Get a Grip Podcast

In this powerful and deeply moving episode, Louis Essig and Aaron Garnes sit down with Nicole Stull to share a story of survival, pain, and ultimately redemption. Nicole opens up about a childhood marked by unimaginable trauma. Growing up in a home where she was abused by her older brothers in ways no child should ever experience, Nicole spent years carrying the weight of that pain in silence. The...

In this episode, Emma and Rihanna from The Ohio State University sit down with Louis Essig to hear the powerful story of how a young man from an upper-class community ended up living on the streets in the grip of addiction—and how he fought his way back. Louis grew up in what most would consider a normal, stable environment, but everything began to change after his first drink at 16. What started...

In this powerful episode, Louis Essig and Aaron Garnes sit down with Dr. Nicole Labor to hear a story that challenges everything people think they know about addiction, recovery, and redemption. Nicole grew up in a strict household where drugs were something to fear and avoid. But like many stories of addiction, the path didn’t begin where anyone expected. What started with heavy drinking as a tee...

Born into chaos and addiction, McKayla Jodon’s story is one of survival, relapse, and ultimately redemption. In this powerful episode, Louis Essig and Aaron Garnes sit down with McKayla as she opens up about growing up with a mother who had her at just 14 years old and how instability shaped her early life. What began as a seemingly normal childhood quickly spiraled as McKayla was introduced to dr...

Shakura Slaughter joins hosts Louis Essig and Aaron Garnes for one of the rawest, most powerful conversations ever featured on the show. Raised in deep poverty and surrounded by violence from the beginning, Shakura opens up about how her childhood environment shaped her worldview long before she ever had a chance to shape it herself. From the earliest moments of her life, she was already fighting...

In this powerful episode, Louis Essig and Aaron Garnes sit down with Aysha Clever for a raw and deeply moving conversation about trauma, addiction, loss, and redemption. Aysha opens up about a childhood shaped by domestic violence and instability — a home where fear was normal and survival came before everything else. Growing up in chaos left scars that followed her into adolescence, and like so m...

In this powerful episode, Louis and Aaron sit down with Dominic G., a man whose story is soaked in generational addiction, loss, and ultimately redemption. Alcoholism ran deep in Dominic’s bloodline, taking loved ones and shaping the chaos of his childhood long before he ever picked up a substance himself. Dominic reflects on surviving a devastating car wreck with his father — a moment that could...

In this powerful episode, Louis Essig sits down with Jason Christopher for a raw, unfiltered conversation about music, addiction, fame, relapse, and redemption. Jason’s story begins with a childhood shaped by chaos and curiosity. By 12–13 years old, he was experimenting with LSD, and after a food fight spiraled into a psych ward stay, the trajectory of his life was already shifting. But at 14, he...

In this raw and unfiltered episode, Aaron and Louis sit down with Bob Frazier — a man who says rage fueled nearly every decision he made for decades. Growing up in Philadelphia, Bob witnessed brutal domestic violence at home and endured relentless beatings from his father. By 8 minutes into this conversation, he recounts the moment he finally “boxed” his dad in the living room — a turning point th...

In this raw and unfiltered episode, Louis Essig sits down with Laray Hamilton to unpack a life that spiraled into chaos long before she ever touched m3th. Laray opens up about growing up without knowing her father and being raised by an alcoholic mother whose instability shaped her earliest memories. At just 10 years old, she witnessed her mom put a gun in her own mouth. By 13, feeling like she ne...

In this raw and deeply personal episode, Louis and Aaron sit down with Tyler Boggs, a man who openly describes himself as a chronic relapser—and isn’t afraid to explain what that really means. Tyler’s battle with addiction began at a young age, when experimenting with drugs quickly escalated into something far more powerful and destructive. What started as escape and curiosity eventually turned in...

In this powerful and unfiltered episode, Louis and Aaron sit down with Amanda Moore, a woman who has truly been to hell and back. Amanda’s story begins with early exposure to drugs, a path that slowly pulled her away from safety and into a world of addiction, trauma, and survival on the streets. What followed was a nightmare few can imagine—Amanda was human trafficked, held captive, and at one poi...

In this episode of the Get a Grip Podcast, Louis & Aaron sit down with Kathryn Grills whose life was shaped by generational addiction from childhood. From using drugs with her parents, losing her sister to an overdose, surviving multiple ODs herself, and ultimately finding recovery — this is a raw, unfiltered story of survival, trauma, and hope. This conversation dives deep into the realities...

Sy Saqfelhait’s story is one of loss, survival, and ultimately redemption. Born with deep roots in Palestine, Sy spent years caught in the grip of Xanax addiction—so long that he describes it as losing nearly a decade of his life to a fog of missing memories. Entire chapters of his past are gone, erased by dependency and relapse, leaving him to piece together who he was and how far he’d fallen. Ti...

In this unforgettable episode, Chad McClintock tells the raw and unfiltered story of living two completely opposite lives at the same time—serving as a firefighter and first responder while secretly trapped in a severe meth addiction. Chad’s journey begins in an abusive childhood filled with violence and instability, experiences that shaped his anger, survival instincts, and early decisions. As a...

Drake Phillips grew up surrounded by wealth in Beverly Hills, but behind the gates and privilege was an emotionally absent father and a deep sense of rebellion that would shape the course of his life. In this episode, Louis sits down with Drake to unpack how a childhood that looked perfect from the outside led him down a dark and dangerous path. Drawn to the streets at a young age, Drake was initi...

In this raw, emotional, and brutally honest episode, Aaron and Louis sit down with Landon Muncy to tell the full story of a life shaped by addiction almost from the very beginning. Landon shares how he was exposed to drugs at a young age and first used heroin at just 10 years old, setting him on a dangerous path that would follow him into adulthood. He reflects on his childhood, moving to Florida...

In this raw and eye-opening episode, Louis and Aaron sit down with Catherine Pacedoves to unpack a life shaped by chaos, fast money, and survival inside the stripping world. Catherine shares how her childhood spiraled early, including her first experience with alcohol at just four years old and later being sent to an anorexia camp, setting the stage for years of instability. She walks through the...

Crystal Turner’s story is a raw, unfiltered descent into addiction, crime, and ultimately redemption. Born into instability, raised in a trailer park by a mother who was barely a teenager herself, Crystal grew up with an absent father lost to drug use and a childhood marked by survival rather than safety. What began as experimentation spiraled quickly—first heroin and Xanax, then deeper into meth—...

In this powerful and unfiltered episode, Louis sits down with Angela Vroman to share the harrowing truth of her life—one marked by deep childhood trauma, crack addiction, kidnapping, and human trafficking. Angela opens up about her early years and how her father became the foundation of lasting trauma, leading to inappropriate physical relationships at a young age and a path of vulnerability. Whil...

In this powerful and deeply honest episode, Louis and Aaron sit down with Naveah Benton to hear her story of growing up in the shadow of addiction. Born to two teenage parents struggling with substance abuse, Naveah’s life was shaped early by chaos, instability, and trauma. She opens up about her childhood surrounded by drugs, the loss of her father to an overdose, and watching her mother’s addict...

In this powerful and unfiltered episode, Louis interviews Taelor Thorton, whose life story is a stark portrait of trauma, addiction, and survival. Born with cystic fibrosis, Taelor grew up facing serious medical challenges that shaped her childhood and sense of self. By her early teens, she was already drinking, misusing prescription stimulants, and acting out in dangerous ways, including stealing...

In this powerful and honest conversation, Aaron and Louis sit down with Elaine Berman to unpack a life that, on the surface, looked relatively normal—but carried deep, hidden wounds beneath it. Elaine opens up about her early years in ballet, including the discipline and pressure of an extremely strict instructor, before sharing the trauma of a sexual assault she experienced at a young age. From t...

In this powerful and unfiltered interview, Charles Straley sits down with Louis and Aaron to share a life story shaped by addiction, trauma, foster care, prison, and ultimately redemption. Born to alcoholic parents and placed into foster care at a young age, Charles was forced to grow up fast—taking care of households that weren’t his, surviving violence, and navigating loss most kids couldn’t ima...

In this raw, unflinching conversation, Louis sits down with Mya Kiskaden to walk through a life shaped by trauma, survival, and the long shadow of addiction. Mya opens up about being sexually assaulted by her grandfather at a young age and how that early violence set her on a destructive path marked by daily drinking as a teenager and spiraling substance use. She shares the physical and emotional...