Claim OwnershipRecoverycast: Mental Health & Addiction Recovery Stories
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© 2026 Recoverycast: Mental Health & Addiction Recovery Stories
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Explore powerful, real-life mental health and addiction recovery stories in authentic, engaging conversations. Each episode spotlights relatable journeys shared by influential voices—from struggles and setbacks to moments of resilience, hope, and healing. This podcast is a safe, supportive space where vulnerability is celebrated, connections flourish, and listeners find reassurance that lasting recovery and mental wellness are truly possible. Tune in for inspiring narratives, practical guidance, and a compassionate sober community to accompany you on your personal path to healing.
51 Episodes
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From interviewing Coldplay while high to losing his best friend and co-host to a fatal relapse, David Manheim reveals the raw, unfiltered truth about heroin addiction and the grit required for long-term recovery. As the creator of the legendary Dopey podcast, David spent two decades navigating the "frantic energy" of a career at MTV and the legendary tables of Katz’s Deli while battling a severe substance use disorder. In this moving episode of Recoverycast, David discusses the "war stories"...
Can you still be funny—or even be yourself—without the substance? Gabe Pietrafesa, longtime guitarist for Young Culture and host of the Trapped on the Internet podcast, joins Recoverycast to share his vulnerable journey through the high-pressure world of the music industry and the internal battle for self-worth.. Gabe opens up about growing up as a "chameleon" and a people-pleaser, navigating a childhood shaped by divorce and a complicated relationship with his father's drinking.. What starte...
How do you keep going when the person you love most suddenly disappears? Lucas Curtin (known online as Fitzgerald Checksworth) opens up about the intersection of cyclical alcohol struggle, sudden grief, and the "snap" in the brain that changed everything. In this vulnerable episode, Lucas shares his journey from being the high school "class clown" to using alcohol to "shut up the voices" of deep-seated anxiety and depression. He recounts the heartbreaking loss of his girlfriend, Marissa, who ...
From walking the halls of the White House to facing homelessness due to a severe OxyContin and heroin addiction, Ryan Hampton’s story is unforgettable. Ryan Hampton was a rising political organizer and White House staffer when a hiking injury introduced him to highly addictive prescription opioids like Dilaudid and OxyContin. What started as a doctor-prescribed treatment quickly spiraled into a decade-long struggle with opioid use disorder, leading him to the streets and eventually to heroin...
What do you do when the very thing you have feared since you were three years old actually happens—and you have to face it while five years sober? In this episode of RecoveryCast, Brittany Barnard talks with recovery advocate and media personality Patrick Custer about his intense journey through alcohol addiction and a life-altering medical crisis. Patrick opens up about a childhood shaped by hypervigilance and a "fear of God" that led to chronic anxiety. He describes how his first drink didn...
Tiffany Jenkins, the New York Times bestselling author and voice behind "Juggling the Jenkins," joins Recoverycast to share her raw journey from facing 20 felony charges to 13 years of sobriety. Tiffany opens up about her childhood struggles with undiagnosed OCD and how a single sip of alcohol in high school led to a decade-long spiral into alcohol, weed, and eventually a devastating opiate addiction. She reveals the harrowing details of staging a burglary in her own home to fund her habit an...
From Marvel’s Lady Sif to a hospital bed fighting for her life, actress Jaimie Alexander shares the raw truth about her battle with bourbon and burnout. Jaimie, the celebrated lead of Blindspot, opens up about the "lone wolf" mentality that nearly cost her everything. Despite a thriving career, she used alcohol to medicate social anxiety and the extreme physical toll of performing her own high-octane stunts. She recounts the terrifying moment her appendix ruptured, leading to sepsis and a pr...
"It was not about getting high, it was about not being sober." In this raw and deeply moving episode of Recoverycast, nationally touring comedian and recovery advocate Sam Miller joins Brittany Bernard to share his incredible journey from the streets of Olympia to the comedy stage. Sam opens up about the intersection of ADHD and addiction, the profound impact of childhood trauma, and the cycle of methamphetamine, alcohol, and benzodiazepine use that led to years of homelessness and incarcerat...
How does a celebrity chef dominate the culinary world while hiding a life-threatening cocaine and alcohol addiction? In this episode of Recoverycast, we are joined by Devan Rajkumar, popularly known as Chef Dev, who reveals the "unimaginable" double life he led for years. From national TV appearances and Times Square billboards to late-night after-parties and debilitating chest pains, Devan’s journey is a raw look at the high cost of high-functioning addiction. Devan discusses how early...
Grace Adams seemed to have it all: a prestigious advertising job, a New York City apartment, and a background as a classical ballet dancer. But behind the "perfect" Type-A exterior, Grace was trapped in a cycle of secret binge drinking and 48-hour blackouts. In this vulnerable episode of Recoverycast, Grace opens up about the "emotional bottom" that brought her to her knees on her apartment floor and the courageous phone call to her mother that changed everything. Find mental health and addi...
Carl Radke from Bravo’s Summer House shares his raw journey through high-functioning cocaine and alcohol addiction. In this vulnerable episode, Carl opens up about growing up in Pittsburgh where alcohol was the family fabric and how his brother’s struggle with heroin addiction created a life of fear. He details the $2,000-a-weekend cocaine habit he hid behind his reality TV persona and the rock-bottom moment in January 2021 that finally forced him to choose life. Find mental health and addict...
Shannon Hughes and her daughter, Mistena Renteria-Elliott, share a raw and harrowing journey through the depths of methamphetamine addiction, domestic abuse, and the long road to generational healing. Shannon opens up about using substances to cope with severe anxiety while trapped in a manipulative and abusive relationship with a stepfather who controlled every aspect of their lives. Mistena reflects on a childhood defined by survival mode, moving constantly, and the trauma of watching her m...
Critical care nurse practitioner Brandi Mac shares the harrowing journey of her daughter’s IV Fentanyl addiction and the moment Brandi shaved her head to release years of trauma. In this vulnerable episode of Recoverycast, Brandi Mac discusses the reality of navigating nine treatment centers in four years and the "rehab industry" failures that left her family feeling hopeless. As a medical professional, Brandi reflects on her own stigmatized views of addiction prior to it hitting her home, a...
At six years old, Bobby Kazz was already asking his mom how to lose weight; by college he was trapped in a cycle of starvation, binge eating and guilt. This episode of Recoverycast shines a light on male eating disorders—a story we rarely hear. Bobby Kazz explains how teasing at his sixth‑birthday pool party and growing up in a thin family planted seeds of insecurity. In high school he decided to “just run and see what happens” and began skipping meals, lying to his parents about eating, and ...
Struggling with Dry January or thinking of cutting back on alcohol? In this bonus Recoverycast episode, guest host Riley Whelan fields the 14 most‑asked questions about Dry January and sober curiosity. She explains how a social media challenge became a powerful way to explore your relationship with alcohol. Whether you’ve never gone a week without drinking or you’re just curious about sobriety, Riley shares practical tips for starting one day at a time, coping with emotional and physical with...
After hitting one year of sobriety, TikTok star Gabbie Egan joins us again and opens up about quitting alcohol and nightly weed use to reclaim her life and mental health. In this candid conversation she recounts the surprising truth that the first months of sobriety felt harder than her chaotic partying days, yet staying off alcohol and cannabis eventually allowed her to feel “more me than I ever have” and maintain a healthier baseline despite her bipolar I diagnosis. Gabbie descr...
Kevin Kreider’s raw story of adoption, alcoholism and healing challenges everything you think you know about recovery. A Korean adoptee raised by a German‑Irish Catholic family in Philadelphia, Kevin battled depression, anxiety, alopecia and a desperate need to belong. Alcohol and weed offered brief relief but quickly spiraled into 20‑hour drinking sessions, broken relationships and career collapse. We hear how Kevin’s father captured him on camera at his worst, how high‑school partying cost ...
In this powerful Recoverycast episode, Jason & Ashley Wahler share their raw journey through alcohol addiction, relapse, OCD and postpartum depression. On their very first date, Jason told Ashley that his sobriety and faith came before everything. To support him, she even stopped drinking for over a year. Despite years of sobriety, Jason’s unresolved OCD, shame and anxiety fed his alcoholism, leading to multiple relapses and his thirteenth trip to rehab. Ashley describes the codependency ...
Jason Wahler opens up about OCD, alcohol misuse and an Adderall‑fueled relapse, revealing how he found hope and became a recovery advocate. Growing up in a supportive family in Laguna Beach, Jason began compulsively washing his hands until they bled and wore neoprene gloves full of Neosporin to hide the damage. This early battle with obsessive‑compulsive disorder created a double life – popular and athletic on the outside, but wracked with shame and validation‑seeking behind closed doors. Yea...
Imagine going from a college‑bound basketball star to stealing change jars just to stay high. That’s the raw path Dakota Mortensen opens up about in this candid conversation. Growing up on a bird farm with a tight‑knit Mormon family and a deep love for sports, he never imagined that a knee injury would introduce him to pain pills—or that popping a couple to get through practice would snowball into snorting pills, moving to 30‑milligram “blues,” and eventually chasing heroin. Find mental heal...
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