Meet Zac & Wes: Eternal Strength Experiential Therapeutic Youth Center

We had the good fortune of connecting with Zac & Wes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zac & Wes, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is everything…..we were born risk takers, on this earth to push, learn, grow and ultimately take risks. Zac and I believe that everything in life is inherently risky and this is where people misconstrue the idea of “risk taking”. People tend to believe that taking a risk is only when you do something spontaneous or dangerous, however, playing it safe and not changing comes with massive risks as well.

Zac and I have chosen to use risk to grow, learn and push our limits to ultimately see what we are capable of in our lives. My good friend John always said “we all die in this bitch” and we use that to fuel our overall mission while on earth. We are all going to die and therefore the risks we take while alive should be in alignment with our core heart values and our true life’s purpose.

Zac and I want to touch peoples lives and enrich their experience on this earth. To let people see that life can be beautiful, magical and filled with adventure. Zac and I have learned a lot from our own unconscious risk taking in our youth, i.e. the yolo credo, where you take stupid and dangerous risks with no reward, like drug use and substance abuse. We both learned that this path led to despair and suffering. Now, we have turned our risk taking into conscious light energy used to excel health, wellness and true holistic growth.

Risk being too loving, risk being too giving, risk being your true self, risk shining your light as bright as you can. Be a child in exploratory wonder, play with your environment and create and envision a future you want for yourself and those around you.

Zac and I built Eternal Strength Experiential Therapeutic Youth Center (ESYC) as a playground for therapeutic growth, healing and wellness…..giving our all and risking everything to create a magical space to allow youth to find their true voice and work through challenges such as anxiety, depression, suicidality and substance abuse.

We were willing to risk failing, making mistakes, exhausting our financial resources and our time and energy to pour everything into the dream of Eternal Strength. After a year of working endlessly, we have built a team of seventeen amazing healers and we are serving over seventy families.

Risk is good as long as it is conscious and calculated. Risk being the magical light that you are and sharing your divine spark with others. Find your light, share it and birth into existence anything you want.

“We all die in this bitch” so go risk living your truest life. Zac and I will continue to fight for freedom and work daily to push others to risk living the life they want to live!!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I started as a Licensed Professional Counselor in the mental health field in private practice for the last 5 yrs, I integrated music and art into my practice a lot and got known for working mainly with youth, young adults and artists/ musicians.

My friend Zac from middle school moved back from Hawaii in January of 2020 and we worked tirelessly to build and create Eternal Strength, a combo of youth center/ mental health therapeutic treatment center. Zac brought his holistic wellness coaching and business development skills and we combined that with my experience in the mental health field to build something never before seen, Eternal Strength a combo mental health therapeutic treatment facility/ community youth center.

We now have an amazing 8500 sq ft facility with a ton of experiential therapeutic arenas, i.e. art studio, music studio, full gym, game room, rec area, pool table, ceramics studio and outdoor space with a rock climbing wall.

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/eternalstrengthatl/

Website:

Home

Our program offers counseling/ psychotherapy, therapeutic mentoring, fitness/ nutrition and academic support/ guidance as well. We also have process groups and psych ed groups.

We have an amazing team of 17 healers, mentors, therapists and coaches and we are a radical love tribe trying to support youth on their journey of development and raise consciousness on every level helping all the families we work with tap into their true potential and holistic growth!!

Getting to this point was anything short of easy, Zac and I worked tirelessly and devoted everything to Eternal Strength. We worked 100+ hr work weeks, ate, slept and breathed everything Eternal Strength. We were relentless, fixated and addicted to ES and did everything we could to ensure the health of ES and creating the best team and environment we could for youth on the journey of growth!!

Any challenges became non-existent as we didn’t allow stress or anxiety to negatively impact our goal, our mission and our core purpose, which was to build the funkiest space for youth to connect, socialize, heal and grow.

The lessons we learned is to never give up, the power of positive energy and mindset and the crucial importance of resilience and relentlessness. DON”T STOP, just keep pushing and moving forward and you will achieve your goals!!

We want the world to know that Eternal Strength is for the youth, we see you, we hear you and we are here to help walk alongside you on the journey of growth! We created a space of funkadelic healing and we will devote all our days to helping you tune into your holistic potential. Eternal Strength is pioneering a new way to be held in the journey of youth growth and development. We are a radical love tribe, giving youth voice in the world as they find unique ways to tune into their amazing divine light!!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If you have never seen Atlanta, the spots to hit up would be either downtown ATL, Ponce City Market (Superica) or Marietta Square, Downton Roswell or Downtown Alpharetta.

All these areas have amazing small business shops, restaurants, coffee houses, etc.

Also, hiking Kennesaw Mtn or Stone Mtn is always great!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would like to use this space to shoutout our amazing team at Eternal Strength. Without our incredible team we wouldn’t be where we are. They are our on the ground daily working with youth and families and providing top tier therapeutic support and guidance. Each member of our team is devoted to personal growth and holistic health and it shines bright as they work together to help families heal and grow.

Our shoutout is to our amazing crew, who we are forever grateful for as they pave the way of growth for Eternal Strength:

Kara Morrissey– Clinical Director
Morgan Carter– Executive Program Director
Cara Smith– Administrative Assistant, Director of Education
Andrew Smith– Operations/ Therapeutic Mentor
Taivan Chiem– Creative Director/ Therapeutic Mentor
Smitty Grider– Clinical Therapist
Ashley Beck– Clinical Therapist
Erica Baldwin– Therapeutic Mentor
Micheal Johnson– Director of Fitness & Nutrition/ Therapeutic Mentor
Mike Frederiksen– Therapeutic Mentor
Emma Chancey– Therapeutic Mentor
Nick Bernier– Open Space Supervisor

Website: https://eternalstrengthatl.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eternalstrengthatl/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eternal-strength-experiential-therapeutic-youth-center/mycompany/

Twitter: @wes_robins

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/esyouthcenter

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmJDcSLucQ1nDjq8N9FCZ2A

Other: Tik Tok: @eternalstrengthatl