Before Nick Santonastasso was born, doctors told his parents to institutionalize him or give him away. Thirty years later, he’s on stages around the world, helping people find transformation and breakthroughs of their own.

But Nick says the hardest part of growing up was never himself. “What was more difficult was other people.” His family refused to accept the limits others set for him, and that belief shaped everything that came next.

Nick also opens up about his brother, and how hard it was to love someone who couldn’t help himself. After losing him, Nick wrestled with a painful thought: he could help strangers, but “you couldn’t even help your brother.” Over time, he came to accept that he could only do what he could do, and that he did his best. His brother’s death became one of his biggest drivers, along with a reminder that struggle isn’t always visible.

He credits his brother with the fight in him, the don’t-quit mindset and the work ethic. Nick honors him everywhere he goes, sharing his story with millions.

With host Michael Herbert, Nick reflects on being underestimated from birth, carrying grief with purpose, and why every life, regardless of what it looks like, is valuable.

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This episode is sponsored by Guardian Recovery. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health challenges, Guardian can help. Visit https://www.guardianrecovery.com or call 888-721-3790 for confidential support and guidance.

Terry Shapiro has spent more than 35 years in addiction treatment, and he’ll tell you the extra effort was never about the money or looking like the good guy. “I had the opportunity to save somebody’s life and to help somebody get better.”

He started out as an alcohol and drug abuse counselor. From there, he counseled employees through Amtrak’s Employee Assistance Program, led the Council for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services in Tennessee and Hazelden’s Chicago location, and brought addiction prevention programs to schools in Bogotá, Colombia, counseling young people and their families along the way. Today, he’s Co-CEO and Partner at GIA Healthcare and Banyan Treatment Centers.

After all those years, Terry keeps it simple: set the labels aside, and addiction is “using something that’s filling a hole in the soul.” That leaves the question he keeps coming back to: what are we going to do about treating the inside? In his view, treatment just opens the door. Community, connection, family, and support are what build the house.

He’s candid about what leadership has taught him about his own recovery, too. You can’t run a company like it’s a 12-step meeting, he says, but the principles of recovery are folded in, and need to be. One of his favorite healthcare books reads to him like “Big Book stuff.” And with a whole team counting on things going well, it’s taught him a lot about taking care of himself. So when people complain that it sucks to get old, Terry pushes back.

With host Michael Herbert, Terry reflects on decades in the field and in his own recovery, and on why every year is worth celebrating.

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This episode is sponsored by Guardian Recovery. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health challenges, Guardian can help. Visit https://www.guardianrecovery.com or call 888-721-3790 for confidential support and guidance.

Nikki Soda was 22 when she realized her drinking and drug use had gotten out of hand. After spending an entire paycheck on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Key West with a friend, she called her mom for help, and her mom refused. So Nikki did something few people do on their own: she walked into her boss's office and admitted she thought she had a problem. He told her she was fine, since she drank and used "just like he did." That was the real red flag—a 22-year-old young woman keeping pace with a grown man wasn't a sign she was fine. It was a sign she needed help.

Since then, Nikki has spent more than a decade working on the other side of treatment. She earned a master's in addiction policy from Georgetown and most recently served as Director of Membership and State Advocacy for the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers, a role that took her to treatment centers across the country. Today, she runs her own consulting firm alongside her husband.

That inside view has given her strong opinions about what's working in treatment and what isn't. "Meet them where they're at" is a common approach that lets a person's own goals guide their care, but Nikki questions how far it should go in the early stages. Someone in active addiction is making decisions with an impaired brain, she explains, and if her care in detox had followed what she wanted at the time, she would have chosen to keep using.

She also wonders whether money is shaping too much of the industry, pointing to the people on the front lines, and she shares her concern about the shift back toward criminal penalties for substance use, including funding being pulled from treatment programs in jails.

It's a candid look at what people in treatment really need, and what's at stake when recovery becomes a business.

Follow Guardian: https://www.instagram.com/guardianrecovery/

This episode is sponsored by Guardian Recovery. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health challenges, Guardian can help. Visit https://www.guardianrecovery.com or call 888-721-3790 for confidential support and guidance.