Voices In Recovery Podcast

This week a wonderful friend of mine, Val, drops by and shares her incredible journey of recovery. Far from perfect, she strives to continuously grow, love and recover. She has and continues to work on herself and regularly with others. Her desire and effort for authenticity makes her a beautiful example for those around her and anyone lucky enough to spend time with her. Thank you my friend, for all you do and all you are.

Joining us today is one of the strongest people I have met, Karen. Her story takes us through a 30 year opiate addiction due to the overwhelming amount of surgeries she has had and continues to need. She finds a way to live life sober with new surgeries and incredible chronic pain. She is an amazing human and I am grateful to know her and call her a friend.

This week, my mom visits with us and shares her journey. She talks about life on a Saskatchewan farm with her family and how a smooth talking, young preacher came to town and changed her life unexpectedly. It is an honor for me to present my mom's story to everyone. She talked about things I had no idea about and I am grateful for every opportunity to listen to either of my folks share their life. Their mission to help others has never wavered even through their individual struggles. They are a benchmark of humanness to me, as their starting point is love. Thank you for everything you do mom. I love you.

This week's special episode is Kyla and Meagan's incredible music and soul. They share songs and we chat about holding on to love, as the world continues plummeting deeper into fear. We talk about music keeping us sane, opening emotions, and allowing us to express our fear and pain. This was a special evening for all of us. Thank you Meagan and Kyla!

Gord joins us, sharing his journey from addiction into recovery, highlighting the importance of doing the work to help our evolution as humans. Gord talks about what helps him in recovery, what his life is like now, and how he will forever be on a journey of self discovery and improvement.

We are so lucky! We were given time at Pawsitive Match Rescue Foundation to explore their programs and organization. We had a great conversation about the charity; how they help the animals, volunteering, as well as the important role that animals play in our lives. We also talk about the impact the animals have for people in recovery. These folks know their business and if you are curious about adopting, fostering, volunteering, or any of the ways to help...they can guide you towards the best possible way of doing that!To contact Pawsitive Match to adopt an animal, foster an animal, volunteer, or donate to them head to their website www.pawsitivematch.org

We are honoured to have Don join us this week. Don is a Veteran of the Canadian Military, after leaving the military he decided to head back to school and get some education to help him do what he wanted, which was to help other veterans.  Don now works for Homes for Hero's whose mission is to provide a caring, innovative and comprehensive solution to homelessness among our veterans. Not only do we have a great conversation about the important work that Homes for Hero's is doing and what they have planned for the future. He opens up about deployment overseas and some of the incredible difficulties faced by our Canadian men and women when they serve in other countries. Thank you Don for your service and for sitting down to share it with us.

Martina's story begins in an orphanage in Egypt, which turned into a strange journey to Canada. She found the world of substance abuse at a young age, which showed her a life in and out of jail where she eventually began her recovery journey. Through the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy she has maintained her recovery and is now trying to focus on her own healing and understanding life without the fog of substances.

After a loss in her family, Jessica set out to start an organization called Change the Face of Addiction. Jessica talks about her own learning and working towards a better understanding of addiction, harm reduction, the politics of non profit funding, and the best way in which to help. To Find out more about her organization click HERE

We are so happy to have Bronwyn join us to talk about how she started down the path of substance use. With an early intervention from a friend and family, as well as her realizations about who she wanted to be. She was able to begin her life of recovery and loving life. Today Bronwyn is a life coach, helping others come through their darkness, whatever that may look like. She enjoys her life today, spending more time on the things she loves. Thank you Bronwyn!