Let The Journey Begin

This week, Hilary and Jason are joined by Lisa Holste, Owner and Master Stylist at Posh | The Salon in Denver, Colorado. Lisa never thought she had a drinking problem until the matter was brought up from the outside. Things had become rocky in her and her husband's marriage and they began to see a couple's therapist who eventually suggested she stop drinking for 90 days to see if that would make any difference. She unenthusiastically obliged to the request and completed the 90 days, only to find out her chemistry had changed and those fun nights of drinking had turned into dark drunks. This is when she finally began to suspect there really was a problem and addressed the issue at hand. In discussing the beginning stages of her sobriety and what it took for her to remain abstinent, Lisa never formally entered treatment, but greatly utilized meetings and the helping hands of mentors to stay the course in recovery. She also explains how her routine is very important to her these days and looks much different than what her life was 15 years ago. Today, 12.5 years sober, Lisa credits prayer and her higher power for ultimately giving her the strength to recognize her addiction and begin the path to recovery that has completely changed her life.

Instagram: @lisaholste

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Adam Smith joins Hilary and Alex this week on Let The Journey Begin. Adam had a good inkling from an early age that he was destined to be an addict, as addiction runs deep within his family. Nonetheless, he grew up in a good family with as many opportunities as a kid could have imagined, hoping to pursue basketball and volleyball professionally down the line. However, like many teenagers, he began experimenting with drugs and alcohol in his middle and high school years because all his friends were doing it. It was a balancing act at first, but Adam explains that things really took a turn when he started to believe his athletic pursuits were getting in the way of his partying. Needless to say, things progressed rapidly to the point in which he had blown all the great opportunities he had been given and had ruined his life. He finally made the decision to get sober as he did not want to live that life anymore and ultimately believed that if he continued, he would end up in jail or dead. Adam celebrates 11 years of sobriety this year and expresses how different life is for him today and all the work he has done in the recovery community. For example, upon returning to college after getting sober, he formed a collegiate recovery group, alongside several other gentlemen, to help keep him accountable from all the distractions that can surround someone in college. This recovery group eventually expanded from a couple people into several hundred and the idea began to spill over into a handful of other university campuses. Adam also discusses dealing with extremely difficult circumstances while in sobriety and what he does to keep him on the right path during these trying times.

Instagram: @justlikelondon

http://www.californiaprimerecovery.com/

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New episode every Thursday!

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This week, Jason and Hilary are joined by Oakvine Recovery Center Clinical Director, Pamela Thomas. Pamm is a woman who holds many titles and has achieved many accolades, but it all started at the ripe age of 17 when she joined the military and discovered the drinking culture among soldiers. She explains why it was particularly hard for her to admit she had a problem with alcohol because in military culture, admitting you have a problem is essentially admitting you are weak, which she believes is why so many veterans struggle after transitioning into civilian life. However, her moment of clarity came after she had gotten pregnant and a close friend of hers had the sobering conversation about how Pamm had made her very uncomfortable drinking while in the early stages of pregnancy. Having had a caretaker growing up who also struggled with substance abuse, Pamm knew she had to do something to avoid passing these traits on to her children. She talks about how in order for her to get sober, she made use of counseling in her early days of recovery as treatment programs and recovery groups were not nearly as widely available as they are today. Currently, as the Clinical Director of Oakvine Recovery Center (a title she never could have imagined having), she is fulfilling her childhood dream of helping others. She talks about the difference in "picking oneself up by the bootstraps" and legitimately needing help as sometimes those "boots" don't have any tread left or are missing shoelaces, metaphorically speaking. She stresses there is no shame in admitting you have a problem and asking for help and hopes to serve as an example that you can overcome your addiction and go on to do great things in recovery.

oakvinerecoverycenter.com

For more information on the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

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If you are interested in donating to the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

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New episode every Thursday!

Check us out on YouTube every Friday! Let The Journey Begin Podcast

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This week, Jason and Alex are joined by Rudy's Christmas Trees founder, Rudy Padrol. Rudy experienced a lot of hardship and trauma from an early age, including his father being in and out of jail as well as physical and sexual trauma he endured at home. All this instability and pain became too much for Rudy, to which he ran away from home at the age of 16 and made his way to Miami. Before this time, he had never taken part in drinking or drugs, but began to dabble in the likes of these in his new home. Soon after, the drinking and drugs eventually took hold of him, specifically prescription medication near the end. At that point in time, Rudy had been doing well at his job for several years, but they soon began to take notice of his problems and sent him to treatment. Third time's a charm, as they say, as the third time Rudy was sent to treatment, things began to stick for him. Rudy discusses the benefits he's seen from therapy as he now realizes the drinking and drugs were simply a means to mask all the pain he endured during his childhood. They also talk about how even though going to treatment for an allotted amount of time can help you get sober, the real recovery begins after treatment when you try to transition back to normalcy. Rudy now hopes he can utilize his 10 years of recovery experience to help other struggling individuals obtain a better life for themselves. Finally, Rudy wraps things up by explaining how Rudy's Christmas Trees in Orange County came to be.

https://www.rudyschristmastrees.org/

https://www.rxdrcbd.com/

Instagram: @rudyschristmastrees

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New episode every Thursday!

Check us out on YouTube every Friday! Let The Journey Begin Podcast

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Lisa Brown Roberts joins Hilary and Jason again this week alongside her husband of 35 years, Erik Roberts (Hilary's brother), to talk about their relationship and what they've done to make it last so long. As Lisa mentioned on last week's episode, things weren't always smooth sailing within their marriage, but looking back, they discuss how each of them recognizing they needed to work on themselves began to strengthen their marriage. Both Lisa and Erik sought therapy individually for difficult life situations going on at the time and began going to couples therapy as well to address how they could better communicate amongst themselves. Erik stresses how important therapy has been in both he and Lisa's life and believes it can really help give you the outside perspective you need when going through hard times. Lisa and Erik also discuss how having their son helped them learn how to better communicate and found that he was teaching them as much as they believed they were teaching him. After 35 years of marriage, Lisa and Erik are in as good a place as they could have imagined and still go to therapy on the regular. They believe communication is key and without therapy both on an individual basis and in a couples setting, they don't know where they would be today.

https://www.lisabrownroberts.com/

Instagram: @lisabrownroberts

Twitter: @LBrownRoberts

For more information on the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

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If you are interested in donating to the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

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New episode every Thursday!

Check us out on YouTube every Friday! Let The Journey Begin Podcast

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This week, Hilary and Jason are joined by author Lisa Brown Roberts. Lisa grew up most of her adolescent life with many secrets. Her father was an alcoholic who spent some time in a mental institution and she struggled with her own battles of depression. That depression only got worse as she dealt with the financial difficulties of a young marriage along with the "far-fetched" dream of becoming a published author. However, things began to improve when she finally sought out a therapist that could help her navigate through these trying waters. This therapist helped Lisa realize that just because life hadn't turned out exactly the way she had envisioned it, that didn't mean it was over and that she was out of time. That's when Lisa began to dive back into her writings and pursue her goal of becoming a published author...the rest is history. Today, Lisa accomplished her dream of becoming a writer later in life and now has six published books. She explains how she never could have imagined her life being as fulfilling as it is today, and credits reaching out for help as well as therapy as the keys to her success.

You can find Lisa and her books at:

https://www.lisabrownroberts.com/

Instagram: @lisabrownroberts

Twitter: @LBrownRoberts

For more information on the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

redsongbird.org

If you are interested in donating to the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

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New episode every Thursday!

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On a change-of-pace, 70th episode special, Dr. Dmitry Foox PT, DPT joins Alex Meschi and Let The Journey Begin's Executive Producer, Ryan Dennis, to discuss his own sobriety journey and how he is working to incorporate physical therapy within recovery treatment. Dmitry grew up living somewhat of a double life: highly academic and involved in the school system while also dabbling in drugs on the side. The latter portion of this double life led to nothing but trouble from the very get go to the point where the drugs became the focus. Dmitry reached a position in his life in which he no longer wanted the drugs to be the driving force and was tired of constantly being in trouble leading him to finally reach out for help in getting sober. After going through treatment and achieving a good period of recovery time, Dmitry became somewhat lost and started to seek out what would be the next big thing in life for him. A simple Google search would prove to change everything. Dmitry searched "most fulfilling careers" and one of the list results was a physical therapist…and that was it for him.

Today, Dmitry has since obtained his Doctor of Physical Therapy and founded PHYSrecovery, a company that is committed to bringing physical therapists to the addiction recovery community. Dmitry believes that every individual in treatment should have some form of physical therapy available to them. One of the alarming things he has found is that many individuals suffer from some form of injury, but simply do not know how to properly treat it themselves. Because the physical aspect is such a big part of recovery, it is Dmitry's goal to create a world in which recovery from addiction includes healing of the body.

To find out more about Dmitry and his work, please visit:

https://www.physrecovery.com/

PHYSrecovery Instagram: @physrecovery

Dr. Dmitry Foox Instagram: @dmitryfoox

For more information on the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

redsongbird.org

If you are interested in donating to the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

redsongbird.org/donate

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New episode every Thursday!

Check us out on YouTube every Friday! Let The Journey Begin Podcast

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Jeremy Arzt is a licensed marriage and family therapist and is currently the Clinical Director at The Edge Treatment Center in Santa Ana, CA. Stemming from his own identity struggles as a teenager, Jeremy became interested in therapy while in college with the desire to help others. While working in the treatment space, it has become Jeremy's goal to change the narrative surrounding relapse in sobriety. He explains how much shame can be associated when an individual "slips", causing them to be so disappointed in themselves that they never want to go back to treatment to face their peers. Jeremy believes that by purely looking at and understanding the statistics in addiction recovery, relapse is a potential possibility, and it would be better served for us to adequately prepare individuals with the tools to properly cope with relapse so that they can get back on track if it does happen. Although Jeremy does stress that the ultimate goal is to stay completely abstinent from drugs and alcohol, he hopes that those who do relapse can make it only a few days rather than a few months or years. This can be achieved, he hopes, by helping individuals understand there is no shame and stigma in relapse, and it may just simply be a part of that individual's sobriety journey to reach the finish line.

TheEdgeTreatment.com

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If you are interested in donating to the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

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New episode every Thursday!

Check us out on YouTube every Friday! Let The Journey Begin Podcast

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This week, Hilary and Jason dive back into Part 2 of Aaron Barnes' journey. They discuss the idea of a "cure" in sobriety and why this idea is such a taboo topic when it comes to recovery. Along the lines of this, Aaron explains why he believes he was "cured" from the desire to want drugs and alcohol; however, he discusses how he continually works his own form of program to keep these urges away. Aaron also discusses how he thought he had found a way to deal with anything that came his way in sobriety but found out he was completely unprepared for heartbreak. Not knowing what to do to get over this pain, he turned to God (something he had turned his back on 27 years ago) and explains how it completely changed his life. Aaron believed he was mentally strong and believed he was physically strong, but was not nearly strong enough spiritually, something he now believes is one of the most important aspects of his sobriety.

To find out more about Aaron and his work, please visit:

Ultimate Sober Living: www.ultimatesoberliving.com

Instagram: @ultimatesoberliving

FaceBook: @ultimatesoberliving

YouTube: Ultimate Sober Living

For more information on the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

redsongbird.org

If you are interested in donating to the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

redsongbird.org/donate

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New episode every Thursday!

Check us out on YouTube every Friday! Let The Journey Begin Podcast

Please subscribe, rate, and review!

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This week, as the first installment of a special two-part episode, Sober Coaching Founder, Aaron Barnes, joins Hilary and Jason. Aaron is a nationally certified recovery coach, sober companion, interventionist, personal trainer, author, and prominent sober influencer. Growing up in a religious household, Aaron didn't really experience drugs or alcohol until his late teenage years as he was starting college. However, once the college days began, he was off to the races. He joined a fraternity and things progressed quickly from weekend binge drinking sessions to everything in between. The next 20 years of Aaron's life were filled with a drug-addled whirlwind of parties, using and abusing drugs, selling/trafficking drugs, marriage and divorce, and two rehab stints. For Aaron, the particularly hardest part of his addiction was having a child with three different women, watching each relationship fizzle out fast because of his drug use and lifestyle, but then not being able to be there or have contact with his children because of these same issues. Aaron's family was deeply concerned about the downward spiral his life had become and finally helped him get the help he needed. Today, almost six years later, Aaron discusses the epiphany he had in treatment and explains why the drugs and alcohol were simply just a means to mask the feelings and doubts he had about himself.

Tune in next week to hear Part 2 of Aaron's story. The guys discuss the idea of a "cure" in substance abuse treatment, how Aaron turned his life around, dealing with heartbreak in sobriety, the importance of spirituality, and much, much more!

To find out more about Aaron and his work, please visit:

Ultimate Sober Living: www.ultimatesoberliving.com

Instagram: @ultimatesoberliving

FaceBook: @ultimatesoberliving

YouTube: Ultimate Sober Living

For more information on the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

redsongbird.org

If you are interested in donating to the Red Songbird Foundation, please visit:

redsongbird.org/donate

New episode every Thursday!

Check us out on YouTube every Friday! Let The Journey Begin Podcast

Please subscribe, rate, and review!

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.