I Survived Iraq…Then Crystal Meth Nearly Destroyed My Life | 5 Felonies, Combat Trauma & Finding Sobriety

He Overdosed, Died 3 Times & Woke Up an Amputee | Now He Has 14 Years Sober

Kevin Parker had everything stripped from him — his health, his freedom, his leg, and nearly his life. After a night that started with a family intervention and ended with him face-down in his own vomit, Kevin flatlined three times, spent three weeks in a coma, developed sepsis, gangrene in all four limbs, multi-organ failure, and woke up an amputee. The doctors said he'd be brain dead. They said he'd never walk. They said he'd never use his hand again. He proved every single one of them wrong. In this raw and powerful episode of Rise Above, Kevin shares: * The morning of his overdose and what led up to it * Waking from a coma to find out he'd lost his left leg * How he went from atheist to finding God in that hospital bed * Learning to walk again in 2 months (doctors said 2 years) * How he regained nerve-damaged hand function through sheer will * His journey from concrete laborer and drug dealer to certified recovery coach and motivational speaker * Why he believes addiction is a spiritual search — not a moral failure If you're in your first 90 days, deep in it, or loving someone who is — this episode is for you. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 📲 Follow Kevin Parker: @thekevinjparker (Instagram) | Recovery Warrior 33 (TikTok) 📩 Email: truewarriorssuccess@gmail.com [truewarriorssuccess@gmail.com] If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may [https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may] #RiseAbove #AddictionRecovery #SoberLife #RecoveryCoach #OverdoseSurvivor #14YearsSober #Amputee#SecondChance #SobrietyStory #HeroinRecovery #OpioidCrisis #TrueWarrior #RecoveryIsPossible#MentalHealth #SpiritualAwakening #PodcastInterview #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #KevinParker#OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

From Eating Disorder to 30 Years in Recovery: Trauma, EMDR & Healing

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Rachel Pappert Docekal, a recovery advocate and executive at the Hanley Center in West Palm Beach. Rachel opens up about her own 30-year recovery journey — starting with an eating disorder in college, the friends who loved her enough to intervene, and the layers of childhood trauma she's worked through over decades of therapy, including EMDR. We also get into: * Why addiction is a brain disease — and why removing the substance alone isn't enough * How process addictions (gambling, food, phones) hijack the same dopamine system as drugs * The danger of high-THC cannabis and marijuana-induced psychosis * Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) — what it is, when it helps, and how to think about it * Hanley's groundbreaking 5-day family program and why family support is the #1 relapse prevention tool * Kratom, 7-OH, and the next addiction crisis coming for our kids * What life in long-term recovery actually looks like Whether you're in recovery, supporting a loved one, or just curious — this one is not to be missed. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may [https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may] #RecoveryPodcast #AddictionRecovery #RiseAbove #EatingDisorderRecovery #TraumaHealing #EMDR#HanleyCenter #MentalHealth #SubstanceUseDisorder #SoberLife #SoberCurious #FamilyRecovery#MATtreatment #AddictionAwareness #RecoveryIsPossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

She Married a Drug Dealer in Vegas While Running From Cops | Cocaine Addiction, a Federal Raid & Getting Sober

Courtney Janssen grew up in a farm town outside Chicago watching domestic abuse and drinking become "normal." By 12 she had her first drink. By her twenties she was doing cocaine daily to survive double shifts bartending in Nashville. Then she impulsively married a man she barely knew — in Vegas, hours after he fled an undercover detective — and woke up pregnant, broke, and trapped in a verbally abusive marriage while feds surveilled her house. The morning federal agents kicked in her door with guns drawn, her daughter was two months old and she was still breastfeeding. This is the story of how she climbed out of it all — postpartum psychosis, divorce lawyers weaponizing her past, years of sobriety — and is now building a sober nightlife concept in South Florida. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may [https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may] #sobriety #recoveryispossible #addiction #soberlife #cocainerecovery #postpartumdepression#domesticabuse #survivorstory #mentalhealthmatters #sobercommunity #addictionrecovery #traumarecovery#truecrime #podcast #womeninsober Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Throwing Up Blood & Still Drinking | Stage 4 Cirrhosis, Liver Transplant & 19 Months Sober

Chelsea Garber was diagnosed with Stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver — and kept drinking for nine more months. After losing her son, battling drug addiction, surviving 50+ hospital admissions, and being given just three months to live, Chelsea made the hardest decision of her life: she poured out her last drink on September 29th, 2024. Just 80 days after a life-saving liver transplant, she sat down with Kevin Lanning to share the full story — the suicide note she wrote to her daughter, the moment everything changed, and what keeps her fighting every single day with 19 months sober. This is one of the most powerful episodes we've ever done on Rise Above. ⸻ 📲 Follow Chelsea: TikTok: @chelseablake1125 If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may [https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may] #addiction #recovery #sobriety #livercirrhosis #livertransplant #alcoholism #soberstories #riseabove #mentalhealth #soberlife #alcoholrecovery #cirrhosis #liverDisease #sober #drugsrecovery #recoveryispossible #addictionrecovery #sobertok #kevinlanning #podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

I Survived Iraq…Then Crystal Meth Nearly Destroyed My Life | 5 Felonies, Combat Trauma & Finding Sobriety

Marine Corps veteran Spencer Jones opens up about surviving combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, battling trauma after leaving the military, and falling into a devastating crystal meth addiction that led to five felonies and complete chaos. After serving over 20 years in the Marines, Spencer struggled with the loss of structure, identity, and purpose once civilian life began. What started as partying quickly spiraled into addiction, arrests, and rock bottom. Today, Spencer is over 3 years sober and now helps others in recovery through his work at Compassion Behavioral Health. In this episode, Spencer shares: * Combat trauma and surviving IED attacks in Iraq * The mental health struggles veterans face after service * How crystal meth addiction took over his life * Getting arrested and facing 5 felonies * Veterans Court and rebuilding his life * Finding purpose through sobriety and helping others recover Spencer now works at Compassion Behavioral Health, the sponsor of Rise Above, where he helps veterans and others struggling with addiction and mental health challenges find recovery and purpose again. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may [https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may] #AddictionRecovery #MarineVeteran #Sobriety #CrystalMeth #MentalHealth #RecoveryJourney #PTSD #Veterans #RiseAbovePodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]