Circle of Chairs with Caroline Beidler

Coping Conversations: What Prevention Has Been Missing, with Shayla Wilson

Some of the best recovery work happens before a kid ever picks anything up. 
In Eastern Tennessee, my friend Shayla Wilson is leading it.

Shayla is the executive director of ASAP, and she knows this world from the inside. She grew up with a dad in recovery, a mom still finding her way.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• The reason Shayla’s dad got sober
• The one question a teenager asked that started a brand new program
• A small, unexpected tool kids asked for 
• Why “just don’t start” doesn’t help the kid who already has
• What’s really behind Tennessee’s drop in overdoses (it’s not one thing)

If you’re worried about a kid or a loved one, stay to the end. Shayla shares one simple first step you can take today.

🆓 Free guide:  Recovery Strong Parenting (5 practical tips)
📖 Grab the book: When You Love Someone in Recovery 

ABOUT SHAYLA:
Shayla Wilson serves as the Executive Director of ASAP of Anderson, a drug prevention coalition in Anderson County, TN. She has a Bachelors of Science in Education with a major in Kinesiology, a Masters in Education, and an Educational Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership. Her focus is bridging gaps and building connections with community partners, youth, and adults. Through evidence based practices, strategic plans, and grant funding she and her team are making an impact to reduce substance misuse in Anderson County. She has served the volunteer state in many capacities starting in education, state level work, and in the nonprofit sector. Shayla uses her combined background and childhood experiences to provide a varied perspective. She seeks to help our most vulnerable populations by expanding programs and partnering to ensure wrap around services are provided on a continuum.

New book from Caroline Beidler: 

Pre-Order: When You Love Someone in Recovery 

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

This might be my favorite episode of the whole series.

For years, prevention has centered on one tiny two letter word. That word matters. But if it's the only thing we teach our kids, we're leaving out the part that actually protects them.

I'm sharing what was missing in my own childhood, and the shift that I think changes how we parent, caregive, and show up for the youth in our lives.

In this episode:

• Why I believe prevention conversations should not start with substance use
• The thing I knew how to say no to as a kid, and the thing nobody taught me
• The five yeses I want every family to know about
• A 15 second practice we use in our house when someone is off 
• Creating a coping menu
• The question to ask your kids this week instead of asking about their behavior

Set the guilt down before you press play. This isn't a list of rules. It's a door.

If this series has been helpful, send me a message. I read them all.

🆓 Free guide: Recovery Strong Parenting (5 practical tips)
📖 Grab the book: When You Love Someone in Recovery 

New book from Caroline Beidler: 

Pre-Order: When You Love Someone in Recovery 

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

Recovery Strong Parenting: Why Connection Beats Fear
Episode 2 in our series of How to Talk to Kids About Addition.

For decades, we've been told the way to protect our kids is to scare them. I don't think that has worked the way we hoped.

In this episode, I'm sharing what I've learned as a mom, a social worker, and someone in recovery about building the kind of trust that makes hard conversations possible before you need them.

In this episode:

• The one thing I got completely wrong the day my daughter told me something hard
• Why knowing better has never been the problem, for our kids or for us
• The myth about talking to kids about addiction that research flat out disproves
• A question I ask my kids all the time that opens more doors than any lecture
• The small morning routine we started that changed how our whole day goes

If this one encourages you, will you share it with someone who needs it?

🆓 Free guide: Recovery Strong Parenting (5 practical tips)
📖 Grab the book: When You Love Someone in Recovery 

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

Season 3 Premiere: How to Talk to Kids About Addiction

I'm back from a summer break, and I'm kicking off this new season with a topic close to my heart: how do we talk to our kids about addiction? And more than that, how do we reframe the whole conversation around substance use prevention?

Here's what I get into in this episode:

• The question most parents are asking about drugs and alcohol, and why I think it's the wrong one. 
• A story from my elementary school that was supposed to scare me straight. It didn't work, and I'll tell you why. 
• What if prevention isn't the best starting point for our kids? I share what I think is. 

🆓 Free guide: Recovery Strong Parenting (5 practical tips)
📖 Grab the book: When You Love Someone in Recovery 

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

Book Club Week 4: Revival, Resources, Purpose, and Community

Welcome to the final week of our walk through When You Love Someone in Recovery. If you've shown up every week, thank you. Showing up is a part of healing, and consistency matters. This week covers chapters 12 through the conclusion.

Four themes from this week's reading:

🔹 Recovery can be a spiritual rebuild. 
🔹 Change is a process, not a one-time event. 
🔹 Purpose changes the shape of recovery.  
🔹 We heal in circles. Affected family members need circles too, and not as an afterthought.

A little something from my heart: The book was originally going to be called Recovery Is for Everyone, and that's what I named the conclusion. Because recovery isn't just for the person who uses substances. The whole family deserves healing.

Your action step: Name one thing you're going to do next. Make it specific and doable. A conversation, a support group, a next step. Don't just take information in. Engage with it.

📖 Grab the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400253977/
📋 Want the Book Club Kit? Email [email protected] 
📦 Group orders: BulkBooks.com for close to 50% off 
💌 Join me on Substack: Circle of Chairs

The podcast is taking a break for the summer and coming back for Season 3 this fall. Thank you for being a part of this circle. I'm cheering you on.

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

Interview: Kate Parsons on Faith, Peer Support, and Showing Up for Recovery

I've been hearing Kate Parsons' name everywhere I go in the recovery community here in Tennessee, and I'm so glad we finally got to sit down and talk. Kate is a woman in long-term recovery and a Faith-Based Coordinator with Tennessee's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, and her story and her work are just incredible.

In this conversation, we talk about:

🔹 The difference between being sober and being in recovery. 
🔹 How Kate's faith journey started in an unexpected way, including borrowing someone else's higher power before she was ready to connect with God on her own. 
🔹 What Tennessee is doing in the recovery space that's unlike almost any other state.
🔹 Why peer support and social support are some of the biggest buffers against recurrence of use. 
🔹 The biggest barrier for churches wanting to help.

If this interview with Kate pulls on your heartstrings, contact your local anti-drug coalition. They need volunteers with heart and passion for this work.

📖 Grab the book: When You Love Someone in Recovery.
💌 Connect with me: [email protected]

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

Book Club Week 3: Mental Health, Boundaries, and the Opposite of Addiction

Welcome back to week three of our walk through of When You Love Someone in Recovery. This week covers chapters 8 through 11, and it's where we talk about what many families avoid until they're forced to face it.

Four themes from this week's reading:

🔹 Mental health is central to recovery. Anxiety, depression, trauma, and substance use can all become tangled. Sometimes substance use starts as a way to cope with mental health challenges in the first place. 
🔹 Boundaries are brave, not punishing. They're about clarity, protecting your peace, and fostering safety. Setting a boundary is not the same as withholding love. 
🔹 The opposite of addiction is connection. Loneliness isolates. Community heals. And this doesn't just apply to our loved ones. It applies to us as affected family members too. 
🔹 Healing takes time. A recurrence of use doesn't mean the story is over. We can learn skills, build support, and prepare as a family for what may come.

Your action steps: Identify one boundary you need and write it down. Reach out to one safe person and tell the truth about how you're doing. Choose one step toward mental health support, whether that's therapy, a group, journaling, or movement.

📖 Grab the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400253977/
📋 Free Family Recovery Planning Guide: whenyoulovesomeoneinrecovery.com  

Next week: Revival, resources, purpose, and community (Chapters 12 through 14).

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

Book Club Week 2: Supporting Our Loved One Without Losing Ourselves

Welcome back to week two of our walk through When You Love Someone in Recovery. This week covers chapters 4 through 7, and it's where things get practical. Because love can get confusing and tough when addiction is in the house.

Four themes from this week's reading:

🔹 Support is not the same as rescuing. We are not the reason someone keeps using. 
🔹 Labels can become cages. Leading with "the addict" puts the condition before the person. 
🔹 Your family's story can be reframed. When we shift the story, something shifts in recovery too. 
🔹 Recovery is bigger than sobriety. It's about building a whole life, not just stopping something.

Your action steps: Practice talking about your loved one in a new way. Advocate for person-first language. Add one wellness practice to your week, even something simple like a walk, more water, or better sleep.

📖 Grab the book:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400253977/  

Next week: Mental health, boundaries, and the opposite of addiction (Chapters 8 through 10).

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

Book Club Week 1: When the Light Comes Back

All month long, I'm walking through my new book, When You Love Someone in Recovery, with you. This week, we're starting where it all begins: when the light comes back.

I kept hearing the same phrase at recovery meetings: "When someone is in recovery, it's like the light in their eyes comes back." Maybe you've seen it. Maybe you're still waiting for it.

In this episode, I cover three big ideas from the Introduction and Chapters 1 through 3:

🔹 Recovery has a story, and so do you. The way we picture recovery shapes how we show up for the people we love. 

🔹 Understanding the brain softens shame. Chapter 2, "Neuroscience for Normies," breaks down why "just say no" was never a strategy and why neuroplasticity is such a hopeful word. 

🔹 Recovery is not a straight line. It's about more than stopping something. It's about the life someone returns to.

I also share a piece of my own story from my first time in treatment at 17 and what I didn't know then about the brain's ability to heal.

Your action step: Write down what you're hoping recovery could look like for you and your family. Then identify one support you need right now and go ask for it.

📖 Grab the book: HERE 

📦 Ordering for a group? BulkBooks.com for close to 50% off.

Next week: Supporting our loved one without losing ourselves (Chapters 4 through 7).

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com 

In this special bonus episode, I sit down with my husband Matt for an honest, heartfelt conversation about what it's like to love someone in recovery - from his perspective. 

We share the story of how we met, how he first learned about my recovery journey, and how we've navigated life's biggest changes together as a couple and as parents. 

To celebrate the launch of my new book, When You Love Someone in Recovery, I wanted you to hear from the person who lives this every single day alongside me.

New book from Caroline Beidler: 

Pre-Order: When You Love Someone in Recovery 

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here. 

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com