Escaping Rock Bottom

Copa Health is a premiere behavioral health clinic and housing option for those who have developmental disabilities and severe mental illness. While many organizations shy away from helping these groups, Copa Health proudly steps up to the plate to provide incredible day programs, housing, and life skill courses for them! Learn more about how Copa Health is making a huge difference in the lives of so many families! This podcast epi...

Megan Racer never felt comfortable in her own skin even as a small child. She experimented with drugs as a teen. It made her feel good. But, as you're about to see, her life spun out of control. She got hooked up with a Mexican cartel. She got stopped at the border with her kids. Her life cam crashing down. She was sentenced to the slammer. However, it was the biggest blessing in her life. Now, she gets to not only work in rec...

Most people will experience trauma by the age of 10. Childhood trauma impacts the way our brains are formed. Sometimes, we don't even realize as adults that early childhood trauma is impacting our poor life decisions. Our wiring is off because of unhealed trauma. It may derail us in our teens, or like Kimberly who became an alcoholic at age 40. Its an incredible story about a registered nurse and sobriety coach who is now able...

Tim Westbrook is the founder, owner, and CEO of Camelback Recovery in Phoenix, AZ. He talks about childhood trauma which led him to a life of booze and drugs. From multiple blackouts, losing jobs and relationships, Tim was able to rebuild his life by creating a solid foundation in a 12-Step program. Now, he's helping other addicts heal from their trauma by creating an incredible program that focuses on structured sober living,...

This is an incredibly powerful podcast about a guy who experienced severe childhood trauma that led him down a dark path of self destruction with drugs. Steven Ayers speaks about his childhood trauma publicly for the first *ever. He was molested as a child. He carried that burden his whole life... until now. His path led him to serve time in prison. He says prison saved his life. Now he's helping other guys in recovery get sob...

In this episode you will meet Ian Day. Ian gives an incredible testimony about how recovery has not only saved his life, but it's allowed him to create a life he truly never thought was possible.  He talks about childhood bullying and child sex abuse that he experienced. He also talks about his time in jail and how that became an opportunity to get sober. At one point in his life he lost custody of his son, but his story is pr...

This might be the most "controversial" podcast episode I have ever done and I have never been more excited to talk about the science of psychedelics and the important studies being done right now to help people heal from trauma. We are talking about microdosing with the nations leading researcher on the subject, Dr Sue Sisley. Dr Sisley was the nations leading researcher on cannabis in the early 2000's and now she ha...

Patrick Legenzoff is known as the "Sober Investor". His story is one of the most powerful I have ever heard. He grew up in a broken home. His mother was a drug addict and also the neighborhood drug dealer. He tried marijuana at age 10. He took a hit of meth at age 11. He, too, began slinging drugs and became a criminal before the age of 18. How did Patrick break the cycle of trauma & addiction? Does he have a relation...

Hannah Kirkpatrick will tell you that she's never experienced trauma and had what she describes as the "perfect childhood". She somehow ended up abusing alcohol - she says she became a food addict & depressed. She battled perfectionism, trying to be the perfect person for everyone. Her world came crashing down. Everything fell apart including her marriage. But, she got help. She admitted herself into an outpatien...

This episode covers a lot of current events happening around recovery/healing. We sit down with the founder of Pinnacle Peak Recovery to talk about news making headlines: Kathy Griffin becomes an addict at age 59 - she wonders how can anyone become an addict at that age. She did and she almost took her life after a traumatic life experience. Also, researchers in the medical field want to use MDMA and other psychedelics to help trau...

Kim B has a powerful story about survival. She was sexually abused by a family member when she was a child. But no one believed her which caused her even more trauma. She turned to drugs to escape. The numb felt better than her reality. Now, Kim is the primary therapist at one of the best treatment centers in Arizona, Pinnacle Peak Recovery. She's also a supporter of harm reduction (so am I). We talk about meeting addicts wher...

JT has an incredible story of recovery. He lost his father at a very young age. That was a traumatic event. That trauma went unhealed and he began hanging with gangs and getting into brawls. That was his way of coping. It eventually led JT down a dark path of drug use that included shooting heroin. Now, JT is sober. He's a lover .. not a fighter. JT helps others get sober. He's the Director of Clinical Outreach for Spring...

This is a really raw conversation about romanticizing relapse and the shame we feel about even having those thoughts. They say in recovery "just tell someone before you relapse." Well, truth be told, it's not that easy. What if we normalized the conversation about relapse, because the majority of people in recovery have experienced it. Wouldn't that make it easier for someone to come forward and share with someo...

Josh Anderson has one helluva story to tell. He says he didn't have a traumatic childhood. The thing he says likely sent him down the wrong path: he was left home alone. A lot. His experimentation with marijuana led him to booze. He got into a bad accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. That wasn't his rock bottom. He began using heroin. His family eventually gave him a choice: drugs or them. He said he had ...

This is a really powerful story of a man who witnessed a lot of chaos as a child including domestic violence. The trauma that Bobby suffered eventually led him down a dark path of drugs. But, this story is proof that not only do WE recover, but we can often create a life that we never thought possible. Bobby is now the CEO of Springboard Recovery in Scottsdale, Arizona. It's one of the best treatment centers in the state. They...