Recovery Reform: Navigating Harm Reduction, Recovery, and Drug Policy

Rachel Shuster on Lived Experience, Addictions Nursing, and Changing the Narrative

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 16:32:53 -0800

Rachel Shuster is a registered nurse and a person in recovery from opioid use disorder. As a high-achieving high schooler and college student, she never imagined that she would fall victim to having a substance use disorder.

Recognizing that secrets die in the light, she is passionate about sharing her story, but is also interested in advocacy, evidence-based practice, harm reduction, and policy change within the addiction treatment field.

Rachel graduated from Waynesburg University in 2012 with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). After graduating, Rachel worked in critical care for over 4 years prior to her switching specialties to addictions nursing following her personal journey through addiction to recovery.

Academic papers: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/inm.70024 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33647158/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nurserachelshuster
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrsrachelshuster/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@mrsrachelshuster
Twitter / X: https://x.com/mynameisrachel

Kirsten - AKA Sobriety Bestie - on Deconstructing AA

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 13:59:07 -0700

Kirsten - AKA Sobriety Bestie - last had an alcoholic drink in 2009, then spent over a decade in AA. She left AA in 2020 and began doing the work of unlearning and deconstructing AA dogma, told that she was powerless, "diseased" or forever broken. Now she is dedicated to telling the truth about recovery and about how to rebuild after leaving AA.

She created her YouTube channel and podcast to be the voice, support, and truth that she felt that she needed in her early recovery and when she was looking to leave AA.

Website = https://www.sobrietybestie.com/messages/15-years-of-addiction-recovery-advice-in-41-minutes

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/sobrietybestie

Apple Podcast = https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sobriety-bestie-podcast/id1750328642

Spotify Podcast = https://open.spotify.com/show/48bBadXm0tgvgbGzr6pDuF

Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/sobrietybestie/

Mary Beth O'Connor on finding alternative recovery to becoming a Judge

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 08:00:51 -0700

Mary Beth O'Connor is the author of the book "From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction." She began her recovery from methamphetamine use disorder, abuse, trauma, and anxiety in 1994. She never found traditional recovery spaces such as step-based recovery programs helpful to her, and found alternative recovery spaces early on.

Six years into her recovery, Mary Beth attended UC Berkeley School of Law. She worked at a large firm, then litigated class action suits for the federal government. In 2014, she was appointed a federal Administrative Law Judge, a position from which she retired early in 2020.

Mary Beth is now a Director for She Recovers Foundation and for LifeRing Secular Recovery. She also is on the Advisory Council for The Hyer Calling Foundation. She regularly speaks on behalf of these organizations and about multiple paths to recovery..

She develops relationships with other organizations, such as Women for Sobriety and trains attorneys, judges, and medical professionals. Mary Beth regularly writes opinion pieces which have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Recovery Today, and other publications. Her memoir writings have been published in Memoir Magazine, Awakenings, and Ravens Perch, among others.

Website: https://junkietojudge.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-beth-o-connor-8aaa4b121/

Bluesky: https://web-cdn.bsky.app/profile/marybethoconnor.bsky.social

Patrick Doyle, LCSW on Family Addiction Coaching and the evolution of SUD treatment

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 15:56:46 -0700

Join us for a conversation with Patrick Doyle, LCSW on a conversation breaking down his own evolution in SUD treatment and his approach in coaching people who use drugs and their families to help improve their lives and address the problems that can be caused by substance use.

As a licensed clinical social worker and Family Addiction Coach, Patrick Doyle has dedicated his life to helping families to navigate the challenging journey of addiction recovery. He is an expert guide with the latest approaches for families who refuse to give up on their loved one. The core of what Patrick can do for you is to teach people how to solve problems caused by substance use, helping to guide people through actionable steps to improve their situation and their relationships. Patrick Doyle’s family coaching works best for someone who wants to learn communication, problem-solving, safe and responsible boundary-setting, and self-care skills to improve their relationship with a loved one struggling with a substance use disorder.

Check out his website at: https://familyaddictioncoach.com/

He also hosts a podcast called "Family Addiction Coaching Podcast" which you can check out here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/family-addiction-coaching/id1483344454

Kratom: Breaking Down The Plant from The Extracts

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 23:10:03 -0700

Our co-hosts McCauley Sexton and Dr. Taylor Nichols talk about "Kratom" - both the plant and the extracts such as "7-OH" or 7-Hydroxymitragynine - as well as how the active alkaloids function in your body, including binding to opioid receptors, and how to be mindful about understanding and using unregulated substances.

The Continuum of Care in Substance Use Treatment

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 00:35:11 -0700

Co-hosts McCauley Sexton and Dr. Taylor Nichols break down the "continuum of care" in substance use treatment and discuss their experiences from the patient and provider side of the continuum - from interventions to inpatient hospitalizations, residential treatment to outpatient or clinic based treatment.

Please subscribe, leave a rating and review, and tell others about the podcast. We really appreciate all of your support!

Dee-Dee Stout on Harm Reduction Therapy

Thu, 29 May 2025 00:52:45 -0700

Harm reduction is more than "needles and Narcan" and Dee-Dee Stout is the perfect person to talk to about the evolution of harm reduction therapy.

Through her own training and her experience as a person who used drugs, Dee Dee has been at the forefront of studying and teaching about harm reduction based modalities of treatment.

Dee-Dee has a degrees in Psychology, Human Sexuality, and Business Management as well as an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Health Counseling for Special Populations. For nearly 25 years, Dee-Dee has been a member of the international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and a founding member of the California Association of Harm Reduction Therapists.

She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at St. Mary’s College, teaching courses in motivational interviewing, trauma-informed work, and substance use disorders. She regularly conducts trainings in client-centered approaches such as motivational interviewing, Harm Reduction Psychotherapy, and Solution Focused Therapy, and is additionally certified in Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), Tapping, and Brainspotting.

Check out the recently released second edition of her groundbreaking book “Coming to Harm Reduction Kicking & Screaming: Stories of Radically Loving People Who Use Drugs.”

Jordan Scott on Unlearning and Advocacy

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 09:45:08 -0700

Jordan Scott is a person with lived experience with opioid use disorder and powerful harm reduction advocate and person who continues to uses drugs in her recovery. While initially sought recovery from her opioid use disorder through abstinence based culture, which helped her initially obtain abstinence, she has spent years unpacking and unlearning.

She joined McCauley Sexton and Dr. Taylor Nichols and to discuss her unlearning journey, how she came to harm reduction, and her advocacy work.

Stigma in Healthcare and Recovery

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 16:33:07 -0800

Stigma: a set of negative attitudes, prejudices, or false or unfair beliefs that a society or group of people hold about specific traits or people.

The negative attitudes held against people people who use drugs or people with substance use disorders both within healthcare and within recovery spaces cause harm to people who use drugs or are seeking recovery. As a society, we have the power to change that stigma, and we should.

Recovery Reform 2024 Year in Review

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 10:29:29 -0800

McCauley and Dr. Taylor Nichols review their first year of Recovery Reform, what they have learned and unpacked over this past year, and what they are looking for coming up in the next year.

Thank you all for listening or watching, for doing the work of unpacking substance use disorders and recovery, and for being a part of the Recovery Reform community. We truly appreciate all of you.

If you haven't already, please subscribe and leave a comment. That's the best way for other people to find out about us, and to ensure that you get the newest episodes directly into your feed, and to let other folks know about Recovery Reform as well.

Happy 2025!

Ketamine Treatment and Recovery

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 12:51:46 -0800

Dr. Taylor Nichols and McCauley Sexton discuss a controversial topic - the use of ketamine in medical treatment including for mental health, such as depression and OCD, and for substance use disorders and recovery, and McCauley discusses his personal experience having received ketamine infusions.

Viewing recovery through a harm reduction lens

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 15:19:01 -0700

Our co-hosts McCauley Sexton and Taylor Nichols, MD break down the term "recovery" to better understand the meaning of recovery from substance use disorders through a harm reduction framework and how we can reclaim the term recovery from the War on Drugs.

Stanton Peele on addiction, recovery, and breaking the disease model

Sat, 26 Oct 2024 16:14:56 -0700

Stanton Peele began working on Love and Addiction in 1970, which was then published in 1975. In these fifty years he has predicted a remarkable number of addiction trends. By now it is clear that the way in which Stanton has reframed addiction for the past four decades – sometimes facing extreme opposition – has been prescient. His central thesis has always been that addiction is not a consequence of taking drugs and drinking; rather, addiction arises from the way in which these and other compelling activities fit into people’s lives and meanings.

You can find his books and his Life Process Program on his website at: https://peele.net/index.html

You can find his YouTube on his Life Process Program at: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifeProcessProgram

You can find him on TikTok at: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifeprocessprogram

Dr. Lance Dodes on understanding substance use and addictive behaviors

Sun, 13 Oct 2024 08:40:50 -0700

Lance Dodes, MD is a psychiatrist and a Training and Supervising Analyst Emeritus with the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. He is a retired assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and prior Director of the substance use treatment unit of Harvard’s McLean Hospital and the Alcoholism Treatment Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

He is the author or co-author of a number of journal articles and book chapters about addiction, including The Heart of Addiction (HarperCollins, 2002), The Sober Truth (Beacon Press, 2014), and Breaking Addiction: A 7-Step Handbook for Ending Any Addiction (HarperCollins, 2011). Dr. Dodes has been honored by the Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School for "Distinguished Contribution" to the study and treatment of addictive behavior, and has been elected a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

You can find Dr. Dodes and his books at http://www.drlancedodes.com/

Chad Sabora on the state of harm reduction and drug policy

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 14:49:01 -0700

Chad Sabora is a former lawyer with lived experience of drug use and a long-time grassroots harm reduction advocate turned subject matter expert. Starting his journey under the mentorship of some of the harm reduction movement's founders, Chad helped create underground naloxone distribution networks before it was legally sanctioned across the country. Chad embodied the spirit of one of his role models, Joe Strummer who said: ‘The future is unwritten’ because at that time nobody knew naloxone would gain such acceptance in this country, but the people that needed it, needed it now. He also pioneered the first syringe access programs in cities like St. Louis and regions such as South Florida. As the innovator of the hybrid recovery community center model, which integrates harm reduction with traditional recovery services, Chad has been at the forefront of advancing progressive drug policy. His work has earned him national recognition, including an Emmy, and he has been featured on the front page of The New York Times. Most recently, Chad served on the committee that authored the groundbreaking Harm Reduction Framework for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Today, he joins us to share his journey and perspectives and his thoughts on the current state of harm reduction.

You can find Chad on TikTok at: / chadsabora

Sarah Laurel of Savage Sisters Recovery on finding and fighting for Harm Reduction

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 01:48:52 -0700

Sarah Laurel turned her traumatic experiences from substance use disorder and justice involvement into a powerful movement for harm reduction and the empowerment of people experiencing harms from substance use and homelessness.

She co-founded Savage Sisters Recovery initially as a residential treatment facility, and along the way went through her own process of finding harm reduction and unlearning the shame and stigma that had become so ingrained within society and in recovery spaces.

Through steady organic growth, she turned the non-profit into a large scale organization providing trauma-informed recovery housing, mobile harm reduction outreach, drug testing, wound care, and nationwide trainings. Operating in her hometown of Philadelphia, she and her team are operating in the region hardest hit by the increasingly dangerous drug supply, and leading the way through radial empathy and compassion.

Check out Savage Sisters at: https://savagesisters.org/

Find Savage Sisters on social media at:

https://www.tiktok.com/@savagesistersnonprofit

https://www.youtube.com/@savagesisters9069

Brandi Mac, NP on her journey beyond the stigma

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 01:24:47 -0700

Brandi Mac, NP is a person who dropped out of high school and ended up becoming an ICU nurse practitioner.

She joins McCauley Sexton and Taylor Nichols, MD on the Recovery Reform podcast to talk about her journey to love, acceptance, and harm reduction as the daughter of someone with substance use disorder and who has documented her daughter's journey through active use, treatment trauma, and into remission online along with her own growth and understanding.

You can find her on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram as @the_original_brandi_mac

You can find her website at https://www.brandimac.com/about

You can contact her at Brandimac.creator@gmail.com

Tara Grace on her path to harm reduction and alternative recovery

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 07:58:14 -0700

Tara Grace (Burn the Stigma Tara) became a harm reductionist out of necessity after seeing how the limitations of a 12 step recovery model was harming her and her community. She is a vocal advocate for harm reduction and recovering out loud, brining her story and harm reduction education to the community.

You can find Tara at @BurnTheStigma across social media.

Kristina Dennis, CAI on Ethical Interventions

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 11:13:31 -0700

Kristina Dennis is a life coach and relationship expert whose life’s work is to show people how to release events of their past so they can become free of limiting beliefs.

Kristina has worked as a coach since 1997 when she realized she had a gift for effectively helping others. As a Certified Addiction Interventionist (CAI), Kristina’s ethical and compassionate approach to individuals with trauma allows her to show people an effective path forward.

In this episode, McCauley Sexton and Dr. Taylor Nichols interview Kristina about ethical addiction interventions and recovery, and how she feels the addiction medicine and recovery communities can improve our work in this space.

Nicholas Crapser, PhD on Peer-Based Support Programs

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 14:26:01 -0700

Nicholas Crapser PhD, is the current Clinical Director of 4D Recovery in Portland, OR, which is a peer-based support for youth and adolescents seeking addiction recovery. He has a history of lived experience with substance use disorder and justice involvement, and has been a vocal advocate for improved treatment for patients with substance use disorders and re-entry services. He has an excellent TED Talk titled "The Three E's of Re-entry".

Eddie Krumpotich on Harm Reduction and Drug Policy Reform

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:37:55 -0800

Dr. Taylor Nichols and McCauley Sexton interview Eddie Krumpotich, a person with lived experience, former teacher of the year, and an expert in substance use and harm reduction. He has consulted with two of the nations largest harm reduction organizations to help write and advocate for six substance use, harm reduction, and mental health bills in the states of Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota.

Interviewing McCauley Sexton - Part 2

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 09:26:46 -0800

Our hosts flip roles, and Dr. Taylor Nichols interviews co-host McCauley Sexton about his childhood, his family history of substance use, his lived experience with having a substance use disorder and in residential treatment, and how he feels he has grown and changed his perspective on harm reduction and the need to reform recovery spaces.

Interviewing McCauley Sexton - Part 1

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 13:45:33 -0800

Interviewing Dr. Nichols - Part 2

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 00:13:48 -0800

In the second of two episodes, McCauley Sexton interviews Dr. Taylor Nichols on his path to medicine and how his personal experience with family connections to substance use disorders in combination with his emergency medicine training led him to an improved understanding of harm reduction and eventually to become board-certified in addiction medicine.

Interviewing Dr. Nichols - Part 1

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 22:01:43 -0800

In the first of two episodes, McCauley Sexton interviews Dr. Taylor Nichols on his path to medicine and how his personal experience with family connections to substance use disorders in combination with his emergency medicine training led him to an improved understanding of harm reduction and eventually to become board-certified in addiction medicine.

Recovery Reform: An Introduction

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 23:04:51 -0800

McCauley Sexton and Dr. Taylor Nichols bring you Recovery Reform, a podcast focused on changing the narrative around substance use disorders, recovery, and harm reduction, bringing you clinical insights and alternative recovery perspectives.

The views and opinions expressed in the podcast are our own and do not represent that of our employers. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.