Let The Journey Begin

Educator, support worker, mental health advocate, and founder of Girls Gotta Heal, Carm Pileggi, joins Jason and Alex this week as he fills in for Hilary. Carm experienced trauma at a young age, particularly as a teenager, when her father suffered a heart attack and was confined to a hospital bed for several years. He unfortunately passed away due to complications and, if dealing with that loss wasn't hard enough, both of Carm's grandparents also passed away within a few weeks of her father. Needless to say, as Carm began to navigate through the ups and downs of high school and college, she found herself seeking support for her mental health. It wasn't until she came across free counseling sessions while attending college that she was diagnosed with PTSD. Fortunately, through many years of therapy and studying psychology, Carm was able to heal from the trauma and suffering she endured as a young girl. Today, she uses her experiences as a guiding light for kids as she helps them find their way through the educational system with the proper support and encouragement they need to thrive. Because so much of her trauma was experienced during her adolescent years, she hopes that she can steer kids in the right direction and help them obtain the resources that she would've liked to have while she was growing up.

You can find more about Carm and the work she does at:

Instagram: @girlsgottaheal

Website: GirlsGottaHeal.com

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.

The Real Housewives of Orange County star, Braunwyn Windham-Burke, joins Hilary and Alex this week to talk about her recent transition into sobriety. Braunwyn began drinking at the age of 14 and immediately knew after she took the first sip that this is what she had been missing. Growing up she never felt comfortable or that she fit in and alcohol provided the social lubricant that took all those worries away. After many years of partying and meeting her husband in college, she had her first child at 22 years old and continued on the path of motherhood six more times. Braunwyn credits being pregnant and not drinking for approximately 18 years as a blessing in disguise. Unfortunately, it wasn't until after she had her last child and joined The Real Housewives of Orange County that she realized she had an untreated drinking problem. Braunwyn decided to take control of her life and has been sober for a little more than a year. She currently uses her social media platform to help inspire those struggling with addiction, mental health, and much more. She discusses how empowering it feels to help others and let them know they are not alone.

Instagram: @braunwynwindhamburke

Also, check out Amplified Voices!

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.

It is a very special episode this week as it officially marks the one-year anniversary of Let The Journey Begin! To properly celebrate, we bring on Rick Hubbard, Executive Vice President of Professional Relations at Origins Behavioral Healthcare to talk about his journey through sobriety. Rick is a bit different from a lot of our guests in that he did not seek help and obtain sobriety until the age of 46. He explains how he first experimented with prescription drugs as a teenager by mixing pills together that his mother brought home from work to construct his own "cocktail." He also talks about the first time he was introduced to alcohol at the age of 15 in order to ease anxiety. These experiences, along with many others, he believes can be attributed to having a lack of identity growing up and the substances were the ultimate solution. Rick grew older and had a great deal of success in the banking industry, but further substance abuse sent his life and career into a tailspin. After Rick hit rock bottom, he finally reached out for help and has now been sober for nearly 20 years.

Today, Rick has dedicated his life to service. He believes that God pulled him out of the ditch he was in so that he could help pull someone else out of their own. Rick also talks about the difficulties of admitting to a problem, especially for those who have a lot of people depending on them. His message is that although it may seem like you will be hurting those people by going away for treatment, you will ultimately be doing much more damage to those same people by not.

For more information on Origins Behavioral Healthcare, please visit:

OriginsRecovery.com

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.

Behavioral Healthcare Executive and contributor for Forbes, Kyle Infante, joins Hilary and Jason this week on Let The Journey Begin. Kyle's substance abuse began after a traumatic middle school experience that gave him a prescription for painkillers. He began to abuse those painkillers and his substance abuse evolved into a full-on addiction over the years to a host of different things, including heroin, methamphetamine, prescription drugs, sex, and later an eating disorder. This disease resulted in him having stolen thousands of dollars from his parents, his friends wanting nothing to do with him, and his body wasting away. Kyle finally got to the point where he could no longer justify the life he was living and had to get completely honest. This was the start of turning his life around and maintaining sobriety. Many times, one addiction can lead to another, both in and out of sobriety. Kyle discusses how getting sober from substances later turned into a sex addiction as well as an eating disorder and how similar all these things can be. He also explains how enabling can be both a blessing and a curse, but it was also what ultimately helped him finally achieve sobriety. After getting truly honest with himself and others, Kyle is nearly eight years sober, happily married to his husband, and is a true advocate for treatment, as this is what saved his life years ago.

Instagram: @kyleinfante

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.

Laura Hawkins is a mental health and substance abuse counselor who has spent over a decade in social work, specializing in homeless adults. She obtained an Undergraduate Degree in Applied Psychology and a Master's Degree in Criminology from Regis University in Denver, CO. She also has a CADPT certification in the state of California. Her objective is to open her own non-profit organization to address the homelessness epidemic in Los Angeles.

This week, Laura joins Hilary and Jason on the show to talk about her own traumas as well as the work she does as a mental health and substance abuse counselor. Laura details losing her father to alcoholism as a young adult and how much of a shock it had on her system. She also talks about how inherited co-dependency unknowingly started showing up in other areas of her life. Laura uses these experiences as well as her education to help those in need as homelessness is a massive problem in the United States, especially in the city of Los Angeles. Many times, substance abuse and poor mental health go hand in hand and Laura discusses how empowering it has been to assist someone struggling with these issues and ultimately watch them turn their life around.

You can learn more about Homeless Health Care Los Angeles at the link below:

https://www.hhcla.org/

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.

Hilary and Jason are joined this week by Grammy-award winning record producer and songwriter Damon Sharpe. Although Damon does not personally battle with alcoholism or substance abuse, he has experienced his own fair share of hardships and gives us an inside perspective as to what addiction can do to those around the individual struggling. At an early age Damon found success in the entertainment industry only to have it all taken away from him at a moment's notice. From here, he went through a difficult period of figuring out who he was and what he wanted to pursue. Then, one day a lucky break from his mentor kickstarted his songwriting career and would come to change his life forever. Throughout the episode, Damon talks about guilt that can come from success and how tough addiction in the family can be for all other parties involved. Today, Damon is a true example of what it means to stick to your dreams, and he stresses the importance of ignoring those dark voices that try to tell you that you can't do something.

DamonSharpe.com

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.

This week, Jason and Alex Meschi (filling in for Hilary) sit down with Amy Field, Clinical Director of Gratitude Lodge, to discuss her own sobriety journey and what it's like working in the treatment field. Amy grew up in a tumultuous household and began using drugs and alcohol to escape the realities she continually dealt with. As she got older, each substance progressed into something stronger, but she believes her initial usage can be traced all the way back to her smoking cigarettes, something Jason finds very relatable. Her moment of clarity came after she had her son and began to realize she was repeating the same patterns her parents exhibited that led her down a dark road. Coming from a long line of alcoholics, Amy knew this was something she did not want to pass down to her children. As part of her own treatment, she began helping with incoming patients who were also struggling, and after one particular encounter with an individual, she knew treatment was her calling. 35 years later, Amy has not looked back. She talks about the differences in treatment then and now as well as how compassion and understanding are key components for successful treatment.

GratitudeLodge.com

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.

Ana Santaolalla joins Hilary and Alex Meschi (filling in for Jason) on the show this week to discuss her journey and how she uses those experiences to help others. Ana is a Los Angeles based holistic and integrative psychotherapist who specializes in trauma. Ana experienced her own sexual trauma as a teenager and had to find ways to cope and process what she had gone through. She found power in yoga which helped connect her to her spirituality. Eventually, this led to her exploration of Eastern philosophies and practices, including Buddhist psychology, Zen, mindfulness, meditation, and holistic wellness, in addition to the yoga that helped her so much. Ana explains what holistic wellness and integrative psychotherapy is all about and also provides a few techniques that can help calm the mind during any stressful situation. Finally, Ana emphasizes the importance of compassion and grounding oneself in the present, as just a few moments of breathing and quiet reflection can make a big impact on one's physical and mental health.

To find out more about Ana and her practice, please visit:

therapywithana.com

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.

Kevin Winbauer is the Chief Swiss Army Knife of Sterile Safe Solutions, an innovative engineering firm that develops full scale environments that highly mitigate risk of COVID and other airborne viruses through Tools, Technology, and Training. Kevin joins Hilary and Jason this week to talk about his recent jump into sobriety.

Kevin grew up playing sports and being the life of the party. Recreational drinking, having a good time on the weekend, and making questionable decisions were the norm for Kevin. However, things began to change when he had children and started to realize he was no longer using alcohol as merely a recreational substance but began to rely on it to cope with the new added pressures of life and being a father. After years of being known as “Party Kev,” he also faced the difficult realization that his drinking, in a way, had become his identity and did his best to hide the fact that he had a problem. It wasn't until his wife and a few others close to him recommended he get help that he realized he needed to make a change. Fairly new into sobriety, Kevin credits his current success with routine and getting vulnerable with those around him. He believes that this vulnerability and truth is the only way real healing can begin.

You can find Kevin’s work at:

SterileSafeSolutions.com

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.

Jenny Leone joins the show this week as Alex Meschi (Red Songbird Foundation Executive Director) fills in for Hilary alongside Jason. Jenny grew up aspiring to be many things including a veterinarian and later (and more extravagantly) a Vegas showgirl. However, experiencing sexual abuse at a young age led her down a path of drug usage to cope with the trauma. The drug usage only progressed, continuing on for 20 years, causing her career aspirations to take a sharp turn and to a place that she eventually realized was not good or at all normal. Jenny eventually had a son in 2008 and went into treatment soon after. While some find motivation in staying sober through their children or family, Jenny believes that if you are going to truly succeed in sobriety, you have to be doing it for yourself. Today, Jenny finds happiness in helping others struggling by using her own experiences as a guiding light, something she also believes makes a much bigger impact in the world than a life in the entertainment space ever could.

You can find Jenny and her work at:

theedgetreatment.com

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.