Ep. 37 - Turning 90 and Still Saying Yes to Life

Ep. 37 - Turning 90 and Still Saying Yes to Life

What does it look like to build a full, meaningful life when no one handed you a blueprint for it? Dr. Sonya Friedman grew up in Brooklyn with little money and a father who wasn't present, and she turned every open door into something remarkable. She talked her way into a newspaper column she'd never written before, brought psychology into mainstream media decades before it was welcome there, worked alongside Barbara Walters, became one of the first anchors at CNN, and wrote books about women's self-worth that were ahead of their time. All of it, she says, came down to one word: yes. The conversation with Pam moves through a lot of territory, from Sonya's early books on women's independence and relationship patterns to a jaw-dropping story about filming a Ku Klux Klan meeting in Kentucky as an ABC correspondent. What runs through all of it is a woman who never let her origin story become her ending. She talks about the moment her thinking shifted from "what was wrong with me" to "what was wrong with him," and how that single reframe changed everything. Now approaching 90, Sonya is still seeing clients, still swimming and doing Pilates, and still thinking about what women over 50 need most from each other. Her life is a quiet argument against the idea that where you start determines where you land. Contact Pam Feinberg-Rivkin: Facebook: @FeinbergCare [https://www.facebook.com/FeinbergCare]Instagram: @FeinbergCare [https://www.instagram.com/feinbergcare/]LinkedIn: Feinberg Consulting Inc [https://www.linkedin.com/company/feinberg-consulting-inc/]YouTube: @FeinbergConsulting8059  [https://www.youtube.com/@feinbergconsulting8059]

Ep. 36 - When the Voice in Your Head Is the Loudest Thing in the Room

Dr. Steven Klein came to addiction medicine through an unusual convergence of paths. A physician and scientist triple board certified in addiction medicine, pediatrics, and medical genetics, he also carries lived experience in recovery that shapes everything about how he shows up for his patients. He speaks openly about his own relationship with substances, with food, and with the kind of internal noise that most people in active addiction know intimately. That noise, what he describes as a hierarchy of craving that drowns out everything else, is at the center of his clinical work. Much of that work now centers on GLP-1 receptor agonists, medications most people associate with weight loss, that are showing remarkable promise in quieting the craving signal in people struggling with alcohol, opioids, and other substances. Steven describes it not as a cure but as a way to lift the needle off the record long enough to learn a new song. Recovery still has to be built. But these medications may be buying patients something that's always been in short supply, time. Pam and Steven also explore the genetics and epigenetics of addiction risk, why relapse is better understood as a neurobiologic stage than a moral failure, and what it means to finally have a tool that could shift care from reactive to preventative. There is something quietly revolutionary happening at the intersection of science and compassion, and this conversation sits right in the middle of it. Contact Pam Feinberg-Rivkin: Facebook: @FeinbergCare [https://www.facebook.com/FeinbergCare]Instagram: @FeinbergCare [https://www.instagram.com/feinbergcare/]LinkedIn: Feinberg Consulting Inc [https://www.linkedin.com/company/feinberg-consulting-inc/]YouTube: @FeinbergConsulting8059  [https://www.youtube.com/@feinbergconsulting8059]

Ep. 35 - What Is Missing In Life Being a Functional Alcoholic

What does it look like when someone spends decades performing function while quietly falling apart on the inside? Brad Walsh grew up in a small Illinois town where drinking was woven into every family occasion, and by sixth grade he was already the ringleader with a box of liquor and a habit of filling bottles back up with water. What followed was decades of being the life of every party and the loneliest person in the room. Ski weekends, bartending shifts, a short marriage, OWIs, a boot camp in Montana, a stint at ASU, and a seizure in the middle of a trade show floor in Chicago. Through all of it, Brad held onto one identity above everything else: functional alcoholic. He could do the work, ace the class, show up. He just couldn't slow down long enough to ask himself why he was running so fast. The intervention that eventually changed things didn't feel like a turning point. It felt like a trap. Brad walked into what he thought was a workday and found his parents, his sisters, a close friend, and a stranger all waiting for him around a conference table. He was furious. He left. He came back a week later, not because he was ready, but because the one thing he couldn't afford to lose was his job. What Pam and her team had set in motion became the thread he followed, even when he didn't believe in it yet. Five years of weekly family coaching calls, treatment at Hazelden's Center City campus, a daily checklist that starts with prayer and ends with Spanish study, and a retreat in Costa Rica that turned into a permanent life. Brad is now engaged, expecting his first child, and living somewhere quieter and truer than he ever imagined reaching. Some people have to go through all of it before they can finally stop running from themselves. Contact Pam Feinberg-Rivkin: Facebook: @FeinbergCare [https://www.facebook.com/FeinbergCare]Instagram: @FeinbergCare [https://www.instagram.com/feinbergcare/]LinkedIn: Feinberg Consulting Inc [https://www.linkedin.com/company/feinberg-consulting-inc/]YouTube: @FeinbergConsulting8059  [https://www.youtube.com/@feinbergconsulting8059]

Ep. 34 - From Stage Four to Cancer Free: One Woman's Path Through Fear, Faith, and Healing

What does it take to face stage four cancer twice and come out the other side not just surviving, but fully alive? Pam Feinberg-Rivkin was re-diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2020, this time with a spot on her liver, and just a year after losing a brother to cancer. She had already done the chemotherapy, the radiation, the surgery. But she knew something else was needed, something the oncology appointments couldn't offer. That search led her to Dianne Porchia, a spiritual therapist and holistic practitioner who Pam found through the documentary Heal while sitting alone on the Fourth of July, terrified and looking for a way through. Dianne's path into this work is its own story worth hearing. A divorce, a massage session that opened an unexpected floodgate of emotion, a master's degree in spiritual psychology, and years of working with law students, cancer patients, and anyone carrying wounds they hadn't yet found words for. Her approach moves beyond the thinking mind into what she calls the deeper levels of the heart, the soul, and the subconscious, where the inner saboteur lives and where real shifts begin. She speaks honestly about trauma, the inner child, and why so many people with serious illness share a pattern of giving endlessly to others while quietly neglecting themselves. Five and a half years later, Pam is cancer-free. She travels, she volunteers with her therapy dog at a cancer center, she created this podcast. Dianne now tends a regenerative eco-farm in Oregon and continues seeing clients from around the world. Their conversation is a quiet testament to what becomes possible when Western medicine and inner healing work are allowed to exist side by side. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is admit that treatment alone was never going to be enough. Contact Pam Feinberg-Rivkin: Facebook: @FeinbergCare [https://www.facebook.com/FeinbergCare]Instagram: @FeinbergCare [https://www.instagram.com/feinbergcare/]LinkedIn: Feinberg Consulting Inc [https://www.linkedin.com/company/feinberg-consulting-inc/]YouTube: @FeinbergConsulting8059  [https://www.youtube.com/@feinbergconsulting8059]

Ep. 33 - Exposing the Florida Shuffle: Accountability in Addiction Treatment with Dave Aronberg

In this episode of Resilient Butterfly, Pam Feinberg speaks with Dave Aronberg about the “Florida Shuffle”—a term used to describe fraudulent and predatory practices within the addiction treatment industry. This conversation explores addiction treatment fraud, regulatory oversight, and the urgent need for accountability to protect individuals and families seeking recovery. The episode honors the legacy of Jamie Daniels, a young man who died from an overdose at the age of 23 while receiving treatment for a substance use disorder (SUD). In response to this tragedy, his parents established the Jamie Daniels Foundation to advocate for ethical reform and provide hope and support to families navigating addiction and recovery. Together, Pam and Dave examine the intersection of law, public policy, and behavioral healthcare. They discuss how trusted provider networks, care coordination, and treatment navigation help ensure safe, ethical, and effective pathways to recovery. This discussion also highlights the importance of due diligence when selecting treatment providers and the role of cross-sector collaboration in improving outcomes. Presented by Feinberg Consulting, a leader in complex care coordination, behavioral health consulting, and treatment placement guidance since 1996. Learn more at FeinbergCare.com [http://feinbergcare.com]