Soberful
Veronica Valli and Chip Somers are experts on recovery. Chip Somers was most recently described by Russell Brand in his book 'Recovery' as a 'right social liability.' Together they have been sober for almost 50 years and have a LOT of stories, messes, experience and occasionally helpful advice to share on living in sobriety. They bring all of that (and more) to the Soberful podcast. This podcast is for anyone who wants to live an alcohol-free life, is struggling to get sober or who is in long-term recovery.
Episodes
September 11, 2024 • 53 mins
Artist and director of the Create Now Academy Sarah Gillespie joins Veronica to discuss The Call of the Self. How addiction prevents us being who we really are. And that the calling of an artist is the same as the calling to stop drinking.
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September 6, 2024 • 8 mins
Breaking the cycle of drinking - Bonus episode
Sign up here: https://go.soberful.com/break-the-cycle
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September 5, 2024 • 42 mins
Veronica breaks down why emotional sobriety is essential if you want to stay sober, what it is and how it works.
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August 28, 2024 • 48 mins
In this episode, we are going to learn what it's like to be in a relationship with someone who is deep into addiction. Imagine being a young woman who gets involved with an older man who dazzles her. Imagine that you get pregnant by that man, and despite promising that he would stand by you, he, in fact, abandons you and denies paternity. Imagine that man gets sober and remarries, and his whole family pretends that you and your chi...
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August 21, 2024 • 46 mins
How do you know if you are one? Chip takes Veronica through the criteria you need to meet to find out how serious your alcohol problem is. The outcome will shock you.
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August 14, 2024 • 48 mins
Codependency is the fear of someone else's feelings. Veronica does a deep-dive with Dr. Sarah Michaud who talks about her book 'Co-crazy - One Psychologist's Recovery from Codependency and Addiction.
To learn more, visit the show notes.
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August 7, 2024 • 26 mins
In this solo episode, Veronica explains why an alcohol problem appears on the inside long before it appears on the outside. Most people think an alcohol problem is a homeless person or someone who gets DUIs. Veronica explains how that is misleading, and an alcohol problem shows up in our feelings (shame, guilt, fear, anxiety) long before anyone can see it. We become adept at hiding how we feel and what is happening. She also explai...
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July 31, 2024 • 40 mins
An alcohol problem shows up on the inside long before it shows up on the outside. When people saw Julie, she looked like an attractive, busy mom who had everything: a great husband, a business and a great lifestyle. What they couldn't see was how she felt on the inside, the shame, self-loathing and guilt from her drinking. Julie looked for help from a wellness professional who told her to drink organic wine as it was better for you...
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July 24, 2024 • 44 mins
Veronica and Chip discuss the rise of microdosing. Is microdosing just high-end drinking? Dressed up drug taking? Or, does it have the ability to help people navigate life and heal trauma?
To learn more, visit the show notes.
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July 17, 2024 • 43 mins
Laura Willoughby from Club Soda joins Veronica to discuss how the alcohol market has changed and continues to change. They start by remembering what drinking was like for them in the 1990's, how they were encouraged as women to drink until they passed out. They then look at how much the culture has shifted, with young people either choosing not to drink or drinking occasionally. Laura explains that the alcohol-free market is contin...
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July 10, 2024 • 42 mins
When we get stuck in blame, we become powerless. Chip and Veronica explore how we blame circumstances and other people for our alcohol problem. Blaming is a psychological defence mechanism to justify our drinking behaviour, but it also means we stay stuck in a harmful place. Everybody has 'stuff'. Lots of people who have a drug or alcohol problem had childhood experiences that were harmful, hurtful or abusive. These need to be vali...
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July 3, 2024 • 41 mins
The mother-daughter relationship is one of the most important and powerful relationships of our lives. But it can also be one of the hardest. From the unrealistic expectations placed on mothers to navigating when daughters change from children to adolescents to women. Daughters learn what being a woman is like from their mothers, and they may not necessarily want to be like their mothers. Hilary Mae is a therapist who specialise...
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June 26, 2024 • 42 mins
The biggest obstacle to getting sober is the Fear Of Missing Out (or FOMO). But what are we scared of missing out on? In this episode, Chip and Veronica explore how feelings of missing out are very human because we are programmed to belong and connect. When we analyse what we are afraid of missing out on if we stop drinking, it is very undefinable. We have a fantasy in our heads about how we think drinking is going to be, but the r...
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June 19, 2024 • 39 mins
Social media is addiction by design. Dr. Nicholas Kardaras joins Veronica to talk about social media addiction and how it was deliberately designed to hijack our dopamine system and get us hooked. It's digital candy and we are enticed into displaying our idealised internal lives. Dr. Kardaras explains how predatory algorithms work and how they are responsible for creating a mental health crisis for young people.
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June 12, 2024 • 37 mins
What happens when we get complacent about our sobriety? Chip and Veronica discuss the times they had got complacent about their recovery. When they stopped going to meetings and stopped doing all the work they did to remain emotionally sober, Veronica shared her tool of 'when I'm ok with me, I don't have to make you wrong.' And how she uses that as a guide. When she notices that she is picking at or criticising other people, it's u...
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June 5, 2024 • 33 mins
What do you do when the worst thing in the world happens? Cammie Wolf Rice lost her son to opioid addiction. He was a gifted student who was prescribed oxycontin for an operation and started a 14-year battle with opioids. After his death, Cammie used her pain as power. Learn how she is creating real change so nothing like this happens to another family.
To learn more, visit the show notes.
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May 29, 2024 • 30 mins
After bartending her way across Hollywood and Beverly Hills, Angela was in over her head with a drinking problem that was relentless. She got sober in 2006 and dedicated her life to helping others do the same. She joins Veronica to discuss how to deal with boredom in sobriety and how we need to take responsibility for our lives and experiences.
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May 22, 2024 • 39 mins
Veronica interviews Dr. Christine Gibson about the link between trauma and addiction. how trauma impacts our physical health and how the brain responds to trauma. They discuss EFT and how effective matrix reimprinting is in healing trauma.
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May 15, 2024 • 36 mins
Emily Lynn Paulson is the founder of Sober Mom's Club. She joins Veronica to discuss her new book 'Hey Hun' and her role in predatory Multi-Level-Marketing. Emily explains how the MLM fuelled her drinking and nothing on the outside matched what was really going on.
To learn more, visit the show notes.
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May 8, 2024 • 34 mins
Veronica is joined by Cathy who got sober when she was 76. When Cathy met Veronica last year she told her she had two choices; she was either going to drink herself to death or, get sober. Thankfully she chose sobriety and she shares her story and dismisses any limiting beliefs you may have that you are too old or it's too late to stop drinking.
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