Rise Above with Kevin Lanning

Kyle Garges had everything — a loving husband, a beautiful daughter, a career in advertising sales, and a life that looked perfectly put together from the outside. But behind closed doors she was hiding alcohol in her daughter's Stanley Cup. She was drinking through blackouts, through rehab, through aversion therapy in Seattle where they made her chug vodka until she vomited. She drank through her...

You can buy it at a gas station. It's sold next to energy drinks and lottery tickets. And it almost destroyed Matt Dean's life. Matt Dean had already been through the pill mill era in Florida, cold turkey detoxed off 50-60 Percocet a day, built a career in real estate, and gotten sober from alcohol — twice. Then his little brother died of an overdose. And a well-meaning smoke shop employee handed...

John Luedke had it all on paper — a scholarship to Michigan State, a successful father, a big house, and every material thing a kid could want. But underneath it all, he was drowning. His parents' affair and messy seven-year divorce left him as the emotional middleman between two broken people. He got cut from the basketball team. He lost his identity. And he spent the next decade eating, drinking...

Elisa Nicole Saunders was a Palm Beach County schoolteacher, standing in front of classrooms every day — and quietly drinking and drugging her way through 30 years of addiction. Two DUIs. A five-car pile-up. Crashing drunk into a tow truck while two people had to run for their lives. Sitting in a jail cell staring at her wrist, wondering how it got this bad. She never wanted to get sober. A judge...

Jordan Freeman had everything going for him — loving parents, a spot at one of the top business schools in the country, varsity baseball, and a bright future. But behind closed doors, he was ordering Xanax off the dark web, gambling with money he didn't have, blacking out and not remembering a single thing from the night before — and calling it normal. By his sophomore year at Indiana University,...

I went inside Compassion Behavioral Health (CBH) headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to experience neurofeedback firsthand — and I vlogged the whole thing. In this episode, I go through my first two sessions: 🧠 Session 1 — Brain Mapping: Reading my actual brainwave patterns, identifying high-stress areas, mood fluctuations, and self-regulation challenges. ⚡ Session 2 — Brain Training: Weari...

Kevin Parker had everything stripped from him — his health, his freedom, his leg, and nearly his life. After a night that started with a family intervention and ended with him face-down in his own vomit, Kevin flatlined three times, spent three weeks in a coma, developed sepsis, gangrene in all four limbs, multi-organ failure, and woke up an amputee. The doctors said he'd be brain dead. They said...

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Rachel Pappert Docekal, a recovery advocate and executive at the Hanley Center in West Palm Beach. Rachel opens up about her own 30-year recovery journey — starting with an eating disorder in college, the friends who loved her enough to intervene, and the layers of childhood trauma she's worked through over decades of therapy, including EMDR. We also get i...

Courtney Janssen grew up in a farm town outside Chicago watching domestic abuse and drinking become "normal." By 12 she had her first drink. By her twenties she was doing cocaine daily to survive double shifts bartending in Nashville. Then she impulsively married a man she barely knew — in Vegas, hours after he fled an undercover detective — and woke up pregnant, broke, and trapped in a verbally a...

Chelsea Garber was diagnosed with Stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver — and kept drinking for nine more months. After losing her son, battling drug addiction, surviving 50+ hospital admissions, and being given just three months to live, Chelsea made the hardest decision of her life: she poured out her last drink on September 29th, 2024. Just 80 days after a life-saving liver transplant, she sat down wi...

Marine Corps veteran Spencer Jones opens up about surviving combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, battling trauma after leaving the military, and falling into a devastating crystal meth addiction that led to five felonies and complete chaos. After serving over 20 years in the Marines, Spencer struggled with the loss of structure, identity, and purpose once civilian life began. What started a...

Robert Cruz shares his unbelievable story of addiction, gang violence, prison, armed robbery, and ultimately redemption. After losing his brother at 13, Robert turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain. What started with marijuana eventually spiraled into heroin addiction, gang life, violent crime, prison sentences, and multiple arrests. Robert opens up about being charged with attempted murder...

Alkhuzama Zaini shares her powerful story of alcoholism, blackouts, college addiction, mental health struggles, and finding sobriety at a young age. From moving to America from Saudi Arabia, to drinking a bottle of vodka a day at ASU, hiding her addiction from family, terrifying withdrawals, and ultimately rebuilding her life through recovery, this is a raw and honest conversation about Gen Z addi...

Kyle Caughman grew up in a small town with a great family, played sports, and had no trauma… but one decision changed everything. What started with pain pills quickly spiraled into shooting heroin, driving hours to buy drugs, and selling it back in his hometown. As addiction took over, Kyle lost control of his life, faced multiple felonies, lost custody of his son, and found himself trapped in the...

Rachel Hechtman opens up about her journey from binge drinking, cocaine use, and crippling anxiety to nearly 5 years of sobriety. Unlike many addiction stories, Rachel never had a dramatic rock bottom—but what she did experience was just as powerful: years of guilt, shame, and mental health struggles that slowly became unbearable. From waking up on bathroom floors to battling paranoia and depressi...

In this episode, I sit down with Karina Miesner for a raw Q&A covering the most asked questions around addiction, relapse, and sobriety. We break down real experiences from both sides of recovery including rock bottom moments, near relapses, triggers, relationships, trauma, and what actually works when it comes to staying sober. Karina opens up about hitting rock bottom in the ICU with liver disea...

Lauren Gaffney shares her raw, unfiltered story of addiction, trauma, and recovery. From a “normal” childhood in the suburbs to taking 5-hour bus rides into Kensington to score drugs, her life spiraled into heroin use, crack addiction, arrests, and years of chaos. After multiple run-ins with the law and waking up to sheriffs at her door, Lauren finally hit a breaking point. This is the story of ho...

Chris Stroud started using drugs at just 11 years old… and by 17, he was hooked on crack cocaine. What followed was decades of chaos — robbing drug dealers, running from gangs, getting arrested, and eventually facing federal prison. From living a double life to losing everything, Chris takes us inside the brutal reality of addiction and the moments that nearly cost him his life. After years of des...

Tyler Ramsey had it all… working on Baywatch, MTV, Survivor, and building a career in Hollywood. But behind the scenes, he was spiraling. What started with alcohol turned into Adderall, Xanax, and opiates… leading to blackouts, chaos, and near-death situations. The moment everything changed? His young daughter found his drugs. That was the line. In this episode, Tyler breaks down: Growing up with...

Ryan Moyer had a key to a pharmacy… and one night, he used it to steal the entire narcotics closet. What started with prescription pills turned into a full-blown heroin addiction, multiple arrests, federal charges, and living in trap houses just to survive. He was running scams, stealing cars, and doing whatever it took to get his next fix. But that wasn’t the end of his story. After hitting rock...

Jason Brewer’s story is one of the darkest we’ve ever shared. After experiencing severe trauma as a child, Jason spiraled into addiction, violence, and eventually a life of crime. What started as drinking and drugs quickly escalated into armed robberies, crack addiction, and a path that led him to serve over a decade in prison. In this interview, Jason opens up about: The childhood trauma that cha...

Taylor Cavanough was living the dream. A Navy SEAL. Deployed overseas. High performer. But behind the discipline… was chaos. After a violent arrest where he was tased and attacked by a police K9, everything collapsed. His career. His identity. His future. What started as alcohol and Adderall turned into Percocet… then fentanyl. He lost control of his life. In this episode, Taylor shares: The momen...

Graham Reid was living a double life. What started with pills and partying quickly turned into a full-blown opiate addiction — smoking 30s, chasing dealers, and doing whatever it took to not get sick. At his lowest point, he burned his dealer with fake money and lost everything. From fentanyl and heroin to brutal detox and multiple failed attempts at getting clean, Graham shares what addiction rea...

Matt Robinson lived a double life for over a decade. Behind the scenes, he was battling a severe drug addiction… while his wife had no idea. It started with a prescription after an injury at just 11 years old. What followed was years of lies, hiding money, and chasing pills—until everything came crashing down during a blackout in Las Vegas, where he emptied his bank account overnight. That moment...

Megan’s addiction didn’t look obvious at first. She had a job, a family, and a life that seemed “normal” on the outside… but behind the scenes, she was drinking vodka all day, hiding bottles, and slowly losing control. After a near-fatal car crash, showing up drunk to work, and hitting a breaking point as a mother, everything came crashing down. In this episode, Megan shares: The moment her addict...