Rise Above with Kevin Lanning
Join Kevin Lanning, a former Google executive in sobriety, as he shares inspiring stories of resilience. Each episode features individuals who have faced life’s toughest challenges—addiction, trauma, anxiety, and more—and emerged stronger. These conversations aren’t just about survival; they’re about thriving and finding practical solutions to rise above adversity. Kevin’s own journey through addiction and childhood trauma fuels his passion for sharing stories that uplift, educate, and inspire.
Episodes
I Was A Harvard Student Secretly Addicted To Oxy And Xanax
On paper, Emma Gray had every advantage — a New York City upbringing, elite schools, a spot at Harvard, and eventually a six-year finance career. Underneath it, she was a person who, in her own words, couldn't sit with an uncomfortable feeling for more than a moment without needing to escape it.
Emma started with alcohol, which never agreed with her, and then found the thing that did: first weed,
I Got Addicted To A Legal Drug Called 7OH I Bought At The Smoke Shop
7-OH is one of the most talked-about drugs in the country right now — a concentrated kratom derivative sold legally at smoke shops and gas stations, marketed as a natural supplement. Bari Leigh is here to tell you what it actually did to her.
Bari's story starts long before 7-OH. A gifted athlete and touring singer-songwriter from a family that looked, for a while, like the American dream, she su
I Had A Degree And A Career While Secretly Addicted To Fentanyl
On paper, Ava Garcia was the kid who had it together — straight-A student, captain of the varsity basketball team, an artist, the responsible firstborn. Underneath it, she was raising herself in the chaos of two parents in active addiction, competing for attention with a younger brother who needed all of it, and by 13 she was already using. She sold Xanax to fund an opioid habit while keeping her
I Was A Drug Counselor Getting High On Fentanyl Between Sessions
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
I Was A Cornell Student Living In My Car Addicted To Adderall and Doing Sex Work
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 c
How Do You Know If You're Really An Alcoholic? | Addiction Recovery Q&A
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,
I Was Shooting Meth And Fentanyl Living In My Car
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 h
I Was Shooting Fentanyl On The Streets Of Kensington
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 R
How My Recovery Podcast Ended Up On Paramount+ | Behind The Scenes Of Building It From Nothing
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 imagi
I Was Sold For Sex And Had No Say | Overcoming Sexual Trauma, An Eating Disorder & Getting Sober
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 prof
I Started Shooting Heroin as a Teen | Robbing a Bank High on PCP, Prison and Getting Sober
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 on
"When I Drank, I Couldn't Stop" | Binge Drinking, Blackouts & How I Finally Got Sober
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
I Was A Prison Guard Secretly Shooting Heroin | SWAT Raided My Trap House While I Was In Uniform
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
I Was Homeless Shooting Fentanyl in Miami | Overdoses, Coma & How I Finally Got Sober
Jonah Fingerhood had a nearly perfect childhood in New Hampshire — until he was 16 and lost his older brother to substance abuse. A year later, a skateboarding accident and a compound fracture put a bottle of Percocet in his hands, and the pain of that grief, followed by his father's cancer diagnosis, finally had somewhere to go. He describes the first time he crushed and snorted a pill as the mom
Addicted To Roxys At 17 For 15 Years | How Suboxone Kept Me Stuck & How I Finally Got Sober
Chris Broby grew up in Sarasota, Florida, in a good middle-class home — hardworking parents who built a furniture business, no trauma, no abuse. But he always felt a little like the black sheep, a small kid looking for a way to fit in, and when alcohol showed up in his early teens it filled that space instantly. By his senior year of high school, a Roxy at a party made him feel, in his words, the
My Little Brother Is Still In Active Addiction | What Addiction Does To The Whole Family
Michaela DeGier grew up in a close, loving family just outside Cambridge, Ontario — high school sweetheart parents still together after decades, three tight-knit siblings, summers in the forest behind the house. Her little brother was the baby of the family: the uncle who'd sit at a tiny table and have tea parties with his two-year-old niece, present at every birthday and holiday.
Today he's in h
I Was A Cop Taking 55 Pills A Day
Mike Morgan spent 30 years in law enforcement — a decade of it working the most violent part of one of the most violent cities in America. On his very first shift, he saw two homicides in five hours. He describes a career of natural deaths, suicides, fatal car accidents, and children he couldn't save — and the armor he'd started building as a kid, growing up with a hypercritical, verbally abusive
I Grew Up In A Crack Addicted Household | What It Really Does To A Child
Indee Fields was four years old the first time she watched her mother hide from witches that weren't there. Her mom was smoking crack. By ten, Indee was the one running the household — bathing and feeding her younger siblings, breaking up the violence between her mother and stepfather, and calling the police when she was told to, onl
Ketamine Psychosis | My Ketamine Addiction Was Destroying My Organs | How I Got Sober
Sydney Steele was prescribed Ritalin at five years old, just as she was finishing preschool. From there came Concerta, Vyvanse, and Adderall — a stimulant cycle that ran nearly nonstop through her childhood, alongside psychiatric diagnoses she now believes were largely a reaction to the medication itself.
She made it through Syracuse as an illustration major with a real gift and a growing art bus
A Decade Long Addiction to Opioids | How I Broke the Chains and Got Clean & Sober
By June of 2017, Billy Rich had nothing left in his own eyes. A decade into opioid addiction, isolated in a blacked-out bedroom in Rhode Island, cut off from his family, grieving his father, buried under legal fear and a mental state he describes as beyond anything he'd known — he had decided he was done. He didn't see a recovery option. He didn't think there was a way out.
He survived that night
What Leads Someone To Plan a School Shooting?...The Early Warning Signs Everyone Missed
⚠️ This episode is presented for educational and prevention purposes only. In 2018, Brendan Vaughan was arrested for making terroristic threats against his high school. We sat down with him — and previously with the detective who arrested him — not to sensationalize what happened, but to understand the early warning signs that might help someone intervene before a young person reaches that point.
She Sold Her Body For Heroin & Crack, Totaled 7 Cars & Had 5 Arrests In A Month | Now 5 Years Sober
Brittany Logan grew up an only child split between two households — her mother's world of structure and discipline, and her alcoholic father's world of no rules and chaos. By 15 she was drinking before class and never wanted to stop. She got kicked out of art school, was arrested five times in a single month, and moved from blues to Oxys to heroin — a drug she says she first heard glamorized insid
I Drank a Bottle For 700 Straight Days and Lost Everything | How I Finally Got Sober
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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.
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I Was Buying Kratom At The Gas Station Every Morning Just To Function....It Destroyed Me
Matt Von Boecklin grew up outside Seattle, raised by a single mother after his father suffered a mental break when Matt was a toddler and had to be cared for in a home. A socially anxious kid always reaching for the edge of the cool crowd, Matt found early that alcohol quieted that feeling — and years later, a motorcycle accident introduced him to opiates and opened a door he says was impossible t
My Heart Stopped From A Fentanyl Overdose & I Woke Up From A Coma Having To Learn To Walk Again
If you caught Brenda Zane's episode a few months ago — the mother who shared the harrowing story of her son's addiction and near-death — this is that son. Enzo is here to tell it from the inside.
Enzo grew up in Seattle with two loving, supportive parents and a natural entrepreneurial streak, running little candy schemes and haircut businesses as a kid. But a fascination with the "forbidden" turn
I Was Spending $300 A Day On 7OH....Legal Gas Station Hero!n
Nick Thornton grew up outside Portland, Maine, raised by his grandparents after his mother's addiction pulled her out of his life. He was warned early that with both parents struggling, he could never drink — a warning he took as a challenge. By 14 he was drinking and smoking weed daily, and from the very first time, he always went harder than everyone around him.
What followed was a decade-plus
I Was Doing Cocaine Every Single Day For 3 Years & Had A Seizure At My Desk....and I Kept Using
From the outside Gregg looked like he had it handled — a family, a career, a wife he'd known since middle school. Underneath it he was doing cocaine every single day, and had been for years. He'll tell you he never fit the picture of what people imagine an addict looks like. He wasn't running around wired; cocaine actually quieted the chaos in his head, turned down the noise, and let him not feel.
He Was Drinking Every Day & Ready To Give Up | The One Thing That Gave Him Hope
Pete Kuc was living a life that looked like the movies. A young real estate hotshot in northeast Florida, he was making a fortune, flying on private jets to the Bahamas, entertaining high-end clients on the waterfront, and running on Adderall and alcohol to keep the whole machine going. He describes it as his own Wolf of Wall Street era — money, parties, and the feeling that as long as he was perf
From Cooking Meth at 19 to Finding Sobriety | Colton's Recovery Story
Colton's addiction began long before adulthood. By 17, he was injecting drugs. Before turning 20, he was cooking meth, living in violent drug houses, escaping juvenile detention, and eventually serving time in prison. He shares stories of psychosis, crime, near-death experiences, and the devastating reality of meth addiction.Today, nearly two years sober, Colton has transformed his life. He helps
He Went From Princeton & Harvard Law To Shooting Heroin On Skid Row
Damon Watson did everything right. Harvard-Westlake prep school. Princeton, where he was a national debate champion. Harvard Law School. A career as an intellectual property litigator at Latham & Watkins, one of the biggest law firms in Los Angeles. On paper, his life was the American dream.
Then five people close to him died in six years — his mom, his dad, his grandmother and more. His marriage
Prescribed Xanax at 14: How Addiction Led to 8 Arrests, Jail & Recovery
Haley Ragsdale grew up outside Nashville in the wealthy town of Franklin, a scared kid with crippling anxiety, insomnia, and a phobia of vomiting so severe it ruled her entire childhood. When her parents' divorce detonated — a five-year court battle that pulled her out of class for abuse checks and had her father legally removed from the home — the chaos swallowed the whole family.
She found her
Addicted To Oxycodone At 15... Heroin On The Streets By 20
Clint Pitre was raised by his grandparents in Deltona, Florida, a Jehovah's Witness household where he always felt like something was off. By middle school he was smoking weed and drinking at the skate park. At 15 he took his first Oxycodone at a house party and knew instantly he wanted to feel that way for the rest of his life. By junior year he was so dependent that his own grandmother had to ha
I Was A Pastor Secretly Addicted To Sex & Affairs While Preaching Every Sunday
Jason Lyles was adopted at 14 days old and raised in a strict Southern Baptist home. He read the Bible cover to cover by age eight and felt called to ministry. He also found pornography at ten or eleven, and from that moment he was chasing something he couldn't name — convinced each time that the next thing would finally fix him. Marriage at 19 would fix it. Giving his life to God would fix it. Bu
The Dark Reality of Alcoholism | My Battle with Alcohol Addiction, Blacking Out & Horrific Detoxes
Laura Tomana appeared to have it all—a successful career, a thriving social life, and a bright future. Behind closed doors, however, alcohol had taken over her life.What began as partying evolved into blackouts, drinking around the clock, and eventually becoming physically dependent on alcohol.
After losing her mother to cancer, Laura made a promise to stay sober—but grief, addiction, and despai
I Went From The MVP Quarterback to Shooting Heroin | How I Found Sobriety and Changed My Life
Tommy Lyons grew up between Brooklyn and Staten Island, a fearful, introverted kid with a nervous disposition who found that drugs made him feel like he could finally talk to anyone. He was smoking weed at ten, doing Xanax by thirteen, and a borderline cocaine addict by fourteen — funding it by stealing and robbing before he was even old enough to drive.
He became the MVP quarterback of his high
A Surgery Led To My Painkiller Addiction | What My Life Looks Like 8.5 Years Sober | Vlog Ep. 3
Rise Above | Vlog Episode 3
A routine shoulder surgery is where my painkiller addiction began. This is what my life looks like 8.5 years sober.
In this vlog I'm taking you through a real day in my life and the things that keep me grounded. We start at Tequesta Biomechanics where I train with Jessica, working on decompressing my lower back, recovering mobility in the shoulder that started it all,
A Heroin Addict's BRUTAL Lifestyle | Losing My Arm, Arrests and How I Found Sobriety
Mike Debany was a fast-talking sales guy living what looked like the good life in South Florida — a fiancée, a baby on the way, money in the bank. Underneath it he was already an addict, having found his way from marijuana to the pill mills of South Florida, where a doctor in a parking lot would hand out 180 Xanax and 90 Roxys to anyone who waited long enough.
Then on October 18, 2010, everything
I Lost My Job, My Wife & My Son To Alcohol & Oxycodone
From the outside Nick Johnsson had it all. Born in Sweden, educated in Australia, and based in Southeast Asia, he spent a decade climbing the corporate ladder until he was the general manager of 72 hospitals and clinics across Indonesia — one of the biggest roles of its kind in the world.
And he was quietly falling apart behind the closed door of his corner office.
Every promotion made him lonel
I Was A High-Functioning Drinker Who Hid It All | Losing My Mom, My Marriage & My Hair
From the outside Christie Green looked like she had it all together. A successful career, a wide circle of friends, the person who sent the thank-you cards and remembered everyone's birthday. Nobody saw the high-functioning drinking underneath, or the grief, divorce and decades of quiet pain she was masking with it.
Christie lost her hair to alopecia as a child and spent years building humor and
I Was Drinking A Handle Of Vodka A Day & Making $50K A Month Online At 18 | Getting Sober At 21
Makenzie Raine had her first panic attack at seven. She never felt comfortable in her own skin....paralyzing anxiety, constant fear, neurodivergence nobody ever addressed. Then at 12 her parents let her have a drink hoping to take the mystery out of alcohol. That same night she snuck out, finished the bottle alone and got obliterated. She describes that first drink as coming up for air for the fir
She Started Smoking Meth At 15 | From 20 Years Homeless & Prostituting Women To 7 Years Sober
Betty Guadagno was born into a long line of addicts — poverty, chaos, eviction notices in red envelopes, and sexual trauma she carried as a small child. By 11 she was mixing drinks behind a stranger's bar. By 15 she was smoking methamphetamine. And for the next 20 years drugs were the only thing that made her feel powerful, beautiful and safe.
By the end she was a homeless meth addict who had los
"I Was Cut In Half On Impact" | Pronounced Dead 3 Times, A 3.5 Week Coma & I Performed Surgery On Myself
Jerry Lucey beat opioid addiction in 2018. Then in 2020 a motorcycle accident cut his body open from his heel to his chest. He was pronounced dead three times. He spent three and a half weeks in a coma and had a near-death experience he still can't fully explain.
In this follow up episode Jerry reveals what wasn't covered the first time — going septic during recovery and nearly dying again, over
I Drank a Liter & a Half Of Vodka Every Night & Still Told Myself I Didn't Have A Problem
Matthew Polimeno was six years old when he climbed into his mother's bed and woke up next to her body. She had gotten sober through AA. Then a car accident led to an OxyContin prescription. And then she was gone.
Growing up without her Matthew watched his father hold everything together while carrying a grief nobody talked about. He went to AA meetings as a kid without understanding why. And then
I Was Drinking So Hard I Couldn't Get Out Of Bed | From $100K A Week Steroid Empire To Prison
Ryan Root was a skinny kid from upstate New York who got picked up by girls at 13 and couldn't grow facial hair at 28. Doctors dismissed him. So he went to the black market for testosterone at 23 — and his life changed overnight.
He put on 32 pounds of muscle in weeks. His confidence exploded. His ambition came back. And then he discovered he had a gift for business.
What started as trying to ma
I Shot Fentanyl Until I Was Completely Unconscious | Jail, Losing My Daughter & How I Finally Got Sober
Brittany Ellis grew up in a small town in South Georgia watching her parents drink & party. It wasn't until her oldest brother poured gasoline on a bonfire at 14 and burned his entire arm that everything changed. The doctors loaded him up with OxyContin. He brought it home. Her parents got hooked. And then Brittany did too.
What followed was 15 years of addiction that took her from pills to heroi
I Shot Heroin With USB Cords Tied To My Arm After 2 Tours In Afghanistan | 7 Years Sober
Johnny Schrey grew up in West Boca watching his two older brothers destroy their lives with drugs. He told himself he would never be like them. By 25 he was splitting Roxy 30s with his best friend because they couldn't scrape together $10 for one pill between them. So they joined the Marine Corps..
He detoxed off opioids in boot camp. Got a DUI his first night back from engineering school. Deploy
I Found Out I Was Adopted At 13, Got My First DUI At 18 & Did 4 Months In Jail | 3.5 Years Sober
Rise Above | Adam Vohra's Story
Adam Vohra grew up in Connecticut ....a kid of color in a Jewish day school who always felt different. At 13 he found out why. He and his sister had been adopted. Nobody had told them. And six months later he had his first drink.
What followed was 15 years of DUIs, gambling debts with drug dealers, dropping out of college, four months in a Connecticut jail, and re
I Blacked Out Every Night While Running The San Francisco Bureau of HuffPost | Highrise Suicide Attempt and How I Got Sober
Carly Schwartz had a career most journalists only dream about. Running the San Francisco Bureau of HuffPost at 26. On the leadership team of one of the biggest news organizations in the world. Blogging for a governor who became California's Governor. Expense accounts, concerts, restaurant openings and a life that looked absolutely electric from the outside.
And she was going to bed every night wi
I Drank A Bottle Of Scotch Every Night | From Alcoholic Depression to 39 Years Sober | Suebelle Robbins
Suebelle Robbins had a life that looked like a movie. Playboy Bunny by night, first grade teacher by day. Travel escort taking groups to Hawaii and Switzerland. Corporate wife living on Gulfstream jets. Beautiful homes, European vacations and everything money could buy.
And she was miserable every single minute of it.
Every morning started with a bong. Every afternoon she switched to Scotch. She
Inside A Chicago Street Junkie's 20-Year Spiral | 3 DUIs, Heroin, Cook County Jail & Finding God
Mike Supak was a Division 1 track athlete. He never touched a drop of alcohol in four years of high school. He was structured, dedicated, trustworthy — the model kid.
Then he discovered alcohol the summer before college and everything changed immediately.
What followed was 20 years of cocaine, heroin, DUIs, overdoses, jail, and a slow death that nobody around him could stop. He got his second an
I Was Taking 10 Xanax Bars A Night At 17, Stabbed A Woman At 37 Weeks Pregnant & Sat On A Sidewalk Ready To Die | 11 Years Sober
Crystal Meliea grew up alone on 183 acres of North Carolina mountain property with a narcissist mother who left her unsupervised with music industry men in Los Angeles at 16. No protection. No parents. Just a bottle of Xanax she found in her mother's purse that made everything quiet for the first time in her life.
By 19 she was running marijuana from Mexico to Texas to North Carolina on a massive
I Made My First Million On Wall Street At 28 & Was Broke & Addicted To Opiates By 30
TJ DelVecchio was a Division 1 baseball player at Providence College who walked onto Wall Street during the dot-com boom and made his first million dollars by 28. By 30 he was broke, $300,000 in debt, unloading boxes at FedEx in the middle of the night just to keep health insurance for his kids — and quietly becoming addicted to opioids.
For years he held it all together on the outside. Wall Stre
Inside A Functioning Mom's Secret Alcoholism | My 30-Year Battle With Alcoholism
Kyle Garges had everything — a loving husband, a beautiful daughter, a career in advertising sales, and a life that looked perfectly put together from the outside.
But behind closed doors she was hiding alcohol in her daughter's Stanley Cup. She was drinking through blackouts, through rehab, through aversion therapy in Seattle where they made her chug vodka until she vomited. She drank through he
7-OH Pills Destroyed My Life | The SHOCKING Truth About 7-Hydroxymitragynine Addiction
You can buy it at a gas station. It's sold next to energy drinks and lottery tickets. And it almost destroyed Matt Dean's life.
Matt Dean had already been through the pill mill era in Florida, cold turkey detoxed off 50-60 Percocet a day, built a career in real estate, and gotten sober from alcohol — twice. Then his little brother died of an overdose. And a well-meaning smoke shop employee handed
I Was Held Hostage By The Cartel In Mexico | Inside A College Addict's Spiral
John Luedke had it all on paper — a scholarship to Michigan State, a successful father, a big house, and every material thing a kid could want. But underneath it all, he was drowning. His parents' affair and messy seven-year divorce left him as the emotional middleman between two broken people. He got cut from the basketball team. He lost his identity. And he spent the next decade eating, drinking
I Was A Teacher With Two DUIs | 30 Years of Alcoholism & Finding Sobriety
Elisa Nicole Saunders was a Palm Beach County schoolteacher, standing in front of classrooms every day — and quietly drinking and drugging her way through 30 years of addiction. Two DUIs. A five-car pile-up. Crashing drunk into a tow truck while two people had to run for their lives. Sitting in a jail cell staring at her wrist, wondering how it got this bad.
She never wanted to get sober. A judge
I Was Ordering Fentanyl Off The Dark Web In College | Gambling, Xanax & How I Got Sober
Jordan Freeman had everything going for him — loving parents, a spot at one of the top business schools in the country, varsity baseball, and a bright future. But behind closed doors, he was ordering Xanax off the dark web, gambling with money he didn't have, blacking out and not remembering a single thing from the night before — and calling it normal.
By his sophomore year at Indiana University,
I Did Neurofeedback for Anxiety, Stress & PTSD — Here's What Happened | Compassion Behavioral Health
I went inside Compassion Behavioral Health (CBH) headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to experience neurofeedback firsthand — and I vlogged the whole thing.
In this episode, I go through my first two sessions:
🧠 Session 1 — Brain Mapping: Reading my actual brainwave patterns, identifying high-stress areas, mood fluctuations, and self-regulation challenges.
⚡ Session 2 — Brain Training: Wearin
He Overdosed, Died 3 Times & Woke Up an Amputee | Now He Has 14 Years Sober
Kevin Parker had everything stripped from him — his health, his freedom, his leg, and nearly his life. After a night that started with a family intervention and ended with him face-down in his own vomit, Kevin flatlined three times, spent three weeks in a coma, developed sepsis, gangrene in all four limbs, multi-organ failure, and woke up an amputee.
The doctors said he'd be brain dead. They said
From Eating Disorder to 30 Years in Recovery: Trauma, EMDR & Healing
In this powerful episode, I sit down with Rachel Pappert Docekal, a recovery advocate and executive at the Hanley Center in West Palm Beach. Rachel opens up about her own 30-year recovery journey — starting with an eating disorder in college, the friends who loved her enough to intervene, and the layers of childhood trauma she's worked through over decades of therapy, including EMDR.
We also get
She Married a Drug Dealer in Vegas While Running From Cops | Cocaine Addiction, a Federal Raid & Getting Sober
Courtney Janssen grew up in a farm town outside Chicago watching domestic abuse and drinking become "normal." By 12 she had her first drink. By her twenties she was doing cocaine daily to survive double shifts bartending in Nashville. Then she impulsively married a man she barely knew — in Vegas, hours after he fled an undercover detective — and woke up pregnant, broke, and trapped in a verbally a
Throwing Up Blood & Still Drinking | Stage 4 Cirrhosis, Liver Transplant & 19 Months Sober
Chelsea Garber was diagnosed with Stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver — and kept drinking for nine more months.
After losing her son, battling drug addiction, surviving 50+ hospital admissions, and being given just three months to live, Chelsea made the hardest decision of her life: she poured out her last drink on September 29th, 2024.
Just 80 days after a life-saving liver transplant, she sat d
I Survived Iraq…Then Crystal Meth Nearly Destroyed My Life | 5 Felonies, Combat Trauma & Finding Sobriety
Marine Corps veteran Spencer Jones opens up about surviving combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, battling trauma after leaving the military, and falling into a devastating crystal meth addiction that led to five felonies and complete chaos.
After serving over 20 years in the Marines, Spencer struggled with the loss of structure, identity, and purpose once civilian life began. What started
Inside a Heroin Addict’s BRUTAL Lifestyle | Joining a Gang, Attempted Murder, Prison & Sobriety
Robert Cruz shares his unbelievable story of addiction, gang violence, prison, armed robbery, and ultimately redemption. After losing his brother at 13, Robert turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain. What started with marijuana eventually spiraled into heroin addiction, gang life, violent crime, prison sentences, and multiple arrests.
Robert opens up about being charged with attempted murde
I Was Drinking a Bottle of Vodka a Day at 20 | Inside a Young Alcoholic’s DOUBLE Life
Alkhuzama Zaini shares her powerful story of alcoholism, blackouts, college addiction, mental health struggles, and finding sobriety at a young age. From moving to America from Saudi Arabia, to drinking a bottle of vodka a day at ASU, hiding her addiction from family, terrifying withdrawals, and ultimately rebuilding her life through recovery, this is a raw and honest conversation about Gen Z addi
I Was an IV Fentanyl Addict | Heroin, Felonies & How I Finally Got Clean
Kyle Caughman grew up in a small town with a great family, played sports, and had no trauma… but one decision changed everything.
What started with pain pills quickly spiraled into shooting heroin, driving hours to buy drugs, and selling it back in his hometown. As addiction took over, Kyle lost control of his life, faced multiple felonies, lost custody of his son, and found himself trapped in th
I Was Binge Drinking & Doing Coke… But Was High Functioning | Getting Sober Without a Rock Bottom
Rachel Hechtman opens up about her journey from binge drinking, cocaine use, and crippling anxiety to nearly 5 years of sobriety. Unlike many addiction stories, Rachel never had a dramatic rock bottom—but what she did experience was just as powerful: years of guilt, shame, and mental health struggles that slowly became unbearable.
From waking up on bathroom floors to battling paranoia and depress
Addiction Q&A: Rock Bottom, Relapse, Triggers & Sobriety Truths
In this episode, I sit down with Karina Miesner for a raw Q&A covering the most asked questions around addiction, relapse, and sobriety.
We break down real experiences from both sides of recovery including rock bottom moments, near relapses, triggers, relationships, trauma, and what actually works when it comes to staying sober.
Karina opens up about hitting rock bottom in the ICU with liver dis
Shooting Heroin in Kensington | I Took a Bus 5 Hours a Day to Get High… From a Normal Childhood
Lauren Gaffney shares her raw, unfiltered story of addiction, trauma, and recovery. From a “normal” childhood in the suburbs to taking 5-hour bus rides into Kensington to score drugs, her life spiraled into heroin use, crack addiction, arrests, and years of chaos.
After multiple run-ins with the law and waking up to sheriffs at her door, Lauren finally hit a breaking point. This is the story of h
Addicted at 11: Crack Took Everything From Me | Robbing Dealers, Prison & Finding Sobriety
Chris Stroud started using drugs at just 11 years old… and by 17, he was hooked on crack cocaine.
What followed was decades of chaos — robbing drug dealers, running from gangs, getting arrested, and eventually facing federal prison.
From living a double life to losing everything, Chris takes us inside the brutal reality of addiction and the moments that nearly cost him his life.
After years of
A Hollywood Producer’s SHOCKING Addiction to Xanax & Oxycodone
Tyler Ramsey had it all… working on Baywatch, MTV, Survivor, and building a career in Hollywood.
But behind the scenes, he was spiraling.
What started with alcohol turned into Adderall, Xanax, and opiates… leading to blackouts, chaos, and near-death situations.
The moment everything changed?
His young daughter found his drugs.
That was the line.
In this episode, Tyler breaks down:
Growi
I Stole an Entire Pharmacy for Drugs | How Heroin Took Over My Life
Ryan Moyer had a key to a pharmacy… and one night, he used it to steal the entire narcotics closet.
What started with prescription pills turned into a full-blown heroin addiction, multiple arrests, federal charges, and living in trap houses just to survive. He was running scams, stealing cars, and doing whatever it took to get his next fix.
But that wasn’t the end of his story.
After hitting ro
I Thought Prison Was My Only Way Out | How Addiction Led Me to 15 Years in Prison
Jason Brewer’s story is one of the darkest we’ve ever shared.
After experiencing severe trauma as a child, Jason spiraled into addiction, violence, and eventually a life of crime. What started as drinking and drugs quickly escalated into armed robberies, crack addiction, and a path that led him to serve over a decade in prison.
In this interview, Jason opens up about:
The childhood trauma t
Navy SEAL to Fentanyl Addict | K9 Attack, Tased, Lost Everything… Then Got Sober
Taylor Cavanough was living the dream.
A Navy SEAL. Deployed overseas. High performer.
But behind the discipline… was chaos.
After a violent arrest where he was tased and attacked by a police K9, everything collapsed.
His career. His identity. His future.
What started as alcohol and Adderall turned into Percocet… then fentanyl.
He lost control of his life.
In this episode, Taylor shares:
I Couldn't Stop Using… Even When I Knew It Would Kill Me | Fentanyl Addiction
Graham Reid was living a double life.
What started with pills and partying quickly turned into a full-blown opiate addiction — smoking 30s, chasing dealers, and doing whatever it took to not get sick.
At his lowest point, he burned his dealer with fake money and lost everything.
From fentanyl and heroin to brutal detox and multiple failed attempts at getting clean, Graham shares what addiction
I Hid a 10-Year Drug Addiction From My Wife | Blackout, Lies & How I Finally Got Sober
Matt Robinson lived a double life for over a decade.
Behind the scenes, he was battling a severe drug addiction… while his wife had no idea.
It started with a prescription after an injury at just 11 years old. What followed was years of lies, hiding money, and chasing pills—until everything came crashing down during a blackout in Las Vegas, where he emptied his bank account overnight.
That mome
I Was Drinking Vodka All Day | Car Crash, Hidden Addiction & How I Finally Got Sober
Megan’s addiction didn’t look obvious at first.
She had a job, a family, and a life that seemed “normal” on the outside… but behind the scenes, she was drinking vodka all day, hiding bottles, and slowly losing control.
After a near-fatal car crash, showing up drunk to work, and hitting a breaking point as a mother, everything came crashing down.
In this episode, Megan shares:
The moment he
My Son Was Doing Fentanyl at 16… I Had to Let Him Go to Save His Life
Brenda Zane was a successful advertising executive living what looked like a normal life—until her son’s addiction turned everything upside down.
From early warning signs to marijuana at 13… to running away, arrests, and eventually fentanyl use—this is the raw, unfiltered reality of what families go through when addiction takes over.
In this episode, Brenda shares:
The moment she realized h
Heroin Was Killing Me | I Smuggled Drugs into Rikers Island & Nearly Died
John Rokee’s story is a terrifying look at the lengths an addict will go to maintain a "perfect" life. By day, he was a high-earning union steamfitter. By night, he was a "chameleon" trapped in a $1.2 million downward spiral, snorting up to 200 bags of heroin a week.
In this raw and "brutal" interview on Rise Above with Kevin Lanning, John details the physical and financial devastation of his add
Inside A 14-Year-Old Stripper’s Brutal Addiction | Meth, Overcoming Cancer & Sobriety
Kim House’s life story sounds like a movie script, but the trauma was all too real.
After fleeing an abusive home at just 14 years old, Kim found herself winning bikini contests and dancing in clubs just to survive. By her early 20s, she was diagnosed with a rare, "terminal" bone marrow cancer—but instead of getting sober, she ramped up her drug use, even attempting to balance chemotherapy with m
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