From the outside, Laura Bonczek was the picture of success — a well-known family in her Connecticut town, a teacher mother, a father in long-term recovery, good grades, sports, and eventually a master's in social work. She built a career as a therapist and rose to clinical director of a substance abuse treatment facility. And the entire time, she was secretly living the exact disease she was being paid to treat. Laura's addiction started young — alcohol and weed at 12, ecstasy and opioids in high school, hydrocodone giving way to the "thirties" she'd chase for years. She was, in her own words, high-functioning: seven years of college straight through while using, always getting just enough done to convince herself she wasn't really an addict because she wasn't "living under a bridge." She managed it through a cocktail of prescribed Adderall, Xanax, opioids, and alcohol — until she couldn't. She's brutally honest in this episode about the parts that are hardest to admit: being a therapist counseling people on their addictions while hiding her own, discovering kratom through her own clients, getting Suboxone delivered to her mailbox, being pulled over by the DEA on a work errand, and the day her own coworkers — many in recovery themselves — sat her down and refused to let her lie her way out one more time. One of them, a mother who'd nearly lost her own kids, told Laura she was going to lose her daughter. That was the moment the fog broke. Now four years sober, Laura is a licensed clinical social worker and clinical director doing the work honestly — using everything she survived to help others find the way out. This is a powerful story about the high-functioning addict nobody suspects, and the moment of clarity that changes everything. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On paper, Tatum Love was thriving — a bright kid from New Hampshire who lived the all-American athletic life and went on to an Ivy League education at Cornell. Underneath it, she'd been fighting something since childhood: a family history of addiction and disordered eating that, after her parents' divorce, found somewhere to take hold. Tatum's story is a powerful reminder that addiction doesn't care where you come from or how much promise you have. Her struggle began not with drugs or alcohol — which she didn't touch until she was 19 — but with the way she used control and food to escape what she was feeling. From there it moved into stimulants she first used to manage her eating, then alcohol, then psychedelics, until the straight-A Ivy League student was living out of her car with a few dollars to her name. She speaks with remarkable honesty about the hardest chapters: the decision, in active addiction, to let her mother raise her baby daughter; the depths she reached far from home; and the moment she finally chose treatment. Now 18 months clean and sober, Tatum has her life, her health, and her relationship with her daughter back — and she's sharing all of it so someone else knows they're not too far gone. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back by popular demand — Karina Miesner (IG @karina.mies) returns for our second Q&A, where Kevin and Karina answer the questions the audience asks most in the comments. Two people with real long-term recovery talking honestly about the stuff people actually want to know. In this episode they get into: how you know if you're actually an alcoholic or addict versus someone who just drinks too much, whether you can have a problem if you don't use every day, what's harder — getting sober or learning to live sober, how to handle grief and hard times without picking up, whether you can stay sober and still behave the way you did in active addiction, whether two people in recovery can have a healthy relationship, what to do when someone won't forgive you even after you've changed, and why so many people relapse when things are going well. Honest, practical, and straight from lived experience — no scripts, just two people sharing what actually worked for them. Karina will be back to share her full story again soon — drop a comment if you want to hear it. And if you have questions for the next Q&A, leave them in the comments and we'll bring them to the next round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alexa Cunniff never really had a childhood. Raised like what she calls "a gypsy kid" — living in hotels and trucks, on the run from process servers, never setting foot in a classroom until sixth grade — she learned to read off an atlas and grew up around addiction on every side of her family. She was drinking and using by 12, in the clubs by 15, and chasing the "hard stuff" she'd heard glorified her whole life. Her story runs through a decade-plus of addiction: cocaine and Xanax as a teenager, two kids by 21, and then the drug that truly took her under — Adderall. She describes eating eight to ten pills a day, dropping to 134 pounds, and finally crossing into meth (introduced, unforgettably, by a stranger driving a street sweeper) and then heroin and speedballs. She lost everything, ended up living in her car, and survived things she says by all rights should have landed her in prison or worse. What finally broke through came on Halloween of 2021 — after a terrifying assault and a night sitting outside a detox for hours waiting to be let in. A clinician she'd never met refused to let her sign herself out, told her she was worth fighting for, and it changed everything. Alexa got sober that day. She later went to work as a peer recovery specialist for the very organization that saved her, and today she's a therapist helping others find the way out. Alexa Cunniff never really had a childhood. Raised like what she calls "a gypsy kid" — living in hotels and trucks, on the run from process servers, never setting foot in a classroom until sixth grade — she learned to read off an atlas and grew up around addiction on every side of her family. She was drinking and using by 12, in the clubs by 15, and chasing the "hard stuff" she'd heard glorified her whole life.Her story runs through a decade-plus of addiction: cocaine and Xanax as a teenager, two kids by 21, and then the drug that truly took her under — Adderall. She describes eating eight to ten pills a day, dropping to 134 pounds, and finally crossing into meth (introduced, unforgettably, by a stranger driving a street sweeper) and then heroin and speedballs. She lost everything, ended up living in her car, and survived things she says by all rights should have landed her in prison or worse.What finally broke through came on Halloween of 2021 — after a terrifying assault and a night sitting outside a detox for hours waiting to be let in. A clinician she'd never met refused to let her sign herself out, told her she was worth fighting for, and it changed everything. Alexa got sober that day. She later went to work as a peer recovery specialist for the very organization that saved her, and today she's a therapist helping others find the way out. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the outside, Cassidy Matone had it all together — a makeup artist and bikini bodybuilder from Long Island with her own business. Addiction doesn't discriminate. What started as a single Roxy a friend handed her "to help her sleep" turned into a full-blown opioid addiction, then counterfeit fentanyl pills, and eventually a needle. Her story runs from the corporate office where a boss left a Roxy on her desk like a morning coffee, through rehabs and relapses, to the streets of Kensington in Philadelphia — one of the epicenters of the opioid crisis. She's unflinchingly honest about the depths: shooting heroin and cocaine together, drug-induced psychosis, and a rock bottom in a trap house that finally broke through. Getting clean nearly killed her — her detox was so severe she went into seizures and was placed in a medically-induced coma for days. Today Cassidy is over a year sober, has her own apartment for the first time in a decade, and is rebuilding a life she thought was gone. A raw reminder that no one is too far gone. This Episode Is Sponsored By NOCDA lot of people who've done the hard work of getting sober still struggle with unwanted, intrusive thoughts that bring guilt and shame and keep coming back. For some people, that may be OCD — and in recovery it often goes unrecognized for years because it can look like anxiety or feel like part of the process. The good news is it's treatable. NOCD is the world's leading provider of OCD treatment, with licensed therapists who specialize in ERP (exposure and response prevention) therapy through live, face-to-face virtual sessions, plus support between sessions. NOCD is covered by insurance for over 138 million Americans. 👉 Book a free 15-minute call at: https://www.treatmyocd.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Come behind the scenes on one of the biggest weeks yet for Rise Above. We just launched our merch line — hoodies, sweatshirts, and hats — and every dollar from it goes right back into the podcast to keep spreading the message of hope. I'm also pulling back the curtain on the business. Two years ago I started this thing not knowing if anyone would watch, and it's grown into something I never imagined — about 112,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 1.1 million followers across all platforms. I just hired a five-person team handling social media, guest bookings, and content, which has finally freed me up to focus on the interviews and new opportunities. One of those opportunities was surreal: a deal with Paramount. When I started the podcast two years ago, one of my early interviews was with Dr. Nadine, Jordan Belfort's ex-wife. Paramount licensed that content, and when The Real Wolf of Wall Street came out, my phone blew up with people who spotted the clip in the documentary. Through all of it, the mission hasn't changed. It's become my job and there's real business behind it now, but I keep my 12-step recovery completely separate, and the goal of every single episode is still just to help that one person. God takes care of the rest. Plus — Lilo update. The Rise Above puppy is 19 weeks now, nearly doubled in size, fully potty trained, and crushing his training. Thank you for being part of this. Episode six is coming in a few weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelsey Daniels grew up poor in Connecticut, one of three kids, chasing an athletic scholarship as her whole identity and her only path out. She was molested at eight, sexually assaulted at sixteen, and — in the aftermath — slut-shamed by classmates and even her own family, until she quietly absorbed the belief that the abuse was somehow her fault. That belief followed her to college, where a professor's offhand pitch about "sugar dating" pulled her into a world she didn't understand until she was deep inside it. What started as a way to feel some control over her own body turned into exploitation, coercion, and being trafficked — passed between men who told her she was owned. For years she saw it as her own doing. It wasn't. This is the story of how Kelsey came to understand what was actually done to her, how she got out, and how she rebuilt a life and an identity that finally belong to her. Today she's sober, healing, and using her voice so other survivors know it was never their fault — and that there's a way out. This is a hard, honest conversation about trauma, exploitation, and reclaiming your life. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Handy was the oldest of ten kids, raised in a strict religious home in San Diego — and living a double life almost from the start. He smoked weed at 13 the night his youngest sibling was born, tried crack within a month, and was shooting heroin by 17. A felony arrest in high school slammed the door on his plan to become a lawyer, and from there his life accelerated into a world most people only see in movies. He ran a nationwide retail-theft ring that took him through 38 states in 11 months, got involved in gang life, and cycled in and out of prison. It culminated the day after Christmas 2020, when — a daily user of meth, heroin, PCP, and more — he walked into a bank and robbed it, then told the FBI he had a bomb. He was facing 33 years and two strikes. Matt walks through all of it: the sexual abuse that shaped his childhood, the 14 years he went without speaking to his family, getting sober, relapsing after three and a half years, and finally finding his way back. Now 2.5 years sober, he's using everything he survived to help other people find a way out. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the outside, Allie Serea had it all together — good grades, a masters degree, a corporate job at a major company, an easy way with people, and a reputation as the fun party girl. On the inside, she describes crawling out of her skin, hating who she was, and feeling like an empty shell every Monday after another blacked-out weekend. Allie was never a daily drinker. She was a high-functioning binge drinker — the kind who could go weeks without a drink, then take one at a party and not stop until 6am. For years that let her tell herself she didn't really have a problem, especially when everyone around her in college and corporate life was drinking exactly the same way. Underneath it was childhood trauma she wouldn't fully face until she got sober, and a body she never felt safe in. Her story isn't one of arrests or overdoses. It's the quieter, more common one: geographic moves that never fixed anything, a new city and a new relationship that never fixed anything, and the slow realization that the problem followed her everywhere because the problem was the thing she was running from inside. After a decade of trying to moderate, she finally got sober a year and a half ago — and found that the real work, the trauma healing and the rebuilding of an identity, was only just beginning. Now 19 months sober, Allie is a recovery and healing content creator who talks openly about inner-child work, nervous-system regulation, and building a life so full you don't want to escape it. This one is for anyone who looks fine on paper and is quietly struggling underneath. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Gautreau grew up in a middle-class Louisiana family — a dad who built his own business and a mother who worked in child services, sometimes bringing him along as she pulled kids out of crack houses and placed them in foster care. He saw exactly what drugs did to families before he ever touched them. He went anyway. It started with weed and ecstasy at high school parties, the first time he ever felt comfortable in his own skin. But the twist in Andrew's story is what came next: he became a corrections officer, working the dorms of Louisiana prisons — one guard to 120 inmates — while secretly getting high. He was buying pills at a known trap house, still in his prison uniform after a shift, when a SWAT team kicked in the door and put everyone on the ground. He talked his way out of that one. He was arrested again, still employed as a CO, and finally quit the job when he realized how close he was to smuggling drugs into the prison himself. From there it accelerated into full-blown heroin addiction and the needle. Andrew describes hundred-dollar-a-day Roxy habits, a string of arrests, work-release programs, and finally total collapse: homeless, living in the backseat of an old Honda Civic, robbing and breaking into houses to keep using. He overdosed in a Dollar General parking lot and woke up in the hospital having lost his hearing from oxygen deprivation. Days later he overdosed again in his parents' house, went septic, and spent two weeks in the hospital hallucinating. Then one night he walked into his mother's room and said the words he'd said a hundred times before — "I'm ready" — except this time it stuck. His brother had just gotten sober too. On March 1st, nine years ago, Andrew got clean, and he says it didn't just save his life — it brought his entire family back together. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices