“Working on the Wellness of All those in Need”

In May of 2017, Shannon Malish opened Windmill Wellness Ranch. She believes that a holistic approach to recovery is necessary for a client’s growth and complete healing. The programs offered at Windmill Wellness Ranch and the patient’s experience are the brainchild of Shannon. Her vast knowledge and experience in leading and directing co-occurring, substance-use-disorder treatment facilities led to research that showed what is needed to sustain long-term recovery.

Windmill Wellness Ranch is recognized by the State of Texas as a COSPD (co-occurring psychiatric disorders) inpatient and outpatient treatment center specializing in trauma therapies, substance use disorders and mental health serving patients from all over the United States. Windmill Wellness Ranch is also the only substance use disorder facility using Brain FrequencyTM technology to heal the brain located on site at our Brain Frequency Center.

Shannon now has methods for treatment to address underlying issues with therapy and brain therapy instead of placing, as she refers to it, “a band-aid over a bullet wound.” The “band-aid treatment” did not work and, thus, it was time for evidence-based and researched treatment. To heal the body, mind, and spirit requires specialty and highly educated staff trained to deal with the core issue, which is never the substance that is being abused. The substance is just a symptom of the problem. Shannon found that a large fraction of those people were still relapsing despite all therapeutic efforts.

Shannon had been Chief Operating Officer and oversaw 12 addiction treatment centers in three different states. There was a clear piece missing in addiction treatment: mental health. Mental Health is the driving issue in addiction; furthermore, there is a huge gap across the nation for long-term inpatient mental health. She recognized that addiction would continue to be an issue if mental health was not treated primarily. Shannon lost her sister to untreated major depressive disorder and polysubstance use. This was another driving force for Shannon to create Windmill Wellness Ranch.

Shannon has helped many other females in the industry get started with either their inpatient centers or as leaders in mental health. “I have also interned many females that are now in key leadership positions in several states.” Additionally, I support my employees’ education and they are now in the helping profession either here or elsewhere.”

Brain Frequency, another company, created by Shannon Malish, has gone out to the U.S. She plans to help other women financially start their businesses. “After what I encountered trying to borrow money, I don’t want any woman to be slowed down in changing the future. I plan on helping women get their start and not to be charged a huge percentage for their efforts. I know how empowering it is to say, I did this!”

Because Shannon had a clinical background that led to creating the right systems, she teaches the “why.” The phrase “that’s the way we’ve always done it” doesn’t work at WWR. She teaches her leaders how to look at systems, processes, metrics to improve treatment every month. She meets with her clinical team weekly to train others on all emerging clinical therapies and her directors bi-weekly. This top-down approach has led WWR to have the best outcomes in the nation.

WWR has filled the gap in the nation when it comes to mental health. They were pioneers before COVID, and since then it is clear that good mental health treatment is needed. The outcomes speak for themselves in the Trac-9 results in all domains.

Trac9 Informatics is a standardized assessment battery for substance use disorders and mental health that provides evidentiary support for clinical monitoring, outcomes, supervision and success forecasting.

The future holds endless opportunities for both Shannon and her institute. Unfortunately, with COVID, more mental health has emerged, and she is looking forward to helping those find “joy again ”. The institute moved into virtual care because it was needed, and Shannon never wanted to limit access to care. “We have added the Guardian initiative. As a wife of a retired police officer and veteran, we will be letting the rest of the U.S. know how we specialize in this for Vets and First Responders. This requires a very different skill set for both the Guardian and their family members,” says the pioneering leader. “We are treating many process addictions, such as love, sex, gambling, spending, etc., with individualized tracks to come. I will continue developing the revolutionary software that accurately predicts the mental health diagnosis with a 4-minute EEG. I have developed software to treat these symptoms instead of using medications as our first response." WL