The Kelley Kitley Podcast

Take a moment to think about what your relationship has been like with alcohol. From how old you were when you took your first drink to where you are at this moment. How does that feel? Maybe you haven’t experienced a “rock bottom” but you hear a quiet whisper, “this isn’t working for me anymore.” Suzanne Warye went from a fashion influencer to a sober movement maker and is shifting the way we view alcohol use by offering “a softer place to land” in sobriety.She’s the host of The Sober Mom Life Podcast, creator of The Sober Mom Cafe, and author of the newly released book, “The Sober Shift” A modern day guide to living an abundant sober life. Next month, she celebrates 6 years sober and shares many tools and support for you to use along your sober curious or as she says, “sober for good” journey.

In this episode, we discuss how Suzanne decided to remove alcohol from her life, the movement she’s created, the ripple effect it’s had on her family and friends, and her firm belief that alcohol makes parenting worse, not better-despite what we’ve been conditioned to believe. Warye encourages us to let go of of the idea of what a “perfect” mom looks like and embrace a half assed, whole heart approach to motherhood.

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Almost 20 years ago, Jamie Tworkowski founded To Write Love on Her Arms. A non profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self injury, and suicide.

80% of young people first look for mental health support online. TWLOHA provides a therapy scholarship program, peer support groups, mental health tool kits, community, and connection. Today, 13,000 people connect with the organization daily.

In this episode Jamie discusses how this safe space came into existence, finding hope, asking for help, how the ocean and surfing are therapeutic tools for him, and his pivot four years ago to working with people more intimately as a coach, small group leader, and finding love in his 40’s. To learn more about Jamie’s work, visit his website.

Tworkowski’s New York Times best selling book, “If You Feel Too Much” : Things Found and Lost and Hoped For recently celebrated 10 years since publication and continues to have a strong impact to help others feel less alone and never give up hope!

“To hope is to give yourself to the future—and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.” Rebecca Solnit

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Today, for this special Thanksgiving episode, I’m joined by my four younger siblings, Bradley Rompza, Nicole Rompza, Emma Urquiaga, and AJ Rompza. We discuss holiday traditions, supporting each other through tough times, how each of us take care of our mental health, growing up in the restaurant and bar business and how that’s shaped who we are today as business owner’s in the health and wellness field.

In birth order:

Kelley Kitley, Owner Serendipitous Psychotherapy

Bradley Rompza, Owner The Burwood Tap

Nicole Rompza, Owner Omni Aesthetics, Co-Owner reNew Studio, Professional Brand Educator Green Envee

Emma Urquiaga, Chicago Public School Special Education Teacher and Co-Owner reNew Studio

AJ Rompza, Former D1 Athlete, Basketball Trainer, and Motivational Speaker

As we head into the holiday season, we encourage you to take time to reflect, focus on gratitude, let go of what no longer serves you, and if it’s not your family of origin that fills you up, find your chosen family!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kelleykitley.substack.com

In this episode Kelley, Dawn, and Taryn discuss how the She Recovers community came into existence in 2011, their journey as women in long term recovery as a mother and daughter, the heartbreak of watching a child in active addiction and setting boundaries, healing generational family trauma and the importance of community.

Dawn Nickel, PhD and Taryn Strong mother/daughter Canadian Co-Founders of She Recovers. They’re revolutionizing recovery for women around the world! They believe, “We are all recovering from something—no one should have to recover alone.”

SHE RECOVERS® Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity and a global grassroots movement serving more than 325,000 women and non-binary individuals in or seeking recovery from life challenges including trauma, substance use, grief and loss, eating disorders, burnout and moral injury, love addiction and mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

She Recovers offers on-line programs, podcast, retreats, yoga, coaching, local connections, and resources.

Purchase “She Recovers Everyday: Meditations for Women” by Dawn Nickel, Ph.D

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kelleykitley.substack.com

In this episode Biet discuss’ her heroin addiction to reinvention, the ritual that saved her, how we all suck at life and that’s normal. She opens our conversation singing Amazing Grace and closes the conversation with a beautiful guided meditation.

Biet is the world-renowned Spiritual Teacher and Best-Selling Author, dubbed the “David Bowie of Meditation.” As a musician, Biet weaves the world of pop culture and spirituality, teaching practical applications of ancient spiritual wisdom. The teachings are featured in Biet’s best selling book, ‘Don’t Just Sit There!’ published by Simon & Schuster.

Raised by a Shaman in New York City, Biet signed to Sony Records at the age of 19 as a singer/songwriter. Diving into a Rock & Roll lifestyle, Biet became a high profile DJ in the fashion and art scene in Manhattan. However, following a string of life changing events, including the sudden loss of her daughter, Biet turned to her lifetime study of meditation and launched the Guided By Biet event series. The meditation experience reached a contemporary audience in cultural spaces, including museums, hotels, and fashion shows. These groundbreaking events were scored by her own music and were the first time meditation was mixed with pop culture, creating the revolutionary new trend.

Featured in Vogue, Forbes, ELLE, and TIME magazine, and as the resident meditation guru at The Sundance Film Festival, 1 Hotels, MoMA, and SoulCycle, Biet advises spiritual best practices for hotels and brands. Biet is best known for modernizing the spiritual path and has been called the “Meditation Guru for the next generation.”

Follow her on instagram @guidedbybiet

Work with Biet

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Joyce Marter is an internationally renowned mental health thought leader and financial mindset expert, who considers it her life’s purpose to spread the Mental Wealth; to remove the shame and stigma from both mental health and financial stress and provide a global audience with practical strategies and tools to heal, recover, thrive and prosper.

In this episode, Joyce shares her personal experience and professional expertise as a top mental health financial mindset expert. She went from 100’s of thousands of dollars in debt and almost facing financial bankruptcy to the sale of a 7 figure business. She breaks down the psychology behind financial success.

Marter also offers advice about why having kids pay for college builds confidence and success and suggests asking schools to match scholarships received before making a final decision on a university.

Joyce is a wealth (pun intended) of knowledge and offers practical tools to transition from a financial mindset of scarcity + panic to finding freedom + joy.

For more guidance on enhancing your financial mindset or to book Joyce Marter as a speaker, visit: https://www.joyce-marter.com/ and purchase her book, “The Financial Mindset Fix:” A mental fitness program for an abundant life.”

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kelleykitley.substack.com

In this episode, Scott and Kelley discuss how he’s redefining addiction and recovery as a person with 28 years of sobriety, why trauma is the #1 health crisis, how he built a marketplace for healing and designed an app to put our phones down and connect in community. He shares his experience, strength, and hope living with dyslexia, how lifting others lifts us, and rewriting your next chapter.

Scott is recognized as a CNN Hero and Mental Health America recipient.

Strode is the Founder of The Phoenix a sober active community that fuels resilience and harnesses the transformational power of connection.Co-Founder of NewForm Recovery the first recovery & mental well-being marketplace-connecting you to thousands of events, tools, and communities. Author of Rise. Recover. Thrive.: How I Got Strong, Got Sober, and Built a Movement of Hope-link to purchase book in stories.

Sober a Documentary about Scott’s journey to sobriety through fitness and connection into a nationwide movement of over one million people united by the power of community in recovery.

TEDx MileHigh : Finding Sobriety on a Mountain Top

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kelleykitley.substack.com

A prominent advocate, speaker, author, and media commentator, Ryan Hampton travels coast-to-coast to add solutions to our national addiction and drug overdose crisis. In recovery from a decade-long opioid addiction, Hampton is regarded as a forefront expert and thought leader in America’s rising addiction recovery advocacy movement. For nearly a decade, he’s worked with multiple non-profits and addiction recovery organizing campaigns. He’s now a prominent, leading face and voice of recovery advocacy and is working to change the longstanding negative narratives about those impacted by addiction, recovery, and overdose.

In this episode, Hampton describes his experience in the pill mills in Florida to heroin, how to break free form an anxiety spiral, rage, loss, and the birth of Mobilize Recovery, and why cutting off contact from a child struggling with addiction isn’t always the answer.

Purchase Ryan’s books on link in title.

American Fix 2018: Inside the Opioid Addiction Crisis - and How to End It

Unsettled 2021: How the Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Failed the Victims of the American Overdose Crisis

Fentanyl Nation 2024: Toxic Politics and America’s Failed War on Drugs

Head to Ryan J Hampton website for more inspiring content and resources for addiction and recovery.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kelleykitley.substack.com

October is Trans Empowerment Month and Kelley couldn’t think of anyone more empowering than Charlotte Clymer! Kitley and Clymer met at the inspiring Clinton Global Initiative as content creators a few weeks ago in NYC.

In 2017, Clymer came out as transgender after decades of a deep knowing and attempting self convergent therapy. She’s the former Director of Communications at Catholics for Choice-abortion rights advocacy, former Press Secretary for Human Rights Campaign, 2020 Fortune Magazine 40 under 40 most influential people in government and politics.

In this episode, Kelley was so moved by Charlotte’s courage as they discuss being a soprano in the All City Girls Choir, conservative allies and unexpected barriers, strength and struggle growing up in the closet and the worst insult: how gender policies shape us. Charlotte is a bright light and provides hope for trans people and our entire county!

Subscribe to Charlotte Clymer “Charlotte’s Web” on Substack and follow her on instagram for empowering content on politics, religion, and culture.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kelleykitley.substack.com

Niro Feliciano graduated from Columbia University with a Masters of Science in Social Work and completed her internship at Beth Israel Medical Center. She also worked at Mount Sinai’s adolescent health center, one of the largest adolescent clinics in the country. She’s been in private practice in CT for nearly two decades as a certified cognitive therapist. She’s a co-founder of a multi-specialty mental health group Integrative Counseling and Wellness Group in Wilton, CT where she treat’s anxiety in adults and adolescents. She also helps clients with relationship issues and communication, self-esteem issues, personal goal development and stress management.

In this episode, Niro and Kelley discuss how every family faces mental health challenges, how faith and fate changed Niro’s family’s destiny, love, faith, and finding spiritual compatibility, and parenting through a child’s mental health crisis.

As a mom of 4, Niro knows first hand how stressful the holidays can be. In her 2nd book, ‘All is CALMish: How to Feel Less Frantic and More Festive During the Holidays’ releases TODAY, 10/14! It’s her love letter to women, a 31-day read to help you find peace and perspective through the holidays and into the new year. Purchase here.

Her first book, ‘This Book Won’t Make You Happy: Eight keys to finding true contentment’ A guide to moving away from anxiety and toward balance and calm can be purchased here.

Follow Niro_Feliciano on Instagram for regular TODAY Show segments, column links, and daily inspiration on mental health and parenting.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kelleykitley.substack.com