Kirsten Johnson Podcast

The 13th Step Filmmaker Monica Richardson and I went live today on YouTube. Today's podcast is the audio version our conversation and Q+A with the livestream audience about deprogramming AA.

Monica Richardson links:

Monica Richardson YouTube,

13th Step Film

Safe Recovery Podcast

Deprogram Facebook group

🔥 Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Justin had to leave 12 step after 17 years in order to get sober. He shares about people dying in AA, realizing it's a cult, and how Ibogaine is what ultimately got him sober. Now he runs a modern addiction detox clinic and is pioneering modern addiction recovery.

Justin's Karity Clinic and TikTok

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro Justin's Story

12:50 Ibogaine Treatment

18:04 Day He Left AA

21:12 DJ AM's Death + 12 Step

28:11 Relapse, Shame, Shunning

35:46 Addiction Recovery Is Outdated

50:33 Psychedelics Got Him Sober

57:17 "Your Part," Amends, R*pe

1:03:26 Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy + Modern Rehabs

1:15:40 Deprogramming Abstinence

1:25:28 Why Traditional Rehabs Fall Short

1:36:20 Psychedelics In Recovery, Predators, Narcissists

1:44:19 Psychedelics After AA Awakening

2:11:25 AA Trolls

2:17:29 K-holes, Ketamine, Healing

2:27:05 Drugs To Get Off Drugs?

2:31:58 Brainwashing Can Happen Fast

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Is talking about alternative recovery paths "dangerous?" Or is promoting one as the only way what's actually dangerous?

Today's episode dives deep into what I'd tell my 2009 getting sober self if I could go back. Hint I wouldn't go to AA or rehab, I'd go another route. This of course is not medical advice. It's what I wish I'd known back then so that I could have made a more informed decision about how to address my alcohol addiction.

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Today we're diving in deep to some of the psychological dynamics of 12 step ideology with Kylee. Kylee shares about what it was like to be in AA as an undiagnosed autistic woman, what leaving was like, and how harm reduction has been a game changer for her.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

04:00 12 Step Comment Sections

10:00 Getting 12 Stepped

14:37 Late Diagnosed Autism

16:26 First Crack in AA Brainwashing

28:02 What Led to Leaving 12 Step?

34:01 IOP + Harm Reduction

36:35 Seeing AA Ideology +Culture As Harmful

42:54 AA's Anti Self, Autism + MAT

51:16 Burning Out on 12 Step

59:28 AA is its Own Religion

60:46 AA Religion Treats Narcissism?

1:09:14 Harm Reduction

1:18:09 Take What You Want, Leave The Rest?

1:25:10 What Is Recovery?

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Join us for today's episode which is a livestream with Carrie England. Y'all asked to have Carrie back on the pod, so here is. This was recorded live, today, and is a deprogramming conversation including the commenters with questions answered, thoughts shared, and all the livestream vibes.

Carrie's Substack is here.

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Today on the pod we're diving into one commenters question about how to tell his sponsees he's leaving 12 step. We'll also cover telling your sponsor, AA members and loved ones outside AA.

If you want to join in the conversation come over to YouTube and share your story or advice in the comments.

Timestamps:

00:00 Leaving AA Intro

02:03 Telling Your Sponsor You Left AA

04:19 Telling My Sponsor I Left AA

06:42 Telling Your Sponsees You Left AA

11:33 Telling My Sponsees I Left AA

16:45 Telling AA Members You Left AA

20:07 Telling AA Members I Left AA

26:40 Telling People Outside AA You Left

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Things have been going bananas in the comment sections on my Facebook page. So I took the opportunity to ask an important question so that we could all hear what everyone thought. I asked what warning they'd give to someone considering going to AA.

I was speaking to those who were indoctrinated, recognized AA ideology as harmful, left AA then began deprogramming. But of course a lot of AA's showed up too with their proselytizing, evangelizing and leaving AA indoctrination in the comments.

If you've been curious to what others think about the harms inside AA, this episode is for you. You can also head over to my Facebook page here if you want to join the conversation.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro AA Warnings

01:16 Dissent Is Not The Problem

03:14 Warning About AA

04:43 AA Informed Consent

09:01 Crowdsourcing AA Opinions

15:31 AA Ideology Can Shame Neurodivergents

19:34 Childhood SA, cPTSD + 12 Step

23:42 Warnings About AA

31:45 AA Proselytizes In My Comments

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

I never thought this would happen but within an hour from having received ad hominem comments I called an AA troll. It was actually a beautiful thing and I was so looking forward to sharing this with you.

Timestamps:

00:00 Most Shocking AA Troll Intro

03:45 She Came for Me in the Comments

04:34 I Blocked Her and Moved On

09:18 She DM’d Me—Terrified

17:08 When Beliefs Feel Like Survival

23:54 Violence Is Where I Draw the Line

24:56 You Won’t Believe What Happened Next

27:14 I Called An AA Troll

34:57 Empathy For The Win

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Today on the podcast we have 13th Step Filmmaker Monica Richardson sharing about 15 year journey of dissenting AA.

Monica first spoke up within AA wanting to make the rooms safer. Then she, along with others, wrote AA HQ in New York.

But people weren't wanting to hear about the crimes in AA and how to make it safer. This led her to speak up outside AA and eventually to make a documentary about the s*xual assualt and m*rder inside Alcoholics Anonymous. Monica's film is called The 13th Step.

Monica Richardson links:

Monica Richardson YouTube,

13th Step Film

Safe Recovery Podcast

Deprogram Facebook group

Timestamps:

00:00 AA Cult Whistleblowing with Monica Richardson

03:25 Crimes + Dissenting inside AA

11:01 Resistance in AA to Safer Meetings

14:42 Realizing AA Will Stay Dangerous

22:29 Speaking Up About Crime in AA

28:00 Collabing + Realizing AA Ideology is Harmful

34:43 Making a Dangers in AA Documentary

43:30 AA Dissenting in Local Community

47:47 Best Part of AA Dissenting

49:53 Advice to New AA Dissenters

🔥 Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.

Today we have Carrie back on the pod with a livestream marathon conversation on what it's been like to dissent AA.

Carrie first "broke her anonymity" a year ago with her leaving and deprogramming AA Substack which you can find here.

🔥 Free Deprogram Course + leaving AA resources → here

🧠 Brain optimization tools → here

❤️‍🔥 If you’re ready to stop holding yourself back → here

Come vibe with me:

Kirsten's Facebook

Kirsten's Instagram

Kirsten's TikTok

📱 My content creation setup (camera, mic, lighting, etc.) → here

💻 Tools + software I use to run my business and create online → here

⚠️ Disclaimer: I’m not a therapist, doctor, or licensed healthcare provider. Everything shared is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional care.

💖 Some links may be affiliate links. I only share what I genuinely use and love.