Ordinary Courage with Vanisha Breault

In this episode of the Ordinary Courage Podcast I have the absolute honor of hearing Maddison's story, told through her Mama, Jennifer Ann Holleman. This is a story about loss, Human Trafficking and a mothers fight for justice, for inner healing and to tell the story of Maddison to anyone who will listen. 
This episode is brutally painful and hard to hear. But we need to hear these stories because this atrocity is far from...

In this episode with guest, Associate Minister of Mental Health & Addiction Jason Luan we discuss some of the historic changes that the Government of Alberta has made to the addiction/mental health landscape in the past several months here in the Province of Alberta.
Minister Luan also shares some of his personal journey coming to Canada, his early career in Social Work and the life choices that brought him to where he is ...

In this episode of Ordinary Courage I had the gift of getting to sit down with my friend David Lewry. I have been a guest on David's podcast twice now, so it was pretty neat to be on the other side of the microphone hearing David's story. 
David's story is tragic in so many ways, sexually abused as a little boy, the shame, secrecy and confusion that came from that and then later in life battling depression couple...

In this episode of the OC Podcast Dr. Rob Tanguay (just Rob;) ) and I sit down and dig into the great divide between harm reduction and abstinence based recovery and building bridges, reaching the lost and my absolute personal favorite message-having HOPE.  We talk about truly optimizing recovery, all forms of recovery. We discuss the prejudice, shame and stigma associated with addiction and mental health- it's jam packed this...

In this episode of the OC Podcast I sit down with Staff Sgt. Dominic Mayhew and we discuss Internet Child Exploitation.
 This conversation is not an easy one, it's not easy or comfortable to hear and to know but it's vitally important that we do- and quite honestly "vitally" does not even come close to describing or depicting how absolutely widespread, atrocious and inhuman this issue is.
 Every single p...

In this episode of the Ordinary Courage Podcast I have the absolute honor to have my dear friend Stacey Petersen on the show!
There is so much goodness in this episode and I'm positive there is something for everyone- whether you struggle with addiction or not, just learning to show up fully and be all that we were meant to be, my friend Stacey takes us through his own journey...and what a ride that's been!

S...

In this episode of the OC Podcast I speak with my "sister" Cst. Stacey McKinnon of the Calgary Police Service.
I first met Cst. McKinnon back in 2015, I clearly did not refer to her as my sister at that time- Stacey had been one of several members of the CPS to respond to a call I had put in to attempt once again to get my beautiful girl Eddy off the streets of Calgary.
This is where and how I met Stacey.
<...

In this episode of the OC Podcast, Jordan Witzel, Global News' weather guy is in the house! Jordan helps us kick off another episode and leads the way for Season 2 as he shares very openly and candidly about his brother in law, Ryan's addiction and the surprising legacy Ryan left after his passing.
This is another packed episode of courage you won't want to miss!


This Episode of the Ordinary Coura...

Carissa Peterson, wife, mother, sister, daughter (my daughter) friend, entrepreneur & business owner. 
I could go on and on about my girl as I'm sure most parents could about their kids. 
In this episode of Ordinary Courage, I have Carissa back with me and we dive deeper into her story, all the messiness. We talk about the aftereffects of trauma and abuse and learning to live through it all, putting in the hard wor...

In this episode of Ordinary Courage I talk about rigorous honesty, the power of being rigorously honest in our lives and our stories and the gift and ability to have new beginnings. 
I recorded this episode at 11:00pm on Tuesday night, so it's raw...there is no intro or outro music:) I'm just not that technically advanced on my own yet (I'll maybe get Sylvester to fix it up for me afterwards) 
It's just ...

On today's episode, Agnes and I discuss her personal story of growing up in a home with addiction and trauma, the impact that this left on her and her journey of healing, hope and helping others find their way through similar stories. 


Agnes Chen is a Registered Nurse at the Calgary not- for-profit Calgary Urban project society (Cups),who has 15 years of professional experience in the public service sector workin...

In this episode of Ordinary Courage Dr. Monty Ghosh discusses the crisis of addiction and  COVID-19 and the impact that these two have had on each other and our community.
There are tips for how to cope with pre-existing addiction/substance use disorders and how to manage through the COVID crisis.

Links & Information from the Episode. 
Relapse rates for opioids is 90%.

Relapse rate after opioid detoxification ...

In August of 2019 Shawna brought home a little bundle of joy, a baby girl named Arielle. The only thing was, this sweet baby girl was her granddaughter.

Shawna's own daughter, Kenedee had been fighting a battle with Fentanyl since she was 17 years old, which after years of struggling, bouts of sobriety followed by relapse after relapse Kenedee found herself pregnant and in active addiction.
This warrior mother an...

This episode of Ordinary Courage is for the purpose of AWARENESS  of this urgent and prevalent issue. We need to do more and we need to do better. Please help us get the word out by sharing this episode with everyone you know.
#ihaveaname is not about the most up to date statistics it's about people, this hits closer to home than we think.

In this episode we have Executive Director, Theresa Jenkins of Reset Soci...

In this episode, Earl and I discuss how he went from immense trauma, homelessness and addiction to becoming the Executive Director of Oxford House Foundation of Canada, an addiction housing center in Calgary, Alberta.

WARNING EXPLICIT CONTENT

Want more Information on Oxford House or to follow Earl, click the links below:
https://oxfordhouse.ca/
https://twitter.com/EarlThiessen


Follow Vanish...

I don't know what it is about recovery that can connect two total strangers instantaneously after discovering you are both trudging that happy road of destiny. But that is exactly what happened when I met Tony McGrath several months back at a Conference we were both speaking at.
It's that instant connection and relate-ability. It's an unexpressed understanding without even knowing the story...but you know the st...

Lindsey Witzel, remembering Ryan, a brother, a son, a friend. Lindsey shares her memories as a child with her older brother, the bond that only they shared, the protection, love and admiration she felt for her only sibling. 
Family, friends and Hockey were Ryan's first loves with dreams of being drafted into the NHL, Ryan devoted his time to the sport he believed would be his life and his future. 
Lindsey shares how th...

In today's solo episode, seeing as it's only our second time together I thought I would begin our "Evergreen" episodes. I actually learned about Evergreen Content while recording this episode as I was anxiously thinking I needed to cram my life story into a one-hour podcast. HAHA :)

In this episode I share my personal journey beginning with some of my first childhood memories and experiences. I talk abo...

The inaugural podcast will feature Vanisha’s daughters, Carissa and Eden. At a young age, Carissa was sexually abused by her stepfather. Eden was raped and sexually exploited while homeless and addicted on the streets of Calgary. “The conversation was not easy, but necessary”, says Breault. “I’m proud of my daughters for the strong women they’ve become, and for their courage to show vulnerability in the face of so much pain. This w...