I’m Chase, founder of Austin Integration Coaching.

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I didn’t start AIC because I thought coaching sounded like a good business. I started it because I’ve lived through a lot of the things I now help other people and families navigate.

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I know what it’s like to feel completely lost while everyone around you thinks you’re fine. I know addiction, treatment, family dysfunction, loss, self sabotage, starting over, and what it feels like to spend years trying to fix the wrong problem.

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I also know what it’s like to finally start figuring yourself out.

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My Story

Growing up, baseball was everything to me. It was where I felt confident, where I belonged, and honestly, where I could escape everything else.

Outside of baseball, I struggled. I had ADHD, had a hard time in school, and learned pretty early to play the role of the “dumb jock” rather than let people see where I was struggling. Underneath that was a kid who didn't feel good enough and didn't really know how to talk about what was going on.

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At 15, I discovered alcohol. For the first time, all that noise seemed to shut off.

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Later, a sports injury introduced me to opiates. Then, during my senior year of high school, I lost my brother. That loss changed everything.

For the next several years, drugs became my way of dealing with things I didn't know how to deal with. I went through multiple treatment programs. I would get sober, but getting sober didn't automatically fix everything underneath it.

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Eventually I realized I couldn't keep running from myself.

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Recovery had to become about more than not using drugs. I had to look at my past, my relationships, my behavior, my family, the way I saw myself, and the patterns I kept repeating.

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That changed the direction of my life.

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From My Own Recovery to Helping Others

In 2008, I began working at New Life House in Los Angeles, eventually becoming House Director and helping support 36 young men between the ages of 18 and 22.

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That experience taught me something I've carried throughout my career: you can't work with one person in isolation and expect everything around them to magically change.

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Families need support too.

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Over the years, my work expanded into family support, interventions, case management, admissions, treatment placement, life skills, mentorship, recovery support, and helping adolescents, young adults, men, parents, and families navigate some incredibly difficult situations.

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And eventually I started noticing another gap.

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People could go to treatment. They could spend years in therapy. They could have a profound psychedelic experience, make a huge realization, repair a relationship, or decide they were finally ready to change their life.

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Then Monday comes.

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You still have a family. A relationship. A career. Kids. Bills. Triggers. Old habits. Old friends. Old patterns.

Knowing what needs to change and actually living differently are two very different things.

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That space in between is where Austin Integration Coaching was born.

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Why AIC Exists

Integration, to me, is taking what you've learned about yourself and figuring out how to actually live it.

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Sometimes that involves recovery.

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Sometimes it's rebuilding a family after years of chaos.

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Sometimes it's a relationship that's falling apart, a young adult who has completely lost direction, a father trying to become a different kind of man, or someone coming home from treatment wondering what the hell they're supposed to do next.

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Sometimes nothing has completely fallen apart. You just know the way you've been living isn't working anymore.

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That's why we don't have one formula that we put everybody through.

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We figure out what's actually happening, what you need, and where you're stuck. Sometimes that means working directly with you. Sometimes it means bringing your family into the process. Sometimes it means helping you find treatment or another professional who is better equipped for what you're facing.

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And sometimes you just need somebody willing to tell you the truth, stay in it with you, and help you figure out the next move.

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What We Believe

Change takes time.
There isn't a weekend, retreat, treatment center, psychedelic experience, or breakthrough conversation that does all the work for you. Those things can open a door. What you do afterward matters.

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Families matter.
When one person is struggling, everyone around them is affected. When appropriate, we work with the family instead of putting all of the responsibility for change on one person.

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Look underneath the behavior.
Addiction, anger, avoidance, unhealthy relationships, self sabotage and other destructive patterns usually tell us something. We want to understand what's driving the behavior, not just make the behavior disappear.

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You still have to do the work.
We're not here to save you or run your life for you. We'll support you, challenge you, help you see what you may not be seeing, and walk through the hard parts with you. But ultimately, the goal is for you to build a life you know how to live.

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This Is Personal to Me

I've been doing my own work for almost two decades, and I'm still doing it.

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That's important to me.

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I don't believe I can ask another person to look honestly at themselves if I'm unwilling to do the same.

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AIC has grown beyond my own story and beyond addiction treatment. Today, we work with people and families through recovery, relationships, family conflict, psychedelic integration, major life transitions, personal growth, and those periods of life where you know something has to change but aren't sure how to get there.

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You don't need to have everything figured out before you call us.

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That's kind of the point.

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— Chase Thayer
Founder & Lead Integration Coach