Podcast
Unmasking Sobriety and Mental Health
Hosted by Louise Barnett · EN
Welcome to The Unmasking Sobriety and Mental Health Podcast, where we are all “Completely Fine.”
I’m your host, Louise Barnett—author of Tainted Love: A Bipolar Memoir and a Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach.
I live with Bipolar I and found sobriety in 2021. Since then, I’ve been trying to figure out this whole thing called life—honestly, imperfectly, and out loud.
Join me for candid conversations with people willing to go beyond the mask. Together, we explore mental health, sobriety, identity, and what it really means to survive.
Not being ok, may just be "completely fine."
28episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
121. The High-Achiever’s Mask: Radical Awareness with Ellen Frazier
2w ago01:00:17Tap to summarizeWhat happens when you’re #1 on the leaderboard but #0 in your own heart?Ellen Frazier spent over 20 years perfecting the role of the "Powerhouse." As a top-tier mortgage professional and entrepreneur, she knew exactly how to perform, how to excel, and how to win. But for decades, that success was fueled by a "forced confidence" and a sophisticated relationship with alcohol that allowed her to stay in the race while ignoring her own soul.In this episode, the founder of Booze Free Babes pulls the mask off the high-achieving lifestyle. We explore the dangerous intersection of "Success" and "Survival," and how Ellen finally chose radical self-awareness over social performance.Inside the conversation:The "Star" Program: How being programmed for excellence at a young age created a lifelong need to "excel" even in rehab.Sophisticated Lies: The specific ways high-performing women use status, diet, and busy-ness to deny their addiction.The Gender Gap in Power: Moving away from being "directed" by men in recovery to finding your own agency within a female sisterhood.Self-Parenting: The moment Ellen stopped looking for external validation and started believing she was worthy of her own protection.The ROI of Sobriety: Why quitting drinking was the ultimate business move for her clarity, her relationships, and her bank account.This is a deep dive into who you actually are when you stop performing and start living.Connect with Ellen Frazier:Website: EllenFrazier.comInstagram: @boozefreebabeschsFacebook: ecfrazierLinkedIn: ellen-frazierTikTok: @theellenfrazier
Transcribe →120. Manic About Healing: Rewriting the Bipolar Narrative with Ana
May 400:56:36Tap to summarize"I am not going to end up like this."In 2006, Ana sat in a psychiatric ward, clouded by the haze of medication and the weight of a Bipolar 1 diagnosis. As she looked at the walls around her, she didn't just see a hospital; she saw her mother’s life—decades of suicidal ideation, depression, and a future dictated by a "permanent" chemical imbalance.In that moment, Ana made a choice that defied medical convention: She refused to accept that her diagnosis was a life sentence.In this episode, we sit down with Ana, a Bipolar Healing Coach who has moved from the trauma of 10 hospitalizations to a life of stability and self-mastery. We dive deep into the parts of bipolar disorder people rarely talk about: the hallucinations, the grandiosity, and the terrifying reality of setting a bedroom on fire during a manic episode.The Root Cause: Why bipolar is often a symptom of a severely dysregulated nervous system and unresolved childhood trauma.The Myth of the "Cure": What Ana tried (energy healing, homeopathy, yoga) and why she eventually looked toward neuroscience and polyvagal theory.The Power of Partnership: How finding a secure attachment helped her stabilize and heal her abandonment wounds.The "Nervous System" Shift: How understanding neuroplasticity allowed her to catch mania and depression before they took over.Medication & Tapering: A candid look at her experience with Lithium and the journey of training the brain to stay on the tracks.Ana is now dismantling the belief that you can only "manage" bipolar. She is living proof that through somatic experiencing and shadow work, you can rebuild your relationship with yourself and find true peace.Facebook: Bipolar Healing Coach AnaInstagram: @bipolar.healing.coach"Healing isn't just about fixing what's broken; it's about grieving the stories we were told so we can finally write our own."
Transcribe →119. Anonymous' Story: Two Ways Out: Breaking the Silence Around Suicide
Apr 2701:01:46Tap to summarizeShe shares her lived experience with PTSD, dissociation, and suicidal thinking — and the moment she realized there were only two ways out.Today’s guest is the founder of My Truth Memoir Writing Services, where she helps others tell their stories with honesty, compassion, and courage.But her work didn’t begin as a profession. It began as survival.After a tragic loss in childhood and years of silently carrying trauma, she was later diagnosed with PTSD and panic disorder — conditions that shaped her inner world while she continued to build a life on the outside. For more than twenty years, she worked as a special education teacher, raised three children, and did what so many people do: she kept going.Until she couldn’t anymore.In this deeply personal conversation, she shares the lived reality of dissociation, panic, generational trauma, and the moment she realized she believed there were only two ways out.Her memoir, Two Ways Out: A Memoir of Then and Now, was written to break the silence around suicide and normalize the conversations so many people are afraid to have.We talk about what it means to lose yourself — and how you begin to find your way back.This episode is about survival. About truth. And about choosing to stay.If you’ve ever struggled in silence, or loved someone who has, this conversation will remind you that you are not alone.
Transcribe →118. A Parent Took My 12-Year-Old to a Dive Bar—What Would You Do?
Apr 2000:18:54Tap to summarizeMy 12-year-old daughter ended up at a dive bar—and I didn’t know until it was too late.In this episode, I share what happened, how I handled it, and the bigger questions it raises about parenting, trust, and letting go.No judgment. No perfect answers.Just the reality of navigating moments that don’t come with a playbook.
Transcribe →117. Palliative Care: When the Outcome is Decided
Apr 1300:55:32Tap to summarizePalliative Care: When the Outcome Is Already DecidedWhat happens when healing is no longer the goal?In this episode, I sit down with Anne, a licensed psychotherapist and palliative care social worker, to explore the emotional and psychological realities of end-of-life care—where addiction, mental health, and dignity intersect in ways we rarely talk about.Through powerful real-life stories, we unpack what it means to support someone when the outcome is already known… when sobriety isn’t always possible… and when the focus shifts from fighting to acceptance.This conversation challenges everything we think we know about recovery, control, and what it means to truly care for someone.If you’ve ever struggled with letting go, with needing to “fix,” or with redefining what healing looks like—this episode will stay with you.Get in Touch with Anne:TikTok: AnnefrontlmftWebsite: www.annefront.comSubstack: Annefrontlmft.substack.com
Transcribe →116. The Other Side of Bipolar: The war inside a “stable” mind
Mar 3000:23:59Tap to summarizeToday, on World Bipolar Awareness Day, Tainted Love: A Bipoplar Memoir has a cover.It captures something I don’t even fully have words for yet.Presale is live. 🤍100% of presale revenue is being donated to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)—and I’m personally matching it.Link to Amazonwww.louisebarnett.com March 30 is International Bipolar Awareness Day, a day dedicated to increasing understanding of a condition that is often misunderstood.When people think of bipolar disorder, they tend to imagine dramatic extremes—manic highs or devastating lows. But there is another side that people rarely talk about.In this episode, Louise reads a powerful excerpt from her memoir about the quieter, more complicated reality of living with bipolar while medicated and seemingly stable. Three years into treatment, standing beside the steadiest partner she has ever known, she finds herself confronting a difficult truth: sometimes the hardest battle isn’t surviving the storm—it’s learning how to live in the calm without destroying it.This episode explores the internal war many people with bipolar disorder experience, even when everything on the outside appears steady.
Transcribe →115. Terry's Story: Breaking the Groundhog Day Loop
Mar 1600:49:39Tap to summarizeBreaking the Groundhog Day Loop with Terry | Walking SoberWhat if recovery begins with something as simple as showing up for yourself?In this episode, I’m joined by Terry, the founder of Walking Sober, a growing community built around the idea that healing doesn’t have to be complicated—it can start with putting one foot in front of the other.After seven years of sobriety, Terry began hosting Sunday morning walks along the downtown hike-and-bike trail in Austin, Texas. There’s no pressure, no fixing, and no lectures—just movement, conversation, and the quiet power of being alongside others who are choosing an alcohol-free life.Our conversation explores how drinking can quietly become a habit loop we barely notice—until one day we do. Terry shares how journaling helped him begin to see the patterns in his own life, the moment awareness cracked open, and why the movie Groundhog Day became a powerful metaphor for the cycle so many of us find ourselves living.We talk about the rebellion that can come with early sobriety, the influence of voices like Holly Whitaker and Laura McKowen, and the tipping point when you realize: whatever those people have in their lives, I want some of that too.Terry also reflects on childhood experiences, grief, therapy, and why recovery is often about much more than alcohol itself. Over time, he began to build a recovery practice that worked for him—one rooted in curiosity, movement, and learning how to get back up when life knocks you down.Because, as Terry says, the goal isn’t perfection.It’s practice.And one day, almost without noticing, you wake up and realize you’re free.In this episode we talk about:How habits form without our awarenessThe moment you start to see the pain in your own patternsWhy Groundhog Day is such a powerful recovery metaphorFinding inspiration from people a few steps aheadCreating space in your life for the good things to growWhy recovery is about more than just alcoholWhat “Keep Walking” really meansLace up your shoes and come walk with us.Get in touch with Terry: Website: WalkingSober.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@walkingsoberFacebook: facebook.com/walkingsoberclub
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Two Ways Out: Breaking the Silence Around Suicide | A Conversation with Laura
Mar 901:01:46Tap to summarizeLaura shares her lived experience with PTSD, dissociation, and suicidal thinking — and the moment she realized there were only two ways out.Today’s guest is Laura, founder of My Truth Memoir Writing Services, where she helps others tell their stories with honesty, compassion, and courage.But Laura’s work didn’t begin as a profession. It began as survival.After a tragic loss in childhood and years of silently carrying trauma, Laura was later diagnosed with PTSD and panic disorder — conditions that shaped her inner world while she continued to build a life on the outside. For more than twenty years, she worked as a special education teacher, raised three children, and did what so many people do: she kept going.Until she couldn’t anymore.In this deeply personal conversation, Laura shares the lived reality of dissociation, panic, generational trauma, and the moment she realized she believed there were only two ways out.Her memoir, Two Ways Out: A Memoir of Then and Now, was written to break the silence around suicide and normalize the conversations so many people are afraid to have.We talk about what it means to lose yourself — and how you begin to find your way back.This episode is about survival. About truth. And about choosing to stay.If you’ve ever struggled in silence or loved someone who has, this conversation will remind you that you are not alone.
Transcribe →114. The Day I Woke Up Behind Bars
Feb 2100:28:48Tap to summarizeMarch, 2015.Days after standing on the edge of an overpass, I woke up in a psychiatric hospital with no memory of how I got there — and no idea my life was about to change forever.In this episode, I share the story of my psychiatric hospitalization, the memories that resurfaced while I was there, and the moment a doctor finally gave a name to the chaos I had lived with for most of my life: Bipolar I disorder.This is the story of what it feels like to break — and what it feels like to finally be seen.If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re broken or why your mind feels like it’s working against you, this episode is for you.You are not alone. And you are not beyond help.
Transcribe →113. Cole's Story: Only OK to Be Gay If I Was High
Feb 901:14:38Tap to summarizeCole spent over two decades caught in eating disorders and substance addiction before finding lasting freedom. Today, he works in Customer Success and Brand Strategy, coaches competitive gymnastics, and serves as a CCAR-certified Recovery Professional. He’s also the founder of Life Unadulterated, a platform helping gay men use sobriety as leverage to build meaningful, fulfilling lives.In this episode, we explore how identity, shame, and addiction can become deeply intertwined — especially within queer communities. Cole opens up about childhood bullying, body image, chem sex, and the role substances played in allowing him to feel temporarily safe in his own skin.Rather than focusing on abstinence alone, this conversation centers on life design: how recovery becomes sustainable when you stop trying to escape your life and start intentionally creating one you actually want to stay present for.
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