Clean or Sober

My guest today spent years working as a professional in a field where the stigma of addiction or sobriety is looked down upon.  She was able to maintain some time with sheer abstinence but found out over time it takes a little work on her part doing the simple things most people suggest. 

After 5 years of what seemed to be a great length and strong sobriety, she found herself divorced and needing to start over a life she knew best.  This sparked the creation of the platform of supporting others in recovery which have time, short and long, or those who are just curious. 

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Our Story

Hi! I'm Sonia, and welcome to EverBlume. I am an orthodontist and entrepreneur. I built a successful 7 location practice and sold it to pursue my passion and become a recovery coach to help others examine their relationship with alcohol so that they can live their best lives. 

​We are so happy you are here. This is the first step to identifying and strengthening your goals related to your relationship with alcohol. We believe that community and connection are the foundation of recovery. And that building those connections is an active process.

​Think of EverBlume as your recovery piggy bank, where the currency is support. When things are good, and you have extra to give, you make deposits. When you struggling and in need, you make withdrawals. You are investing in your connections. Sharing your struggles and triumphs builds connections.

​EverBlume is a safe space for you to share, learn and grow in your recovery journey. We are not a traditional recovery program. We are a community. And you are an essential part of that community. You are not 1 of 200 people on a zoom call or even 1 of 20. You are matched with a group where your participation is integral to its success. The only expectation is that you show up with an open mind and heart, ready to give and receive support.

​If you have ANY questions, please email us at: [email protected]. We will respond ASAP.  

My guest today is a sobriety coach after suffering multiple relapses, car accidents which almost killed her, and the standard shit that comes with finding ways and means to use more.  Her about me is below.

Addiction Coach | Living Over The Influence

My name is Hayley and I am from a small town in Ontario, Canada. For years I have known that I want to work with people to help them find freedom from habits that have become destructive in their lives.

I truly believe our mindset allows us to open doors and shift the trajectory of our future. In July 2020 I was introduced to "This Naked Mind" and Annie Grace. It felt as though my passion and purpose aligned and I applied to be a certified This Naked Mind Coach. While my training focuses on helping people find freedom from alcohol, it can be applied to so many areas of our lives.

Living Over the Influence is about finding comfort and confidence in your own skin and breaking through your limiting beliefs and self doubt. The influence can be alcohol, drugs, social media, society, unhealthy relationships and the list goes on.

You don't have to hit a rock bottom to realize alcohol is negatively impacting your life, but if you have, I promise you it was a lesson and not a life sentence.

Today I have an amazing guest, with a breadth of knowledge coupled with 20+ years of continuous clean and sober time!!  

He really shares a passion I am sure many of us wish we could end.  That is the stigma of being an addict or alcoholic.  The stigma of how others may perceive me once they know the truth.  

He does so much in regard to service work.  Just a few projects he is consistently working on:

• Men's group twice a month
• Wife attends Al-Anon for the past 14 years
• Worked an ACA program which is Adult Children of Alcholics
• Podcast - The High Cost of Anonymity
• Community Outreach, mental health and addiction hospital career

Aside from all of this focus now is heavily on building his own business in providing workshops, being a keynote speaker, and just finding ways to normalize mental health and addiction.

He is also very active still today in 12 step programs, soon hopes to connect with a sponsor, and is actively seeking sponsees.  

Just an all-around true desire to end the stigma, focus on service, and more importantly focus on finding a way to intervene through helping families identify problems before "WE" the alcoholic or addict struggle to get clean/sober or die.

The High Cost of Anonymity Podcast: Exploring the Cost of Keeping Your Life Experience to Yourself on Apple Podcasts

My guest today is a business owner of an amazing shop called Rehab Studios (rehabstudiosny.com)  There are so many cool sobriety and recovery related items from clothing to jewelry.  

Today we are talking about a few things:

• Using art/creativity as an outlet
• Having fun partying sober in recovery
• Funny war story
• Successful business
• The importance of having a tribe/community

We dive into many things such as how pivotal her parents were in providing her the desperation to do something different with an "unscheduled" (as they are for most of us) intervention.

She now focuses most of her time on being creative, running her business, and finding ways to stay connected through going to meetings and being of service.  They didn't say we needed to stop having fun when we got sober, so she also occasionally dances on tables and still manages to get kicked out of clubs.

As always if you or someone you know would like to be a guest, send me a message at [email protected]

Additional website info:

Mens & Women's RTW & Jewelry — Rehab Studios (rehabstudiosny.com)
Who We Are

Rehab Studios is a brand born from REAL people and their REAL journeys of recovery from addiction and mental illness. Our aim is to create a collection that celebrates and inspires recovery in others.

Our brand is about shedding the anonymity and speaking out against the stigma. Recovery is something to celebrated, not kept secret. We’re here to commemorate everyone who has ever struggled and won against these diseases and to inspire and support those still sick, still suffering and STILL fighting. Whatever your journey may be, wherever you are in it, we hope you’ll share it with us. 

Join The Tribe

Anyone who has experienced the depths of addiction and mental illness knows the importance of surrounding yourself with a tribe of people who lift you up, help you through your very worst moments and celebrate your victories. Rehab Barbie is about more than just our products, it's building a community full of love, support, and dark humor, for all of us who are suffering, have suffered, or know someone who is.

Please visit them today:
https://blog.feedspot.com/sobriety_podcasts/

Matt G is from Canada and shares multiple approaches to recovery and self help outside the rooms of AA or NA.

As always if you are interested or know someone who is interested in recovery, and would like to be a guest on the podcast, please reach out to me via [email protected]

Book Matt here:
https://calendly.com/mattgardiner555/60-minute-coaching-call-w-matt-gardiner

View his past podcast appearances:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tH1ZyiHxne8CSOuLEVrUL6VEaAknCCgL-ntjU-c5Fho/edit?usp=sharing

Email: [email protected]
Website : www.recoveryroadmap.me
IG & TikTok : @recoveryroadmap.me
Facebook & YouTube : @mattgardinerLIVE

Matt’s bio

“MATT GARDINER @recoveryroadmap.me
RECOVERY COACH || NARRATIVE COACH || SOUND THERAPIST || BREATHWORK GUIDE

“I Help Those in Sobriety Create a Healthy & Active Lifestyle without The Need for Alcohol. ”

Matt Gardiner is a passionate and empathetic Recovery Coach & Life Coach who has helped numerous people get out of their 'stuck stories' and move towards the life of their dreams.

He focuses on changing the language & words, and the stories you've been attaching to the events in your life.

Better words + better breathing = better life.

Matt's vision of Recovery includes an active and healthy lifestyle, that also includes planning for some very deliberate, relaxing downtime for self-care and healing.

Matt is also a gifted musician and Sound Therapist, which compliments his work as a Coach.

'Beyond Recovery' is a podcast hosted by Matt, where guests come on to share their journeys to, and through, recovery.


www.recoveryroadmap.me
@recoveryroadmap.me (IG & TikTok)
@mattgardinerLIVE (Facebook & YouTube)
lhttps://linktr.ee/mattgardiner555

My guest today has over 12 years of amazing recovery.  This time is filled with 4 different sponsors, from different countries, background and experiences.  During this time, he moved from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic.  

From there finally ending up in the United States.  Recovery in the Dominican Republic was difficult because he was Puerto Rican, a gay man, and had little experience with the culture there.  His bottom is an excellent example of a power greater than ourselves working in our lives.  This bottom includes an escape from death!

He provided a great example of having a bottom which brought him to the rooms, and he also had a bottom which brought him to seeking recovery.  

Lastly, he is very passionate on the topic of Equity.  I have provided a link to a simple graph which explains very high level what this means.

As always thank you for listening, and if you ever want to hear a topic, be on the podcast or know someone who would be interested, please reach out to [email protected]

My guest today just recently graduated an amazing six-month program which tests your patience, sobriety, and dedication to working a program.  He has moved into their sober living and is starting to gain back his life.

He talks a lot about how rough it was living in a household where domestic violence was a normal occurrence, and it was expected to "look the other way OR keep it a secret"  His mother unfortunately passed away recently due to drug use, so he does his best to carry on being the best version of himself.

He talks about having more than 10 felonies, creating counterfeit money, and the crazy lifestyle associated with the methamphetamine community.

As always if you are interested in being a guest or know someone who would be, please send me a message to [email protected]

TRANSCRIPT
Well, ultimately the I, well, one time I was driving to where I counter for the money. I think I got set up. I, the guy that I was doing it with I got pulled over and there was uncut money printed on paper, cut money. Oh, just did the print sheets of it. And it wasn't cut up yet. Cause it was pretty hard to tell if it was cut up.

Like I doubt I would've gotten cut, but they found the sheets and I was, I'm a dumb ass. I literally like was driving on an expired license plate. That's why I got pulled over. When I have literally like 10 felonies in the car I had, I had like a quarter of ice and I dumped it in my Yeti cup full of water.

So they couldn't prove that. And then I'm like sitting in the cop car with water and drink the whole thing to come on. And then I was in jail, like freaking out, dude. All right. So I appreciate you coming on. Like I said, you know, lots of great things for us to talk about. We got, you know, we're going to talk first kind of about the corporate culture and what it looks like in corporate America, the stigmatism behind that, and kind of what that behavior's like yet stigmatized on our end talk about, you know, kind of what ended you up in prison and what you did in prison growing up, gay, a lot of domestic violence in your story.

Talk a little bit about that and then maybe some, a little bit about your childhood and anything else. So, yeah. So you did want to talk a lot about, you know, kind of what happened to your very lucrative career. So why don't you just kind of tell me about, tell me about that. Yeah. So luckily I'm actually back in my same job and that's something that's, the solution has offered me and working my nine step I was able to get back.

So, wow. That's a short period of time. What's your, what's your clean date? July 13th, 2020. I was actually on a conference. And my boyfriend was driving and I was leading the conference call and the cops pulled us over and they got where they were looking to get out of the car and hung up the phone. And my boss didn't hear from me for a year and four months.

And then when I was in treatment, I was working in the nine and reached out to him and was ending, ended up. He wanted to hire me back. So yeah, my boss is the CEO of the company. So it there's no background checks or anything like that. Cause he hired me on a referral basis. So I was able to get him back, but still that's a, that's a, that's amazing.

And just like, you know, for anybody that's listening, just like a realization of how quickly things could change. Like we talk a lot about the things that come back, you know, first being just, you know, freedom. But also in, in these things aren't guaranteed, like what you're talking about is not a guarantee once I stopped using and doing dumb shit, but in less than two years, Yeah, you've got your fucking dream job back.

Yeah. This time, last year I was sitting in jail and didn't know I was facing six to 10 years, so I didn't know what was going to happen. I would never have guessed that I was just able to go to my niece and

My guest today is strong, both literally and figuratively, and is a proud business owner.  She went from living in an absolute horrible condition filled with drug dealers, prostitutes, bed bugs, and everything else associated with the lifestyle.

She would continue through her early years in and out of jail, eventually spending a full year in jail.  She did get out after 7 months but quickly returned after not being able to pass a simple drug screen.

Fast forward to today where she focuses heavily on her spirituality, program, helping other women achieve success through better nutrition and working out.  She is a fitness guru, owns her own business which is tailored to suit specifically women!

As always if you would like to be a guest or know someone, please send me an email [email protected]

A good friend of mine discusses the struggles when it comes to sponsoring other women.  In the beginning of the podcast, she talks about what it is like to have several years clean and begin to think about stopping going to meetings.

Throughout the years, I have felt that way many times.  We discuss the tools used to combat this.  She moves on into what it was like growing up with not one, but two parents who were both in the program.  They held hard lines and eventually she became homeless.

Landing to a story of where she received her nickname "Bambi" because she looked like a deer stuck in the headlights while she was smoking crack.

Stay tuned!  If you ever would like me to discuss a topic or would like to be a guest, please email me at [email protected]

My guest today talks about what it was like growing up in a pretty normal household.  Eventually her parents divorced which resulted in life as she knew it changing pretty quickly.

She eventually ended up progressing in her disease where she forged checks eventually ending up in jail with her first felony as a result of her mother pressing charges.  At the time it may have seemed harsh, but was exactly what she needed.

In and out of jail did nothing in terms of stopping the addiction.  She is now heavily involved in service work, attends meetings regularly, and is a shining example of what recovery and sobriety look like.