David and Josh talk about the difference between realistic and unrealistic expectations, looking at ways that unrealistic expectations can set people up for disappointment and how realistic expectations help us prepare for the reality of the real world.

What does your rhythm look like? Do you live your life reactively, or are you able to have a proactive approach? Establishing a healthy rhythm in your life will help create balance, structure and the ability to live life to the fullest.

This week we sit down and have a conversation with Adrienne on a 10 Questions episode. Adrienne has been in a relationship for a year, has a 2 1/2 year old son and is the assistant manager of the recovery residence she lives in. She credits her recovery to her family, her boyfriend, support groups, living in a recovery residence and Vivitrol. Join us to hear a little bit of her story!

In this episode, we are doing 10 questions with Charles Romine. Charles has been in recovery for 3 years after using for 15 years. He started his recovery while in prison. Today, he is apprenticing to become a chaplain with Victory Mission's Restoration program, which is the same program he paroled out of prison to. His story is one of restoration with his kids and an amazing future he is building.

In this week’s podcast we are doing 10 Questions with Marlisha Jones. Marlisha is a person in long-term recovery. For her that means she has not used alcohol or other drugs since April 7th, 2009. She is currently working on getting her Certified Peer Specialist certification, works at the Springfield Recovery Community Center and has a local minister's license with the Church of the Nazarene working as the outreach minister for The Well Aurora.

On today's podcast we are doing 10 questions with Mike Miller. Mike is a person in long-term recovery. For him that means he has not used alcohol or other drugs since February 2nd, 2020 after using chaotically for 20 plus years. Today he is working as a Certified Peer Specialist for New Beginnings Sanctuary, which is an organization that provides recovery housing to almost 200 people around the state of Missouri!

Today we are doing a 10 questions episode with Wayne Pearmean, who after using chaotically for a decade now has 3 years in recovery. His pathway was using a 12 step program, and today he is attending Missouri State University majoring in Criminology and has gone through Basic 

Training and Advanced Individual Training in the US Army, and is working to be a commissioned officer.

Greene County, MO has seen a 120% increase in drug poisoning deaths when comparing January - June of 2020 to the same period in 2019. Something needs to be done, so we are building a task force to address the drug poisonings. We will have one podcast each month that outlines what we have done and are planning to do, in the hopes that if someone wants to build their own task force they can listen and see what we have done and learn from our successes and our mistakes.

I am a Recovery Coach Professional & consultant in long-term substance use and mental health recovery. My early career consisted of coordinating substance use recovery support activities and events, statewide conventions, bringing recovery meetings into jails and institutions and creating / co-facilitate the first youth-specific recovery support group in WI. I attended the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) Recovery Coach Academy in June 2014 and have trained hundreds of coaches throughout the United States.

As a coach, consultant, and partner with Helios Recovery, I have facilitated numerous recovery capital development planning sessions and helped coach individuals and families in creating recovery plans and linkages to services. I served as an appointed member of the WI Governors State Opiate/Heroin Task Force, co-developed programming and facilitated training for coaches for Wisconsin’s first Recovery Coach AmeriCorps program call Recovery Corps. I received his Recovery Coach Professional Designation from the Center for Addiction Recovery Training (CART) in April of 2019 and is a core curriculum trainer. I live in WI with his wife and 4 children, enjoying all things in geek culture, disc golf, and coffee. I believe that Recovery is a process of moving from surviving to thriving as a whole person.

David and Josh have both had COVID, and on this podcast they share a little about their experience as well as the experiences of the loved ones they know who have been diagnosed with it. COVID is now one more thing they are both in recovery from, but that doesn't mean they are not experiencing lingering effects.

David and Wayne pick up where they left off last week, discussing recovery, concerts, multiple pathways to recovery and a whole lot more!

Today David sits down with Wayne Nale and talks about recovery, growing up in the underground music scene in California in the 70's and how that led to him creating the Chains Unchained Music Festival, why the festival has continued to grow and where it is headed in the very near future with Wreck the Halls coming in December.

Last year we saw a huge spike in overdoses locally in Springfield/Greene County. The city brought people together, everyone talked about the amazing work they were doing (which is why we had a huge spike in overdoses, obviously) and all of the amazing things they were going to be doing. The city said they would continue working on it, and in the first 6 months of this year compared to last year we have seen a 120% increase in opioid overdose deaths locally. I am so tired of hearing people talk about what they are doing and getting millions of dollars to do stuff, then deciding how it will be done using mostly bureaucrats and business men. We have to get better at two things, demanding nothing about us without us and staying out of our silos and working together. Be warned, this is a full podcast rant!!

David and Josh talk about their frustrations when so many organizations don’t cooperate together and stay siloed in doing their own thing.  We’ve got to get better at working together or we will continue to see increases in deaths of despair.

In this podcast David sits down with Josh Lien and Alon Fisch to talk about multiple pathways of recovery. May see recovery as their pathway only and marginalize people who have taken different paths. Recovery occurs across and through many pathways, which is talked about then a focus is put on the power of pro-social events as an amazing pathway of recovery.

Today David Stoecker is joined by Alon Fisch. the founder of New Beginnings Sanctuary and one of the people who helped draft the Missouri NARR (National Association of Recovery Residences) housing committee when it started in Missouri.We discuss some of the ins and outs of recovery residences.

This week Josh and David talk about the second of the 4 Agreements, don’t take anything personally. A lot of time we blame others for our own behaviors when really we are the only ones that control what we say and do. A lot of times how others react towards you is not a reflection of you but more about them and what they are going through. Take a listen as they explain what it means to not take anything personal.

David and Marlisha talk about the events that have been happening around the country, and Marlisha shares her personal experiences and how she is impacted. As a recovery advocate we must be willing to talk about difficult subjects. We must stand with those who are advocating for change, especially if we expect others to stand with us as we advocate for change.

In this week’s podcast Josh and David (okay, mainly David because he basically goes on an hour long rant this week because body brokers and bad treatment centers are killing people and he is tired of going to funerals for his friend’s kids) talk about some signs to look for to identify if a treatment center may provide good or not so good services. Oh yeah, he just told me this is also about body brokers and why they suck.