Stories of Recovery | Alcoholism, Addiction & 12 Step Spirituality

A must-listen for anyone facing overwhelming challenges and searching for the strength to persevere.In this episode, we sit down with Bernie, a man whos been sober for over 17 years, as he prepares

MARRs New CEO Todd Stumbo has been in recovery since July 2004. In this episode, Todd opens up about the raw reality of his history of addiction, and the powerful experience of rebuilding his life. H

Occasionally on this show, we reconnect with previous guests to check in on their recovery progress since their first appearance. In this episode, Tad L. returns to share his recovery journey since we

Ep 93: I Learned It Was a Disease, Not a Bad Habit Mark R. was living in a flophouse and drinking himself to death. At this point in his life, his sister showed up and told him he was going to treatme

Ethan M. used to pride himself on how many times he went through treatment. Then, when he was living in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart and sneaking into rooms in Motel 6, he made a drunk phone call on

Ep. 91: How I Recovered from OxyContin, Adderall and Fentanyl Ladd H. wanted to be a good dad, a good husband, and a good employee. He couldnt explain why he kept blowing off his commitments and cont

Ep 90: The Dentist Who Couldnt Stop Using Drugs From the outside, it looked as if Brian had everything going for him. He had graduated from dental school. His career was off to a successful start. An

Ep. 89: As Family, We Were Invited to Participate Family members can be a vital part ofthe recovery process. The two women on todays episode are a prime example of that reality. Sallie and Rosemary

Ep 88: A Fast Tailspin Toward Death A daily cocaine and heroin user, Tara describes herself in her addiction as being in a fast tailspin toward death. Thanks to an unexpected intervention from her d

Ep 87: The Significance of Family Week in Treatment When Laurie M.s husband, Sam, checked into MARR (which you can hear about in episode 86), the relationships in their family were strained. Now, Lau

Ep. 86: The Ego Deflation of a Successful Investor Sam M. was a high-flying investor in capital markets for residential mortgages. He had a wife and two kids that always took a back seat to his career

Ep. 85: Going Through Divorce with an Attitude of Service | Michelle H. Sequel Michelle H. participated in Stories of Recovery about 4 years agoin episode 45. At the time she had just gotten her nurs

Many of our guests talk about God in their stories. Our guest in this episode isnt one of those people.

When Katie Z. enrolled at Kennesaw State University, her life was already in a downward spiral. She knew things had to change.

Ep. 82: Marcia Smith Strong. Caring. Comforting. Direct. These are just a handful of adjectives that clients have affectionately used to describe Marcia Smith, LPC, director of MARRs Right Side Up (R

Ep. 81: How to Get Sober and Save a Marriage Brian K.s marriage was on the rocks. He was drinking heavily and sleeping in his truck in the driveway. Desperate to keep his family intact, he checked in

Ep. 80: The Whole Family Can Recover Tune in and witness the profound turning point in Kirsty D.s life, when a tragic event at the age of 22 compelled her to seek help for her addiction. With the sup

Ep 78: How I Got My Piloting Career Back | Nick R., The Sequel Nick is a pilot, through and through. When he talks you can feel how much he loves flying planes. For a time, he lost all that because o

Ep 79: Remembering Darrell V. | How a Cat Can Lead to a Spiritual Experience In this special edition ofStories of Recovery, were paying tribute to Darrell V., a long-time MARR alumnus and friend to

Why do people relapse? Particularly after having the experience of feeling happy, joyous, and free in recovery and being truly at peace for the first time in their lives? Shaun N. provides us with an

How did Jule go from freebasing cocaine and trying to sell a stolen car to an undercover cop to eventually becoming a judge and being licensed to practice law before the supreme court? What happened d

How does someone go from an ordinary, middle-class upbringing to having her door kicked in by the SWAT team? And then, how does that same person then go from facing serious jail time to being in recov

Dont walk, but RUN away from me! Thats what Josh K. said to his fiance when he saw he could not stop his own self-destruction. He even tried treatment at a few different places, but nothing seeme

When a person shows up to participate here at MARR, whether they are a client or not, they become part of a community that they can remain involved in for the rest of their life. This community is a n

From College Dropout To NASA Engineer Brians alcoholism in college led him to drop out. However, when he got into recovery, he went on to help build the software for the Curiosity Rover, which took p

Nick was a professional pilot, and he knew he had an alcohol problem. Despite his genuine love for flying and knowing that his career was in jeopardy, he could not stop himself from drinking. Not only

Kaitlin Byrne is the Lead Family Counselor at our Mens Recovery Center. Her job is to work specifically with the family members of our clients to help them recognize how theyve been affected by thei

Penelopes drinking and drug use began in high school and ramped in her young adulthood. During the 1960s, she traveled around and participated in events like Woodstock and became addicted to heroin i

Herschel was stuck in a rut, but he didnt know he was an alcoholic. He just thought he was binge drinking a few nights a week. Whenever he ended up in jail as a result of his drinking, a family membe

Tad was well-known in the Atlanta community as a successful real estate developer. Then he was arrested for a DUI and made the news. In treatment, he learned that his business success didn’t necessari

Anna K., an anesthesiologist with over 20 years of sobriety, vividly describes an unforgettable night when she gave herself a combination of the narcotics she would administer to patients. This...

When you are entrusting yourself or your loved ones into the care of a counseling staff, you want to know what those counselors are like, what they care about, and how they treat the clients. On this

Between her former husband, her brother, and her sister-in-law, Melissa had been surrounded by people in active addiction for years. She was loaning money, bailing people out of jail, and...

“That’s when I found God.” This is how Christopher recalls what it felt like to take hydrocodone for the first time.  But before long, his addiction took a brutal hold...

Despite a significant opiate addiction, Eric was making good money and eventually was even offered a position as vice president at his company. Initially, he had thought drugs were just...

Caitlin started drinking at 15, around the same time that her mom was diagnosed with cancer. By the time she was 20, Caitlin’s mother had passed away, and her father...

Jasmine shares her transformative experience as part of MARR’s Right Side Up program. Before coming to RSU, she lived in a room where she blocked out all the light. While...

After college, Gil spent a short time as a police officer who was addicted to drugs but was also arresting people for drugs. He thought that if he became a...

We all face moments where we are completely overwhelmed by the problems we are facing and the situations we find ourselves in. At these times, all of the strengths, tools,...

How does a person go from living in the woods and running from bloodhounds to holding his community accountable to protect his fellow clients in treatment? At our treatment centers,...

Self-acceptance is an important part of recovery. Growing up gay in a community where that wasn’t accepted, Keith W. felt flawed—like something was wrong with him. When he found drugs...

In this episode we hear from Nicole T., a medical professional who went through MARR when she was 19 years old, long before her career started. Later, as her career...

What are some of the specific ways a parent’s addiction affects the lives of their children? How do parents who are in recovery start to rebuild the family’s home life?...

What is the role of prayer in recovery? What if I’m not religious, or don’t even believe in God?  Can prayer help me in uncertain times? Can it help me...

At MARR, we do not specifically address nicotine dependence as part of our program of treatment. Clients are permitted to smoke cigarettes, though they are not permitted to use e-cigarettes...

Alison Broderick and Matt Erwin are both in long-term recovery, and they work together at MARR—Alison as the alumni coordinator and Matt as a long-time counselor and now business development...

When Matt R. was in treatment, his wife at the time was also in treatment separate from him. He describes the difficulty of focusing on his recovery and trying to...

Matt R. was ready to end his life, or so he thought. What he learned in treatment and the relationships he built there allowed him to take another path. He...

Tina C. had been abusing drugs since the age of 14, but she didn’t know anything about addiction. She was headed for prison when she was offered a last minute...

This is a special podcast episode—our 2019 season finale. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to see things come full circle.  Grey was the first admission to MARR who told the...