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Danny grew up in a religious household and drinking was considered a sin. When he was around sixteen, he began to question the teachings of his religion. One question: Where does it say in the bible that you can’t drink? He waited until he was twenty-one before he has his first drink.

This episode features a conversation with our friend David B. Bohl and focuses on how to cope with the ongoing trauma of the Covid 19 pandemic. David has written several articles on the topic, which can be found at his website davidbbohol.com 

In this episode we meet Katie Lain, an advocate and mentor for the Sinclair Method, which is a means for treating Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) based on the principal of pharmacological extinction. Those who use this method to treat AUD will take the drug Naltrexone one hour prior to drinking. Naltrexone is an opiate blocker that over time removes one’s craving for alcohol.

Gabe Rosales, is a professional musician, and a sobriety and criminal justice advocate from San Juan Capistrano, California. He got sober in 2007 after serving time in prison for crimes committed during the time he was actively drinking and drugging. The experience inspired him to earn a degree in Criminal Justice in order to help reform the system and make the world a better place. Gabe’s album “Vital Nonsense” came out in 2009 and is a brilliant mix of hip-hop and rock that you really need to experience to appreciate. It’s available at Amazon as an mp3 download or CD. You can learn more about Gabe at his website gaberosales.com.

Bobby C. has been sober for 36 years and during that time, he has always been open-minded to new ideas and this has enriched his recovery. He has utilized a number of different peer support groups such as AA, SMART, and Dharma Recovery. He really takes a holistic approach to his recovery.

In this episode, John introduces Ben the co-host for this podcast. Ben briefly discusses his addiction and recovery and a conversation flows from there. Topics covered include: twelve step culture, atheism and agnosticism, growing up with an alcoholic, and the dangers of labeling oneself as an addict.

In this episode John and Ben have a conversation about how to navigate Alcoholics Anonymous as a secular person. They briefly touch on what a person can expect to experience at their first AA meeting, and how to handle the overtly religious nature of most AA meetings.  Topics covered in this episode include:  How to deal with the praying.  How to approach the steps.  Avoiding Conformity.  Finding a Secular AA Meeting  Online Resources AABeyondBelief.org AAAgnostica.org  SecularAA.org 

In this episode, Ben and I spoke with Robert Stump who has been the Executive Director of LifeRing Secular Recovery since 2012 when the founder, Marty Nicholas stepped down. In this episode Robert shares his personal story in recovery and how he found LifeRing to support him in his sobriety.  

Sally Sanders, a SMART Recovery facilitator and advocate for harm reduction explains the principles and science behind harm reduction. We talked about how harm reduction saves lives and why it should be included as a treatment option. Sally is a proponent of increasing the availability of narcon to help saves lives that are needlessly lost to overdose from opiods.