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Pete Kuc was living a life that looked like the movies. A young real estate hotshot in northeast Florida, he was making a fortune, flying on private jets to the Bahamas, entertaining high-end clients on the waterfront, and running on Adderall and alcohol to keep the whole machine going. He describes it as his own Wolf of Wall Street era — money, parties, and the feeling that as long as he was performing, nothing else mattered.Underneath it was a man who had built his entire sense of worth on being the athlete, then the businessman, then the provider — and had no idea who he was without the win. When the market crashed, it all came apart. A $150 million company gone in a year. Real estate leveraged to the hilt, upside down. He went from living like a billionaire to $7 in his pocket in eighteen months. In the middle of the collapse came a one-night stand, a hidden child he tried to keep secret for years, and three kids across a chaotic stretch of his life.He kept trying to fix it himself — Tony Robbins seminars, masterminds, personal development, charts and triathlon training and sheer discipline — always convinced he could pull it out without surrendering. He never could. There were DUIs he talked his way out of, one he didn't, a marijuana company he built and lost, and a moment standing at the edge of the ocean, financially buried and drowning in shame, seriously thinking about swimming out and not coming back.He finally got sober at 44. Now 7 years in, Pete is married, raising five kids including a two-year-old son, and has built a life grounded in family, faith, and the recovery he spent decades running from.If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.Call or Text: 844-443-5669Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/#RiseAbove #AlcoholRecovery #7YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery #SoberLife#HighFunctioningAlcoholic #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth #FatherhoodInRecovery #FromRockBottom#SoberDad #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #PeteKuc #SelfWorth #FaithInRecovery #WolfOfWallStreet #SecondChances #OneMoreThingLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Colton's addiction began long before adulthood. By 17, he was injecting drugs. Before turning 20, he was cooking meth, living in violent drug houses, escaping juvenile detention, and eventually serving time in prison. He shares stories of psychosis, crime, near-death experiences, and the devastating reality of meth addiction.Today, nearly two years sober, Colton has transformed his life. He helps others in recovery, hosts the Broken Chain Podcast, and is working toward opening a recovery home so others can find the hope he once thought was impossible. His journey is proof that no one is beyond redemption.If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, know that recovery is possible.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Damon Watson did everything right. Harvard-Westlake prep school. Princeton, where he was a national debate champion. Harvard Law School. A career as an intellectual property litigator at Latham & Watkins, one of the biggest law firms in Los Angeles. On paper, his life was the American dream.
Then five people close to him died in six years — his mom, his dad, his grandmother and more. His marriage fell apart. And the man who had been so terrified of becoming his alcoholic mother that he was the designated driver all through college took his first drink at 30, right after graduating law school. From there it moved fast: ecstasy at the clubs, then cocaine, then crystal meth, and finally a needle in his arm.
Damon lost everything. He ended up homeless on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, shooting heroin and meth, fighting for his life, cycling through LA County Jail on check-fraud charges he committed just to survive. He describes sitting there with a needle in his arm, certain he was going to die in that spot — and something in him refusing to accept it.
His way out came through a former debate rival turned friend running for city council, who flew him to New York, put him on her couch, bought him a suit, and helped him get clean. He never picked up again.
Now 8.5 years sober, Damon works for the New Jersey Reentry Corporation helping formerly incarcerated people and those in recovery rebuild their lives — pulling together his Ivy League book smarts and his hard-won street smarts to give other people the second chance he got.
This one is proof that addiction truly does not discriminate — and that no one is too far gone to come back.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week📲 Follow Damon: @damonesquire (Instagram) | Damon Watson (LinkedIn)🌐 New Jersey Reentry Corporation
Damon Watson did everything right. Harvard-Westlake prep school. Princeton, where he was a national debate champion. Harvard Law School. A career as an intellectual property litigator at Latham & Watkins, one of the biggest law firms in Los Angeles. On paper, his life was the American dream.Then five people close to him died in six years — his mom, his dad, his grandmother and more. His marriage fell apart. And the man who had been so terrified of becoming his alcoholic mother that he was the designated driver all through college took his first drink at 30, right after graduating law school. From there it moved fast: ecstasy at the clubs, then cocaine, then crystal meth, and finally a needle in his arm.Damon lost everything. He ended up homeless on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, shooting heroin and meth, fighting for his life, cycling through LA County Jail on check-fraud charges he committed just to survive. He describes sitting there with a needle in his arm, certain he was going to die in that spot — and something in him refusing to accept it.His way out came through a former debate rival turned friend running for city council, who flew him to New York, put him on her couch, bought him a suit, and helped him get clean. He never picked up again.Now 8.5 years sober, Damon works for the New Jersey Reentry Corporation helping formerly incarcerated people and those in recovery rebuild their lives — pulling together his Ivy League book smarts and his hard-won street smarts to give other people the second chance he got.This one is proof that addiction truly does not discriminate — and that no one is too far gone to come back.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week📲 Follow Damon: @damonesquire (Instagram) | Damon Watson (LinkedIn)🌐 New Jersey Reentry Corporation
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/
#RiseAbove #AddictionRecovery #HeroinRecovery #8YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #MethRecovery #SoberLife#SkidRow #HarvardLaw #AddictionDoesntDiscriminate #MensRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth #Reentry#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #DamonWatson #SecondChances #FromRockBottom #OneMoreThing
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Haley Ragsdale grew up outside Nashville in the wealthy town of Franklin, a scared kid with crippling anxiety, insomnia, and a phobia of vomiting so severe it ruled her entire childhood. When her parents' divorce detonated — a five-year court battle that pulled her out of class for abuse checks and had her father legally removed from the home — the chaos swallowed the whole family.
She found her escape at 15. A prescription for Xanax that a nurse practitioner had given her years earlier had been sitting untouched in her door. The night she finally tried it, she describes it as silence for the first time in her life — the racing thoughts and panic simply switched off. From that moment nothing else mattered. She was soon mixing benzos and alcohol, doctor-shopping, and spiraling into a decade of addiction.
What followed was roughly seven or eight arrests, drinking and driving everywhere she went, and a DUI where — blacked out on upwards of 20 Xanax bars — she reversed through a gated community's steel gate not once but twice, totaling her mother's car. She flattened the sentence and spent four months in a Tennessee jail, where she was jumped and beaten by a fellow inmate who had confessed to murdering her boyfriend.
After about a decade of trying to get clean, Haley moved to Florida in 2021 and finally found recovery. This week she celebrates one year clean and sober — and she's learned to sit with herself, love her own company, and build a healthy relationship for the first time in her life.
This one is about anxiety, self-medication, and what it takes to finally quiet the noise without a substance.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week📲 Follow Haley: @crookedcigarette (TikTok, Instagram & Facebook)
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/
#RiseAbove #XanaxAddiction #WomenInRecovery #1YearSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery#SoberLife #BenzoRecovery #AnxietyAndAddiction #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth #DUIStory#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #HaleyRagsdale #SelfMedication #JailStory #CrookedCigarette #FromChaosToCalm #OneMoreThing
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Clint Pitre was raised by his grandparents in Deltona, Florida, a Jehovah's Witness household where he always felt like something was off. By middle school he was smoking weed and drinking at the skate park. At 15 he took his first Oxycodone at a house party and knew instantly he wanted to feel that way for the rest of his life. By junior year he was so dependent that his own grandmother had to hand him a pill and tell him he was dope sick — that what he'd been taking was essentially synthetic heroin.
What followed was roughly 15 years of addiction that bounced him between Florida and Montana, chasing and running at the same time. He moved to heroin when the pills ran dry, lived on the streets, stole to fund his hustle, cycled through jail, and got a gun put in his face during a robbery in Montana while high out of his mind. He was found overdosed in his car in Orlando, woke up to paramedics, and still wasn't done. His worst run came last — a year so dark he was waking up crying from nightmares he'd never had before.
On July 7, 2023, with nothing but a duffel bag holding a pair of boxers and some Air Jordans, the pain finally got great enough. His grandmother passed away while he was in treatment, but not before knowing he was finally getting help.
Now 3 years sober, Clint works at Compassion Behavioral Health, answering the phone at 1am for people at their lowest and getting them into treatment — the same lifeline someone once was for him.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/
#RiseAbove #HeroinRecovery #OpioidRecovery #3YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery#SoberLife #DopeSick #MensRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth #OverdoseSurvivor #RiseAbovePodcast#KevinLanning #ClintPitre #CompassionBehavioralHealth #ServiceWork #FromTheStreetsToSober #NeverGiveUp#OneMoreThing
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Jason Lyles was adopted at 14 days old and raised in a strict Southern Baptist home. He read the Bible cover to cover by age eight and felt called to ministry. He also found pornography at ten or eleven, and from that moment he was chasing something he couldn't name — convinced each time that the next thing would finally fix him. Marriage at 19 would fix it. Giving his life to God would fix it. But as his early sponsor told him, you never leave your addictions in the driveway.
Jason planted a church in rural Georgia, preaching to construction workers and cowboys on Tuesday nights, while secretly carrying on affairs. Eventually his double life reached a breaking point that he describes with brutal honesty: living with his girlfriend in her apartment and driving to church on Sunday mornings to preach a sermon while his wife and kids sat in the pews trying to hold the facade together.
When it all came apart — the church, the marriage, his job, and the death of his mother — Jason found himself lying on his side one Wednesday afternoon with a suicide fully planned, feeling not worthless but coldly logical about it. That was his turning point. A chance training on nervous system regulation introduced him to cold water, breathwork, and meditation, and on October 19, 2020, he got sober in a way he never had before.
Now 6 years sober, Jason runs Sacred Grit, coaching men through addiction using nervous system regulation, daily practice, and accountability — and teaching them how to put their feet on the floor each morning and do one thing that makes them feel loved by themselves.
This one is about the addictions nobody talks about, the danger of believing the next thing will fix you, and finding a way out that finally works.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week🌐 thesacredgrit.com🎙️ The Sacred Grit Podcast
Jason Lyles was adopted at 14 days old and raised in a strict Southern Baptist home. He read the Bible cover to cover by age eight and felt called to ministry. He also found pornography at ten or eleven, and from that moment he was chasing something he couldn't name — convinced each time that the next thing would finally fix him. Marriage at 19 would fix it. Giving his life to God would fix it. But as his early sponsor told him, you never leave your addictions in the driveway.Jason planted a church in rural Georgia, preaching to construction workers and cowboys on Tuesday nights, while secretly carrying on affairs. Eventually his double life reached a breaking point that he describes with brutal honesty: living with his girlfriend in her apartment and driving to church on Sunday mornings to preach a sermon while his wife and kids sat in the pews trying to hold the facade together.When it all came apart — the church, the marriage, his job, and the death of his mother — Jason found himself lying on his side one Wednesday afternoon with a suicide fully planned, feeling not worthless but coldly logical about it. That was his turning point. A chance training on nervous system regulation introduced him to cold water, breathwork, and meditation, and on October 19, 2020, he got sober in a way he never had before.Now 6 years sober, Jason runs Sacred Grit, coaching men through addiction using nervous system regulation, daily practice, and accountability — and teaching them how to put their feet on the floor each morning and do one thing that makes them feel loved by themselves.This one is about the addictions nobody talks about, the danger of believing the next thing will fix you, and finding a way out that finally works.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week🌐 thesacredgrit.com🎙️ The Sacred Grit Podcast
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/
#RiseAbove #SexAddiction #PornAddiction #6YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery #SoberLife#NervousSystemRegulation #MensRecovery #FaithAndRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #JasonLyles #SacredGrit #PastorStory #Breathwork #SuicidePrevention #OneMoreThing
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Laura Tomana appeared to have it all—a successful career, a thriving social life, and a bright future. Behind closed doors, however, alcohol had taken over her life.What began as partying evolved into blackouts, drinking around the clock, and eventually becoming physically dependent on alcohol.
After losing her mother to cancer, Laura made a promise to stay sober—but grief, addiction, and despair pulled her back into relapse. She shares the heartbreaking reality of drinking more alcohol than water, detoxes, hospitalizations, suicidal thoughts, and the moment everything finally changed.Today, Laura is approaching two years sober and uses her story to give hope to anyone struggling with addiction, grief, or mental health.If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you're not alone. Recovery is possible.
Follow Laura on IG: @ltomana
This Episode Is Sponsored By NOCD
A lot of people who've done the hard work of getting sober still struggle with unwanted, intrusive thoughts that bring guilt and shame and keep coming back. For some people, that may be OCD — and in recovery it often goes unrecognized for years because it can look like anxiety or feel like part of the process.
The good news is it's treatable. NOCD is the world's leading provider of OCD treatment, with licensed therapists who specialize in ERP (exposure and response prevention) therapy through live, face-to-face virtual sessions, plus support between sessions. NOCD is covered by insurance for over 138 million Americans.
👉 Book a free 15-minute call at NOCD.com
#Sobriety #AlcoholAddiction #Recovery #RiseAbovePodcast
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Tommy Lyons grew up between Brooklyn and Staten Island, a fearful, introverted kid with a nervous disposition who found that drugs made him feel like he could finally talk to anyone. He was smoking weed at ten, doing Xanax by thirteen, and a borderline cocaine addict by fourteen — funding it by stealing and robbing before he was even old enough to drive.
He became the MVP quarterback of his high school football team while already deep in opiate addiction. Vicodin became Percocet, Percocet became blues, and blues became heroin. He describes shooting heroin in the bathroom at his serving job in his green dress shirt, bouncing between sober livings and couches in both New York and South Florida.
He climbed the ranks running sober living homes — becoming director of operations of 14 of them in his twenties — all while admitting he had no real connection to recovery and was running on ego. Then he relapsed into one of the most vicious runs of his life. Suicidal, his front teeth knocked out, crack now in the mix, he overdosed behind the wheel of his car and woke up days later in a hospital with no memory of how he got there.
Now 4 years sober, Tommy works in the recovery field helping others find what he eventually found — and says he can't even picture himself using anymore.
This one is about how many "lucky breaks" it can take before the stars finally align.
Tommy Lyons grew up between Brooklyn and Staten Island, a fearful, introverted kid with a nervous disposition who found that drugs made him feel like he could finally talk to anyone. He was smoking weed at ten, doing Xanax by thirteen, and a borderline cocaine addict by fourteen — funding it by stealing and robbing before he was even old enough to drive.He became the MVP quarterback of his high school football team while already deep in opiate addiction. Vicodin became Percocet, Percocet became blues, and blues became heroin. He describes shooting heroin in the bathroom at his serving job in his green dress shirt, bouncing between sober livings and couches in both New York and South Florida.He climbed the ranks running sober living homes — becoming director of operations of 14 of them in his twenties — all while admitting he had no real connection to recovery and was running on ego. Then he relapsed into one of the most vicious runs of his life. Suicidal, his front teeth knocked out, crack now in the mix, he overdosed behind the wheel of his car and woke up days later in a hospital with no memory of how he got there.Now 4 years sober, Tommy works in the recovery field helping others find what he eventually found — and says he can't even picture himself using anymore.This one is about how many "lucky breaks" it can take before the stars finally align.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/
#RiseAbove #HeroinRecovery #CrackAddiction #4YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery#SoberLife #OpioidEpidemic #MensRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth #OverdoseSurvivor #StatenIsland#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #TommyLyons #FromAthleteToAddict #ServiceWork #NeverGiveUp #OneMoreThing
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Rise Above | Vlog Episode 3
A routine shoulder surgery is where my painkiller addiction began. This is what my life looks like 8.5 years sober.
In this vlog I'm taking you through a real day in my life and the things that keep me grounded. We start at Tequesta Biomechanics where I train with Jessica, working on decompressing my lower back, recovering mobility in the shoulder that started it all, and undoing years of damage from poor form and old football injuries. Physical health has become a massive part of my mental health and my recovery.
Then I head back to the studio, give a shout out to Ben who's been helping run the socials, and walk you through exactly what goes into prepping for every single episode — including the one fatal mistake I made that erased an entire interview, and the guest who handled it like a champion because of the program she works.
I also talk about today's guest Tyler, his story of recovery, and something really important to me — why I keep the podcast and my actual program of recovery completely separate. The meetings, the step work, the sponsorship, the commitments..... those come first, always.
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Mike Debany was a fast-talking sales guy living what looked like the good life in South Florida — a fiancée, a baby on the way, money in the bank. Underneath it he was already an addict, having found his way from marijuana to the pill mills of South Florida, where a doctor in a parking lot would hand out 180 Xanax and 90 Roxys to anyone who waited long enough.
Then on October 18, 2010, everything changed. Driving a Jeep overloaded with cinder blocks over a bridge under construction, he rolled the vehicle. The cinder blocks came through the windshield. He was airlifted to the hospital, spent roughly 18 hours in surgery, and didn't wake up for nearly six weeks. When he came to, one of his vocal cords was crushed, his legs had atrophied, and his right arm no longer worked — an arm he would have to amputate a year later.
But as Mike tells it, the accident isn't the story. He woke up already on morphine, Dilaudid and Ativan — and what followed was years of full-blown opiate addiction, a vicious slide into heroin once the pill supply dried up, and the loss of his fiancée, his daughter, and nearly everything else.
Now 7 years sober, Mike has rebuilt his relationship with his now 15-year-old daughter, bought a home, built a business, and lives a life centered on service — going to a meeting every day, sponsoring others, and carrying the message into detoxes and hospitals.
This one is about how recovery is possible even when the odds are completely stacked against you.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/
#RiseAbove #OpioidRecovery #HeroinRecovery #7YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery#SoberLife #Amputee #PillMill #MensRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth #FatherhoodInRecovery#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #MikeDebany #ServiceWork #AgainstAllOdds #SoberDad #OneMoreThing
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From the outside Nick Johnsson had it all. Born in Sweden, educated in Australia, and based in Southeast Asia, he spent a decade climbing the corporate ladder until he was the general manager of 72 hospitals and clinics across Indonesia — one of the biggest roles of its kind in the world.
And he was quietly falling apart behind the closed door of his corner office.
Every promotion made him lonelier. He was drinking to control himself, working punishing hours, and slowly losing the discipline that had defined his life. When the pressure became too much he resigned, couldn't talk to his wife about why, filed for divorce, and separated himself from his five-year-old son. Isolated with no job, no marriage and no child, he gained 60 pounds and slid into a daily dependence on alcohol and oxycodone — which in Southeast Asia he could buy over the counter like popcorn.
It took two days to get off the alcohol and two years to taper off the medication.
Now 8 years sober, Nick is an author, speaker and entrepreneur who travels the world with his teenage son, volunteers for a suicide prevention agency, and wrote a book — Executive Loneliness — about the isolation at the top that nobody talks about.
In this thoughtful and powerful episode Nick shares how he rebuilt his relationship with his son from across the world through Minecraft, why he believes loneliness is the root so many high achievers try to numb, and what it really takes to come back.
This one is for every high achiever who looks successful on the outside and feels completely alone underneath.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week📲 Follow Nick on LinkedIn: Nick Johnsson🌐 nickjohnsson.com📖 Executive Loneliness — available now
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/
#RiseAbove #SoberLife #8YearsSober #AlcoholRecovery #ExecutiveLoneliness #HighFunctioningAlcoholic#RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery #MentalHealth #SobrietyJourney #Loneliness#FatherhoodInRecovery #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #NickJohnsson #CorporateBurnout#MensMentalHealth #SuicidePrevention #OneDayAtATime #OneMoreThing
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From the outside Christie Green looked like she had it all together. A successful career, a wide circle of friends, the person who sent the thank-you cards and remembered everyone's birthday. Nobody saw the high-functioning drinking underneath, or the grief, divorce and decades of quiet pain she was masking with it.
Christie lost her hair to alopecia as a child and spent years building humor and achievement into armor so no one would look too closely. She lost her mother six years ago and describes that grief as the catalyst that sent the next chapter of her life into a tailspin. She went through a divorce, multiple miscarriages, and a long stretch of self-medicating just to avoid sitting with her own feelings.
Then on one bad night out she slammed a door in a stranger's face in a crowded bar, walked home, and woke up the next morning knowing she was done. She caught herself at the crossroads. This March she celebrated one year alcohol-free.
In this honest and reflective episode Christie talks about high-functioning drinking, grief, learning to sit with hard emotions instead of numbing them, and the journaling and self-worth work that carried her through her first year sober.
This one is for everyone who looks fine on the outside and is quietly struggling underneath.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/rise-above/?utm_source=rise%20above&utm_medium=social%20media&utm_campaign=june
#RiseAbove #SoberLife #1YearSober #HighFunctioningAlcoholic #AlcoholFree #SobrietyJourney#GriefAndHealing #WomenInRecovery #Alopecia #RecoveryIsPossible #MentalHealth #SelfWorth #SoberCurious#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #ChristieGreen #GettingSober #Journaling #OneDayAtATime #OneMoreThing
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Makenzie Raine had her first panic attack at seven. She never felt comfortable in her own skin....paralyzing anxiety, constant fear, neurodivergence nobody ever addressed. Then at 12 her parents let her have a drink hoping to take the mystery out of alcohol. That same night she snuck out, finished the bottle alone and got obliterated. She describes that first drink as coming up for air for the first time in her life.
By 18 she had moved to Los Angeles, was living in a penthouse pulling in $50,000 a month on a subscription platform, and was drinking a full handle of vodka a day. She became a frequent flyer at the ER for withdrawals she didn't recognize, got committed to a psych ward, and was even bringing alcohol in her backpack to the outpatient program that was supposed to be keeping her sober.
She walked into her first AA meeting at 18 trying to prove she wasn't like everyone there — and heard her own story come out of a stranger's mouth.
Now sober at 21 with six months back, Makenzie is building a young sober community, using her platform to reach other young people, and finally feels safe in her own skin.
This one is for every young person who thinks they're too young to be an alcoholic.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week📲 Follow Makenzie on social media IG: Makenzie_raine
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may
#RiseAbove #YoungAndSober #SoberAt21 #AlcoholRecovery #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery#WomenInRecovery #SoberCommunity #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth #AnxietyAndAddiction #YouthInRecovery#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #MakenzieRaine #FunctioningAlcoholic #WalkingBlackout #SoberLife #LGBTQSober #OneMoreDay
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Betty Guadagno was born into a long line of addicts — poverty, chaos, eviction notices in red envelopes, and sexual trauma she carried as a small child. By 11 she was mixing drinks behind a stranger's bar. By 15 she was smoking methamphetamine. And for the next 20 years drugs were the only thing that made her feel powerful, beautiful and safe.
By the end she was a homeless meth addict who had lost 100 pounds in three months, lost most of her teeth, and was manipulating and prostituting other women to fund her addiction. She had been through over a dozen detoxes and rehabs. Her own cousin — who had come forward about the same family abuse — died of a heroin overdose three days before her 21st birthday.
Then Betty overdosed on her bathroom floor. And had a near-death experience that changed everything. She says she met God, was told she was worthy of all the love in the universe, and was forced into a recovery she never asked for.
Now 7 years sober Betty is married to a man she met in the rooms, works as a coach helping others break free, and is living a life she never thought was possible.
This one is for anyone who believes they are too far gone, too broken, or too unworthy to ever come back.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week📲 Follow Betty: @goodentvgloomy
Betty Guadagno was born into a long line of addicts — poverty, chaos, eviction notices in red envelopes, and sexual trauma she carried as a small child. By 11 she was mixing drinks behind a stranger's bar. By 15 she was smoking methamphetamine. And for the next 20 years drugs were the only thing that made her feel powerful, beautiful and safe.By the end she was a homeless meth addict who had lost 100 pounds in three months, lost most of her teeth, and was manipulating and prostituting other women to fund her addiction. She had been through over a dozen detoxes and rehabs. Her own cousin — who had come forward about the same family abuse — died of a heroin overdose three days before her 21st birthday.Then Betty overdosed on her bathroom floor. And had a near-death experience that changed everything. She says she met God, was told she was worthy of all the love in the universe, and was forced into a recovery she never asked for.Now 7 years sober Betty is married to a man she met in the rooms, works as a coach helping others break free, and is living a life she never thought was possible.This one is for anyone who believes they are too far gone, too broken, or too unworthy to ever come back.📲 Follow Betty: @goodentvgloomy
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may
#RiseAbove #WomenInRecovery #7YearsSober #MethRecovery #HeroinRecovery #RecoveryIsPossible#AddictionRecovery #NearDeathExperience #SoberLife #TraumaRecovery #FaithAndRecovery #SobrietyJourney#MentalHealth #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #BettyGuadagno #FromHomelessToHealed #SpiritualAwakening #GodSavedMe #OneMoreDay
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Jerry Lucey beat opioid addiction in 2018. Then in 2020 a motorcycle accident cut his body open from his heel to his chest. He was pronounced dead three times. He spent three and a half weeks in a coma and had a near-death experience he still can't fully explain.
In this follow up episode Jerry reveals what wasn't covered the first time — going septic during recovery and nearly dying again, over 100 blood transfusions in a single night, 68 surgeries, five years in a wheelchair, and the moment he woke up from his coma believing he had already died and gone somewhere else entirely.
He also shares the unbelievable update from just the last few months — a hip replacement, a knee replacement, breaking his own femur after forgetting his leg wasn't fully reconnected, and performing emergency self surgery at home with a razor blade rather than going back to the hospital and risking opioids again.
Doctors said he wouldn't survive. Then they said he would be blind. Then they said his body would never work again.
He is still here. And he is still going.
Jerry Lucey beat opioid addiction in 2018. Then in 2020 a motorcycle accident cut his body open from his heel to his chest. He was pronounced dead three times. He spent three and a half weeks in a coma and had a near-death experience he still can't fully explain.In this follow up episode Jerry reveals what wasn't covered the first time — going septic during recovery and nearly dying again, over 100 blood transfusions in a single night, 68 surgeries, five years in a wheelchair, and the moment he woke up from his coma believing he had already died and gone somewhere else entirely.He also shares the unbelievable update from just the last few months — a hip replacement, a knee replacement, breaking his own femur after forgetting his leg wasn't fully reconnected, and performing emergency self surgery at home with a razor blade rather than going back to the hospital and risking opioids again.Doctors said he wouldn't survive. Then they said he would be blind. Then they said his body would never work again.He is still here. And he is still going.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may
#RiseAbove #MiracleStory #OpioidRecovery #MotorcycleAccident #SurvivalStory #RecoveryIsPossible#AddictionRecovery #NearDeathExperience #SoberLife #MedicalMiracle #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning#JerryLucey #PronouncedDead #AgainstAllOdds #TraumaSurvivor #MentalHealth #GratitudeInRecovery #PartTwo#OneMoreDay
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Matthew Polimeno was six years old when he climbed into his mother's bed and woke up next to her body. She had gotten sober through AA. Then a car accident led to an OxyContin prescription. And then she was gone.
Growing up without her Matthew watched his father hold everything together while carrying a grief nobody talked about. He went to AA meetings as a kid without understanding why. And then at 16 he had his first drink — and immediately understood exactly what his mother had been chasing.
By his worst stretch Matthew was drinking a liter and a half of vodka every single night. Shaking so badly at work he could barely function. Googling urgent cares while blackout drunk at 1pm on a Sunday. By some miracle a substance abuse hotline appeared in his search results instead.
Now 16 months sober Matthew is doing the work — the steps the sponsor the hard look in the mirror — and building a life he never thought was possible.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may
#RiseAbove #SoberLife #16MonthsSober #AlcoholRecovery #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery#ChildOfAnAddict #OxycodoneOverdose #GriefAndAddiction #MentalHealth #SobrietyJourney #WomenInRecovery#LGBTQSober #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #MatthewPolimeno #MomInRecovery #GenerationalTrauma#FunctioningAlcoholic #OneMoreDay
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Ryan Root was a skinny kid from upstate New York who got picked up by girls at 13 and couldn't grow facial hair at 28. Doctors dismissed him. So he went to the black market for testosterone at 23 — and his life changed overnight.
He put on 32 pounds of muscle in weeks. His confidence exploded. His ambition came back. And then he discovered he had a gift for business.
What started as trying to make $200-$300 extra dollars a week turned into a full blown black market steroid operation making $100,000 a week at its peak — with chemists, shippers and employees compartmentalized across the entire country specifically to avoid detection. He was dropping $60,000 at Vegas tables on a single trip and living in a penthouse overlooking Manhattan.
Then at 5am, 15 DEA agents kicked his door in.
He did federal prison. And never drank again.
Now 11 years sober Ryan has built one of the largest legitimate hormone replacement therapy companies in the country — using the same obsessive business mind that built the empire that took him down.
This one is for anyone who has ever turned a dark chapter into the foundation of something extraordinary.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 🌐 gofor.com 📲 @go_for4 (Instagram)
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may
#RiseAbove #DEARaid #BlackMarketSteroids #FederalPrison #SoberLife #11YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible#AddictionRecovery #Testosterone #HRT #MensRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth#EntrepreneurRecovery #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #RyanRoot #GoFor #PrisonToSuccess #OneMoreDay
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Brittany Ellis grew up in a small town in South Georgia watching her parents drink & party. It wasn't until her oldest brother poured gasoline on a bonfire at 14 and burned his entire arm that everything changed. The doctors loaded him up with OxyContin. He brought it home. Her parents got hooked. And then Brittany did too.
What followed was 15 years of addiction that took her from pills to heroin to fentanyl to IV crack cocaine. She married the man who introduced her to Oxy while they were both in the grips of addiction. She got pregnant on a run so bad her own dealer told her she needed help. No rehab in a three state radius would take her because she was pregnant. She tapered herself down at home with her mother just to protect her unborn daughter.
Then she lost custody of that daughter for three years.
When her father died she drove to Savannah to steal his prescriptions from the mailbox before anyone knew he was gone.
Now 5.5 years sober Brittany has her daughter back, got married and is working in the recovery field helping others find the life she almost never found herself.
This one is for every mother out there who thinks she's too far gone to come back.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may
#RiseAbove #WomenInRecovery #SoberMom #FentanylAddiction #HeroinRecovery #5YearsSober#RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery #MomInRecovery #LostCustody #SoberLife #SobrietyJourney#MentalHealth #GriefAndAddiction #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #BrittanyEllis #SouthGeorgia#FaithAndRecovery #OneMoreDay
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Johnny Schrey grew up in West Boca watching his two older brothers destroy their lives with drugs. He told himself he would never be like them. By 25 he was splitting Roxy 30s with his best friend because they couldn't scrape together $10 for one pill between them. So they joined the Marine Corps..
He detoxed off opioids in boot camp. Got a DUI his first night back from engineering school. Deployed to Afghanistan twice — watching friends die, getting his vehicle hit by IEDs, and coming home to bottles of Jack Daniels waiting on the bus. He married a bartender, had a daughter, lost a twin son at 22 weeks, and shot heroin in a condemned apartment in Overtown with USB cords tied to his arm looking for a vein.
His brother — his hero — died on his birthday.
Now 7 years sober, Johnny got his ex-wife back, is raising his daughter, and has built a life beyond anything he thought possible.
This one is for every veteran out there who came home and didn't know how to turn the switch back on.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may
#RiseAbove #VeteranRecovery #MarineCorps #HeroinRecovery #7YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible#AddictionRecovery #AfghanistanVet #SoberDad #PTSDRecovery #SoberLife #MensRecovery #RiseAbovePodcast#KevinLanning #JohnnySchrey #VeteranSobriety #CombatVeteran #SobrietyJourney #FamilyInRecovery#OneMoreDay
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Rise Above | Adam Vohra's Story
Adam Vohra grew up in Connecticut ....a kid of color in a Jewish day school who always felt different. At 13 he found out why. He and his sister had been adopted. Nobody had told them. And six months later he had his first drink.
What followed was 15 years of DUIs, gambling debts with drug dealers, dropping out of college, four months in a Connecticut jail, and relapse after relapse. Every time he got sober it was consequence driven. Every time something good happened he went right back out.
Then his best friend Lauren called. And he didn't answer. She took her own life shortly after.
It wasn't until a recovery coach flew him down to a tiny house in low country South Carolina and a stranger at a local meeting invited him to dinner and read him the Doctor's Opinion that something finally clicked.
Now 3.5 years sober Adam has his recovery coaching certification, a nonprofit consulting practice, a podcast and a life built entirely around purpose.
This one is for anyone who has tried to get sober for the wrong reasons and keeps ending up back at square one.
🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week
📲 Follow Adam: @adavohra (Instagram)
🎙️ Finding Purpose Podcast
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment.
Call or Text: 844-443-5669
Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may
#RiseAbove #AddictionRecovery #SoberLife #3YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AdoptionStory #DUIStory#MensRecovery #GriefAndRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth #RecoveryCoach #FindingPurpose#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #AdamVohra #ConsequenceSobriety #PurposeDrivenRecovery #SoberCommunity#OneMoreDay
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