In this episode, I’m joined by Toni Will.

Toni is the General Manager of a men’s professional hockey team in Michigan. She is one of the few women in the world in that role. She is five and a half years sober, runs a coaching business helping high functioning professionals reduce or remove substances from their lives, hosts a podcast, and has a book coming out this year.

We sit inside pressure, identity, and relief.

Not as ideas.
As lived experience.

We talk about high performance environments. What happens when success breeds more pressure. What it means to be at the top of your field and still be human.

We move into sobriety. Not as a badge. Not as a moral high ground. But as something that can start as armor.

Toni speaks openly about using sobriety as protection at first. Living it out loud. Hiding inside the identity so she would not slip back into who she used to be.

We sit with the tension between pride and self righteousness. Between healing and ego. Between growth and performance.

Then we land on something deeper.

Relief.

Not just addiction to substances. Addiction to relief. The search for dopamine. The escape through food, shopping, achievement, busyness, validation.

We ask the harder question.

What are you actually trying to escape?

This is not a conversation about fixing addiction.
It is about noticing where relief has quietly replaced presence.

We do not resolve it.
We leave it where it lives.

The question Toni leaves for the next guest is this.

What have you changed your mind about lately?

It’s You, Oh Fuck, It’s ME In Session with a Psychotherapist
is a podcast about relationships, self avoidance, and the shit we pretend is not us.

Hosted by Chad Taylor, psychotherapist and author of
It’s You, Oh Fuck, It’s ME.

No tips.
No fixing.
Just honest conversations.

Toni is a Coach and Author and can be found at:

Website: toniwill.com (empowHER 2026 - conference, Rebellious Success - book)
Insta - imtoniwill
LinkedIn - Toni Lentini Will

You can find my book here- https://chadtaylorpsychotherapy.com.au/book-sales

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/chadtaylor.itsyou/?hl=en

Email- chadtaylorpsychotherapy@gmail.com