Project Recovery

Gabe Schiavonie joins Casey Scott to talk about growing up in the heart of Los Angeles, the moment he knew he wanted to be a professional musician, and how his introduction to alcohol at the age of 13 led him to live the rockstar lifestyle. Gabe also opens up about his life as a touring musician, becoming dependent on alcohol, and the loneliness he began to feel as his world came crumbling down to...

Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley dive into some listener comments, dopamine’s impact on obesity, as well as how cannabis use led to more severe psychotic outcomes in teenagers than any other group.

Katie Roghaar , LCSW (Huntsman Mental Health Institute) , joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about Katie’s decision to pursue social work, the importance of all-female recovery facilities, and the power of leveling with patients through Feminist Multicultural therapy. Then, we talk about how the shame associated with addiction is evolving in society, the Bridge Program for o...

Richie Wilson (Operations Manager at Fit To Recover) joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about growing up having a great childhood but struggling to express the anxiety he was experiencing during high school and how an injury at 16 years old introduced him to opioids that he says immediately took his anxiety away and led him down a road of abusing substances daily. Then Richie opens up...

Dr. Matt Woolley is solo this week to talk about ways parents can help prevent teenagers from drunk driving during the summer months following graduation, lock-in parties were created to help reduce drunk driving on graduation night, and some tips on how to approach the conversation of drunk driving with our children. We also dive into some statistics as to how the stigma of addiction has evolved...

Manny Lopez and Portia Louder join Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about their rock bottoms, what they have been up to since their time respective times on the show, and Portia’s new book, Born to Be Brave, which includes Manny’s inspirational life story, and what they’re doing to help reinforce their recovery. Related Links Born to Be Brave by Portia Louder: https://por...

This week we replay Cade Cooper’s story of how growing up a perfectionist engrained an "all or nothing" attitude, the impact that this mindset had on his youth when he started abusing substances, and how being introduced to pornography pushed him toward a dark place. We also talk about Cade's experience with going on an LDS mission to Hawaii once he graduated, how the loss of his father sent...

Casey Scott is flying solo this week while Dr. Matt is on vacation and we’re doing a therapy exercise called, “Free-Form Writing”. Free-form writing is an exercise that is used to help clear the mind and get our thoughts and feelings onto paper.

Dr. Bryce Herrera  ( Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW & Psychiatric Program Specialist at Huntsman Mental Health Institute)  joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about his inspiration behind pursuing social justice, why working in addiction recovery can be so fulfilling, and his past work with treating veterans who suffer from substance abuse. Then we talk about the pro...

Mark Pepper (Clinical Director at Steps Recovery Center) joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to open up about struggling to find his place in life growing up and how turning to weed and alcohol early in life helped him fit in during high school. Mark also talks about falling in love with being addicted to depression during his freshman year of college in Eugene, OR, his decision to transfer to...

Matthew Jackson joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley again to talk about how his life has changed after his time on the podcast three years ago, the ways his recovery has shifted, and his decision to pursue being a Substance Use Disorder / Addiction Counselor for the youth. We also dive into how substance abuse has evolved among the youth, modalities that Matthew uses to help the youth overcome...

In this week's episode, Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley are joined by Matthew Jackson, a former BYU professor, to talk about Matthew's experimentation with substances growing up in a small town, the shame he felt after his addiction became more well-known, and how a spiritual awakening led him to experience recovery for the first time. Then Matthew talks about his life without substance abuse, ho...

Scott Devine joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about his family’s experience moving to America from Ireland to be more active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, why he found comfort in pursuing rebellious behavior throughout high school, and his decision to attend BYU-Idaho, despite continuously disobeying the Honor Code. Scott also talks about going off the rai...

Amy Abshere joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about how she quickly learned that her achievements and success could lead to attention and praise when she was younger, using her successes in education and athletics to justify her substance abuse, and feeling as if her identity had been taken away after she graduated college. We also dive into Amy’s experience with struggling to g...

Season 11 champion of the hit television show, 'Ultimate Fighter', and Welterweight MMA fighter, Court McGee, joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt to talk about his experiences surrounding addiction and eventually overcoming years of struggle to ultimately become a professional UFC fighter. Court also explains how an injury led to becoming addicted to pain pills in a week, which eventually led to a dera...

Friend of the show, Christian Smith, joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about the causal factors of low success rates in the recovery community, how we can increase recovery outcomes, and how insurance companies impact the cost of attending treatment centers. Then we talk about ways we can improve the process of preparing addicts for a stint in treatment, why addicts need to open up ab...

Adam Rudy joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to look back on his childhood where he was surrounded by drug abuse due to his father being a drug dealer, losing his father in a car accident while he was under the influence, and how the passing of his father shaped his mindset towards living life. Adam then talks about experimenting with drugs and alcohol during his early twenties, spending time...

Unfortunately, we have lost our good friend, Seneca Higley, to the disease of addiction. We wanted to honor him by sharing his story with everyone to hopefully inspire anyone to seek help and continue the fight against addiction. Seneca was an amazing storyteller and hearing him talk about his life was such an inspirational moment for us. We hope his story can bring some light and hope into your d...

Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley talk about the unfortunate and sudden passing of our good friend, Seneca Higley. Then Casey shares some of his favorite memories with Seneca and we talk about ways to help prevent overdoses. Related Links SAMSA:  https://store.samhsa.gov/product/overdose-prevention-response-toolkit/pep23-03-00-001

Brandon Novack just turned 40, and he completed his 13th attempt at recovery in 2016. He's been sober ever since. At the age of 15, he was a pro skateboarder, endorsed by Gatorade and doing commercials with Michael Jordan. At 17, he was working for his idol, Tony Hawk. That's when he discovered the dark side of substance abuse. This would cause him to lose everything, save for a few personal belon...

Danielle Yarrington joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about her introduction to alcohol as a teenager, using alcohol to separate herself from her ex-husband in her mid-twenties, and the events that led her to drink alcohol every day. Danielle also opens up about her struggles to manage the chaos in her life due to relationships in her life, how she was able to only go to one rehabilit...

Kyle Raines joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Wooley to talk about the impact that losing his brother when he was growing up had on him and his family, why he started pushing people away following the loss of his brother, and his earliest realizations that he had a problem with substances. Then Kyle opens up about how his addiction got out of control throughout the years, being sent to jail for a DUI...

Breann Sagers joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about her niece, Kandis Harris, who has been missing for three years after running with the wrong crowd and struggling with addiction at an early age.  We dive into Kandis’s time running in and out of multiple recovery programs, the day she stopped responding to family and friends, and how the search for Kandis has evolved ove...

Vili Auelua joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about his life growing up in Compton, CA. where he spent a lot of his time committing crimes as a gang member, why abusing alcohol and marijuana was commonplace in his environment, and how his time running the streets ultimately caught up with him. Vili also opens up about his battles with addiction after struggling to realize that he had...

Morgan Dimmitt joins Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley to talk about how his vigilant relationship with his brother naturally caused him to feel anxious and tense which ultimately led him to feel less anxious once he started experimenting with marijuana and alcohol. Morgan also talks about how sports became an outlet for him to release a lot of the pent-up tension he dealt with in high school, the...