasn't fully involved most of the time. And now I understand that she had alcoholism, and she didn't have a solution for her problems. And eventually she ended up, she ended up drinking and killing herself from, you know, allowing her body to become too weak and fell and hit her head and ended up, you know, not living through that process. So that was my upbringing. I remember, like I said, I got involved in selling a lot of drugs, doing drugs, and it took me away from sports. When I was out in the street selling drugs, a lot of my friends were, you know, showing up for basketball practice. And I did, I think all the way up to like the seventh, eighth grade, walking to ninth grade in high school. It just, it robbed me of all my like basketball dreams or any type of dream that I might have. Because when you're 14, 15, and you think ways to be able to provide money for your family, there's not a lot of job opportunities out there that's going to hire you on where you can make money, or at least enough money to be able to help your brother and sister or your father out. So I was that person that was selling drugs day in, day out, taking drugs to school, doing drugs at school. And eventually, when I was like 16, 17, I was charged with trafficking in the school zone and possession of the school zone. And I was incarcerated. And my friend, he ended up getting incarcerated, too. He was a adult at the time, because I was hung out with older people. And we ended up facing the consequences because of that. But I didn't learn my lesson. I got out. and I did what I knew, right? How can someone do anything different, right? That's all they know. I think that's one thing I was missing a lot, like real mentorship growing up. My dad mentored me, you know, and he would always throw stuff inside of my brain, best and good. But at some point after hanging around with so many people that thought like that and were involved in criminal activities, it became a way of life. Yeah, that was my upbringing. So I was the first person to ever inject my sister with heroin, which I was resentful towards myself for doing that for a long time. And I was in and out, uh, treatment centers. Eventually I realized, you know, my drug dealing days were over because I became a drug addict. Um, I became my best customer. All I did was use my own product and through using my own product, I got heavily dependent on drugs to the point where I would withdraw coming off heroin. IV user by the time I was like 18, 19. My dad was fed up with the way I was living. So he ended up kicking me out of the house. And through that process, there was a drug deal gone bad. There was a group of people that tried to rob me. And I was in a position where someone pulled out a gun and he shot me in the knee. And I got up after that incident, I fought, right? We hit the ground, we wrestled, he had a gun in my hand, and I still wouldn't, you know, give up, you know, the drugs and the money that I had. Like, that was all I had. And I was willing to lose my life over materialistic things because I wrapped my identity around money at that time. And I thought, you know, that was the only thing that was really worth value back then. Now I realize, right, my life is worth more than any amount of money. I got to get my shirt off my back, whatever someone wanted, because I know I'm not willing to put my life at risk because I got a family that depends on me today. So I went through that process, had to teach myself how to walk again. And there was another near-death experience I had. There was someone that tried to rob me again, drug deal gone bad. They pissed with me, I think seven times. And my ear, my ear was dangling and I had multiple scars all over my head and in my eyes. When they tried to, well, they didn't try. They actually accomplished, you know, taking, you know, the, the drugs that I had. And even through that, like through the mints up, you know, I thought it was, it was just a part of the game. You know, I embraced that lifestyle. I embraced everything that came with it. You know, the ups and the downs when I thought I was up making money. when I was, you know, almost killed due to the process of the people that I affiliated with. I never seen that it was a big problem. Like, I thought that was just what I was going to do for the rest of my life. And I was okay with that. Wanted to become a big drug dealer one day. And I actually became the opposite. I became the bottom of the bottom junkie, you know, so to say. So, and it served a purpose. Looking back, I started going in and out of treatment centers, and I was wanting to get help, but I just didn't know how to get help. Trying to get, you know, completely abstinence from all drugs, and I just couldn't stop. I stopped using one drug, and I'd pick up another. go back to my drug of choice, go a week without, and then right back on it or incarcerated, get a few months, you know, sober, and then get out or even use in there. I smuggled drugs into the county jail. I mean, dozens of times. Anytime I knew I was going to get incarcerated, I was prepared to take something with me 24-7. And it was, you know, a vicious cycle that I lived for a long time. Yeah, and then at some point, I was like, I want to do something with my life, but I just couldn't break away from them chains. I remember I got in River City, and I got out, and I went to the local church, and I prayed with the pastor, and I asked for the strength to do something different, and I bought my eyes in that church, but I knew in the back of my mind what I was going to do. I couldn't, you know, stop. The drugs really had a hold on me. I would obsess. When I was using them, when I stopped using them, when I was sleeping, like, that's all my day revolved around was getting and using and means to get one more. And towards the end, it's not even fun no more. You know, when I first started using, like, I actually kind of enjoyed it. But towards the end, it was just measuring. I was homeless. living in an abandoned house. Everyone cut me off. Family didn't want nothing to do with me. People that I've known the majority of my life didn't want nothing to do with me. I didn't want anything to do with myself. So I remember being at the hospital one day and my brother was there. And I stole a horse needle. It had two grams of heroin in it. Well, I stole it. I put two grams of heroin in it. I went home, injected it, and I tried to commit suicide. And at that point, I remember waking up on the floor, and I remember hearing this still voice, and God was speaking to me. He said, I'm not gonna let you die, but I'll let you live in this miserable mindset. So at that point, that was more scary than actually dying. So I had a few attempts of getting sober, you know, and I could never muster up the strength to do it. But then I started going in and out of these sober livings. It was like a house community living where they had to attend meetings. And I started, you know, moving into those. And this last time that I went, I was in the streets and this girl called me. She said, what are you doing? I said, I'm trying to detox. And she let me come to her house. Uh, I went through the initial withdrawals and I moved into a soft living and for the first 30 days, it was just so hard just to get, you know, one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours. But eventually, like I was sleeping normal again. I was able to digest some food. I wasn't throwing up. I was probably about 120 pounds lighter than what I am now. So, I mean, you could tell the difference. I got a little weight on me now. And. My, I knew, I knew there was a way out because I've seen other people do it. Right. And I was able to actually see the glitz of hope through people I knew. Uh, there wasn't too many that I grew up with, but I knew a few. And so I'm at this over living. They they're feeding me. I didn't have nothing. I didn't have no financial help at that point. Besides my dad coming through here and there, uh, give me $20 maybe for some food, but I was able to get about 30, 45 days and I'm hitting these meetings and I'm attending, you know, as many meetings as I can. I had sponsorships and I went on this path of making my life right. Clearing up the records of my past, I started making amends, right, financial amends and living amends. And after about a year, I started stabling out some. And I know I wanted to do something, but at that point, I never really Had too many legal jobs. So I was like, what am I going to do career-wise? And I worked at a few restaurants, but eventually this girl said she was a counselor at a treatment center. And I said, you think they'll let someone like myself work there? And she said, well, yeah, they'll let you work there. Me and my buddy, Josh, we went and got our CDCAs at the same time, started working in the field at the same time. And at that point I was a mentor. And there was a scripture that I would follow and says, do everything as if you were doing it for the Lord. So I was in this treatment center. I mean, I was going above and beyond. If the clients need something, I did it. If staff needed something, I did it. And I managed to cure them sober livings. And I got promoted pretty quick to case manager. And here I am, you know, next to like all these people with college degrees and I'm sitting in treatment teams and they're valuing my opinion and my insight. And then I had a dream that I wanted to open my sober living, right? My own. And it was a vivid dream. I knew, right? That's exactly what I was supposed to be doing, but I didn't know how I was going to do that. But I was able to save up some money, opened up my first sober living. I moved into that sober living and it was some of the best days of my life. I got to mentor a lot of guys. I got to help a lot of people come off the streets. A lot of people get jobs. A lot of people reunited with their family. People find a real purpose in their life. So I was just astonished, you know, how God was showing up and showing out of my life. So it was pretty amazed to be able to see the fruits, to be able to see the fruits of my labor. So I was just, you know, proud of the journey, proud of the men that I was mentoring. And that sober living, one sober living turned into two sober livings, three sober livings, four sober livings, five sober livings, six sober livings. I just did a contract today to purchase a seven. And two years ago, I opened a treatment center. So when I opened this treatment center, it's a behavioral health practice. That was another just walking out on blind faith, right? God was like, this is what you need to be doing. And me being a faithful servant at this point, like, you know, after you start, you know, accomplishing some things and you develop a different outlook, things like it never, like in the beginning, I never imagined it to be what it is today. It just, you know, it just unfolded like, and it just, and I kept walking out in faith and it kept growing. And so we opened a treatment center and it was pretty brutal for the first five years. They say the first five years of business is extremely brutal. I did almost every position. In that timeframe, and I got to the point where I would fire myself and hire someone else, and then focus on what was taking up most of my time. And I would really understand how important one task was and laser focus all my attention to it until it took up too much time. Then I'd hire and fire myself again. And I had some tremendous people help me along the way that believed in my vision at first, When I first, you know, thought of it and they committed with me and they've been walking alongside of me during this journey from day one. So now we grew our treatment center to two locations, 52 employees and get ready to have a total of 82 clients. So, wow. Yeah, it's been an adventure, a rollercoaster. So ups and downs, a lot of pressure, a lot of stress, a lot of not knowing, right? Seeking and finding the information and then applying it, you know, running to walls, getting a lot of no's and not being able to sleep and still waking up and I'm throwing on my jeans and putting one leg in one side and one leg in the other and telling myself that my faith was unshakable. Like this is God's destiny. And they're walking in and out ever since.

Yeah. And that's the crazy part about it. He knows the plan he has for your life. At the end of the day, we can't see everything, you know, but he's put you in a position to get you where you need to be in life. even though you went through everything and all the stuff you went through, at the end of the day, he said, hey, Chuck, I got this for you. And somewhere down the line, and I'm going to get there, Chuck took it in. So I'm going to ask you this question. From- Yes, sir. In addition to CEO, that is so remarkable, man. Thank you. So what was the first step you took towards transformation? I mean, what was that thing that said, hey, all right, Enough is enough, because it's a hard road. When you're at rock bottom, you got to figure out where you're trying to go. You see how long that journey is. A lot of people tap out, man. They don't have the will to do it. It's too much. It feel like it's too much. It is.

It's a lot. So I had a couple of moments where I knew if I didn't change that it was going to end up to death. It ended up with me dying. I mean, the evidence was all around me. And I was blindsided. And I would kind of fool myself. say it wasn't going to happen to me. I was different. But I knew that wasn't the truth. Deep down inside, I knew if all my friends were dying around me, family members were dying around me, people were going to prison for life. That was going to be my story. And I remember the pain got great enough. And my daughter, right, she, I lost custody of my daughter. Her mom died and by truck driver. And I had to be honest, like, it was hard, right, to not be a parent to her and choose drugs over day in, day out. And I knew that she was going to be fatherless growing up. And it was one of my greatest motivations. And I knew if I didn't pull it together, I was going to end up dead. So when I had that God moment, and I knew God, but I didn't never really heard his voice pivot me. And I was like, wow, you know, there is a God, there's a God out there that's coming to meet me at my lowest. Then I'm willing to give him everything I got. And then from that day on, I gave it everything I got. There was a lot of learning through the process. And I went through a lot of post acute withdrawal. So for like the amount of benzodiazepines I took for the first two years, I had to work on repairing my brain. So I did a lot of reading, self-educating, a lot of time where I just focused on self-development to be able to build the person. I believe in chasing the person, the person you want to become. And through that process, you can really accomplish anything you want in life. And that was the groundbreaking news for me, when I can quit using drugs. The one thing I thought I'd never be able to quit, if I could quit doing that, I can do anything I want.

Yes, sir. Absolutely. Absolutely. So Chuck, was there moments where you really wanted to give up?

There was moments. Yeah. In active addiction, I wanted to give up. There was moments in my recovery, I wanted to give up. There was early in my sobriety, I wanted to find a job that I liked and I was working at this telemarketing place? No, it wasn't a telemarketing place. It was, we went door to door selling electric. And I was the best salesperson for like the month and I took two buses to get to that job. I was finally getting caught up with the bills I had and I went and it was a pyramid scandal. The whole office was cleared out, right? And they didn't have my check and I was just furious. And I called my sponsor at the time and he told me, He said, now, you know, when you were stealing from people and they worked hard for their living, he said, he said, it ain't no fun when the rabbits got the gun. He said, that's how they felt. And I was like, well, this ain't about no feeling. He was like, well, this is why we do what we do. So we don't have to cause harm to other people anymore. And I hung up the phone, like, click. And I was mad. You know, I thought there wasn't no hope for me. I didn't think it was going to work out no matter how hard I worked towards it. But there's still a voice inside me, right? Authentic voice. A guy kept telling me, keep putting one foot in front of the other, and it's all going to work out. And that's exactly what I did.

Yeah, that's remarkable, man. You got remarkable stories. Crazy. So I'm just feeling this right now and I want to just say it because I feel it. You know, there's going to be some listener out here that's listening to what you're saying. What advice would you give a younger person that's, you know, dealing with drugs, trying to sell drugs or drug addiction and things like that? What kind of advice would you give them?

The advice that I would give them is choose your friends wisely. I know it's kind of cliche, but you will become the people you hang around. So it's important that you get with someone that's got something that you want, something that you have dreamed of, something that you know you can achieve. And don't waste your time hanging around with the wrong people. Because if you hang around with 10 people that are doing wrong, eventually you're going to be doing wrong yourself. So that's probably one of the most important things. that I've learned in this process. So now I'm at the stage in my life like we were just talking about me and my fiance. We flew out to Las Vegas and we put ourselves around a group of entrepreneurs because who do I want to become. I want to become like Dan. So that's who I choose to spend my time with. And they said there's three buckets, right? You need three different groups of people to hang out with. One is people that you can help. So if you're young, find somebody you can mentor too. You ain't never too young to help someone out. Learn the meaning of service. and it makes you feel good internally versus trying to set someone up for a failure. And you'll learn like how important doing services at a young age and then family and friends, you never know, right, when they're going to be gone. So make sure you keep them close to you. Spend time with them. My brother just committed suicide. He got out of the mental institution. And if I could go back and spend more time with him growing up, I would. And I realized I waste a lot of my days chasing foolishness when I could have been spending more time with him. And then the third category is mentorship. So get with people that can educate me and teach me.

Wow. I really like that. I really like that. Because, you know, I always feel like when you serve people and you have servanthood, that actually leads you to your real purpose. Somewhere, somehow, in your most humble moment, you'll see something about you that God wants from you. Absolutely. Yeah, I believe in that 100%. Yes, sir. So you start your own behavioral health practice. Now, what's the most rewarding and challenging part of leading a company in this space?

The most rewarding is to see clients, man, defeated, turning around and light bulb come on. And I'm able to provide the same facilities that I was in where I was able to get help. So now I'm giving back, you know, tenfold and I'm providing the similar or not, you know, very, very close to being the same. atmospheres where I was given, you know, the hand up now we're giving the hand up. So that's really rewarding to me. And I believe it wholeheartedly that we need to remain client focused and not forget why we started this and not get distracted by, you know, everything else that comes with it because there's a lot of stress, right? Provided for families, having employers that I can, you know, provide, you know, paycheck for so they can go home and take care of their family. So. That's one of my greatest, you know, rewards, is to be able to take care of the people that choose us. And some of the challenging things, I mean, there's fires we got to put out every day. I mean, there's people that are OD'ing, right? And you got to have them uncomfortable conversations with their mom. And it's heartbreaking. You've got to have employees that you've got to let go, that you've developed relationships with, because they no longer align with the vision. So a lot of challenging decisions, tough calls. But I believe if you walk out in integrity, it's going to continue to work. And I think you remember what the most important need is, and that's providing an atmosphere of recovery so these individuals can come and work on their mental health. their skill building skills and their underlying issues that you're going to be able to give them the key to unlock, you know, doors that no man can shut.

Yeah, you said something that was really important. that I'll always live by. You said, remember why you started. Yes, sir. Remember why you started, that get you to where you need to go.

Yeah, sometimes I get so, like, day-to-day operating, like, it slips my mind, like, why we open the doors in the very beginning, and then I got to reflect, like, And it gets me in a good mood when I take a second to meditate, reflect and realize, right, this is what we're doing and we're making an impact. So expect for the devil to throw some fire darts towards you, you know, to try to prevent you. It's almost like you're at war sometimes because you're going through so much with so many different personalities, so many regulations, so many staff members needing this, needing that, so many maintenance calls. But then you get to see that one client with a smile on his face because he gets a visit with his mother that he ain't seen forever. And it's like, that's why.

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Because it's very, very delicate, especially in what you do and your staff do. It's very delicate, you know, how you need to handle certain situations with people because I've learned and I've seen it that you can do one thing kind of off and it'll set them off in a whole nother direction. They'll never recover. And you feel like man, it wasn't that bad, but you just, you know, but they just take it in and then you can lose them. You know, you can't, yeah.

It takes a certain type of skill. Yes, yes it does. Using your discernment, that discernment, I feel like God giving me a real deep discernment. So when to listen, when to talk, you know, when the door is open to be able to address like something that needs to be talked about, just that moment, like to be able to, know the temperature in the room, know when the mood's going to be receptive, learn to roll with the resistance, learn to hold people accountable when it's time to hold them accountable. And it comes with experience.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's leadership also, because you got to understand your moments, man. Yeah. Sometimes it's best just to walk away and say, I love you.

Yeah.

Come back later on, let's talk about what you did.

Yeah, and wash your hands. Yeah. Right. I've had a lot of the moments, like, okay, if they don't want help, they don't want help.

Right, exactly. So, Cho, what is one of the challenges I want you to challenge my listeners? What would you tell them if they're in a process where they're dealing with adversity and they want a transformation in their life?

Okay, if they feel like their back's up against the wall and they're wanting a transformation, life and they're wondering what the next best step to be able to execute that, to be able to overcome their adversity. I would say go within. I think all the real battles are won inside. So if you're able to really dig deep inside, everything that you need is within, you know, everything that you ever, you know, thought was, you know, outside of you, it's all internally inside of you. So go deep into prayer. If you pray, if not, develop a belief in oneself. I have a quote, right? And it says, there was a time in my life where no one believed in me, but I believed in myself. And that was the only belief system that truly mattered at the time. So believing in yourself is the ultimate, ultimate kicker. That's gonna really, if you believe in yourself, that's halfway there. I believe hard work beats talent every time the talent don't work.

Yes, well said, well said. I really like that. So lastly, where can people connect with you or learn more about your work? 

They can go on www.potteryhousetreatment.com And they can see our website. They can see all the services that we provide. If anyone needs help, if they need treatment, they can call the number. They take line. We can get them scheduled to come if they're looking for employment and they live in Cincinnati or Ohio. They can put in a resume there. And if they have a dream of working right in the field, they can contact us and we kind of help them along in that process too. We have, you know, nurses, psych nurses, nurse practitioners, registered nurse, you know, LPNs. We have counselors to, you know, LPCC-Ss to allied CDCs and CDCAs and peer supports. And we have, behavioral health techs, and we have a lot of opportunities. So if you're looking to make a difference, you can give us a call. If you're looking to get help, you can give us a call. 

 Chuck Day, thank you so much, man, for taking the time to stop by and hang out with me for a minute, man. You're really inspiring. You really are. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yes, sir. Thanks for tuning in to Real Talk with Reginald D. If you enjoyed listening to Real Talk with Reginald D, Please rate and review us on Apple podcasts. See you next time. 

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