Transformational Trauma and Healing: STEP(ping) Your Way Into The Future

Please join me in my conversation with Nick Prefontaine. Nick shares his life-threatening accident, and what he learned recovering from it and other challenges. He uses his STEP system now to help others in their own journies.

Get a free download of Nick's STEP ebook here.

Explore Nick's STEP video series here.

Learn more about Nick's speaking engagements here.

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Transcript

0:24 - Unidentified Speaker Welcome, Nick.

0:25 - Carrie Rickert Thank you so much for being here today.

0:29 - Nick Prefontaine Super excited to be here, Carrie. Looking forward to our chat today. Excellent.

0:33 - Carrie Rickert So I'd love to start out talking about your accident and the early aftermath. Why don't you tell us about your experience?

0:43 - Nick Prefontaine Sure. Yeah. That's, um, that, that fateful day, uh, back in 2003, I was, um, I was actually on my way to, uh, the mountain on ski club and it was always ski club was always a exciting day for all of us because we got released a little bit early.

1:02 - Multiple Speakers So yeah, exactly.

1:04 - Nick Prefontaine It was one thing that we were always looking forward to. And, uh, my friends and I were on the bus on the way there. And we have brought all of our snowboard gear onto the bus to get ready so we miss a precious moment once we got to the mountain. So we got to the mound. The rest of the class went inside to get ready, but not us. We were ready. So we saved that little bit of time.

1:31 - Multiple Speakers So we went right to the chairlift.

1:35 - Nick Prefontaine And on the way up, it actually went right over the train park where all of the jumps were. And I knew as soon as I saw it, that I had to go off the biggest chump in the train park, like it's over it. I was. Yeah. Right. Of course. Why?

1:51 - Carrie Rickert Why not?

1:52 - Nick Prefontaine Of course. So I point I was like, oh, yeah, that definitely has my name all over it. It was also a little bit icy. We noticed that people were wiping out everywhere because it had been raining, didn't make any difference to us. So we were we were pretty experienced and excited to be there. So. Got to the top, buckled into my snowboard, took a breath of that crisp winter air, and constantly charged towards that jump with all my speed. And going up to the jump carry, I caught the edge of my snowboard on the snow going up the jump, and that threw me off balance.

2:31 - Nick Prefontaine I was forced to go off the jump because I was going so fast.

2:38 - Carrie Rickert So I landed on my head.

2:41 - Nick Prefontaine I was, I later learned that the only protection that my head had was a pair of goggles that I had on. And the goggles that I had on really saved my life. They were one of the factors that saved my life and why I'm here today. They had a lot of packaging on them. They were big, big, thick goggles. I was, I guess you could say like part of part of part of that was get all that going to have all the right gear and everything. So goggles, that that was a big part of it. So also, I mean, really, there are to this day, there are several things from that day that I just can't explain.

3:25 - Nick Prefontaine And One of the reasons is that I'm here today to tell this story and help other people that are also going through trauma get through to the other side and thrive with the rest of their lives. The second thing, they wanted to bring a helicopter to the mountain to rush me to the hospital.

3:45 - Carrie Rickert They couldn't because it was too windy.

3:48 - Nick Prefontaine So they had to send in an ambulance. And out of all the paramedics in the county, there was only one who could intubate on the spot. And I needed that to be able to breathe. And he was one of the paramedics that showed up to the mountain that day. And upon arriving to the hospital, I was out for the count. I was in the intensive care unit, and my parents were the only ones that were allowed in there, as you can imagine, a serious injury like that. So they were in the room, in the hospital room with me, and the doctors, through no fault of their own, they're just doing their job and treating me like any other patient.

4:35 - Nick Prefontaine They figured, oh, he's in a coma. He can't hear what we're saying. So they walked in my room, started to share with my parents the prognosis, what was happening and everything. And my mom stopped them. And she said, no, no, not in front of him because she understood that even though I was in a coma, I was out for the count. I was still taking information. So she made the doctors step outside my room. And then once outside my room, that's where the doctors shared the news of my parents.

5:10 - Nick Prefontaine They said that he was in a snowboarding accident, went off a jump and landed on his head. He wasn't wearing a helmet. Based on the impact alone, we're probably looking at him being in a coma for seven or 10 days at a minimum. However, the swelling was such in my brain that it was increasing. And if it increased anymore, I would have died. So they had to put me into a partially induced coma.

5:41 - Unidentified Speaker OK.

5:41 - Carrie Rickert So I ended up being in the coma for three weeks.

5:45 - Nick Prefontaine I really don't remember a month, but we'll get back to that in a little bit. So they shared that with my parents. They shared that, look, we don't know if and even when he comes out of his coma, how long it's going to take. He's probably not going to be able to walk, talk, or eat on his own again. Wow. Because I didn't know any better. None of that came through into my psyche, whether unconsciously, subconsciously, or whatever. It was totally out of my world. I didn't know that. So my parents took the information from the doctors, they thanked them, and then that allowed me to treat like any other situation.

6:35 - Nick Prefontaine So once I was out of the coma and a month, I say a month later, I don't remember a month of my life. I was transported to a rehab hospital in Boston. And that's where I began my journey of having to learn how to walk, talk and eat again. And I can really carry, I can really remember very early on in my recovery, uh, being in a wheelchair still at this point, not able to talk. And I was in a wheelchair and I overheard my parents having a conversation with my, my support, my support team, physical therapists and doctors, physical therapists, occupational speech therapists, all that.

7:25 - Nick Prefontaine I had all those.

7:27 - Multiple Speakers I know that team.

7:30 - Nick Prefontaine A lot of people, frankly, do have to, and the more I share my story, the more I'm blessed with being able to learn about other people's experience, which we were just talking a little bit before we got started. I know you also had an experience as well. That's probably why you're doing this. Yes, exactly. I overheard them talking to my parents and my parents said, all right, what do we have to do to make sure Nick makes the full recovery? I heard in the back of my head, no, you're going to run out.

8:07 - Nick Prefontaine So then running out of the hospital became our common goal.

8:12 - Carrie Rickert Okay.

8:13 - Nick Prefontaine And at this point, it was when I unknowingly was able to use a system to not only make a full recovery, but run out of the hospital. And that's a step system.

8:28 - Carrie Rickert Okay, so before you tell us about the step system, let me let me just ask you a quick question. Sure. Because it sounds like throughout this experience, you remained positive. It didn't really occur to you that you weren't going to make a full recovery. Have you always been a positive person?

8:51 - Nick Prefontaine I was blessed. I was blessed at this time in my life, and still to this day. I'm blessed at the family that I have to this day, but I was blessed at this point in my life Um, my dad had just sold one of his businesses and was doing a lot of consulting and, and speak and motivational speaking. So he was very much in that personal development, positive mindset world. So, um, I just, I didn't know any better. That's what surrounded me my entire life. Like he was, he was part of my. Part of my support and that's that's the first letter in the step system and just to give you an idea, even had.

9:49 - Nick Prefontaine My parents even had affirmations around my room and this was before I could walk. So it wasn't like I could run out of the room and like, I don't, I don't believe in that stuff. It was with each step I take, I'm getting stronger and stronger. And like every, like all affirmations version of that around my room surrounding me. So I didn't, I didn't have any choice. It was, and I was positive.

10:14 - Carrie Rickert It was an expectation. For for you. So it sounds like your parents expected that you would walk out of the hospital or run out of the hospital and you expected that. So then you made that happen.

10:32 - Unidentified Speaker Correct.

10:32 - Nick Prefontaine And there wasn't there wasn't a there wasn't an option. So the more and more I share this with people, my story and my accent, where I had this happen to me, and then I just looking back on it, I just look back on it so matter of factly, even to this day, where Yeah, it's not a big deal. It's something that happened to me when I was 14. And I did whatever what anyone would do. I got up and did the best that I could. And I kept getting better every day. However, it's been pointed out to me several times over the last few years that no, that's that's not so normal.

11:18 - Nick Prefontaine There is that option where you could get down on yourself, beat yourself up and decide not to do the work. And to me, it was probably my upbringing and just the family that I have around me. Like I said, I'm blessed to have that, but that was never an option for me.

11:40 - Carrie Rickert Never believed that was.

11:44 - Nick Prefontaine Right around that time, it was when I unknowingly was starting to utilize a system, the Step system, which I'll introduce and give a 10,000-foot view, and then at the end, I'll give the listeners a way they can download the e-book, Step, for free and learn all about it. Awesome.

12:05 - Multiple Speakers That goes into detail.

12:07 - Nick Prefontaine Step is an acronym, as I said, that's support. Support, you have to make sure that you have the support of your family and friends around you. And this is really going to have you falling back on relationships that you built prior to your setback. And then T is trust. Trust that once you take your first step, your next step is always going to be available to you. Follow it. And this also has to do with, and I know I've already touched on it, but it's going to come up later in telling the story where I've always been really good at listening to that voice in the back of my head.

12:48 - Nick Prefontaine That calling that I had. So when I heard, no, you're gonna run out, it wasn't a voice that I dismissed and put down like, no, that's unrealistic or I'm not, who am I to ask that? Like imposter syndrome, like so many of us do, or that's crazy. I would never seek out to do that. I was able to, and part of trust is you gotta listen to that calling that you have inside of you. E is energy. Maintaining your energy allows your body's natural ability to be able to heal itself. And medications get in the way of that, of blocking your body's natural ability to be able to heal itself.

13:31 - Nick Prefontaine So the way that I can illustrate this is I needed, there were a lot of medications and drugs pumped into me to help keep me alive. I needed that. There was no natural option at that point. Like, it was an emergency, I needed that. However, once I was through that, once I was past that, and I was out of it, I came off the drugs and out of the coma, that's why I don't remember a month, not just the three weeks, because there are literally, There are times when in the ICU, when I came out of the coma after three weeks, that I have my eyes open, I'm looking around, I have no recollection of that time.

14:16 - Nick Prefontaine And it's amazing that I was actually, one of the first places I spoke after my accident was a couple of years after my accident. I spoke at a groundbreaking ceremony at the hospital where I was at, where I was originally rushed to after my accident. And part of that, before we attended the groundbreaking, I walked through the ICU. And it was my first time there. And the doctors, the nurses, the layout of the room and the floors around, I was like, God, this looks so familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.

14:53 - Nick Prefontaine And that that's because I was like coming off of those drugs. So I think this is really important to mention because When I was very early on my recovery, around the same time, I was still in a wheelchair. I still hadn't been cleared to walk. So I got up in the middle of the night and I wasn't supposed to do this. So I got up in the middle of the night. I had to go to the bathroom. I would always have my dad or a male family member stay with me, my dad, my uncle, my grandfather, stay with me during the night.

15:27 - Nick Prefontaine And I couldn't get their attention. So I got up and I hobbled to the bathroom what the bathroom came back and was able to go back to sleep. Well, the hospital found out and they freaked out. And because of the liability issue, and they feel like he can't do that. And this this is so bad. And we're gonna put them on this many cc's of this this many cc's of this medicine. And my mom was like, No, just ask him not to do that. So they asked me and there was never a problem. I didn't, I didn't do it again.

16:02 - Nick Prefontaine Right. But I think and one of the things I talk about in step is the ebook is that part of your support is you have to have an advocate. And I always had an advocate with me at all times. Yep.

16:17 - Carrie Rickert So I see. So when I was in the hospital after my accident, my mom, my mom, who is a retired ICU and rehab nurse, was by my side for the entire four weeks that I was in shock trauma. And then the rest of the time that I was in rehab, I was so lucky. Because she knew how to talk to the doctor. She knew what to ask for and everything else like that. That S for support is huge.

16:57 - Nick Prefontaine It is huge, it's so important. Finally P, and the reason I wanted to mention when I was talking about energy is you can't, I couldn't have those drugs constantly pumped in me. I had to get those out of my system and allow my body to have the natural ability that we all have to be able to heal itself. And finally, P is persistence. So once you take your first step, keep getting up every day and taking your next step, no matter how small. And by doing something every day, you are building an unstoppable momentum.

17:40 - Nick Prefontaine And you can apply this to anything in your life, where building a new company, a new business, Um, anything you, when you're first starting those first 90 to 180 days are so critically important. Make sure that you're doing something towards it every day. Um, that's going to move you closer towards your, your ideal, your goal. So then if you kind of fast forward less than 60 days after that, I did run out of the hospital and

18:12 - Unidentified Speaker Wow.

18:13 - Nick Prefontaine After running out of the hospital, it wasn't like my work was done. I had to continue to go to outpatient therapy.

18:20 - Carrie Rickert Sure. Yep.

18:21 - Nick Prefontaine For another, I can see you nodding your head, Carrie, and smiling because you're very familiar with all of this.

18:28 - Multiple Speakers I totally am, yes.

18:31 - Nick Prefontaine So I had to go to outpatient therapy for another six months, along with being tutored all summer long, five days a week, in order to continue on to high school with the rest of my classmates. I know what eighth grader wouldn't want to go to school five days a week, all summer long. So I'll take a deep breath there if you have any questions.

18:54 - Carrie Rickert Yeah, so are you currently using your STEP system with clients now?

19:04 - Multiple Speakers Is that what that's morphed into? Yeah, exactly.

19:09 - Nick Prefontaine So it comes down to working with clients. When I work with clients one-on-one, It's everything goes back to the step system where we first will get them to identify our support.

19:27 - Carrie Rickert And I know there are so many people out there who say, oh, well, easy for you.

19:34 - Nick Prefontaine You have a great family and you had your parents there with you 24 seven. I don't have any family, therefore it doesn't work for me. Well, your support doesn't just have to be family. It can be a friend. Who's always coming around to help a neighbor, a coworker, an employee, if it's a company you have, that's always offering to help and being there for you. And I think so many people, especially ones that have traumatic life experiences or a life challenge or adversity, discount that, where they actually, they're closing themselves off to saying, I can only get help from family.

20:17 - Nick Prefontaine Help. Your support doesn't have to be, and nor should it be, help from just your family. You have to be open to getting it from your entire world, from everyone around you.

20:31 - Carrie Rickert So I think it's fairly common for people who have experienced some kind of major trauma to isolate themselves Because they feel different from everyone else, and they don't want to be a burden on their family and friends. And so I love that. That's the first thing that you start with is, you know, who is your support and how can they help you? Because reality is we all probably have more support than we know that we do. We just tend to discount it, as you said, because it feels like we're we're burdening them.

21:24 - Carrie Rickert It's that normal fear that people who need things, you know, like you don't want to be needy, even when you are.

21:35 - Unidentified Speaker Well, absolutely.

21:36 - Nick Prefontaine I think it's so critically important not to box yourself in and say it just has to be this one way. You have to open yourself up to the possibilities. Right. So if you fast forward a little bit after that, and this is this is something I want to, there are a few more things that I want to get to, where I've had to overcome additional traumas and, and like life challenges in my life. And I think I'm more proud of those than I am my accent, because yeah, my accent is just something that that happened when I was growing up.

22:11 - Nick Prefontaine Right. Um, if you kind of fast forward less than months after finishing rehab, outpatient rehab, I got my start in real estate, which I was only 16 years old. But I was door knocking pre foreclosure doors. So homeowners that have missed a few payments, up to 10 to 12 payments of the bank still hadn't foreclosed on their home. So I'd be going door to door And it took a mentor pointing this out to me a couple years ago. She said, wait a minute. So you were only 18 months after finishing rehab, you were going to some not so great areas of cities and knocking on doors of people that were in distressed situations.

22:56 - Nick Prefontaine And I was like, Well, yeah, if you put it that way, I guess it is because when you're growing up, time is compressed. So like six months, 12 months, 18 months can seem like a lifetime. Right.

23:12 - Carrie Rickert In reality, it's not that much time. Right.

23:16 - Nick Prefontaine Then if you fast forward, I did that throughout the rest of my high school career, I guess, if you'll call it that. After graduating, I got my real estate license, started selling real estate, helping buyers and sellers as a realtor for six years, really full, full time, and then my dad As an investor, after six years full time of being a realtor came to me and said, Hey, I'm getting all these properties. I'm buying all these properties creatively, like without using my money or doing big investor down payments or signing personally on loans.

23:58 - Nick Prefontaine I need help marketing these properties to rent-to-own buyers. So I was reluctant at first. I was like, no, no, no. I got my own thing going on here. I'm a successful realtor. And luckily he asked me a few times. So then I finally realized that I can do this alongside being a realtor.

24:21 - Unidentified Speaker And I started working with just marketing his properties.

24:25 - Nick Prefontaine And then over the course of 13 14 months, my income shifted where I was making, at first I was making the majority of my income as a realtor, and then I was making the majority of my income with him as an investor. Because marketing all the properties turned into, oh shoot, I need help with responding to all these buyering queries. So then I started helping that, and then it didn't make sense for me to keep my real estate license anymore. In January of I let it go and joined him full time.

24:59 - Nick Prefontaine Then just in going through this process, this is the additional trauma so. I've been with him and I'm still with him. As an investor, we coach and mentor and train other investors to build the same type of business that we have over the years. Since 2013, he started doing this. And in 2012, developed a voice issue. So I just knew as kind of the summer was winding down, I just knew something wasn't right with my voice. And I was looking for answers everywhere and no one could give me an answer.

25:42 - Nick Prefontaine I went to my regular doctor for a check-in, a physical. He checked on my levels and said, no, you're fine. I don't know, maybe just, lay off the phones a little bit and you'll be fine. And I went to all these different doctors and specialists and allergists and no one could give me an answer. But I knew something wasn't right. So in August of wound 2013, up in the office of a voice specialist office in Boston. And there are only 35 of these specialists in the whole country, in the whole continent, actually.

26:20 - Nick Prefontaine Oh, wow. Um, I finally exhausted all my options and wound up at his office. And as you can imagine, I, I was really frustrated my and to give you an idea, I don't know if you're familiar with like voice challenges or anything, but it sounded like it was like, really tight. And like, it was hard to get the words out.

26:41 - Unidentified Speaker Okay.

26:41 - Nick Prefontaine And I felt fine. It was just it sounded terrible. I had a lot of tension here. And The voice specialist watched his name, and this is not a joke. I'm not making this up. His name is Dr. Song. The voice specialist's name is Dr. Song.

27:01 - Carrie Rickert That seems appropriate.

27:03 - Nick Prefontaine Yeah, it's perfect. So he walked into the room when I was there for my consultation in August of walked in the room, heard me speak, and right away, nonchalantly goes, oh, that? Yeah, we deal with that all the time. We'll get effects in no time. Let's see the front desk and schedule Botox injection in a few weeks. And like, Carrie, my mouth hit the floor. I was like, I was blown, I was absolutely blown away. So I started getting Botox injections into my throat to relieve the tension along with their higher level voice therapists to like their specialists, like above just a regular speech therapist to kind of retrain myself to speak again.

27:55 - Nick Prefontaine The Botox would relax the muscles And then as it was wearing off and my voice was coming back, I'd work with a speech therapist to kind of train myself how to speak again. And I had to get that for really intensively for eight years. I had to get those several times a year along with the speech therapy. To be able to train myself to speak again. And now it's been over four years since I had my last Botox injection. The last one I had was February 13th of 2020, right before the world shut down.

28:41 - Nick Prefontaine And I think I'm more proud of that than I am my accent because of the, I may have recency bias, but the time it took, it took eight years as opposed to less than 90 days. And really going through that, I realized that Oh, all right, you have something here. Like I have something here that I can help others with, like help others that are going through trauma. And that's a step system.

29:10 - Multiple Speakers And that's why I'm sharing that with so many people through keynotes.

29:16 - Nick Prefontaine And you and I were talking about offline you we have a we have a common common acquaintance.

29:22 - Carrie Rickert Yeah.

29:23 - Nick Prefontaine and I actually spoke almost exactly a year ago at the Brain Injury Association of Maryland's annual conference. I was their closing day one keynote speaker and that was a that was a 60-minute keynote.

29:35 - Carrie Rickert Nice.

29:37 - Nick Prefontaine But really the The exciting thing is I'm having, I had so many people, and this is kind of every time I shared that keynote, coming up to me after brain injury victims, family members, and saying, like in tears almost, saying, you've helped me so much and given me hope that I can get to where you are and anyone can do it. And I just want to keep spreading this message, if you will.

30:06 - Carrie Rickert Oh, absolutely. And honestly, that is exactly why I do this podcast, is to spread the message that trauma does not have to be the end of something, it can be the beginning of something new. And, you know, I think I thought that your story about your voice was interesting. I think that the T in the step system was, I mean, you trusted that you knew your body and you knew there was something wrong. Even though everybody was telling you everything is, you know, it looks fine. We don't know why you're, you know, just rest.

30:50 - Carrie Rickert And you knew it was something more than that. And I think so often people have major traumas and then discount what they feel, right? They don't, whether it's because they've been in the hospital for a long time or they've had a brain injury, then they feel like they don't have agency over their own body and mind. You know, when you've spent six weeks in the hospital, having somebody else tell you what to do, when to do it, it's hard to believe you actually know your body best.

31:38 - Nick Prefontaine Right?

31:39 - Carrie Rickert So I like that. I think your story there about your voice is a really good example of the T in the step system. Oh, thank you.

31:51 - Nick Prefontaine And it was, um, it was really going through that. I, I kind of was like, you have something here because I kept going back to it and I kept doing the same thing and there were it wasn't like there wasn't moments of doubt. And I like to, I just, I'm surprised I didn't mention these earlier, but the moments of doubt, because people hear my story of my action and they think, oh yeah, okay, easy for you. You went off a jump and landed on your head and you were in a coma, you ran out, good for you, that kind of thing.

32:29 - Nick Prefontaine And like, it must've been easy, there was no doubt. Of course there was doubt. There was a moment, and I remember it vividly. It was around the same time of just getting at the hospital. I was sitting in my room because I had double sessions of physical, occupational, and speech therapy every day. So after physical, I would need someone to help me shower. My physical therapist would help me shower and get ready in the morning, because I literally had to learn things as simple as the water comes before the soap neck.

33:03 - Nick Prefontaine Um, like I have to learn everything again. So then after that, I would have breakfast and then physical occupational and speech. And I remember sitting in my wheelchair in between my therapies, um, in my room. And I was out, I was out lunch and I was in a wheelchair and I was looking over my situation and I just couldn't figure it out. And I looked over at my mom, who's with me every day during the week. And I said, mom, am I ever going to be able to walk again? And she said, of course you are.

33:40 - Nick Prefontaine That's what we're doing here. She can get everything back and we can go home. So that was the only moment of doubt that I can consciously remember myself having. And because I had my advocate or my team of advocates around with me at all times, I was able to keep moving forward. With the voice issue, this is why this is like, I don't want to say exciting, but it's so much more relevant to me because I think I can remember it more clear. There were several times that I would be like, what the heck?

34:23 - Nick Prefontaine I've been working at this, but I just kept going back to the step system, which is the support. Okay, I have the support. As long as I have the support, I can trust. And as long as I have the trust, now, then I can move over to energy. Now in between each one of those Botox treatments, the reason that I was having success and improving so much in between each one of the Botox treatments was I would get natural therapies that I still get to this day. Um, like, and I turn them as like energy treatments, but they're really massages.

35:05 - Carrie Rickert Okay. I would get like a craniosacral massage or myostatic release.

35:10 - Nick Prefontaine It's the same practitioner, whatever I need at the time. She'll do either one of those. I get it every four or five weeks.

35:17 - Carrie Rickert Okay.

35:18 - Nick Prefontaine And then I get a twina massage from another doctor. He's actually a Chinese herbalist. He's a Daoist energy healer.

35:31 - Carrie Rickert So I get twina followed by cupping.

35:34 - Nick Prefontaine I love cupping. I don't think you have the marks anymore, but I got it like last Wednesday, so... And it lasts a while. Yeah, it lasts like 10 so I would show you, but it wouldn't be visible on the camera right now. Because I was taking care of my energy, that's why the voice specialist said to me, Every time he saw me for a Botox injection, he would say, one of the reasons why you keep making improvement, like every time you come back for a Botox injection, your voice is better. And he couldn't say that about a lot of people that would do that.

36:18 - Nick Prefontaine They'd be like, oh, I'm stuck with this. I got, I have this for life. And this is something that I have to keep going. He said, and this is important to mention, he said that the reason that you're seeing so much success, this is Dr. Song. The reason that you're seeing improvement each time you come is you're doing both. So there are so many people who either think you have to do a hundred percent medical and natural and herbs and all that's crap. You have to medicine, medical this. Or 100% natural.

36:53 - Nick Prefontaine You can't do any of the medicine that's terrible for your body. But he said, that the reason I was having success is I was doing both. So between each one of those Botox, I would be getting treatments every four to five weeks. And I still get those to this day to help keep my energy high. So I'm able to affect and help others and lead others to their trauma.

37:20 - Unidentified Speaker Right.

37:20 - Carrie Rickert So that's interesting because I also have a combination of alternative medicine and Western medicine. So Eastern and Western, I get acupuncture every week. And, you know, and I have done Reiki and I have done, I mean, so lots of energy movement, energy healing, and that has helped Tremendously, it's helped with my PTSD. It has helped with my pain. It's, I mean, huge, huge advocate here of Eastern medicine and that it can work well with Western medicine. Like it doesn't have to be one or the other.

38:10 - Carrie Rickert So I totally agree with you.

38:13 - Nick Prefontaine that's key and um that you mentioned reiki wasn't I wasn't gonna mention this uh you mentioned reiki though my my parents actually had someone I didn't even know this they had someone come in and perform reiki on me while I was in my coma oh that's cool yeah good for them so I I am I am fortunate in that regard yeah absolutely So tell me, what are your typical avenues now for helping other people? Well, we touched we touched on one earlier, which is the telling my story from stage and deliver my keynote and I really I'm excited about giving my keynote because it really gives me the time to teach.

39:04 - Nick Prefontaine The step system and really have some fun. I jump into the audience and tell, I don't want to give too much away, but I tell stories of, because I always look at everything through the lens of, how can I make this funny?

39:21 - Multiple Speakers So I tell a bunch of stories that, and I use humor to get through.

39:29 - Nick Prefontaine Like that's a very, that's laced throughout the step system. Humor is within everything that I do in my life. So I share a bunch of stories from when I was in the hospital. Of like all the little funny things that I did. And I even have a fart machine that I hook up and bring, I actually bring with me to the events that I go to. Oh, that's funny. The response, it's so interesting because The response and sharing my story and sharing all these funny things that happen, the response I get from like a brain injury association, for instance, versus just a whole group of people is completely different.

40:19 - Nick Prefontaine Like, I know at the Brain Injury Association, delivering some of these jokes, I'm like, that last year was one of the first times I, it was the first few times, one of the first few times that I delivered my keynote. And the response I got when I was given these jokes, I was like, wow, these jokes are hitting, like, even better than I thought. Because they got it. Because they lived it. So they're able to joke with those as well. Great. The second, as I shared earlier, is working one-on-one with clients, helping them through their trauma or life challenge, get through the other side and thrive with the rest of their lives.

41:02 - Nick Prefontaine And the third is through my ebook, Step. And Step is really for free, which is teaches them all about support, trust, energy and persistence, because what we covered is only like a 10,000 foot view. And when they download that, they get the whole step system for free, which is going to teach them all about support, trust, energy and persistence. And then if you want to, if you want to go even above that, I have the step video series, which is I don't wanna say live, it's not live, but it's coaching, it's videos for each one of the letters, support, trust, energy, and persistence, along with each letter has a workbook and exercises that you do along with coaching emails, and that's $37.

41:55 - Nick Prefontaine That's the only product I have at this time, but that's also available on my website.

42:01 - Carrie Rickert All right, and so tell us your website so that people can get ahold of you.

42:08 - Nick Prefontaine Sure. So, um, I'll give you the direct line to download the step system for free. That's a Nick pre Fontaine.com forward slash step.

42:20 - Multiple Speakers And that's going to teach them all about support, trust, energy, and persistence.

42:25 - Nick Prefontaine All right.

42:25 - Carrie Rickert Awesome. And I will put that in our show notes as well.

42:29 - Unidentified Speaker Terrific.

42:31 - Carrie Rickert So one more question before I let you go today. If there is one thing that you would like to make sure that our audience learns or takes away from this conversation today, what would that be?

42:52 - Nick Prefontaine start. So once you take your, you have to start. And there are so many people that are paralyzed with fear almost after suffering an accident or trauma or a life challenge, they're paralyzed with fear. However, once you start and you have to take that first step, once you take your first step, your next step is always going to be available to you. And that like, no fail, with no fail, that has been, that has proved its case throughout my entire life. So once you take your first step, your next step is always going to be available to you and you have to follow that.

43:38 - Carrie Rickert Okay, I love that. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here today, Nick. I have really enjoyed our conversation and I think our audience will learn a ton from you.

43:51 - Nick Prefontaine Oh, me too, Carrie. Thank you for allowing me to share my message with your audience.