Recovery Talks: The Podcast rockandrecovery.com/Akron, OH

To most people, yet another opioid death might seem like just another statistic. But for Ed and Brighid Hillmuth, the tragic end of their son, Christopher, shattered their world, leaving them with the enormous task of trying to make sense of it, understand it, and use those discoveries to help others. 
 
This is a deeply personal, honest, and raw episode. Marc and the Hillmuth's trace their son's impactful but shortened life. We learn that, like many who have died from opioids, nobody necessarily plans to end their life by way of ingesting fentanyl. But this powerful, dangerous substance knows no allegiance to anyone, nor does it play favorites. This brutal truism sent Ed and Brighid on a long path of recovery, chronicled in harrowing detail.
 
"His worst decision wasn't going to define his life."
 
Brighid's words are poignant and act as a jumping-off point where grief and tragedy lend themselves to healing and helping. The Hillmuths talk at length about their journey, that tragic day, and their foundation, created in honor of Christopher and designed to be a help and a resource to others experiencing the same trauma.
 
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Get ready for a high-energy, rapid-fire episode of genuine, forthright conversation on faith-based recovery!
In substance-use recovery herself, Angel Nichols is the Clinical Coordinator for Arc Recovery Services in Akron, Ohio. She and Marc engage in a feverish, high-octane discussion on 'stigma' and God's role in helping a person like Angel to fight it.
"As much as I wanted to stop, my body was on auto-pilot."  
Angel's story is jaw-dropping. Raised by parents who were addicts, it took years for her to arrive at a place in her life where she could finally start to recover from, in her words, "the things the world told me that I am." She also talks at length about discovering a place where she felt at home and where "she wasn't a leper, where I belonged somewhere."
Marc and Angel also talk about her role as a peer-recovery supporter and how her faith-based approach within her role at Arc has become her life's mission: to assist others in fighting stigma and finding that same feeling of inclusion and acceptance.
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Danica Adams doesn’t mince words, and when it comes to telling her recovery story, she is not shy. Honesty is not in short supply. It takes profound courage to describe such a complex and deeply personal narrative.  
 
At 14, her sister died of brain cancer. That same year, Danica became pregnant and continued life as a teen mother. Only a couple of years later, she began to use drugs, a decision which would later prompt both an arrest and a felony conviction.
 
“I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually dead.”
 
In this dynamic episode, Marc and Danica explore her early life, one filled with excerpts that most adults will never experience, including events involving human trafficking, being a victim of domestic violence, multiple incarcerations, multiple overdoses, homelessness, and prostitution. And none of those events produced a sober life. Danica finally reveals to Marc the game-changing moment that ultimately set her on the road toward ongoing recovery. 
 
Listen now to this powerful, blistering episode with two peer-recovery specialists digging for the truth in the hopes of that truth eventually helping others.
 

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Ten years. Ten years of ‘skill-building’.  That’s a good amount of time. Musician and writer Kevin McManus built up a decade of the ‘skills’ that enable those with a substance-use disorder to hone their craft. The craft of being dishonest. The art of perfecting the ruse.  And then it finally all caught up to him.
It what may be the singular most unique episode of this podcast, Marc speaks honestly and directly with Kevin who, at the time of this recording, was in substance-use disorder recovery for exactly 152 days.  Kevin opened the door and let us into his world, one that slowly and perilously moved him ever closer to a place where he had no other option than to ask for help.  In his words, “I didn’t want to die, but I didn’t care if I lived.”
This is a blatantly revealing episode, a tour de force of transparency and candor.  And it’s even more revealing because this episode also has a ‘video’ companion, so subscribers can listen to and watch the interplay as Marc and Kevin discuss his emotional journey…now 152 days and counting.  
 
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Just the memories and a microphone. No safety-net. Nothing to fall back on. Just like that decision to finally ask for help, sometimes the realization that the time has come and it is now can only be arrived at by oneself.
 
In this explosive, gripping episode, Marc rides solo. He recounts his story, where he migrated from the successful corporate-executive lifestyle to the alcoholic and addict who had no other recourse but to mutter those three critical words: please help me.
 
"My durability had worn through."
 
Follow Marc's captivating journey, from sought-after L.A. session-guitarist to high-earning corporate sales leader to cherished friend and musical colleague for Michael Stanley and The Resonators. Throughout these different chapters, Marc reflects on the role that drugs and alcohol played, how they dominated his life, how his addiction nearly toppled everything, and how one important event finally provided the impetus to stop the madness.
 
This is a spellbinding episode with no details spared, and it's a riveting reminder that, as Marc says, "When you get out of the way, the right stuff comes through.”

"Be the change that you want to be."
 
It was a seemingly simple decision to change schools that moved the momentum of a young person's life trajectory. It would be easier, he thought. Closer to home. That fateful choice would take his early adult life off course into a world complete with bewildering delusions, bad decisions, and a big bend in the road. 
 
Kenny Lambert is one of the reasons this podcast exists. And while his story is no more or less important than any other journey that we have featured on this podcast, it does seem simply perfect that this Kenmore native represents the 50th episode—living proof that recovery is possible. 
 
Kenny Lambert explains to Marc in gritty, authentic realism and in no uncertain terms that substance use disorder had its grip on his life and that his life was descending in flames. In fact, at one point, Kenny Lambert pleaded with the Divine: "If you're really God, put me in jail."
 
How does a person who is seemingly at Death's doorstep arrive at becoming both a dedicated father and a successful businessperson? Kenny's ongoing journey is a case study in moving from crash-and-burn to redemption. It's a profile featuring someone who could not have gone any lower than the bottom and eventually worked his way into sobriety and a re-imagined version of himself. He created a business that supports artists and those in the day-to-day work of supporting sobriety and positive change in his community. He is Just a Dad from Akron
 
https://justadadfromakron.com/
 
This is a breathtaking story, and it's a perfect one for this 50th episode.
 
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Find out more at RecoveryTalks.org