SMART Recovery® पॉडकास्टस

Nonie Sims has facilitated SMART meetings for 14 years in Tucson Arizona. Nonie knew that SMART Recovery was the right fit for her in the first 10 minutes of her first meeting. Now she spends her time making sure others get a chance to see if it's the right recovery pathway for them too.

Jay Phillips is the Executive Director and Board President of Seed Sower, Inc., a provider of housing and other support services for women recovering from substance use disorders in West Virginia. In this podcast Jay talks about his awakening to the great need for recovery services, the decision to leave a comfortable job and commit to a new path i…

Newly minted SMART Recovery facilitator Tracy Gryp and her mentor Rick Kuplinski share their personal SMART journey and how they created better lives for themselves through the program. In the spirit of paying it forward, they now work together to bring the best support group meetings possible to their meeting participants.…

Mary Beth O'Connor went from running from the law as a methamphetamine abuser to handing down the law as a judge. Now twenty nine years in recovery, Mary Beth chronicles her incredible story in her new memoir, From Junkie to Judge: One Woman's Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction. In this episode, Mary Beth talks about her perspective on multiple path…

As SMART's Director of Meetings and Volunteers, Melina Gilbert often gets to experience a volunteer meeting facilitator's passion for what they do, and that makes her feel very fortunate. To keep that energy moving, Melina and her team are currently working hard on helping facilitators grow their skills by making the Facilitator Mentoring Program b…

The question of an individual's ability to control a substance or behavioral addiction has been long-debated. More than 20 years ago Dr. Jeffrey Schaler made his stance clear in his book Addiction is a Choice. Dr. Schaler remains steadfast in his conclusion that addiction is a behavior and behaviors are choices. The existential therapist and former…

Gee Matamoros' journey to recovery included some very dark passages. Now he travels a brighter road, and insists on enjoying life as much as possible. Fortunately for us, one of the things he enjoys most is spreading the word about SMART. In this podcast, Gee talks about: How his substance misuse and poor choices landed him in a psychiatric ward Wh…

Dr. Stanton Peele is a lawyer, professor, psychologist, psychotherapist, and author. Of all of these titles, he’s probably best known as an advocate and pioneer in the addiction and treatment world. His new memoir, A Scientific Life on the Edge: My Lonely Quest to Change How We See Addiction, is his 16th book that tackles addiction issues. In this …

Johnny Allison’s substance use started as a way to cope with the trauma of war and chaos of military life. His recovery started as a way to become the soldier and person he knew he was and could be. Today, he is a Veteran, SMART Facilitator, and the Lead of the SMART UK Veterans Program. In this podcast, Johnny talks about: What motivated him to jo…

Years ago, Brett Macdonald and his friends had the time of their lives backpacking across Australia. After many conversations, they realized that heavy alcohol use had become a staple in their lives. This led them to creating a “sober competition” to see who could abstain from drinking the longest. From this, a global fundraising and awareness init…

Katie Lain is the co-founder of Thrive Alcohol Recovery, an organization that uses the Sinclair Method to help treat alcohol use disorder (AUD). Katie struggled a decade trying to get her drinking under control, but no programs or treatments worked. In searching the internet for answers, she found a TedX featuring Claudia Christian, How I Overcame …

September is National Recovery Month, but many advocates point out we can certainly recognize recovery year-round, including Keegan Wicks. He is the National Advocacy and Outreach Manager for Faces & Voices of Recovery. He works to ensure that the recovery spectrum of services is available and funded for anyone who needs them. In this podcast, Keeg…

David Koss, JD, is a member of the SMART Recovery Board of Directors and the Director of Government Relations. In his role as director, David monitors what the federal government is doing in terms of addiction and recovery legislation, and advocates for SMART and people with substance use disorders. David works directly with members of Congress to …

SMART participant wellnessandhope( her screen name) says her “destruction of choice” started in her freshman year and continued throughout college. While her friends were graduating, she was in rehab. This was not how she thought her life was supposed to go. Eventually, though, it put her on a path to recovery and led to helping teens and young adu…

Mercy Bell’s relationship with alcohol started in college as a way to thwart the uneasiness she felt inside. It led her to a “recovery or else” situation. She used multiple paths and experiences along her journey to recovery. Today, Mercy is the co-owner of Sober Voices and Sourcing Voices, with Alyssa Hart. Their mission is “to amplify and celebra…

Alex Colyer realized she really didn’t know about addiction and recovery after losing her best friend Reed McGregor to an overdose in January 2021. To honor Reed’s memory and legacy, Alex started the Albertus Project, a nonprofit organization that is transforming the way the world views addiction. In this podcast, Alex talks about: Holding old, sti…

Steve Kind of Mankato, Minnesota, is a SMART Facilitator and new SMART employee. His alcohol struggles began in high school and continued into adulthood. After his second DUI, he was about to lose everything, including his wife. Then an open-minded, forward-thinking counselor suggested he look into SMART as a new path to recovery. Now he is living …

Courts everywhere have mandated that secular, evidence-based addiction treatments, like SMART Recovery, must be offered to individuals as alternatives to 12-Step and other faith-based programs, if they so choose. Much of this is largely thanks to the tireless work of individuals like Sarah Levin. Sarah is founder and principal of Secular Strategies…

Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), recently published an article in Health Affairs Magazine that many in the recovery community consider “a game changer” in how it challenged received wisdom and old assumptions in the treatment of addicted individuals. In this interview, Dr. Tom Horvath, co-founder of SMAR…

Alex received his first video game station at the age of two. His love and eventual addiction to video gaming continued throughout his life. It wasn’t until recently that Alex found SMART Recovery, and has made positive changes to his life and began managing his problematic behavior. In this interview, Alex talks about: His dad buying him a VecTrex…

Alicia Renegar is a Certified Addiction Peer Recovery Coach and SMART Facilitator in Columbus, Indiana. As a gay woman, she faced much adversity and discrimination throughout her life. She shares how she has turned this negativity into strength and is helping others on their path to recovery. In this podcast, she talks about: The challenges and dis…

Maia Szalavitz is an award-winning, best-selling author and opinion writer, whose focus is on changing the narrative of addiction and recovery. Two of her books Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction and Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction, are among a long list of publications t…

Dr. Nora Volkow recently spoke to the SMART Recovery community about the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) holistic approach to helping those with substance use issues. As a follow up to that conversation, we talked with Dr. Wilson Compton, Deputy Director of NIDA and Dr. Will Aklin, Director of the Behavioral Therapy Development Program, abo…

Ted Perkins, aka the “Tips & Tools Guy” is a SMART facilitator and producer of our popular SMART Recovery video series including Tips & Tools for Recovery That Works, Life Beyond Addiction, Facilitator Spotlights, and more. A natural skeptic and avid humanist, he has always been open to ways to better himself, especially in his recovery. One way in…

Loretta Billingsley has been working in the media industry since the 1980’s and still loves what she does to this day. Another thing she loves is facilitating the SMART Women’s meeting on Saturday mornings. Loretta knows the personal growth and connections formed during those meetings have help changed lives, and for that she is grateful. In this p…