All Episodes

September 8, 2025 54 mins

Sarah opens up about starting opioids at 20, a rapid slide to heroin, pregnancy on methadone, jail, and the drug court program that helped her turn it around. After a later Xanax relapse during COVID, she did the work—therapy, structure, and service—and is now certified and working as a counselor at a maintenance clinic. This candid conversation with Wendy Beck and Rich Bennett shows what sustainable recovery really looks like—and why hope matters. 

Sponsored by Rage Against Addiction 

Guest Bio:  

Sarah is a Harford County native, mom, and recovery professional. After entering opioid use at 20 and escalating to heroin in 2012, she experienced jail and drug court, achieved long-term abstinence from opiates and cocaine (since Sept. 27, 2016), overcame a benzodiazepine relapse in 2020–2021 (clean since Nov. 4, 2020), earned her Peer Recovery Specialist credential and ADT approval, and now counsels patients at a medication-assisted treatment clinic. 

Main Topics: 

·         Podathon for Recovery: 12 Days of Hope benefiting Rage Against Addiction

·         Starting opioids at 20; rapid progression from pills to heroin (2012)

·         Pregnancy on methadone, stigma, and learning MAT safety

·         IV use, crack/cocaine, legal consequences, and visible decline

·         Jail detox and entry into Drug Court; Judge-led accountability

·         Long-term sobriety from opiates/cocaine; COVID-era Xanax relapse and dangers of benzo withdrawal

·         Therapy, boundaries, routines, fitness, and gratitude as core recovery tools

·         Working in recovery: peer support vs. clinicians; women-specific needs; mom guilt and shame

·         Maintenance meds (methadone/Suboxone): misu

Send us a text

Become a part of your local college radio station! WHFC exists because of you, our growing community of listeners. Your support allows us to keep training and entertaining, and we thank you. Speaking of appreciation, we have thank-you gifts for certain donations during this membership drive, so click on the link to find out more!

Donate here

Rage Against Addiction
Rage Against Addiction is a non-profit organization dedicated to connecting addicts and their famili

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Support the show

Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts

Follow the Conversations with Rich Bennett podcast on Social Media:
Facebook – Conversations with Rich Bennett
Facebook Group (Join the conversation) – Conversations with Rich Bennett podcast group | Facebook
Twitter – Conversations with Rich Bennett
Instagram – @conversationswithrichbennett
TikTok – CWRB (@conversationsrichbennett) | TikTok

Sponsors, Affiliates, and ways we pay the bills:
Hosted on Buzzsprout
SquadCast

Subscribe by Email

Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.