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.
97episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
I Shot Heroin With USB Cords Tied To My Arm After 2 Tours In Afghanistan | 7 Years Sober
Jun 901:12:04Tap to summarizeJohnny Schrey grew up in West Boca watching his two older brothers destroy their lives with drugs. He told himself he would never be like them. By 25 he was splitting Roxy 30s with his best friend because they couldn't scrape together $10 for one pill between them. So they joined the Marine Corps.. He detoxed off opioids in boot camp. Got a DUI his first night back from engineering school. Deployed to Afghanistan twice — watching friends die, getting his vehicle hit by IEDs, and coming home to bottles of Jack Daniels waiting on the bus. He married a bartender, had a daughter, lost a twin son at 22 weeks, and shot heroin in a condemned apartment in Overtown with USB cords tied to his arm looking for a vein. His brother — his hero — died on his birthday. Now 7 years sober, Johnny got his ex-wife back, is raising his daughter, and has built a life beyond anything he thought possible. This one is for every veteran out there who came home and didn't know how to turn the switch back on. 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 #VeteranRecovery #MarineCorps #HeroinRecovery #7YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible#AddictionRecovery #AfghanistanVet #SoberDad #PTSDRecovery #SoberLife #MensRecovery #RiseAbovePodcast#KevinLanning #JohnnySchrey #VeteranSobriety #CombatVeteran #SobrietyJourney #FamilyInRecovery#OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
I Found Out I Was Adopted At 13, Got My First DUI At 18 & Did 4 Months In Jail | 3.5 Years Sober
Jun 700:59:28Tap to summarizeRise Above | Adam Vohra's Story Adam Vohra grew up in Connecticut ....a kid of color in a Jewish day school who always felt different. At 13 he found out why. He and his sister had been adopted. Nobody had told them. And six months later he had his first drink. What followed was 15 years of DUIs, gambling debts with drug dealers, dropping out of college, four months in a Connecticut jail, and relapse after relapse. Every time he got sober it was consequence driven. Every time something good happened he went right back out. Then his best friend Lauren called. And he didn't answer. She took her own life shortly after. It wasn't until a recovery coach flew him down to a tiny house in low country South Carolina and a stranger at a local meeting invited him to dinner and read him the Doctor's Opinion that something finally clicked. Now 3.5 years sober Adam has his recovery coaching certification, a nonprofit consulting practice, a podcast and a life built entirely around purpose. This one is for anyone who has tried to get sober for the wrong reasons and keeps ending up back at square one. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 📲 Follow Adam: @adavohra (Instagram) 🎙️ Finding Purpose Podcast 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 #AddictionRecovery #SoberLife #3YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AdoptionStory #DUIStory#MensRecovery #GriefAndRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth #RecoveryCoach #FindingPurpose#RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #AdamVohra #ConsequenceSobriety #PurposeDrivenRecovery #SoberCommunity#OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
I Blacked Out Every Night While Running The San Francisco Bureau of HuffPost | Highrise Suicide Attempt and How I Got Sober
Jun 501:07:06Tap to summarizeCarly Schwartz had a career most journalists only dream about. Running the San Francisco Bureau of HuffPost at 26. On the leadership team of one of the biggest news organizations in the world. Blogging for a governor who became California's Governor. Expense accounts, concerts, restaurant openings and a life that looked absolutely electric from the outside. And she was going to bed every night wishing she wouldn't wake up the next morning. Behind the blazing career was a secret life of cocaine benders, blacking out, taking hits of nitrous oxide under her covers at noon on a Sunday, and a depression so severe that she dropped out of Northwestern University, checked herself into a psych ward, and eventually found herself standing on the roof of a Panama City highrise on the phone with a suicide hotline. She went to a Panamanian jungle to find herself. She found cocaine instead. Now 8 years sober, Carly has written her memoir I'll Try Anything Twice — and built a life centered on storytelling, healing and finally understanding what it means to love herself. 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 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 📲 Follow Carly: @carlyzita (Instagram) 🌐 carlyz.inc 📖 I'll Try Anything Twice — available now #RiseAbove #DepressionAndAddiction #SoberLife #8YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery#MentalHealthAwareness #FunctioningAddict #WomenInRecovery #SuicideAwareness #CocaineAddiction#SobrietyJourney #ITryAnythingTwice #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #CarlySchwartz #Journalist#HuffPost #StorytellingHeals #OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
I Drank A Bottle Of Scotch Every Night | From Alcoholic Depression to 39 Years Sober | Suebelle Robbins
Jun 400:52:29Tap to summarizeSuebelle Robbins had a life that looked like a movie. Playboy Bunny by night, first grade teacher by day. Travel escort taking groups to Hawaii and Switzerland. Corporate wife living on Gulfstream jets. Beautiful homes, European vacations and everything money could buy. And she was miserable every single minute of it. Every morning started with a bong. Every afternoon she switched to Scotch. She was so depressed she took sleeping pills on a sunny day in Honolulu just so she could sleep through paradise. She made three suicide attempts, he last one a full bottle of pills that sent her to the hospital to have her stomach pumped. She lost her father to a drunk driver at 13. Her house burned to the ground at 17 — taking her dog and every childhood memory with it. She married twice. She had everything. And she wanted to die. Then a housekeeper showed up in Ralph Lauren — and invited her to a meeting. Now 39 years sober, Suebelle has written her memoir Beyond Your Wildest Dreams — and built a life so full of love, laughter and purpose that she says if she ever drank again she'd lose everything that matters. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week 📲 Connect with Suebelle: https://www.suebellepalmbeach.com/ #RiseAbove #WomenInRecovery #39YearsSober #AlcoholRecovery #SoberLife #RecoveryIsPossible#BeyondYourWildestDreams #SuicidalIdeation #FunctioningAlcoholic #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth#GriefAndRecovery #PalmBeachSocialite #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #SuebellRobbins #MemoirMonday#SoberAndThriving #WomenWhoRecover #OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
Inside A Chicago Street Junkie's 20-Year Spiral | 3 DUIs, Heroin, Cook County Jail & Finding God
Jun 101:24:13Tap to summarizeMike Supak was a Division 1 track athlete. He never touched a drop of alcohol in four years of high school. He was structured, dedicated, trustworthy — the model kid. Then he discovered alcohol the summer before college and everything changed immediately. What followed was 20 years of cocaine, heroin, DUIs, overdoses, jail, and a slow death that nobody around him could stop. He got his second and third DUIs within 48 hours of each other. He overdosed on heroin in the back of a cab, was Narcanned six times, and showed back up to his family's St. Patrick's Day party hours later wearing a blue paper hospital suit — with no memory of any of it. He tried to die. He kept waking up instead. It wasn't until a judge set his bond at $900,000 to keep him off the streets — and a nun in Saint Augustine, Florida answered a calling from God — that Mike finally found the thing that saved his life. He spent three years with no phone, no TV, no computer, washing his clothes in a five-gallon bucket, praying the rosary three times a day. And it worked. Now seven years sober, Mike is married, reconnected with his kids, back working as a building engineer in Chicago, and more at peace than he has ever been in his life. 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 #HeroinRecovery #SoberLife #7YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery#FaithAndRecovery #CatholicFaith #ChicagoAddiction #MensRecovery #GodSavedMyLife #SobrietyJourney#MentalHealth #JailToSober #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #MikeSupak #Unbreakable2413 #HopeReborn#OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
I Was Taking 10 Xanax Bars A Night At 17, Stabbed A Woman At 37 Weeks Pregnant & Sat On A Sidewalk Ready To Die | 11 Years Sober
May 3002:06:27Tap to summarizeCrystal Meliea grew up alone on 183 acres of North Carolina mountain property with a narcissist mother who left her unsupervised with music industry men in Los Angeles at 16. No protection. No parents. Just a bottle of Xanax she found in her mother's purse that made everything quiet for the first time in her life. By 19 she was running marijuana from Mexico to Texas to North Carolina on a massive scale. She was taking 10 Xanax bars in a single night — enough to black out most grown men. She was fighting so violently that police would call ahead and ask her to just turn herself in so they didn't have to find her. She went to jail three times in one week for physical violence alone. At 37 weeks pregnant she broke into a woman's house and stabbed her in the face with a broken beer bottle — leaving her with 40 stitches. Two weeks before her daughter was born the FBI, DEA and ATF swarmed her home. Then her daughter's father went to federal prison. She had her baby alone. And discovered opiates. What followed was years of IV drug use, meth, crack, halfway houses, relapses, a lesbian relationship that ended with a domestic battery charge, and finally — sitting on a sidewalk in Fort Lauderdale, watching buses go by, making the decision to walk in front of one. She went to detox the next day instead. And never looked back. Now 11 years sober, Crystal has two college degrees, ran a multimillion dollar insurance company, and is rebuilding her life with nothing but her daughter, her faith, and a story that should have ended on that sidewalk. 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 #11YearsSober #XanaxAddiction #HeroinRecovery #SoberMom #RecoveryIsPossible#AddictionRecovery #TraumaAndRecovery #SingleMomInRecovery #FaithAndRecovery #SoberLife #MentalHealth#DrugCartel #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #CrystalMeliea #SuicidalIdeation #GodSavedMyLife#OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
I Made My First Million On Wall Street At 28 & Was Broke & Addicted To Opiates By 30
May 2801:05:21Tap to summarizeTJ DelVecchio was a Division 1 baseball player at Providence College who walked onto Wall Street during the dot-com boom and made his first million dollars by 28. By 30 he was broke, $300,000 in debt, unloading boxes at FedEx in the middle of the night just to keep health insurance for his kids — and quietly becoming addicted to opioids. For years he held it all together on the outside. Wall Street lunches with pint glasses three quarters full of vodka. Parties in Miami. VIP sections. A lifestyle that looked like success and felt like a slow death. At his worst he was taking 6 to 10 thirty milligram Roxies a day — spending $5,000 a month on pills — while his ankles swelled, his kidneys ached, and his soul quietly disappeared. Then one night on a hotel balcony in Miami, he looked up at the sky and told his late father — if I don't stop right now, I'm never going to see my kids again. He flushed the pills the next morning. No rehab. No Suboxone. Six weeks of pure hell. And he never looked back. Now six years sober, TJ is remarried, living in Sarasota, building rental properties with his wife, and finally the man he always wanted to be. 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 #WallStreet #OpiateAddiction #SoberLife #6YearsSober #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery#FunctioningAddict #BaseballPlayer #FinancialRuin #MensRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalHealth#FaithAndRecovery #RiseAbovePodcast #KevinLanning #TJDelVecchio #WallStreetAddiction #ColdTurkeyDetox#OneMoreDay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
Inside A Functioning Mom's Secret Alcoholism | My 30-Year Battle With Alcoholism
May 2501:13:44Tap 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
Transcribe →
7-OH Pills Destroyed My Life | The SHOCKING Truth About 7-Hydroxymitragynine Addiction
May 2201:28:03Tap 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
Transcribe →
I Was Held Hostage By The Cartel In Mexico | Inside A College Addict's Spiral
May 2100:58:13Tap 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
Transcribe →