Pej was born in Germany but raised in Salt Lake City where he always felt different due to his skin color and nationality. In his youth he was bullied and encountered verbal, physical, and mental abuse within his home. Pej began experimenting with alcohol at six years old and experienced his first black out at the age of twelve.

At seventeen Pej was hung over, driving his friends to school when he had a fatal car accident causing the death of a young teenager riding his bike to school. The event caused Pej to go off the deep end, drowning his guilt, shame, and sadness with drugs and alcohol. 

Pej was later incarcerated as a juvenile and spent time in the psych portion of the facility as he was deemed a danger to his own life. After he was released, he became worse, dealing drugs and using excessively. 

By age 35 he’d experienced jail, institutions, homelessness and near death experiences. He finally threw up the white flag and asked for help. Pej now uses his experiences to help others through his work as an interventionist, recovery coach and the creator of multiple sober communities.

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Ashley Loeb Blassingame has been clean and sober for 16 years, she's a drug and alcohol counselor, interventionist, and the co-founder of a telehealth company called Lionrock Recovery that provides substance use disorder treatment. In this Q and A session she talks with producer Scott Drochelman about the challenges in caring for a loved one who is addicted to something. Folks are asked to lead with empathy, but they also have a right to be angry about the behaviors they're seeing. In this episode we talk about how to hold both ideas in your mind at the same time and tips for anyone caring for someone with an addiction. 

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Michelle’s passion for maternal mental health emerged after becoming a mother. Alcohol became a coping tool, eventually resulting in severe alcohol use disorder. 

As an educated professional working in the addiction field, she never imagined she would find herself struggling to find a healthy relationship with alcohol. 

Sitting on the bathroom floor, bawling her eyes out, she had a moment where she wondered how she let her undiagnosed postpartum depression and alcohol use disorder go undetected for so long.

She had worked so hard to build the life of my dreams, and once she was living it, all she wanted to do was escape.

She went from a depressed, anxious mom using alcohol daily to numb to living a life of confidence, freedom, and purpose. She chooses to recover out loud to let other’s know alcohol is not an accessory to motherhood. 

Michelle created Recovery is the New Black, a digital community that touches thousands.

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Dr. Michele Perron is a Clinical Supervisor, a private international addiction coach, counselor, speaker, and the author of “Tools for Life". She has worked in the field of addiction for over 15 years. Her experience includes working with groups and individuals in the critical stages of detox to high intensity inpatient, intensive outpatient, outpatient, extended care, after care, adolescent care, Medication Assisted Treatment, Telehealth care and TSM coaching. 

In this episode we talk about the unusual path that brought her to work in the addiction field and cutting edge treatment that presents a path to drinking moderation to many who have struggled with addiction. While this might sound impossible to those like myself who had a different path to recovery, it offers another option for some of those who struggle with addiction. Really interesting stuff, some of which challenged some of my own ideas.

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Ashley Loeb Blassingame has been clean and sober for 16 years, she's a drug and alcohol counselor, interventionist, and the co-founder of a telehealth company called Lionrock Recovery that provides substance use disorder treatment. In this Q and A session she talks with producer Scott Drochelman about the moment she realized she was addicted, how to recognize the signs, and your first steps if you suspect you might be addicted to something.

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• TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame

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Mescal was born in England and moved to Santa Monica at age 8 in the height of the Dogtown Era. Mescal grew up surrounded by skate and surf culture and also gang and drug culture. All this leading to him becoming, as he describes it, “a troubled, poor, latchkey kid of the 80s”

Mescal got sober in his twenties but 18 years later found his sobriety threatened when past trauma and unresolved mental health issues could no longer be contained. With the help of friends and treatment he’s been able to wade through these challenges going to grad school for social work and finding a meaningful relationship in the process.

Mescal’s story is an important one. In it we hear about what can happen when we treat the addiction without addressing the underlying mental health pieces. His story is one of continuing to push and do the hard work even when things have felt like they should be getting easier.

Ashley Loeb Blassingame and new producer Scott Drochelman discuss what's new for Season 4 and check in on Ashley's Recovery Journey.

It's so hard to believe that we are already at the end of Season 3! This season we produced 52 episodes, introduced our Ask the Expert, and met so many amazing people. Tune in to hear Ashley Loeb Blassingame and Ashley Jo recollect the exciting moments from Season 3, review the top 10 episodes of Season 3, review the top 10 episodes of all-time, and share some exciting announcements about what's happening between now and Season 4. Let's do this! 

• Enter to Win a Free 1-Year Subscription & Apply for Season 4 | lionrock.life/podcastcontact

Born at only 3lbs 6oz in 1962, Lesa Thomas was sent home to die but the universe had a different plan. Unfortunately, this plan didn’t mean that Lisa’s life would be easy as she experienced severe childhood neglect and trauma. As a result, Lisa feels almost no pain. She eventually turned to alcohol to cope, but found Lionrock Recovery in early 2020. 

Today she lives in Texas with her spouse whom she has been with for more than 33 years. She has three children - two deaf, two the same age, and two adopted. Lisa says that nature is her religion and the one thing that makes her happy. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, baking, taking care of plants, and trying to eliminate paper in her life. She works from home and loves the fact that her commute is across the yard and the traffic is merely a multitude of squirrels and birds that cross her path.

Leanette was born into an addicted family. Her father was a severe alcoholic and her mother struggled with drug use. When her parents' lives became overrun with drugs and alcohol, Leanette decided to leave. She was only 13 years old. 

She dropped out of school in the eight grade and began couch surfing to make ends meet. She spent much of her life just trying to figure out how to live a normal life.

Eventually, she joined the Job Corps, got her GED, and got married (a few times). 

At the age of 39, Leanette enrolled in community college with no intention of getting a degree. After many years in community college, Leanette went on to get a bachelor's degree. Today, Leanette is a SUD Counselor and with a Masters degree in Clinical Counseling from Bellevue University.