Jessica Burke on Atlantic Recovery, Medication-Assisted Treatment, and Breaking Addiction Stigma

Host Branden Hudson interviews longtime friend Jessica Burke, owner of Atlantic Recovery in Salisbury, Maryland, an outpatient medication-assisted treatment clinic opened February 1, 2018. Burke shares how her own progression from alcohol addiction (including DUIs, jail, and court-ordered IOP) to prescription opioid addiction led her to seek treatment and build a reliable, local program that lets patients maintain work and family life while receiving medications such as Suboxone, Zubsolv, Subutex, and Vivitrol, plus required one-on-one counseling and regular urine screens with visits tapering from weekly to monthly. They discuss withdrawal as a major barrier to recovery, respond to stigma that MAT is “legal drug dealing,” and emphasize individualized levels of care, boundaries vs enabling for families, and that addiction affects all walks of life. Burke provides Atlantic Recovery’s location, website/socials, and notes calls route to her directly.00:00 Welcome And Housekeeping00:57 Meet Jessie Burke02:01 Atlantic Recovery Overview02:35 Why She Started03:15 What Makes It Different04:53 How Outpatient MAT Works09:56 From Alcohol To Opiates10:47 How Addiction Escalates13:40 Close Calls And Justifying18:26 Quitting Alcohol For Good21:15 Host Shares Sober Journey25:28 Sober Life Wins26:43 Suboxone Stigma Debate30:04 Withdrawal Reality Check32:06 Treatment Beyond Medication33:30 Clinic Challenges and Growth37:16 Advice for Parents41:12 Losses and Boundaries44:17 Future Vision and Politics47:56 Where to Get Help49:30 Final Message and Wrap