By All Means Necessary

I'm fortunate enough to be a patient of Noel who specifically treats me for addiction therapy. Noel also has an amazing 23 years clean! He shares about being in early recovery and helping other recovering addicts which led him to getting his masters in mental health counseling. Noel breaks down trauma with the "inner child" and what it looks like if it's not addressed with mental health treatment throughout the years. He also touches on the solutions being simple but not easy to master and having to be gentle and firm with self consistently. Big thank you to Noel for always being patient with me and guiding me in this journey of my recovery.

My first sponsor Len who has an amazing 16 years clean used drugs for 34 years. Len shares about an early horrific trauma being struck by a car at the very young age of 3 years old and how he developed a speech impediment. He was teased and bullied by his peers and that took a huge emotional toll on him. Len was an active athlete in grade school and high school never touching alcohol or drugs. He shares about a football injury that lead him to being prescribed Vicodin at 18. That's when his addiction started and lead him to try any new designer drug that came out for the next 34 years. Len shares about his "God" moment in treatment and has stayed clean one day at a time. #bamn

Devyn joins the podcast with 4 months clean. They openly share about the affects of their parents being divorced had on them. As a juvenile, they were sexually abused and couldn't confide to their mother. Feeling lonely and not validated their first addiction surfaced, cutting. Devyn describes the feeling of euphoria after the cutting episodes. Devyn talks about abusing alcohol and weed all through high school with the feeling of blissful while intoxicated. As time passed Devyn was in and out of mental hospitals for suicidal ideation and was given psych medication and diagnosed with bipolar and addicted to cocaine. They fortunately got into rehab and joined the fellowship of narcotics anonymous and has a sponsor and works a diligent program to stay clean one day at a time. #bamn

My good friend Jason with 27 months clean shares his heroic story!! He gets real and opens up being sexually molested by his uncle, taking numerous beatings from his father and being given up for adoption by his mother.

Renee has an unbelievable story! She opens up about the horrific trauma as a very young girl dealing with an alcoholic father who constantly beat her. Furthermore being molested by her uncle, she had to hide it from her parents. Renee eventually became hooked on smoking crack and after multiple relapses she got clean and has 32 years in recovery after all the trauma she was dealt with.

My good friend Tyler who has over 11 years sober, shares his story. Tyler talks about his trauma from his best friend getting struck and killed by a train. Tyler has worked in the recovery field for most of his recovery, and speaks about the importance of helping struggling addicts and how that shapes his recovery.

My good friend Octavio shares his amazing story growing up in Nicaragua with his tight knit family. He talks about his first time using cocaine and what that did to his psyche. After multiple relapses he delves into his mental process and what it took to remain sober and how he works his program in recovery.

Brother Manny is in the studio, 10 1/2 years clean after growing up battling in the streets. He bounced around in adolescent homes, which eventually led him to start smoking weed. Then graduated to smoking crack. After serving 11 years in jail, he got out and started a good life for himself, but picked up crack once more and lost everything. This was his final relapse, where he decided to get clean and work a strict program in NA.

Harry shares about being born and raised in Miami Struggling with his relationship with his mother beating him when he was young and was devastated when his father passed away. He talks about the first time using cocaine in juvenile detention center and what it made him feel like.

Jeff opens up about being abandon by his mother as a youth and what that was like for him at such a young age. He later enlists in the Army where he was deployed to the Gulf War. There, Jeff had to id bodies and took its toll on him mentally that led to him now suffering from ptsd. He shares about surviving 2 overdoses in a four hour period.