Send us Fan Mail

Everyone is talking about ibogaine like it’s the cure for addiction.

I’m telling you why I’m saying no.

You’ve probably heard the buzz.

• A “breakthrough.”
• A “reset.”
• Maybe even the answer your family has been praying for.

Ibogaine is everywhere right now. Podcasts. Headlines. Conversations between people who are desperate for something to finally work.

So let’s talk about it.

In this episode, I give you my honest, unfiltered answer to the question I’ve been asked more than anything lately:

Is ibogaine the solution?

And my answer might not be what you expect.

• Not because I’m closed off.
• Not because I’m against new approaches.
• But because I’ve seen what happens when hope moves faster than truth and families pay the price.

Inside this episode, I break down:

• What’s actually true about ibogaine right now, not the hype
• The real risks most people are not talking about
• Why this is especially dangerous for the exact population it’s being marketed to
• A personal story that changed how I evaluate treatments forever

If you’re a parent, spouse, or loved one trying to make the right decision in the middle of chaos, this matters.

Because when you’re desperate, everything can start to sound like the answer.

This episode will help you slow down, think clearly, and make a decision you won’t regret.

Hit play before you make your next move.

Support the show

Join Jason Coombs LIVE each week for tips and tricks and LIVE Q&A’s. Go to https://www.liveunhooked.com/live-unhooked.

For information about treatment services visit https://www.brickhouserecovery.com/

For more information about Warrior Heart Bootcamp for men visit www.awarriorheart.com

https://awarriorheart.com/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Warrior Heart = 2026Brick100

To learn more about the women’s retreat, Heart of a Woman:
https://theheartofawoman.net/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Heart of a Woman = 2026Brick100

Send us Fan Mail

Seventeen years ago, I was a difficult, entitled client who had already failed four treatment centers. HR Brown owned the place where I finally got sober. He pulled me into his office one day, told me part of his story, and handed me his 12-year sobriety coin. He asked me to make a deal: in 12 years, I’d give that coin to a newcomer, and he’d hand me his 24-year coin. That moment planted hope in me when I had none.
This episode is that conversation. HR shares the night he had a gun in his mouth, the Easter morning he didn’t know was Easter when he finally surrendered, and the spiritual nudges that have shaped his life and ministry. We talk about why the physical side of addiction is only 10% of the problem, what families need to hear when their loved one says “I mean it this time,” and why recovery happens in relationships, not institutions.
If you’ve ever felt like God couldn’t possibly love you back, or you’re loving someone who keeps breaking promises, this one is for you.
Show Notes
Guest: HR Brown, founder of Renaissance Ranch and the man who helped me get sober
In this episode:
•(01:00) How HR and I first crossed paths in treatment
•(03:47) “I believed in God. I just didn’t think He believed in me.”
•(05:39) The night HR had a gun in his mouth and the angels he believes saved him
•(07:12) “Help me, help me, help me.” HR’s Easter morning surrender
•(10:58) The people who carried hope: Steve and Monk, the 300-pound biker
•(12:58) Why your loved one isn’t lying when they break the promise
•(16:12) Living life in 15-minute increments during active addiction
•(18:16) Why physical addiction is only 10% of the problem
•(19:19) The vision behind Renaissance Ranch
•(23:24) My spiritual anorexia and how the Ranch fed me
•(28:44) The 12-year coin moment that gave me hope when I had none
•(29:56) HR reveals he felt a nudge to give me that coin
•(31:36) Acting on spiritual promptings without rehearsing them first
•(34:15) The deal: “In 12 years, we meet back up”
•(38:34) The Easter basket and the note that called me a leader
•(42:54) HR’s wife at the golf tournament
•(48:26) “She was mine before she was yours.”
Worth marking:
•Hope is contagious. You catch it from people who already have it.
•Judge early recovery by what people do, not what they say.
•When your loved one says “I want help,” have a bed lined up. If they’re serious, they’ll go.
•You don’t get them sober and you don’t get them drunk. Stop carrying what isn’t yours.
•Spiritual nudges work when you act on them before you talk yourself out of them.
HR is in my book. I wrote about him in Unhooked: How to Help an Addicted Loved One Recover.
Resources:
•HR’s nonprofit, The SOLida Foundation, mentorship and scholarships for people leaving treatment: thesolidafoundation.org
•Unhooked on Amazon and Audible
•brickhouserecovery.com
•liveunhooked.com
Share this with one person who needs to hear it. That’s how the nudge keeps going.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Join Jason Coombs LIVE each week for tips and tricks and LIVE Q&A’s. Go to https://www.liveunhooked.com/live-unhooked.

For information about treatment services visit https://www.brickhouserecovery.com/

For more information about Warrior Heart Bootcamp for men visit www.awarriorheart.com

https://awarriorheart.com/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Warrior Heart = 2026Brick100

To learn more about the women’s retreat, Heart of a Woman:
https://theheartofawoman.net/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Heart of a Woman = 2026Brick100

Send us Fan Mail

You’ve tried everything. Nothing’s working. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you’re wondering if you’re making it worse. This episode is for you. Jason Coombs breaks down the Desperation to Decision Ladder: a five-rung framework that maps exactly where your loved one is in their journey toward change, and what your role actually looks like at each rung. Practical, honest, and built from lived experience.

Show Notes:
In this episode of the Brick House Recovery Podcast, Jason Coombs, person in long-term recovery and founder of Brick House Recovery, breaks down one of the most practical frameworks he’s developed for families who love someone struggling with addiction. If you’ve tried everything and feel like nothing’s working, this one’s for you.
Episode Highlights
[01:00] Three questions that stop families in their tracks
[02:30] Why being in long-term recovery doesn’t automatically make you an expert at helping others
[04:17] The pattern Jason sees over and over with families, and why love alone isn’t enough
[05:08] Why the sickest person in the room ends up setting the rules for everyone else
[06:37] Introducing the Desperation to Decision Ladder: a five-rung framework for understanding change
[07:10] Rung 1: The Pain Gets Loud, and why softening it is the worst thing you can do
[11:22] Rung 2: The Denial Weakens: you can’t break it with a speech, but you can stop competing with reality
[13:32] Rung 3: Truth Breaks Through: the gift of desperation and why addiction is the only disease that lies about itself
[15:57] Rung 4: Willingness Appears: why this is a window, not a door, and how to show up when it opens
[20:21] Rung 5: Commitment Is Chosen: why it has to be theirs, and what happens when you want it more than they do
[23:02] The two journeys happening at once: external signals vs. the inner work that actually matters
[25:01] Two real outcomes, divorce and staying together, and why both can be a win
[27:19] Applying the five rungs to yourself, because you have your own ladder to climb
[32:39] Naming the disease: why Jason called his addiction “Sancho” and how that changes everything
[35:32] Dancing instead of wrestling: how to have hard conversations without locking horns
[39:49] The Goldilocks Zone: love and law, justice and mercy, enabling and abandonment

Join Jason Coombs LIVE each week for tips and tricks and LIVE Q&A’s. Go to https://www.liveunhooked.com/live-unhooked.

For information about treatment services visit https://www.brickhouserecovery.com/

For more information about Warrior Heart Bootcamp for men visit www.awarriorheart.com

https://awarriorheart.com/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Warrior Heart = 2026Brick100

To learn more about the women’s retreat, Heart of a Woman:
https://theheartofawoman.net/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Heart of a Woman = 2026Brick100

Send us Fan Mail

What happens when a woman’s heart finally gets the space to heal? Jason sits down with Melanie Meszaros, co-founder of Heart of a Woman retreats, to talk about the three core desires every woman carries, what fathers can do to protect their daughters, and why restored hearts don’t just change women — they change entire families.

Show Notes
There’s a metaphor I keep coming back to after this conversation: a river that’s been dammed up. The water doesn’t disappear — it just stops flowing. And the world downstream goes dry.
That’s what Melanie Meszaros helped me see about the feminine heart.
Melanie is the co-founder of Heart of a Woman retreats, a certified professional coach, and someone who stumbled into her calling the way most of us do — through a door she didn’t plan to open. She was “voluntold” into this work, and the world is better for it.
In this episode we go deep on:
•The three core desires that shape a woman’s heart — and why wounding hits hardest where longing runs deepest
•What fathers can do right now to speak worth into their daughters (this one hit close to home for me as a dad)
•A word for the mothers who’ve quietly decided their child’s addiction is their fault
•Simple daily rhythms that create space for real heart restoration
•Why three days at an intensive retreat can accomplish what years of small doses can’t
Melanie also shares what happened at her own family’s Sunday dinner after she did her own heart work — and it’s one of the most beautiful moments we’ve had on this show.
Resources mentioned:
•The Inheritance by Graham Cooke — a 10-minute audio Melanie recommends listening to daily for 30 days
•Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge — the foundation for the three core desires
•Heart of a Woman Retreat — October 8–10, 2026 (first 10 registrants get $100 off — promo code is 2026Brick100 )
•Boise Alumni Fireside Chat — April 25th at 1:00 PM

The Inheritance Video mentioned:

https://youtu.be/FgzXXKjaPZA?si=Ktr5AISPQzmPUg0m

•Scholarships available at theheartofawoman.net
Connect with Melanie:
📧 support@theheartofawoman.net
🌐 theheartofawoman.net
Connect with Jason:
📖 Unhooked — available on Amazon and Audible
🌐 brickhouserecovery.com

Join Jason Coombs LIVE each week for tips and tricks and LIVE Q&A’s. Go to https://www.liveunhooked.com/live-unhooked.

For information about treatment services visit https://www.brickhouserecovery.com/

For more information about Warrior Heart Bootcamp for men visit www.awarriorheart.com

https://awarriorheart.com/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Warrior Heart = 2026Brick100

To learn more about the women’s retreat, Heart of a Woman:
https://theheartofawoman.net/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Heart of a Woman = 2026Brick100

Send us Fan Mail

What if the most loving thing a family can do is stop helping? In this raw solo episode, Jason Coombs shares the unfiltered story of his addiction, his parents’ breaking point, and the family therapy moment that changed everything: “Get off the beach.” If you’re exhausted from absorbing the waves of someone else’s addiction, this episode was made for you.

There’s a moment in almost every family’s addiction story where love and enabling look identical. You can’t tell them apart. That’s not weakness — that’s the nature of the disease.
In this solo episode, Jason pulls back the curtain on the season of his addiction that nearly destroyed his family, and the unexpected turning point that started their healing — long before his own sobriety began.
This one is personal. And it might be exactly what you need to hear today.

🌊 The tsunami metaphor — why every decision an addict makes eventually crashes onto the family shore
🔥 The night Jason confessed to his parents, and how their loving response quietly reinforced his denial
🪑 The family therapy session that gave his parents three words that changed everything: “Get off the beach”
🔐 The Cracker Barrel boundary — changed locks, restricted access, and the manipulation that finally didn’t work
👶 Nathan’s birth and the painful gift of placing his son for adoption — the why that grew bigger than the addiction
🌭 The hot dog stand conversation 72 days into sobriety that launched the mission behind Unhooked
🎣 How family members get “hooked” — managing probation, covering for their loved one’s boss, softening every consequence
💡 Jason’s five-principle boundary framework — a practical roadmap for exhausted families.

“For the first time, my parents understood that to love me did not mean to rescue me. It meant setting boundaries. It meant getting healthy. It meant getting off the beach and taking their life back.”

TIMESTAMP GUIDE:
∙[00:59] The survivors of the Titanic — why shared pain creates unlikely community
∙[01:21] The tsunami wave analogy explained
∙[03:28] The confession on the fireplace bricks — and the response that reinforced the disease
∙[06:12] “Get off the beach” — the family therapy moment
∙[08:38] The Cracker Barrel boundary conversation
∙[10:23] When the manipulation stopped working
∙[10:48] Nathan’s birth and the adoption decision
∙[13:53] The hot dog stand and the birth of Unhooked
∙[20:16] How families get hooked without realizing it
∙[21:12] Why pain is the engine of change
∙[29:14] The five-principle boundary framework
∙[33:59] Writing down what you “hear that isn’t said”

RESOURCES MENTIONED:
📘 Unhooked: How to Help an Addicted Loved One Recover — available on Amazon and Audible
💻 Live Unhooked Course + Community — brickhouserecovery.com
📞 Brick House Recovery — 208-286-4274

Join Jason Coombs LIVE each week for tips and tricks and LIVE Q&A’s. Go to https://www.liveunhooked.com/live-unhooked.

For information about treatment services visit https://www.brickhouserecovery.com/

For more information about Warrior Heart Bootcamp for men visit www.awarriorheart.com

https://awarriorheart.com/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Warrior Heart = 2026Brick100

To learn more about the women’s retreat, Heart of a Woman:
https://theheartofawoman.net/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Heart of a Woman = 2026Brick100

Send us Fan Mail

There’s a moment most families never forget.
It’s not the first time they found the pills. It’s not the arrest, or the call from the hospital, or the Christmas that fell apart. It’s quieter than that. It’s the moment they realize that everything they did out of love, the bail, the hotel rooms, the money on the jail books, the middle-of-the-night rescues, may have been feeding the very thing trying to destroy their child.
That’s where this episode begins. And it doesn’t stay there.
In Episode 50 of the Get Unhooked Podcast, Jason Coombs delivers one of the most personal and practically powerful coaching sessions he’s ever recorded. This isn’t a lecture. It’s a living room conversation with someone who has been on both sides of the wreckage, the addict and the son, and who has spent years turning that wreckage into a roadmap for families who are still in the middle of it.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
∙Jason’s mother Janna share her testimony, from enabling in desperation to loving without losing herself
∙A rarely shared chapter of Jason’s personal story, including his childhood sensitivity, co-occurring diagnoses, and a newly discovered Auditory Processing Disorder that finally explained decades of struggle
∙How Jason became entangled in Utah’s largest OxyContin drug ring and watched the news story break on the very TV station where he worked
∙Jennifer Chase, Brick House team member and a mother walking her own road, asking one of the most honest questions of the episode: “How do they feel loved when I tell them I can’t get them a hotel room?”
∙A practical breakdown of the Stages of Change model and why expecting action-stage behavior from a pre-contemplation-stage person is a setup for heartbreak on both sides
∙Why relapse is not a moral failure. It’s a stage, and understanding that changes everything
∙Jason’s personal recovery beyond sobriety, including compulsive behaviors the recovery world doesn’t always talk about
∙Why faith over fear isn’t just spiritual advice. It’s the most effective influence strategy a family member can adopt
The truth this episode keeps returning to:
You cannot love someone into recovery. But you can learn to love them in a way that stops blocking it.
Janna Coombs didn’t find that truth through a program or a checklist. She found it the hard way, through years of trying to fix what she couldn’t fix, until she finally put down the weight of an outcome she was never meant to carry.
“If you don’t have hope one day,” she says, “just think of Jason’s story and take some of my hope. Miracles can happen.”
That’s the heart of this episode. Not a promise that it gets easy. A promise that it gets possible.
Resources mentioned:
∙Unhooked: How to Help an Addicted Loved One Recover by Jason Coombs, available on Amazon and Audible
∙Fight the New Drug, fighthenewdrug.org
∙Brick House Recovery, brickhouserecovery.com
∙Stages of Change Model, Prochaska & DiClemente
Connect with Jason:
📧 jason@brickhouserecovery.com
📞 208-286-4274
🌐 brickhouserecovery.com

Join Jason Coombs LIVE each week for tips and tricks and LIVE Q&A’s. Go to https://www.liveunhooked.com/live-unhooked.

For information about treatment services visit https://www.brickhouserecovery.com/

For more information about Warrior Heart Bootcamp for men visit www.awarriorheart.com

https://awarriorheart.com/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Warrior Heart = 2026Brick100

To learn more about the women’s retreat, Heart of a Woman:
https://theheartofawoman.net/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Heart of a Woman = 2026Brick100

Send us Fan Mail

When Helping Hurts: The Gift of Desperation in Family Recovery

In this episode, Jason Coombs tackles one of the hardest truths in family recovery: sometimes helping actually hurts.

Drawing from Chapter 6 of Unhooked, Jason shares his personal rock bottom and explains why desperation is often the turning point that families try hardest to prevent. When we rescue, soften consequences, or step in too soon, we may delay the very pain that could finally lead someone to change.

This is a hard episode. But it’s an honest one. And for families exhausted by the cycle of addiction, enabling, fear, and second-guessing, it offers clarity.

Jason walks through why rock bottom is not always the end. Sometimes it’s the beginning. He also shares the small act of love from his mother that broke through the darkness—and why boundaries and compassion have to work together.

In this episode:

• Why families must stop interrupting natural consequences
• How desperation can become the doorway to real change
• The difference between loving someone and rescuing them
• Why boundaries feel brutal at first—but matter deeply
• How one simple text reminded Jason he was still loved
• The role of hope when your loved one seems too far gone

Timestamps:

[00:30] Jason’s rock bottom and the “gift of desperation”

[01:40] Why natural consequences matter in recovery

[03:21] The vision that revealed two possible futures

[06:14] The text from Jason’s mother that cut through the darkness

[07:45] Four truths about desperation, pain, and change

[11:45] Reflection questions for families and individuals

[14:19] Understanding your role—and your limits

Key takeaway:

Families cannot force change. But they can stop delaying it.

Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is let pain do its work.

Resources:

Unhooked is available on Audible and Amazon.

Learn more at BrickHouseRecovery.com

Support the show

Join Jason Coombs LIVE each week for tips and tricks and LIVE Q&A’s. Go to https://www.liveunhooked.com/live-unhooked.

For information about treatment services visit https://www.brickhouserecovery.com/

For more information about Warrior Heart Bootcamp for men visit www.awarriorheart.com

https://awarriorheart.com/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Warrior Heart = 2026Brick100

To learn more about the women’s retreat, Heart of a Woman:
https://theheartofawoman.net/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Heart of a Woman = 2026Brick100

Send us Fan Mail

In this deeply personal episode of the Get Unhooked Podcast, Jason Coombs sits down with Donna Pope, Executive Director of Heart to Heart Adoptions and an adoption advocate with more than 25 years of experience.

Together, they explore the rarely discussed intersection of adoption, addiction, and purpose through both professional insight and lived experience. Jason shares his perspective as a birth father in long-term recovery, opens up about his son Nathan, and reflects on the meaning that can grow from a story still being written.

This conversation is honest, emotional, and full of hope for birth parents, adoptive families, and anyone navigating recovery.

In this episode:

• [01:00] Jason introduces Donna Pope and shares why adoption is central to both his life story and recovery story
• [03:00] The Venn diagram of purpose, adoption, and addiction
• [07:45] Donna’s origin story and the beginning of Heart to Heart Adoptions
• [09:01] Monica’s story: addiction, placement, jail, faith, and extraordinary recovery
• [15:42] Josh’s pivotal question: why was he placed for adoption, but not his older brother?
• [21:35] How common addiction is in adoption stories
• [25:27] Nature, environment, and whether substance use disorder gets passed on
• [30:58] Why attachment is at the heart of both adoption and healing
• [33:10] The painful decision to send a 17-year-old to residential treatment
• [37:23] The response from Donna’s brother that changed everything
• [38:01] Where to follow Donna’s work and what’s coming with Adoptions.com

Key themes from this episode:

• The rarely heard voice of the birth father
• Why voluntary placement can be an act of courage, not abandonment
• How recovery can reshape families across generations
• The questions adoptees carry and why honest conversations matter
• Why attachment and consistent presence matter so much in both adoption and recovery
• Hope for families walking through addiction, adoption, or both

Jason also reflects on what it has meant to remain present in Nathan’s life, and how adoption became part of the deeper story God used in his own recovery journey.

Connect with Donna Pope:

• Heart to Heart Adoptions: hearttoheartadoption.com
• Voices of Adoption Podcast
• Choosing Adoption
• Adoption Utah
• Eternal Family Adoptions
• Adoptions.com

Jason’s book Unhooked is available on Audible and Amazon.

Learn more about Brick House Recovery at www.brickhouserecovery.com.

Support the show

Join Jason Coombs LIVE each week for tips and tricks and LIVE Q&A’s. Go to https://www.liveunhooked.com/live-unhooked.

For information about treatment services visit https://www.brickhouserecovery.com/

For more information about Warrior Heart Bootcamp for men visit www.awarriorheart.com

https://awarriorheart.com/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Warrior Heart = 2026Brick100

To learn more about the women’s retreat, Heart of a Woman:
https://theheartofawoman.net/

$100 DISCOUNT CODE for Heart of a Woman = 2026Brick100