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SCARS AND ALL
SCARS AND ALL episodes
- 11 Years Sober, Then Costa Rica Took It All | Brett Sorenson | Ep. 6
Brett Sorenson had been sober for 11 years when he flew to Costa Rica to surprise a girl from his hometown he’d been talking to online. He texted her from the airport. She blocked him. Alone in another country with no way home, he drank for the first time in over a decade, and by the time a friend got him a flight back, he had nowhere to live. Today he’s five years sober and finally getting time with his daughter. Ep. 6 of Scars and All.
Frank sits down with Brett, a friend he sponsors in recovery, to talk about growing up in Santa Clarita and watching his mom’s drinking tear his family apart. He swore he’d never drink like her. By 17, he’d been to juvenile hall twice. At 20, he walked into an AA meeting and stayed sober for 11 years.
When COVID hit, he stopped going to AA and let resentment build after another man stepped in to raise his daughter. The relapse that started in Costa Rica ended in a blackout and a county jail cell, with eight years in prison on the table. “Oh, this is real.” Five years later, his message is simple: “Talk about that thing.”
No scripts. No polish. Just the truth, scars and all.
▶ Subscribe for a new episode every week:
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NEXT TIME
Frank sits down with next guest to talk about the scars you can see and the ones you can’t. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
LISTEN ON
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1eKjFPdr0AKda13q6C6NBs?si=4e6da63ed0584224
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scars-and-all/id6812943875
Website: https://scarsnall.com
FOLLOW SCARS AND ALL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarsandallpod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scarsandallpod
X: https://x.com/Scarsandallpod
BE A GUEST
Have a story worth telling? Email [email protected] or visit https://scarsnall.com/contact
ABOUT THE SHOW
We all have scars. Some people hide them well, others don’t, but no one is exempt. Scars and All is a recovery podcast about the struggle behind the finished product, told honestly. Host Frank Wills sits down with people in recovery, families who’ve supported a loved one through it, doctors, nurses, clinicians, and everyone in between who have failed, sometimes more than once, and found the courage to try again. No filters. No muting. Just the real story behind the struggle, the pain, and the comeback. New episodes every week.
IF YOU NEED HELP NOW
This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, pregnancy loss, and incarceration.
Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673 (free, confidential, 24/7)
This podcast shares personal experience and is not medical or clinical advice.
#ScarsAndAll #Recovery #Sobriety #Relapse #BrettSorensen1 hr 19 min - Facing 15 to Life. Now She’s 5 Years Sober. | Johanna Hernandez | Ep. 5
At 18, Johanna moved in with a man who lied about his age. Three months later the abuse started, and it didn't stop for nine years. When she finally learned he was a registered sex offender, all she could ask herself was, "How did I not see the signs?" Today she's five years sober, back in both her kids' lives, and in college to become a therapist.
On Ep. 5 of Scars and All, Frank sits down with Johanna, who's like a sister to him, to talk about how meth became her escape from the pain, the night she thought she wouldn't survive, and giving birth in the back of an ambulance to a 1-pound son she didn't know she was carrying. "I walked out of the hospital empty-handed."
Two years later, she left the hospital without her newborn daughter too. Facing 15 to life on 18 felonies, she dropped to her knees in a county cell and thought about her kids: "I don't want them growing up feeling how I felt." That's where things started to change. Five years later: "My worst day today doesn't compare to my best day out there."Her message if you’re struggling in silence: reach out. “If I was able to get out of it, so can you.”
Next time: Frank sits down with next guest. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
No scripts. No polish. Just the truth, scars and all. New episodes every week.
LISTEN ON
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1eKjFPdr0AKda13q6C6NBs?si=4e6da63ed0584224
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scars-and-all/id6812943875
Website: https://scarsnall.com
FOLLOW SCARS AND ALL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarsandallpod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scarsandallpod
X: https://x.com/Scarsandallpod
BE A GUEST
Have a story worth telling? Email [email protected] or visit https://scarsnall.com/contact
ABOUT THE SHOW
We all have scars. Some people hide them well, others don’t, but no one is exempt. Scars and All is a recovery podcast about the struggle behind the finished product, told honestly. Host Frank Wills sits down with people in recovery, families who’ve supported a loved one through it, doctors, nurses, clinicians, and everyone in between who have failed, sometimes more than once, and found the courage to try again. No filters. No muting. Just the real story behind the struggle, the pain, and the comeback. New episodes every week.
IF YOU NEED HELP NOW
This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, pregnancy loss, and incarceration.
Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673 (free, confidential, 24/7)
This podcast shares personal experience and is not medical or clinical advice.
#ScarsAndAll #Recovery #Sobriety #WomenInRecovery #JohannaHernandez1 hr 37 min - Narcotics Detective’s Son, Addicted to Narcotics | Harold Greenawald | Ep. 4
Three years ago, Frank found Harold Greenawald cold, blue, and unresponsive, and brought him back with Narcan and CPR. Today Harold is three years sober and works for Frank as a detox technician.
Frank sits down with Harold, a former resident who was “a pain in the ass for quite some time,” to talk about growing up in small-town Hamburg, Pennsylvania, as the son of a narcotics detective, losing his newborn son, and the night in New Jersey he watched an older couple shoot up with a dull needle and thought, “I was a varsity athlete with a great family.”
The next morning he connected to a library hotspot and reached out for help. It took a move to LA, a drug-induced psychosis that left a sober living covered in blood, and one more overdose before it stuck: “This proved to me that drugs aren’t working anymore.”
If you’re struggling in silence, Harold’s advice is simple: “Just give it a try.” All it really takes is reaching out to somebody.
Next time:
Frank sits down with a good friend of his who went from prison to program director and is now in college to become an LMFT. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
No scripts. No polish. Just the truth, scars and all. New episodes every week.
LISTEN ON
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1eKjFPdr0AKda13q6C6NBs?si=4e6da63ed0584224
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scars-and-all/id6812943875
Website: https://scarsnall.com
FOLLOW SCARS AND ALL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarsandallpod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scarsandallpod
X: https://x.com/Scarsandallpod
BE A GUEST
Have a story worth telling? Email [email protected] or visit https://scarsnall.com/contact
ABOUT THE SHOW
We all have scars. Some people hide them well, others don’t, but no one is exempt. Scars and All is a recovery podcast about the struggle behind the finished product, told honestly. Host Frank Wills sits down with people in recovery, families who’ve supported a loved one through it, doctors, nurses, clinicians, and everyone in between who have failed, sometimes more than once, and found the courage to try again. No filters. No muting. Just the real story behind the struggle, the pain, and the comeback. New episodes every week.
IF YOU NEED HELP NOW
This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, pregnancy loss, and incarceration.
Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673 (free, confidential, 24/7)
This podcast shares personal experience and is not medical or clinical advice.1 hr 33 min - She was abandoned at Nine. Now Frank Calls Her Mom. | Leilana Palacios | Ep. 3
Leilana Palacios was nine when her family left her alone in an empty house. She spent the next three decades in foster homes, county jail, and prison. Today she’s 23 years sober, and Frank calls her Mom.
Frank sits down with Leilana, one of the people who never gave up on him, to talk about being born a twin in the bathroom of a bar on Maui, growing up in the system as “the throwaway child,” and the phone call to prison when her daughter told her, “Why don’t you just come home and be grandma? Because we all know it’s way too late for you to come home and be mom.”
Months before her release, she sat up all night with an ounce of meth, then gave it away. The next morning, August 6, 2003, became her sobriety date.
If you’re struggling in silence, Leilana’s message is simple: there is help, and you’re not alone. Reach out.
Next time:
From Pennsylvania to California with one goal.
Frank sits down with Harold Greenawald to hear his story of recovery and where it led him.
Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
No scripts. No polish. Just the truth, scars and all. New episodes every week.
LISTEN ON
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/31rgk2k5ra4wvpnkysh3zux3jhl4
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyD2_1PwuEZVmikjYy4hk3Q
Website: https://scarsnall.com
FOLLOW SCARS AND ALL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarsandallpod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scarsandallpod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586408706261
X: https://x.com/Scarsandallpod
BE A GUEST
Have a story worth telling? Email [email protected] or visit https://scarsnall.com/contact/
ABOUT THE SHOW
We all have scars. Some people hide them well, others don’t, but no one is exempt. Scars and All is a recovery podcast about the struggle behind the finished product, told honestly. Host Frank Wills sits down with people in recovery, families who’ve supported a loved one through it, doctors, nurses, clinicians, and everyone in between who have failed, sometimes more than once, and found the courage to try again. No filters. No muting. Just the real story behind the struggle, the pain, and the comeback. New episodes every week.
IF YOU NEED HELP NOW
This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, pregnancy loss, and incarceration.
Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673 (free, confidential, 24/7)
This podcast shares personal experience and is not medical or clinical advice.
#ScarsAndAll #Recovery #Sobriety #LongTermRecovery #LeilanaPalacios
1 hr 34 min - Nine Overdoses. Now She’s the First Call at Rehab. | Danielle Benjamins | Ep. 2
Danielle Benjamins called a friend for a ride to her dealer and ended up at detox instead. Four years later, she runs admissions at Luxe Recovery and shares a home she owns with her grandmother and her 13-year-old son.
Frank sits down with Danielle, a longtime friend who now works alongside him, to talk about the five years on heroin and fentanyl that left her homeless with nine overdoses, a shattered leg, and paralyzed vocal cords, and the moment a man who remembered her from eight years earlier looked her in the eye and said, "You're a shell of what I used to know."
If you're struggling in silence, Danielle has one message for you: the only way you fail is by giving up.
Next time: Frank sits down with a friend he's known for more than 20 years, an OG from Norwalk with a story you need to hear. Subscribe so you don't miss it.
No scripts. No polish. Just the truth, scars and all. New episodes every week.
LISTEN ON
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/31rgk2k5ra4wvpnkysh3zux3jhl4
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyD2_1PwuEZVmikjYy4hk3Q
Website: https://scarsnall.com
FOLLOW SCARS AND ALL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarsandallpod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scarsandallpod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586408706261
X: https://x.com/Scarsandallpod
BE A GUEST
Have a story worth telling? Email [email protected] or visit https://scarsnall.com/contact
ABOUT THE SHOW
We all have scars. Some people hide them well, others don't, but no one is exempt. Scars and All is a recovery podcast about the struggle behind the finished product, told honestly. Host Frank Wills sits down with people in recovery, families who've supported a loved one through it, doctors, nurses, clinicians, and everyone in between who have failed, sometimes more than once, and found the courage to try again. No filters. No muting. Just the real story behind the struggle, the pain, and the comeback. New episodes every two weeks.
This episode includes discussion of overdose and suicide. If you or someone you love needs help right now, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
This podcast shares personal experience and is not medical or clinical advice.
#ScarsAndAll #Recovery #Sobriety #AddictionRecovery #FrankWills
1 hr 2 min - From Overdosing to Ending Overdoses | AJ Banuelos | Ep. 1
AJ Banuelos survived an overdose he meant to be his last. Today he helps run End Overdose, a nonprofit that has trained more than 700,000 people to reverse one.
In the first episode, AJ sits down as Frank’s first Scars and All guest to talk about growing up in a gang neighborhood with a dad he idolized, the moment his 11-year-old son told him "I want you to work on your problem," and why giving up his ego was harder than giving up the drugs.
If you know someone who uses, or you're a parent, stick around for the second half: AJ walks through End Overdose's free 20-minute training on how to recognize and reverse an opioid overdose, with naloxone mailed to your door. endoverdose.net
Next time: Frank talks with Danielle Benjamin, an admissions coordinator at Luxe Recovery, about her own scars.
Subscribe so you don't miss it.
No scripts. No polish. Just the truth, scars and all. New episodes every week.
This episode includes discussion of overdose and suicide. If you or someone you love needs help right now, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
LISTEN ON
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/31rgk2k5ra4wvpnkysh3zux3jhl4
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyD2_1PwuEZVmikjYy4hk3Q
Website: https://scarsnall.com
FOLLOW SCARS AND ALL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarsandallpod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scarsandallpod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586408706261
X: https://x.com/Scarsandallpod
BE A GUEST
Have a story worth telling? Email [email protected] or visit https://scarsnall.com/contact
ABOUT THE SHOW
We all have scars. Some people hide them well, others don't, but no one is exempt. Scars and All is a recovery podcast about the struggle behind the finished product, told honestly. Host Frank Wills sits down with people in recovery, families who've supported a loved one through it, doctors, nurses, clinicians, and everyone in between who have failed, sometimes more than once, and found the courage to try again. No filters. No muting. Just the real story behind the struggle, the pain, and the comeback. New episodes every two weeks.
This episode includes discussion of overdose and suicide. If you or someone you love needs help right now, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
This podcast shares personal experience and is not medical or clinical advice.
#ScarsAndAll #Recovery #Sobriety #AddictionRecovery #FrankWills
57 min - From Addiction to Owning a Rehab | Frank’s Story
Frank Wills spent years addicted. Today he co-owns a rehab. In the Introduction of Scars and All, your host tells his story. We start here.
This one's for you if you're in recovery, you love someone who is, you're still deciding whether to start, or you just need to hear that someone made it. Frank isn't a clinician looking in from the outside. He's proof.NEXT TIME
On Episode 1, Frank sits down with his friend AJ Banuelos to talk about life after meth, how he got here, and the work he does now as a counselor.
Subscribe so you don't miss it.
LISTEN ON
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/31rgk2k5ra4wvpnkysh3zux3jhl4
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyD2_1PwuEZVmikjYy4hk3Q
Website: https://scarsnall.com
FOLLOW SCARS AND ALL
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarsandallpod/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scarsandallpod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586408706261
X: https://x.com/Scarsandallpod
BE A GUEST
Have a story worth telling? Email [email protected] or visit https://scarsnall.com/contact
ABOUT THE SHOW
We all have scars. Some people hide them well, others don't, but no one is exempt. Scars and All is a recovery podcast about the struggle behind the finished product, told honestly. Host Frank Wills sits down with people in recovery, families who've supported a loved one through it, doctors, nurses, clinicians, and everyone in between who have failed, sometimes more than once, and found the courage to try again. No filters. No muting. Just the real story behind the struggle, the pain, and the comeback. New episodes every two weeks.
IF YOU NEED HELP NOW
Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7)
This podcast shares personal experience and is not medical or clinical advice.
#ScarsAndAll #Recovery #Sobriety #AddictionRecovery #FrankWills
15 min
About SCARS AND ALL
From the publisher's feed
We all have scars. Some people hide them well, others don't, but the truth is, no one is exempt. We live in a world that only shows the finished product, the nice car, the good job, the happy…
family, and never the struggle it took to get there.
Scars and All is a podcast about that struggle, told honestly. Host Frank Wills sits down with a wide range of guests, people in recovery, families who've supported a loved one through it, doctors, lawyers, nurses, clinicians, and everyone in between, who have failed, sometimes more than once, and found the courage to try again. No filters. No muting. Just the real story behind the struggle, the pain, and the comeback.
If you're in early recovery, staying sober one day at a time, supporting someone you love through it, or just wondering how you ended up in the same place again, this show is for you. Recovery is possible. You can still become who you were meant to be, and it starts with getting honest.
New episodes released weekly.