Did you know that addiction has been recognized as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act for well over 20 years now? This means that people with addictions have substantial legal rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is such an important topic to talk and think about, as we learn how best to help everyone struggling with addiction as well as the pain and suffering that come along with addiction so we can help alleviate those.

In this episode, Duane speaks with Andrew Drazan and Dr. Edmond Hakimi to discuss the pressing topic of addiction and addiction research.

The journey from trauma to peace and acceptance involves an intermediate space of transition. During trauma, the body is in a hyper-vigilant state, leading to pain, hurt, and suffering. Moving away from trauma requires a shift towards something different - a space of healing and inner peace.

Trauma is something that no one would choose to go through, but it can also be an opportunity for personal growth and wisdom. We may all have different stories and personal circumstances, but often, the dynamics at play are very similar in terms of how we heal.

Movies, as much as they’re entertaining, can also play a major role in addiction recovery. Films and movies tell us a lot about our humanity, and stories in films always follow a very familiar pattern – they're all about transformation, a relatable theme for anyone in recovery.

As you're trying to find hope in the grit of addiction and trauma recovery, there's power in being part of a community that can move us from a place of struggle to freedom. On this episode, Duane speaks with Caroline Beidler about her new book, “Downstairs Church: Finding Hope in The Grit of Addiction and Trauma Recovery,” and how one can find hope in their own journey of addiction and trauma recovery by harnessing the power of sharing their story.

A lot of people who may be struggling with a family member that is in the throes of addiction think the person needs to go get help. But there's this whole system that probably has to be addressed.

Life is going to throw curveballs at you, and that’s a given. The question is, how willing are you to withstand those?

A lot of people go through an experience where they fall madly in love with someone, they crave them, and they want to be with them. There's this addictive nature of romantic love. And then for whatever reason, it doesn't work and you break up. Now, what? That being said, falling in love does not mean something’s wrong with you.

About four years ago, in the face of what little did she know was going to be an increasing horror show in terms of deaths due to opioid use, Debra Gonsher Vinik decided to do a documentary on the opioid crisis. She also wanted to put the spotlight on women because, as she says, women are almost absent in terms of the media coverage of what's going on. Since 1999, we have lost over 200,000 women to the opioid crisis.

If you're trying to move away from addiction and all the falsehoods, you have to start looking through that lens and replace them with axioms or self-evident truths. Once you’re in harmony with the world you live in, you get clarity on who you really are.

Have you ever heard of the phrase, “Boys make choices, men make decisions”? What’s the difference? On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Carlos Navarro, who has a 20-year entertainment career that spans from radio, television, and film, to commercials and video games. He has acted on shows and films as The Walking Dead, The Outsider, Unbreakable, and Marvel's Hawkeye. Carlos is also co-host of the number one rated Orlando, Florida talk show, Monsters in the Morning.

Anybody can be impacted by addiction, whether you’re a doctor or not. And for certain people in healthcare, anesthesiologists most especially, access to drugs like opioids is super easy.

As a parent, how do you deal with a child who’s struggling with addiction? How can you fully support your kid at this most trying time of their lives? Today, Duane speaks with Stephen D’Antonio about parenting a child with addiction. A father of five children, the youngest of whom had a near-lethal addiction to alcohol, Steve retired from a 30-year career on Wall Street to learn about addiction, to help his family, and to help others.

Using hypnosis on ourselves is more powerful than we think. But is it also effective in treating addiction? On today’s episode, Duane speaks with David Spiegel, Wilson Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Having been at Stanford for over 45 years, David runs the Center on Stress and Health at Stanford and the Center for Integrative Medicine. One of his interests is to find out how people can better control their minds and bodies using hypnosis.

Drinking when pregnant is a cultural norm. In fact, one in seven pregnant people reports consuming alcohol during pregnancy (which is pretty high). A significant number of pregnant women haven’t been told by their physicians that it’s not safe to drink while pregnant, and some even tell them it’s safe. But no amount or type of alcohol is safe to consume during pregnancy. Prevent fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD) along with so many of the lifelong effects including substance use, poor mental health outcomes, and incarceration can be associated with alcohol during pregnancy. On today's conversation, Duane and Jackie Franks talk about the importance of prevention and raising awareness about this issue. We have to create more awareness to help prevent a lot of future problems, conditions, and experiences with law enforcement or incarceration. And if we think upstream, the prevention of prenatal exposure to alcohol is the most important thing.

Recovery is a long and difficult process, but it can be done. And once you’re able to combine spiritual habits with behavior change, the results can be amazing! On today’s conversation, Duane speaks with Eric Zimmer, the host of The One You Feed Podcast and the genius behind the Spiritual Habits Program, where he takes spiritual wisdom and combines it with behavior change so people can make the changes they need and find joy and healing in their lives.

There is value in your struggles. But also part of working through your struggles is the ability to ask for help and find a community that has the capacity to support you. On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Dane Ensley, the founder of Reconstruction Unlimited, a mental health coaching agency that designs therapeutic ecosystems for clients. Dane has worked as a coach for the world's leading interventionists and has traveled the world working with a broad spectrum of clients. Dane's encouraging attitude, patience, and understanding allowed him to carve a very distinct path in the wellness industry. His core belief is that good things can be born from struggle. He also believes that everything good that has ever happened to him was a direct result of him helping someone else. Hear more of Dane's own recovery story and how we can turn our struggles into positive change.

It’s so easy to get lost in the mundanity of life that we lose sight of each present moment. But what if we just focused on today, and make each day our Day One? On today’s episode, Duane speaks with J.D. Frost, author of the book, Life Ledger: How to Build a System to Reach Your Goals, where he dives into the concept of Day One, the power of writing, and how keeping a daily ledger of your life helps you gain the clarity that you need to help you reach your goals.

If you found out earlier on in your youth that you actually have a genetic propensity toward addiction, would you have made decisions a lot differently? Addiction is a bio-psycho-social model, but we don't really look at the bio part of it. Sometimes, we have to look at the physiology of things to understand addiction better. And there has to be a paradigm shift in thinking about how we operate and exist in this world. On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Dr. Evelyn Higgins about genes and biomarkers, how they influence our behavior, how they play out in addiction, and why knowing about this part of ourselves is an important step in addiction treatment and recovery.

There are thousands of women who are drinking and suffering in silence. And when we're dealing with our internal struggles, we feel alone. There’s pain and misery attached to that. How are we then able to provide a safe space for women to follow down a path to recovery and give them the kind of support they need? On this episode, Duane speaks with Casey Davidson about the topic of gray area drinking, what that means, what that looks like, and the benefits of being sober, curious, and maybe just taking a longer break from alcohol to see if that betters your life. Casey also shares her own personal story of doing that, how she realized alcohol was not what she needed, and how she was able to stop just trying to moderate her drinking and remove alcohol from her life.

Addiction does not only impact the one addicted, it also affects their family and friends. It’s hard to see your loved one hurting and struggling. But you can’t help them heal with guilt and shame. There are tools and resources to help you help your loved one make a positive change. The goal is to help them feel safe, heard and seen, supported, and understood. On today’s episode, Duane talks with licensed clinical psychologist and research scientist Kenneth Carpenter, PhD. He is the co-author of The Beyond Addiction Workbook for Family and Friends: Evidence-Based Skills to Help a Loved One Make Positive Change. Ken is the Director of Training for the Center for Motivation and Change (CMC) and CMC: Foundation for Change. He has held academic and research science positions at New York-based universities and state agencies.

A lot of us resonate with movies because we get to learn about the world through them. Making movies is hard enough. Now, imagine a documentary of someone making a movie during their rehab journey. On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Jared Callahan about his new feature-length documentary. Clean Slate provides an immersive, veritate look into the world of recovery amid the biggest drug epidemic in American history. It follows two individuals Cassidy and Josh, as they attempt to make a short film during their recovery and rehab state. Jared is an award-winning director, producer, and founder of Emmy-nominated production company The People People Media Foundation. Based on a 95-acre farm in the San Francisco East Bay, they specialize in personal and unique stories that help give others a voice. In making this documentary, Jared had to spend 18 months at a recovery facility that he got completely enveloped in their world. He hopes the film would move people the way he has been deeply touched by it. Hopefully, it will change how people view and treat addiction – giving more grace and developing more empathy for people struggling with it, instead of condemning them and stereotyping their condition like it’s a crime or a disease.

America is in the midst of a new drug crisis. Earlier this year, the CDC reported a staggering 107,000 overdose deaths in 2021. That's one every five minutes. It's up almost 15% from 2020 and nearly 70% of those deaths involved fentanyl. On today's episode, Duane speaks with Sam Quinones who has been sounding the alarm for years. A journalist and storyteller, Sam is a former LA Times reporter and author of four acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction, including New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic. She’s also the author of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, which captures the devastation of this new epidemic of synthetic drugs, but at the same time, offers a lot of hope.