The Zac Clark Show

Bravo's Southern Hospitality star Maddi Reese joins The Zac Clark Show to share her awesome recovery journey – from drinking at 12 and multiple trips to treatment, to getting sober at 16 and building a successful career as a DJ, reality television personality, and advocate for recovery. In this conversation, Maddi opens up about anxiety, treatment, AA, sponsorship, dating in recovery, performing i...

Joe Chura is the founder of Go Brewing, one of the fastest-growing non-alcoholic breweries in the country, now available in more than 8,000 locations. Before launching Go Brewing, he built and sold a marketing technology company in a deal valued at more than $200 million. But long before building successful businesses, Joe grew up in a home shaped by alcoholism. He shares the painful reality of li...

Michael Allio and Jade Chapman join me for a powerful conversation about grief, addiction, recovery, and the unexpected path that brought them together. Michael is a former contestant on The Bachelorette, author of the children's book Where the Wild Heart Grows, and co-founder of St. James Therapeutics, a company focused on advancing cancer treatment and care. He opens up about losing his wife, La...

At 17, Corey Warren was shooting heroin. At 18, he robbed a convenience store to support his addiction and faced up to 30 years in prison. What followed was a journey through addiction, recovery, success, relapse, and redemption. After more than a decade of sobriety, Corey began drinking again – which nearly cost him everything. Instead, it led to a powerful spiritual awakening, a relationship wit...

What does it take to keep going when a doctor tells you your son has less than a 10% chance of survival? Vince Benevento is the founder of Causeway Collaborative – a counseling and mentorship organization that has helped over 2,500 young men between the ages of 14 and 30 – and the author of Boys Will Be Men: 8 Lessons for the Lost American Male. Last July, his 12-year-old son Leo was diagnosed wit...

I'm fired up. New studio, new energy, and a month that reminded me exactly why I do this. In this solo episode – with a surprise appearance from Release Foundation’s own Caitlin Healy – I break down three moments that stopped me cold. First: how a viral Bravo moment turned into a $25,000 donation to the Release Foundation, and why I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Caitlin takes us behind the...

What If Guys Just Said It Out Loud? Zac Clark goes solo this week and gets honest – uncomfortably, refreshingly honest. It starts with something small: he's losing his hair, and he's embarrassed about it. But that admission opens the door to something much bigger. If a guy in recovery, with years of hard-won self-awareness, can barely say that out loud – what hope is there for the man who hasn't y...

When addiction hits a family, everyone feels it – but recovery can ripple through a family too. In this powerful episode of The Zac Clark Show, Zac sits down with siblings Sean and Kathleen McGowan, two people whose lives were once consumed by addiction and chaos, and who today both work in the behavioral healthcare field.  Sean shares the moment that changed his life: waking up in a hotel room af...

Is kratom safe – or is it quietly becoming the next opioid crisis? In this quick-hit episode, Zac sits down with recurring medical contributor Dr. Michael McCormick, Chief Medical Officer at Release Recovery, to clear the air on one of the most polarizing substances in America right now: kratom. Marketed as a natural herbal supplement and sold openly at gas stations and smoke shops, kratom is used...

When you look up Ken Rideout, you get a wild list of labels: prison guard. Wall Street trader. Opioid addict. Fastest marathoner in the world over 50. In this episode, Ken sits down with Zac to talk about reinvention – and what it actually takes to change your life. From crushing opioids and cocaine, and hiding addiction while building a career in finance, to detoxing, rebuilding from the ground u...

Seven years ago, Zac Clark walked into a treatment center to speak at a Tuesday night meeting – and met a guy in pajama pants wearing a “Grateful Dead” tee who had no idea if he was going to make it. That guy was Blake Porter. In this episode, Zac and Jay sit down with Blake – now Vice President of Business Development at Release Recovery – to trace the full arc: growing up in a small town in upst...

Corey Davis is 15 years sober – and he left a high-paying corporate career to build Soba Golf, a fast-growing community at the intersection of sobriety, wellness, and golf. Corey joins Zac and Jay to share how golf became more than a hobby: a daily practice in presence, humility, discipline, and emotional regulation – the same muscles recovery demands. He tells the origin story: during COVID, livi...

In this episode, Zac and Jay sit down with Rivkah Reyes – actor, musician, and the bass player from School of Rock – for a candid, nuanced conversation about growing up in the spotlight, addiction at a young age, and finding sobriety. Together, they walk through Rivkah’s journey from child stardom into substance use, the role drugs and alcohol played in coping with pressure and identity, and how g...

In this episode, Zac sits down with Release Recovery’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Michael McCormick, for a candid, nuanced conversation about one of the most controversial questions in recovery: can drugs ever help sobriety? Together, they break down three major categories of medications – benzodiazepines, stimulants, and opioid medications like Suboxone, methadone, and Vivitrol – and explain how...

In this Ask Me Anything episode, Zac kicks off 2026 by answering real questions from the community about sobriety, recovery, and mental health. Zac shares honest, grounded insight on topics people are often afraid to ask about – including California sober, medication-assisted treatment like Suboxone, dry January, cravings, acceptance, and whether a relationship with alcohol can ever truly change....

On this episode of The Zac Clark Show, Grace Adams joins Zac and Jay for an honest and funny conversation about what early sobriety actually looks like.  They start with a hot topic that brings all sorts of opinions: dating in sobriety. Is “don’t date for a year” real wisdom… or an arbitrary rule people cling to? Zac and Jay break down why recovery can’t be one-size-fits-all – and how the wrong gu...

Jared “Flash” Gordon is a UFC veteran known for his grit, longevity in the sport, and a career that defied the odds — not just in the cage, but in life. Before he became a professional fighter, Jared survived 13 treatment centers, 8 arrests,  and a felony case in Florida where he was facing 25-to-life. In 2015, he overdosed and woke up in a hospital bed, finally ready to change his life forever. ...

Kratom is everywhere – in gas stations, bodegas, vape shops, and even pharmacies. But most people don’t actually know what it is. In this episode of The Zac Clark Show, Zac and Jay break down the truth about kratom: what it is, how it works in the brain, and why treatment centers across the country are seeing a sharp rise in kratom-related addiction and relapse. This is not a PSA and it’s not an a...

What is neuropsychology? What does a psychological test actually measure? And what if it were possible to understand how we learn, think, and behave in a totally non-judgmental, deeply informative way? This week on The Zac Clark Show, we sit down with Dr. David Rowe, Director of Neuropsychology at United Assessment, to demystify the entire world of psychoeducational testing. Dr. Rowe explains how...

Thanksgiving can be beautiful – and brutal – especially in early sobriety. In this special Thanksgiving Sober Edition, Zac and Jay bring in guests Grace Adams (Release Marketing Director & former client), Dave Megenis (VP of Outreach & Continuing Care at Wellbridge, a leading addiction treatment and recovery center), and Michael Ahearn (Wellbridge Addiction Treatment & Research) to talk about: Goi...

In this episode, we sit down with Kellen Matthews-Thompson – Philly runner, content creator, father, husband, and the founder of Recovery Run Club. Before his life revolved around miles, marathons, and community, Kellen spent over a decade in the grip of opioid addiction. He began using in his teens, eventually turning to IV drugs in his twenties. His life unraveled – until a doctor in treatment c...

What if there was a test that could actually tell you who you are – or even better, who you’re meant to become? In this episode, Zac and Jay explore Becoming You: The Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career, the groundbreaking philosophy and curriculum developed by Suzy Welch – New York Times bestselling author, award-winning NYU professor, podcaster, innovator, and trusted mento...

Mike Giresi was an All-American high school football player with a bright future, until crippling anxiety and panic attacks after graduation led him to alcohol. What began as self-medication spiraled into heroin addiction, multiple overdoses, and rehab. In this episode, Mike shares his journey through the darkest chapters of addiction and his hard-fought recovery. His transformation became a calli...

In this episode, Zac sits down with BJ Coleman – former NFL quarterback, author of The Pivot, and CEO of Pivotal Health Partners – for a powerful conversation about resilience, leadership, and life after the game. BJ traces his journey from being a highly recruited high school quarterback to playing at the University of Tennessee, then transferring to the struggling program at UT Chattanooga – whe...

New York City brings people together in unexpected ways. In this episode of The Zac Clark Show, Zac sits down with KJ Dillard -- an influencer, model, and skater just days away from running the 2025 Berlin Marathon to raise money for the Release Recovery Foundation -- and Soo-Hwan ‘Soo’ Saxton, an accomplished skater and Release Recovery team member whose recovery story is deeply rooted in skatebo...