The Courage to Change: A Recovery Podcast

Latest Episodes:

142: Ask the Expert: Dr. John Umhau-Recovery Food and Medicine May 24, 2022

Show notes

Dr. John Umhau is a board certified addiction medicine specialist who directs AlcoholRecoveryMedicine.com and provides telemedicine treatment for people with alcohol use disorder.

For over 20 years Dr. Umhau was a senior clinical investigator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health, (NIH).

As a Commander in the United States Public Health Service, he served as Clinical Director for an Indian Health Service Hospital in Whiteriver, Arizona and as a Medical Officer in the Division of Psychiatric Products of the FDA.

His scientific interest in nutritional neuroscience is informed by decades of clinical experience. He is past president of the Academy of Medicine of Washington, District of Columbia.

Dr. Umhau is revolutionizing alcohol use treatment, utilizing medications, diet and The Sinclair Method to change lives. He has also led a team of scientists to develop a method of measuring the brain uptake of the essential omega-3 fatty acid, DHA. His comprehensive treatment methods consider the whole person and are highly effective.

Episode Resources

Alcohol Recovery Medicine | alcoholrecoverymedicine.com
Acamprosate | webmd.com/drugs
Disulfiram | webmd.com/drugs
Naltrexone | webmd.com/drugs
Omega 3 Fatty Acids | webmd.com
Vitamin D | webmd.com/vitamins
Vitamin B-12 | webmd.com/diet

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
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

How Do I Date Now That I'm Sober? May 20, 2022

Show notes

In this Q and A episode she talks with producer Scott Drochelman about how to wade into the sober dating world with intention and authenticity while avoiding some of the mistakes from her own dating experience.

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

141: Will Certain: Food Addiction and 160lb Weight Loss May 17, 2022

Show notes

After Will's mom passed away in 2017, a lifetime of suppressed memories and events came flooding back in.

What felt like a normal childhood with humble beginnings began to change. Suddenly he was seeing everything iin vivid detail, defending his mother during an attempted sexual assault, witnessing russian roulette at the kitchen table or being around for a long list of traumatic events.

Will turned to food to deal with the trauma eventually climbing to 400lbs. He tried everything he could to change his trajectory including appearing in a local Biggest-Loser-style competition where he lost 88lbs in 12 weeks. But without understanding the psychology of food in his life the results didn’t last long.

Eventually Will did the hard work of understanding food’s place in his life and digging into the trauma he experienced growing up. He’s since spent intentional time working through his complicated grief and even becoming a grief facilitator in the process.

Will sees the world with a totally new outlook, living his personal mantra “Your Attitude determines your Altitude.”

Episode Resources

Will Certain Music | facebook.com/willcertainmusic

Connect with Will Certain

Facebook | facebook.com/willcertainmusic
Gmail | willcertainmusic@gmail.com

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
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

140: The Road to Healing After Vehicular Manslaughter and Trauma May 10, 2022

Show notes

Pej was born in Germany but raised in Salt Lake City where he always felt different due to his skin color and nationality. In his youth he was bullied and encountered verbal, physical, and mental abuse within his home. Pej began experimenting with alcohol at six years old and experienced his first black out at the age of twelve.

At seventeen Pej was hung over, driving his friends to school when he had a fatal car accident causing the death of a young teenager riding his bike to school. The event caused Pej to go off the deep end, drowning his guilt, shame, and sadness with drugs and alcohol.

Pej was later incarcerated as a juvenile and spent time in the psych portion of the facility as he was deemed a danger to his own life. After he was released, he became worse, dealing drugs and using excessively.

By age 35 he’d experienced jail, institutions, homelessness and near death experiences. He finally threw up the white flag and asked for help. Pej now uses his experiences to help others through his work as an interventionist, recovery coach and the creator of multiple sober communities.

Episode Resources

Pej's Recovery Corner | facebook.com/PejizCorner/
Per the Addiction Interventionist | youtube.com/c/PejTheAddictionInterventionist

Connect with Pej

Instagram | @drug_intervention
TikTok | @pejinterventions

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
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

Compassion For My Addicted Loved One? But They're Being An A**hole. May 06, 2022

Show notes

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. In this Q and A session she talks with producer Scott Drochelman about the challenges in caring for a loved one who is addicted to something. Folks are asked to lead with empathy, but they also have a right to be angry about the behaviors they're seeing. In this episode we talk about how to hold both ideas in your mind at the same time and tips for anyone caring for someone with an addiction.

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

139: How Mommy Wine Culture took her to the depths of alcoholism May 03, 2022

Show notes

Michelle’s passion for maternal mental health emerged after becoming a mother. Alcohol became a coping tool, eventually resulting in severe alcohol use disorder.

As an educated professional working in the addiction field, she never imagined she would find herself struggling to find a healthy relationship with alcohol.

Sitting on the bathroom floor, bawling her eyes out, she had a moment where she wondered how she let her undiagnosed postpartum depression and alcohol use disorder go undetected for so long.

She had worked so hard to build the life of my dreams, and once she was living it, all she wanted to do was escape.

She went from a depressed, anxious mom using alcohol daily to numb to living a life of confidence, freedom, and purpose. She chooses to recover out loud to let other’s know alcohol is not an accessory to motherhood.

Michelle created Recovery is the New Black, a digital community that touches thousands.

Episode Resources

Recovery is the New Black | recoveryisthenewblack.com
Recovery is the New Black Facebook Community | facebook.com/groups/recoveryisthenewblack

Connect with Michelle Smith

Connect with The Courage to Change

Podcast Website | lionrock.life/couragetochangepodcast
Podcast Instagram | @couragetochange_podcast
Podcast Facebook | @thecouragetochangepodcast
TikTok | @ashleyloebblassingame
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

138: Ask the Expert: Dr. Michele Perron - New Treatment Options for Those Struggling with Addiction Apr 26, 2022

Show notes

Dr. Michele Perron is a Clinical Supervisor, a private international addiction coach, counselor, speaker, and the author of “Tools for Life". She has worked in the field of addiction for over 15 years. Her experience includes working with groups and individuals in the critical stages of detox to high intensity inpatient, intensive outpatient, outpatient, extended care, after care, adolescent care, Medication Assisted Treatment, Telehealth care and TSM coaching.

In this episode we talk about the unusual path that brought her to work in the addiction field and cutting edge treatment that presents a path to drinking moderation to many who have struggled with addiction. While this might sound impossible to those like myself who had a different path to recovery, it offers another option for some of those who struggle with addiction. Really interesting stuff, some of which challenged some of my own ideas.

Episode Resources

Health Balance Program | lionrockrecovery.com/programs/finding-balance
One Little Pill | onelittlepillmovie.com
Sinclair Method | sinclairmethod.org
Alcohol Recovery Medecine | alcoholrecoverymedicine.com

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

How Do You Know You're Addicted to Something? Apr 22, 2022

Show notes

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. In this Q and A session she talks with producer Scott Drochelman about the moment she realized she was addicted, how to recognize the signs, and your first steps if you suspect you might be addicted to something.

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

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136: 18 Years of Sobriety Threatened By Childhood Trauma Apr 12, 2022

Show notes

Mescal was born in England and moved to Santa Monica at age 8 in the height of the Dogtown Era. Mescal grew up surrounded by skate and surf culture and also gang and drug culture. All this leading to him becoming, as he describes it, “a troubled, poor, latchkey kid of the 80s”

Mescal got sober in his twenties but 18 years later found his sobriety threatened when past trauma and unresolved mental health issues could no longer be contained. With the help of friends and treatment he’s been able to wade through these challenges going to grad school for social work and finding a meaningful relationship in the process.

Mescal’s story is an important one. In it we hear about what can happen when we treat the addiction without addressing the underlying mental health pieces. His story is one of continuing to push and do the hard work even when things have felt like they should be getting easier.