Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma

In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Ross shares an extraordinary journey from personal tragedy to public advocacy following the suicide of his father - a traumatic event that deeply shaped his mental health and identity.

Struggling to cope with overwhelming grief, Ross turned to alcohol and cocaine to numb the pain, leading to multiple suicide attempts and a period of profound crisis. A pivotal moment of clarity during hospitalisation marked the beginning of his recovery journey, rooted in sobriety, honesty and the lifesaving impact of peer support.

Through his involvement with Andy’s Man Club, Ross rediscovered purpose by helping create spaces where men can speak openly, confront trauma, and support each other without judgement. His story highlights the social conditioning of masculinity, the emotional cost of silence, and the healing power of community-led recovery.

This conversation also examines the moment Ross met the paramedic who saved his life - a full-circle encounter that reinforced the value of second chances and the profound ripple effect of choosing to stay.

Trigger Warning: This episode discusses suicide, addiction and mental health crises.

In this episode:

• Suicide bereavement and its long-term emotional impact
• Alcohol and cocaine misuse as coping mechanisms for grief
• Multiple suicide attempts and the moment everything changed
• Hospitalisation, sobriety and reclaiming purpose
• The role of Andy’s Man Club in community-led men’s mental health support
• Masculinity, emotional resilience and breaking the silence
• Meeting the paramedic who saved his life
• Why peer support can transform recovery

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, addiction or overwhelming emotions, please contact Samaritans at 116 123 or visit Andy’s Man Club to find a local group.

Search terms: suicide bereavement recovery, men’s mental health podcast UK, addiction recovery stories, lived experience, peer support groups, trauma and recovery, cocaine addiction

#believeinpeople #believeinpeoplepodcast #believeinpeopleextra

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew 

In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Matt speaks with Woody Albrow, the National Connecting Communities Lead at Change Grow Live, who shares an open and deeply personal account of his journey through addiction, spirituality and professional development.

Woody reflects on the early signs of substance use during his teens, including butane gas, cannabis, hallucinogens and eventually alcohol, which became his most destructive dependency. He speaks honestly about the emotional undercurrents that fuelled his use - shame, isolation, denial and the weight of unprocessed trauma.

He describes the profound personal impact of addiction: fractured family relationships, disconnection from his children, and the collapse of his physical and emotional wellbeing. A powerful turning point involving arrest and hospitalisation pushed Woody into detox, where the foundations of his recovery journey began to take shape.

A key theme throughout this conversation is the role of spirituality, nature, and meaningful human connection. Woody explains how spiritual philosophy helped him replace dependency with purpose, grounding and clarity, and how being part of a recovery community offered both accountability and belonging.

Now in a national leadership role, Woody reflects on stigma, disclosure and the complexities of bringing lived experience into professional spaces. He explores the cultural shifts needed within organisations to recognise lived experience not as a risk, but as a transformative asset.

In this episode:

• Early substance use and the emotional roots of addiction
• Butane gas, cannabis, hallucinogens and alcohol dependency
• Arrest, hospitalisation and the moment rock bottom became a turning point
• Shame, isolation and denial in active addiction
• Spirituality, nature and the foundations of long-term recovery
• Community, peer support and rebuilding family connections
• Leading with lived experience at Change Grow Live
• Stigma, disclosure and cultural change in professional settings

Search terms: addiction recovery podcast UK, lived experience leadership, spiritual recovery, trauma and recovery, substance misuse, peer support, Change Grow Live, long-term sobriety.

#believeinpeople #believeinpeoplepodcast #believeinpeopleextra

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew 

In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Matt speaks with Chris De Banks, founder of Not Saints - the UK’s only not-for-profit record label dedicated to supporting musicians in recovery. Through Chris’s lived experience, we explore the powerful intersection of music, addiction and sobriety, and the realities of navigating creative life without substances.

Chris reflects on his early experiences in the drug-fuelled 90s music scene, how substance use became normalised, and the point where creativity and chaos began to collide. He shares his journey through addiction and recovery, the turning points that helped him rebuild, and how Not Saints emerged as a platform to amplify sober artists, challenge stigma, and provide genuine community in an industry often dominated by alcohol and drug culture.

Together, Matt and Chris dismantle the myths that link creativity with substance use, discuss the glamorisation of addiction in pop culture, and highlight how storytelling, sober events and authentic expression can reshape what artistic identity looks like in recovery.

This is an inspiring conversation about purpose, second chances, and building spaces where creativity thrives without cost to wellbeing.

In this episode:

• The drug-fuelled 90s music scene and early addiction
• How recovery reshaped Chris’s relationship with creativity
• Founding Not Saints and building a sober creative community
• The myth of “needing substances to create”
• Stigma, pop culture and the glamorisation of addiction
• Sober events, storytelling and empowering artists in recovery
• Why purpose, routine and connection sustain long-term sobriety

Search terms: addiction recovery podcast UK, musicians in recovery, sober music community, lived experience stories, trauma and recovery, substance misuse, creativity and sobriety.

#believeinpeople #believeinpeoplepodcast #believeinpeopleextra

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew 

In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Matt sits down with Daniel Ramson, known online as TalkToBigDan, for a raw, provocative and unapologetically direct conversation about recovery, responsibility and the limits of traditional services.

Dan charts his journey from partying with rock stars to being sectioned, surviving drug-induced psychosis, and navigating the family fallout that followed. Rejecting the disease model of addiction, he advocates instead for radical accountability, discipline, structure and ownership - an approach that has made him one of Europe’s most in-demand and controversial recovery coaches.

This conversation does not shy away from division. Dan pulls no punches, challenging assumptions about treatment, personal responsibility and what it actually takes to change your life. While his views are not universal, they are rooted firmly in lived experience and delivered with a level of honesty that forces reflection.

Whether you agree or disagree, this episode sparks vital debate around the future of recovery, the limits of conventional approaches, and the role of personal agency in rebuilding a meaningful life after addiction.

In this episode:

• The rise of TalkToBigDan and his tough-love philosophy
• Drug-induced psychosis, crisis points and being sectioned
• Family fallout, shame and rebuilding identity
• Why Dan rejects the disease model of addiction
• Radical accountability, discipline and structure as recovery tools
• The tension between lived experience and traditional services
• Debates that challenge and reshape how recovery is understood

Search terms: addiction recovery podcast UK, tough-love recovery, recovery coaching, drug-induced psychosis, lived experience stories, trauma and recovery, discipline and addiction.

#believeinpeople #believeinpeoplepodcast #believeinpeopleextra

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew 

In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, John shares a powerful story of quiet transformation - a shift from binge drinking, late nights and emotional exhaustion to clarity, creativity and meaningful connection.

After a 5am moment of reckoning, John made a life-changing decision: to stop drinking. Not because he identified as an alcoholic, but because alcohol no longer aligned with the life he wanted to build. In the space that sobriety created, he discovered a new passion for photography and founded Hull and Yorkshire Daily, a widely followed platform capturing the beauty, grit and character of the region.

With honesty and insight, John reflects on how removing alcohol unlocked personal growth, emotional stability and even physical transformation. His story explores the pressures of drinking culture, the search for authenticity, and what it means to rebuild a life based on values rather than habits.

This conversation is a compelling reminder that sobriety is not only a response to harm - it can be a deliberate, empowering choice that makes room for creativity, purpose and self-belief.

In this episode:

• A 5am moment of clarity and choosing sobriety
• Leaving binge drinking culture behind
• How photography became a new identity and outlet
• Creating Hull and Yorkshire Daily
• Personal, emotional and physical transformation
• Redefining authenticity without alcohol
• Living a values-led life and finding connection through creativity

Search terms: sobriety podcast UK, binge drinking recovery, alcohol recovery stories, lived experience, creative recovery, trauma and recovery, Hull photography.

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew 

In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Paul Haley shares his extraordinary journey from the depths of heroin and crack cocaine addiction to a position of national leadership within Change Grow Live. After a near-fatal injecting injury became his rock bottom, Paul made the courageous decision to rebuild his life - a decision that would ultimately shape his future and the lives of thousands of others.

Nearly two decades into recovery, Paul now serves as Change Grow Live’s National Service User Involvement Lead, using his lived experience to challenge stigma, influence policy, and embed the voices of people in treatment across the UK. His story is not just about abstinence - it is about reclaiming identity, finding meaning, and proving that lived experience is an asset capable of transforming entire systems.

This conversation explores resilience, purpose, and the power of turning personal pain into professional impact. Paul’s journey shows that recovery can lead not only to healing, but to leadership, innovation and lasting change.

In this episode:

• Heroin and crack cocaine addiction, collapse and near-fatal injecting injury
• The moment Paul decided to rebuild his life
• Two decades of recovery and personal transformation
• Why lived experience is essential in modern treatment systems
• Paul’s role as Change Grow Live’s National Service User Involvement Lead
• Challenging stigma and influencing national practice
• How recovery can lead to leadership, purpose and systemic change

Search terms: heroin recovery UK, crack cocaine recovery, lived experience leadership, addiction recovery stories, trauma and recovery, Change Grow Live, service user involvement.

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew 

In this powerful transatlantic collaboration of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, host Amy Goldberg welcomes UK host Matt Butler into the guest seat, joined by special guest host Caitlin Morrison — sister of the late Matthew Perry and a driving force behind the Matthew Perry Foundation.

Together, they explore the intersections of recovery, resilience and legacy through an intimate conversation about how storytelling dismantles stigma, how lived experience shapes advocacy, and why honesty continues to be one of the most transformative tools in the recovery movement.

Matt reflects on his own journey — from working behind the scenes in addiction services to becoming the host of a nationally recognised podcast — and how the stories he’s heard have reshaped his understanding of compassion, trauma and hope. Caitlin offers moving insight into her brother Matthew’s mission to help people recover, and how his legacy continues through advocacy, education and lived-experience leadership.

This episode is a testament to the universal nature of recovery and to the power of collaboration across borders, communities and personal histories.

In this episode:

• A cross-Atlantic conversation on recovery and stigma
• The legacy of Matthew Perry and the mission of the Matthew Perry Foundation
• Matt Butler’s journey from frontline work to podcast host
• How storytelling challenges shame and transforms public understanding
• Why lived experience is vital in reducing stigma
• The emotional realities of advocacy, grief and purpose
• Reframing recovery as service, connection and compassion

Search terms: Matthew Perry Foundation, addiction recovery podcast UK, lived experience stories, stigma and recovery, storytelling and mental health, Amy Goldberg podcast, Caitlin Morrison interview.

Learn more about the hosts and their work:

• Believe in People America by Amy Goldberg: Push Back Productions | Instagram
• Caitlin Morrison and the Matthew Perry Foundation: Foundation Website | LinkedIn
• Believe in People: Spotify | YouTube

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew 

In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Matt sits down with ultramarathon runner Tom Fitzsimons, whose extraordinary journey from alcohol addiction to running 3,073 miles across the United States in 100 days stands as one of the most powerful testaments to human resilience and purpose.

Through raw, candid storytelling, Tom shares how running became his lifeline - a way to reclaim identity, process trauma, and rebuild a life grounded in meaning rather than self-destruction. From training in front of a fireplace to surreal encounters on America’s loneliest highways, he reflects on the emotional toll of addiction, the healing power of movement, and the strangers who shaped his path along the way.

This conversation challenges stigma, celebrates recovery, and reminds us that profound purpose can be found in even the most painful places. Tom’s story shows how discipline, community, and endurance can transform not only a body, but a life.

In this episode:

• Tom’s journey from alcohol addiction to ultramarathon runner
• Running 3,073 miles across America in 100 days
• Trauma, identity loss and the emotional cost of addiction
• Why running became a source of healing and structure
• Strangers, community and the unexpected support found along the road
• Challenging stigma through lived experience and storytelling
• Purpose, resilience and rebuilding a life through movement

Search terms: alcohol recovery UK, ultramarathon recovery stories, running and mental health, lived experience stories, trauma and recovery, endurance and sobriety, substance misuse.

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew 

In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, we continue the second part of a powerful two-part conversation with Sarah Hicks, who shares her courageous journey through trauma, justice and long-term recovery.

Speaking with clarity and unflinching honesty, Sarah reflects on her experience of surviving sexual assault and the profound psychological impact that followed. She details the systemic barriers she encountered while seeking justice - from investigative inconsistencies to structural gaps that can retraumatise survivors rather than support them.

As Sarah traces her path through advocacy, she highlights how transforming pain into purpose became a catalyst for change. Working with the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Independent Advisory Group, as well as serving as a lived experience coordinator, she now champions survivor-led reform, pushing institutions to become more accountable, trauma-informed and compassionate.

This episode is a sobering, essential exploration of resilience, systemic improvement and the vital role of lived experience at the heart of meaningful reform.

In this episode:

• The long-term impact of surviving sexual assault
• Systemic failures and barriers within justice and investigative processes
• Trauma, recovery and rebuilding trust in institutions
• Sarah’s role in the Violence Against Women and Girls Independent Advisory Group
• Lived experience coordination and survivor-led reform
• The emotional cost of speaking out — and the power it creates
• Why advocacy, accountability and trauma-informed practice matter

Search terms: sexual trauma recovery, survivor-led advocacy, VAWG lived experience, mental health and trauma, justice system failures, addiction recovery podcast UK, stigma and recovery.

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew 

In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Matt begins the first part of a deeply personal two-part conversation with Sarah Hicks, whose story spans addiction, trauma, abusive relationships, grief and the long journey back to self-worth.

Sarah reflects on her early experiences with substance use, unpacking how emotional neglect, generational patterns and unhealthy family dynamics shaped her understanding of love, loyalty and survival. She speaks candidly about the damaging impact of coercive control, the emotional fallout of loss and abandonment, and how codependency and stigma kept her trapped in cycles that felt impossible to break.

With striking honesty and insight, Sarah explores the complexities of motherhood while carrying trauma, and how the desire to protect her children became a catalyst for change. Her recovery journey is one of painful self-reflection, gradual healing and the courage to rebuild a life on her own terms.

This episode shines a light on the nuanced intersections of addiction, mental health, family systems, trauma and isolation, offering a compassionate and realistic portrayal of what long-term transformation truly requires.

In this episode:

• Early substance use and emotional coping
• Coercive control, abusive relationships and breaking the cycle
• Generational trauma and the shaping of self-worth
• Grief, abandonment and the emotional weight of loss
• Motherhood while navigating addiction and trauma
• Codependency, shame and internalised stigma
• The beginnings of Sarah’s healing and personal transformation

Search terms: addiction and trauma recovery, coercive control lived experience, grief and addiction, mental health podcast UK, family systems and recovery, lived experience stories.

Click here to text our host, Matt, directly!

🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma. 

🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it!

Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com 

Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change.

If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live:

📩 Contact: [email protected]
🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six)

Listen & Subscribe:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts

🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson
🏢 Network: ReNew