Welcome to the Courage to Change – A Recovery Podcast! For our inaugural episode, we have our host, Ashley Loeb-Blassingame, in the hotseat as our producer interviews her. We figured it would be fun for you to get to know her before we kick off all the amazing guests we have planned. Ashley got sober in January of 2006 and just celebrated 13 years of recovery. She graduated from UCLA in sobriety. She is the director of HealthTech Women OC, the co-founder of Lionrock Recovery, she is happily married to a sober husband, and is a sober mom of 2-year-old twin boys. And you won't want to miss a second of this episode because Ashley's story will have you on the edge of your seat!

Ashley's experience with substance abuse started from a very young age, and took her to the brink of death. From drinking in her closet at age 7, to using cocaine in middle school, to being kidnapped, to hiding vodka in her water bottle at her first NA meeting, to going through multiple treatment centers and almost dying in an overdose...she is living proof that recovery is possible for anyone, no matter how bad their situation is. Tune in to listen to her journey from the depths of addiction to the life of sobriety and recovery that she enjoys today.

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0:00 – Introduction

3:31 – Diving into Ashley's story

4:02 – The beginning: “I was born with the disease of 'more'”

10:26 – Cocaine in middle school

12:22 – High school: “a disaster waiting to happen”

18:17 – The Alternative school: “Pulling myself out of mainstream, more and more”

19:37 – The older guy, and being introduced to heroin at 15 years old

22:54 – The “exponential downward spiral”

24:28 – Crossing the invisible line

27:30 – “I have locks on my doors to keep people like you out”

36:54 – Broken resolutions, being kidnapped, and getting kicked out of alternative school

41:36 – The private lockdown facility & the overdose

47:56 – Treatment centers & struggling to stay sober: “Wherever you go, there you are.”

50:40 – The first real turning point: “I had rendered myself incapable of giving myself more substances”

56:25 – Getting sober & starting the journey into recovery

1:00:02 – Sleeping with water bottles filled with vodka hiding in the sheets

1:07:08 – How will I ever have fun again?

1:10:00 – Being a sober mom: “Everything you put in front of your recovery you will lose.”

1:14:11 – Wisdom for listeners who are struggling

1:18:04 – Sponsor: Lionrock Recovery (link to: http://www.lionrockrecovery.com)