Nick Padlo only went to the college recruiting event for the promise of free food at his favorite restaurant. It turned out that no food was served, but a 3 minute video that was shown ended up changing the course of his life. It was a US Army recruitment video and Nick went on to attend West Point, serve in combat overseas, and launch a business c…

Angelo Lagares is the Founder and Director of Latino Recovery Advocates (LARA), a nonprofit organization that works to make policy changes that will increase culturally appropriate recovery services. LARA's vision is of a world where no one suffers from language disparities when it comes to getting help. Angelo's story includes lived experience and…

Yamila Rollan Escalona is the founder of the nonprofit Yaya Por Vida, an organization that helps those struggling with substance use in southeast Florida. Yamila was motivated to start this effort after losing her sister Yaritza (Yaya) to addiction. Yaya was a very talented artist throughout her life and her love of the arts provided a natural path…

Keegan Wicks brings both lived experience and professional expertise to his role as National Advocacy and Outreach Manager for Faces & Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) In his annual September visit to the podcast, Keegan talks about what is happening on a federal level in the area of recovery, opportunities to get invoved in the upcoming International Re…

Alex De Marco is no stranger to financial distress. Childhood experiences and ill-advised business ventures convinced him that financial education, as boring as that might sound, was a key component for a healthy relationship with money. Eventually he combined his computer software skills with a desire to help those who had run into difficulties wi…

Maureen Greeley's journey to the head of the nationally recognized Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling (ECPG) included stops at the San Diego Zoo, a sanctuary for wolves, and communications work for the Washington State Lottery. This broad range of experience has informed her approach and deepened her ability to relate to a variety of individuals…

Christopher Toomey is a SMART Facilitator in Gulfport Mississippi. After years spent in active addiction, he realized he needed to make changes. As a Navy Veteran, he decided to go to inpatient treatment at the VA, which is where he learned about some SMART tools. In this podcast Christopher talks about his journey to becoming a trained facilitator…

Jody Bechtold is the CEO of The Better Institute and an Internationally Certified Gambling Counselor. She is co-author of the Gambling Disorder Treatment Handbook: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals, and she presents both nationally and internationally about education and treatment for problem gambling. In this podcast Jody points out that sui…

David Nooks is a Peer Recovery Support Specialist at the Foundation for Recovery in Las Vegas. He is also a musician who believes in the healing power of rock & roll. After many years spent misusing substances and seeking escape David decided to embrace recovery. In this podcast David talks about his journey to recovery and how he became interested…

The term "wellness" is thrown around in the context of many different things, including in the world of recovey from substance and behavioral disorders. It's meaning can be fuzzy and border on cliche. But when Randy Williams uses the word wellness he keeps it real. Williams is Founder of Willmore Wellness, and his lived experience with addiction an…

DeeAnna Nichols is a Certified Peer Support Specialist at ChangePoint Behavioral Health in Lewiston Idaho. Her recovery journey changed significantly when she discovered SMART in 2015. After trying to attend a SMART meeting and finding no one there that day, DeeAnna decided to take the training to become a facilitator. In effect, she took charge of…

Michael Marcum is a licensed professional counselor at the VA, and a former Army sniper. By his own admission he changed "countries, continents, and careers" to try and escape the reality of his substance misuse which plagued him for decades. After multiple stints in rehab and other pathways to recovery, he found SMART and it transformed his life. …

The Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness (USARA) is a statewide nonprofit agency that focuses on connection between people in recovery and the wider world. By sharing their lived experience, USARA staff educates, advocates, and inspires individuals and communities to live more hopeful lives. In this podcast, USARA's Executive Director Mary…

The Minnesota Recovery Options Act has recently been introduced as a means to require courts to provide a secular alternative for individuals ordered to participate in substance use treatment and as a way to provide information and resources to counselors about secular recovery. Alison Gill is Vice President, Legal and Policy, for American Atheists…

Compassion fatigue is real. It refers to circumstances where caregivers, professional or volunteer, become mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted and start to wear down. It can produce a downward spiral and lead to individual caregivers leaving the work that still means so much to them. Fortunately, there are organizations who are trying t…

Including lived experience in a recovery ecosystem often adds an effective dimension of support for those trying to make changes in their lives. The field of peer recovery coaching has been growing nationwide and many states now offer certification programs. In Utah, the Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness (USARA) employs a network of pee…

Billy Hoffman works with compulsive gamblers as a certfied counselor. His lived experience and clinical skills combine to provide hope for those who have reached a critical point in their negative spiral of financial and emotional consequences. In this podcast Billy points out that despite compulsive gambling being recognized as problem for decades…

SMART Recovery is based on cognitive tools rooted in addressing how we think and react to life circumstances. For therapist Bruce Burleson, combining the cognitive aspects of behavior management with staying present in the moment is a recipe for successful treatment of addictions and compulsive behaviors. He calls his approach Mindfulness-Based Rat…

Jan Folk was a high powered businesswoman for years, battling sexism in the male-dominated insurance industry. At the same time she was struggling with alcohol-use disorder and kept ending up in crisis. After a couple of attempts to stop drinking she finally realized that the only way she was going to change her behavior was if she looked deep insi…

Keith Johnston is the Founder and Executive Director of Running2bwell, a nonprofit organization that helps those struggling with mental health and/or addiction issues become more physically and socially active. He decided to start the effort after a friend lost his son to heroin addiction and he wanted to try and contribute something positive to so…

Jonathan Hunt-Glassman struggled with drinking too much for years, and tried many ways of changing his relationship to alcohol. But it wasn't until a doctor suggested he try medication that things got better. Based on his experience, he decided to start a company, Oar Health, which offers a way for individuals to investigate whether medication migh…

Courtney Anderson insists on having plenty of fun in life. After she quit drinking, she wasn't quite sure what that really meant or how to make it happen. Now 11 years later, Courtney not only continues to have fun in life, she coaches others about how to make the most of their new sober lives. Courtney's website, https://www.courtneyrecovered.com/…

September is National Recovery Month and we welcome Keegan Wicks to the podcast. Keegan is the National Advocacy and Outreach Manager for Faces & Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington D.C. Keegan has worked in the recovery field for 10 years as an advocate and counselor, and has been in long-term r…

Besides being SRUSA's Executive Director, Pete Rubinas is a SMART Family & Friends meeting facilitator. He says he reaps many benefits by joining with others to share experiences and work on developing positive responses to challenging circumstances. SMART Family and Friends meetings are available both in-person and online, and provide participants…

Dr. Steven Proctor is the founder and principal consultant of PRO Health Group and a Senior Program Director for Thriving Mind South Florida. He is also a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who has studied and written about Contingency Management programs, most notably in his Annals of Medicine article, Rewarding recovery: the time is now for contingen…