Talk Recovery Radio

Adrienne Cossom is a clinician with Gambling Support BC working at SHARE Family and Community Services in Port Moody. She is also the host and producer of the podcast, Fold em: Help for Gambling Problems. Whether you want to decrease or stop gambling or support a family member who struggles with gambling, Adrienne can help get you there. She has a graduate degree in counselling and has specialized in problem gambling for 10+ years. Counselling is free and confidential.

Fold em: Help for Gambling Problems is a podcast that features interviews with gamblers and their families, as well as counsellors with experience addressing this issue. It is produced and hosted by service providers with Gambling Support BC

Calvin will share his experiences with getting pulled into gambling problems while in recovery from an alcohol addiction. I can talk about behavioural addictions, with a focus on gambling and how gaming, internet use, shopping, eating and sex can also get excessive. He and I can share what we know about how to recognize the signs of cross-addiction and protect from this while in recovery.

Social Media Tags:

https://www.facebook.com/foldempodcast/

https://www.instagram.com/foldempodcast/

https://www.facebook.com/sharefcs/

https://www.instagram.com/sharesociety/

Website:

https://www.gamblingproblemhelp.ca/blog-2

https://sharesociety.ca/

Recovery Month Ontario By proclaiming the month of September as Recovery Month, the Province of Ontario recognizes that people and families across the province often face challenges related to their addictions and mental health but can recover and be treated effectively. While leaders and organizations across the global mental health and addictions sector mark September as Recovery Month, the Governments of Canada and Ontario have yet to proclaim this month to recognize and support Ontarians recovering from addiction. While Ontario continues its battle against opioid use and addictions, Recovery Month will increase public awareness of the types of addictions Ontarians face every day and encourage people to seek help.

By proclaiming Recovery Month here in Ontario, individuals and families affected by addiction may begin to realize they are not alone, and that there are many people and organizations willing to help them in their recovery journey. About Minister Tibollo For over 30 years, Michael Tibollo, has been a devoted husband, father, seasoned lawyer, and genuine advocate for the Vaughan-Woodbridge community. Tibollo is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Psychology from the University of Southern California. Among his many accomplishments, Michael Tibollo is a distinguished lawyer with over 30 years of experience. Tibollo is married to Mrs. Silvana Tibollo, and is the proud father to three children. For the last 10 years, Tibollo has also been working and advocating for Caritas, which is a residential, therapeutic community seeking to help those suffering from addictions and mental health. In addition, Michael Tibollo was instrumental in the creation of Italian Heritage Month in Canada.

Convergence Healing

This is Peter Bedard and I've been reflecting on what an amazing day I just had. I'm so blessed to be in a place in where I can assist people in creating life altering changes in their world and, most importantly, within themselves. You know how impossible it seems to heal at times? How some people live in fear of never being able to heal and end up relying on drugs and surgery to help them survive? Well, that was me. I healed myself of everything from chronic anxiety to arthritis, asthma, fibromyalgia, depression, sciatica, chronic allergies, constant pain, and I died (yup you read that right) and came back to a broken body, a mind trapped in fear, and a broken spirit. If you're still reading then quite possibly you can understand at least some of these things. I've healed from all this and more and I can help you do the same. With a MA in Consciousness Studies and my extensive training in Hypnotherapy I have helped thousands of people find their convergence healing. For over 15 years I have worked with chronic pain (physical, emotional, spiritual). I have an expertise working with anxiety, addiction, and chronic conditions and in healing myself I developed a tried and true process for creating wellness that I've come to call Convergence Healing.

"Convergence Healing: Healing Pain with Energetic Love"

About the Book: Millions of people suffer from some form of chronic pain (whether it be physical, emotional, or existential), and this discomfort silently drains too many of us of our highest potential and our power. Living in a state of unending pain pushes people to the margins of their own lives and robs them of direct access to their most authentic, essential, worthy selves. Pain, ironically, renders too many beautiful voices mute; it cripples the body, leaving too many dancing souls lost. And nobody knows this better than Peter Bedard. One night, seventeen-year-old dancer, Peter Bedard, died in a traffic accident. The white-bearded messenger waiting at the gate of heaven sent him back to Earth with a task to help others heal. After a decade of debilitating physical and emotional suffering, Peter uncovered an empowered, new way of healing chronic pain without medicine—convergence healing. In his groundbreaking approach, Bedard invites us to look at our pain as the greatest source of wisdom we will ever have. Instead of medicating it, trying to break with it, or somehow outwit it, he invites us to surrender to our pain so that we may finally integrate our losses, our transitions, our heartaches, and our mortality and make peace with the everlasting truth of who, uniquely, we truly are. Through the author's own near-death experience and other compelling stories and case studies, Convergence Healing offers a whole new body-mind paradigm for those interested in living a balanced, well-integrated life.

Talk Recovery Radio is powered by New West Recovery, Last Door is a non-profit organization that has been in operation since 1984. www.TalkRecoveryRadio.com

If you'd like to learn more about our work and approach, get in touch with us online or by phone at:

Website: https://lastdoor.org/

Email: [email protected]

Help line: 1-855-465-2851

This week on Talk Recovery Radio Ruth Spencer, author of "The Thirteenth Overdose: Parenting my son through FASD and addiction" is joined by her son Tim to talk about addiction in the family and the affect recovery has had on their family. Second on the show Dennis Berry is a best-selling author, national speaker, and coach and has been sober since 2003, Dennis is also the host of "The Funky Brain Podcast."

Tim is an adult with drug addictions and FASD. Living on the streets, he overdoses so often the first responders know him by name. He steals to buy himself heroin. He serves time, breaches probation, and returns to jail. His health deteriorates. With broken bones, infections, Hep C and heart failure, Tim gains the help of police and other support systems to triumph over his addiction. In an honest portrayal from a mother's perspective, Spencer puts in the front seat of her family's daily struggle with her son's addiction.

About Tim:

My name is Tim. I am 45 years old and father of 2. I had an interesting beginning to my life. I was born with FASD. Then put in foster care and later adopted by a very nice family at age of 18 months old. I spent my whole life with them. My FASD plays a huge part in my life decisions, both good and bad. But my family was always there to support me and hope one day I would see there was a better way of life. It only took me 26 years of drinking and drugging, before I decided to sober up. I am coming up to 3 years sober in August. Now that I am sober I am seeing the perspectives of my family and friends, and how much my addiction affected them. I am very lucky to be able to spend time with my kids. It has been quite the journey.

Dennis Berry is a Life Mastery Coach and has been working with people worldwide for over 15 years. With modern technology, he can work with anybody anywhere via Zoom.

He has been sober since April 8, 2003 during which time he became a successful businessman, athlete, and family man. His journey in recovery helped him find his mission in life, which is to help others achieve inner peace and success, and master every area of their lives. Dennis knows what it is like to be helpless and hopeless with no positive direction. He was able to climb out of the gutter and transform his life and he spends his life helping others do the same. If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired and you are ready to make changes in your life, book your first FREE consultation today! You will see some light at the end of the tunnel.

About the Book: Author and motivational speaker Dennis C. Berry delivers his witty unique spin on our turbulent world along with a groundbreaking solution to navigate it that will transform your life, settle your mind, and bring you inner peace and success beyond your wildest imagination.

He shares his personal journey with raw honesty and shows how he was able to overcome alcoholism and drug addiction, health problems, financial difficulties, relationship issues and basically just deal with "growing up" a little later in life. You will learn principles that you can apply in every aspect of your life to help make you wealthier, healthier, happier, and wiser.

Funky Wisdom contains teachings from Taoism, Buddhism, and other ancient principles, along with modern day philosophy, spiritual principles, and solutions to living in today's busy world. It is a compelling program that will transform you from the inside out and leave you with a blueprint that will guide you through the rest of your life feeling happy and free. It applies to anybody looking for more inner peace, success, and happiness.

This week on Talk Recovery Radio Brianne Davis an author, podcast host and person in long term recovery from sex and love addiction joins us on Facebook live and Co-op Radio 100.5fm.

About Brianne Davis

Whether lighting up the big screen or calling the shots behind the scene, actor, director, producer, and writer Brianne Davis is one of the most electric talents to storm Hollywood by force. She recently wrapped two seasons as series regular in History Channel's "Six" and a role in the upcoming season of Netflix's "Lucifer."

Originally from Atlanta, Brianne moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. Her first lead role came in 2005 with the blockbuster hit Jarhead, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal. Her credits include recurring roles on Hulu's "Casual," TNT's "Murder In The First," HBO's "True Blood," as well as FX's "Nip/Tuck," "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS' "CSI: Miami," ABC's "Desperate Housewives," and HBO's "True Blood."

Not only an actor, Brianne is also an accomplished director and producer. Thriving behind the camera, as much as in front, she has produced five films with her production company Give & Take Productions. She has directed two features: "The Night Visitor 2: Heather's Story" and "Deadly Signal," which premiered at the Sites Film Festival in Spain. Brianne is the co-creator of three female-driven TV Series, "Take Back The Night," "Into Me You See" and "Secret Life." She's currently pitching them to networks with her producing partner/husband, Mark Gantt.

Brianne recently finished writing her first book, "Secret Life of a Hollywood Sex and Love Addict, a roman à clef novel based on a decade in recovery, and a little creative license. The book arrives in 2021. In March of 2020, she published an article for the HuffPost about her ten years of recovery from sex and love addiction.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son Davis and their dog Bear.

Brianne talks about how sex and love addiction can be very grey. It is not as simple as drinking or using drugs. Brianne says people who are sex and love addicts are addicted to people. Brianne explains sex addiction as people who are addicted to one-night stands, cheating in a relationship, having multiple relationships at once and having one foot in and one foot out in a relationship. Sex addicts are people who are more addicted to the sexual act of a relationship. Love addiction on the other hand is addicted to fantasy, romance, bad relationships, people who go back to the same relationship when they know the person is unavailable to be in a relationship. Someone who struggles with Sex and Love addiction has a progressive brain disease, people become addicted to people and to keep up the relationship they do sexual things to keep up the relationship.

The fellowship people attend who are Sex and Love addicts is Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. Brianne has been sober in the fellowship for eleven and a half years, and she talks about what her bottom line looks like. Brianne said her sobriety depends on her staying above her bottom line, her bottom line is things she was doing before she got sober. Brianne was not allowed to cheat on her partner, she was not allowed to text email or talk to any men whatsoever, also get rid of all men in her life completely. Brianne says she would have to go to a restaurant and look down and not make eye contact with the waiter because what she did was put out a kind of energy to flirt with others, and to intrigue with her. Brianne would walk down the street and make sure people look at her and notice her as she wanted everyone's attention she explains.

Brianne says her first year of sobriety she did not work as an actor. Brianne said she could not be in character when she was an empty shell of a human being. Brianne explains it as like putting a mask on top of a mask on top of a mask, also her first year of sobriety she did not have sex with her boyfriend, who is now her husband. Brianne and her boyfriend had very clear boundaries at the beginning of her sobriety such as her boyfriend not being able to comfort her when she was struggling, and he could not be there for her when she needed him. Brianne says it was the best thing to keep the relationship was to let it go for a while to let her get well.

If you are wondering if you struggle with sex and love addiction you can do a 40-questionnaire survey online if you go to google and type in "40 self diagnose question sex and love addicts anonymous".

Brianne's Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Imagine if Sex and the City's Samantha was an addict and her drug of choice is MEN. Go on a hilarious, inspiring, and at times, shocking journey as Roxanne conquers her fears, changes her ways, gets closer to healthy relationships and embraces self-love a little more each day.

After years of working as an image-obsessed actress in Hollywood, Roxanne finds herself at rock bottom from a disease that is anything but glamorous. In her first year of recovery, Roxanne has to take accountability for her past. From tales of being mistaken for a prostitute at the Hotel Bel-Air to botching a threesome attempt with an A-list celebrity, she must face the truth about herself and stop playing the victim.

Roxanne's odyssey of using sex and love—as destructive and beguiling as an alcoholic reaching for a bottle—is a veritable rollercoaster of ups and downs, laughter and tears, and a true testament to facing your absolute truth and conquering your fears. So take a front-row seat into this complex world of sexual addiction, love addiction and the transformational power of releasing your shame and living a sober life.

Secret Life of a Hollywood Sex & Love Addict has the vibrant, relatable vibe of chick lit, the soul-baring honesty of a memoir and the wisdom of a self-help book. In this unique roman à clef novel, Brianne Davis shares her own intimate experience with the transformational power of the twelve-steps, providing strength and hope for anyone who wants to change their life forever:

• The 12-steps of recovery are broken down to help both the addict and those that love them.
• Identifying and isolating behaviors of sexual addiction, and the road to sexual health recovery
• Looking inside and finding out the WHY.
• Dating sober and building a community of sober women.
• Love addiction, the willingness to be honest, self-care and becoming authentic.
• Practical tips and tools to enhance your life, let go of shame and embrace self-love.

Brianne talks about her book "Secret Life of a Hollywood Sex and Love Addict" when she was asked why she wrote the book and why she wanted to write the book, Brianne responded by saying she was never planning on writing a book. Brianne did not want to break her anonymity and be a speaker and author but when she got to her 10-year sober mark she got this overwhelming feeling of being of service bigger than herself. Brianne's husband found a writing class that he suggested she take, and Brianne was very close minded at first. After being suggested again and again to take the class Brianne finally did and ended up writing the first draft of the book in 45 days.

Brianne later wrote an article for the Huff Post and when it came out, she thought her acting career was going to be over because everyone would know she was a sex and love addict, but after the article came out, nothing happened. No one said anything and she realized how small she really was in this world and her sharing her story was not as big as a deal as she thought, and no one was going to judge her or she wont lose her job. Brianne explains one thing she did learn is that once she shared her story on a global stage, that last bit of shame she had went away, knowing her story is out there helping people.

Buy The Book

This week on Talk Recovery Radio Dr. Daniel Barton joins the show to talk about The Nashville Ketamine Centre and ketamine infusion therapy, on the second half of the show Dr. Sheila Forman talks about the question "Do you use Food to Cope?" on Coop Radio 100.5fm and on Facebook Live.

My name is Daniel Barton and I come from a long line of "Bartons" that have cared for the mental health needs of Nashvillians for over 3 decades. My father is a psychiatrist and educator, and one of the three founders of Alive Hospice. My mother is a clinical social worker, marital therapist, who along with a few colleagues, was responsible for bringing the mediation movement to the state of Tennessee. My brother practices psychiatry in Nashville as well. I am honored to carry on this tradition by sitting on the frontier of a new and exciting chapter in psychiatry and being one of the few psychiatrists in the state to offer ketamine therapy for patients in the Nashville community and beyond.

About The Nashville Ketamine Center: The Nashville Ketamine Center offers cutting edge ketamine infusion therapy for those dealing with treatment resistant depression of both unipolar and bipolar depression. Ketamine offers fast relief of symptoms for those that have been suffering for too long. We treat patients in the comfortable and calming environment of our Nashville, Tennessee office. We also serve the communities of our neighboring cities of Memphis, Chattanooga, and Knoxville as well as the nearby states of Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Mississippi.

Website | Facebook

Are you tired of gaining and losing the same pounds? Are you weary of starting yet another diet? Would you like a chance to change your relationship with food using a new approach based on both science and age-old wisdom? If yes, it's time for you to learn the art of mindful eating. Mindful eating does not focus on weight loss per se, but rather on becoming more aware of patterns of inappropriate eating, and provides tools for making sustainable changes in these patterns. It is a non-diet approach, designed to increase mindful awareness of experiences related to eating and to decrease mindlessness and unhealthy habits.

Based on a foundation of daily mindful meditation, our mindfulness-based eating program, TAME Your Appetite: The Art of Mindful Eating, teaches you a new way of relating to yourself, your food, your eating and your body.

You will learn to balance your eating and experience true culinary delight and satisfaction.

As a result, you will find that you choose quality over quantity, enjoy food more, eat less, and end the cycle of deprivation, overeating, and guilt. As you gradually shift away from your current eating habits into healthy mindful ones, TAME Your Appetite becomes your path to peace with food and freedom from emotional overeating. You will go from policing yourself to honoring yourself. From mindlessly reacting to mindfully responding.

Weight loss is an inevitable by-product of naturally eating less food, which happens as you become more mindful of your choices, sense of fullness and taste satisfaction. By creating new day-to-day patterns of eating less food and sustaining these new patterns indefinitely into the future, your body will find its natural right weight. In time your weight will reflect what is right for you.

So, if you are tired of yet another round of diets, make a commitment to mindful-based eating and once and for all, TAME Your Appetite.

Facebook | Twitter | Website

Today, Robb Kelly, PhD is a world-renowned addiction expert who believes in treating the problem, not the symptoms. He has worked for many years helping addicts and alcoholics to RECOVER their lives from the disease of addiction.

Based on his own experiences working with addicts and alcoholics over the last 20 years, combined with a PhD in psychology, and as a recovered alcoholic himself – he is a triple threat against the disease of addiction.

Dr. Kelly's philosophy may seem unconventional and unorthodox. But, they are based on extensive research and behavior studies that he conducted over the last 20 years. He pulls the disease out of his clients and empowers them to fight their disease head on.

Some people have referred to him as "The Gordon Ramsay of the Addiction World" because of his direct, no-nonsense, and candid approach to recovery. He has discovered that in order to get his clients to change their thinking, they must confront their disease with candor and vigor. Dr. Kelly works to "make the road of recovery less of a mystery tour."

Robb Kelly, PhD has worked with thousands of people including celebrities of film, music, and sports. He has lectured at many high profile universities and hospitals on the subject of addiction, and is recognized as a leading authority on addiction recovery methods that are changing lives all around the world.

Today, he is living his dream, instead of dreaming of living.

About the book: Daddy, Daddy Please Stop Drinking chronicles the true life story of my personal fight from homeless alcoholic to living a life beyond my wildest dreams. My name is Dr. Robb Kelly and today I run a successful alcohol and addiction recovery business but I had to travel to hell and back to make me the man I am today. I am not sure when I crossed the line from social drinking to alcoholism, I just know I did and my life would never be the same again. I was married with children and had a great career, life could not have been better. The only problem is that I drank too much, and when I did I lost control. When I enjoyed my drinking I couldn't control it, and when I controlled my drinking I couldn't enjoy it. Finally, alcoholism gripped me hard and like most people I sank really quickly. I lost everything: my business, my home, my wife, and most importantly my two young daughters.

I had a PhD from Oxford University but went from a comfortable home to homelessness and lived on the mean streets of Manchester England for a year asking for handouts to purchase liquor. While homeless, I was arrested several times, prone to blackouts that lasted for weeks, and was assaulted physically and sexually. I have had several near brushes with death, including an attempted suicide.

So great was my despair of my alcoholic and addictive condition that I just wanted to die. On a cold and wet English night, I fell to my knees and begged God to help me find a way from the endless nightmare that was my existence and moments later a man carrying a bible rounded the corner and offered me a helping hand. My plea that cold night opened the door to sobriety and I found the answer I was looking for. To my amazement it had been there all along, I just had to hit rock bottom before I would accept it.

Since recovering from a hopeless state of alcoholism, it has become my life mission to assist other hopeless, chronic alcoholics and addicts and educate all I could on the dangers and warning signs of alcohol and addiction. That is my purpose and my passion, to assist the still struggling alcoholic and addict recover their lives. I was an alcoholic whose symptoms and not my disease were treated every trip to hospital. My gripping story of success to failure to success proves that it's never too late to recover your life from alcoholism and addiction.

Everyone had written me off as dead twenty years ago but I'm still standing and I have one hell of a story to share. If you're struggling with drug and alcohol abuse yourself or are the loved one of an alcoholic or addict, this book will inspire you to never give up hope. Today, I'm living the dream instead of dreaming to live.

ROBERT KANTER, THE WORLD 'S MOST RECOGNIZED INTERNATIONAL RECOVERY AND FAMILY ADVOCATE ADDRESSING THE OPIOID CRISIS, APPEARS IN THE MEDIA AROUND THE WORLD TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE GLOBAL SURGE IN DRUG OVERDOSE FATALITIES WITH LIVE INTERVIEWS ON CTV NATIONAL TELEVISION (RADIO 89.3 FM) AND NEWSRADIO 103.9 (NEW YORK) AND IS QUOTED IN ONLINE ARTICLES ON THE NATIONAL REVIEW (U.S.A) AND THE HILL (WASHINGTON D.C.)

Kanter's global advocacy work encompasses a wide range of critical topics including the impact of COVID 19 on the epidemic, the Purdue Pharma class action opioid settlement, family support services legislation in the United States Congress, and the worldwide stigma of substance use disorder, which he references in an article he authored for the SHINGETSU NEWS. His heartwarming story of how he and his daughter both recovered from substance use disorder and the genesis of his advocacy work can be found in an article he authored for PARENTS.com his op-ed in the JERUSALEM POST and is featured in a live VIDEO PODCAST found on his YOUTUBE CHANNEL with his daughter. NEW YORK, March 2 3 2021 Robert Kanter, the world's most respected international recovery and family advocate addressing the opioid epidemic, is interviewed on live television and radio, authors numerous articles and op-eds, and is quoted in digital publications around the world to raise awareness of the significant uptick in global overdose deaths. The statistics are alarming.

This week on Talk Recovery Radio, 2 guests, one full hour. Kathy Moser founder of "Music for Recovery" and Peter Alessandria author of "Be Bigger Than You Think You Are" joins us on Co-op Radio 100.5fm.

Guest 1: Kathy Moser, founder of "Music for Recovery"

"Music for Recovery has been providing evidence-based, clinically valuable music programming nationally in the US for over 10 years.

In 2016 our work was studied by the Recovery Research Institute at Harvard Medical School, Dr. John Kelly lead researcher, and found to be beneficial to people in residential treatment. (let me know if you'd like a copy of the study)

The goal of our work is to give clients hands-on experience developing recovery skills through engaging musical programming including group and individual song writing, recovery concerts, choirs, performance, beat making, and learning to play musical instruments.

We offer song writing workshops, concerts, installation of music equipment and collaborate to design clinically integrated music programming that supports your facility's treatment milieu.

We have worked with a wide variety of recovery clients including adolescents and adults, both SUD primary and dual diagnosis, gender specific and mixed.

We have experience working in detox, short-term residential, long-term residential, sober living and IOPs.

The over 700 songs we have written with clients have been streamed over 46,000 times post treatment on our SoundCloud Page. Here are some of our Greatest Hits

Music for Recovery has consistently been rated by clients and staff as one of the most helpful and engaging elements of treatment."

Website | Soundcloud | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram

BACKGROUND: Carr et al. (2013) cite the need for further attention to Music Therapy's effects in inpatient settings. Drawing a link between the theoretical concepts of group therapy and data specifically evaluating Music Therapy programs seems suited to the incipient status of much of this work. Yalom's Therapeutic Factors (TFs) are a widely accepted theoretical framework for the aspects of group therapy that serve to effect change in group members (1995). Music Therapy appears to derive its therapeutic effects from an interaction of these factors. Current literature documents Music Therapy's ability to instill reconnection with previous states, companionship amongst the group, and perceived equality with the therapist unique to the music modality, as well as instillation of hope and positive expression (Ansdell and Meehan, 2010).

"Music for Recovery" (MFR) is one such example of Music Therapy which is available to facilities offering services to patients with substance use disorders. The MFR program, run by a musician in long-term recovery, offers on-site recovery songwriting workshops and performances to explore how creativity can support recovery and enhance treatment experiences. A program evaluation was developed to measure the therapeutic effects of participation in MFR in patients of residential addiction treatment facilities.

I'm Peter Alessandria – and I would like to invite you to "Be Bigger Than You Think You Are!" This book will show you how to overcome your limiting thoughts and beliefs so you can finally have the life you want.

In 2009, after working for nearly 20 years as an entertainment attorney, I lost my business to the Global Financial Crisis. I tried everything I could to get it going again, but nothing seemed to work. Eventually I came to a crossroads: what was I going to do with the rest of my life? Several years earlier I had fallen in love with photography. When it became clear my law business wasn't going to come back anytime soon, I decided to turn a negative into a positive and pursue my passion for photography full time.

Unfortunately, things didn't go so well at first. For more than three years I struggled to get my new business going. I initially thought it was the economy. Then I thought it was my lack of formal education in art or photography. Next I thought it was the competition from all the other photographers out there. At one point, I was even sure it was because I didn't have the latest and greatest camera equipment. But it turns out none of that was the problem. What was holding me back were my own negative thoughts and beliefs about myself. I had a very negative self-image when it came to being a creative person. I was sure people wouldn't like my work, so I lived in fear of rejection and criticism. It was quite eye-opening to see that my self-image was the cause of all my problems.

As someone who spent almost 25 years in three different 12 Step Programs, I've learned that taking responsibility for our choices and actions is at the core of any recovery program. The inventory and amends process suggested in Steps 4, 8 & 9 form the basis for this. Yet I've found that taking responsibility by making an amends is not always as straightforward as it seems.

Buy the book | Website | Instagram | Facebook

Talk Recovery Radio Jesse Harless author of "If Not You, Then Who?", talks about his story of addiction and recovery Jesse is also the founder, CEO of Entrepreneurs in Recovery. Jesse joins us for a full hour on Talk Recovery Radio on Co-op Radio 100.5fm.

Addicted to opioids and standing before a federal judge for narcotics possession, twenty-two-year-old Jesse Harless believed his life was over.

It was only beginning.

That rock-bottom moment led Jesse on an odyssey of following his intuition into the unknown, finding recovery, and helping others do the same.

In If Not You, Then Who?, Jesse holds nothing back as he shares the raw devastation and miraculous triumph of his own addiction story. He discovers that recovery is far more than just sobriety; it is a lifelong journey of healing, growth, and transformation that requires consistent action.

He then shares his FEARS recovery toolkit, which contains the same tools, techniques, and habits he used to co-create a life he's passionate about living:

• Focus on your recovery

• Elevate your recovery

• Appreciate your recovery

• Resilience in recovery

• Self-care in recovery

Your story matters. No matter who you are, where you've been, or what you've done—nothing has been wasted. It's possible to co-create the life of your dreams. The time is now.

If not you, then who?

Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733531610

You are resilient. You were born for this. Starting the journey of becoming your best self does not need to be an insurmountable obstacle. All the tools and strategies you need to reach your full potential are available. Most are hidden inside of you already. My name is Jesse Harless, and my mission is to change the addiction and mental health recovery world one conversation at a time.

At Entrepreneurs in Recovery®, we look to empower people striving to live a life of transformation and abundance. All voices must be included to learn from their collective intelligence, wisdom, and experiences. Building communities of recovery is an essential part of our future.

Entrepreneurs in Recovery® training uses the same approach called upon by Habitat for Humanity, YMCA, BMW, Keller Williams, Vitamix, and NASA. I'm currently a member of the XCHANGE Faculty team. I've integrated the XCHANGE approach into my workshops, training, and events.

The mission of Entrepreneurs in Recovery® is to empower people to move out of a cycle of destructive hopelessness and help them harness their strengths to build healthy purpose-driven habits.

I am Brian Meister. I work as a counselor/therapist with People with a Gambling Disorder. I speak on the topic of Gambling Disorder. I am a Person with a Gambling Disorder and a Drug Use Disorder in recovery. I will share with you my own perspective in this blog on the cost of gambling to individuals, families, society whether the gambling is legal or not. I will disclose that as the title above alludes to I believe the costs of gambling outweigh the benefits. I believe that the prolific expansion of gambling in the US, and in Illinois, was not done in a thoughtful way either economically, and more importantly, with a social conscience. The ideas I will present will be my own; not my employers, not any recovery group or any other party I am connected to. I will use, and cite, data from others though some of the citations will be anonymous. I do not believe I have all the answers to effect change for the benefit of individuals, families, and society from the negative effects of the proliferation of gambling. I do know that I want myself and others to have a voice in finding solutions to the horrible effects from gambling. I know that my thoughts are the collection of all the wisdom and data I have gleaned from others that have been integrated in my being along with my own experiences. I will soon write a post explaining why I chose the title above. Before that I want to complete a resource page for those experiencing their own gambling disorder, experiencing the effects of someone else's gambling disorder, or for those interested to learn more about the topic.