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 Was A Teacher With Two DUIs | 30 Years of Alcoholism & Finding Sobriety
May 1900:57:26Tap 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
Transcribe →
I Was Ordering Fentanyl Off The Dark Web In College | Gambling, Xanax & How I Got Sober
May 1801:20:39Tap 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
Transcribe →
I Did Neurofeedback for Anxiety, Stress & PTSD — Here's What Happened | Compassion Behavioral Health
May 1700:30:08Tap 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
Transcribe →
He Overdosed, Died 3 Times & Woke Up an Amputee | Now He Has 14 Years Sober
May 1601:16:38Tap 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
Transcribe →
From Eating Disorder to 30 Years in Recovery: Trauma, EMDR & Healing
May 1500:58:15Tap 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
Transcribe →
She Married a Drug Dealer in Vegas While Running From Cops | Cocaine Addiction, a Federal Raid & Getting Sober
May 1400:51:37Tap 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
Transcribe →
Throwing Up Blood & Still Drinking | Stage 4 Cirrhosis, Liver Transplant & 19 Months Sober
May 1201:07:04Tap 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
Transcribe →
I Survived Iraq…Then Crystal Meth Nearly Destroyed My Life | 5 Felonies, Combat Trauma & Finding Sobriety
May 1001:07:23Tap to summarizeMarine Corps veteran Spencer Jones opens up about surviving combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, battling trauma after leaving the military, and falling into a devastating crystal meth addiction that led to five felonies and complete chaos. After serving over 20 years in the Marines, Spencer struggled with the loss of structure, identity, and purpose once civilian life began. What started as partying quickly spiraled into addiction, arrests, and rock bottom. Today, Spencer is over 3 years sober and now helps others in recovery through his work at Compassion Behavioral Health. In this episode, Spencer shares: Combat trauma and surviving IED attacks in Iraq The mental health struggles veterans face after service How crystal meth addiction took over his life Getting arrested and facing 5 felonies Veterans Court and rebuilding his life Finding purpose through sobriety and helping others recover Spencer now works at Compassion Behavioral Health, the sponsor of Rise Above, where he helps veterans and others struggling with addiction and mental health challenges find recovery and purpose again. 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 #AddictionRecovery #MarineVeteran #Sobriety #CrystalMeth #MentalHealth #RecoveryJourney #PTSD #Veterans #RiseAbovePodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
Inside a Heroin Addict’s BRUTAL Lifestyle | Joining a Gang, Attempted Murder, Prison & Sobriety
May 902:04:26Tap to summarizeRobert Cruz shares his unbelievable story of addiction, gang violence, prison, armed robbery, and ultimately redemption. After losing his brother at 13, Robert turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain. What started with marijuana eventually spiraled into heroin addiction, gang life, violent crime, prison sentences, and multiple arrests. Robert opens up about being charged with attempted murder, serving years in prison, robbing people to feed his addiction, and hitting rock bottom after realizing how far heroin had taken him. He also shares the powerful moment that changed everything and how he’s now approaching 16 years sober. This is one of the rawest addiction and recovery stories ever shared on Rise Above. 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 #addiction #heroinaddiction #sobriety #prisonstory #recovery #ganglife #mentalhealth #riseabovepodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
I Was Drinking a Bottle of Vodka a Day at 20 | Inside a Young Alcoholic’s DOUBLE Life
May 701:04:03Tap to summarizeAlkhuzama Zaini shares her powerful story of alcoholism, blackouts, college addiction, mental health struggles, and finding sobriety at a young age. From moving to America from Saudi Arabia, to drinking a bottle of vodka a day at ASU, hiding her addiction from family, terrifying withdrawals, and ultimately rebuilding her life through recovery, this is a raw and honest conversation about Gen Z addiction, validation, isolation, and healing. This episode discusses alcoholism, mental health, blackouts, recovery, relapse, therapy, family dynamics, and the reality of getting sober young. Follow Alkhuzama: TikTok & Instagram: @alkhuzamazaini 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 #sobriety #alcoholism #recovery #mentalhealth #sober #alcoholaddiction #genz #recoveryjourney #podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →