Adam Banks grew up in Northern Wisconsin, a place where he felt he needed to hide his sexuality. At 15 he started drinking in bars where the only requirement was a promise that your parent was in the bar with you.

As he got older he felt a strong need to leave the oppressive environment of his hometown, so he looked to the closest example of someone getting out, his neighbor who was a pilot. He became extremely driven and motivated and became one of the youngest pilots in his class.

He quickly realized the life of a pilot wasn’t how it was portrayed in movies. The life was a lonely one. Often his days involved sitting in a cockpit with one other person, then sitting alone in hotel rooms all around the country. The isolation was the perfect catalyst for his growing alcoholism. He found himself getting closer and closer to the legal lines of being a pilot. While caught up in his addiction he found himself drinking up to the minute he was required to stop. 

On September 11th he was flying a plane and upon discovering the tragedy his mind spun on how easily it could have been him in one of those planes. The trauma of the day stayed with him, adding more power to the strength to his addiction.

In the months after, there wasn’t much flying happening and they moved his homebase to New York City. In New York, he found the acceptance he’d been looking for in the bars and clubs of the city. Cocaine, steroids and other drugs entered his life and his addiction hit new heights.

Eventually, his using and his life as a pilot could no longer co-exist and he finally found lasting sobriety 16 years ago.

Today Adam runs an addiction clinic where he helps families find help for their loved ones.

Episode Resources

• Book | Navigating Recovery

Connect with Adam

• Website | adambanksrecovery.com

Connect with The Courage to Change

Lionrock Resources

Iman Gatti was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. Iman’s parents moved to Canada from Tunisia, North Africa, and she is extremely proud of her Arab heritage and the opportunity her parents gave her by emigrating to Canada to raise their Family.

Just two months before her seventh birthday, she witnessed her father brutally murder her mother. From that moment, Iman effectively became an orphan as her father was sentenced to 25 years in prison and she was put into foster care. She spent the next 12 years moving from home to home, experiencing abuse and neglect as she did her best to survive her childhood, day by day.

Today, Iman is a certified grief recovery specialist, transformational speaker and bestselling author.

She works with people to help them recover from grief and trauma, elevate their self-esteem, deepen their authenticity and step fully into the greatness they were born for.

Episode Resources

• Website | imangatti.com

Connect with Iman

Connect with The Courage to Change

Lionrock Resources

In this Q and A episode Ashley talks about 4 important things that every family should know about addiction. Learn about the 4 C's of addiction, how they might change shape based on the personality of your loved one and next steps when you think there might be a problem.

Ashley Loeb Blassingame has been clean and sober for 17 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.

Episode Resources

Connect with Ashley Loeb Blassingame

Connect with The Courage to Change

Dr. Alison Tarlow is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Florida, New Jersey, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. She is also a Certified Addictions Professional, Internationally Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, Qualified Clinical Supervisor, and Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator. 

Dr. Tarlow’s clinical work has focused on the treatment of substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders. In 2014 Dr. Tarlow became Clinical Director of a substance use disorder treatment program in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

Today, Dr. is the Chief Clinical Officer for Boca Recovery Center. Additionally, she uses her social media presence to educate on subjects that relate to substance use and recovery.

Episode Resources

Connect with Dr. Tarlow

Connect with The Courage to Change

Lionrock Resources

Judy Wilson was born in West Virginia but moved to San Francisco in the height of the Haight Ashbury, Flower Power, Free Love era. Her world opened up to things she’d never seen before. Everyone was doing drugs and having sex and she jumped into that life with both feet.

Her parents saw what was happening and moved the family back to West Virginia, but it couldn’t reverse her trajectory. In the first 6 months back she had 6 car accidents and she was picked up by the police six times and drove her car off a cliff. Her drinking and using only increased.

She eventually went to college where she met a man who ended up serving time in a minimum security prison. On a visit to his family’s home, the house caught fire and she stood in the yard where she watched him die. What followed was a rape, an abortion, a suicide attempt and a move to New York where she got a job in Wall Street.

There she partied at Studio 54, got mixed up with the Mafia and eventually married a man who hit her so hard that it caused brain damage. She found herself in the worst place imaginable. It was then that she went to get help for the first time.

The years that followed brought ups and downs in her healing journey before finally finding a career where she can help people find recovery. 

Judy’s story is enormous in scope and importance. Believe it or not I’m only scratching the surface of all she’s been through and experienced. And she’s been able to use all of it for immense good.

Episode Resources

Connect with Judy

• Facebook | @Judywilson

Connect with The Courage to Change

Lionrock Resources

In this Q and A episode Ashley talks about the 5 keys she's used to remain sober for 17 years. For someone who found it a challenge to string 2 days together, 17 years seemed impossible. Learn what Ashley had to learn the hard way and what will be most critical piece in remaining sober for the next 17 years.

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.

Episode Resources

Connect with Ashley Loeb Blassingame

Connect with The Courage to Change

Sonya Johnson’s parents divorced at 8. Sonya wanted a relationship with a father figure and ended up with someone she thought she could count on. The man her mother was dating was warm and he listened to her. He introduced her to things that she wasn’t allowed to do. Cigarettes, then weed, then ecstasy. And when he’d earned her trust, the sexual assault began. 

Sonya left her home to get away from him and began a cycle of drugs and abuse. Each new partner represented safety and then that safety went away. She eventually fled the state to get away from one such partner with the man that would eventually be her husband. They hoped to start over somewhere new and kick the drugs that had become a huge part of their lives. 

The drugs changed in their new state and they maintained some semblance of control, then came marriage and children, but her drug of choice lured her back home. Her use then went into secret from even her husband.

Eventually the drugs took over both of their lives once again. With it came arrests, relapses and finally losing custody of her kids. The guilt and shame over her life led to even greater drug use and she ran away to live in a world without running water, electricity or basic needs. All she was left with was dope and the next high.

It wasn’t until she finally arrived at a decisive moment, staring at the prospect of prison and looking at the clear picture of her life for the first time, that things finally changed.

Episode Resources

Connect with Sonya

Connect with The Courage to Change

Lionrock Resources

We're back with Season 5! We cover Ashley's anniversary, what's new in Season 5 and what's new in rawdogging life. It's been two long months but it will be worth the wait, we swear.

Episode Resources

Connect with Ashley Loeb Blassingame

Connect with The Courage to Change

We made it to the end of Season 4! Thanks for all who listened. In this episode Ashley and Scott host The Courage to Change New Year's Extravaganza. We've got highlights from Season 4. We've got games. We've got music. Put on your finest attire and stop by our place to ring in the new year.

Episode Resources

Connect with Ashley Loeb Blassingame

Connect with The Courage to Change

Desiree Moore grew up with addicted parents. She wanted desperately to live a different life and when she met someone at 18 who seemed like he came from a white-picket-fence family she couldn’t believe her luck. 

The two got married and began having kids right away. Her husband moved from job to job, trying to advance his career but eventually ran out of luck and was forced to return from the first job he’d left. Things changed drastically with him. His attitude and outlook turned dark. He began using pornography obsessively and that’s when the violence began.

Desiree did everything she could to stand up for herself and her kids. She kicked him out. She tried to battle against the violence she experienced, but finally the violence turned to her children. In 2008 her then husband murdered her daughter.

Desiree could not function. The guilt and sadness were crushing. She felt as if she could never be whole again. Her other daughter was put into foster care. She worked 3 jobs to try to survive but was homeless. The years passed without any hope on the horizon.

Then on the encouragement of a friend, she moved to a new town and her life changed completely. Things she never thought possible became true. While her daughter’s death would never leave her, but for the first time in a long time, life felt like it might be ok.

Today Desiree has a master’s degree and has been able to escape the generational poverty that seemed insurmountable. Her grief is cyclical, but she uses her story to help others have hope even in the darkest moments.

Episode Resources

• Website | desireemoorebooks.com

Connect with Desiree

• TikTok | @meet_desiree

Connect with The Courage to Change

Lionrock Resources