Stories of Secular Recovery from Addiction through Narcotics Anonymous

EPISODE (10) 2025-09-24 PAULETTE

In this episode, we hear from Paulette. Paulette reflects on 29 years of secular recovery, describing how she found her higher power in the fellowship of NA itself, adapted the 12 Steps to her own values, and built a meaningful, authentic life — earning her bachelor's degree at 60 — without ever believing in a supernatural god. This share was recorded at the  September 2025 New Mexico NA Convention where PAULETTE presented on the topic “Our Need and Capacity for Spiritual Growth is Infinite.” Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2600390/fan_mail/new] For more information on recovery from addition through Narcotics Anonymous 12 step program from a secular, non-religious approach, please check out secularna.org [https://secularna.org] **  This podcast is not formally affiliated in any way with Narcotics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous World Services. **

EPISODE (09) 2025-02-12 GARY

Gary came into Narcotics Anonymous in 1987 after a therapist handed him a helpline number — not by choice, but by accident — and found himself at home almost immediately, despite rejecting the program's religious underpinnings. Over nearly four decades of uninterrupted recovery, he has built his clean life around sponsorship, service work, and a fierce commitment to keeping NA meetings safe for newcomers. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2600390/fan_mail/new] For more information on recovery from addition through Narcotics Anonymous 12 step program from a secular, non-religious approach, please check out secularna.org [https://secularna.org] **  This podcast is not formally affiliated in any way with Narcotics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous World Services. **

EPISODE (08) 2026-04-17 ANNE MARIE

Coming into NA at age 46 after a lifetime of addiction, violence, and poverty, Anne Marie found in the rooms something she had never experienced: hope, acceptance, and the possibility of change. Over nearly 13 years of recovery, she discovered that special interest groups — secular, queer, women-only — provided the smaller, safer containers she needed to surface and integrate the parts of herself she had long hidden, ultimately reframing the program’s concept of god as the growing self-awareness that allows her to choose healing over harm.  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2600390/fan_mail/new] For more information on recovery from addition through Narcotics Anonymous 12 step program from a secular, non-religious approach, please check out secularna.org [https://secularna.org] **  This podcast is not formally affiliated in any way with Narcotics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous World Services. **

EPISODE (07) 02-21-2025 08 MAGGIE

In this episode, we hear from Maggie, who shares how fear of abandonment, low self-esteem, and seemingly small, early tendencies (such as being fixated on salt), led to addiction.  She explains that she sees Recovery as lifelong process built on integrity and willingness, and also tells how she built nearly two decades of recovery without relying on a higher power.  "I do live as best I can my program, the steps. I'm engaged, I'm involved, I have service positions — and I think sometimes if there is a fall-off of doing steps, having service is a really good idea too."  In terms of a higher power, Maggie offers a secular reinterpretation of “HP” : "For the HP part — higher purpose. Doesn't have to be higher power, because I have a direction that is bigger than me, right? And I have so much that I can depend on and work on, and I will always have a future as long as I let it be." Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2600390/fan_mail/new] For more information on recovery from addition through Narcotics Anonymous 12 step program from a secular, non-religious approach, please check out secularna.org [https://secularna.org] **  This podcast is not formally affiliated in any way with Narcotics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous World Services. **

EPISODE (06) 2025-06-06 ELVIS

In this episode we hear from Elvis. Elvis came to NA reluctantly, nearly walking away over its God-centric language, until he found his footing in secular meetings where his atheism was welcomed rather than condemned. He worked the steps by treating every higher power reference as "not applicable" — not as a protest, but as honest self-accounting. That combination of secular community and unflinching honesty has carried him to over six and a half years clean, and a life transformed beyond anything he once imagined.  Here's Elvis. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2600390/fan_mail/new] For more information on recovery from addition through Narcotics Anonymous 12 step program from a secular, non-religious approach, please check out secularna.org [https://secularna.org] **  This podcast is not formally affiliated in any way with Narcotics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous World Services. **