In this episode of The Hopeaholics Podcast, Blake Mathews shares his story of addiction, adoption, and finding faith through music. Adopted at birth and raised in a Jewish household in Phoenix, Blake started DJing weddings and bar mitzvahs at 13 and built a career in music and nightlife while quietly hiding a worsening addiction for over a decade. By the time he moved to Nashville in 2014 to chase a career in the arts, he was a high functioning alcoholic leaning on psychedelics, convinced they made him a better artist, while the people closest to him had no idea how bad it had gotten.

Blake opens up about hitting bottom in Nashville, calling his dad for help, and getting into treatment within 48 hours, only to relapse after walking away from music entirely and moving back to Phoenix. He found lasting sobriety on a sober hike up a mountain he stumbled onto by chance, and he's been sober since. Today, Blake is the founder of Sober House Records and co-founder of Formerly Intoxicated, a nonprofit bringing music and healing arts into treatment centers and prisons. He shares how a chance encounter with two strangers praying in a coffee shop changed everything, and how he turned his pain into a mission: redemption is real, prevention is possible, and recovery is for everyone. #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics

Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!

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https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics

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Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro

1:26 Meet Blake Matthews

2:27 Handing flip flops to a barefoot stranger in 100 degree heat

4:33 The fentanyl crisis hiding in plain sight

6:14 The DM Chad got this morning

7:13 Chad's stance on calling it fentanyl poisoning

9:43 Adopted at birth, and the search for belonging

12:12 Functioning addict, DJing weddings since age 13

13:50 Chasing music to Nashville, and hitting a wall

17:21 The night he called his dad

19:09 What his graduation photos actually showed

20:31 Moving home, and walking away from music

22:00 Relapse, one beer with an old friend

23:00 The mountain hike that changed everything

26:40 The recover out loud movement

29:08 Connection as the opposite of addiction

31:35 The lie that drugs make you more creative

33:51 Bringing music into treatment centers and prisons

35:15 The starving artist trap

47:01 First job in recovery, teaching kids life skills

49:20 Leaving it all to go full time into Sober House Records

51:22 Opening his first sober living home

53:39 Raised Jewish, and why Jesus was a bad word

56:19 Two strangers praying in a coffee shop

57:25 The 10pm Bible study that didn't end until 4am

58:21 The night he gave his life to Jesus

1:01:34 Inside his album, Unbury Your Burdens

1:03:11 Still wrestling with depression after finding faith

1:04:22 Stacking wins

1:05:43 The fastest way out of depression

1:09:08 How his family sees him now

1:13:11 What Formerly Intoxicated actually does

In this episode of The Hopeaholics Podcast, Ryan Foley shares his powerful story of alcoholism, mental health, surrender, fatherhood, and the unexpected life recovery gave him. Ryan grew up outside of Chicago, went on to attend Cornell University, built a successful career, and eventually worked at companies like Google and Groupon before addiction began taking over his life. For years, he was able to function on the outside while drinking every day, but behind the scenes his body was shutting down. He opens up about drinking a handle a day, waking up in withdrawal, shaking, sweating, and reaching the point where doctors told him that if he kept drinking, he could die.

Ryan also shares his experience being diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 20 years old, the shame he carried around mental health, and why getting sober was the only way he could truly begin treating what was underneath. Today, Ryan is nearly five years sober, a husband, father of two with a third baby on the way, a performance coach, and a world champion professional sailor. He shares how recovery brought him back to athletics, led him into a completely different career, and gave him a life he never thought was possible. From surrendering in treatment to launching "Big Tuesday," a movement encouraging men to lift heavy, stay disciplined, and take ownership of their health, Ryan's story is a reminder that recovery does not just save lives — it can completely transform them.
#thehopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of 'Off the Record', exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics

Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors.

Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!

Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics

Buy Merch:
https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com

Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com

The 10-Car Crash That Exposed Her Secret Addiction w/ Elisa Saunders | The Hopeaholics Podcast


In this episode of the Hopeaholics Podcast, Elisa Saunders shares an incredibly raw story of addiction, trauma, survival, and the long road to recovery after decades of chaos behind the scenes of both alcoholism and the treatment industry. Elisa spent nearly 30 years drinking while maintaining the image of a functioning professional, all while cycling through alcohol, Xanax, cocaine, and the kind of self-destruction that nearly killed her. She opens up about the pain of childhood abuse, the emotional wounds that followed her into adulthood, and how addiction became both an escape and a prison she couldn’t break free from. The conversation dives into her time working in the treatment world during some of its most corrupt years, where she witnessed body brokering, fraud, and the exploitation of vulnerable people seeking help. Elisa also shares the terrifying consequences of her own addiction, including a DUI, a devastating ten-car pileup, and the moment she realized she was either going to get sober or die. Even after getting clean, she reveals the brutal emotional reality of early recovery, including the shame, depression, and suicidal thoughts she had to fight through without numbing herself. Today, Elisa uses her story and experience to advocate for ethical treatment, real recovery, and better solutions for people trapped in addiction.


#thehopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie


Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics


Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!


Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics
https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics


Buy Merch:
https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com


Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction.


Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com


Timestamps:
00:05:09 - 30 Years of Drinking While Working as a Schoolteacher
00:05:32 - Booze, Xanax and Cocaine Becoming Her Routine
00:08:17 - Entering the Wild West of the Treatment Industry
00:08:54 - The Real Story Behind Body Brokering in Florida
00:10:29 - Watching Corrupt Treatment Operators Get Busted
00:11:09 - Seeing People Brokered Out of AA Meetings
00:12:30 - Testifying Against Her Half Brother After Childhood Abuse
00:16:58 - Realizing She Could Never Stay Stopped
00:18:50 - The DUI That Exposed How Out of Control Her Life Had Become
00:19:12 - Causing a Ten-Car Pileup and Hiding It as a Teacher
00:22:22 - Reaching the Point Where She Knew She Was Going to Die
00:22:47 - Going to Treatment Because Jail Was the Alternative
00:24:50 - Getting Sober and Still Wanting to Kill Herself
00:25:58 - “I Never Felt Good Enough” Without Alcohol
00:58:57 - The Recovery App She Believes Could Help Save Lives