The Way Out Podcast

In this edition of The Way Out I’m absolutely ecstatic and honored to bring you my interview with person in long term Recovery and all-around amazing human being, Carrie Wessling from Costa Rica Recovery. Carrie shares her journey to and through Recovery to this point with unmitigated candor and her story pardon the pun, carries an undeniable truth, which is no matter how many times we’ve tried to achieve meaningful and enduring recovery and fell short, there’s always hope for us so long as we’re still breathing. Recovery is not just possible for us, it’s available to anyone who truly wants it and is willing to lean in and do the hard work that’s required of us to truly get well, and when we find ourselves on that recovery and wellness journey, we’ll discover how truly rewarding life can be and Carrie’s story is proof positive of just that so listen up. Contact Carrie Wessling: https://www.costaricarecovery.com/contact-us/ Recovery literature (Quit-Lit) Recommendation - Drop the Rock: https://www.hazeldenbett

In this installment of The Way Out our intrepid recovery podcast cohost extraordinaire Jason brings us an outstanding interview where we get the privilege to get to know person in long term recovery, Sherry Gibson. By all rights Sherry should be dead a couple times over. Her journey to and through Recovery to this point and to God has been long and her message of hope is incredibly powerful. As they say... "Where there seems to be no way, God will make a way". Whether you consider yourself a religious person, spiritual person some combination of the two or neither spiritual or religious, Sherry’s story and message is chalked full of practical recovery wisdom and spiritual truth so listen up. Contact Sherry Gibson on Facebook or at Foxandfriendsfan@gmail.com Resources: Sherry offers biblical counseling free of charge!! Just contact her directly to connect! Biblical counseling and training resources: Chisagolakesbaptist.org OR Check churches in your area Book Recommendations: The Bible Addictions: A Banquet in

In this edition of The Way Out, our intrepid recovery co-host extraordinaire Jason had the distinct honor of sitting down with one of the founders of the McShin Foundation, John Shinholser! John recently celebrated 40 years of continuous Recovery and McShin was one of the first Recovery Community Organizations in the U.S. We get to hear John's story and learn how you can build your own Recovery Community Organization. Very few individuals have as much of a servant's heart as John does. McShin has touched thousands of lives, they have helped change and create legislation, and they bring hope and resources into correctional institutions all over the United States. This is one interview you won’t want to miss, so listen up. Contact John at johns@mcshin.org Resources: www.mcshin.org McShin Foundation - YouTube Get in the Herd: A Recovery Podcast - McShin Foundation Recovery literature (Quit-Lit) recommendations: NA Basic Text https://na.org/?ID=bt-aud Best Advice: "Don't use no matter what." Song that symbolizes

In this rendition of The Way Out I’m absolutely ecstatic that I am able to bring to you a phenomenal interview with person in long term recovery, clinical social worker, chemical dependency counselor, recover podcaster, and Author of two recovery books including his latest - Spirituality for People Who Hate Spirituality: A Primer – Casey Arrillaga. Casey shares his journey to and through Recovery to this point with a truly remarkable ability to articulate the benefits of being a part of recovery fellowships, recovery programs, and in engaging in a personal spiritual journey of your own variety whether you identify as an addict, alcoholic, or you are on the family side and identify as a person who is related to or has a loved one that struggles with addiction. Contact Casey: addictionandthefamily@gmail.com Addiction and the Family: Finding Recovery Together Podcast: https://addictionandthefamily.fireside.fm/hosts/casey Books written by Casey: https://www.amazon.com/P-Casey-Arrillaga/e/B09Q2J8BJT/ref=aufs_dp_ft

In this edition of The Way Out our tremendous recovery podcast co-host Jason catches up with an old friend who’s had a remarkable journey to and through recovery to this point, Tony Byrne! Tony shares his emotional story and the great work that he’s currently doing in the criminal justice system, working to fill the current gaps in our criminal justice system and to be a pioneer in the peer support movement in the state of Minnesota! Tony is super relatable and a true pleasure to listen to, and his inspiring story just may have you in varieties of tears, we’re talking goosebumps folks, so do make sure you listen up. Contact Tony: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=800445033 Books: The Bible The 4 Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz: https://www.miguelruiz.com/the-four-agreements Best Advice: "Park in the back" (you have to listen in order to get this one) Song that reminds Tony of recovery: Carrie Underwood - Great Is Thy Faithfulness ft. CeCe Winans (Official Performance Video): https://youtu.be/NT0HcAr9aeI D

In this rendition of The Way Out I’m beyond thrilled to bring you my interview with Licensed Clinical Social Worker, person in long term recovery and Author of the book “The Science of Stuck: Breaking Through Inertia to Find Your Path Forward, Britt Frank. Britt shares her journey to and through recovery this point with at once an uncommon and refreshing forthrightness, and a truly remarkable insight. Britt has a tremendous ability to articulate so much of what drives addiction, trauma, mental health disorders, and counterproductive thought and behavior patterns in general, how we can shed the shame and stigma around them, and how we can begin a path to greater wellness and to building a life we don’t feel the need to constantly escape, or as Britt often and so eloquently sums it up, how to human better so listen up. Reach out to Britt Frank: britt@scienceofstuck.com Learn more about The Science of Stuck: Breaking Through Inertia to Find Your Path Forward https://www.scienceofstuck.com/ Recovery Resources Men

In this edition of The Way Out, our favorite recovery podcast co-host with the most, Jason has a marvelous interview with original drummer and one of the founding members of the band Maroon 5, Ryan Dusick. Ryan, who is now a person in long term recovery and a marriage and family therapist, shares his amazing journey of starting the band Maroon 5 and what it was like as the band blew up into international super-stardom, and in the process how he ended up losing his drumming career, and follow Ryan down to his personal point of desperation, which led to him finding true purpose in Recovery through his service work and now his career in helping those in their time of great need. Ryan talks about finding connections and about finding a new identity, post international pop superstardom as well as about his new career as a marriage and family therapist and what it was like to write his memoir Harder to Breathe: A Memoir of Making Maroon 5, Losing it All, and Finding Recovery. You won’t want to miss this very specia

In this edition of The Way Out, the Recovery Podcast Co-host with the most has a tremendous interview with Ohio recovery advocate and person in long term recovery, Daniel Ritchie. Daniel's journey to and through recovery to this point has been, in a word, intense. A journey that includes athleticism, abuse, MMA fighting, criminal behavior, addiction, and incarceration. Today Daniel is a single father to his daughter, a recovery coach, a motivational speaker, serves on the board of trustees for Tri-State Trauma Network, AND he's inspiring recovery in others through his social media platform. Daniel’s recovery story is one for the ages and without question one you won’t want to miss so listen up. Contact and Resources: https://www.facebook.com/dantheweapon www.cedaroakswellness.com Daniels Cell #- 513-602-7438 www.tristatetraumanetwork.org Recovery literature (Quit-Lit) recommendations: Drop the Rock: Removing Character Defects - Steps Six and Seven by Bill P. (Author), Todd Weber (Author), Sara S. (Author): ht

In this installment of The Way Out, recovery co-host extraordinaire Jason brings us a tremendous interview with peer recovery specialist, fellow recovery podcaster and person in long term recovery, Nathan Mitchell. Nathan shares his journey to and through recovery to this point with us and the path that led to an outstanding sense of purpose that may surprise you! Our Higher Power can often work in mysterious ways and this spiritual reality seems to be especially true in Nathan's case. It very much feels everything was mapped out for him. Nathan also throws out a challenge that’s very near and dear to our hearts here at The Way Out Podcast and that challenge is for each and every one of us to get out there and make our voices be heard in only the we we can, because your voice matters and your story matters, so listen up. Contact Nathan: nathanlmitchell@gmail.com Recovery Resources Mentioned on this Episode: http://www.mcshin.org/ https://www.facebook.com/McShinGetintheHerd Recovery literature (Quit-Lit) recom

In this edition of The Way Out I’m ecstatic to bring you my interview with Recovery Coach, Recovery Podcaster, and person in long term Recovery Matt Gardiner. Matt hosts the Beyond Recovery Podcast and it was a true honor to share my journey to and through recovery to this point on his podcast recently, so check that out if you are so inclined and to that end, I’ve included a handy link to that episode in the show notes. Every once in a great while, you meet someone where everything just seems to click, and this is precisely what happened with Matt and I right off the bat - we quickly hit it off and it truly felt as we were old friends. We found we have so much in common, from our mutual love of great 90’s music like Nirvana, to playing guitar and songwriting, and from being bullied in adolescence to having a close friend in Recovery provide that essential helping hand to get into and launch ourselves into recovery. Throw in each of us having multiple attempts at recovery prior to our most recent and with any

We had Darren Littlejohn on episode 176 two and half years ago to talk about his first book, The 12 Step Buddhist and he’s back to talk about his latest work Compassionate Recovery: Mindful Healing for Trauma and Addictions. The importance and need for the work contained in the aforementioned book by my friend Darren cannot be understated. To paraphrase Darren and to attempt to encapsulate his latest work, compassion and mindfulness is in so many ways the direction, it is the journey, it is the result, it is the manifestation, it is the fruition of much of what we’re trying to achieve in Recovery. Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACES, trauma, and addiction cause emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual dysregulation that are very often well outside our window of tolerance. When this occurs, we resort to counterproductive thoughts and behaviors, that turn into patterns, that cause a negative feedback loop of deepening counterproductive behaviors. Addiction then, is on a spectrum and recovery too, is on a s

In this edition of The Way Out we have a stellar interview with Hollywood Actress and person in long term recovery, Dedee Pfeiffer. Dedee has dawned both big screen and small and after a 10-year absence from Hollywood, Dedee Pfeiffer is back starring on the outstanding ABC drama "Big Sky." Which is about to drop its season 3 premier this Wednesday September 21st on ABC and Hulu. A single mother of two young men, Pfeiffer has been hard at work during her recent time away from Hollywood earning a bachelor's degree in psychology at Pierce College, Valley College and California State University Northridge. It was at UCLA where she earned a Master of Social Work. Her area of concentration includes mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness. Dedee shares her journey to and through recovery to this point with tremendous humor, disarming humility, true candor and the keen insight that can only come from the one and only Dedee Pfeiffer who’s greatest message just might be the extremely freeing and empowering fee

In this edition of The Way Out I’m pleased to bring you my interview with author of the new book High: Confessions of a Cannabis Addict, editor of The Addiction Recovery E-Bulletin, and Producer of the 14 year old Reel Recovery Festival, Leonard Lee Buschel. With 28 years of continuous sobriety, Leonard shares his journey to and through recovery to this point with extraordinary insight combined with great storytelling, as you might expect from a newly minted author who’s been sober as long as Leonard has been. One of the greatest pearls of wisdom Leonard bestows upon us is the phenomenon of slowbriety, which has been invoked on this podcast more than a few times, yet bears highlighting, nonetheless. As the term infers, slowbriety is a term that describes our slow but sure emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental evolution in Recovery that results in an increasingly sound mind, body, and soul and the sounder we are in these three areas of being, the more fulfilling and rewarding our recovery and ultimately o

In this edition of The Way Out, the raddest recovery podcast co-host in all the land brings us his interview with person in long term recovery Stancil Tootle. Tootle as most folks call him, shares his journey to and through recovery to this point with us, which includes a whole lot of experience, strength and hope. Tootle was born blind and grew up in the country in rural Georgia. He just celebrated 32 years of continuous sobriety and has an amazing recovery story. Tootle shares openly and honestly about the barriers that he and others with disabilities have had to, and still face which are all too common, and his recovery is proof recovery is available to all folks regardless of physical ability. We can all get engaged with Tootle's warm hearted and joyful spirit so listen up. Contact info for Tootle: 229-254-6630 Supporting Disabled People in Recovery Resources: https://www.facebook.com/groups/938394900445342/ Best Piece of Recovery Advice: Keep Coming Back! Recovery Literature (Quit-Lit) Reccomendation: Lo

In this edition of The Way Out I am honored to bring you my interview with Person in long term recovery, Tedx Speaker, career and life coach, Creator of the Recovery Playbook and co-founder of StartUp Recovery Gregg Champion. Gregg shares with us his journey to and through recovery to this point in a way that inspires hope and conjures true relatability not so much through the specific events that highlight his coming of age or his highs or lows of active addiction and subsequent recovery – which I for one found quite relatable -  but very much through the exceedingly human emotions and feelings behind these experiences, which we all can very much relate to indeed. One of the overarching messages that comes through loud and clear in Gregg’s Recovery story are, number one – sobriety and physical abstinence are merely just the beginning. The true magic of recovery is when we begin to incorporate daily routines that build our personal recovery capital across as many of the key recovery capitol domains as po

In this rendition of the The Way Out I’m absolutely delighted to bring you a fascinating interview I had the pleasure of conducting with Moral Philosopher, Dr. of Philosophy and Author of the new book Higher and Friendly Powers: Transforming Addiction and Suffering, Peg O’Connor. Peg shares with us her extremely relatable journey to and through recovery with us with tremendous insight and self-awareness and how her self-described recovery journey experiment brought her to her important work on the varied nature and practical value of spirituality in recovery. At it’s very essence, spirituality has the profound ability to transform our suffering into a life of purpose and meaning, one that allows us to have right and rewarding relations with ourselves, our higher or friendly power or powers, and others. Peg and I have a wide ranging and amazing discussion on the history of the Higher Power concept in 12 Step recovery, the destructive myth of having to reach Rock Bottom in order to Recover – spoiler alert – you

In this rendition of The Way Out I’m beyond excited to bring you my interview with fellow Recovery podcaster and person in long term recovery, Matt J. Matt shares his journey to and through recovery to this point with a remarkable forthrightness and with the unmistakable tenor of someone that takes his program of recovery and his sobriety seriously and at the same time of a man that doesn’t take himself too seriously which in many respects is what we’re all after in recovery.  Matt and I had a fantastic time as he regaled his recovery story and we then launched into a lively discussion that traversed the proverbial sobriety waterfront, from 12-Step history to the value of multiple recovery pathways as well as the value of both in person and virtual recovery meetings and last but certainly not least the tremendous value of Recovery podcasts like The Way Out Podcast and the Sober Friends podcast so listen up. Check out the Sober Friends Podcast with Matt J: https://soberfriendspod.com/ Recovery literature

In this rendition of The Way Out I’m absolutely delighted to bring you my interview with Hollywood Actor and person in long term Recovery, Richie Stephens. Richie Stephens is an Irish actor and writer who lives in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for playing villains on TV and in films, including Blue Bloods, MacGyver, Criminal Minds, and Days of Our Lives, his appearances in multiple Florence and the Machine music videos, and his ability to do a broad range of accents. He has appeared in over one hundred stage and screen productions and is a member of Oscar-winner Bobby Moresco’s Actor’s Gym—an exclusive group of working actors and writers. He’s been a circuit speaker in recovery groups, and he actively works with the homeless at The Midnight Mission and The Center in Hollywood. Richie can now add Author to that impressive list of film, stage, and TV credits with his new book The Gangster’s guide to Sobriety: My Life in 12 Steps. Richie shares with us his journey to and through Recovery to this poin

In this edition of The Way Out we bring you my interview with author of the new book Fireflies - Finding Light on a Journey Through Addiction and person in long term recovery on the family side, Lea Lauks. Lea shares with us her journey to and through recovery and sheds important light on how addiction and alcoholism affects the lives of those who live with and love the person suffering from a substance use disorder. She shares that there’s help for those who find themselves in the throes of the chaos created by addiction, and Lea found that help in large part through the support and working the 12-Steps of Al-Anon. As you’ll soon hear for yourself Lea’s story, and thus her book, serves as a testament that recovery on the family side of addiction is possible and absolutely worth it so listen up. Contact Lea: fireflysobriety@gmail.com Learn more about Lea Lauk’s book: Fireflies: Finding Light on a Journey Through Addiction https://www.amazon.com/Fireflies-Finding-Journey-Through-Addiction/dp/B09RGQR3K3 Book -

In this edition of The Way Out, we bring you my interview with Author of the new Book “My Life with Karma”, Recovery Coach, and person in long term recovery Travis Sackett. Travis shares his journey to and through recovery to this point with true humility and genuine relatability. Travis’s story is ultimately one of survival of a tumultuous childhood and subsequent, rather wicked addiction to OxyContin which lead to nearly losing everything but his life, a life which Travis contemplated ending. Everything, including his job in law enforcement and indeed his freedom in having to spend time in jail as a former law enforcement officer. Everything, and Everything, except his rescue dog, aptly named Karma. Travis and Karma became constant companions in recovery, a recovery which led to successfully treating and addressing both his addiction and mental health, and that lead no longer merely surviving, but truly thriving in recovery and indeed life so listen up. Contact Travis: https://www.facebook.com/travis.sacket