Podcast
Rise Above with Kevin Lanning
Hosted by Kevin Lanning · EN
Welcome to Rise Above with Kevin Lanning. Join Kevin, a former Google executive in sobriety, as he shares inspiring stories of resilience. Each episode features individuals who have faced life’s toughest challenges—addiction, trauma, anxiety, and more—and emerged stronger. These conversations aren’t just about survival; they’re about thriving and finding practical solutions to rise above adversity. Kevin’s own journey through addiction and childhood trauma fuels his passion for sharing stories that uplift, educate, and inspire. Tune in and discover the strength within you.
50episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Inside A Functioning Mom's Secret Alcoholism | My 30-Year Battle With Alcoholism
Yesterday01:13:44Tap to summarizeKyle Garges had everything — a loving husband, a beautiful daughter, a career in advertising sales, and a life that looked perfectly put together from the outside. But behind closed doors she was hiding alcohol in her daughter's Stanley Cup. She was drinking through blackouts, through rehab, through aversion therapy in Seattle where they made her chug vodka until she vomited. She drank through her father's death. She drank through interventions. She drank through every promise she made to herself and everyone she loved. Thirty years of alcoholism. Three treatment centers. And a dying father who grabbed her by the neck and looked her in the eye one last time. Coming up on two years sober, Kyle is finally free. In this raw and deeply moving episode of Rise Above, Kyle shares: Growing up with an alcoholic father and watching the same disease take over her own life Missing 18 Mondays in a row in high school — and still graduating early Drinking through Ole Miss, UGA, Charleston, and a career in ad sales Aversion therapy in Seattle — chugging vodka until she vomited while staring at herself in a mirror How one beer after ten months sober during breastfeeding flipped the switch back on instantly Her dying father grabbing her by the neck and saying "don't let this disease get you" Filling her daughter's Stanley Cup with White Claw and calling an Uber to the airport — her last drink Waking up in an ambulance at 2am in North Carolina thinking she was finally going to die What she did differently this time that made sobriety finally stick The moment her daughter looked at her and said "I trust you, Mom" This one is for every woman out there who is hiding it and thinks nobody notices. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 📲 Follow Kyle Garges on Instagram Kyle Garges had everything — a loving husband, a beautiful daughter, a career in advertising sales, and a life that looked perfectly put together from the outside.But behind closed doors she was hiding alcohol in her daughter's Stanley Cup. She was drinking through blackouts, through rehab, through aversion therapy in Seattle where they made her chug vodka until she vomited. She drank through her father's death. She drank through interventions. She drank through every promise she made to herself and everyone she loved.Thirty years of alcoholism. Three treatment centers. And a dying father who grabbed her by the neck and looked her in the eye one last time.Coming up on two years sober, Kyle is finally free.🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week📲 Follow Kyle Garges on Instagram If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may #RiseAbove #WomenInRecovery #MomInRecovery #AlcoholRecovery #SoberMom #FunctioningAlcoholic #SoberLife#RecoveryIsPossible #AlcoholismAwareness #MentalHealth #SobrietyJourney #GenerationalTrauma#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #KyleGarges #TwoYearsSober #AddictionRecovery #GriefAndRecovery#WomenWhoRecover #OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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7-OH Pills Destroyed My Life | The SHOCKING Truth About 7-Hydroxymitragynine Addiction
5d ago01:28:03Tap to summarizeYou can buy it at a gas station. It's sold next to energy drinks and lottery tickets. And it almost destroyed Matt Dean's life. Matt Dean had already been through the pill mill era in Florida, cold turkey detoxed off 50-60 Percocet a day, built a career in real estate, and gotten sober from alcohol — twice. Then his little brother died of an overdose. And a well-meaning smoke shop employee handed him a free sample of 7-Hydroxymitragynine. Within weeks he was spending $100 a day — burning through his 401K and savings — chasing a high from something most people have never even heard of. He went to treatment twice just to get off it. The second time, he had to go back to detox just to get off the Suboxone they gave him to get off the 7-OH. This is one of the most important episodes of Rise Above to date — because 7-OH was just banned in Florida in August 2025, and something just like it is already taking its place. In this eye-opening episode, Matt shares: Growing up in a sober household and discovering opiates at 18 after surgery The pill mill era in Florida and cold turkey detoxing off 50-60 Percocets a day Getting sober from alcohol twice — and what kept pulling him back Losing his little brother to an overdose and the grief that followed How a free gas station sample of 7-OH started a $3,000-a-month addiction What 7-OH withdrawal actually feels like — and why treatment centers don't know how to treat it His relapse after treatment — and the second rehab stay just to get off Suboxone Where he is today with 3+ months clean and what he's building If you or someone you love is using Kratom or 7-OH and thinks it's "just a supplement" — you need to hear this. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may #RiseAbove #7Hydroxymitragynine #7OH #KratomAddiction #GasStationDrugs #AddictionRecovery #SoberLife#OpioidEpidemic #KratomWithdrawal #RecoveryIsPossible #NewDrugs #FentanylAlternative #MentalHealth#SobrietyJourney #PillMillEra #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #MattDean #FloridaAddiction #OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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I Was Held Hostage By The Cartel In Mexico | Inside A College Addict's Spiral
6d ago00:58:13Tap to summarizeJohn Luedke had it all on paper — a scholarship to Michigan State, a successful father, a big house, and every material thing a kid could want. But underneath it all, he was drowning. His parents' affair and messy seven-year divorce left him as the emotional middleman between two broken people. He got cut from the basketball team. He lost his identity. And he spent the next decade eating, drinking, using cocaine, nitrous oxide, and anything else he could find to fill the hole. At his heaviest, John weighed 315 pounds. By his senior year, he was paying people to take his classes, doing coke in Cabo while being held at gunpoint by cartel members, and surviving a campus mass shooting — all while telling himself he had it under control. He got sober on January 1st, 2024. He was 22 years old. In this raw and honest episode of Rise Above, John shares: Growing up privileged while quietly falling apart after his parents' divorce Getting cut from basketball and losing the only identity he had Paying people to take his classes while drinking and drugging through COVID Surviving the Michigan State campus shooting and what those hours of terror felt like Being held at gunpoint by cartel members in Cabo at 5am — the moment everything changed Going from 315 pounds to 196 through fitness, sobriety, and deep inner work How journaling, meditation and therapy helped him finally face the root causes Writing his book to help other young men who are suffering in silence This one is for every young guy out there who looks fine on the outside but is completely lost on the inside. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 📲 Follow John Luedke: find him on Instagram and check out his book If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may #RiseAbove #CollegeAddiction #SoberAt23 #CocaineAddiction #WeightLossJourney #MichiganStateShooting#AddictionRecovery #SoberLife #MensmentalHealth #RecoveryIsPossible #GenZSober #YoungAndSober #75Hard#TraumaAndRecovery #SobrietyJourney #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #JohnLuedke #CartelStory#OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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I Was A Teacher With Two DUIs | 30 Years of Alcoholism & Finding Sobriety
1w ago00:57:26Tap to summarizeElisa Nicole Saunders was a Palm Beach County schoolteacher, standing in front of classrooms every day — and quietly drinking and drugging her way through 30 years of addiction. Two DUIs. A five-car pile-up. Crashing drunk into a tow truck while two people had to run for their lives. Sitting in a jail cell staring at her wrist, wondering how it got this bad. She never wanted to get sober. A judge gave her the nudge. Now, coming up on 15 years of sobriety, Elisa has rebuilt her life from the ground up — from losing her teaching certificate, to borrowing gas money to attend an addiction conference, to becoming a respected professional in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation industry in Los Angeles. In this honest and deeply moving episode of Rise Above, Elisa shares: Teaching school hungover and in active alcoholism for over a decade Two DUIs — including a drunk driving crash that nearly killed two people What it really means to be "dry" versus truly sober — and why she was more miserable without drinking than with it Relapsing after treatment and spending years "white-knuckling" without a program Why financial amends took her 14 years to complete — and why she finally did it Losing both parents in sobriety and navigating grief without picking up How a deep spiritual connection became the foundation everything else was built on Going from Hurricane Liza — the woman who wrecked every room she walked into — to a woman who gives back without expecting anything in return This one is for anyone who thinks they're functioning just fine — and for anyone who's been sober a while but still feels like something's missing. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 📲 Follow Elisa: @elisansaunders (Instagram & Facebook) | linkedin.com/in/elisansaunders If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may #RiseAbove #FunctioningAlcoholic #AlcoholRecovery #SoberLife #15YearsSober #DUIStory #TeacherInRecovery#AddictionRecovery #RecoveryIsPossible #SpiritualAwakening #WomenInRecovery #SobrietyJourney#MentalHealth #GriefAndRecovery #TwelveStepper #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #ElisaSaunders#DrinkingAndDriving #OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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I Was Ordering Fentanyl Off The Dark Web In College | Gambling, Xanax & How I Got Sober
1w ago01:20:39Tap to summarizeJordan Freeman had everything going for him — loving parents, a spot at one of the top business schools in the country, varsity baseball, and a bright future. But behind closed doors, he was ordering Xanax off the dark web, gambling with money he didn't have, blacking out and not remembering a single thing from the night before — and calling it normal. By his sophomore year at Indiana University, Jordan was locked in his apartment alone, blinds down, friends knocking on the door, completely lost. He didn't want to die. He just couldn't see any hope left. Now, coming up on 5 years clean from drugs and gambling and nearly 3 years alcohol-free, Jordan is finishing his Masters in Social Work at NYU and helping others find the path he fought so hard to find himself. In this raw and honest episode of Rise Above, Jordan shares: Ordering fentanyl-laced Xanax off the dark web in high school and college How gambling consumed every dollar, every thought, and every relationship The day he sat his parents down and finally said "I can't stop — I need help" Three months in treatment in Orange County and what actually changed Why he relapsed on alcohol nine months in — and how he came back stronger What it really looks like to get sober in your early twenties How he's now guiding families and individuals through the recovery process If you're a young person who thinks addiction could never happen to you — this episode is for you. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 📲 Follow Jordan Freeman: @blueprintbyjordan (TikTok & Instagram) If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may #RiseAbove #CollegeAddiction #GamblingAddiction #SoberLife #XanaxAddiction #DarkWeb #RecoveryIsPossible#GenZSober #AddictionRecovery #YoungAndSober #GamblersAnonymous #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth#RecoveryCoach #SocialWork #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #JordanFreeman #FentanylAwareness#OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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I Did Neurofeedback for Anxiety, Stress & PTSD — Here's What Happened | Compassion Behavioral Health
1w ago00:30:08Tap to summarizeI went inside Compassion Behavioral Health (CBH) headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to experience neurofeedback firsthand — and I vlogged the whole thing. In this episode, I go through my first two sessions: 🧠 Session 1 — Brain Mapping: Reading my actual brainwave patterns, identifying high-stress areas, mood fluctuations, and self-regulation challenges. ⚡ Session 2 — Brain Training: Wearing sensors while my brain learns to regulate itself in real time — watching a screen dim and brighten based on my own brainwave activity. We talk about how neurofeedback is being used to address: ✔️ PTSD & Trauma ✔️ Anxiety & Depression ✔️ ADHD ✔️ Addiction (drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex addiction) ✔️ Emotional dysregulation & mood swings --- 🏥 ABOUT COMPASSION BEHAVIORAL HEALTH Compassion Behavioral Health (CBH) is a leading treatment center based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, dedicated to helping people heal from addiction, mental health challenges, and co-occurring disorders. CBH offers a full spectrum of evidence-based and innovative therapies — including neurofeedback — tailored to each person's unique brain mapping results. Their team doesn't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Every client's brain is mapped individually so that training targets *their* specific areas of dysregulation. I saw firsthand how genuinely passionate the CBH team is about seeing people recover and re-enter the world with more confidence. --- 📞 If you or someone you love is struggling, reach out to Compassion Behavioral Health: 📱 Call or Text: 844-443-5669 🌐 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may --- This is not a quick fix — it's a process. And that's exactly why I'm documenting mine. Drop a comment below if you've ever tried neurofeedback or if you have questions. Let's rise above, together. 🙏 #RiseAbove #KevinLanning #Neurofeedback Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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He Overdosed, Died 3 Times & Woke Up an Amputee | Now He Has 14 Years Sober
2w ago01:16:38Tap to summarizeKevin Parker had everything stripped from him — his health, his freedom, his leg, and nearly his life. After a night that started with a family intervention and ended with him face-down in his own vomit, Kevin flatlined three times, spent three weeks in a coma, developed sepsis, gangrene in all four limbs, multi-organ failure, and woke up an amputee. The doctors said he'd be brain dead. They said he'd never walk. They said he'd never use his hand again. He proved every single one of them wrong. In this raw and powerful episode of Rise Above, Kevin shares: The morning of his overdose and what led up to it Waking from a coma to find out he'd lost his left leg How he went from atheist to finding God in that hospital bed Learning to walk again in 2 months (doctors said 2 years) How he regained nerve-damaged hand function through sheer will His journey from concrete laborer and drug dealer to certified recovery coach and motivational speaker Why he believes addiction is a spiritual search — not a moral failure If you're in your first 90 days, deep in it, or loving someone who is — this episode is for you. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 📲 Follow Kevin Parker: @thekevinjparker (Instagram) | Recovery Warrior 33 (TikTok) 📩 Email: truewarriorssuccess@gmail.com If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may #RiseAbove #AddictionRecovery #SoberLife #RecoveryCoach #OverdoseSurvivor #14YearsSober #Amputee#SecondChance #SobrietyStory #HeroinRecovery #OpioidCrisis #TrueWarrior #RecoveryIsPossible#MentalHealth #SpiritualAwakening #PodcastInterview #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #KevinParker#OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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From Eating Disorder to 30 Years in Recovery: Trauma, EMDR & Healing
2w ago00:58:15Tap to summarizeIn this powerful episode, I sit down with Rachel Pappert Docekal, a recovery advocate and executive at the Hanley Center in West Palm Beach. Rachel opens up about her own 30-year recovery journey — starting with an eating disorder in college, the friends who loved her enough to intervene, and the layers of childhood trauma she's worked through over decades of therapy, including EMDR. We also get into: Why addiction is a brain disease — and why removing the substance alone isn't enough How process addictions (gambling, food, phones) hijack the same dopamine system as drugs The danger of high-THC cannabis and marijuana-induced psychosis Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) — what it is, when it helps, and how to think about it Hanley's groundbreaking 5-day family program and why family support is the #1 relapse prevention tool Kratom, 7-OH, and the next addiction crisis coming for our kids What life in long-term recovery actually looks like Whether you're in recovery, supporting a loved one, or just curious — this one is not to be missed. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may #RecoveryPodcast #AddictionRecovery #RiseAbove #EatingDisorderRecovery #TraumaHealing #EMDR#HanleyCenter #MentalHealth #SubstanceUseDisorder #SoberLife #SoberCurious #FamilyRecovery#MATtreatment #AddictionAwareness #RecoveryIsPossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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She Married a Drug Dealer in Vegas While Running From Cops | Cocaine Addiction, a Federal Raid & Getting Sober
2w ago00:51:37Tap to summarizeCourtney Janssen grew up in a farm town outside Chicago watching domestic abuse and drinking become "normal." By 12 she had her first drink. By her twenties she was doing cocaine daily to survive double shifts bartending in Nashville. Then she impulsively married a man she barely knew — in Vegas, hours after he fled an undercover detective — and woke up pregnant, broke, and trapped in a verbally abusive marriage while feds surveilled her house. The morning federal agents kicked in her door with guns drawn, her daughter was two months old and she was still breastfeeding. This is the story of how she climbed out of it all — postpartum psychosis, divorce lawyers weaponizing her past, years of sobriety — and is now building a sober nightlife concept in South Florida. If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may #sobriety #recoveryispossible #addiction #soberlife #cocainerecovery #postpartumdepression#domesticabuse #survivorstory #mentalhealthmatters #sobercommunity #addictionrecovery #traumarecovery#truecrime #podcast #womeninsober Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Throwing Up Blood & Still Drinking | Stage 4 Cirrhosis, Liver Transplant & 19 Months Sober
2w ago01:07:04Tap to summarizeChelsea Garber was diagnosed with Stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver — and kept drinking for nine more months. After losing her son, battling drug addiction, surviving 50+ hospital admissions, and being given just three months to live, Chelsea made the hardest decision of her life: she poured out her last drink on September 29th, 2024. Just 80 days after a life-saving liver transplant, she sat down with Kevin Lanning to share the full story — the suicide note she wrote to her daughter, the moment everything changed, and what keeps her fighting every single day with 19 months sober. This is one of the most powerful episodes we've ever done on Rise Above. ⸻ 📲 Follow Chelsea: TikTok: @chelseablake1125 If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or mental health, you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to my partners at Compassion Behavioral Health. They offer individualized care and a full continuum of treatment. Call or Text: 844-443-5669 Visit: https://compassionbehavioralhealth.com/?utm_source=rise%20above%20with%20kevin%20lanning&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may #addiction #recovery #sobriety #livercirrhosis #livertransplant #alcoholism #soberstories #riseabove #mentalhealth #soberlife #alcoholrecovery #cirrhosis #liverDisease #sober #drugsrecovery #recoveryispossible #addictionrecovery #sobertok #kevinlanning #podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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