To be honest, I’m a little nervous about this podcast dropping.
I’ve been openly booed at conferences for expressing my beliefs about storytelling in recovery spaces, especially within 12-step programs, and how some of the narratives we repeat can keep us stuck instead of helping us evolve. And I know a lot of people disagree with me, including people I deeply respect.
In this podcast, I dig deeper than I ever have publicly on my experiences with 12-step programs over more than 25 years. What worked, what was problematic, and why I ultimately left. I also break down the dominant recovery redemption narrative that many of us are taught in these spaces. The idea that our stories are supposed to follow a certain arc. Hitting a low point, finding the program, and then being “saved” by it. Why we use that narrative. How it can help. And how it can also cause harm.
These are very unpopular opinions in many parts of the recovery movement.
And still, I keep talking.
Because I believe it’s critical to have more balanced conversations about the dominant narratives, systems, and deeply entrenched beliefs we hold about substance use in this country. Many of these are still steeped in shame, moralization, and criminalization. If we don’t talk honestly about what’s working and what’s not, nothing really changes.
We have to be able to engage in dialogue about systems like treatment and 12-step without collapsing into binary thinking that keeps us on opposing sides. I’m more interested in conversations that make room for nuance and move us toward achievable solutions that reduce harm for as many people as possible.
I’m really grateful to Tara Grace for inviting me on Burn the Stigma and holding space for this kind of nuanced conversation.
If you listen, I’d love to hear what resonates, and what challenges you.