Free Like-Me

From meth, heroin, armed crimes, and homelessness to gold medals and business owner. Donald Rosenow’s story is one of the most complete redemption arcs ever featured on Free Like Me. | Free Like Me Podcast with Clark Fredericks

Donald Rosenow grew up in Alaska in a home defined by absent parents, chaos, molestation, and constant moving. By his teens he was running away and drinking to blackout. By adulthood he had graduated to pills, heroin, and meth — cycling through repeated arrests, armed incidents, and dangerous situations he barely survived. A major bust found him slumped in a stolen Chrysler LeBaron surrounded by weapons and multiple drugs. Later he hit his deepest rock bottom — homeless in Albuquerque, blacking out repeatedly, with nowhere left to go.

That’s when he committed to the Delancey Street Foundation’s two-year residential program. Fully. For the first time in his life.

Coming out during COVID, Donald co-founded Integrity Moving — now operating across Santa Fe and Denver, hiring Delancey graduates along the way. He found jiu-jitsu, trained seriously, and competed at the IBJJF NoGi Pans. He rebuilt his relationship with his daughter. He married. He has been clean and sober for 10 years.

Marine K9 handler Alfred Bretner discusses surviving an IED blast, the loss of his dog, and his path to healing.

Alfred Bretner was deployed to Afghanistan during Operation Dragon Strike, where he worked alongside his dog, Grief. After surviving two IED blast incidents that changed his life forever, Alfred returned home facing severe physical injuries and the invisible weight of trauma. In this conversation, he opens up about the reality of veteran recovery, detailing how he navigated the dark periods of pain medication dependency and near-suicidal thoughts to reclaim his life.

His story is a testament to the power of routine, faith, and therapy. Alfred explains the difficult process of achieving sobriety journey success, rebuilding his marriage, and finding a new purpose after the military. We also discuss the lessons found in his book, Surviving Grief, which offers a raw look at processing loss and moving forward after the unthinkable.

Sexual abuse. Family betrayal. Meth, heroin, and fentanyl. Borderline personality disorder. Jail. Stevie survived all of it — and has been clean since August 2025. | Free Like Me Podcast with Clark Fredericks

Stevie grew up in small-town Maryland in a home full of heavy drinking and conflict. She was first abused around age 6 by an uncle by marriage. Then groomed and assaulted by her great-uncle. At 11 years old — terrified for her little sister's safety — she reported him. He served 18 months and landed on the sex offender registry. Her extended family blamed her anyway. Her school made it worse.

What followed was years of compounding pain — diagnoses of borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, addiction that escalated from alcohol at 15 to meth, heroin, and fentanyl, repeated suicidal crises, and a revolving door of psychiatric facilities. Then jail. That became her turning point.

Stevie opens up about how DBT and CBT therapy, music, movement, sleep, and mindset work pulled her out — and why she went back for maintenance help when cravings returned instead of staying silent. This is one of the most honest conversations about what early recovery actually looks like day to day.

Religious trauma. Coercive control. Addiction. Depression. Deanna survived all of it — and rebuilt her life on her own terms. 

Deanna grew up inside a strict Fundamental Baptist home where shame replaced support and obedience replaced safety. When she finally left, she had no tools to recognize manipulation — which made her the perfect target. A man named Steve used love-bombing, ecstasy, and calculated coercive control to pull her into repeated sexual exploitation she identifies as rape. 

When she told her family, they stayed silent.
What followed was a spiral into heavy drinking, multiple DUIs, and a depression she drowned in alcohol. Rock bottom came in a jail cell. From there — through Alcoholics Anonymous, treatment, and community — she built something no one handed her: long-term sobriety, a storytelling platform called Intrepid Storytelling, and a family of three kids she created by choice through IVF, foster care, and adoption.

This is what recovering from religion and trauma actually looks like.

Ian Bick joins Clark Fredericks on the Free Like Me Podcast.

It started with hustle. As a bullied teenager desperate for acceptance, Ian channeled his energy into school dances, house parties, and eventually some of the most profitable teen nightclub events in his region. But when he tried to scale into full-size concerts, the losses came fast — and instead of stepping back, he doubled down.

He guaranteed investors their principal. Then he offered 50% returns through an electronics deal built on counterfeit products. When that fell apart, he started cycling new investor money to cover old promises. The spiral deepened with every failed show, every new pitch, every lie told to buy more time.

Federal investigators took notice. What followed was an FBI raid, a wire fraud indictment, a gambling spiral that ran through his own trial, bond revocation, and ultimately a three-year federal sentence with $495,000 in restitution — most of which he has now paid back.

Ian opens up about what prison actually taught him, how he rebuilt from the ground up through restaurant work and Whole Foods, and how a single viral TikTok post launched a criminal-justice podcast that now commands serious audiences and notable guests.

This is a story about what happens when ambition outpaces integrity — and what it takes to earn your way back.

Survivor. Addict. Redeemed. Clark Fredericks interviews Armand — NJ native, heroin recovery survivor, childhood abuse survivor & author of He Calls Me Redeemed | Free Like Me Podcast

Armand grew up in New Jersey with Armenian and Italian roots in a close-knit family. At 10 years old, a family friend's husband began abusing him — and the silence that followed set the course for the next decade of his life. By his teens he was dealing drugs, dropping out of high school, and spiraling from marijuana and alcohol to prescription pills and ultimately heroin.
The night he found himself on train tracks with nothing left, he opened a Bible to Psalm 88 and prayed. What happened next he calls a miracle — a call back to Kezik Colony of Mercy, a counselor who walked him through forgiveness, and a faith that held when everything else had failed.

Today Armand is a husband, a father, and the author of He Calls Me Redeemed — and he's urging every survivor to break their silence before it breaks them.

Clark Fredericks sits down with Anne-Marie — a survivor of non-stranger assault who spent decades in silence, then discovered her abuser was running for city council in Melrose, Massachusetts. What she did next took courage. What happened after tested everything. 

Anne-Marie lost her mother at seven and grew up near Boston in a home ruled by an abusive stepmother. As a high school senior on an unsupervised spring break trip to Bermuda, she was sexually assaulted by a male classmate after a night of drinking — an experience she buried for years under shame, silence, and self-doubt.

It wasn't until the Brock Turner case resurfaced her trauma that she reached out to her abuser directly. Then in 2023, a Facebook message from a former roommate revealed he was campaigning for public office. Anne-Marie consulted legal counsel, posted a public statement — and faced denials, smear tactics, and retaliation.

Now she's fighting to strengthen Massachusetts anti-SLAPP and defamation protections so survivors who speak out aren't punished for telling their truth.

Clark Fredericks sits down with Vanna — a survivor of childhood instability, severe abuse, and a terrifying knife incident — who found her way through faith, poetry, and the decision to break the cycle. | Free Like Me Podcast with Clark Fredericks

Vanna grew up in constant chaos. Her mother had her at 13, later battled bipolar disorder and substance abuse, and made stability feel impossible. Her father was incarcerated until she was 13. By high school, Vanna was isolated, depressed, and facing suicidal thoughts with no support system. Then came the night her mother ran at her with a knife — the moment that changed everything.

In this episode, Vanna opens up about CPS involvement, being parentified too young, moving out at 18, and the long road through therapy and numbness before real healing could begin. She talks about how faith, reading, and writing poetry became her lifeline — and why she's choosing stability over the cycles she was raised in.

What happens when a life marked by addiction, crime, and chaos turns into a mission to help others heal?

In this episode of The Free Like Me Podcast, Brian McAlister shares how recovery became the foundation for a new purpose: building MyMentalHealth.org and VRS Freedom 365, a self-guided mental health and recovery program designed with privacy in mind. Brian breaks down the real turning points, what the 12-step process taught him, how he rebuilt his life from the ground up, and why personal accountability and daily habits can completely change your future.

You’ll hear how Brian went from surviving day-to-day to creating tools meant to support people battling addiction, trauma, and mental health challenges. This conversation covers recovery, entrepreneurship, resilience, and the mindset shift that turns setbacks into fuel.

Kelly didn’t just serve, she survived a system that wasn’t built to protect her.

In this episode of Free Like Me, Clark Fredericks sits down with Kelly, a veteran who shares what happened behind the uniform: the night that changed everything, the disorienting aftermath where time didn’t feel real, and the terrifying moment she realized she couldn’t simply “walk away.” Kelly describes the chilling calm of someone who never showed obvious warning signs, and how that silence became its own kind of threat.

Kelly also pulls back the curtain on the culture that many women quietly endure, where young newcomers are treated like targets and speaking up can cost you everything. From testifying about military sexual assault to navigating retaliation, bureaucracy, and trauma recovery, Kelly’s story is a raw look at what it takes to fight for yourself when the system fights back.

This conversation is about more than trauma, it’s about reclaiming power, telling the truth out loud, and rebuilding a life on your terms.

⚠️ Viewer discretion advised: this episode discusses sexual assault, trauma, and PTSD