Thrive While Loving an Addict | Addiction | Sobriety | Recovery | Relapse

Have you ever been in so much pain you’ve had to shut down emotionally? You stop allowing yourself to feel your emotions just so you can survive and keep going, because the reality of what you are facing is so painful you cannot even begin to allow yourself to walk through and acknowledge the truth. If this sounds like you, then you don’t want to miss this episode with international CEO Andy Graha...

Holidays are meant to bring about happy celebration, but what happens when a family member’s addiction turns them into fearful anxiety? KL Wells is back with Tucker Stine as they discuss the challenges that come with reinventing family traditions for the summer holidays when the disease of addiction takes over. With the 4th of July being one of the most popular binge drinking days of the year, Tuc...

Do you need help learning how to thrive in the midst of a family member’s substance abuse disorder? Today, KL Wells and Jim Horton discuss tactical steps on how to retrain our brains to find the lessons out of tragedies as family members. Including the unimaginable: the loss of Jim’s son to overdose. Their goal is to shatter the stigma of addiction to create an understanding of substance abuse dis...

In today's podcast, KL Wells and Tucker Stine reflect on celebrating one year of the Voices InCourage Podcast. They explore the harsh reality of the recovery journey: the highs and lows that addicts and their families face. In a surprising realization, KL discovers that her relapse plan as a family member mirrors Tucker's relapse plan, who has been sober for eight years. In addition, they look bac...

Today, KL Wells sits down with her friend and collaborator, Rachelle Babler, a TEDx speaker, #1 International Best-Selling Co-Author, and Entrepreneur & Advocate who grew up in Southern California. Rachelle has a background of a variety of careers, ranging from paramedic to forensic analyst to entrepreneur. Years ago, Rachelle was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, which caused her to dive int...

In today’s podcast, KL meets Mary Beth O’Connor, author of “From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction.” In this podcast, Mary Beth shares her journey of going from a lifetime of abuse, trauma, PTSD, and anxiety, to being sober and in recovery since 1994. Six years into her recovery, Mary Beth attended Berkeley Law, and in 2014 she was appointed as a federal Administrative...

Today KL sits down again with Sparkle, who is 30 years sober from her meth addiction, to touch on the importance of acceptance and compassionate, unconditional love with your addict. Sparkle speaks on disconnecting from the emotional impact of the addict’s behavior on you. Sparkle reminds us that boundaries are key when the addict’s behaviors are chaotic, and this includes dropping the internal ju...

Today KL Wells is back with  Jim Horton , the founder of the  Zachary Horton Foundation , this time with Jim as a featured guest on the Voices InCourage Podcast. Jim is the father of Zach, who died of an accidental opioid overdose. In today’s conversation, KL and Jim focus on the grieving process of losing a child. Jim shares how they lost Zach in January of 2020 when Zach finally met hi...

We live to see drug addicts in our community but never hear the tale behind them. We never get to hear the stories behind every parent who also suffers from their child under the influence of drugs. Today KL Wells sits down with CEO Andy Graham , father of Scott, a cocaine addict who suffers from depression. Andy delivers a relatable story about a parent's struggle coming to terms with his son's a...

Just as mental health education is becoming more accepted within the workplace, addiction education is right behind it. Join Voices InCourage founder KL Wells as she gives her latest update with Tucker on her findings about conversations about addiction within the workplace. While KL finds talking about addiction is still a bit taboo in the corporate space, she’s learned the dialogue is definitely...

Today, KL Wells interviews Vanessa Sexson, a neuro-therapist who has been in the healing profession for 30 years. In this episode, Vanessa addresses what neurofeedback is and how it can change your life. She discusses how to train your brain to experience change through breathing, re-training, and a no-talk option to heal. The re-training addresses dysregulation and, therefore, relief from symptom...

KL Wells sits down with Steve Cary, who has been part of the Voices InCourage team from the very beginning. Steve's journey with alcohol is similar to so many people - self described as a “social drinker.” Ten years ago, he started doing “Dry January,” which gave him insight into what it felt like not to have drinks on a regular basis. After aging, his body didn't handle alcohol well anymore. He e...

Meet Janet, an elite fitness coach who happens to be the mother of an addict. Her story is an inspiration of strength, self-discipline, and resilience. Janet speaks of her experience with her daughter's battle with addiction since she was seventeen. In her story, we hear about some of her heartbreaking moments, including seeing her daughter experience homelessness. In this episode, you will get th...

Just like with everything else, there are dos and don’ts to addiction. What should you say to a loved one with an addiction problem? How can you stay connected with them? How can you make sure they don’t go over the edge? If you want these questions answered, you don’t want to miss this episode. Ken Clark is back on the Voices InCourage Podcast with host KL Wells in another powerful conversation i...

Welcome back to another episode where our host KL Wells reconnects with Tucker Stine, which follows their first conversation in Episode #11. Shame and judgment are not needed in the workplace. Everyone either has substance abuse issues or knows someone that has it. The goal now is to spread awareness about it. More and more stories are coming out of Corporate America and around the world about the...

Is it possible to thrive in the middle of alcohol addiction? What role do family members have in making it a possibility? In this episode, Dr. Bill Crawford is back with KL Wells to discuss and explore several key insights into how we can still thrive in the midst of the disease of alcohol and addiction. How we show up, resetting relationships, suspending worry, finding peace of mind and learning...

We take a moment to check in with our VPs Tucker and Jenn, who open up about where they are in their journey. Listen as they uncover their clarity of being a healthy, functioning family now vs. being a dysfunctional family living in a cloud of chaos. They share their humbling lessons of going from surviving the disease to thriving where simple gestures like breakfast in bed and holding hands while...

Grief is natural to humans, and its intensity resonates with our love for others. Although grief can be overwhelming, it is a healthy process for everyone to transform. In this powerful episode, KL Wells sits down with Dr. Bill Crawford —a licensed psychologist, author of 8 books, and an organizational consultant who helps organizations and individuals access their best knowledge and interpersonal...

With 65% of Americans searching for new jobs, only 20% finding fulfillment in work, and 84% saying they are bringing personal trauma to work, it’s no wonder that the mindset of corporate culture continues to struggle. Unfortunately, the conversations around shame and judgment in the workplace are not happening. This includes the understated and often overlooked, an epidemic of growing addiction at...

Sol Espinosa  is a Holistic Nutrition Health Coach, a Mexican living in Australia, a married mother of two tweens, a marketing entrepreneur, and the daughter of an alcoholic. For the majority of her life, she had a mother who was not emotionally available. A lot of inner work and her studies as a health coach have helped her navigate her mom's alcoholism and family dynamics. Sol started her r...

Addiction can bring your life into total disarray, messing up your career and relationships. Despite this depressing end result, the hope of regaining a thriving life will never be gone. In this episode, Ken Clark shares how to discover self-care amid grief and shame. He talks about facing unaddressed trauma and transforming a crisis into a significant win. Ken also explains how people struggling...

Today’s guest shifts the conversation around substance abuse disorder and makes forgiveness the dominating theme. Annie is a writer, speaker, and family advocate who focuses on addiction and family dynamics. Most importantly, she’s the mother of a son who is an addict. In 2016, Annie published her memoir,  Unhooked: A Mother’s Story of Unhitching from the Roller Coaster of Her Son’s Addi...

Jeff Bristol is in his ninth year of recovery from drugs and alcohol, and is currently the co-owner at one of the top 10 gyms in the US. Jeff shares his heartbreaking story of spending his twenties in the turmoil of his addiction- in and out of prison and rehab for almost a decade. Jeff gives his biggest takeaways on how he climbed out of the darkness of overdoses and criminal records into living...

Voices InCourage VPs Jenn Stine and Tucker Stine open up about their struggles and successes while handling the dynamics of Tucker’s alcoholism and recovery. They share their ups and downs, their failures and triumphs, as they continue to navigate this disease in their marriage and as parents. They uncover the unexpected, the real and raw scenarios that challenged them as individuals and as a coup...

Meet one of Voices InCourage’s founding community members, Sparkle. Sparkle speaks on the journey of our experiences with alcoholism and addiction. Being ready and willing to be open and honest is different for everyone. Learning to respect, honor, and acknowledge that everyone’s timeline is different is an integral piece of understanding the journey with an addict. Allowing time and space is a cr...