The Way Out | A Sobriety and Recovery Podcast

This week we’ve got an absolutely delightful interview with the Author of the new book “The March to Madness”, Nelson Dacier. Nelson, now six years sober, shares his story; which was the inspiration for his book, with equal measures of humor, wisdom, and authenticity. We dig into his recovery journey, what it finally took to enter meaningful and long-term recovery, and his process in writing the t...

This week Jason’s got an absolutely terrific interview with transformational and Imago Relationship Therapist, Love Coach, and Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Rachel Levy. Rachel shares with us about her journey, her practice, and her creation; the 12 steps of Healthy Love. We learn about the 4 pillars of her recovery program that is designed to be accessible to all. Rachel shares her truth with...

This week we’ve got an interview that will push the limits on your conventional understanding of what it means when we hear the 12-Step vernacular around practicing the principles of recovery in all our affairs. Entrepreneur, writer, and public speaker Michael Brody-Waite contends far too many of us in recovery are likely, and unwittingly compartmentalizing the tremendous power, embodied in the 12...

This week we’re addressing a topic that very likely affects many of us as we enter into recovery, and especially the longer we sustain our recovery. But before I introduce this week’s topic; I’d like to humbly invite anyone who’d like to hear my recovery story to join a weekly online Zoom speaker meeting at 8pm Central Time this Saturday the 18th of April. A dear friend of mine, Buddy C. asked if...

This week Jason’s got an interview that all you ladies out there will especially relate to with Ashlee Herget. Don’t tune out just yet though gents; I related to Ashlee’s story in a way I didn’t expect and though I know I shouldn’t be surprised by now; the universal struggles that unite our collective experience as people in, or contemplating recovery show up early and often in Ashlee’s story. Jus...

We’re bringing you a special episode dedicated to helping you work your program of recovery and survive – nay – thrive in this unprecedented time of Pandemic Covid-19 sane and sober. For many of us we’re dealing with new fears we likely hadn’t even dreamt of just a couple of months ago, and major life changes are being thrust upon us in the form of our daily routines, work lives and home situation...

This week we’ve got an absolutely righteous interview with Singer, songwriter, producer, writer, and all-around dynamo Lisa Daggs. Along with her many and varied artistic talents, Lisa is a person in very long-term recovery, with over 30 years of continuous sobriety. Lisa’s journey to and through Recovery as told through her Book No Turning Back – Regardless is especially relatable and oozing with...

This week Jason brings us the straight up compelling story of Kristin Massman. Kristin’s recovery story will grab you by throat and not let go until right up to the end. Kristin, an unabashed bi-sexual woman, now over 3 years sober, shares her at times heart wrenching and other times super relatable history in a truly authentic and vulnerable way. You will be captivated by the way her journey has...

This week we’ll hear co-host extraordinaire Jason interview our good friend Peter S, who candidly shares his Recovery story. Peter’s called in to the show a time or three and brings unbridled honesty and spiritual truth every time. Ultimately his is a story of love, loss and redemption, Peter’s remarkably poignant story is rife with pain and anguish as a once promising career in the Wine industry...

This week we’ve got an outrageously entertaining and wide ranging interview with none other than Neil the Alcoholic. We full on embraced the tangential nature of my guest, in full realization that any attempt to confine him would only serve to douse his innate ability to tell one hell of a story, of which this episode is chalked full. Neil’s been sober a whole long time, and he’s a walking encyclo...

This week Jason’s got an incredibly relatable, entertaining and enlightening interview with our good friend, Boston Mike. Mike’s been sober since 2012 and is a tremendous advocate 12 Step Recovery – and for good reason – it’s given him more than he could have imagined. Mike spent some time here in the Twin Cities Recovery community; and we became fast friends as kindred spirits are apt to do. We h...

This week I’m grateful and humbled to bring you the remarkable and unique Recovery story of Alan S. I was immediately drawn to Alan as he works both the 12-Steps and the program of SMART Recovery, which complement each other quite nicely. Alan’s story is a case in point in why we continue to bring you personal stories of recovery from alcoholism and addiction. This journey to and through alcoholis...

This week we’ve got an interview for the ages with Darren Littlejohn, the author of the 12-Step Buddhist. Darren takes us on an often wild, sometimes humorous, and incredibly enlightening ride as he waxes poetic on 12-Step Recovery, the value of integrating Buddhist practices into our recoveries, all the while sprinkling in his 20+ years of experience, strength, and hope earned along the way of hi...

This week we’ve got a special episode as a part of our commitment to exploring and illuminating alternative pathways to sobriety and Recovery. Dennis Rosenfeld is the facilitator in chief of SMART Recovery’s online meeting program, and he joins us to help introduce us to SMART Recovery, often referenced as one of the most popular alternatives to the 12-Step Method that is so near and dear to my he...

This week we’re setting the record straight on an often misunderstood concept in Recovery: the differences between Self Care & Love versus Selfishness and self-centeredness. These concepts may sound similar, but as we’ll learn and unpack in this episode, they are in fact quite the opposite of each other in important ways. We’ll learn what Self Love & Self Care are, what selfishness is and...

This week is all about ourselves. Ehem. Well, to be precise, it’s all about self, which is to say our Egos. Ego is central to who we are as individuals and is the lens in which we view ourselves, others, and the outside world through. The state of our Egos has a whole lot to do with how we treat ourselves and others, and when our Egos are out of whack, our sobriety is too. We’ll do our level best...

This week we’re addressing an aspect of recovery, while incredibly important and impactful to many of us in or contemplating recovery, is often overlooked. There’s oodles of information about parenting in general, and some of that is quite applicable, but very little in the way of the unique challenges those of us in Recovery face. We’ll identify the key issues parents in recovery face, how we can...

This week’s edition of The Way Out Podcast is all about goals. Round about this time a year, losta folks are starting to implement their goals for the upcoming year, which makes it an ideal time to bring you an informative and enlightening discussion on goals as they specifically relate to recovery and folks like us who are in or contemplating recovery. We’ll discuss why goals are so important and...

This week Jason’s got a killer interview for us with Jackie LeClair. Jackie’s journey to long term recovery is rife with adversity including sexual abuse and growing up in the projects on the north side of Minneapolis in an often unstable and largely unsafe home environment, which then led into prostitution and ultimately prison . Jackie’s story, at it’s core is one of victory through hardship and...

This week we’re going to help you better understand the art of handling mistakes in Recovery. There are many quotes extolling the virtues around mistake making, some helpful & some not so much however Alexander Pope perhaps said it best in 1711 when he wrote, To err is human. Mistakes, or if we break apart that word into two separate parts; Mis Takes are fundamental to the human experience, ye...

This week I’m sharing an AA Speaker Tape with you, which kind of reminds me of sharing mixed tapes back in the day. How’s that for a frontal display of my old age? I’m not sharing just any ‘ol speaker tape, no I’m sharing one of my most beloved 12 Step talks of all time. One of the most important and impactful truths I learned and have implemented in my recovery is that I don’t have to act the way...

This week we’ve got a timely episode in store for you on Navigating the Holidays in Recovery. The Holidays can be an especially stressful time charged with difficult emotions and fraught with potentially difficult and risky situations we may not have faced in Recovery. Fear not my faithful friends in Recovery, we’ve got just the thing for you this Holiday with special Holiday edition jam packed an...

This week we’re talking all about Rule #62 of the 12-Step program Alcoholics Anonymous – Don’t take yourself so damn seriously. On the surface, this seems a rather simple and straightforward concept, however on further review; questions likely arise that don’t appear to have an easy answer like What does it mean to not take ourselves too seriously? How serious is too serious? Isn’t Sobriety and Re...

This week we’re taking controversy head on as we dedicate an entire episode to the oft discussed, mostly misunderstood and definitely unofficial Step 13. Nary a topic in Recovery invites more heated discussion and debate than that of Step 13. Folks in 12 Step recovery accuse one another of it, make light of it, and indeed engage in this type of behavior which can have detrimental and even severe a...

This week we’re concluding our series on the 12 Steps with none other than the namesake of the program, Step 12. There’s a whole lot to unpack in this Step from getting our collective heads around what a spiritual awakening is, to how to carry the message, and perhaps the most daunting directive of all – applying all of the principles of the previous 11 Steps in all facets of our lives. This Step...