The Courage to Change: A Recovery Podcast

Latest Episodes:

149: Andrea Ashley: "Adult Child" Host on Embracing the Sh*tshow Jul 12, 2022

Show notes

Andrea Ashley is a former CPA turned podcast host & producer. She grew up outside of Philadelphia in an alcoholic household. Andrea turned to drugs and alcohol herself at the age of 12. After years in and out of rehabs and boarding schools, she was granted the gift of sobriety at the age of 19 and celebrated 13 years of continuous sobriety in September 2021.

In 2018 and after 9 years of sobriety, Andrea had her “second great surrender” and came to terms with the true impact her dysfunctional upbringing had on her. This bottom and the subsequent healing work led her to launch Adult Child in March of 2021.

The podcast is a deep dive into the impact of growing up in a dysfunctional family – with topics including addiction, codependency, and complex trauma. Andrea describes the podcast as “vulnerable and filterless conversations of depth and meaning, with a healthy dose of humor and self-mockery.”

Adult children of alcoholics and dysfunctional families have a unique story to tell and offer a picture into what unresolved alcoholism can do to a family.

Episode Resources

Adult Child Podcast | adultchildpodcast.com

Connect with Andrea

Instagram | @adultchildpod
Tiktok | @adultchildpod

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
YouTube | The Courage to Change Podcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
Podcast Email | podcast@lionrock.life
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast

Lionrock Resources

Lionrock Life Mobile App | lionrock.life/mobile-app
Support Group Meeting Schedule | lionrock.life/meetings

148: Parham Nematollah: Prenatal Bomb Shelters and Anxiety Jul 05, 2022

Show notes

Parham Nematollah grew up in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war where he lived through frequent bombings that sent his whole family fleeing for safety.

They eventually made it to the US, but he then spent his childhood moving back and forth from the US to Iran. At age 9 he moved back to Iran and spent the better part of a year learning how to read and write in a new language.

At 16 he moved back to the US for good but the constant change caused him to feel outside of both cultures and desperate to fit in by any means necessary. His anxiety (rooted in the early trauma of war) and the desire to fit in, caused him to start using alcohol and cocaine to deal with it all.

At 25 he overdosed and finally found sobriety while sitting across from his sick mother who happened to be at the same hospital for treatment. He wondered what she did to deserve her sickness and what he was doing to her.

Parham eventually went back to school to become a Licensed Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor and also holds a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. He is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Buckeye Recovery Network, an Outpatient Treatment Facility he helped to create.

Episode Resources

Buckeye Recovery Network | buckeyerecoverynetwork.com

Connect with Parham

Instagram | @the1minutetherapist
Linkedin | linkedin.com/in/parhamnematollah/
Facebook | @ParhamNematollah

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
YouTube | The Courage to Change Podcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
Podcast Email | podcast@lionrock.life
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast

Lionrock Resources

Lionrock Life Mobile App | lionrock.life/mobile-app
Support Group Meeting Schedule | lionrock.life/meetings

How Do I Get My Husband to Commit To Going To Treatment? Jul 01, 2022

Show notes

In this Q and A episode Ashley answers the listener question "How do I get my husband to commit to going to treatment?" Her partner has had several relapses and she can't convince him to get help. Ashley discusses how to let the crisis arrive, interventions and self work that can be extremely helpful in encouraging a loved one to get help.

Ashley Loeb Blassingame has been clean and sober for 16 years, she's a drug and alcohol counselor, interventionist, and the co-founder of a telehealth company called Lionrock Recovery that provides substance use disorder treatment.

Episode Resources

Connect with Ashley Loeb Blassingame

TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
Instagram | @ashleyloebblassingame

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast
Podcast Email | podcast@lionrock.life
YouTube | The Courage to Change Playlist

Lionrock Resources

Lionrock Life Mobile App | lionrock.life/mobile-app
Support Group Meeting Schedule | lionrock.life/meetings

147: Andy Kyte: Moving From Caricature To His True Self Jun 28, 2022

Show notes

Andy grew up searching for a place to fit in and find acceptance. As a Minister’s son, kids were often brought to his house against their will in order for his morality to rub off on them. In high school he found a new persona when he got blackout drunk at a college party. Suddenly people were talking about how funny he was when he was drunk, how he was just like Will Ferrell, and he liked the attention. So he leaned into it. In college he found more acceptance by blacking out and doing wild things people could laugh about the next day.

But as college went on, he found people were growing tired of the persona. He found the phone was ringing less and less often. By the end of college, the phone wasn’t ringing at all.

When he graduated, all the places where he’d defined himself went away and the drinking got worse. He began getting fired from jobs, racking up consequences from fights, illegal fireworks and DUIs. It wasn’t until his fifth serious consequence from drinking, shortly after his 25th birthday, that things began to change.

Andy’s story shows something at the heart of everyone who struggles with addiction, the need for something that they can’t get through other means. The substance becomes the solution to the pain until it becomes the cause of it, often stealing the very thing it gave us in the first place.

Episode Resources

Connect with Andy

Linkedin | linkedin.com/in/andykyte
Instagram | instagram.com/andykyte/

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
YouTube | The Courage to Change Podcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
Podcast Email | podcast@lionrock.life
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast

Lionrock Resources

Lionrock Life Mobile App | lionrock.life/mobile-app
Support Group Meeting Schedule | lionrock.life/meetings

146: Ask the Expert: Roland Williams-Recovery for Everyone Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

Roland Williams is an interventionist, author, trainer, counselor and consultant specializing in addiction related issues. He is one of the first Licensed Advanced Addictions Counselors in the state of California.

He is a motivational speaker who conducts seminars, workshops, keynote presentations, as well as staff training, skills building and program development worldwide. Roland is the Founder and President of Free Life Enterprises, Counseling and Consulting Services, He is the Coordinator of Chemical Dependency Studies at Cal State East Bay. He is the Director of the United Auburn Indian Community (UAIC), Recovery Program, He was the Chairman of the Clinical Advisory Board for Lionrock Recovery, and innovative Online Intensive Outpatient program.

He was the Founder and Director of VIP Recovery Coaching, an International Coaching Company providing Recovery Coaching for high profile clients in their environment.

As a Clinical Consultant he helped set up the first abstinence-based addiction treatment center in Amsterdam, Holland, and has worked with addicts and treatment centers, in Japan, Switzerland, Russia, Thailand, Costa Rica, England, Holland, Mexico, France, The Philippines, Dominican Republic, Nepal and Italy. Mr. Williams has three published books; Relapse Prevention Counseling for African Americans, Relapse Warning Signs for African Americans, (both written with Terence T. Gorski) and Relapse Prevention Workbook for African Americans written solely by Mr. Williams. He recently published Recovery is a Verb, a Workbook by Roland Williams.

Episode Resources

CENAPS Training | cenaps.com
Roland Williams Consulting | rolandwilliamsconsulting.com
Recovery is a Verb Workbook | www.amazon.com/
Relapse Prevention for African Americans | www.amazon.com
Relapse Prevention Counseling Workbook | www.amazon.com

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
YouTube | The Courage to Change Podcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
Podcast Email | podcast@lionrock.life
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast

Lionrock Resources

Lionrock Life Mobile App | lionrock.life/mobile-app
Support Group Meeting Schedule | lionrock.life/meetings

Why Do I Keep Relapsing? Jun 17, 2022

Show notes

In this Q and A episode Ashley talks with producer Scott Drochelman about the reasons that people relapse. Hear Ashley's relapse stories and what factors put people at risk.

Episode Resources

Connect with Ashley Loeb Blassingame

TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast
Podcast Email | podcast@lionrock.life
YouTube | The Courage to Change Playlist

Lionrock Resources

Lionrock Life Mobile App | lionrock.life/mobile-app
Support Group Meeting Schedule | lionrock.life/meetings

145: Beauty Queen’s Alcoholism Leads to AZ Tent City Jail Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

Lynsie was a high achiever from a young age. Starting dance, gymnastics and singing classes at age three. She joined the pageant circuit at 12 and immediately had success. The achievement of it all brought peace to her turbulent home with an alcoholic father.

She eventually found the success she was looking for when she became Miss Teen Arizona, but it led to a strange splitting of herself. In one life she was a pageant queen riding in parades and talking to kids about not drinking or using drugs all while partying heavily and on the road to her own addiction.

Then a sexual assualt, and other major life events caused her to have a mental breakdown which had her fleeing from non-existent Mexican Federalis and diving deeper into her growing problem.

It wasn’t until she received an aggressive DUI from an accident that found her car wrapped around a tree with a passenger in the car that things started to change. She was sent to Tent City jail in the Arizona and then to treatment which led to her eventual recovery.

Today she is 16 years sober.

Episode Resources

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
YouTube | The Courage to Change Podcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
Podcast Email | podcast@lionrock.life
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast

Lionrock Resources

Lionrock Life Mobile App | lionrock.life/mobile-app
Support Group Meeting Schedule | lionrock.life/meetings

144: Wes Geer: Korn and Hed PE guitarist on music for recovery Jun 07, 2022

Show notes

Wes Geer is a professional guitar player, songwriter, recording artist, and producer, who signed his first record deal to Jive Records with the band he founded, (Hed) P.E.. Wes toured the world for nearly a decade, and the band sold over 1 million records worldwide. Their music was on high rotation on MTV, radio stations, as well as having numerous placements in popular feature films, TV, and video games.

What many didn’t know at the time was while he was leading his band to their first-ever record deal, Wes was a full-blown drug addict, using alcohol, methamphetamines and other drugs, daily, for years. No matter the efforts to quell his addiction and control it, things continually got worse. After nearly a decade of touring the world, with the biggest names in rock, Wes’ life was imploding, and he finally left in 2003, for a ‘lifestyle change’ that ultimately ended him up in rehab in 2004.

In 2010, Wes decided he wanted to get back into music and started praying and meditating on what that would look like. Not long after, and only because he was sober, Geer was offered the gig as a guitarist with the rock band Korn. He traveled the world, performing in more than 40 countries with the multi-platinum stars, as well as appeared on numerous live televised and studio recording sessions.

Geer was then moved to give back, wanting to create something that could help people who struggled the same way he had. He then founded Rock to Recovery (R2R), a non-profit organization created in late 2012 with the purpose of providing those in various types of treatment and recovery programs the cathartic, uplifting, healing experience of connectivity through music.

Episode Resources

Rock to Recovery | rocktorecovery.org
Rock to Recovery Tickets | Concert Tickets
Rock to Recovery Book | amazon.com

Connect with Wes Geer

Instagram | @rocktorecovery
Facebook | @rocktorecovery
Twitter | @rocktorecovery

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
YouTube | The Courage to Change Podcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
Podcast Email | podcast@lionrock.life
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast

Lionrock Resources

Lionrock Life Mobile App | lionrock.life/mobile-app
Support Group Meeting Schedule | lionrock.life/meetings

How Do I Help a Loved One in Long Term Addiction? Jun 03, 2022

Show notes

In this Q and A episode Ashley talks with producer Scott Drochelman about how to maintain hope when you've been trying to help for a long time. You might not feel like there is much more you can do. You might find it difficult to remain connected. Ashley provides practical ideas on how to approach this complicated situation without enabling.

Episode Resources

Connect with Ashley Loeb Blassingame

TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast
Podcast Email | podcast@lionrock.life
YouTube | The Courage to Change Playlist

Lionrock Resources

Lionrock Life Mobile App | lionrock.life/mobile-app
Support Group Meeting Schedule | lionrock.life/meetings

143: Benjamin Heldfond: Sobriety Tools for a Happy Divorce May 31, 2022

Show notes

Benjamin Heldfond grew up in San Francisco where he lived through a high conflict divorce. He internalized the breakup as a signal that he was bad. The experience was like Miracle Grow for his growing drinking and heroin addiction which eventually led to a flatline overdose that saw him clinically dead. But even that didn’t lead to his sobriety.

Ben eventually entered treatment, found help and 6 years into his recovery, moved to Florida with the woman he would eventually marry. The move carried a great deal of resentment towards his wife which manifested in Ben living as a dry drunk without any accountability for his actions. This led to turmoil in the relationship. The two had a son together and divorced bitterly shortly after.

Only after reflection did Ben see that left unchecked he threatened to repeat the same painful pattern he’d lived as a child. The realization moved him to call his therapist and sponsor.

Ben eventually co-authored the book, “Our Happy Divorce”, with his Ex-Wife Nikki DeBartolo, which told the story of how their journey through divorce eventually brought them closer together.

Episode Resources