Up next in 10
Welcome to Adaptable | Behavior Explained! In this episode we bring in Chris Desmarchais with RISE Health. The current medical system is broken. Rise is setting a new standard for wellness, aimed at keeping you healthy and thriving for as long as possible. By embracing the latest medical innovations, we develop tailored strategies to maximize your quality of life and lower your risks for diseases.
Part 1 of 1
I'm Kelly O'Horo, Attachment based EMDR Therapist, EMDRIA Consultant, and Advanced Trainer. I'm a mom of 5, Nonna of 5, wife, and a healer. I have the honor of spending my workdays walking along side people while they brave their healing journeys. I try to live with the generous assumption that we're all doing the best we can with what we know. Therapists are teachers for the "life stuff" and "emotional vocabulary" that may not have been learned due to gaps in our care givers capabilities. In the last 15 years I've learned that people are freaking amazing, resilient, and inspiring. Most importantly, we are hardwired for connection and for healing!
I hope to bring an authentic, compassionate, and unpolished approach while we explore a variety of topics such as parenting, marriage, relationships, dating, trauma, attachment, adoption, depression, addiction, anxiety, and love! There's a why for all behaviors and an explanation that makes perfect sense as emotion is at the root of it all.
-- Links --
https://linktr.ee/kellyohorolpc
https://youtu.be/rLnARKekvgo
https://www.emdria.org/find-an-emdr-therapist/
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0:06
hi everyone I'm Kell ooro and this is
0:09
adaptable Behavior explained hi
0:12
everybody thank you so much for tuning
0:14
in to adaptable today I'm really excited
0:17
to talk with you and uh my guest today
0:19
Chris Day Marche about health mental
0:23
health and being proactive with our
0:26
mental health and our physical health so
0:27
that we can Abate physical health
0:29
problems
0:30
and I couldn't think of a better person
0:32
to have on our show today than Chris um
0:35
and so thanks for being here Chris uh
0:37
please introduce yourself yeah thank you
0:39
Kelly uh well I'm Chris De marhe I'm one
0:41
of the co-founders of Rise Health we are
0:44
a new holistic preventative health care
0:47
practice here in Gilbert and my
0:50
background uh is more so in the exercise
0:52
realm so I got started out uh you know
0:55
as a high schooler working in a CrossFit
0:57
gym trading wiping down the pull-up bar
1:00
was wiping the chalk off for a
1:01
membership and it just became a passion
1:03
of mine and throughout College I
1:05
actually studied business for my
1:06
undergrad but I continued to coach and
1:08
train people and at a point after uh I
1:11
had graduated I sort of was like you
1:13
know what this is my last chance to make
1:16
my passion my career I never really saw
1:18
it in that way but I said hey if I'm
1:19
going to go for it I should go for it
1:21
now and so I transitioned back to that I
1:23
gained some additional education um
1:26
notably my uh cscs certification which
1:29
is a certified strength and conditioning
1:30
specialist it's what you would typically
1:32
see at you know a D1 University or a
1:35
professional weight weight room or
1:36
something like that um and then
1:38
eventually my master's degree in
1:39
exercise science so awesome that all led
1:42
me back to starting my personal training
1:44
business which is how we know each other
1:46
we one of the ways right um and then we
1:49
can get into the rest of the story but
1:50
that's a little bit about my yeah thank
1:52
you so much one of the things that I
1:53
really have always valued about you is
1:56
uh well you know I I knew about you
1:58
because one of my best high school
2:00
friends uh has a daughter that you
2:02
married and I've known her since birth
2:04
and so that's been a fun uh Evolution to
2:07
watch her grow up and and and and choose
2:09
well in her partner for sure and uh but
2:12
but starting to do physical training
2:14
with you when we did that I really just
2:17
enjoyed the conversations that we always
2:19
had you're really open to new
2:20
information and you're really curious
2:23
and you like to reach research and read
2:26
and and listen to podcast and so I
2:28
always found our time together
2:30
um just just energizing because of new
2:33
information and I think you're you're
2:34
one who's into lifelong learning as well
2:36
and fascinated by the brain and we would
2:39
often times get all caught up in
2:41
conversations yeah sometimes you got to
2:42
steer the workout back on track when the
2:44
conversations get too good this quick
2:46
video or this clip of this podcast I
2:48
totally online with what we're talking
2:49
about and so I knew that that we would
2:51
just have a great conversation today and
2:54
and with all the buzz around um mental
2:56
health being not not uh so taboo any
2:59
anymore and there's I don't really think
3:01
there's even as much of a stigma around
3:03
it even since I started being a
3:05
therapist back in you know 2010 and what
3:08
I have seen grow is such a more U um
3:13
I've seen it become so commonplace to
3:15
discuss mental health issues and and so
3:18
talk to us about how how rise came to be
3:21
and and the proactive approach for just
3:24
taking care of our bodies so we don't
3:26
end up with all these issues yeah yeah
3:29
no absolutely would agree and I think
3:31
you know similarly to mental health for
3:33
the physical health and the medical
3:35
landscape in general a more personalized
3:37
preventative approach is starting to be
3:40
utilized more frequently and and just
3:42
seen as valuable um and so that's that's
3:44
really the impetus for Rise I had a
3:47
client of mine who I was doing personal
3:49
training for him and his whole family
3:52
and you know nutrition coaching things
3:54
like that and it got to a point where I
3:56
wanted to offer you know an even more
3:58
holistic service like how could we
4:00
incorporate actually the medical piece
4:02
into this because what we see out there
4:04
a lot is that you know even if somebody
4:06
is getting good care from say a trainer
4:09
and a nutritionist and a doctor even
4:11
that care is disjointed right there's
4:13
there's not really an easy not
4:14
collaboration y there's no collaboration
4:16
there's no easy line of communication
4:17
between those professionals which is a
4:20
big piece they each could be doing um
4:23
their best and and doing a good job but
4:25
a lot of those pieces are interdependent
4:27
upon each other to be successful for
4:29
example you know with with hormones
4:31
we're trying to get results in the gym
4:33
well if hormone hormones aren't
4:35
optimized it's going to make it a lot
4:37
more difficult to get those results just
4:39
as one example you were really good I
4:41
know that when I was training if I if I
4:43
was just Peter you were really good at
4:44
asking things like what kind of sleep
4:45
did you get have you eaten you know tell
4:48
me about your last blood work related to
4:49
your thyroid so you were keyed into
4:52
those things and I think that's probably
4:53
pretty unusual for a personal trainer uh
4:56
I don't know that I ever had one before
4:58
actually when I was doing Fitness cont
5:00
comption one of them was pretty good
5:02
about asking all those questions but but
5:03
for the most part that doesn't seem to
5:05
be a gap that's bridged and and so I I
5:09
think that that I think that naturally
5:11
was part of your predisposition of
5:13
curiosity with what's going on in the
5:15
person that is you and what do I need to
5:17
do to to meet you where you are today
5:20
yeah I think it's it's not something
5:22
that's obviously taught heavily in the
5:25
education that a trainer would receive
5:27
similarly to the fact that nutrition and
5:29
and physical exercis is not heavily
5:31
focused on in most medical education so
5:34
isn't that astounding to you I mean
5:36
let's just talk about the building
5:37
blocks of the human MH right we we need
5:40
nutrition the fuel we need muscle to
5:43
carry our skeleton through the world yes
5:46
and and and doctors learn what I mean
5:49
what do they learn I I could tell you
5:52
they learn to fix the problems identify
5:54
symptoms figure out where you know where
5:56
it started and then how do we help make
5:57
it feel better and and not necessarily
6:00
do they go I wonder what caused it in
6:02
the first place or let's really get
6:04
curious about what caused it and I'm not
6:06
saying all doctors are this way but I do
6:08
think that the medical model often times
6:11
leans more towards symptom reduction as
6:13
opposed to originating causes yeah it
6:16
certainly doesn't and a lot of that is
6:18
based around the insurance model and
6:21
pharmaceutical industry right because in
6:23
order to get reimbursed for medication
6:25
there needs to be a diagnosis which
6:27
means symptoms need to be present which
6:29
means someone's already sick right right
6:31
so back to the idea for Rise um you know
6:33
as I was pursuing a high higher level of
6:36
care for that client I had a
6:37
conversation with one of these doctors
6:39
our medical director uh Dr Scott
6:41
finkbiner who is very Progressive in his
6:44
approach to care and sees the value of
6:47
some of these other components and I
6:49
just approached him and said hey could
6:50
we do something like this for this
6:53
client um and so that led to a series of
6:56
conversations and it led to that client
6:58
myself and Dr fin biner going in
7:01
together on on this concept which is
7:03
basically an approach of bridging
7:06
together these various disciplines
7:08
medical specifically around longevity
7:11
but also a focus on hormone imbalance uh
7:15
body composition management as well as
7:17
the lifestyle pieces so things like
7:19
supplementation exercise muscular
7:22
skeletal issues whether that be
7:24
regenerative medicine or just you know
7:26
Recovery Services and things of that
7:28
nature it's tying all of those things in
7:31
together Under One Roof where each of
7:33
those professionals are collaborating
7:35
with each other on your care and and
7:37
everything we do is proactive and
7:39
preventative right which unfortunately
7:42
to be proactive our insurance doesn't
7:44
cover that which is really the travesty
7:46
of our medical model in our in our
7:48
country and and in most Western
7:49
countries you know it's really just so
7:52
sad that we're not much more uh attent
7:55
attentive and planning for let's get
7:58
people to not B sick and I think this
8:01
conversation really started happening
8:02
around the co um the co uh pandemic
8:05
because you know on podcasts and things
8:07
like that people were just talking about
8:09
you know what what are we going to do
8:10
once we treat them when they're sick and
8:11
people weren't quick to talk about let's
8:14
get everybody you know vitamin C and
8:16
vitamin D and start everybody on zinc
8:18
and all these things that can help
8:19
really supplement and fortify the body
8:22
to and and don't quote me on the
8:23
supplement thing because that's out of
8:25
scope for me but just all that to say
8:27
there's ways that we can put our bodies
8:29
in the best position possible to be able
8:32
to fight things and I think that's if
8:33
I'm getting it right that's what you're
8:35
saying you guys are really trying to do
8:36
proactively absolutely and and even with
8:38
the example of Co we obviously saw most
8:41
of the time the people that were fearing
8:43
the best with that disease it's people
8:45
who had been doing the work for a long
8:47
time prior it's not something that you
8:48
can just pick up at the time and say all
8:50
right I'm going to go full bore on the
8:51
vitamins you know there's a lot of work
8:53
over time and so an early investment in
8:56
that while it is an investment can pay
8:58
huge dividends down the road well and
9:00
and you know what's even though it's
9:02
expensive to get a appropriate proactive
9:05
care for yourself it's way more
9:06
expensive to get cancers or to get one
9:09
of these life-threatening illnesses that
9:10
you're going to pay for I mean you are
9:12
going to physically pay for for the most
9:13
part people will be in debt the rest of
9:15
their lives if they don't have you know
9:17
great coverage and things like that and
9:18
so it's like let's spend the money
9:20
proactively and intentionally now so
9:22
that we don't have to do crawling out of
9:24
the hole later I I couldn't agree more
9:26
with just a mindset that way yeah and
9:28
you'll not only pay for it financially
9:30
down the line but you'll pay for it with
9:31
your quality of life which is arguably a
9:34
much bigger absolutely and and so I've
9:38
seen it time and time again where you
9:40
know people may sacrifice their health
9:42
for their career for whatever it may be
9:44
in their younger years and now they're
9:46
scratching and clawing to try to get
9:48
some of that back later um so finding a
9:50
balance and you know finding a way to
9:52
prioritize those those things early it's
9:55
hard it's really hard I mean I know I I
9:57
struggle with a lot of those things
9:58
myself I work a lot and there's a lot of
10:01
pressure on my shoulders to make sure
10:04
things are managed owning this business
10:05
and and I I mean you know that when we
10:08
were working together I was struggling
10:11
so much with just more consistency with
10:13
just the exercise side of things and and
10:16
um a buddy of mine that works here had
10:19
done these bands I think it's like
10:20
called X3 or they were just basically
10:22
bands that um are resistance training
10:25
and there's this very short workout and
10:28
I thought you know every everyone can
10:29
find 15 minutes and so you were really
10:33
supportive of me and you were like it's
10:34
better than not doing it and I really
10:36
encourage you to spend those 15 minutes
10:38
as many days as possible so that you
10:40
know you can help to bring back more
10:42
muscle and great and strength train and
10:44
all of that and of course I always feel
10:46
better when I exercise but but you know
10:49
consistency is so so important but but
10:52
so let's talk a little bit about you
10:54
know we all have a story and we all have
10:56
the why and and you know I became a
10:59
mental health counselor because I wanted
11:01
to learn more about trauma and
11:02
attachment I was Raising adopted
11:04
children that had you know such a mad of
11:07
presenting issues that traditional talk
11:10
therapists were not successful at
11:12
helping us you know navigate and so I
11:14
was like you can either complain about
11:16
the services or you can go become one of
11:18
the experts and maybe change it for
11:19
future families and that was my why in
11:22
in brief about why I became a trauma
11:24
specialist uh but but for you you know
11:27
being so passionate about health and
11:29
proactive care share with share with us
11:32
if you don't mind a little bit about
11:33
your why and and how you've evolved into
11:36
this yeah yeah my why I mean you know
11:39
the the intersection
11:41
of what I do now with rise and the
11:44
preventative care and and the sort of
11:46
topic of this podcast being mental
11:48
health you know it was not necessarily a
11:51
planned intersection but it absolutely
11:53
is intersecting in such a huge way for
11:55
me right now um my story um is is I was
11:59
married at a at a prettyy young age 22
12:02
uh and about two years into that
12:04
marriage uh my wife was diagnosed with
12:05
stage four colon cancer and so that was
12:09
obviously a massive massive shock to us
12:12
in a very difficult about 8 months until
12:15
she passed uh and that happened to be
12:17
right at the very beginning of the Co
12:20
lockdowns in Arizona so you can imagine
12:22
just the crazy tumult that is having to
12:26
deal with a spouse being terminally
12:29
and and that process and what that does
12:33
to your physical health and your mental
12:34
health and then all of a sudden chronic
12:36
stress chronic stress you know she
12:38
passes away and everything that that
12:42
brings along with the fact that the
12:43
whole world is upside down right and and
12:45
it really feel like the way I describe
12:47
it to people is that it felt like just
12:49
an alternate reality like my my life is
12:52
going down One path and all of a sudden
12:54
what in the world just happened now I'm
12:56
here like what do I do mhm
12:59
and and that
13:02
was you know obviously a very difficult
13:04
time for me and I feel like in in
13:07
retrospect a lot of the way that
13:10
I coped and grieved through that process
13:13
which may be right or wrong you could
13:15
probably tell me uh was was just sort of
13:19
bearing down and doing more things which
13:22
now I recognize is not a solution a
13:24
human doing yes yep um and and so I had
13:29
started the personal training business
13:30
right around that time that's when I
13:32
pursued my higher education in in
13:34
exercise science and and I was able to
13:36
be successful with those things but at a
13:38
certain point as we say the body keep
13:41
score and the the stresses and and all
13:44
the that trauma that I had been exposed
13:46
to certainly started to mount and right
13:48
around the time of uh you know I'm I'm
13:51
very joyfully remarried and I have two
13:53
beautiful small children and the the at
13:56
around the time of the the birth of my
13:58
first child my daughter Clementine is
14:00
really when I started to
14:02
notice okay yeah like I've been through
14:05
a lot and I just can't just shove this
14:06
down and keep we had some of those
14:08
conversations you're like how would one
14:09
know if and you were so cute to ask
14:12
these things sort of in the blind but
14:13
not really because you were you were
14:15
noticing right you know you know and so
14:18
I think for me you know that being my
14:20
own personal evolving still continuing
14:23
to this day right Journey with that and
14:26
life hasn't slowed down right I said we'
14:27
we've got another kid we've got a new
14:29
business going and so you know learning
14:32
some practical tools to be able to deal
14:35
with with some of those stressors but
14:36
also understanding that life it's what
14:40
comes with life life doesn't meet us on
14:42
our terms and when we think we're we've
14:44
got it figured out smack something else
14:46
happens and and the more people in our
14:48
lives the more variables the more
14:50
powerless it truthfully is and then
14:52
you're just more smacked more often with
14:55
whatever the thing is I mean it might
14:56
hit you in different varying degrees of
14:58
strength that very times but it's going
14:59
to happen to everybody and so you know
15:02
for me I'm certainly still working
15:03
through that and and but it's been so
15:05
cool to see how um rise and our mission
15:10
at rise intersects with my background
15:12
you know what happened with my first
15:14
wife Madison is not something that
15:16
necessarily was such a rare and unique
15:19
uh instance with her her being you know
15:21
24 years old um that it's not
15:24
necessarily even what we would hope to
15:26
prevent with what we do you know um but
15:30
it it certainly piqu my interest in in
15:32
in preventative care in longevity some
15:35
of the experts that we look to in the
15:36
field is who I started to look to as I
15:39
tried to search for answers during that
15:40
time of my life so um it it feels
15:44
amazing to be able to hopefully um give
15:47
some people a chance to um avert some
15:51
disease or or prevent it from happening
15:54
in the first place um by making some
15:56
proactive changes now so yeah that's
15:58
that's really um I just can't thank you
16:01
enough for your your bravery to share
16:04
this story and and I can only imagine
16:06
how you know you have been overcoming
16:08
and and and I and I want to Circle back
16:10
to when you said you know this might be
16:12
wrong or right and maybe you can tell me
16:14
I think that the the truth of the matter
16:16
is is well did it work and what happened
16:18
next you know and and I think that
16:21
workaholism or pouring yourself into the
16:23
human doing aspect of things is is
16:25
temporarily pretty effective and I think
16:28
what you so candidly described was it
16:31
was until it wasn't right you know can
16:33
you share a little bit with us what that
16:35
looked like for you personally when it
16:38
wasn't and when you started to notice
16:40
like I need to dig in a little bit more
16:42
deeply here yeah I would describe it
16:44
just kind of as as a glass of water if
16:46
if if that symbolizes our capacity for
16:49
stress you know and it's usually halfway
16:52
full when a big stressful or even a
16:54
smaller stressful event comes comes upon
16:57
you a little bit of water gets added to
16:59
that glass but it doesn't overflow and
17:01
so when I got to that point in my life
17:03
what I felt like was I was just
17:04
operating at a brim full glass right
17:07
24/7 and so you know little things uh
17:11
that typically would cause me some
17:13
stress but it was totally manageable
17:14
became more and more severe and more
17:17
impactful on my my day-to-day life
17:19
coupled with the fact that you know we
17:21
have a new baby we're not sleeping you
17:24
know my wife is Right remember you
17:25
talking about you were like Kelly like
17:28
this sleep thing it's real man I'm just
17:30
so tired and I'm like and you're not
17:32
breastfeeding you're not the one you
17:34
know like it's hard stuff absolutely
17:36
it's really hard I I I I remember when
17:39
you were going through that and this the
17:41
primarily like related to the sleep and
17:42
needing your self-care with working out
17:44
and and then wanting to be supportive
17:45
with your wife it's just it's just so
17:48
much so um I love that you mentioned the
17:50
the capacity with the glass of water I'm
17:52
going to show you guys a picture of that
17:54
because we use that here at infinite to
17:56
describe capacity we're all just we're
17:58
just human we only have so much space
18:00
and then eventually Things fill up our
18:02
space in our human vessel so much so
18:05
that we are out of room so so what did
18:07
you do when that happened well it was it
18:10
was definitely multiple things you know
18:13
one of which being therapy that was a
18:15
huge benefit to me as well as through my
18:17
church some counseling where I was able
18:19
to connect with another gentleman who
18:21
had been through a similar experience as
18:23
me and so I think I think for that being
18:26
able to have someone that I you know
18:27
empathized directly with exactly what I
18:30
was going through was very beneficial
18:33
for me um as well as just finding ways
18:36
in that season of life to be able to
18:39
prioritize those things that I knew
18:41
helped me feel better right our our our
18:43
mind and our bodies are so
18:44
interconnected um that you know when I
18:47
could get a nap you know when I could
18:48
get outside and just walk in the Sun or
18:50
take my shoes off and walk in the grass
18:52
when I could get those workout sessions
18:54
in you know I think the combination of
18:56
all those things just started to swing
18:59
things in a in a better Direction but
19:01
you know it was it was difficult because
19:03
even during those times you know I I
19:05
already said I'm kind of a hard charger
19:07
like I want to keep pushing and you know
19:09
I would take two steps forward and one
19:11
step back because as soon as I would
19:12
have an hour to get a good workout in
19:14
man I'm just going to crush myself well
19:16
I'm not take into account the fact that
19:18
I only have this much space for water
19:20
and even something like a beneficial
19:22
stress like exercise is still a stressor
19:25
and so I had to make some adjustments
19:27
even in that realm as far as just
19:29
understanding understanding where I was
19:31
and being were you able to give yourself
19:32
Grace on like modifying what you know
19:34
what a workout with Chris would have
19:36
looked like before you're now a dad and
19:38
you're not sleeping and you're and
19:40
you're and you're yeah it's it's it's
19:43
hard yeah but I I think I it's kind of
19:46
the classic you know doctors make the
19:48
worst patients kind of thing it's like I
19:50
wouldn't tell my client I would very
19:51
much try to control that for my clients
19:53
but when you know I'm coaching myself
19:55
I'm I'm not as good of a listener but um
19:58
I did certainly have to just come to
20:00
that realization because I could see
20:01
what was happening say Hey you know we
20:03
we just need to take a win where we can
20:05
get it right now start stacking I really
20:08
want I really want our listeners to hear
20:09
that that you know we have to be
20:11
adaptable we have to flex where we need
20:13
to and we have to have Grace for
20:15
ourselves when we need to I don't want
20:17
to say put the bar down I think a lot of
20:19
people who are overachievers might hear
20:21
it that way but it's not it's realizing
20:23
that you have so much more on your plate
20:24
that you're trying to carry and you must
20:26
have more compassion and Grace for
20:28
yourself so that you don't drop the
20:29
whole plate yeah and so I think that
20:31
that's that's a great example to share
20:33
with us so thank you so much for for
20:36
meeting with us for this topic we're
20:37
going to dig in um to a part two uh and
20:40
talk more practical tips and more
20:42
specific things related to hormones
20:44
supplements exercise um that that we can
20:48
potentially uh take advantage of if not
20:51
with rise with another like place and
20:53
also just in your own lives to make more
20:56
a priority so that will be a part two so
20:58
tune in uh and thank you so much for
21:00
meeting with us here Chris I appreciate
21:03
you sharing this with us and um a wealth
21:06
of information certainly so thanks yeah
21:09
thank you so much for tuning in to part
21:10
one of this series related to health
21:13
mental health physical health
21:15
supplements and um overall stress and
21:18
we're going to talk a lot more deeply in
21:20
part two so until we meet again thank
21:22
you very much and don't forget to lead
21:24
with love it'll never steer you wrong
21:27
[Music]
21:39
you
21:43
[Music]
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