Book Club Week 4: Revival, Resources, Purpose, and Community

Welcome to the final week of our walk through When You Love Someone in Recovery. If you've shown up every week, thank you. Showing up is a part of healing, and consistency matters. This week covers chapters 12 through the conclusion.

Four themes from this week's reading:

🔹 Recovery can be a spiritual rebuild.
🔹 Change is a process, not a one-time event.
🔹 Purpose changes the shape of recovery.
🔹 We heal in circles. Affected family members need circles too, and not as an afterthought.

A little something from my heart: The book was originally going to be called Recovery Is for Everyone, and that's what I named the conclusion. Because recovery isn't just for the person who uses substances. The whole family deserves healing.

Your action step: Name one thing you're going to do next. Make it specific and doable. A conversation, a support group, a next step. Don't just take information in. Engage with it.

📖 Grab the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400253977/
📋 Want the Book Club Kit? Email hello@carolinebeidler.com
📦 Group orders: BulkBooks.com for close to 50% off
💌 Join me on Substack: Circle of Chairs

The podcast is taking a break for the summer and coming back for Season 3 this fall. Thank you for being a part of this circle. I'm cheering you on.

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here.

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com

Interview: Kate Parsons on Faith, Peer Support, and Showing Up for Recovery

I've been hearing Kate Parsons' name everywhere I go in the recovery community here in Tennessee, and I'm so glad we finally got to sit down and talk. Kate is a woman in long-term recovery and a Faith-Based Coordinator with Tennessee's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, and her story and her work are just incredible.

In this conversation, we talk about:

🔹 The difference between being sober and being in recovery.
🔹 How Kate's faith journey started in an unexpected way, including borrowing someone else's higher power before she was ready to connect with God on her own.
🔹 What Tennessee is doing in the recovery space that's unlike almost any other state.
🔹 Why peer support and social support are some of the biggest buffers against recurrence of use.
🔹 The biggest barrier for churches wanting to help.

If this interview with Kate pulls on your heartstrings, contact your local anti-drug coalition. They need volunteers with heart and passion for this work.

📖 Grab the book: When You Love Someone in Recovery.
💌 Connect with me: hello@carolinebeidler.com

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here.

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com

Book Club Week 3: Mental Health, Boundaries, and the Opposite of Addiction

Welcome back to week three of our walk through of When You Love Someone in Recovery. This week covers chapters 8 through 11, and it's where we talk about what many families avoid until they're forced to face it.

Four themes from this week's reading:

🔹 Mental health is central to recovery. Anxiety, depression, trauma, and substance use can all become tangled. Sometimes substance use starts as a way to cope with mental health challenges in the first place.
🔹 Boundaries are brave, not punishing. They're about clarity, protecting your peace, and fostering safety. Setting a boundary is not the same as withholding love.
🔹 The opposite of addiction is connection. Loneliness isolates. Community heals. And this doesn't just apply to our loved ones. It applies to us as affected family members too.
🔹 Healing takes time. A recurrence of use doesn't mean the story is over. We can learn skills, build support, and prepare as a family for what may come.

Your action steps: Identify one boundary you need and write it down. Reach out to one safe person and tell the truth about how you're doing. Choose one step toward mental health support, whether that's therapy, a group, journaling, or movement.

📖 Grab the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400253977/
📋 Free Family Recovery Planning Guide: whenyoulovesomeoneinrecovery.com

Next week: Revival, resources, purpose, and community (Chapters 12 through 14).

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here.

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com

Book Club Week 2: Supporting Our Loved One Without Losing Ourselves

Welcome back to week two of our walk through When You Love Someone in Recovery. This week covers chapters 4 through 7, and it's where things get practical. Because love can get confusing and tough when addiction is in the house.

Four themes from this week's reading:

🔹 Support is not the same as rescuing. We are not the reason someone keeps using.
🔹 Labels can become cages. Leading with "the addict" puts the condition before the person.
🔹 Your family's story can be reframed. When we shift the story, something shifts in recovery too.
🔹 Recovery is bigger than sobriety. It's about building a whole life, not just stopping something.

Your action steps: Practice talking about your loved one in a new way. Advocate for person-first language. Add one wellness practice to your week, even something simple like a walk, more water, or better sleep.

📖 Grab the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400253977/

Next week: Mental health, boundaries, and the opposite of addiction (Chapters 8 through 10).

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here.

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com

Book Club Week 1: When the Light Comes Back

All month long, I'm walking through my new book, When You Love Someone in Recovery, with you. This week, we're starting where it all begins: when the light comes back.

I kept hearing the same phrase at recovery meetings: "When someone is in recovery, it's like the light in their eyes comes back." Maybe you've seen it. Maybe you're still waiting for it.

In this episode, I cover three big ideas from the Introduction and Chapters 1 through 3:

🔹 Recovery has a story, and so do you. The way we picture recovery shapes how we show up for the people we love.

🔹 Understanding the brain softens shame. Chapter 2, "Neuroscience for Normies," breaks down why "just say no" was never a strategy and why neuroplasticity is such a hopeful word.

🔹 Recovery is not a straight line. It's about more than stopping something. It's about the life someone returns to.

I also share a piece of my own story from my first time in treatment at 17 and what I didn't know then about the brain's ability to heal.

Your action step: Write down what you're hoping recovery could look like for you and your family. Then identify one support you need right now and go ask for it.

📖 Grab the book: HERE

📦 Ordering for a group? BulkBooks.com for close to 50% off.

Next week: Supporting our loved one without losing ourselves (Chapters 4 through 7).

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here.

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com

In this special bonus episode, I sit down with my husband Matt for an honest, heartfelt conversation about what it's like to love someone in recovery - from his perspective.

We share the story of how we met, how he first learned about my recovery journey, and how we've navigated life's biggest changes together as a couple and as parents.

To celebrate the launch of my new book, When You Love Someone in Recovery, I wanted you to hear from the person who lives this every single day alongside me.

New book from Caroline Beidler:

Pre-Order: When You Love Someone in Recovery

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here.

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com

In this special episode of Circle of Chairs, I'm sharing key points from my new book, When You Love Someone in Recovery, and I created this one specifically for you to pass along to someone who loves you. Whether you're in recovery yourself or you're the family member or friend walking alongside someone who is, this episode is designed to help bridge that gap of understanding. I talk about why families matter more than we've been told, how to rethink some of the old ideas that have left loved ones feeling guilty or helpless, and why there's so much more reason for hope than you might think — even when the journey doesn't look the way you expected. Listen in, and then hit that share button and send it to your person.

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here.

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com

What if the very thing you’re trying hardest to hide is the doorway to healing?

In this Circle of Chairs Conversation, I sit down with author and pastor John Ortberg to explore the surprising connection between spiritual formation and recovery. Drawing from his book Steps: Transforming Your Life When Willpower Isn’t Enough, Ortberg reflects on why change is so difficult—and why the path forward often begins not with strength, but with honest weakness.

Together, they discuss how the wisdom of the 12 Steps has shaped recovery communities for decades—and why the church may have more to learn from those basement meetings than it realizes. From stories of vulnerability to practical reflections on surrender, this conversation invites us to rethink what healing, faith, and transformation really look like.

If you’ve ever felt inadequate, stuck, or unsure of your next step, this episode is a gentle reminder: sometimes the end of our rope is exactly where new life begins.

0:00 — Welcome & Intro

3:35 — The sermon that changed everything
John tells the surprising story of fainting in the middle of a sermon—and how a visible weakness became a powerful spiritual lesson.

6:13 — “My strength is made perfect in weakness”
Why vulnerability can create deeper connection than strength ever could.

7:08 — What the church can learn from recovery
How the culture of confession and honesty in 12-step groups offers a prophetic example for the wider church.

11:11 — Recovery is about surrender, not just sobriety
Caroline and John discuss why recovery is about transformation of the whole life—not just abstaining from substances.

12:48 — What recovery communities can learn from the church
John explains how the 12 Steps grew from Christian discipleship traditions and why deeper spiritual formation matters.

19:49 — The power of telling your story
A moving example of how vulnerability in church can reveal how much everyone truly needs God.

22:38 — God’s address is at the end of your rope
A final encouragement for anyone feeling stuck, desperate, or unsure where to turn next.

https://www.johnortberg.com/

Steps: Transforming Your Life When Willpower Isn’t Enough (on Amazon)

Order your pre-release copy of Caroline Beidler's book, When You Love Someone in Recovery and receive a free advance sample chapter.

New book from Caroline Beidler:

Pre-Order: When You Love Someone in Recovery

Caroline Beidler, MSW, is an author, speaker, and Managing Editor of Recovery.com, where she combines expert guidance with research to help people find the best path to healing and treatment. Her book, When You Love Someone in Recovery: A Hopeful Guide for Understanding Addiction, was released Spring 2026 with Nelson Books. Drawing from her own recovery journey through addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma, along with training as a clinical mental health provider and addiction recovery expert, Caroline is passionate about guiding you into seasons of greater healing. Learn more about her books here.

Subscribe to her Circle of Chairs Substack community at carolinebeidler.substack.com