PODCAST · health
Rock Bottom With Ryan
by rockbottomwithryan
After 18 years of drinking, countless blackouts, arrests, and hospital stays, I finally hit my bottom—and started to climb. This podcast is about what it really looks like to get sober. No sugarcoating. No step-by-step manual. Just honest conversations about addiction, recovery, relapse, and everything in between. If you’ve struggled, if someone you love is struggling, or if you just want to understand the chaos behind the bottle—this is for you. Let’s talk about what happens after rock bottom.
Episodes
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Tribe Finding - Gerald Lott
Gerald Lott on Crack Cocaine, Relapse After 14 Years, and Building Sauk Valley Voices | Rock Bottom with Ryan Gerald Lott joins Rock Bottom with Ryan to share his story of addiction and recovery, including early feelings of isolation as a Black student in a private school, escalating substance…
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Whoever You Art - Mel
Mel’s Rock Bottom: Alcohol, Cocaine, Anxiety, Forced Rehab, and 13 Months Sober | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, Mel (from Brazil, living in Portugal) shares her story of alcohol and occasional cocaine use, severe anxiety, and how her drinking escalated after her father’s death.…
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Amplifying the Vibe - Andrew
Magnat: The Alcohol Alternative Built for Social Confidence | Rock Bottom with Ryan (Andrew from PapaMag)On Rock Bottom with Ryan, Andrew from PapaMag shares how alcohol became his social-anxiety “cure” starting at 16, led to years of heavy beer drinking, and began hurting his workouts, work...
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Recovery Reps - Niall
From Crack, Heroin & Homelessness to Recovery Reps: Niall’s Rock Bottom Story | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Niall from Stourbridge, England shares how hyperactivity/undiagnosed ADHD, his parents’ divorce, and escalating substance use led from alcohol and…
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The Sober Diaries - Holly
Holly’s Rock Bottom: Alcohol Withdrawal Hallucinations, Ruining a Wedding, and One Year Sober | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ryan interviews Holly from a small town in Worcestershire, England, who is approaching one year sober with a sobriety date of July 30…
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Get Sober or Die Trying - Lorne
From Cocaine to Crack Rock Bottom: Lorne’s Recovery Story (Rock Bottom with Ryan)Ryan interviews Lorne, a Montreal DJ and longtime cocaine user who transitioned to crack for four years and got sober on December 8, 2022. Lorne describes a normal upbringing, early experimentation with hash and...
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The Dry Side - Nicole
Nicole’s Rock Bottom: Air Force Retirement, Isolation, and Finding Recovery Through Rehab, AA & The Dry SideIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Nicole—recently retired after 21 years in the Air Force and living in Texas—shares how alcohol gradually became a problem after years of high...
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Life On Life's Terms - Recovery Jon
Recovery Jon: Oxy, Heroin & Alcohol Addiction, Arrests, Rock Bottom, and Rebuilding a Life on Life’s TermsJon shares how a seemingly stable childhood in Connecticut shifted after multiple traumatic near-death experiences and mounting anxiety and anger, leading to heavy drinking, then rapid...
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Sober at 21 - John Campbell
From Xanax Blackouts to 18 Years Sober: John Campbell’s Rock Bottom & Recovery JourneyIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, John Campbell shares his story of getting sober at 21 after escalating drug and alcohol use, arrests, and stealing tens of thousands of dollars from his family while...
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Becoming Her - Paige Calentino
Paige Calentino: From Party Girl to Sober Coach | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ryan interviews Paige Calentino, who shares her sobriety date (December 26, 2022), her alcohol and drug use history (martinis, tequila, cocaine, MDMA), and how binge drinking began at…
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Forward Only - David Watson
From White-Collar Crime to Redemption: David Watson on Prison, Purpose & Going Forward Only | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, guest David Watson from Fort Worth, Texas shares how a stable childhood with his grandparents shifted after his grandfather’s cancer diagnosis, leading to...
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195: Adam's Second Chances
From Polysubstance Addiction to Counselor: Adam’s Recovery Story | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, guest Adam shares how early feelings of isolation, learning issues, and clashing with his parents led to a long search for escape that escalated from alcohol to...
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194: Real Talk Session 3 - Love, Boundaries, and Rock Bottom: When Helping Starts Hurting (With Amber)
Boundaries vs Ultimatums: Enabling, Rock Bottom, and Real Recovery | Rock Bottom with Ryan (ft. Amber)Ryan and guest Amber discuss the difference between boundaries and ultimatums, emphasizing self-respect, accountability, and how recovery helped them stop people-pleasing and codependency. They...
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193: Vernon - Out of the Blue
Vernon West: Two Sobriety Dates, Higher Power, and Beating Leukemia | Rock Bottom with RyanRyan welcomes Vernon West (Out of the Blue podcast) to discuss recovery, Vernon’s two sobriety dates (Jan 30, 1990 and Aug 2, 11 years ago), and his path through addiction and the 12 steps. Vernon shares...
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192: Bruce Haataja - Chaos Between My Ears
Bruce Haataja on Chaos Between My Ears, Bipolar 1, and Recovery | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, Bruce Haataja discusses his debut book Chaos Between My Ears and the internal “committee” of voices that fueled his depression, confusion, and addiction. Raised in small-town…
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191: Ben - Sober Boozers Club
From Rock Bottom to Sober Boozers Club: Ben’s Story + The Truth About NA BeerIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ben from the UK’s Sober Boozers Club shares how he went from daily weed use as a teen to heavy drinking fueled by late-night TV shifts, cheap lager, cocaine, and MDMA, escalating...
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190: Nelson Whiting - No Limits
Your Problem Isn’t Pornography: Hypnotherapy, Shame, and the Root Cause of Addiction | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, host Ryan interviews clinical hypnotherapist and author Nelson Whiting of No Limits Hypnotherapy about his book "Your Problem Isn’t Pornography" and how…
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189: Jeanne - Naturally High
From Rock Bottom to Naturally High: Trauma-Informed Recovery, Nervous System Regulation & The Recovery Concierge (Jeanne Foot)Ryan interviews Toronto-based addiction counselor and trauma-informed practitioner Jeanne Foot about her polysubstance use, entering recovery in August 1993 after a...
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188: Jen Hirst - Built from the Breakdown
Jen’s Rock Bottom: Mouthwash, Adderall, Two DWIs & the Sobriety “Closet” | Rock Bottom with RyanJen from Minnesota joins Rock Bottom with Ryan to share how alcohol became her drug of choice, worsened by Adderall introduced in college, and progressed over about 10 years into severe dependence with...
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187: Tony - It Made Me Feel Fearless
Tony Alexander on HIV, Meth Addiction, and Finding Recovery | Rock Bottom with RyanTony Alexander shares his story from growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, realizing he was gay early, and facing religious stigma, to beginning alcohol use at 12 and later using weed. After moving to Dallas to teach...
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186: Dora - Freedom at Last
Dora’s Rock Bottom: Juvenile Hall, Meth Addiction, Losing Her Kids & Finding Recovery | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, Dora shares her story of trauma and addiction: losing a sister before birth, being taken by CPS as a baby, growing up in foster care and group homes, early...
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186: Recovering Loudly - Allyssa
Allyssa’s Rock Bottom: Foster Care Trauma, Relapse, and Finding Purpose at 21 | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Allyssa, 21, from Texarkana, Texas, shares her path into addiction and recovery after growing up around widespread meth use, family bullying, poverty, and...
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185: Lindsay - Ambition Without Alcohol
High-Functioning Alcoholism to Alcohol-Free Success: Lindsay’s Sobriety Journey | Rock Bottom with RyanLindsay shares how she began drinking young amid her parents’ divorce and a family culture that glamorized alcohol, then carried heavy partying into college and adulthood. Though outwardly...
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184: Showing Up Anyways - With Leslie Patricia
Leslie Patricia: Drunk Driving Crash, Childhood Trauma, and 9 Years Sober | Rock Bottom with RyanRyan interviews author Leslie Patricia Lohr, who shares her sobriety date (Oct 31, 2017), alcohol as her main addiction, and a childhood marked by generational abuse, alcoholism, and instability. She...
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183: The Real Talk Sessions Part 2 - Trials, Tribulations, and Near Death Situations
Near-Death Moments, Survivor’s Guilt & Finding Purpose in Recovery | Rock Bottom with Ryan (Real Talk Sessions Pt. 2)In part two of “Real Talk Sessions” on Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ryan and returning guest Amber discuss the dangerous, near-death situations they experienced during addiction and how...
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182: Jazmin - Chasing Gold, Choosing Sobriety
From Rock Bottom to Sober Strong: Jazmin’s Recovery, Motherhood, and Return to Elite ThrowingOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, guest Jazmin shares how alcohol and benzos escalated after her 21st birthday into drinking alone, dangerous decisions, and worsening consequences while trying to balance life as…
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181: Lauren - Beauty from the Broken
Lauren Brown: From Alcohol & Heroin to Recovery, Motherhood, and Becoming a Counselor | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, Lauren Brown from Long Island shares her story of growing up around alcoholism, family dysfunction, and early trauma, first drinking at 8–9 and quickly chasing...
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180: Mary - Sobriety Over Survival
From Chaos to Clarity: Mary’s Rock Bottom, Detox & Recovery | Rock Bottom with RyanMary from Salem, Oregon shares her recovery story with host Ryan, including her sober date (August 7, 2024) and drug of choice (alcohol and cocaine, mostly alcohol). She describes a chaotic childhood marked by her...
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179: Bjorn - Crash Landing, Strong Finish
Bjorn’s Rock Bottom: Meth, Vodka, Needles, and the Road to Sobriety (Oct 30, 2013) | Rock Bottom with RyanBjorn joins Rock Bottom with Ryan to share his addiction and recovery story, including early drinking and drug use, frequent shoplifting arrests, and escalating use of weed, mushrooms, acid,...
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178: Heather - Healing the Woman Behind the Hustle
Heather’s Journey: Alcohol, Food Addiction, and Building a Balanced Life in Recovery | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Heather shares her sobriety date (April 30, 2014) and discusses alcohol and food as her addictions. She describes a turbulent childhood with teen...
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177: Childhood Trauma and Relationships - The Real Talk Sessions with Ryan and Amber - Take 1
Breaking Toxic Relationship Cycles in Recovery | Rock Bottom with Ryan (ft. Amber)Ryan and Amber discuss how witnessing unhealthy, abusive relationships in childhood led them to normalize toxicity, stay too long in harmful dynamics, and repeat patterns in adult romantic and non-romantic...
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176: Sarah and Danny - From Beyond Retreats (featured on Netflix's Enigma)
Plant Medicine, Recovery & Transformation | Behold Retreats (Costa Rica, Mexico, Portugal) | Rock Bottom with RyanRyan welcomes Sarah and Danny from Behold Retreats to discuss psychedelic-assisted healing and transformation through traditional ceremonies with ayahuasca, psilocybin, and bufo.…
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175: Damaris - A Transformative Tale
From Childhood Trauma to Heroin Rock Bottom: Damaris’ Recovery Story | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, Damaris shares her sobriety date (3/13/19) and a journey marked by childhood abuse, feeling different and unheard in a Hispanic household, and early substance use that escalated...
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174: Alice in Wonderland
From Party Girl to Recovery: Alice on Cocaine, Alcohol, Trauma & Finding Hope | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Alice from Cheltenham, UK shares her recovery story, including childhood trauma, early rebellion and trouble with authority, and how alcohol and cocaine...
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173: Lee - Demise Before the Rise
Told He Had 6 Months to Live: Lee Crompton on Surviving Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer & Mental Health | Rock BottomIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, guest Lee Crompton shares how a lump in his neck during the 2020 COVID lockdown led from inconclusive tests to surgery and a shocking diagnosis…
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172: Scott - I Surrender
From Crack, DWIs & Jail to Recovery Coach: Scott’s Rock Bottom Story | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, guest Scott (sober since 1/8/18) shares how he grew up in small-town upstate New York in a strained, chaotic home with an alcoholic father, early behavioral…
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171: The Warrior Awakened - JR Hutter
From War, Nightlife & Cocaine to Sobriety: JR’s Rock Bottom and Rebuilding Through FitnessOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, JR shares how barely graduating high school and later serving as an Army forward observer—deploying to Iraq after 9/11, losing friends, and returning with panic attacks—led to...
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170: Allie Clark - Raised by Narcissism, Rebuilt through Recovery
Allie Clark on Narcissistic Family Trauma, CPTSD, and Finding Sobriety Without “No Contact” | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan and Rachel, guest Allie Clark (Kansas City area) shares how her drinking changed the day her mother died—publicly framed as kidney cancer but actually an...
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169: Randal Maurer - Threat Unseen
From 37 Years in the Army to a Bio-Thriller: Randal Maurer on Threat Unseen, Purpose, and Veteran Advocacy | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ryan interviews Randal Maurer, author of the biological thriller Threat Unseen, focusing on how Randal’s 37-year Army career...
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168: Dark Days to Bright Futures - Richard from Ark Rehab House
From Cocaine Rock Bottom to Recovery: Richard’s Story & Inside Ark House Rehab | Rock Bottom with RyanRichard, from Scarborough in North Yorkshire, shares how early alcohol use and a pressured upbringing led to a long, escalating cocaine addiction that progressed from social use to daily...
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167: Sharina - From Self Destruction to Service
From Military Brat to Building Arcana Recovery: PTSD, Substance Use, and a Tech Solution for Treatment Engagement | Rock Bottom with Ryan Sharina joins Rock Bottom with Ryan and co-host Rachel to share her background as a military brat who moved frequently, navigated learning disabilities, and...
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166: Michael - Healing Beyond Abstinence
Michael’s Rock Bottom: Tequila, Rehab, AA, and Finding Sobriety Through Ibogaine & IbogaOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, Michael shares how his tequila drinking progressively worsened—especially during COVID—despite being a high-functioning husband, father of three, and long-time tech sales…
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165: AJ - Built To Last - A Tradesman's Journey to Sobriety
AJ’s Rock Bottom: Opioid Addiction, Intervention, Rehab, and Recovery Through Fitness | Rock Bottom with Ryan On Rock Bottom with Ryan, guest AJ shares how a high-achieving, sports-focused upbringing and heavy partying in early adulthood eventually gave way to opioid addiction after multiple...
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164: Beyond The Needle - Jaron Lyle's Path to Redemption
On Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ryan and co-host Rachel Sereni interview Jaron Lyle, who shares his addiction and recovery story. From a supportive childhood in Arlington, Texas, he began using weed at 15, escalated to pills, then heroin and injecting drugs, alongside periods of crime that led to about...
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163: Baelie - Recovery is my Reality
From Rock Bottom to Recovery: Baelie’s Story of Alcohol Addiction, Rehab, and Sober Life in Utah | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ryan and co-host Rachel Sereni interview Baelie, a respiratory therapist from Moab, Utah, who got sober from alcohol on 4/26/24. Baelie describes…
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162: Strong and Sturdy - Recovery and Redemption with Britt
In this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Britt Gusmus shares his journey from chasing superficial gratification through years of alcohol and drug abuse to lasting recovery, faith, and service. Originally from Denver, Britt celebrates 20 years sober (9/19/2005) and recounts early warning signs,...
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161: Sober By Design - Michael's Sobriety Story
Ryan interviews Michael, founder of Sober Hats, about his long, relapse-filled recovery journey. Michael describes starting alcohol at 13 with a Southern Comfort blackout, growing up in a family marked by secrecy and his father’s alcoholism, and first entering AA at 20 with periods of sobriety…
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160: Kenneth 2.0 - The Frequent Flyer Who Finally Landed
Kenneth’s 476 Days Sober: Trauma, Rock Bottom, and Rebuilding a Life in Recovery | Rock Bottom with RyanIn this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ryan reunites with Kenneth, now 476 days sober, to revisit his long history of addiction beginning in early teens amid severe childhood trauma and…
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159: Breaking The Mold - Reimagining Education with Stephen Solen
In this episode of Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ryan and co-host Rachel Sereni interview Utah educator and alternative-school principal Steve Solon about his path into education, severe financial hardship caused by repeated paycheck cuts at a charter school, and how he eventually found purpose working...
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158: From Last Call to High Calling - Dr. Ashley Amundson
Ashley Amundson: From Bartending & Alcohol Withdrawal to 10 Years Sober, COO & Therapist | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, Ashley Amundson shares growing up in San Diego in a complex military family with six siblings and a live-in nanny, feeling like she didn’t belong in school…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
After 18 years of drinking, countless blackouts, arrests, and hospital stays, I finally hit my bottom—and started to climb. This podcast is about what it really looks like to get sober. No sugarcoating. No step-by-step manual. Just honest conversations about addiction, recovery, relapse, and everything in between. If you’ve struggled, if someone you love is struggling, or if you just want to understand the chaos behind the bottle—this is for you. Let’s talk about what happens after rock bottom.
HOSTED BY
rockbottomwithryan
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Rock Bottom With Ryan have?
Rock Bottom With Ryan currently has 198 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Rock Bottom With Ryan about?
After 18 years of drinking, countless blackouts, arrests, and hospital stays, I finally hit my bottom—and started to climb. This podcast is about what it really looks like to get sober. No sugarcoating. No step-by-step manual. Just honest conversations about addiction, recovery, relapse, and...
How often does Rock Bottom With Ryan release new episodes?
Rock Bottom With Ryan publishes regularly with 198 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Rock Bottom With Ryan?
You can listen to Rock Bottom With Ryan on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Rock Bottom With Ryan?
Rock Bottom With Ryan is created and hosted by rockbottomwithryan.
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