The Unbreakable Boundaries Podcast

Kawan Glover is a Survivor because he has lived through a stroke and three brain surgeries. He also dealt with suicidal ideations, one attempt, opioid addiction, depression, and been $1.2 million in medical debt. Despite these hardships, he has started his own company called Overcome Adversity, which leverages his ordeal to help others, as the name says, Overcome their Adversity no matter the shap...

Alison Jane Ryan spends her days empowering mamas to step into the fullest expression of who they are and who they’re meant to be by creating a Morning Practice. She’s passionate about supporting you through the foggy seasons of motherhood so you can emerge as the woman and mama that feels true and nourishing for you! Alison is an example of what's possible when mothers put themselves FIRST a...

This one goes out to all the dads out there. Jason Palmer was raising his wife's younger sister alongside his sons as their child, him and his wife watched her as she fought a battle against a nasty disease HLH. When she lost her fight, Jason picked up a whiskey bottle and dove in. He swam around the bottom of a bottle for a while until he realized it was time for to sober up. It's been...

When families are in the chaos of helping their loved ones, we can often find ourselves in unhealthy patterns such as drinking a little too much ourselves. Not alcoholically but enough to impact our minds, our sleep patterns, and so much more. In this episode, I brought on Helen Hanna, a Transformation coach helping overwhelmed women and no one is more overwhelmed than a mother who fears losing th...

In this episode, I discussed with a good friend of mine, Marcus Shumate, what he notices in the recovery community of who "makes it" versus those who don't seem to do so well with the recovery journey. Marcus Shumate did his undergraduate studies in Philosophy and Psychology and completed a masters degree in mental health counseling. He previously worked his way through a residentia...

Parents want to protect their kids and many times they do this by not telling them everything. The parents maybe waiting for the kids to become more emotionally mature to handle certain information. Maybe parents fail to realize it is important information. We don't often get to know how the information will impact our lives. For Sharon, her family kept a secret and she found out. It started...

We are whoever we need to be while we are in active addiction. We don't often know how to be anything else other than a chameleon. Rhett shares with us about his journey into finding himself and being comfortable with who he really is. He also continues to help other recovering addicts working in a great rehab in North Carolina. To hear a great story of overcoming obstacles, challenges and fi...

The desire for us to fit in somewhere is so strong that we will almost destroy ourselves to find our place in the world. Jamie shares with us the challenges she faced long before the drug abuse and how she coped with the world around her. Growing up, she always felt a little different than the rest of her family. Later, she found out why and it was surprising. She felt like she had been living a l...

Sarah's journey through recovery is both the same and different than most. She came from a good family, two loving parents, two siblings...it seems like the American Dream, and yet, Sarah battled with her own addiction. What would make her turn to drugs? And how did her family handle it? Find out in this episode. 

Every family is different in what works, what boundaries to lay out, and the experience they have with their loved ones battling addiction. Natasha P. tells us what some of the boundaries her family laid out for her. She also goes deep into the mindset of what was going on behind the scenes and informs us of some of the red flags to watch out for. 

As humans, we all have unconscious patterns that impact our relationships around us. For Bilinda, a mother with two kids with substance abuse issues, the patterns she uncovered will forever change her relationship with her kids. She discusses a exercise that is part of my Unbreakable Boundaries Program that helps unlock these patterns. If nothing changes, then nothing changes. For the families, we...

Very quickly, Mike begins by telling us about all the different masks he put on. We often do this where we are whoever you need us to be. The challenge is when we are ready to be ourselves, we don't know who that is because we have been hiding ourselves for so long. Mike shares with us how he began to break free of his masks. He also goes into the story of how he got clean, which wasn't...

Growing up in a good home, how did a person like Amanda find herself hiding her drug use from her parents for so long? A good girl that didn't like to get in trouble turns to using some of the hardest drugs out there. Where did she start finding herself? What were the things she put her family through. Amanda shares with us her story and some helpful advice for the families out there. 

Recovery is never a straight line. People dealing with substance abuse issues can often find themselves living a life they never imagined for themselves. That was Travis. He found himself in situations he never imagined and being a person he never saw himself being. He came from a good loving home, but even that is not enough to battle someone who goes down the road of addiction. Travis eventually...

Alcohol is insidious. Being so much more socially acceptable to drink alcohol, one can find themselves being able to justify and rationalize their behaviors easily, until it is undeniable that there is a problem. Even once a problem is acknowledged, it doesn't make it easy to make the decision to quit. Luanne talks in this episode about how she constantly felt like the world was out to get he...

There is a difference between someone who is simply abstaining from drugs/alcohol and what it means to be in recovery. For years, Eddie would be able to abstain from drugs and alcohol on his own. He has been a practicing buddhist for multiple decades, so yoga and meditation practices are deeply ingrained in his daily life, but that simply wasn't enough. He felt like there was still a missing...

Early Recovery is difficult. There are often misconceptions about addiction and parents choosing drugs over their kids, but in this episode, Abbie shares a different perspective about what is really going on. As challenging as recovery can be, Abbie shares with us her triumphs, challenges, failures, and so much more. Recovery is possible, no matter what. 

Every person has a different journey through addiction and through the early recovery process. Lizzy's journey is no different. She tells us what she has done to get to where she is at, and we get to hear her triumphs and her downfalls. There are a lot of different ways to be successful in abstaining from alcohol and drug use, Lizzy shares with us her secrets to success. 

Steve talks to us about his journey through early recovery and also his family upbringing. Addiction is a family disease and growing up with it, it's easy to see where addiction would just be a normal way of life. But that didn't stop him from turning things around for himself. He decided he wanted a better life and he made it happen. It wasn't easy, and it certainly wasn't a s...

Early recovery is challenging. It can be hard to know what to expect. Families often don't understand what a person goes through during the early stages. The questions we are asking ourselves, the challenges we face, learning how to live a normal life again. Tara knows all to well the challenges she faced during her early recovery. She experienced early recovery more than once and each time w...

Early recovery is challenging. We go through a lot but we don't always know how to articulate our experience around it. It's emotional, it's challenging, we have a hard time coping with what we have done. Families struggle with knowing what to do and how to help their loved ones. I am doing a early recovery series in hopes that it will help families understand what we go through whe...

When you have a loved one with substance abuse issues, manipulation is something you are going to come across frequently. It's hard to understand substance abuse and why they do some of the things they do, but there are things you can do about manipulation. If you can understand the why's and the how's of manipulation, then you can be aware of it and it can stop working. They also w...

Two episodes ago, we heard from a mother, Bilinda. She gave us some great insights to what she was experiencing as she was dealing with both her son and her daughter through addiction. The last episode, her daughter, Marilyn, had a very open conversation with me about her experiences through addiction and coming out the other side. It was eye opening for both the mother and the daughter to hear fr...

Last week, we had Bilinda Blume on, a mother of two kids that dealt with addiction. I had the privilege of following things up with her daughter this week, Marilyn. Marilyn dives deep into her own story of her side of things and what were some helpful things her family did, but also shares with us what were some of the things that were not so helpful. Her story is going to help and impact so many...

An incredible interview with a woman who has experience with having loved ones dealing with substance abuse. Bilinda is a mother of three; two of her children have struggled with substance abuse, beginning in their teens and into young adulthood. ​ She has been supportive and loving to her children in a healthy way, despite how painful and uncertain addiction can be. Helping others rise above thei...