Cindee Rifkin is a yoga and meditation teacher who brings her skills and daily medicine practices to those who want to find relief from addictions and to bring meaning into their lives.She believes that by quieting our mind, strengthening our body and using ceremonies and spiritual remedies, we can heal our emotional and physical pain, gain the power to create a better life and be our wisest self. She carefully integrates yoga, breathing, prayer, music and ceremony as she works with others to find our source of strength, fulfill our potential and discover the wonder of our spirit.
Her vast studies and certifications are in Hatha, Ashtanga, Vinyasa and Forrest Yoga, which began in 2008. Cindee moved to India and immersed herself in yoga traditions and philosophy with Shri Sheshadri and B.K.S. Iyengar – both are students of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. Her current primary practice is Forrest Yoga in which she continues higher level trainings with Ana Forrest and Forrest Guardian Jambo Truong.
Cindee truly feels that life experience is one of her greatest teachers and her intuition is her continuous ally. Having been a part of the corporate/financial world for many years, she understands the demands that world places on us and the toll those demands can take. Additionally, she has courageously faced the impact of her personal addictions and has been very successful in working with those of us who are now learning to address our own.
Every day for her begins with a sitting meditation, selected breathing practices and a conscious acknowledgement of her gratitude for her life in the present.
Although Cindee lives in New York City, she travels extensively to the west coast, providing instruction and creating ceremonies for small groups, couples and individuals.
If you would, please take a moment right now and breathe deeply – breathe the deepest breath you have taken all day. Pause and do it again. You have begun the process.
From the heart.
Tim Ryan the author of From Dope to Hope: A Man in Recovery joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.
A six-figure salary, a beautiful home in the suburbs, a loving family – Tim Ryan had it all, then lost it all because of an addiction to heroin, cocaine, other drugs and alcohol.
For years, Tim had great success in business and in life, despite a habit that was forming around “drinking and drugging.” But when he added heroin to the mix, Tim’s balancing act spiraled out of control. Often spending nearly $500 a day to support his opiate habit, his career and relationships suffered setback after setback. His uncontrollable addiction to substances resulted in multiple overdoses, rehab stays, and even jail time.
Sentenced to seven years in the Sheridan Correctional Center for a number of drug-related convictions, Tim got clean and sober behind bars. However, “life on the outside” wasn’t working in his favor.
While there, his wife divorced him. And his son Nick, who he had introduced to heroin along with his teenage friends, continued to abuse the drug, caught in a seemingly hopeless trap. Tim was released from prison after just 14 months, yet his time there was enough to convince him to maintain a strong 12-step recovery program. At last, it seemed as though hope was returning to his life.
But six months later, the bottom fell out. His 20-year-old son Nick died tragically from a heroin overdose.
Attempting to get beyond the devastation and heartbreak, Tim used Nick’s death as the inspiration to spread a message of hope and recovery to others, believing that if even one family could be spared the horrors of the disease of addiction, he would be making a difference. Then one family led to two, which led to four, which led to eight and so on.
Today, in addition to running addiction recovery groups for addicts and families, Tim is the Chief Marketing Officer for Banyan Treatment Centers. He is a “sober coach” and frequently speaks to school groups, corporations and others who care to hear his message. And, most importantly, he is the founder of A Man in Recovery Foundation, whose vision is ambitious yet realistic.
Tim believes he is blessed with the gift of continued sobriety, and he has made it his personal mission to promote awareness of the life-threatening effects of opiate addiction, most especially heroin. He has left the business world behind, instead committing himself to educate people about the hard truths of addiction and the potential for a full and happy life in recovery.
Join us now as Tim takes us through his battle with Drugs and Alcohol and his inspiring journey into recovery. You don’t want to miss this episode!
Jennifer Matesa the author of Sex in Recovery: A meeting between the covers joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.
Sexuality in the context of recovery is rarely talked about openly, in part because our broader culture may inhibit us from sharing our true experiences. For some, the prospect of sober sex feels like uncharted waters--in the past, we've rarely had sex without first numbing ourselves with drugs and alcohol. What does it mean to have an intimate relationship in sobriety? Exploring that question deepens our recovery journey.
With this groundbreaking work, Jennifer Matesa uncovers the challenges real people encounter when they start taking their clothes off--without drinking or using in order to do so. Providing readers "a meeting between the covers," Matesa blends first-person accounts bravely shared by diverse members of the recovery community, insights from experts, and her own perspectives. The result is a book that creates a space for a vital, new dialogue about sexuality and intimacy. As we find a common language for this more hidden aspect of our healing, we can truly "practice these principles in all our affairs."
Jennifer Matesa has written about health for more than twenty years and authors the award-winning blog Guinevere Gets Sober. She is a regular contributor to TheFix.com, and in 2013 she became a fellow of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. She is the author of The Recovering Body (Hazelden, 2014).
“Sex In Recovery is a work long overdue. In a frank, personal and highly personable way Jennifer Matesa opens a topic usually only whispered about: the essential role of sexual healing in sobriety. Many readers will be grateful to her.”
—Gabor Maté M.D., author of In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction
“In this beautifully written work, Jennifer Matesa accomplishes a herculean task. For decades, clinicians have struggled to assist patients to integrate healthy sex lives into robust recovery programs. At the same time, traditional 12 Step programs have promulgated rules that shamed and denied their members’ sexuality. Sex in Recovery resolves this disconnect. Through compelling narrative descriptions, it gives its readers a map to navigate, resolve and embrace their sexuality in its most rewarding expression.”
—Dr. Paul Hokemeyer, America’s Family and Addictions Therapist
Join us now as Jennifer takes us through her battle with Drugs and Alcohol and her inspiring journey into recovery. You don't want to miss this episode!
Adam Jasinski joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.
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In April of 2008 Adam Jasinski was the $500,000 prize winner on the CBS reality show "Big Brother Season 9" and from the moment he cashed in his check his life unraveled. First he failed to file an income tax return nor pay the taxes owed on the money. In 2009 Adam was arrested outside Boston and charged with attempting to sell 2,000 pills of oxycodone, the main active ingredient in OxyContin and other painkillers.
He had originally pleaded not guilty to possession with attempt to distribute oxycodone but changed his plea to guilty during a hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston. He also pleaded guilty to the tax charge, which was added on by prosecutors. Jasinski admitted to funding his illegal venture with the $500,000 winnings from the show, and to buying and reselling oxycodone pills for several months, Jasinski faced a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Jasinski was sentenced in January 2011 to four years in federal prison for the drug charge and tax evasion.
Today he’s putting his history of hitting bottom and climbing back up to good use by serving as a resource for others. Jasinski is writing a book for parents dealing with addicted children and also a workbook for teens and young adults coping with staying clean post-release from drug addiction treatment.
He’s also an unpaid, informal mentor and consultant for the drug and mental health treatment center – Oceans Medical Centers – recently opened by his mother and a co-owner (who lost a family-member to opioids) in Palm Beach County, Florida, not far from his home in Delray Beach.
Adam has always held a deep drive to get his thoughts and insights out onto paper. Now he wants to make those insights accessible to those struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues, and to the families who want nothing more than to save and help them.
Join us now as Adam takes us through his battle with Drugs and Alcohol and his inspiring journey into recovery. You don’t want to miss this episode!
Sam Herron the author of Street Life Fragments joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.
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Sam is about to publish his first book titled Street Life Fragments: Stories and Photographs from Homeless America. Sam Herron, a former millionaire whose personal tragedies, illness, and bad luck cast him into extreme poverty and homelessness. His firsthand experience of life on the streets at age of fifty, forces Sam to confront the dark side of the American Dream at an age when recovery is improbable.
Through the lens of a pawnshop camera, he discovers a side of humanity he once feared and ignored. The insights gained through his art, along with heartfelt interviews with people suffering under the same conditions, help him transcend into a man with a selfless sense of purpose, compassion, empathy, and service.
Currently Sam works for a health care provider for people suffering from mental health and substance use disorders, they also provide housing services for homeless and low income people living with these disorders.
Sam Herron’s life would make an interesting movie. The synopsis almost pitches itself: a millionaire-turned-homeless-man finds himself living on the streets of Omaha and seeking redemption in the unlikeliest of places—through the lens of a pawnshop camera. Will he find it?
“That is the great unknown,” Herron says. “Yet to be determined.”
The project evolved from a dark period in Herron’s life. Having lost the considerable fortune he’d made as a self-employed daytrader, he moved here from the Greater Chicago area to get his life back on track. At first, the move was a success: he quit partying, got a job in a factory, fell in love. It was a dramatic about-face for a man who had spent his youth playing bass in a Los Angeles hard rock band that recorded two albums while signed to MCA/Universal.
Then a work-related injury cost him his job. His relationship failed. He was asked to move out. With no savings or support network, he started sleeping in his car. He shaved in restroom sinks, carefully applying the façade of a man who sleeps in a bed at night, so he would be ready for that elusive job interview. To keep the panic attacks at bay, he began to drink heavily. Often going days without eating, he entered a mental state he calls “borderline seizureland.” He wrote about these terrifying episodes for the blog he started to document his homelessness. Eventually, despite never having considered himself a photographer, he took out his cheap digital camera—one of the last items that hadn’t been sold—and started taking pictures of people he found interesting: rail-riding old men, teenage vagabonds, etc.
Thus began the project that would lead to the publication of his first book, which is written in the streetwise style of Henry Rollins and Charles Bukowski. Join us now as Sam takes us through his Rock Star battle with Drugs and Alcohol and his unbelievable journey into recovery!
You do not want to miss this episode, listen NOW!
Jane Galloway the author of The Gateways- The Wisdom of 12-Step Spirituality joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. The Gateways are...A Gateway, a Bridge, an Opening into living the Spiritual Life that the Steps promise! What YOU get from this is TOOLS, Inspiration, Time to release the Shame and move into the FREEDOM.
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Is there more to recovery than just staying sober and clean? Dr. Jane Galloway offers an emphatic "yes" to this question in her groundbreaking 12 Step companion guide, The Gateways: The Wisdom of 12-Step Spirituality. Galloway presents the 12 Steps squarely in the context of 21st-century spirituality with breadth, skill, and sensitivity that helps readers of any faith (or of none) experience profound spiritual awakening.
Too many recovery programs fixate on the sickness of addiction and, as a result, trap people in a pathology-centered mindset. Jane Galloway's strength-based approach suggests "Rather than obsessing on what is 'wrong' with a person, learning what is 'right' with them may hold the key to understanding." Incorporating ancient developmental systems like Chinese meridians and the Kabbalah Tree of Life, as well as more recent psychological systems like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Erik Erikson's Eight Ages of Man, Gateways presents 12-Step Spirituality as a Wisdom Path. Galloway's 12 corresponding Gateway Essences unlock the power of the Steps through spiritual practices and rituals that make up a customized, holistic Mind, Body, Spirit tool kit.
As a 30+ year member of Alcoholics Anonymous, ordained pastor and Doctor of Ministry, accomplished stage and screen actor, and community organizer, the Rev. Dr. Jane Galloway brings a woman's voice to the chorus of men who have previously spoken on 12-Step spirituality. Her work is inspired by and devoted to AA's founding spiritual vision as it appears in "The Big Book": "To us the realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek." The Gateways opens wider vistas to the deeper wisdom within us all.
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Join us today as Jane takes us through her battle with Drugs and Alcohol and her inspiring journey into recovery. You don't want to miss this episode!
Cory Murphy is an award-winning scholar and world traveler. He’s also a former heroin addict. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he relocated at the age of 20 to start a new life drug-free. Since then, he has studied abroad on numerous occasions, learned multiple languages, and graduated at the top of his class from the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
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Cory now works in management at one of the largest corporations in the world. In his free time, he shares his story in hopes of inspiring others who have been affected by addiction, both directly through actual usage and indirectly through dealing with a friend or family member that has struggled with drug abuse.
Since he got clean from Heroine Cory put together on a blog what he calls the Murphy Method. Here are a few suggestions from Cory.
For many years, I’ve looked back on my life and reflected on what I did differently from most other addicts to not only get clean, but to have a recovery in such stark contract with that of my friends. I’ll certainly delve into this method throughout a series of blog posts, and eventually a book, but in the meantime I can offer a brief summary.
Run! Do whatever it takes to get out. Just go. Right now.
My first observation was that successful recovery efforts began when a drastic decision was made. It seems to me like many addicts sit on the fence for too long about what exactly to do or wait to make a decision. Recently, my dear friend Sarah passed away from an overdose and on her Facebook wall another one of her close friends posted about how the two of them had been planning to move to Florida to start over a new life. They didn’t make it. They didn’t make it because they didn’t act fast. There just isn’t time- when you’re gripped by addiction you need to go away, and go right now. How far away? I would recommend having at least an entire state or two between you and your home state, but the further away you go, the better.
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Join us now as Cory takes us through his battle with Heroin Addiction and his journey of recovery up until today!
Robert Apple a recovery blogger and the founder of the Sober Apple Blog joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.
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Robert (Bob) Apple, currently lives in Santa Maria California, but lived in the Silicon Valley for forty years. He was married twice, had two great kids, a boy and a girl. He worked many years for UPS. He also owned several businesses; video store, video production, a bar (not as much fun as you think), and had a partner in four Quizno’s franchises.
Several years ago, at the age of 55 years old, he became addicted to alcohol, and prescription drugs. His life began to unravel and was forced to retire from his job at UPS after 27 years as a driver. He became an absolute mess and had become someone he could barely recognize. His behavior was erratic, a chronic liar, undependable, aimless, and lonely. His family and friends could no longer take what he was doing to himself and stayed away.
A month after he retired from UPS, he entered his first of three rehabs. He couldn’t seem to understand why he couldn’t stay sober. When he got out of the last rehab, he knew if he drank again or took drugs he would die. The problem was, he didn’t know how to stop. He always had the best intentions when he would leave rehab, but as soon as life got tough he would start the cycle over again.
Finally out of desperation, Bob made the decision to live in a Sober Living Home. He lived with 16 other people in a Sober Living Home for over two years. He worked very hard to stay sober and change his life. Living in a Sober Living Home saved his life. Being sequestered away from all things familiar to him was key to my recovery. He began to thrive again as a person instead of being stuck and hopeless.
He went from a client to the House Manager after about five months. The house had an unexpected change in management and Bob was asked to take over as house manager. He reveled in my new position as house manager and loved helping others. It was these two years of managing a Sober Living Home that gave him a unique perspective about addiction. In his time as a manger, he had the opportunity to live with many other people (over 60).
This experience has brought Bob to where he is today, blogging about sobriety and sober living. His goal is to be able to share his experiences of addiction, recovery, rehab, and Sober Living Homes, in the hopes that it may help others.
Join us Now as Bob takes us through his amazing journey of recovery!
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J.A. Wright the author How to Grow an Addict joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.
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Jodi grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and moved to New Zealand in 1990 with her young family. She’s been crafting this novel since she stopped using drugs and alcohol in 1985.
Jodi has been clean and sober since February 1985, and has worked in the entertainment industry since 1992. Her many jobs have included festival director, concert promoter, and show producer. She is also familiar with just about every type of production job related to staging...
J.A. Wright’s How to Grow an Addict, is a novelization about Randall Grange, a young girl who is trying to navigate the testy waters of her family life and come out unscathed despite growing up in a house full of addicts and abusers. It reads like a memoir, a sort of “come clean” string of consciousness that chronicles her rise (or rather, fall) from a young girl to a young woman.
The novel is literally what the title implies, a sort of explanation of a series of factors both genetic and environmental that lead to the rise of a small, precocious, and anxious child becoming a full blown addict. Randall has an abusive father and a mother who has a hard time defending her as it is clear that she’s terrified of losing him (going so far as to get breast implants in a failed attempt to stop him from sleeping around). He behaves like he hates Randall, and she chews her fingernails to nubs as a result – and has a hard time functioning in a normal world without fidgeting.
Randall is immensely likable, and though the reader begins to see her make a series of missteps as she gets older in an attempt to seek out love in “all the wrong places,” the novel never takes on a judgmental tone. Randall is just a girl who’s trying to navigate a very difficult situation that gets increasingly more difficult as life takes away some of her fiercest protectors and supporters. She is selfish, but only in a way that an addict is – someone who cannot see past their impulsive decisions into what the consequences may mean. It doesn’t matter to her as she’s just trying to get by in the only way she knows how. Her family resembles a million families, and some readers might even see some parallels between her family and their own in an alcoholic, abusive father who prioritizes a son above a daughter and creates another monster in the process; her brother who comes to hate her and lack empathy as much as her father does; her mother who is not perfect, but sad and unable to manage an angry and abusive husband, and who turns to anti-anxiety pills and alcohol as a way to cope.
The novel ends with Randall beginning to accept help from those who have to foist it onto her and ends with an uplifting message: people can make a choice to recover and do the right thing. There may be mistakes and trip-ups in the process, but it’s a process worth doing. This is a great book, and even if readers don’t have first-hand experience with addicts or dysfunctional families, Randall feels real-life enough to turn to when it comes to trying to deal with real-life addiction. Readers should definitely give this one a shot.
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Join us now as Jodi takes us though battle with Drugs and Alcohol, the wreckage it caused in her life, when she hit rock bottom and her journey into recovery up until today.
Jim Downs of Big Jim's Walk joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast.
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Big Jim’s Walk, Inc is a non-profit organization bringing awareness to the world of the addiction epidemic. Through this foundation, Big Jim’s Walk has plans to build an addiction recovery center, Camp Redemption, with the help from its’ donors and other community members.
Join us as Jim takes us through here battle with Drugs and Alcohol, the wreckage it caused in her life, when he hit rock bottom and his amazing journey into recovery up until today.
Listen to Jim’s story now!
Clean Date: October 13, 2015
Jim Downs, was born in Fallbrook, California, which is in San Diego County, on January 22, 1969. He was adopted by a very loving family at the age of 3 months. His father passed away when he was three years old. His mother passed away in 2012 from a battle with Alzheimer’s. After the death of his mother, he totally lost it and attempted suicide, including trying to drive his truck into the Arkansas River.
Jim was around 12 years old when he first became involved with drugs and alcohol. Anything he could get his hands on, including beer, wine, pills, pot, cigarettes. When he was 15, he was introduced to meth, which became his drug of choice. Jim’s teenage years were filled with lots of partying, music, and building cars, specifically VW Bugs, or any type of hot rod. After high school, Jim attended Southwestern Junior College, where he was studying jazz, but dropped out. He even attempted the military and joined the Army. Three days later, he was booted out for failing a drug test. He started Haney Technical School’s welding program and dropped out as well. Jim had been building a pattern of not finishing anything, and didn’t realize it at the time.
Jim has never had a high opinion of himself. His self-destruction through drugs and alcohol has not permitted him to know what true happiness. He truly feels that he has wasted most of his life. His biggest fear as an adult is that his children will follow in his footsteps. Life before sobriety made him a mean, twisted, bully.
About a year ago, Jim entered a program of recovery at Panama City Rescue Mission. In July of 2015, he states, “God started knocking at my door”! Every day the knock grew louder and louder. In the month of September, it was so loud that he went to a small community church near his house. That day, he dedicated his life to God. The next day he was back at the bar. A month later, to the exact day, he drank all day in the bar, consumed meth, pills, and smoked weed. He had his first blackout. He didn’t know where he was, who he was, or what he was doing. He was told the next day that he took a baseball bat after his girlfriend and her daughter. He has no recollection. He thanks God that no one was hurt and that he didn’t end up in jail. He immediately admitted himself into a detox program. After five days in detox, he went to the Panama City Rescue Mission and joined the Men’s Long Term Addiction Recovery Program.
Jim is currently on a journey like no other in his life. He is sober and has a mission in life to help others battling addiction. He states, “Jesus saved me, and now HE is my everything, my entire being”. “I am leading by example and know that regardless of the fact that I am a sinner, I will go to Heaven, praise, the Lord, and will continue to be God’s servant”!
The WALK isn’t a story about Big Jim, this is a story of a man, who was saved from addiction, by the healing power of Jesus Christ. Jim is preparing for a spiritual journey, a WALK, sanctioned by God, while bringing a message of HOPE, to all of those affected by addiction. There is LIFE after addiction, there is LIFE after recovery. Please join Big Jim for the WALK.
Sarah Roberts of Sarah Talks Food joins us on The SHAIR Podcast.
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Sarah is 10 years sober from alcohol, and ever since then has been passionate about discovering ways to live a healthier lifestyle. Her book, "The 28 Day Kick the Sugar Challenge," guides you on a 28 day journey towards better health and wellness, while helping you develop greater self-trust, self-respect, and self-love.
Through her research, and by trial and error, she has figured out a formula that allows her to enjoy a healthy weight and maintain good energy, and she wants to share what she has learned with you!
Join us as Sarah takes us through here battle with Alcohol, the wreckage it caused in her life, when she hit rock bottom and her journey into recovery up until today.
Listen to Sarah’s story now!
Clean Date: January 2, 2007
Mike Lindsey joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Mike is the founder of AIR Wear Recovery Gear, AIR stands for Addicts In Recovery. Take pride in the accomplishment of overcoming addiction. AIR Wear, get your recovery on.
On today’s episode Mike take us through his gut wrenching battle with Chrystal Meth, you do not want to miss this episode.
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A little about Mike…
“As you know, everyone has a story. For many people, those stories include chapters of addiction. Fortunately, the same people can also experience chapters of recovery in their lives. I am blessed to be one of the survivors of addiction. I have battled addiction for decades in various forms, from alcohol to gambling to drugs and many more. Each promised me peace and relief from fear and pain. I searched to fill empty voids in my life but any relief was only temporary, at best. Being a functioning addict my entire life I was able to be a chameleon, keep up appearances and switch back and forth between multiple addictions. If one addiction brought too much heat or trouble, I would change to something else. Numbing pain, escaping reality and filling the void was my only agenda.
After years and years of toeing the line with addiction related tragedy and devastation, I had finally met my match. In less than six short months, crystal meth took everything from me...family, house, job, car, all material and sentimental items...I was homeless...out on the streets with only a few items of clothing and a backpack. I was truly introduced to rock bottom. However, it still took me ten additional months of using and living (surviving) on the streets to truly realize this was going to kill me. I knew I could not survive another winter out there. I took steps to reclaim my life.
March 1, 2016 marks the launch of AIR Wear Recovery Gear. It is also my 18th month of clean and sober living in recovery.”
Clean Date: September 1st, 2014
JoAnn Miller is a recovery advocate and the founder of Holy Addiction. And this is her story…
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“If you had told me the day I snuck in that window that I would own a blog with traffic, would be working with a radio station and three of the coolest guys in the recovery community, I wouldn’t have believed you.
The past year of my life has been one crazy ride. I gave up drugs and picked up a mission. The day I typed addiction into the search bar on Facebook, I was shocked. I was an active regular social Facebook user, and I had no idea that this world, our world, even existed. You would think I would have run into a meme or something, but no, nothing.
Within one year this community has turned my life around. You gave me the strength to give up the Suboxone. I learned that I am a whole lot tougher than I thought I was. I found skills that I didn’t know I had and self-worth that I never had. I have a resume that doesn’t have one single lie on it, and it still looks impressive. I sold a business and opened three more. I got two incredible opportunities to continue doing awareness work, but now I can eat too.”
Join us now as JoAnn takes us through her battle with Drugs and Alcohol, the wreckage it caused in her life, when she hit rock bottom, and her journey into recovery up until today.
Clean Date: March 17, 2016
Rob Koebel, Emmy Award winning Investigative Reporter, had everything he ever imagined, his dream job, a beautiful wife, but in the background was alcohol. When his ex-wife a CNN News Anchor writes a tell all book about their marriage and goes on book tour promoting it – he has a very public and embarrassing meltdown. Rob is caught on a mall security camera, wasted taking a leak on the Apple Store. The arrest makes headlines across the country.
Four years later, Rob is sober and on a mission to put purpose and passion back into his life. Still unhappy after trying jobs in different careers, he moves 2,000 miles out west to Los Angeles, in hopes of getting a second chance at what he loves to do, meeting and sharing the stories of others. On his journey – he reconnects with old friends and meets new ones who share their stories about how they have or are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives.
Join us now as Rob takes us through his battle with drugs and alcohol, the wreckage it caused in his life, when he hit rock bottom and his journey into recovery up to today!
Clean Date: September 22nd, 2012
Nikki DuBose joins us today on The SHAIR podcast. Nikki is a former model turned author, speaker and mental health advocate. Her debut memoir, Washed Away: From Darkness to Light, was released September 30, 2016. In Washed Away, Nikki recounts her experiences navigating the dark side of the modeling industry, while battling abuse, addiction, and various mental health issues. She recently appeared in the Oprah Winfrey Network on the T.D Jakes show to speak about her recovery from body dysmorphic order and eating disorders and how the pressure to fit into the modeling industry nearly killed her.
Tara Nicole DuBose was born in 1985 in Charleston, South Carolina to Sandra Pierce and Wayne DuBose. Her mother was an artist and her father was a delivery salesman for local food companies. Sandra named her “Tara” after the fictional plantation in the film, Gone with the Wind, directed by Victor Fleming. Despite Sandra’s love for the name, she and Wayne often referred to Tara as “Nikki,” short for Nicole, and so the name stuck. After her parents divorced when Nikki was two, she and her younger brother were raised by their mother and stepfather. Her upbringing was filled with problems; Nikki suffered abuse of all kinds and was a witness to domestic violence. Her mother, Sandra, was afflicted with severe mental health conditions and drank heavily. As a result, Nikki suffered for over seventeen years from a wide range of mental health conditions.
Join us now as Nikki takes us through her battle with addiction and her journey into recovery up until today!
O.R. Marv joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Marv is the founder of One Rep at a Time. His website blends fitness information with the challenges faced by those in recovery from some sort of addiction.
After years of non-biased research, soul-searching, and step-work, Marv has been able to completely change his approach, not only to fitness, but to nutrition, body image, and overall sense of well-being and spirituality. For years he has only wanted to help people.
Today he has finally found his calling, to give back what was so freely given to him in recovery.
Torrance Johnson joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast, and Torrance is the founder of Recover Period, a recovery clothing line who’s slogan is Wear Something That Means Something.
Torrance came to the conclusion after evaluating where he was in his life and who he is as an individual, that today's fashion, the bulk of it, does not express who he is or what he is passionate about.
Torrance is a man who's life has been affected by witnessing friends, family, and communities taken over by an illness most consider a lifetime battle. Included Torrance himself. He is driven to connect with and lend support to as many people as possible who’s lives have been affected by the disease of addiction. To celebrate the small victories, the triumphs, and yes, to give meaningful support during times of struggle.
Join us now as Torrance takes though his battle with Drugs and Alcohol, the wreckage it caused in his life and his journey into recovery up until today.
Clean Date: July 1, 2014
Patti Clark joins us today on this special 100th Episode of The SHAIR podcast. Patti is an accomplished speaker and workshop leader dedicated to helping people through various life transitions on their journey to an extraordinary life. For more than 30 years, and over several continents, Patti has been sharing her knowledge and wisdom with others. She is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. She has taught English at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and at Oregon State University.
Patti’s work has been featured in several publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and The Mindful Word. Patti now travels around the globe facilitating workshops, and is about to launch a new series of interactive workshops online. Patti spends part of her time in the United States, and part of her time in New Zealand. She and her husband and their two sons live near the beach on the Coromandel Peninsula. This Way Up is her first book.
Dr. Harold Jonas joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Dr. Jonas, PhD, LMHC, CAP has extensive experience with web development and award-winning app development since 1999. He’s responsible for the concept, design and launch of multiple directories serving the Addiction & Recovery industry, including Soberhouses.com, Sober.com, Detox.com, Halfwayhouses.com, Rehabs.com, Sobernetwork.com, Recoveryroommates.com, and Interventionstrategies.com. Two of his most recent apps for the Addiction & Recovery space received national recognition and prestigious awards.
Dr. Jonas holds a PhD from International University with a focus on Addictive Disorders and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Antioch University. He is a practicing Psychotherapist and Licensed Therapist in the state of Florida. He is also a well-known Palm Beach County entrepreneur in the real estate and hospitality industry sectors. In addition, he has developed and maintained Transitional Residences for people in recovery.
Dr. Jonas is available for consultation and custom development through his firm - Client Care Solutions. He is seeking first round funding for sales, marketing and future development of Sobersystems and other apps targeting Remote Patient Monitoring.
Since 1994 Dr. Jonas has owned and operated multiple corporate entities including:
Intervention Strategies, Inc
Recovery Zone, Inc
Delray Inn, Inc
Delray Design, Inc
Client Care Solutions, Inc
Michelle Thöle joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Michelle is the author of My Journey Through Darkness, a true life story of an ordinary young girl who records her journey as a drug addict.
Omar: Do you remember how old you were the first time you drank, or used drugs? And more importantly, how they made you feel? That first time?
Michelle: Yeah, I was 14 and I started smoking, and about at the age of 16 I started going to a lot of parties with the older crowd of kids. We lived outside a big city, we were in a small town. So, we had a lot of house parties. I mean, I remembered nights where my folks would come pick me up at 11 or 12, which was my curfew, and my mother would try and cover for me, because I was stumbling to the car. So, that was the beginning of drinking.
But I must say, I was always very, very afraid of drugs, because I was always kind of fascinated by it. So, I'd read a lot of books about it. You know, the usual trainspotting and basketball diaries. So, I felt very educated, and also very scared of it. I always used to say, and I guess this is so true when we think of the phrase, "the power of the spoken word," because I used to say, "I never want be introduced to drugs, because my curiosity will get the better of me, and I'll try it, and I'll become a heroin addict."
Yeah, what happened was I did end up becoming a heroin addict many years later.
Omar: What is the best suggestion you have ever received?
Michelle: Well, at the time, I must say it seemed very abstract, but it was actually the best suggestion I ever received. It was when I was in London, but also feeling like there's just no hope, no solution, nobody can help me. I went to see a drug worker, from the Hillsong Church actually, or counselor. She listened to me, and we spoke, and I was so expectant to have some kind of answer. All she did was say to me, "I want you to go home, and I want you to go and sit before God, and get into his word again, and find out who you are in him."
I was like, "Oh, that sucks. I thought you were going to help me." You know? That's not a solution. But later on, I understood what that meant. Even now in my life, I've been through other things in the last few years, which are totally not drug related, but also very big battles. Every time, I realize when I get quiet, and I go sit at God's feet again, I realize that I lost that thing of who I am in him. I'm not seeing myself through his eyes, I'm seeing myself through the enemy's eyes. So, I am weak. I am pathetic. I am useless. It's those lies that make us unable to fight any battle, and that's where the enemy wants to keep us.
So for me, the best advice I ever had was go and find out, and go look for it. Who you are in God.
Omar: If you could give our listeners only one suggestion, what would it be?
Michelle: Never give up. I guess having a fighting spirit is extremely important. I know I have to give one suggestion, but it goes hand in hand. What we've been saying along is surrendering. Surrendering is key for me, and I really say that with regards to not only my recovery from addition, but in terms of coping with everyday life. Surrender. Surrender to God.
Brian McAlister joins us today on the SHAIR Podcast. Brian is a bestselling author, motivational speaker and the founder of Full Recovery Wellness Center in New Jersey. Brian is dedicated to helping recovering people achieve spiritual, personal and financial empowerment.
Brian’s commitment to helping others recover from addiction and reach their full potential is his life’s mission. From a low-bottom unemployed alcoholic and addict to leading a workforce of 1,800 people producing nearly half a billion dollars in annual sales is just a small part of Brian McAlister’s journey.
Husband, father, entrepreneur, best-selling recovery author and coach, Brian subscribes to the spiritual axiom that with God all things are possible. He maintains an active role in the recovery community through his workshops and as a sought-after motivational speaker on the subject. These accomplishments are an example of the miracles that have taken place in Brian’s life. Miracles he believes can be taught, learned, and duplicated.
Annie Highwater joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Annie is the author of Unhooked: A Mother's Story of Unhitching from the Roller Coaster of Her Son's Addiction. This memoir follows the experiences of one mother who started her own life in a neglected home and came to realize how those experiences both helped and hindered the hardest, most heartbreaking, yet illuminating changes of her life, her son's addiction to opiates.
"I am the mother of an addict. I'm in recovery as much as my addicted son is in recovery.”
Annie learns to understand that her own dysfunctional family upbringing influences her reactions. She is a fighter, never gives up, and digs deep into her past’s successful and unsuccessful strategies, including finding several treatment centers, the good and the disappointing ones. She sets boundaries, enlists resources, and finally moves through her life with determination and acceptance.
As the country struggles to address the issues of the rampant epidemic of opiate abuse and addiction, this story is especially relevant in helping us all understand the personal challenges facing parents and family members and how family dynamics both help and hinder the recovery process.
This is a short read designed to help families in recovery and open up conversations.
Jason MacKenzie joins us on the SHAIR Podcast. Jason is a dad, a husband, an author, public speaker. His website: The Book of Open, is geared towards helping men become stronger, wiser, and more courageous fathers
Jason is an expert on peak human performance. He’s a father, speaker, author and coach. He teaches audiences around the world how cultivating vulnerability will liberate the strength, wisdom and courage we already possess.
He is a survivor of his wife's battle with bipolar disorder and subsequent suicide and has overcome a decade-long battle with alcohol. When he stopped running from grief and fear he became the husband and father his family deserves.
His driving purpose is to help lift those who want more from their lives to increasingly higher levels of personal and professional performance. Jason is a strength-finder and works with you to help you ask powerful, affirmative questions about what's best about you and your life.
His mission is to show you that you are inherently successful and then stand back and watch you fly.
Esther Nagle joins us today on The SHAIR Podcast. Esther is the Founder of Balance and Breathe Recovery Support through Yoga. Esther spent most of her adult life living with addiction and mental illness and has come out the other side older, wiser, happier, and free. She is also the Author of Bent Back into Shape, Beating Addiction through Yoga.
Esther Nagle spent years of her life waging war on herself and blaming the world for her unhappiness. Numbing her pain and hiding in alcohol, drugs, loud music and other self-destructive tendencies, her life was a constant battle between the identity she had created for herself, and the real Esther that she had occasional glimpses of, a happy, relaxed, joyful person full of love and peace.
Esther's battles started to end the day she realized she was falling apart. A long dreamed of Yoga teacher training course showed her that there was a different way she could live, and she stepped gleefully into a life of happiness, healing and recovery. Sober since October 2014 after 20 years of addiction, Esther now uses her experiences and wisdom to help others through writing, speaking and teaching.
Esther loves Yoga, music, walking, learning, being with her beautiful sons, and reflecting on how much her life has changed for the better. She home educates her youngest child and enjoys the time that they get to spend together exploring the world.
Robert Hammond joins us on the SHAIR Podcast. Robert is an author, a writer and a consultant. He is the Author of self-help and consumer finance books, including Life After Debt, which sold over 100,000 copies as well as a film and television writer/producer. Hammond’s script “C.B. DeMille” won Best Screenplay at the 2011 Los Angeles New Wave International Film Festival.
He was also a dope fiend for many years where he lost everything, jobs, relationships, and his self-respect. He compromised all of his values and principles along the way and lost time that he can never get back. Addicted to heroin, heading to prison, suffering from depression and a host of physical ailments. He was literally on death’s door.
As part of my treatment plan, Robert’s counselor arranged for him to write out his moral inventory in the form of a memoir. For more than an hour a day he poured out all my thoughts and memories. The result was a catharsis that led to emotional healing and spiritual insight. Writing transformed his life and he has seen it transform the lives of countless others. Stories heal. Stories change lives.