Special Guest - Mary Killian, Author of "The Roustabout Heart: Adventures in Recovery"

We are excited to have Mary Killian, author of "The Roustabout Heart: Adventures in Recovery" as a special guest on our show!  We talk to her about her addiction/recovery journey, what her life is like today, and discuss her amazing book! 

More about Mary:

She loves talking about her recovery. It's her favorite topic in the whole world. Being sober is the most important thing in her life. All the other neat stuff she knows and enjoys depends on this commitment. She has wonderful friends, a solid marriage and a happy, healthy family. She believes in her heart that she deserve these privileges. Her relationship with God is strong and beautiful. She's got dreams and goals. These are all huge developments.

She's okay with letting folks know the details of her experience.She likes sharing her feelings. She is hopeful and proud of the person she is becoming.

Find Mary on the interwebs here: 

www.marykillian.com (Website)

www.highwiregirl.com (New blog)

www.highwiregirl.blogspot.com (Old blog)

www.theroustaboutheart.com (Book)

Listen below, or follow the tab above to subscribe to our podcast: 

Special Guest: Anna David, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, AfterParty Magazine

Photo courtesy of Anna David

We are very excited to welcome special guest Anna David to our show! 
Anna is the NY Times bestselling author of six books as well as a journalist, TV talking head and college speaker who focuses on addiction, recovery and relationships. She’s the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of AfterPartyMagazine and RehabReviews, is the host of the AfterPartyPod podcast and has been sober over a decade-and-a-half.  
We talk with Anna about all kinds of things, including pink clouds (and what to do when we fall off them), how we grow in recovery, learning to get comfortable with discomfort, accepting life on life's terms, and what her life is like today.
Listen below, or click on the tab above to learn how to subscribe to our podcast: 

Speaker Discussion "Meeting" with Lisa N. (Co-Founder and Former Co-Host of The Bubble Hour)

In recovery meetings it is common practice for one person to share their experience, strength and hope and then to pick a recovery topic for the group to discuss. We thought it would be great to recreate that concept here on The Bubble Hour. Hearing that there are other people just like us...with the same experiences, thoughts and feelings is revolutionary.  Our featured guest on this show is a voice many of you will recognize - Lisa N., one of the founders and former Co-Host of The Bubble Hour. 

Listen through the widget below, or follow the link above to subscribe to our podcast to hear our guest Lisa N's story and our discussion. 

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Re-Broadcast - Sarah Allen Benton, Author of "Understanding The High Functioning Alcoholic"

Sarah Allen Benton is author of the book, 'Understanding the High Functioning Alcoholic' , and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) and therapist at McLean Hospital in MA.

She has been featured in a NY Times article by Jane Brody, has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CBS Early Show, NPR, is a blogger for PsychologyToday.com and more.

Sarah is a recovering alcoholic and has been sober since February of 2004. She gives lectures and trainings on the topic of high-functioning alcoholics at colleges, boarding schools, and at professional conferences including Harvard’s Treating the Addictions.

Please visit her website The High Functioning Alcoholic for more information about Sarah, her book and additional resources.

In this episode Sarah tells a bit of her own story of alcoholism and recovery, and answers questions about High Functioning Alcoholism, including how to define it, what common personality traits and drinking patters are found with high functioning alcoholics, and steps people who fit this description can find ways to get help.

Listen below, or look in the tab above to learn how to subscribe to our podcast! 

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Special Guest: AnnMarie McCullough, Faces & Voices of Recovery, Canada

AnnMarie McCullough

What image comes to your mind when you hear the term 'alcoholic'? A man with a bottle under a bridge?  A woman with smeared lipstick who drinks every day, can't hold a job and doesn't take care of her kids? Unfortunately, our society has created this stigma for alcoholics and it's simply NOT true.  There are more people like us than not, but many people don't get help because of this stigma and they are dying. 

On this episode of The Bubble Hour we talk with our very special guest AnnMarie McCullough, co-founder of Faces & Voices of Recovery Canada, about what the face of an alcoholic really looks like and why it's so important that we change the way society treats this disease. 

Recovery advocate Ann Marie McCullough is a maven of reinvention with a serious social conscience and a need to give back. A certified Project Manager with over 20 years experience in a variety of roles within the Healthcare and IT sectors, she now works as the Director of Communications and Community Relations at the Orchard Recovery Center.  AnnMarie combined her background in project and event management with her passion for recovery to help launch the REEL Recovery Film Festival in Vancouver and initiate the first RECOVERY DAY in Canada. Her latest projects: co-hosting Vancouver's first Recovery Radio show and co-founding Faces and Voices of Recovery Canada.

In long-term recovery herself since 2008, she inspires with her energy and enthusiasm, embodying hope for others who struggle with addiction.

Please listen below, or see the tab above for how to subscribe to our podcast!

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Special Guest - Greg Williams, Creator of the Documentary Film The Anonymous People

We were very excited to have Greg Williams, Filmmaker and Creator of the documentary The Anonymous People as a special guest on our show! Greg is a person in long-term recovery from alcohol and other drugs since age seventeen. He is a health policy advocate, and documentary filmmaker who specializes in the creation of compelling and purposeful content. At age 29, The Anonymous People, is Greg’s first independent feature-length film. His new film is bringing lasting solutions to the screen for one of America’s top health problems.

The Anonymous People is a documentary film about the over 23 million Americans living in long-term recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction. Deeply entrenched social stigma have kept recovery voices silent and faces hidden for decades. The vacuum has been filled with sensational mass media depictions of people with addiction that perpetuate a lurid fascination with the dysfunctional side of what is a preventable and treatable health condition. Just like women with breast cancer, or people with HIV/AIDS, a grass roots social justice movement is emerging. Courageous addiction recovery advocates have come out of the shadows and are organizing to end discrimination and move toward recovery-based solutions.

The moving story of The Anonymous People is told through the faces and voices of citizens, leaders, volunteers, corporate executives, public figures, and celebrities who are laying it all on the line to save the lives of others just like them. This passionate new public recovery movement aims to transform public opinion, engage communities and elected officials, and finally shift problematic policy toward lasting solutions.

You can learn more about the Anonymous People and this recovery movement by going to their brand new Facebook page, Many Faces 1 Voice HERE. On their site you can watch amazing videos from people telling their recovery story, as well as learn more about the film and how to take action.

If you have not yet seen the trailer for the ground-breaking film, please watch it here:

Please listen to this important show in the widget below, or look in the tab above to see how to subscribe to our podcast: 

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Special Guest - Dawn from She Recovers

After surviving colon cancer in 2005, a breakdown from workaholism and a subsequent layoff from a job that she loved in 2011, it didn't take much soul-searching for Dawn Nickel to decide that what she really wanted to do for a living was help other women to recover.

Dawn has been in recovery from addiction to drugs and alcohol since 1989 and is well-qualified to work with women who want to recover their lives and pursue their passions. Building on her degrees in women's studies, women's history and a PhD in health care policy (all earned in recovery), Dawn is currently completing life coach training with Crossroads Recovery Coaching.

Dawn’s true passion is for the community that she has helped to create on her Facebook page, She Recovers and for other online communities like it. 

What started out as a daily meditation practice using social media coupled with a heartfelt belief in her own life's purpose has since turned into a business called She Recovers that, at the present time, offers yoga retreats and workshops for women in recovery (click on the link in this paragraph to learn more about the recovery retreats!).

Please listen to our conversation with Dawn where we talk all things recovery, including different pathways to recovery, recovery resources and the importance of a sober community online and/or offline.

Thank you, Dawn! We are so inspired by you and all you do.

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Special Guest - Amy Hatvany, Author of Best Kept Secret

Amy Hatvany graduated with a degree in Sociology only to discover most sociologists are unemployed. Soon followed a variety of jobs – some of which she loved, like decorating wedding cakes; others which she merely tolerated, like receptionist. In 1998, Amy finally decided to sell her car, quit her job, and take a chance on her true love - writing books.

Since then, she has authored five novels, and last year, her book OUTSIDE THE LINES was selected by Target’s book club and Costco as a Buyer’s pick. Her latest, HEART LIKE MINE, explores the complicated dynamics within blended families. To learn more about Amy go to:  www.amyhatvany.com.

Listen to our discussion of Amy's book Best Kept Secret, a novel about a Mom struggling with alcoholism and early recovery, as well as a down-to-earth, frank and funny conversation about motherhood, life, alcoholism, recovery and much more.

To listen, click on the widget below, or subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the link in our right hand sidebar or following the instructions in the tab above.

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Episode 13 - Special Guest Courtney Webster, CPCC, ACC

As the founder of Your Recovered Life, Courtney is passionate about working with clients in recovery from addiction to produce extraordinary results in their lives, careers, and businesses in a way that connects to the heart and soul. 

“I’m sober and I’ve got my life back together but NOW WHAT?” - this is where second stage recovery and Your Recovered Life kicks in, and the arena where Courtney excels. Her clients are hungry and driven to make a second chance count. 

Drawing on over a decade in the world of recovery, with an acute and compassionate understanding of the desire to find one’s calling, a killer sense of humor and the knowledge that what she is doing is making a difference, Courtney is coaching clients to where what was once an impossible dream is now a reality. For individuals in earlier recovery, she facilitates coaching groups for treatment centers and sober living homes. 

Courtney received her Certified Professional Co-Active Coach training and certification from the Coaches Training Institute, and is an Associate Credentialed Coach through The International Coach Federation. In previous lives Courtney was the top sales queen for the best hotels and resorts in the world, an internet expert on late-night TV, the coordinator for more reality sports shows than she can remember, and a producer for a documentary series on HBO that might make you blush. 

Please come listen to our discussion with Courtney about the 'next chapter' in recovery: you're staying sober one day at a time, working a program of recovery, and you're feeling a need to find or follow your passion.  Recovery presents opportunities that would never have been possible when we were actively drinking or using, but it can be difficult to find your way, even sober.  Sometimes there are "shadow voices" that plague us; feeling of doubt, shame, insecurity or unworthiness. Or perhaps it's been so long since we've chased a dream that we need help and support figuring out next steps.  Sometimes we feel a sense of guilt that being sober is supposed to be enough, and that we shouldn't reach for more, fearing our sobriety could be in jeopardy.  Courtney has spent years helping people understand that both are possible: healthy sobriety and finding and/or reaching your heart's dreams.

To listen to the show, click on the widget below, or follow our podcast through the link on our right hand sidebar: 

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For more information on Courtney, please go to her website at Your Recovered Life.

Episode 11: Sacha Z. Scoblic, Author of Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety

Sacha Z. Scoblic is a writer and editor. She is the author of Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety, which is based on her popular essays for The New York Times blog “Proof: Alcohol and American Life.” 

Currently, Sacha is a Rosalynn Carter fellow for mental health journalism through the Carter Center in Atlanta. Among other things, she writes about mental health, addiction, and pop fiction. Sacha is a columnist at The Fix, where she tackles the science of addiction, and a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post. She is also a contributing editor at The New Republic. 

Formerly a senior editor at Reader’s Digest, Sacha has written about everything from space camp to pulp fiction. 

She lives with her husband, Peter; son, Theodore; and terrier, SciFi, in Washington, DC.

We were thrilled to have her as a guest on our show! Come listen to our funny, down-to-earth and informative conversation with Sacha about everything from how to know if you've hit bottom, to how to handle social situations sober, to how relationships change and evolve in sobriety.  

If you want to subscribe to our podcast, click on the link (on the picture) on our right hand sidebar.  

Or, listen through the widget below: 

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Episode 10 - Special Guest Andrea Owen from Your Kick-Ass Life

Listen to a lively, fun and informative conversation with Andrea Owen, sober woman, life coach and author of the blog Your Kick Ass Life.

Andrea's bio:

Life coach. Mom. Writer. Roller Derby Rebel. Hellraiser. She is passionate about empowering women to value themselves and fiercely love who they are.

She helps women get what they want by managing their inner-critic, leveraging the Law of Attraction and stepping into their own kick-ass version of themselves. You can learn more at www.yourkickasslife.com.

Andrea, Lisa and Ellie discuss Andrea's story of alcoholism and recovery, with a focus on people with "high bottoms", like Andrea, who make the decision to get sober before they have a lot of external losses, but who are still every bit an alcoholic as people with "low bottoms".   

We discuss some of the signs and symptoms we saw in our own drinking that led us to understand we had a growing problem.  Even though our drinking stories aren't the same, our feelings are so similar, which is a common phenomenon people find in recovery - that they aren't alone and that there are many, many people understand exactly how they feel.

We also talk about some issues that revolve around motherhood and sobriety, shame, guilt and facing down the stigma of alcoholism.  

Thank you, Andrea, for being such a lively, funny, compassionate, loving voice of sobriety!  We are so grateful to have you on our show!

Listen to Episode 10 on the widget below, or click on the picture in the right hand sidebar to subscribe/listen to The Bubble Hour's Podcast.

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Episode 9 - Special Guest Sarah Allen Benton, Author of "Understanding the High Functioning Alcoholic"

Episode 9:  Special Guest Sarah Allen Benton, Author of "Understanding the High Functioning Alcoholic"

Sarah Allen Benton

Sarah Allen Benton is author of the book, 'Understanding the High Functioning Alcoholic' , and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) and therapist at McLean Hospital in MA.

She has been featured in a NY Times article by Jane Brody, has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CBS Early Show, NPR, is a blogger for PsychologyToday.com and more.

Sarah is a recovering alcoholic and has been sober since February of 2004. She gives lectures and trainings on the topic of high-functioning alcoholics at colleges, boarding schools, and at professional conferences including Harvard’s Treating the Addictions.

Please visit her website The High Functioning Alcoholic for more information about Sarah, her book and additional resources.

In this episode Sarah tells a bit of her own story of alcoholism and recovery, and answers questions about High Functioning Alcoholism, including how to define it, what common personality traits and drinking patters are found with high functioning alcoholics, and steps people who fit this description can find ways to get help.

A very informative episode, and we thank Sarah for her time, and for being such a valuable resource in helping educate us all about this aspect of what is a confounding disease for so many.

Listen to this episode here (or click on the picture in our sidebar to subscribe to our iTunes Podcast):

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