Rise Above with Kevin Lanning

Kevin Lanning
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Welcome to Rise Above with Kevin Lanning. Join Kevin, a former Google executive in sobriety, as he shares inspiring stories of resilience. Each episode features individuals who have faced life’s toughest challenges—addiction, trauma, anxiety, and more—and emerged stronger. These conversations aren’t just about survival; they’re about thriving and finding practical solutions to rise above adversity. Kevin’s own journey through addiction and childhood trauma fuels his passion for sharing stories that uplift, educate, and inspire. Tune in and discover the strength within you.

  1. 12h ago

    Brandon Kelly on Losing Everything to Fentanyl and Nearly His Arms

    Brandon Kelly is about to celebrate two years sober — the longest stretch of his life, and something he never believed he’d live to see. He grew up in Hammonton, New Jersey in a loving home, raised by a dad and a stepmom he calls the love of his life, and he was a good student on his way to Rutgers. But he carried a secret about who he was from the age of eight, never felt right in his own skin, and found that the first time he got high at 13, all of it went quiet. That chase would cost him nearly everything. He’s brutally honest about the slide: Percocets, then shooting heroin, borrowing and stealing until he was kicked out at 21 and not allowed home for a decade. He talks about losing his grandmother while he was too far gone to make it to her funeral, years of homelessness in Camden, and a fentanyl-related infection so severe that seven doctors told him he might wake up from surgery without his arms — and how he got high within an hour of them saving his life. This is also the story of how he finally came back: the shelter that led him to treatment, getting honest for the first time, the service work that rebuilt his self-esteem, and the slow, patient work of making amends and learning to trust his family again. If you’ve ever believed you were too far gone, Brandon is proof you’re not. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. 1d ago

    I Was A Straight-A Engineering Student Secretly Overdosing At Parties | Lily Trestan on Overdosing at 21, Getting Sober Young and Finding Her Purpose

    From the outside, Lily Trestan looked like she had it all together — a private-school kid from Montreal, a straight-A student on track for an engineering career at McGill. Underneath, she was struggling badly, and by her late teens drinking and weed had turned into mushrooms, Ambien, cocaine, and fentanyl-pressed Xanax bars bought off a dealer’s menu. She’s remarkably honest about the double life she kept, the toxic relationships, the isolation, and the night it nearly ended: an overdose on Xanax, cocaine, and alcohol at a party — one that happened to be themed “death,” on the same day she’d signed her life insurance papers. Lily also opens up about losing her friend Jake, the one person she’d ever been truly vulnerable with, and how his family and his old counselor kept showing up for her in ways that felt like more than coincidence. She walks through the rehabs, the relapses, and the four-day binge that finally became her bottom — and the work that’s followed: getting to a meeting every single night, leaving engineering to study psychology so she can help others, and building the kind of relationships and peace she never thought she’d have. Now a year and four months sober, she wants young women to know it’s possible, and it’s worth it. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. 1d ago

    I Played In The NBA With LeBron...Then Lost It All To Addiction | How Delonte West Found Sobriety

    Delonte West lived a dream millions of kids chase — a standout at Saint Joseph's, drafted into the NBA at 21, and years in the league alongside legends like Paul Pierce, Gary Payton, and LeBron James. He was, by his own description, sheltered inside the business of professional sports, growing as a player while the rest of life stayed on pause. When the game ended, everything he'd built his identity around went with it. In this conversation, Delonte is open about the long, slow progression of addiction that followed his career, his diagnosis and lifelong battle with bipolar disorder, and the years he spent cycling in and out of his lowest points — much of it playing out in the public eye in ways that were painful and dehumanizing. But this episode isn't about the videos the internet passed around. It's about the man behind them, and the work he's doing now. Delonte is coming up on a year sober this December, and he credits consistency, the right medication and treatment, his faith, and the people who never gave up on him. He's found peace in staying in the moment, and he's using his platform to reach the person out there who's still where he was. #RiseAbove #DelonteWest #AddictionRecovery #NBA #MentalHealthAwareness #RecoveryIsPossible #SoberLife#BipolarAwareness #Comeback #SobrietyJourney #SaintJosephs #Boston #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning#SecondChances #MensMentalHealth #TheManBehindTheVideos #Redemption #YouAreNotAlone #OneMoreThing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    I Played In The NBA With LeBron...Then Lost It All To Addiction | How Delonte West Found Sobriety

  4. 3d ago

    I Was Found In A Coma On The Side Of The Road...No Pulse, No Heartbeat

    Carrie has 26 and a half years of sobriety — and a story that shows just how far this disease can take someone, even after years clean. Adopted at birth and carrying a deep fear of abandonment, she took her first drink at ten and felt instantly invincible. By 17 she was a daily drinker, and her father loved her enough to sell his own life insurance policy to get her into rehab. She got sober at 24, built a life, got married — and then, after eight and a half years, drifted from her program and relapsed. What followed nearly killed her. She’s honest about all of it: drinking through an abusive marriage and divorce, the night she got in her car with a plan to end her life, and the overdose that left her in a coma on the side of a road, with police telling her parents she might not make it through the night. This is also a story about coming back — how much harder recovery was the second time, losing and rebuilding the business she loves as a dog trainer, staying sober through the deaths of both her parents, and finally finding the peace she chased her whole life. If you’ve ever relapsed and felt too ashamed to walk back through the door, Carrie’s message is for you: people will embrace you, and it’s never too late. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. 5d ago

    I Was A Sex Addict Living A Double Life For 20 Years

    Ben Brown has seven years of sobriety and one of the most layered stories we’ve had on the show. Born in Brooklyn and raised between two completely opposite households, he grew up never feeling like he belonged — and found that the things that finally got him acceptance, weed at 14, then alcohol, cocaine, and above all sex, became the very things that ran his life for the next two decades. He’s remarkably honest about all of it: the performance anxiety, the womanizing, the BDSM, the love-addict/love-avoidant cycle, and the double life he lived while appearing to have it all together as a New York real estate agent. Ben also opens up about the wreckage underneath — a chaotic childhood, his father’s long struggle with mental health, and the heartbreak that finally cracked him open. He walks through the string of “God moments” that led him into recovery, the hardcore sponsor who put him through a full year of withdrawal, the 500 days he went without sex as he rebuilt himself from the ground up, and how he finally learned what real intimacy and love actually look like. Today he channels all of it into helping other men through his coaching and his podcast, The Shift. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    I Was A Sex Addict Living A Double Life For 20 Years

  6. Oct 25

    I Had A D1 Lacrosse Scholarship — Then I Started Shooting Heroin

    Mac Chase had one goal growing up in the Annapolis area: become a Division 1 All-American lacrosse player. He got there — a scholarship to UMBC — but his drinking, which started around age ten, already had its grip on him. Within two years the scholarship was gone, and what followed was a decade-long slide through cocaine, pills, OxyContin, and eventually shooting heroin. He talks openly about it all: getting paid in OxyContin through a shady deal at the lacrosse shop he managed, driving eight hours each way to score, smoking pills in his hospital bed after a head-on crash nearly killed him, and conning his own mother out of her savings until she took a second mortgage and broke down. Mac doesn’t flinch from the wreckage — the stealing, the lies, the near-fatal relapse that left him in kidney failure on dialysis at 34 — but this is ultimately a story about what came after. Ten years sober now, he shares the spiritual turning point that changed everything, the long road of making amends to his mom, being at his father’s side for his last breath, and the life he never thought he deserved: a wife, two daughters, and a gratitude he lives out one day at a time. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. Oct 22

    Hiding Vodka & Shaking Every Day | I Needed A Drink So Bad I Walked Into A Murder Scene

    Holly Hiles has six years of sobriety and a story that’s almost hard to believe. Growing up she bounced through twelve schools, leaned on her twin brother, and lost her footing at fourteen when she got pulled off her cheer squad and fell in with a rougher crowd. What followed was a lifetime shadowed by loss — her grandmother, her father, her first love, and eventually her twin brother, a death she spent nineteen years calling a “motorcycle accident” until recovery helped her see it for what it really was. As her drinking progressed, Holly built a successful healthcare-marketing career and an ego to match, hiding vodka before work and drinking alone until the shakes set in. She shares the surreal night her addiction drove her to a little liquor store where she found the clerk murdered — a moment that still didn’t stop her — and the DUI, the rehab, the relapse, and the ex-husband who finally told her the hard truth that helped save her life. Today she’s rebuilt everything from the ground up: amends with her mother before she passed, a new faith, a master’s degree, and a company built around helping other people find their way out. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. Oct 20

    You Don't Have To Hit Rock Bottom To Stop Drinking

    Cadence came on Rise Above with a story that breaks the mold most people picture when they hear “sober.” She never drank in high school, never craved alcohol, and to this day doesn’t call herself an alcoholic — but her relationship with drinking still cost her plenty. She talks openly about the blackout years in Scottsdale: bartending and partying, hiding her boyfriend’s BMW from the valet after she caught him texting his ex, and a night that ended with her getting arrested. She also lived through the other side of addiction up close, watching a partner spiral into drug-induced psychosis and a friend overdose in front of her. What makes this conversation land is her honesty about the quieter kind of rock bottom — the slow “death by a thousand cuts,” getting sick of being sick, and finally choosing herself. She shares how running a 5K a day, converting to Catholicism, and building a sober community online rebuilt her life, and why she’s careful with the word “alcoholic” out of respect for the people who struggle differently than she does. Her message is simple and worth hearing: you don’t have to burn your life down to earn the right to stop drinking. Follow Cadence at Cultivated Cadence on Instagram and TikTok. Sponsored by Caron Treatment Centers My recovery journey began at Caron Treatment Centers, and the care I received there changed the course of my life. That's why I'm proud to partner with Caron. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Caron has been helping individuals and families find hope and lasting recovery for nearly 70 years. They are in-network with all major insurance providers, and same-day admission is available. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.caron.org/lp/rise-above 📞 Call Caron today: 855-352-0103 Recovery starts with taking the first step. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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About

Welcome to Rise Above with Kevin Lanning. Join Kevin, a former Google executive in sobriety, as he shares inspiring stories of resilience. Each episode features individuals who have faced life’s toughest challenges—addiction, trauma, anxiety, and more—and emerged stronger. These conversations aren’t just about survival; they’re about thriving and finding practical solutions to rise above adversity. Kevin’s own journey through addiction and childhood trauma fuels his passion for sharing stories that uplift, educate, and inspire. Tune in and discover the strength within you.

Information

  • Creator
    Kevin Lanning
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    371
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Rise Above with Kevin Lanning

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