Chasing Heroine: Addiction Recovery and Sobriety

This is going to be everyone's new favorite, I already know! Kelly shares a harrowing story of surviving 9-11, mental health disorders, disordered eating, a rare infectious disease, delusory parasitosis, homelessness, spinal cord injury, and more . Kelly is a fighter. Finally getting sober at 44, Kelly shares some of the most profound wisdom and insight for healing and resilience that I have e...

Do y'all remember Amanda's episode? She and her sisters were all three strung out on heroin and living in their parents home. Amanda wrote to the Dr. Phil show and it worked! The producers of Dr. Phil reached out and flew the whole family out to LA and sent the sisters to treatment. The free rehab came with an incredibly high price the family couldn't have anticipated. Millions of people watched v...

Ooooh, y'all will love Justin! I was laughing for, like, 75% of this episode at least. :) Justin Darnell is a sober entrepreneur, comedian and social media content creator. Growing up, Justin went doctor shopping with his mom and started smoking weed and dabbling in percocets in high school. Though employed as an EMT, Justin's alcoholism managed to progress until getting sober four years a...

That's a wrap on Narcan Nate... Today is our last episode with Nate before he moves back home to Tennessee to spend time with his family. It has truly been an honor to have Nate as a regular guest co-host for the past four years, and I will dearly miss him and his hill billy shit talking. For our last episode we have one last NDPE for the road, another random ass celebrity encounter of mine in...

I can't wait to hear what y'all think of Brandon D'Ambra! Brandon is one of the creators of the lifestyle brand, Pink7 Brandon graduated from the USC Marshal School of Business and was working in tech in Silicon Valley even as his addiction to opiates was steadily progressing. Eventually strung out on fentanyl, Brandon found himself in and out of detoxes and rehabs until finally finding success in...

TW: Graphic description of wound care and necrotic skin from 1:09:00 to 1:10:00 Welcome back to another episode of Chasing Heroine! So happy to have y'all here :) Today's episode is going to be your new favorite - Tracey's story is incredibly powerful and inspiring. After narrowly surviving a serious car crash in her twenties, Tracey's use continued to escalate, eventually landing...

Y'all, my guest today, Toni Becker is absolutely incredible. Toni lives in South Africa and is a content creator with twelve years sober. Toni was plagued by disordered eating years before her addictions to meth and alcohol began. Years of partying led to homelessness, meth psychosis and severe illness and kidney failure. In sobriety, Toni was still struggling with disordered eating. Treatment...

Check out Magic Min d here! Use code: HEROINE20 for 20% off or 48% off a subscription. I am thrilled for you guys to hear my conversation with my mom! My mother was in town for my ten years last week, so we sat down one afternoon and chatted about both of our experiences during the chaos of my active addiction. In addition to her lived experience, my mom is also an MSW with an extensive career in...

Oooh, y'all are gonna love today's episode! I sat down with Jared Klickstein, author of Crooked Smile, to chat about his addiction and path to sobriety. Jared was homeless on Skid Row and in the Tenderloin area for much of his addiction. His stories are wild and raw and I highly recommend reading his book. Jared was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1989 to heroin-addicted parents. He spent...

I can't wait to hear what you guys think of this episode! I sat down with MMA fighter, Blake Bilder, and he has such kind and earnest energy, I could have chatted with him for another two hours. Raised by his mother, a series of step dads and the occasional contribution of his dad when he wasn't in prison, Blake's childhood was chaotic but mostly very lonely. Growing up, Blake lived with a constan...

(The first four minutes of audio when I begin my talk is kind of crackly - it clears up after that!) Happy New Year, y'all! I hope everyone had a good holiday season and is feeling hopeful about 2025. Scuyler and I didn't do sh*t, lol. Finished Ozark and went to bed way early. Wouldn't have it any other way! Today's episode is a bit different, today I'm sharing my talk from Cal State San Marcos in...

(Make sure you're subscribed/following on Apple or Spotify - it helps with the show a ton! :) Hey, y'all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday (if you celebrate)! Scuyler and I watched all five Die Hards over two days - I had never seen a single one - they're really good! Y'all are going to LOVE today's episode with Colin Morrison. Colin was a legend in the 90s Motocross world, traveling with t...

Y'all are going to LOVE today's episode. I spoke with Somatic Sobriety Coach, Elan Hardy. Before she was ten years old, Elan had smoked weed and taken mushroom, which was common in the culture in which she was raised - traveling with the Grateful Dead as a child and teenager. Her early drug use escalated into opiate addiction as an adult. After getting sober, Elan discovered somatic therapy is a f...

Hey, hey, y'all! Today we're catching up with long time NodPod member, Matt Billions! Since we last spoke with Matt, he's gotten married and bought a house! Matt and I share some holiday stories and what we've done to stay sober over the holidays. I also school Matt in how a secret proposal with photos can absolutely be achieved!! :) As we approach the New Year, I got a code for you guys for my fa...

I am super excited to introduce you guys to my friend, Chris! Chris is the first guest I've interviewed that used with me during my heaviest time of active addiction. Chris was on the run when I met him, out on triple bail, with the Secret Service building an indictment against him for counterfeiting, amongst other crimes. He already gone through drug court successfully as well as multiple other t...

**trigger warning: SA, domestic violence, suicidal ideation Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! I was absolutely blown away by my guest today, Jenna Rose Foster. Jenna is one of the women I went to NYC with for Dopeycon and I have had the pleasure of getting to know her a little more post NY trip and also had the incredible honor of interviewing her. After a teenage addiction to Benzos progresses to meth a...

Hey hey y'all...everybody's favorite angsty harm reduction hero is back! Narcan Nate comes back to the pod to catch up on life, MILFs and NDPEs :) PLUS! What notorious 90s/2000s celebrity woman did Jeannine spend the night before Thanksgiving with in 2008? We have possible the best NDPE we have ever received from Jed of the Church & Other Drugs podcast. DM me on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Message me on ⁠⁠F...

 I am very excited to introduce y'all to my beautiful friend, Sam. Sam was my last "bunkie" in institutions. Sam and I met over ten years ago...our rehab was my last rehab, unfortunately it was not Sam's last rehab. In and out now for a the past decade, Sam has made incredible progress...and then used again anyway. Her parents have had custody of her son since 2014 and we talk about the complicate...

Interview begins at 4:07 I already know y'all are gonna text and DM me that today's episode is your "new favorite!"  I had the opportunity to meet and chat with Mackenzie Selby, a woman in recovery since 2009. Mackenzie was the victim of every type of abuse a child can experience. Her mother was a stripper and drug dealer, her grandfather (who was the primary father figure in her life) was a membe...

I am so excited for y'all to hear my interview with Hootie & The Blowfish drummer Jim Sonefeld! Jim has been the drummer for Hootie & The Blowfish since 1993, and he actually wrote their hit song "Hold My Hand." Jim lived the ultimate rock star life and I LOVED his book, ⁠"Swimming with the Blowfish"⁠ Convincing himself for years that he couldn't possibly be an alcoholic or an addict was easy - he...

Today's interview is with one of our own from the Nod Pod community, Chuck Zamzow.  Chuck grew up in the midwest and began drinking alcoholically after catching his wife having an affair in his early twenties. The next several years of Chuck's life continued to spiral until a near fatal car accident in 2008 scared him enough to finally stay sober.  Working with mentors and "old timers" in Twelve S...

Y'all, I have truly enjoyed my time with Jed :) In this last installment, we see Jed navigating the path of coming clean - again - to friends and family about relapsing again. I have been there so many times...letting people down - AGAIN. Jed shares candidly and vulnerably about the end of his marriage, the insidious return of Kratom into his life and his desperate attempts to get on vivitrol and...

**depiction of injury and intense skin burn from 46:50 to 47:10 Meet David Riggins! David enlisted in the military the day after 9/11. An early boot camp training injury led to an early medical discharge and prescriptions for morphine and dilaudid. When the US government began cracking down on pain clinics, David was cut off from his legal prescription. David turned to street drugs to mitigate the...

I can't wait for you guys to meet today's guest, Ashley Walls. I heard Ashley share at a Twelve Step Meeting a few months ago and was absolutely blown away. At just 21 years old, her wisdom and self awareness are remarkable. Ashley's father was in prison when she was very young, then got out and was sober for many years. Ashley went with him to meetings and fell in love with the progra...

(If listening through headphones, the first 16 minutes are difficult to hear my husband, but then it evens out - stay with me!!) Part One of my husband's incredible story. Sky grew up in an affluent area of Northern California, spending summers at the family home in Nantucket, surrounded by wealthy families and privilege. A gifted athlete, a knee injury at sixteen threw his entire world off co...