The Unashamed Alcoholic

This week's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is Dr. Ashley Perkins.

Ashley Perkins, Pharm.D., is a mental health advocate with a background as a pharmacist and educator.  At the beginning of 2020, she started the process of forming We Matter Too, Inc. which focuses on helping those with mental health issues and mental disorders through first-person narratives of experience. We Matter Too, Inc. is an organization with the idea that those experiences can be the best support for others who are struggling with their own mental health and are seeking information.

I connected with Ashley online and we were drawn to each other in terms of cheering each other on.  I was so happy to finally connect with Ashley to hear her story of sobriety.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ashley.

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This week's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is music consultant Chad Richardson.

Chad, originally from Newfoundland, Canada, has been in the music industry for years. We connected on twitter a while back but recently got to talking about the label "alcoholic" and he agreed to come on the podcast. What followed was probably the most emotional interview I have done to date. I am so proud of Chad for opening up to me and sharing such genuine and heartfelt moments with me. I am really grateful he decided to come on this podcast and I know that his story will resonate with many people.  

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Chad.

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This week's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is Dylan Black, DJ on Boom 99.7

Dylan has been broadcasting on Ottawa's airwaves since 1999 and is extremely active in the community, hosting and participating in many charity events and fundraisers. Dylan has always been a huge supporter of me and the podcast, giving me on-air shout-outs since I launched the podcast.

Dylan and I got to talking and he revealed rarely drinks and has an understanding of addiction in the family. I thought the perspective of a man who doesn't often drink would be of interest to many listeners. 

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dylan.

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This week's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is President and Vice-Chancellor of Carleton University Benoit-Antoine Bacon.

Dr. Bacon is open about his own lived experience and advocates for open conversations about mental health and substance use. These efforts have been recognized with a Transformational Leader Inspiration Award from the Royal Ottawa Hospital, and the Honorary Presidency of the Canadian Psychological Association.

I wanted to hear about his decision to share his story, and what it was like doing so in the world of academia.  

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Bacon.

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This week's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is author Jessica Lahey.

A best-selling author, Jessica Lahey grew up surrounded by alcoholism and like many of us, it wasn't openly spoken about. Now 8 years sober herself, she wrote The Addiction Inoculation, a comprehensive resource parents and educators can use to prevent substance abuse in children. As an alcoholic and parent, I read this book cover to cover and highly recommend it. 

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jessica.

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This week's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is Doug Hempstead. If you live anywhere close to Ottawa, ON, chances are, you've heard Doug on the radio as CBC Ottawa's Traffic Specialist. What you may not be as familiar with is Doug's own story of sobriety.

I saw Doug post on Twitter a few months back that he was sober and the benefits he'd noticed already. His post got a lot of attention and support and I wanted to chat with him to learn about why he stopped drinking, what language he uses and how he sees life in sobriety now.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Doug.

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Today's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is Captain Robert Piché.

On August 24, 2001, Captain Piché was pilot of the Airbus A330 flying Air Transat Flight 236 and managed to land the aircraft safely in the Azores after it lost all power due to fuel exhaustion. This remains a record glide length for a commercial aircraft.

His story is depicted in the 2010 film Piché: The Landing of a Man (Piché: Entre ciel et terre).

After he was thrust into the spotlight, something else came to light for Captain Piché: his drinking.

I wanted to learn about how he knew he had a problem, what life is like now and if people recognize him more for his life-saving piloting or his openness around addiction.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Captain Piché

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This week's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is Ryan Hampton.

Ryan is an advocate, speaker, author, and media commentator. In recovery from a decade-long opioid addiction, Hampton has rocketed to the center of America’s rising addiction recovery advocacy movement. An alumnus of the Clinton White House, he’s worked with multiple non-profits and national recovery advocacy campaigns. He is now a prominent, leading face and voice of recovery advocacy and is changing the national conversation about addiction.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ryan.

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Today's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is actress Mimi Kennedy.

You have probably seen at least one thing in which Mimi has starred, like "Dharma & Greg" or "Mom". It was watching her play Marjorie on "Mom" that brought me to this interview. As many in recovery know, the tv show Mom centered around a group of women, all who shared the common bond of addiction. Mom was the first show that I saw that was a comedy and talked openly about AA. When I first got sober and started watching, I couldn't believe they could have success talking about such a stigmatized subject! But it was on for 8 seasons and a very popular show.

Mimi herself isn't in recovery, but her character Marjorie was and not only that, was the sponsor of many people's dreams. She had so much wisdom and offered comfort in recovery. I wanted to talk to Mimi about how she prepared to play Marjorie and what it's taught her since.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Mimi.

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Today's Unashamed Alcoholic guest is chef Andrew Zimmern.

Andrew is an American culinary expert, chef, restaurateur, television personality, radio personality, director, producer, entrepreneur, food critic, journalist, teacher, and author. He also has an unbelievable story of drug addiction and alcoholism and subsequent story of recovery.  At the end of his addiction the Travel Channel star ended up homeless and squatting in an abandoned building in lower Manhattan and stealing to pay for his drug habit. Today he is almost 30 years sober and he is very outspoken about his story in the hopes of helping others.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Andrew.

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