The fact that Garrett Sheppard is alive at all is a miracle. Garrett struggles with several mental conditions from anxiety to depression to PTSD and  ADHD. He started using meth at a young age, and pretty soon it didn't matter what kind of drug he took, he couldn’t live without them. Sheppard has a long list of felonies on his record and tried to complete suicide multiple times.

However, today Garrett has turned his life around by getting psychological help, plus incorporating exercise and a healthy diet. Now he’s reaching out to others who are "hard to love," which is the name of his program that helps people suffering from substance use disorder, find their way to recovery. 

Sheppard shares his story and how weight lifting and healthy eating have made a huge difference for his brain in this latest edition of Grieving Out Loud.

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Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz

Ashley Bernardi lost her father at 11 years old.  She has also dealt with a chronic illness. During the pandemic, Ashley spent time writing and interviewing some of the top experts in grief, PTSD, and postpartum depression and created her book, Authentic Power. Whether you are going through death, divorce, illness, or any life adversity, the book provides the tools to teach you how to move through your pain, let down the mask of strength, and feel your genuine emotions in order to heal. 

More on Ashley Bernardi's book here.

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Podcast producers:
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Jessica Duenas was Kentucky's teacher of the year in 2019. But she had a dark secret that no one would have imagined. She was an active alcoholic that couldn’t survive a day without drinking.  Once she decided to get help, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After getting sober, Jessica entered into a new relationship with a man named Ian, who was in recovery from opioid addiction. In April of 2020, Ian relapsed and died.  Jessica has not only been traumatized by her own addiction but the fentanyl poisoning of a loved one as well. She shares how she has survived and is now even thriving in this latest edition of Grieving Out Loud.
Learn more about Jessica's Bottomless to Sober Project here. 

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She's the Faith Hill of Missouri, not Nashville. Faith used meth for six years, starting at age 14, and lost all of her teeth because of it. After finding recovery, Faith decided to document her journey, from having no teeth to what it was like to have dentures, on social media. Faith’s handle on TikTok is “I am toothless and ruthless” and she has nearly two million followers to date.  Her life experience has made this 23-year-old wise beyond her years.  She's also lost many friends to drugs. 
She shares her battle with addiction, how she found recovery and why she was willing to take out her dentures for millions in this latest episode of Grieving Out Loud. 

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Author Kathleen Glasgow drew upon her own experiences as a teenager to write her first best-selling book, Girl in Pieces, which covered tough topics such as self-harm and depression. She has also poignantly dealt with other difficult subjects in her books, written for young adults, including how addiction affects the entire family, to coping with the loss of a loved one. Kathleen and Angela have an open and honest open and honest conversation about why we need to make these topics more available for teens in the latest episode of Grieving Out Loud.

Kathleen Glasgow is the author of  The Agathas, You'd Be Home Now, How to Make Friends with the Dark, Girl in Pieces, which is a New York Times bestseller and Target Book Club pick.
 
Connect with Kathleen Glascow here:
Twitter: @kathglasgow
Instagram: @misskathleenglasgow
TikTok: @kathleenglasgow.
Website:  www.kathleenglasgowbooks.com

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On February 7, 2021, a drug dealer reached out to 16-year-old Sammy Chapman on Snapchat and delivered a deadly dose of fentanyl to his Los Angeles home. Sammy's story went viral after his parents shared it because his mom, Dr. Laura Berman, is a nationally known relationship expert and TV host. She and her husband, Sam Chapman, are doing all they can to warn parents and hold social media companies accountable. Sam Chapman found his son in his bedroom. Now he shares how he and his family have coped with Sammy’s death and what they’re doing not only to educate parents, but also to require more from social medial companies.   

Learn more about their efforts here on the Parents For Safer Children website.

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You may recognize Mary Bono, as the widow of Sonny Bono who filled his seat in Congress and then went on to serve nearly 15 years as a California representative. Mary was on the forefront, warning about the opioid epidemic in the early 2,000s.  She's had family members deal with opioid addiction who have since found recovery. 

Mary is now a tireless advocate as Chairman of the Board of Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, as well as Chairman and CEO for Mothers Against Prescription Drug Abuse and a Board Member for SAFE Project. You can listen to Admiral Winnefeld on the podcast here in Episode 57.
Mary is also a Board Member for Verde Technologies of Minneapolis which created the Deterra® Drug Deactivation and Disposal System. 

She is married to former astronaut Admiral Steve Oswald. 

Mary's and Angela's conversation ranged from reducing stigma, to what Congress can do,  to the need for more infrastructure and unity when it comes to ending the overdose epidemic. 

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Podcast producers:
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Dr. Arun Gupta wrote the book, The Preventable Epidemic: A Frontline Doctor’s Experience and Recommendations to Resolve America’s Opioid Crisis. Dr. Gupta says that after specializing in addiction medicine for the last 15 years, the country must do more to train and incentivize physicians to go into addiction medicine, as well as promote medically assisted treatment for substance use disorder and treat the whole person because mental health and addiction go hand-in-hand.  Dr. Gupta has details of this strategy and what he says we all must do to reverse overdoses in the U.S.  in this latest episode of Grieving Out Loud.

More on Dr. Gupta's book here. 

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Denise Roberts’ two sons, Matthew and Dillan, were born on the same day, four years apart. She was married to her husband, Tom, for ten years when he had a heart attack at age 42 and died. They were already trying to get her son, Dillan, who was 17 at the time, help for substance use disorder. Dillan went through treatment three times, but he died two years later from a heroin overdose. His older brother Matthew struggled with Dillan’s death and also turned to drugs. Six years after Dillan’s overdose, Matthew also overdosed and died. 

In this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Denise shares how she keeps going and growing, in spite of her great losses. Denise says her motto is, "Get up, dress up and show up. No matter what you do, never GIVE UP!”

You can read more of Matthew and Dillan's story here. 

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A former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his family were not immune to the overdose epidemic. Retired four-star Navy Admiral James "Sandy" Winnefeld has become an influential advocate to end overdoses after the loss of his 19-year-old son, Jonathan. He and his wife, Mary, started the Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic, or SAFE Project, a non-profit, that much like Emily's Hope, is working toward ending stigma, preventing overdoses, and getting people the help they need.  Admiral Winnefeld shares Jonathan's story, the mission of SAFE Project, and what action he believes the U.S. needs to take to end the suffering caused by the astronomical number of overdose deaths.

Details on SAFE Project:
Website
Facebook
Instagram

USA Today Op. Ed. by Admiral James Winnefeld Jr.
USA Today Op Ed. by James "LJ" Winnefeld III

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Wishing you faith, hope and courage!

Podcast producers:
Casey Wonnenberg King & Kayli Fitz