By Jessyka Heredia
View interview on Youtube
June 12, 2023 (El Cajon) -- 
On Thursday, ECM sat down with former Los Angeles Lakers’ basketball star Lamar Odom and Dontae Ralston, Executive Director / Founder of West Urban Outreach in El Cajon, to talk about their new substance abuse treatment centers called Odom Wellness Treatment Centers set in a residential recovery environment.
There are three treatment centers expected to open in San Diego County at this time. El Cajon and Lemon Grove as well as one in the city of San Diego.
When asked about the type of clients they will be servicing, Odom said, “I’m sure we will have a high-profile celebrity clientele, but of course anybody is welcome with a substance abuse problem. Addiction doesn’t discriminate, so we’ll be ready to help them.”
Odom said his inspiration to open these treatment centers was due to his own very public battle with addiction. Odom told ECM that when he overdosed, he had “12 strokes and six heart attacks,” adding that his purpose is “to help people.” At the time of his near-fatal overdose in 2015, Odom had just retired from the NBA and was going through a divorce with Khloe Kardashian.
Ralston said he and Odom currently “partner with other treatment centers locally to assist in the homelessness situation in San Diego and those who are struggling with substance use disorder (SUD) and very mild mental health.”
He indicated that they are opening locations in Huntington Beach as well as Kansas where they “operate in detoxification, and intensive outpatient services (IOP) and outpatient services (OP) as well.”
ECM asked how many of these treatment centers they are planning on opening. Odom said he “wants to have these nationwide. Addiction is a worldwide problem, so I want to have them everywhere.”
How have residents reacted in neighborhoods where clinics are opening? Ralston replied, “The people in the community are very supportive.”
Using El Cajon as an example, Ralston said, “We’re struggling with a very serious homeless issue, not just in El Cajon but the whole city.” He added that when “you’re taking them off the streets and cultivating individuals, it is a benefit to the city to have programs that operate with wrap-around services that can give them the assistance that they know they need. It’s going to take these types of programs, boots to the ground types of programs, to go out into the community and help clean up the problem that exists right now.”
When asked if there was a faith-based component in their treatment centers Ralston explained that they “are a non-religious entity that operates with Christian ethics. I serve God, Lamar serves God. However, we are not a religious entity.
Odom said, “To overcome addiction I think it’s important for the clients to be in touch with some type of spiritual element. because it’s hard to just overcome it yourself.”
Ralston noted that they chose San Diego and East County because he (Ralston) is from El Cajon. “I went to El Cajon High School and to be honest, I’m probably part of the reason it’s run the way it is. I’m a part of the mess up, however I was given another shot at life,” said Ralston. “Hooking up with Lamar, someone who has battled his own addiction, same heart same passion for cleaning up the community as well as cleaning up the industry, it’s needed.”
ECM asked whether their key goals are to treat as many people as possible, or change the way treatment facilities are run. Odom said both. Odom shared, “An interesting stat is that more people have died from drug overdoses than World War I, World War II and Vietnam.”
There is a GoFundMe set up if the public is interested in helping with their mission “to raise as much money as we can so we can begin to help” other facilities that are “overflooded or just don’t have the resources.”