The Bubble Hour

Getting sober when you are young is amazing in many ways - you get to be present for most of the major milestones in your life.  It also presents it's own challenges, with the pervasiveness of drugs and alcohol abuse in today's culture. We are thrilled to Welcome Devin Fox as a featured guest on our show, along with several other inspiring young people who will share their experience, strength and hope about what it's like to be young and sober. Devin is Executive Director of Young People in Recovery, which is a movement that is united at all levels to empower young people to find and sustain recovery. They use our voices and lived experience to advocate, educate, and collaborate. Young People In Recovery envisions a world where all young people in or seeking recovery have the opportunity to reach their maximum potential. Please join us for this important show!  9pm EST, 8pm Central, 7pm Mountain and 6pm Pacific.  

There’s an old saying that you’re only as old as you feel. But that’s just telling half of the story. When it comes to those of us of a “certain age,” whatever that age may be, who have been comfortably ensconced in our particular drug of choice for many a year, it may often mean that we believe we are too old to get sober. Research studies, however, show the negative assessment to be largely a result of conditioning. In other words, if we think something bad about our prospects, especially about our ability to get clean and sober and stay that way, and we’re older adults, guess what? Our belief tends to become reality. On the other hand, as psychologists and behavioral health professionals readily agree, if we adopt more positive attitudes toward ourselves and our capabilities, it doesn’t matter how old we are. We can still find peace and happiness in a life of sobriety, and we won’t cut ourselves off from the chance to realize this new lifestyle. On this show we will talk to women who got sober "after a certain age" and how they faced their own doubts, the stigma and how they stay sober now.   

In this episode, we will have women on the show talking about how the stigma of alcoholism impacted their ability to reach out for help and get sober. We all know what the stigma is: the homeless man in a door stoop with a bottle in a paper bag, or the woman who can't hold down a job or take care of her children are just a few examples of what we picture in our head when we hear the word "alcoholic". The reality is that the stigma is one of the biggest roadblocks to getting sober (denial being the other one) and it isn't true 99% of the time. One in ten people in the USA suffer from this disease, and many (if not most) are high functioning: holding down jobs, raising children, being productive members of society.

Many people in recovery struggle with both alcohol AND food disorders. This issue is so common you often hear food addiction referred to as a "sister" addiction to alcoholism. We have had many requests for a show that addresses the particular challenges for people in recovery who struggle with both, so we are thrilled to welcome Alison Ross, LMFT to our show! Alison is a licensed psychotherapist and the Founder of Center for Eating Recovery where she helps women and men of all ages heal their relationship with food and become body-confident. In addition to her work at the Center, she is a consultant for Harmony Place a drug and alcohol treatment center, and formerly Beit T’Shuvah, where she helps to create an environment in which women can heal their relationship with food and body while adjusting to sobriety. On the show, Alison and Carissa, a Mentor at the Center, will discuss three cultural narratives that keep us stuck in food addiction and body image distress and how to break free and get healthy from the inside-out. Please come listen to this important show!

You may think withdrawal from substance abuse only refers to the immediate physical symptoms experienced when your body is trying to adjust to NOT having drugs and/or alcohol in its system. We are all mostly aware of some of the more obvious signs of withdrawal: shaking, sweating, racing heartbeat, muscle twitches, insomnia and acute anxiety.  But did you know PAWS symptoms can occur 7-14 days after your last drink, even after the acute withdrawal symptoms recede?  Did you know recovery from nervous system damage requires 6-24 months in a healthy program of recovery?

Many people who try to quit drinking alcohol have at least one relapse before achieving long-term sobriety. For many, a relapse is part of the recovery process. If you had a relapse, all is not lost. It is time to face the facts, pick yourself up, and start back on the road to recovery. A relapse can be a valuable lesson that helps to strengthen resolve and continue to live an even more authentic and fulfilling sober life. Relapsing is not an indictment, it is simply a reality. The problem is that once it has happened to you, it can be overwhelming to face what has happened. There is a tendency to heap blame on yourself, to feel that you are a failure. That is counter-productive. This week on the show, we will be looking at constructive ways to face yourself and move forward after relapse.Join us as we hear stories from guests who have relapsed. We will take an honest look at relapse as it relates to recovery.

Quick - what does the word 'vulnerability' mean to you? Does it have positive or negative connotations for you?  Or both? The dictionary defines vulnerabitly as this:  "the inability to withstand the effects of a hostile environment".  Other definitions include: "reduced defensive measures" or "susceptible to physical or emontional attack". Doesn't sound so good, right? So why is vulnerability such a cornerstone to recovery? How do we navigate its potentially treacherous waters?  Why is it so pivotal?

Healthy boundaries create healthy relationships.  Unhealthy boundaries create dysfunctional ones.  By establishing clear boundaries, we define ourselves in relation to others.  To do this, however, we must be able to identify and respect our needs, feeings, opinions, and rights.  Otherwise our efforts would be like putting a fence around a yard without knowing the property lines. On this show, we will discuss boundaries - how we establish them, how we know when they are (or aren't) healthy, and why boundaries are important to sobriety. Please join us for this important conversation! Show airs at 9pm EST, 8pm Central, 7pm Mountain, 6pm Pacific.  

For the summer months, we will be broadcasting live shows every other week, instead of every week.  During the "off" weeks, we will re-broadcast popular or topically relevant shows - for example, this Sunday we will be airing "Creating Your Holiday Bubble" as we head into the July 4th holiday. July 4th is one of the drinkiest (yes, we just created that word) holidays, and for people who are newly sober it can be a particularly challenging time.  Now is a good time to start preparing, so you can enjoy the holiday weekend SOBER.  The show will air on Sunday, June 30th, at 9pm EST, 8pm Central, 7pm Mountain and 6pm Pacific.

We all strive for balance in life - a manageable blend of things we have to do and things we want to do is the ideal.  We also all know what it feels like when things get out of whack - too much work, not enough play or relaxation, not enough of the important things we do for ourselves to stay happy, healthy and sane.    We decided to do this show on balance because all three of us are struggling with it at the moment - year-end school activities, big work projects -- everything is busy. We only announced the show today because we've been so busy we didn't have time to plan a topic.  We figured this was a clear sign from the universe that we needed to do a show on balance   Come listen to the three co-hosts - Lisa Amanda and Ellie - talk about why balance is important in recovery, how we know when our balance is off, and ways we try to reprioritize things like self-care which are so important in sobriety.. Show airs at 9pm EST, 8pm Central, 7pm Mountain and 6pm Pacific.

Dawn has been in recovery from addiction to drugs and alcohol since 1989 and is well-qualified to work with women who want to recover their lives and pursue their passions. What started out as a daily meditation practice using social media coupled with a heartfelt belief in her own life's purpose has since turned into a business called She Recovers that, at the present time, offers yoga retreats and workshops for women in recovery. We are so excited to have Dawn as a guest on our show, where we'll talk all things recovery - including different pathways to recovery, recovering online and off, and share Dawn's inspiring story! This will be a call-in show - so please see the phone number on this page to call in with questions or comments! 

One of the most important things we do to get sober is to ask for help.  We've probably tried everything we can to stop drinking on our own, but when we finally realize we need help - how do we ask? Who do we ask? What works and what doesn't?  Who is safe to turn to? On this show we will explore how we asked for help - when we finally surrendered, what we did, how it went, what happened. We will also talk about asking for help to STAY sober - otherwise known as accountability.  How do we keep accountable? What does that mean to us? Who is in our support network?  What happens when we do (and don't) stay accountable? Please join us for this important conversation on what is perhaps the most important part of getting and staying sober. Show airs on June 9th at 9pm EST, 8pm Central, 7pm Mountain and 6pm Pacific.

Sarah Allen Benton is author of the book, 'Understanding the High Functioning Alcoholic' , and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) and therapist at McLean Hospital in MA. In this episode Sarah tells a bit of her own story of alcoholism and recovery, and answers questions about High Functioning Alcoholism, including how to define it, what common personality traits and drinking patterns of high functioning alcoholics, and ways to get help.  

On this show we will talk about parenting, alcoholism and recovery from several perspectives: what's it like to grow up with alcoholic parent(s), what it's like to be a parent struggling with drinking and what it's like to be a sober parent.   We will also discuss when/how to talk to your children about alcoholism and recovery.   Whether you're the child of an alcoholic, a parent struggling with drinking, or a parent in recovery, the cycle of addiction and recovery has a HUGE impact on family life.  Please come listen to this honest and open conversation where we share our own experience, strength and hope with this important topic. 

Denial is a defense mechanism that allows a person – despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary – to deny that something is true, when in fact, it is true.  It is one of the most powerful and difficult problems that Alcoholics and Drug Addicts face before, during, AND after treatment, because it is always the thinking that precedes the act of picking up a drink or a drug. If you have a drinking problem, you may deny it by: Drastically underestimating how much you drink Downplaying the negative consequences of your drinking Complaining that family and friends are exaggerating the problem Blaming your drinking or drinking-related problems on othersIf any of these symptoms sound familiar to you, or someone you love, or if you're struggling with drinking, please listen to this informative and important show.