Voices In Recovery Podcast

Mary's story starts off with angry reluctance to enter recovery in order to appease her family, multiple life changing losses, and her eventually realizing that she had to stop looking for someone or something to heal her and start looking inside herself. She shares the importance spirituality and prayer plays in her recovery. She works with others regularly and honors herself and her family. To s...

After years of dedicated military service and spending the last decade in law enforcement, Dusty and his wife Katherine have faced the reality of living with PTSD. Recognizing it as an inevitable consequence of his service and seeing it as an occupational stress injury helps both of them to understand that this is no different that mending any other injury. Working on healing as a team, we are hon...

Pamela joins us in an open and honest conversation about mental health and her life long struggle to get healthy. She has worked very hard to get to a place where she is living her life with a trustworthy support network, and has embraced the life philosophy that she must go head first into the things she fears and that we must get out of the boxes that other people figure we are supposed to be in...

Michelle joins me to talk about everything from politics, trauma, Indigenous trauma, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, as well as some of her activism in the areas of harm reduction, LGBTQ2+ rights, and Indigenous trauma and rights.  Michelle is very involved in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls inquiry and is on the front lines of the affects this has on our commu...

This week we were gifted a visit from my much, much, much older brother, Greg. He is a father, son, brother, and friend to many. One of the other things he's been is a soldier. I'm going to let him speak for himself through the podcast because I could never do him justice. I will say that he is one of the most generous humans I know. It's not something he wants to get out there, but it's the least...

Crystal tells us her story of working her way out of addiction and into recovery.  Crystal's experiences led her to work in a hospice centre where Crystal's seemingly endless well of compassion allows her to help families in some of the hardest times in their lives.  Her compassion is what led her down a path of becoming a vegan and then taking it further to stand up against corporate agriculture...

Cheri takes us through the beginnings of addiction, turmoil in her family, divorce, relapse, and continued struggles with recovery. She highlights the power of having someone to turn to for help. Cheri is able, with daily work, to live her best life out of chaos, and into peace.   To show support for Voices In Recovery or to Freedom's Path click HERE Voices in Recovery is available on iTunes, Goog...

All of us at Voices In Recovery and Freedom's Path Recovery Society are proud to announce the start of The Medicine Wheel and 12 Steps programs. This group program is free of charge and open to indigenous and non-indigenous people. Men’s groups on Mondays, and women’s groups on Tuesday, and we respect self identification of your gender expression. (Two spirit and non-binary programs are pending) T...

Nicole shares her journey through addiction, sobriety and maintaining recovery while facing the challenges of life as a single mother. She experienced the divorce of her parents and faced identity challenges through her teen years. Nicole spent time in homelessness where she struggled and suffered to survive. As we spoke I recognized that with every word and gesture, she demonstrated courage and c...

Vanisha is the founder of the Terminator Run, which she has sculpted into the Terminator Foundation. She talks about starting the run, the evolution of the foundation, the iron man training program, what keeps her motivated and energized, and her continued efforts breaking stigma and having difficult conversations. She and David discuss supporting and empowering young people to stand up for themse...

Randy has many years of sobriety, but despite this he works daily to stay sober and recover. He has worked through addiction to alcohol, prescription medications, has been through a difficult divorce - eventually finding strength to come out as a gay man. He talks about religion rejecting him, childhood abuse, suicide attempts, and his life long journey to strengthen his spirituality. Randy is ope...

Boban joins us this week. He talks about growing up in Serbia and being out as a gay man. He's a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ2S community in Serbia and worked on their first pride parade! It was the violence he experienced in Serbia, which led him to leave home and immigrate to Canada where he continues to be a strong voice for the LGBTQ2S community. He now works with the Centre for Newcomers, ens...

Traci joins us as part of our focus on pride for the month of September.  Traci's story starts in Texas and takes us through her divorce's, family death and dealing with grief, eventually leading her to come out.  Throughout her life her faith played a pivotal role and she weaves that faith and how her faith has evolved as she has walked this path through life. Voices in Recovery is available on i...

The second part of Dave's story begins right where he left off, taking us through the more influential experiences and people which helped him find his path to sobriety. It is a story of not just sobriety but of personal growth, understanding his own truths and how different life became as he began to live a truthful life. Voices in Recovery is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Podbean To subs...

It’s been an exciting year with the Voices in Recovery podcast and we’ve heard many amazing stories! To celebrate, your host David will be sharing his own personal story into recovery. The saga is divided into 2 parts, Chapter 1 takes us from his first memories of abuse and through the teenage years. Discussing the beginning of his addiction and into his adult life, where he talks about some of th...

Joel's story involves his own enabling of loved one's addictions, being married young and then going through a difficult divorce. He talks about being in an abusive relationship after his divorce, co-dependancy, spiritually manipulation, and mental health. Through all of this and coping with the pain of losing a baby. Joel found his way to cope through music and songwriting. His story has and cont...

Fraser joins us to talk about our similar back injuries and how living with long term, chronic pain can restrict mobility and satisfaction of life. Fraser expands on and talks about some of the techniques such as books, which have helped him qualify the negative thoughts he has, keeping his mind on a more positive, constructive track. "How you frame the lens in which you view your reality will dic...

From his first drink in Grade 8, Wes travelled a long road to recovery. Along his journey; self harm, feelings of not fitting in, replacing alcohol with pain medication, and the host of symptoms which can accompany alcoholism were mainstays in his life until sobriety. He was surprised to find the tolerance and acceptance, as he did in twelve step meetings. His life today is drastically different f...

Claude takes us through his story of having an abusive father, living with mental illness, multiple obstacles, and surviving suicide attempts. He was able to find a place of happiness through it all, which led him to a place where he could forgive his father. "Grudges are like pressing a self destruct button" - Claude Voices in Recovery is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Podbean To subscribe...

Today Jenn talks to us about how addiction pummeled her at a very young age. Facing incredibly difficult circumstances, she remained and still remains sober. She points out some of the unique challenges there are for teens in recovery. She found and carries a sense of belonging, community, purpose, and happiness wherever she goes. I could just sense that genuine happiness and I wanted to know what...

I am joined by Mike M who tells me about how the early loss of his parents played a part in his addiction.  His understanding of the role ego had in his addiction but also how he uses that understanding to ultimately shape his life in recovery. "My dog can become a product of the chaos I create in my own head" - Mike M Voices in Recovery is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Podbean To subscrib...

With feelings of not fitting in, numerous career changes and after spending 10 years homeless; Bill talks with me about how he used the public library to figure out ways to improve his life.  This reconnected him with the artist inside, which led him down paths in life he never thought he would walk! "When I found art, I found what I was supposed to do" - Bill Voices in Recovery is available on iT...

From a life of an athlete to finding recovery Jason takes us on an interesting and twisted ride to recovery.  Jason is not only living an inspired life in recovery now but he is also inspiring others with his weight loss journey and his joy for life   Voices in Recovery is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Podbean To subscribe or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) click HERE To s...

Yves joins me to talk about anxiety and learning to use that anxiety as a way to stay driven towards goals. He talks about how he used music and creativity as a therapy.   Check out more of his music HERE Voices in Recovery is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Podbean To subscribe or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) click HERE To subscribe or listen to the podcast on Google Pod...

I am joined by the amazing Janessa.  She has shown amazing strength by leaving domestic violence, entering sobriety, leaving her home base group and moving to a new province, becoming a single mom and going through divorce while maintaining her recovery. "My life was grey...and now there's beautiful colours" - Janessa Voices in Recovery is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Podbean To subscribe...