Adam Wittbrodt is a personal trainer and recovery advocate. He grew up with an alcoholic father who walked out on his 12th birthday and died before Adam turned 19. Carrying grief Adam spent the next decade and a half burying under IV heroin, forged checks, and 8 felonies. One day he collapsed at the front desk where he worked after injecting what he thought was heroin. It was laced with fentanyl and cocaine. A hotel guest walked in at exactly the right moment and called 911. Three weeks into county jail after that, he heard himself tell his cellmate he was pissed that the paramedics had saved him. That was the break. He went through Midland County Recovery Court, then treatment at Harbor Hall in Petoskey. Sober June 22nd, 2016. He has 10 years, runs a personal training operation with 100+ clients, a fitness and recovery program inside the Midland County Juvenile Justice Center, and co-hosts the Level Up Life podcast.

I Used To Do Heroin At Work Now I'm 10 Years Sober w/ Adam Wittbrodt | The Hopeaholics Podcast #359

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0:00 — Intro
0:58 — Adam Wittbrodt
11:59 — Cigarettes at 13 to IV heroin
12:53 — First Vicodin prescription at 14
14:50 — "Maybe if I do what my dad did, I'll understand him"
16:34 — Dad dies; $10K in life insurance gone in a month
18:29 — First 90 days in jail at 21
21:06 — The Curry Hotel: 3 × 80mg Oxy loaded into one shot
23:24 — Conning doctors
25:08 — 23 months to 14 years
30:00 — Grandmother dying in the ICU
31:20 — Using laced Heroine at work
33:06 — It was fentanyl and cocaine: just hitting the market in 2016
33:52 — Survivor's remorse: "Why was I saved?"
35:42 — The ER should treat addiction like a diabetic emergency
52:32 — 7th and 8th felonies, $500K bond
1:03:23 — 10 years sober; 210 meetings in 210 days
1:14:37 — Building the personal training business
1:15:48 — The Rebuild Program
1:19:52 — 300 fentanyl deaths a day: why he thinks he was saved

At 18 Riley moved to LA, got into the adult entertainment industry, made fast money, found cocaine & alcohol, and ran that combination through her entire 20s. In 2023 she got pregnant but couldn't stop using. She missed 2 Christmases that she blamed on her daughter being sick when it was Riley being hungover. Riley's breaking point was being in closet at 4am doing coke, convinced there were people in her house that weren't there, called 911, the operator told her to get some sleep and hung up, and she grabbed her daughter and drove 80 miles an hour to her ex's parents' house to try and convince them they needed safety.


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If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.

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00:00 Intro
01:40 Riley Jensen
06:40 The family disease
08:32 Doing P*** at 18yo
14:14 First attempt at sobriety
16:23 Pregnant and couldn't stop
18:28 Post partum addiction
20:06 Going Into Psychosis
22:33 Walking into AA, 3 times a day, the first 60 days
31:55 First sober airplane and vacation
35:51 80-year-old sponsor
39:43 Dad chaired her first meeting
43:18 Breaking the cycle
56:24 "This is me. This is the real Erica."

Nate Block is a professional crisis de-escalation instructor with Jumpstart Mastery, traveling the country to train correctional departments and agencies on how to work with people in crisis. Nate dropped out of high school and spent the years that followed bouncing between apartments, bar shows, and eventually a college town he moved to chasing a girl, working odd jobs and drinking past the point where it felt like a choice, past the point where it was the only thing that made him feel like he was worth being alive. At 19 he made his first suicide attempt, and he'd make 3 more over the years that followed. Today Nate is 13 years sober and he's 60 days into "The Weight We Carry," a rucking challenge he built from scratch where he adds 1lb into a pack and runs a mile until he can't anymore; for 1 goal: to force men to talk about suicide.

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If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.

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0:00:00 Intro
0:05:26 Oklahoma City bombing
0:08:48 "Childhood ends the moment you realize your own mortality"
0:14:16 Finding out he was adopted at 12
0:17:44 First drink at 13: punk rock and playing bars at 15
0:25:57 A friend is killed, dropout at 15
0:32:10 Drinking was the only thing that made me feel worthy
0:33:03 4 close call suicide attempts
0:36:29 "There is a big difference between reactive and premeditated"
0:38:05 "I heard a voice that wasn't mine"
0:46:09 1lb a day for men's suicide prevention
0:51:00 Men's suicide and the cost of being told to toughen up
0:53:50 Reasons to Stay: writing letters to people who are reaching out
0:54:13 You have no idea how good it can get
0:57:08 Firefighting
0:58:33 2 kids from his safety class didn't make it out
1:13:36 What he does now: crisis de-escalation, men's coaching
1:21:43 "Don't doubt the addicts"
1:23:04 Mama Bird pushes the babies out of the nest

Shannon Hatfield grew up in section 8, her dad in federal prison, and her mom spent 2 decades working through OxyContin, black market heroin, and finally fentanyl. She's now a chiropractor running Evolve Sport and Spine working with professional athletes and anyone needing help. Shannon talks about what growing up inside that house actually looked like: finding her mom nodding out with cigarettes on her chest, being brought to the ER as the "normal daughter" so her mom could look functional enough to get Dilaudid, building boundaries as she got older, and being told "you think you're better than us" every time she took a step towards furthering her education. Her brother was also deep in meth and heroin while she was in college. Shannon gets into the medical philosophy that came out of all of it: the system was made so that over-prescription is the rule not the exception, the insurance model is broken by design, and her job is to sit with people long enough to actually figure out what's wrong.

My Parents' Addictions Led Me To Become A Doctor w/ Shannon Hatfield | The Hopeaholics Podcast #356

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Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.

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0:00 - Cold open: "people just want to be heard"
2:51 - "Both my parents were addicts"
3:26 - Her mom's path: Vicodin to OxyContin to heroin to fentanyl
4:14 - The call from the OC sheriff: her mom was gone
4:33 - Nine months later: dad on life support
6:34 - First NFL client after graduating
6:51 - Flying to Texas to take boards one month after her dad died
7:32 - Why she practices the way she does: root cause, not symptom
15:21 - Growing up in section 8
16:45 - Finding her mom nodding out
17:40 - Being used as a prop at the hospital
18:03 - Building walls, getting called "you think you're better than us"
19:25 - Her brother in the thick of meth psychosis
23:46 - How she turned trauma into fuel instead of an excuse
28:41 - Her parents once sent her to AA
38:19 - Evolve Sport and Spine: what she does differently
46:52 - "At any given moment we have the choice to change direction"

Noel Arevalo returns to the show to talk about three things she's been sitting with: how your breakthrough gives the people closest to you permission to do the same, how deep alcohol gets woven into your identity without you ever noticing, and how the people, places, and patterns that were dragging you down start to fall away naturally once you surrender the thing that was holding it all together. For 15 years Noel Arevalo cycled through bender weekends while running a fitness coaching business and telling herself she had it under control. Two and a half years ago she finally let it go. Since then, her brother and older sister have both gotten sober. She talks about what she does today to stay grounded without a 12-step program, and what it actually feels like to say "I am so proud of myself" and have it mean something for the first time, and what do you do when someone you love looks too far gone to everyone around them?

Breaking A Generational Addiction Curse w/ Noel Arevalo | The Hopeaholics Podcast #355

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Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics

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#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie

Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:04:19 - The 3 things she came here to share
0:05:59 - The bender cycle that started at 13
0:07:01 - Addiction on both sides of her family
0:11:57 - People, places, and patterns that sabotage you start to fall away
0:13:52 - Chad: meth was his drug of choice; the one promise of NA is freedom
0:20:39 - The person who went sober with her for 10 months — and what happened after
0:23:38 - What she does today: cold plunge, church, gym — no 12 steps
0:37:09 - There's someone very close to her currently struggling
0:38:31 - "Nobody is too far gone"
0:44:51 - Chad's his mom was scared to come to his house — she thought they'd find him dead
0:51:19 - "I'm in this chair because people have prayed for me my entire life"
0:57:27 - What we tell ourselves we'd never say out loud to another person
1:04:42 - "Your mind quits before your body does"
1:06:01 - Closing

(TW ED) My ED Caused Heart Failure & Almost Killed Me w/ Kate Avnaim | The Hopeaholics Podcast #354

Kate Avnaim's father was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was just 6 months old. When Kate was 13 they found it had spread through his whole brain. He chose quality time over more rounds of chemo. She was furious at him but she just didn't understand yet. He passed away and her mom was laid off right after, leaving Kate stuck in a permanent feeling that there was nothing in her life she could control. But she found 1 thing she could control and her eating disorder started shortly after.

When her mom took her to the doctor, Kate hid it, wore a weighted vest under her clothes to fake the scale. They still knew something was wrong. They couldn't draw blood from her arm. She was diagnosed with bradycardia, a dangerously low heart rate, with fallouts happening in her sleep. Doctors told her mom on the spot: she needs to go to the hospital right now. No going home first. No packing a bag. The average hospital stay for what she had is one to two weeks. Kate was there for 35 days, on complete bed rest. After that, an online recovery program at home for 8 hours a day for about a month.

Kate has since picked up training and has fallen in love with helping others see the potential within themselves and to hopefully be symbol of hope for others who are battling the same things she did growing up.

National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline — 1-866-662-1235

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Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com

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#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie


06:48 — Dad diagnosed with brain cancer
07:53 — Remove the tumor and lose everything, or 7 more years
10:43 — The beginning of losing control.
11:11 — Mom laid off right after his death
15:36 — No prior body image issues
17:22 — The eating disorder started
17:51 — Wore a weighted vest to fake the scale at the doctor's office
18:34 — No blood could be drawn from her arm
19:29 — Bradycardia: dangerously low heart rate
21:24 — Hating the mirror, isolating from everyone
21:44 — 35 days in the hospital
22:48 — Online recovery program at home
23:13 — Feeling proud of her body for the first time
27:05 — ED are addiction. Once you start, you cannot stop
29:50 — Screaming at anyone who tried to help.
38:07 — Relationship with God
39:52 — Got mad at God after dad died
50:07 — Eight months recovered
52:09 — What would my dad be thinking watching me in the hospital?
54:29 — God gave you this body to use
56:03 — Exercise as a blessing instead of a punishment
1:00:22 — What would you tell someone silently struggling right now?

We Fell In Love Thanks To Sobriety w/ Nic And Ant (@nic_n_ant) | The Hopeaholics Podcast #353

Nicole and Anthony one of the most recognized and popular sober/recovery couples in social media. They met in a recovery meeting in 2018. She had six years and he was 60 days out of detox. His first year clean was a mess. Lies, cheating, not working a program. Both going through divorces simultaneously, his kids hating Nicole, his ex-wife's family leaving homewrecker comments in the comment section for years. They broke up and kept finding their way back.

Nicole got clean at 21. Before that: 92 pounds, homeless, sheets over every mirror because she couldn't look at herself, months in the same blue dress without showering. Five arrests starting at 19 — selling drugs on felony probation, assault with a deadly weapon, possession. Stealing painkillers off a dying aunt on hospice and still not stopping. Anthony's path started with a work injury and a prescription. Heroin, then speed, then the needle. He took his son to baseball practice, dropped him off, and sat in the car getting high. He left his family mid-vacation in Montauk, drove four hours home to pawn the Rolex his wife had saved up to buy him, and went on a two-day run. When he came back, she told him: get help or you'll never see these kids again.

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Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics

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#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie


00:00 — Cold open
01:38 — Introducing Nick and Ant
06:15 — How they met
12:47 — 11/11/22: the wedding date and the angel number
14:25 — Co-parenting: from hatred to "we love each other today"
15:57 — His kids found out through TikTok before he told anyone
17:53 — Nicole steals Donna's number and reaches out three times
25:26 — Meetings versus actually working the steps
33:01 — Nicole's story: approaching 14 years, 22nd birthday in rehab
37:48 — From the cheerleading squad to selling drugs in the projects at 3am
41:47 — How she met her ex-husband: both smoking crack
44:24 — Got everything she thought she wanted. Was miserable.
50:08 — Anthony's story: 43rd birthday in rehab, now 52
54:37 — Work injury to first prescription addiction
57:44 — The slide to heroin
58:59 — Going to work to steal
59:46 — Dropping his son at baseball practice and getting high in the car
1:00:25 — Left his family in Montauk, drove four hours home to pawn the Rolex
1:02:19 — In detox, calling his wife: "I just want to get high one more time"
1:04:43 — Wife hands him the phone. Bed opens Monday. His eyes lit up.
1:06:11 — The day the obsession lifted
1:20:11 — Why they went public about their recovery
1:30:43 — The anonymity question
1:35:15 — Recovery coaches bashing 12-step and charging money
1:39:59 — What would you tell your past self?
1:42:18 — Work a program or we're not getting married

Jess Seiwert grew up in Kansas. He was abused at home from age 5 to 12. After 9/11 he joined the Army at 18, made sergeant, survived an IED blast, and came home with a Purple Heart and an Oxycontin addiction. One day he woke up in county jail charged with first-degree attempted murder and kidnapping after his best friend slept with his wife while he was passed out. He walked out with 14 felony convictions, seven rehab attempts, and 3.5 years in county jail across eight Kansas counties during Covid. He now has 1,000 days sober next month.

This episode covers his entire journey. The IED that started the pill spiral. The gang he joined within three months in prison. Coming home to Kansas and going straight into meth distribution. Gambling away his drug money at the casino, three Christmases in a row while his family was at home. Using his Purple Heart military ID to run $200,000 in forgery across three states. One childhood mentor named Bob Timmons who bailed him out, got robbed by Jess, and kept coming back anyway. Getting high ten days into court-ordered treatment. And the moment he finally threw up his hands and let God in

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Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics

Our Merch:
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#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie

0:21 Intro
2:14 Gambling: the addiction that swallowed everything at the end
4:07 Father arrested for child rape
6:45 Growing up angry
7:05 9/11 happens right after graduation. Joins the Army
8:43 First drink: the first time he ever felt normal
10:29 IED hits him + Purple Heart
11:04 Comes home on Oxycontin
13:26 Second marriage. Gets her hooked on pills.
15:00 Wakes up with 1st degree attempted murder, kidnapping
20:29 Crowley Correctional: in a gang within three months
21:47 High on meth, headbutts his parole officer. Back to prison.
25:38 Charlie Kirk assassination
38:49 Forgery across three states: $200,000
40:18 3 1/2 years in 8 county jails during Covid
41:37 Using his Purple Heart military ID to forge checks
43:11 Meets his 3rd wife in county jail
44:11 Gets out. Uses within 24 hours. She gets pregnant that night.
48:47 120 meetings in 90 days. Fires his sponsor at 3 months clean
50:04 Peer mentor in Kansas City / Social work.
50:22 Almost 1,000 days sober. 43 years old
51:19 Son with autism doing great. Rebuilding with his oldest two kids.
1:01:03 Why recovery has to be the foundation on the hardest days
1:10:34 Veterans and the VA
1:12:21 Veteran mental health access
1:17:36 "25 years of alcoholism. 15 years of addiction. Why would I give up on anybody?"