Hannah Marks is someone who Tom has known for seven years, and they have both been sober ever since. Hannah and Tom talk about Hannah's journey to addiction and sobriety. Her story is a little different, because she started drinking when she was 11 and got sober at 17 years old. Hannah shares how her gateway drug was trauma, and how she started drinking after the death of her father.

Hannah is also the founder of an advocacy website called Wherehab. This site helps people explore treatment options without a sales pitch. It doesn't operate on leads. The focus is just to help educate people about treatment options and what would work best for their unique situation. She also has an app launching soon. We talk about trauma, sobriety, treatment, Hannah's great life, and world travel.

Show Notes:

• [03:02] Trauma was Hannah's gateway drug. Her dad died when she was 11, and she started drinking a lot.
• [03:56] After getting sober, Hannah still had a lot of mental obstacles to overcome. She had to really dig deep and do a lot of therapy.
• [04:27] She wasn't talk the coping skills to deal with what she was dealing with, and she didn't have a strong sense of self.
• [05:04] After getting sober, she realized that she had more things to deal with. She learned that trauma could be from not trusting herself and having an identity.
• [06:18] Trauma is different for everyone.
• [08:46] After her dad's death, it took Hannah five or six years to get her feelings back. She didn't know how to feel feelings like sadness, so she would do whatever it would take to distract herself like eat.
• [10:11] If she wasn't getting high, she felt like she would die. Drugs and alcohol are a symptom to deal with thoughts and feelings.
• [11:41] Hannah was 17 when she got sober. She started going to meetings and was involved with positive people.
• [13:58] After high school, Hannah's sister invited her to stay in Gainesville. She ended up at an AA meeting by chance after giving someone a ride.
• [16:50] A sense of community is so important.
• [18:32] Getting sober is kind of like facing the fear of death. You either have to have the community or hit rock bottom.
• [20:29] Wherehab is resource where you can learn about quality treatment providers without being sold leads. They have a blog, and you can learn about different treatment modalities.
• [22:05] Hannah has toured over 500 rehab centers.
• [23:03] There isn't a one type fit all treatment. Different plans will work for different people depending on where they are at. The way you learn recovery will be unique to you.
• [25:35] Hannah makes her own work schedule and goes on awesome trips around the world. She has the perfect sober life. She is also more selective about who she lets in her life. She is also going to Asia for a month.
• [26:59] She has been to Mexico, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Canada, England, Italy, France, Japan, India, Burma, Thailand, Germany, Austria, Hungary, or 13% of the world.
• [27:33] She also just did a soft version of a meeting finder app. It has many functions like finding a community, mentors, and setting goals. It's called SYN or Sober Young Network.

Links and Resources:

• Real Recovery Talk on YouTube
• Wherehab
• Wherehab on Twitter
• Wherehab on Facebook
• Hanna on LinkedIn
• Wherehab on Instagram