The Hopeaholics

Noel Arevalo returns to the show to talk about three things she's been sitting with: how your breakthrough gives the people closest to you permission to do the same, how deep alcohol gets woven into your identity without you ever noticing, and how the people, places, and patterns that were dragging you down start to fall away naturally once you surrender the thing that was holding it all together. For 15 years Noel Arevalo cycled through bender weekends while running a fitness coaching business and telling herself she had it under control. Two and a half years ago she finally let it go. Since then, her brother and older sister have both gotten sober. She talks about what she does today to stay grounded without a 12-step program, and what it actually feels like to say "I am so proud of myself" and have it mean something for the first time, and what do you do when someone you love looks too far gone to everyone around them?

Breaking A Generational Addiction Curse w/ Noel Arevalo | The Hopeaholics Podcast #355

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Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction. 

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com 

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics 

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#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie

Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:04:19 - The 3 things she came here to share
0:05:59 - The bender cycle that started at 13
0:07:01 - Addiction on both sides of her family
0:11:57 -  People, places, and patterns that sabotage you start to fall away
0:13:52 - Chad: meth was his drug of choice; the one promise of NA is freedom
0:20:39 - The person who went sober with her for 10 months — and what happened after
0:23:38 - What she does today: cold plunge, church, gym — no 12 steps
0:37:09 - There's someone very close to her currently struggling
0:38:31 - "Nobody is too far gone"
0:44:51 - Chad's his mom was scared to come to his house — she thought they'd find him dead
0:51:19 - "I'm in this chair because people have prayed for me my entire life"
0:57:27 - What we tell ourselves we'd never say out loud to another person
1:04:42 - "Your mind quits before your body does"
1:06:01 - Closing

(TW ED) My ED Caused Heart Failure & Almost Killed Me w/ Kate Avnaim | The Hopeaholics Podcast #354

Kate Avnaim's father was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was just 6 months old. When Kate was 13 they found it had spread through his whole brain. He chose quality time over more rounds of chemo. She was furious at him but she just didn't understand yet. He passed away and her mom was laid off right after, leaving Kate stuck in a permanent feeling that there was nothing in her life she could control. But she found 1 thing she could control and her eating disorder started shortly after. 

When her mom took her to the doctor, Kate hid it, wore a weighted vest under her clothes to fake the scale. They still knew something was wrong. They couldn't draw blood from her arm. She was diagnosed with bradycardia, a dangerously low heart rate, with fallouts happening in her sleep. Doctors told her mom on the spot: she needs to go to the hospital right now. No going home first. No packing a bag. The average hospital stay for what she had is one to two weeks. Kate was there for 35 days, on complete bed rest. After that, an online recovery program at home for 8 hours a day for about a month.

Kate has since picked up training and has fallen in love with helping others see the potential within themselves and to hopefully be symbol of hope for others who are battling the same things she did growing up.

National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline — 1-866-662-1235

Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics 
https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics

Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!

Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction. 

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com 

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics 

Our Merch: 
https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com

#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie

06:48 — Dad diagnosed with brain cancer
07:53 — Remove the tumor and lose everything, or 7 more years
10:43 — The beginning of losing control.
11:11 — Mom laid off right after his death
15:36 — No prior body image issues
17:22 — The eating disorder started
17:51 — Wore a weighted vest to fake the scale at the doctor's office
18:34 — No blood could be drawn from her arm
19:29 — Bradycardia: dangerously low heart rate
21:24 — Hating the mirror, isolating from everyone
21:44 — 35 days in the hospital
22:48 — Online recovery program at home
23:13 — Feeling proud of her body for the first time
27:05 — ED are addiction. Once you start, you cannot stop
29:50 — Screaming at anyone who tried to help.
38:07 — Relationship with God
39:52 — Got mad at God after dad died
50:07 — Eight months recovered
52:09 — What would my dad be thinking watching me in the hospital?
54:29 — God gave you this body to use
56:03 — Exercise as a blessing instead of a punishment
1:00:22 — What would you tell someone silently struggling right now?

We Fell In Love Thanks To Sobriety w/ Nic And Ant (@nic_n_ant) | The Hopeaholics Podcast #353

Nicole and Anthony one of the most recognized and popular sober/recovery couples in social media. They met in a recovery meeting in 2018. She had six years and he was 60 days out of detox. His first year clean was a mess. Lies, cheating, not working a program. Both going through divorces simultaneously, his kids hating Nicole, his ex-wife's family leaving homewrecker comments in the comment section for years. They broke up and kept finding their way back. 

Nicole got clean at 21. Before that: 92 pounds, homeless, sheets over every mirror because she couldn't look at herself, months in the same blue dress without showering. Five arrests starting at 19 — selling drugs on felony probation, assault with a deadly weapon, possession. Stealing painkillers off a dying aunt on hospice and still not stopping. Anthony's path started with a work injury and a prescription. Heroin, then speed, then the needle. He took his son to baseball practice, dropped him off, and sat in the car getting high. He left his family mid-vacation in Montauk, drove four hours home to pawn the Rolex his wife had saved up to buy him, and went on a two-day run. When he came back, she told him: get help or you'll never see these kids again. 

Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics 
https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics

Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!

Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction. 

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com 

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics 

Our Merch: 
https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com

#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie

00:00 — Cold open
01:38 — Introducing Nick and Ant
06:15 — How they met
12:47 — 11/11/22: the wedding date and the angel number
14:25 — Co-parenting: from hatred to "we love each other today"
15:57 — His kids found out through TikTok before he told anyone
17:53 — Nicole steals Donna's number and reaches out three times
25:26 — Meetings versus actually working the steps
33:01 — Nicole's story: approaching 14 years, 22nd birthday in rehab
37:48 — From the cheerleading squad to selling drugs in the projects at 3am
41:47 — How she met her ex-husband: both smoking crack
44:24 — Got everything she thought she wanted. Was miserable.
50:08 — Anthony's story: 43rd birthday in rehab, now 52
54:37 — Work injury to first prescription addiction
57:44 — The slide to heroin
58:59 — Going to work to steal
59:46 — Dropping his son at baseball practice and getting high in the car
1:00:25 — Left his family in Montauk, drove four hours home to pawn the Rolex
1:02:19 — In detox, calling his wife: "I just want to get high one more time"
1:04:43 — Wife hands him the phone. Bed opens Monday. His eyes lit up.
1:06:11 — The day the obsession lifted
1:20:11 — Why they went public about their recovery
1:30:43 — The anonymity question
1:35:15 — Recovery coaches bashing 12-step and charging money
1:39:59 — What would you tell your past self?
1:42:18 — Work a program or we're not getting married

Jess Seiwert grew up in Kansas. He was abused at home from age 5 to 12. After 9/11 he joined the Army at 18, made sergeant, survived an IED blast, and came home with a Purple Heart and an Oxycontin addiction. One day he woke up in county jail charged with first-degree attempted murder and kidnapping after his best friend slept with his wife while he was passed out. He walked out with 14 felony convictions, seven rehab attempts, and 3.5 years in county jail across eight Kansas counties during Covid. He now has 1,000 days sober next month.

This episode covers his entire journey. The IED that started the pill spiral. The gang he joined within three months in prison. Coming home to Kansas and going straight into meth distribution. Gambling away his drug money at the casino, three Christmases in a row while his family was at home. Using his Purple Heart military ID to run $200,000 in forgery across three states. One childhood mentor named Bob Timmons who bailed him out, got robbed by Jess, and kept coming back anyway. Getting high ten days into court-ordered treatment. And the moment he finally threw up his hands and let God in

Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics 
https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics

Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!

Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction. 

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com 

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics 

Our Merch: 
https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com

#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie

0:21 Intro
2:14 Gambling: the addiction that swallowed everything at the end
4:07 Father arrested for child rape 
6:45 Growing up angry
7:05 9/11 happens right after graduation. Joins the Army
8:43 First drink: the first time he ever felt normal
10:29 IED hits him + Purple Heart
11:04 Comes home on Oxycontin
13:26 Second marriage. Gets her hooked on pills.
15:00 Wakes up with 1st degree attempted murder, kidnapping
20:29 Crowley Correctional: in a gang within three months
21:47 High on meth, headbutts his parole officer. Back to prison.
25:38 Charlie Kirk assassination
38:49 Forgery across three states: $200,000
40:18 3 1/2 years in 8 county jails during Covid
41:37 Using his Purple Heart military ID to forge checks
43:11 Meets his 3rd wife in county jail 
44:11 Gets out. Uses within 24 hours. She gets pregnant that night.
48:47 120 meetings in 90 days. Fires his sponsor at 3 months clean
50:04 Peer mentor in Kansas City / Social work.
50:22 Almost 1,000 days sober. 43 years old
51:19 Son with autism doing great. Rebuilding with his oldest two kids.
1:01:03 Why recovery has to be the foundation on the hardest days
1:10:34 Veterans and the VA
1:12:21 Veteran mental health access
1:17:36 "25 years of alcoholism. 15 years of addiction. Why would I give up on anybody?"

Gregg Champion's father was killed in a head-on collision with another drunk driver when Gregg was 4. He grew up angry, filled that with alcohol and attention, and spent his 20s collecting DUIs, assaults, a marijuana trafficking operation out of a van, and two arrests in the same 24-hour stretch at Mardi Gras. He got sober at 25, went back and finished his ASU degree sober with a 4.0, sits on the Arizona State Alumni Leadership Council, taught entrepreneurship at USC, and is 30+ years sober.

This episode covers the childhood trauma he carried alone for decades. The night at he woke up in a jail cell, found a Catholic church in the phone book, and sat down in front of a priest named Father Bill — who turned out to be his stepfather's sponsor — and who sent him to his first meeting. He built Startup Recovery and Wellness over nine years and three sober living homes in the Pacific Palisades. In that same stretch he also lost his mom to Alzheimer's, his sister to suicide, went bankrupt in 2008, and watched the January 7, 2025 fires burn all three houses to the ground. He's still standing.

Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics 
https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholics

Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!

Visit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.com
If you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction. 

Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:
https://www.infinitigroupllc.com 

Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics 

Our Merch: 
https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.com

#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarie

0:00 Cold open
0:38 Intro
1:07 Gregg Champion
7:14 31 years sober and still working on it
10:26 The seven-year itch: three years without AA and no sponsor
13:42 Being a girl dad in recovery — why he shares it out loud
17:17 His father was killed in a drunk-on-drunk collision
18:01 Becoming what killed his father
18:49 Attention as the first substitute
20:23 A secret he carried since he was eight
22:33 Age 13 to 25: Arizona State, six credits short, and a rampage
23:16 Going back to finish his degree sober now on the ASU Alumni Leadership Council
24:15 Lost sister to suicide, mom to Alzheimer's, bankrupt in 2008, Palisades fires
24:38 Getting sober at 25: DUIs, assaults, two Mardi Gras arrests
29:13 Running weed out east
32:20 Waking up in a jail cell and hearing a voice say his name
33:17 He finds the nearest Catholic church in the phone book
34:21 Father Bill
36:20 Father Bill turned out to be his stepfather's sponsor
41:36 His daughter asks: "Papa, have you ever been to jail?"
47:25 Teaching entrepreneurship at USC
57:48 The TED Talk he bombed
59:11 Couples counseling: finding the therapist with 25 years in Al-Anon
1:00:37 What year ten of sobriety demands: going a level deeper
1:06:34 The Recovery Playbook: sober, now what?
1:08:22 The thing he relapsed over but never fully faced
1:15:35 Breaking the cycle: giving his daughters the life he didn't have