Recovery Dialogues and Sober Stories

Why Mental Health Awareness Month Isn't Enough

61.5 million Americans are living with mental illness—and nearly 30 million of them received no treatment last year. In this special Mental Health Awareness Month bonus episode, trauma-informed peer support counselor and author R. Antonio Matta reads from his spoken word album to be released soon, shares raw testimony from years of lived recovery, and makes the case that awareness without access—and clinical language without humanity—is failing the people who need help most. Season 5 of Recovery Dialogues & Sober Stories is coming, and this is where it starts.

Building an Addiction Treatment System That Works (with Dr. Suzette Glasner)

UCLA addiction scientist Dr. Suzette Glasner joins Antonio to turn recovery from a rare headline into routine care—how to scale MOUD access, bring families into treatment, and fix the metrics that fail patients. Building on her exclusive conversation with Beverly Vance Aikins (Vice President JD Vance’s mother), she lays out urgent, evidence-based steps to make treatment accessible, humane, and effective.

Rewiring Recovery - Tools, Truth, and Hope

Recovery isn’t a montage. In this Recovery Month episode, Antonio Matta names the Paradox of Control and the quiet shift toward nonlinear, pace-yourself healing—then models a brief “Dear Day-One Me” note and walks through five 10-minute neuroplasticity tools (Timer, Tactile, Breath, Words, Walk) you can use today. Skeptical? This blend of lived experience and evidence offers a kinder map, immediate felt wins, and proof that recovery is emphatically—and undeniably—possible.

How Does EMDR Work?

Curious about EMDR beyond the hype? Antonio Matta breaks down what actually happens before and during reprocessing, tackles five real community questions—from safety and side effects to complex PTSD, dissociation, and addiction—and weaves therapist Victoria De Paula’s (www.victoriadepaula.com) insights to separate myths from evidence. No prescriptions here, just clear, research-backed guidance so you can decide whether EMDR is worth considering.

When "Trying Everything" Still Hurts

A private letter arrived that mirrors my own season of struggle, so I explore what it means to “try everything” and still feel alone—while honoring the writer’s boundaries and the power of consent. This solo conversation is my public response to that pain, meant for the listener who wrote in (and anyone who hears themselves here), offering one steady, self-directed step instead of a shiny fix. If you’re stuck between effort and relief, this episode makes room for both the ache and the way forward.