The One Day At A Time Recovery Podcast

Today my guest is Dr Laura Petracek, a clinical psychologist and author of “The DBT Workbook for Alcohol and Drug Addiction: Skills and Strategies for Emotional Regulation, Recovery and Relapse Prevention”. Can I just tell you… I LOVE A WORKBOOK! This one in particular is good for people like us because there are questions and writing prompts that support behavior change.   But before we jump in, it’s resource time! Today I just want to talk about one of the most misunderstood tools, meditation. Whenever I suggest meditation to clients or friends, I’m inevitably met with resistance. The two comments I hear the most are: either “I just can’t meditate”, or “Yeah I should probably do that”, but it never happens.    So let's clarify the biggest misconception: Meditation is not about not thinking. If you think you’re failing at meditation because you can’t keep thoughts out, that idea is a misunderstanding. In meditation, there is no goal per se other than to be fully pres...

Today my guest is Dr Luke Sniewski, author of Somawise: Get out of your head and into your body. I’m really grateful he reached out to share his story because if there is still a taboo subject in recovery, it’s porn addiction, and we need to talk about it.   You’re going to hear his story, the underlying trauma that is at the root of his addiction and the healing practices that helped him to transform his life. In fact he was so deeply transformed that he has dedicated his life to helping others. He shares a lot of wisdom along with a lot of practical advice that you can apply to your life right away.    And speaking of transformation, I wanted to let you know that we do have a women’s Big Book study on Saturday Mornings, 8am pacific, 11am eastern. This is the book that is mentioned as being the most helpful in early sobriety, more than any other book from the 257 guests I’ve spoken with. We’re at the very beginning of the book so it's a perfect time to join. If you w...

Today my guest is Ann Dowsette Johnson, Bestselling Author of “Drink” which was on the Top 10 Best Books by Washington Post. She is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author, turned psychotherapist. Her very popular TedTalk is listed among the top 7 talks about sobriety and addiction.   We spent a little time on her workshop “Writing Your Recovery” - a 8 week class which one of her students describes as and I quote: “hands-down a transformative life affirming experience”.   The next one is starting on April 12, so if you’re interested in joining, just visit her website at anndowsettejohnson.com to register.   Before we jump in, I just want to say, it’s time I listen to you for a change! I would like to invite you to reach out to me with suggestions on topics you’d like to hear about, specific guests or anything else that’s on your mind. You know I like to talk, but the truth is I’m a really good listener too. So you can message me on IG @arlinaallen or @oda...

Today my guest is Allen Berger, Licensed Clinical Therapist, and Podcast co-host of “Start Here: Conversations about what matters most”. He’s also published several books including:   “12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery: Avoiding Relapse through Self Awareness and Right Action” and “12 Essential Insights for emotional sobriety: Getting Your Recovery Unstuck”   Dr Berger was able to break down ideas around the paradox of accepting powerlessness in order to transcend it, overcoming resistance to doing recovery work and so much more.   There were so many lightbulb moments in this episode, I can’t wait for you to hear it!   Before we jump in, I wanted to share with you that there’s a free resource guide available at SoberLifeSchool.com It’s called “100 Resources for your first 100 Days”. It’s a list of the books that have completely expanded my mindset, healed deep emotional pain, and provided context and perspective that have brought me so much self awarene...

Today my guest is Author and Writing Teacher Maureen O’Brien. We’re talking about her recovery journey, the spiritual awakening in a Burger King parking lot, growing up in a dysfunctional home, but mostly her new book, “Gather the Fragments: My Year of Finding God’s Love”. Maureen is such a sweet and generous soul with a talent for helping people to write their own stories. In fact, she’s been a tremendous help to me personally, to rise out of the slog of my second book draft so I’m deeply grateful for her.   Before we jump in, just a reminder that if you are a woman in recovery with a desire to do the deep work of becoming free of long standing negative behavior patterns, I offer private coaching sessions. I use a unique combination of coaching strategies to help you identify and achieve goals, and hypnosis to release those stubborn self sabotaging blocks. If you are sick of the same old character defects and you are really ready for change, this is your sign to take action. Boo...

Today my guest is Amber Hollingsworth. She is the owner, founder, and counselor at Hope for Families. Amber grew up in a family plagued with addiction so she has first hand experience of what it’s like to live in a dysfunctional home. She is also a content creator and has a very educational youtube channel called Put the shovel down, so I highly recommend you check that out too. I learned so much from speaking with Amber and I hope you will too.    Before we jump in, I just want to thank you all for the amazing feedback on the last episode with Dr. David Spiegel. Lots of you have told me you’ve already downloaded the Reveri app and have started learning self-hypnosis! For those of you who would like me to support you with one on one, online support, I offer a series of hypnosis sessions to help resolve long standing behavior patterns.      procrastination, self-sabotage, low confidence and of course, cravings. I call it the Breakthrough process, and if ...

Today my guest is the esteemed Dr. David Spiegel. I’m going to read you his bio from the Standford University of Medicine website, but as a side note, this is NOT the David Spiegel from the Amber Heard trial.   Dr Spiegel is a Willson Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Center on Stress and Health, and Medical Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Spiegel has more than 40 years of clinical and research experience studying psycho-oncology, stress and health, pain control, psychoneuroendocrinology, sleep, hypnosis, and conducting randomized clinical trials involving psychotherapy for cancer patients. He has published thirteen books, 480 scientific journal articles, and 170 book chapters on hypnosis, psychosocial oncology, stress physiology, trauma, and psychotherapy. He was a member of the work groups on stressor and trauma-related disorders for the DSM-IV and DSM-5 editions of t...