Recovery Internet Radio

Some kids have a lot to handle in their early years and much to put into perspective in later years.  Jeane grew up necessarily fast in a loving but chaotic home where mental illness and active alcoholism were the guiding principles.  The second oldest of six she was both caretaker and alcoholic in training.  She found a way through the chaos, to make peace with her past and into recovery.  Join u...

Our guest this week will take us inside “the family business”; a business consisting largely of illegal activities and straight up criminal behavior.  From a large urban family he was exposed to the criminal element from the time he could walk.  Alcoholism and criminal thinking ran neck and neck for first place in his head; booze and drugs fueled the fire. Learning to work the system he avoided th...

“Those who are unaware of history are doomed to repeat it” and I suspect that includes family history.  After generations of alcoholism and addiction our guest found a way to transform his personal history.  In this transformation his two boys played a vital role. Not wanting his boys to suffer with the same addictive pattern that so many of his family experienced he found a way.  He found his ins...

Nobody even used the word “Alcoholism” to describe what happened to Julie’s family.  It wasn’t understood or accepted at the time as a reason why she and her siblings came to school with dirty clothes, bruises and uncombed hair.  It wasn’t until a few years later when a helpful and unsuspecting church worker used the A word that Julie began to understand. Julie began a journey through anger and re...

The thought of jail/incarceration is a disturbing one.  Who wants to be confined for a long period of time; punished for illegal activity?  Who likes to think of themselves as a person who has acted in such a way as to need confinement?  But could jail actually help people into recovery?  Could jail propel some or motivate others to get sober and stay sober? Let’s explore the complex relationship...

Eric’s search for serenity, sanity and a spiritual connection is a journey that led him to separate from everything familiar. After a highly successful traditional career, he descended into a dark place filled with the perils that many seekers must face; fears, resentments, blame, self-absorption, reliance on chemicals and things other than spirit.  He returned with a profound understanding and se...

 Most of us are working stiffs and have to find a way to earn a penny or two, pay the bills, keep the kids fed all the while keeping our sober priorities in order.  Some of us travel and even spend a good percentage of our work time away from home base, home groups and family support.  What does it take to find an effective balance between work-life and what it takes to stay connected, stay active...

We have to face the facts; heroin is here, its readily available, its not only dangerous but deadly and it’s killing people with alarming regularity.  Even knowing heroin’s lethal potential the addiction is powerful enough to convince even well-informed minds to continue to use.  Tonight’s guest will talk to us about the hellish life of a heroin addict and the joy of recovery from that life.  Stev...

I got to know Kathleen through contact with her teenaged son who was just being discharged from a treatment program.  As I got to know her son I also got to know Kathleen as a fierce advocate for both her son and for recovery.  I further came to know her as a recovering person herself and I learned about her dedication to her spiritual life and her family.  I recently came to know that she has liv...

Have you ever noticed that you don’t meet many old crack cocaine addicts?  Almost as if she had a map that led from one crack head boyfriend to another our guest worked her way through this crazy landscape.  To her, at times crack was a solution to her anxiety and at other’s it was her complete undoing.  At times she used crack to stay in relationships she wanted to leave and at others she entered...

What medications are safe for me?  Are these addictive? If I take something for depression or anxiety is that a relapse?  Can medications for psychiatric issues interact safely with recovery?  Can you have an addictions diagnosis and a psychiatric diagnosis too?  Does one cause the other?  What about drugs that are used to treat heroin problems?  Can drugs safely be used for detox from opiates or...

The non-medical use of opiate pain meds, benzodiazepine based anti-anxiety drugs and stimulant meds used for Attention Deficit Disorder are being abused at epidemic proportions.  Prescriptions for opiate pain meds have quadrupled in the last twenty years and prescriptions for the stimulant drugs have increase X10 in the same time period. Recovery from prescription drug addiction is made exceptiona...

Addictions like shadows keep us away from the sunlight of the spirit. Sometimes we've been away from the light for so long that  darkness becomes the norm.  Forced by the circumstances that we call "trouble" , "issues" or "problems" we surrender and so begins the journey of recovery as we stumble towards the light.  We find that we need to access a different sort...

Last night I heard a story about young man, 30 or so who told his recovery group that these would be his first sober Holidays since he was 9 years old.  I'm told that the older guys around the table simply smiled and said "one day at a time" and "Keep comin back" but  smiles and pats on the back said more. I'm told that the love and support was obvious.  I welled up a...

Yoga was always important to Les; in fact he’ll tell you it was invaluable to his recovery.  He was a diligent student of Eastern spiritual thought and practice but was initially unable to get clean and sober with that discipline alone.  He finally found a successful way to blend his Yoga practice with a twelve step program.  A poet, a sensitive and a bodyworker, and most of all a sober member of...

She grew up in a privileged home; good values, zero coping skills, a perfect garden for addictions to grow.  From early alcohol use and traumatic experiences to prescription drugs and well beyond she sought to avoid the pain the only way she knew.  With “only the best” as her motto, she travelled from luxury rehab to luxury rehab.  In between rehabs the relapses became more and more severe, finall...

We have to face the facts; heroin is not only dangerous but deadly and it’s killing people with alarming regularity.  Even knowing heroin’s lethal potential the addiction is powerful enough to convince even well-informed minds to continue to use.  Tonight’s guest will talk to us about the hellish life of a heroin addict and the joy of recovery from that life.  Steve’s story of recovery begins with...

Travel with us this Sunday night through the world of drugs, sex, glamour and money.  We'll take you to a world that most don't even know exists, the underground culture of methamphetamine and the gay community.  "Meth" is the unspoken but go-to party drug for young gay men.  "Seth" will take us on his journey from alcohol and cocaine to the regular use of meth and fi...

This week we'll be talking about the importance of diet and fitness to help get back into balance, particularly in early recovery but also as it applies to maintaining quality longterm sobriety.  Abuse of any substance can lead to serious nutritional deficiencies and health problems which effect mental function and mood as well as slow the recovery process.  Fortunately, most of these problem...

Even then he knew that if he did something dangerous or daring his childhood friend would not only try it too but might try someting even more daring.  Together, the risk almost always doubled.  As time passed, bikes turned to cars and innocent fun to booze and drugs and for both, risky behavior to addiction. For many years they went their separate ways until fate, chance or something else brought...

Almost from the gate he was raised to bet.  It's just the way it was.  Later, the thrill of the big win and the crushing anxiety of the debt, the collectors and the lies would catch up and over take him. Join us this week to hear John Q's story of descent into the world of sports betting, casinos and the addictive nature of chasing the win.  Stay with us as he tells us his inspirational...

OK Let's face it.  The odds aren't good for a young person to stay sober....right?  Well, the odds aren't really that good for anybody to stay sober so if we waited for the odds to be good there'd be no sober people at all.  There are, however, some things that people can do that will increase their chances.  Like any other potentially terminal disease, chemical dependency will...

We’ve been on the internet air now for nearly six months and we thought it was time for some reflection.  We wanted to acknowledge our guests, our fantastic entertainment and most of all our listeners.  Much to our surprise, having started this thing on a bit of a whim, we’ve had nearly fourteen thousand listens so thanks to all of you.  Apparently this is the way it works when something is in ali...

  Imagine the transition from a traditional family and life, a husband and a couple kids in a Texas town in the 80’s to a contemplative religious life in a small town in the Midwest.   Imagine starting a twelve step recovery and ending up one of the few Buddhist Nuns in the continental US.  Tonight’s story is one of a unique and deeply moving process of recovery and transformation.  Our guest weav...

Could a disorganized desk, a disorganized room or house be a symptom of a disorganized head? Are you holding on to THINGS as an emotional suppport or because you can't let go of other things?  Let's find out about the addictive side of messy.  Le's talk to our guest Jane Caroo, owner and operator of Clutter Coach Company and a self described "recovering clutter bug" In Jan...