The Crucible:Conversations for the Curious

Highlight"Your path to healing might start with a concerned friend, then maybe a doctor or a family member - each one gently suggesting something isn't right. It could be a coworker, a friend, or even a stranger at a bar. But it's that eleventh person - saying exactly what the other ten said before - 'I think you need help.' And suddenly, the penny drops. It's never about what they

Highlight"For me it was that it was small simple steps but taken consistently had massive changes. Like my life is unrecognisable now compared to how it used to be... if I can do that, anybody can do that. It's not difficult. It's very simple, it's just it's the consistency mostly that's sometimes challenging because we have to go against how we think."SummaryRobyn shares her trans

Highlight"I was endlessly thinking about my life problems from morning to night. And I just lost control of my thoughts. The only thing that really helped me a little bit was you could smoke a cigarette. That would stop them for a bit, but then I started chain-smoking. And then that just made me more anxious, right? And so then I started drinking because I drink every day then. I h

Highlights"I remember five nights out of seven, I'd be in a bar until 3 AM, then up at 6 AM to serve breakfast to chalet guests. Looking back, I was surviving on fumes, pushing my body to extremes just to keep up with this insane lifestyle.""There I was, spending a night in a Thai prison cell, surrounded by other prisoners, not knowing if I was about to be deported. My entire dream

Highlight"I had an identity imposed upon me, one which I swallowed hook, line and sinker at the time. I was taught like we all are to identify with who I am by society standards, by external validations, basically. So I studied law, I became a barrister. I worked in the criminal justice system for over two decades, got married, had two wonderful boys, became an addictions therapist

Highlight"Nine and a half years down the line, having sorted out many of those problems, although there is still a little bit of DIY I haven't got around to, but no one's perfect. I am so glad that I managed to get myself in a position where I could deal with those issues because I love my wife, and I love my daughter, and they wouldn't be in my life if I hadn't changed."SummaryIn

Highlight"Shame and guilt were huge for me. It was like shame is such an inward emotion. Like it's not projected out to other people, it's hidden, and it's more casting in on yourself. And that's what it feels like. And you know when you're shameful when you start hiding your drinking."SummaryIn this conversation, Ned Miro, the Drinkless Coach, shares his transformative journey fro

Highlight"I was the golden boy, you know? Perfect life, perfect job, perfect wife. Then the divorce hit, and suddenly, I didn't know who I was anymore. Everything I'd built my identity on just crumbled. That's when I started down the rabbit hole of partying and drugs. I thought I was living the life, but I was losing myself. It's crazy how fast it all fell apart."SummaryIn this pow

Highlight"And a month and a half after we got married, I lost my job. So here she's thinking that she married a guy who is this wonderful guy who has his shit together, has held a job for 24 years, making good money to find out he's been sneaking cocaine behind her back the whole three years that they were dating. That was even a blow for her."SummaryAl Richards shares his personal

Highlight "We are stalwart characters, we keep on going on and we think that we are superhuman. And then I finally got the phone call to say that I wasn't successful in my interview and I was put at risk for redundancy... And that was when mentally and physically I ultimately shut down. And yeah, went on my own healing journey, so to speak, from that point. Because yeah, not an ide