Recovery Dialogues and Sober Stories

Recovery Dialogues and Sober Stories

Recovery Dialogues & Sober Stories (RDSS) is a mental health and addiction recovery podcast hosted by Antonio Matta that explores recovery as more than symptom management—it’s a self-directed process of reaching your potential through deliberate life changes. Each episode connects lived experience and clinical insight while confronting cultural and systemic forces shaping who gets well and why. RDSS is where compassion meets clarity and conversations challenge assumptions, surface overlooked truths, and build momentum to stay.

Episodes

Building an Addiction Treatment System That Works (with Dr. Suzette Glasner)

October 10, 2025 • 43 mins
UCLA addiction scientist Dr. Suzette Glasner joins Antonio to turn recovery from a rare headline into routine care—how to scale MOUD access, bring families into treatment, and fix the metrics that fail patients. Building on her exclusive conversation with Beverly Vance Aikins (Vice President JD Vance’s mother), she lays out urgent, evidence-based steps to make treatment accessible, humane, and effective.
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Rewiring Recovery - Tools, Truth, and Hope

September 20, 2025 • 14 mins
Recovery isn’t a montage. In this Recovery Month episode, Antonio Matta names the Paradox of Control and the quiet shift toward nonlinear, pace-yourself healing—then models a brief “Dear Day-One Me” note and walks through five 10-minute neuroplasticity tools (Timer, Tactile, Breath, Words, Walk) you can use today. Skeptical? This blend of lived experience and evidence offers a kinder map, immediate felt wins, and proof that recover...
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How Does EMDR Work?

September 7, 2025 • 13 mins
Curious about EMDR beyond the hype? Antonio Matta breaks down what actually happens before and during reprocessing, tackles five real community questions—from safety and side effects to complex PTSD, dissociation, and addiction—and weaves therapist Victoria De Paula’s (www.victoriadepaula.com) insights to separate myths from evidence. No prescriptions here, just clear, research-backed guidance so you can decide whether EMDR is wort...
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When "Trying Everything" Still Hurts

August 29, 2025 • 10 mins
A private letter arrived that mirrors my own season of struggle, so I explore what it means to “try everything” and still feel alone—while honoring the writer’s boundaries and the power of consent. This solo conversation is my public response to that pain, meant for the listener who wrote in (and anyone who hears themselves here), offering one steady, self-directed step instead of a shiny fix. If you’re stuck between effort and rel...
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Skilled Trades for Recovery (The Follow Up Bonus Mini)

August 15, 2025 • 8 mins
A returning sponsor sparks a timely conversation about how meaningful work can anchor recovery. Antonio explores the link between employment, mental health, and housing needs, drawing from real voices in online forums and evidence-based models like Individual Placement and Support. From the skilled trades to any role that offers purpose, structure, and fair pay, this episode asks: Who gets to build—and how can building help us heal...
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How the Skilled Trades Can Fortify Recovery

August 7, 2025 • 10 mins
Can building with your hands rebuild your mind? This episode explores how trades like carpentry, welding, and plumbing offer a path to mental health recovery. Antonio Matta and Christopher Pollock of TheraVize uncover how hands-on work—with its structure, skill mastery, and tangible results—reduces depression and anxiety, and boosts self-efficacy. Hear stories of transformation and learn how organizations can create safe environmen...
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Coping with Overwhelm and Low Mood in Recovery

August 1, 2025 • 11 mins
Feeling overwhelmed or persistently down in your recovery journey? You're not alone. Antonio Matta explores how emotional overwhelm and low moods can impact recovery, featuring therapist Erica Schwartzberg from Downtown Somatic Therapy, NYC, who shares mindfulness-based, somatic strategies to ground yourself, navigate intense feelings, and build resilience without judgment.
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The Evolutionary Psychology of Pain and Protection

July 18, 2025 • 18 mins
Why do we shut down when we’re hurting—and why do we sometimes blame others for the pain we can’t face in ourselves? In this solo episode, Antonio Matta delves into the evolutionary origins of two common defense mechanisms: withdrawal and projection. Through research, reflection, and the wisdom of recovery, we learn how ancient survival strategies still shape our emotional lives—and how self-awareness can begin to set us free.
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Facing Recovery Anxiety and the Lost Self After Trauma

June 25, 2025 • 13 mins
What makes recovery so intimidating—and why can trauma leave us feeling like strangers to ourselves? Antonio tackles listener questions about the comfort of old pain, the science behind derealization, and practical ways to reconnect with your sense of self.
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Deep Dive Response to a Listener on Pornography, Attraction and the Modern Man

June 6, 2025 • 6 mins
In this candid bonus mini-episode, Antonio Matta tackles a listener’s provocative take on the connection between pornography addiction, modern beauty standards, and shifting cultural expectations. From Janis Joplin to contemporary icons like Lizzo, Antonio unpacks how evolutionary biology, socioeconomic pressures, and loneliness intertwine to shape attraction, intimacy, and addiction. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation on...
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Deep Dive Response to a Listener on Pornography, Attraction and the Modern Man

June 6, 2025 • 6 mins
In this candid bonus mini-episode, Antonio Matta tackles a listener’s provocative take on the connection between pornography addiction, modern beauty standards, and shifting cultural expectations. From Janis Joplin to contemporary icons like Lizzo, Antonio unpacks how evolutionary biology, socioeconomic pressures, and loneliness intertwine to shape attraction, intimacy, and addiction. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation on...
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Unmasking Porn Addiction, Emotional Isolation and the Pressure to Be a Man

June 2, 2025 • 58 mins

Porn addiction hides in the shadows of masculinity and cultural silence, leaving many men to struggle in isolation. In this episode, we explore how emotional suppression, shame, and societal expectations fuel porn addiction—and how redefining masculinity can lead to real recovery. Listen as lived experience and clinical insights reveal what it takes to break the silence and heal.

Features clinical expert: Adam Wick,  LPCC, LADC-S, C...

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The Forgoten Embrace - A Mental Health Month Reflection

May 27, 2025 • 9 mins
What happens when the truth we run from is the very thing that sets us free? In this special Mental Health Month reflection, Antonio Matta shares a raw, poetic piece from his book Love Is in the Eye of the Beholder, followed by intimate afterthoughts on emotional honesty, trauma, and recovery. A meditative journey through memory, pain, and the quiet return to self.
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A Mental Health Month Reflection on Trauma

May 9, 2025 • 13 mins
What if healing begins with being heard? In this bonus solo episode, Antonio Matta shares a raw, poetic excerpt from his micro-memoir Born Premature Loved Overdue. Through spoken word and lived experience, he reflects on complex trauma, survivor’s guilt, and the silent battles many carry unseen. This is a quiet offering—for anyone learning to live with their scars and reimagine what healing might truly mean. 🎧 Press play to witn...
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Anatomy of Sadnes - A Mental Health Awareness Month Reflection

May 2, 2025 • 5 mins
At thirteen, I wrote Anatomy of Sadness—a poem that mapped depression onto the human body. In this special episode for Mental Health Awareness Month, I revisit that piece through a digital story and reflective commentary on how we carry pain, survive it, and eventually reshape it into purpose. This is a raw and intimate meditation on mental anguish, memory, and the quiet power of healing. Even in silence, recovery is still writing...
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Volunteers With City Voices’ Mental Health Buddy Program, the Friendship Squad, Transforms Lives

February 28, 2025 • 21 mins
Loneliness can be as painful as addiction—but connection is part of the cure. In this episode, Antonio Matta sits down with Dan Frey, Executive Director of City Voices, to explore The Friendship Squad, a peer-support initiative bringing healing through companionship. Together, they discuss how meaningful relationships can reduce isolation, foster resilience, and become a foundation for lasting recovery. 🎧 Tune in to discover the...
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Faith and Recovery: Can Spirituality Help Heal?

February 17, 2025 • 67 mins
Can faith be a force for psychological healing? In this soul-stirring episode, lived experience experts share how spirituality anchored them through addiction and mental health crises, while clinicians examine how belief, gratitude, and meaning-making enhance recovery alongside evidence-based care. 🎧 Listen in to explore the intersection of faith and therapy—and how inner belief can help transform pain into purpose.
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Beyond the Diagnosis: The Human Behind the Label

January 11, 2025 • 47 mins
What’s beyond the diagnosis? In this powerful episode, lived experience experts and clinical voices come together to explore how mental health and addiction labels can both shape and limit identity. Through candid stories and expert insight, we examine how recovery challenges stigma—and becomes a path to reclaiming one’s potential. 🎧 Tune in to rethink the role of diagnosis and discover how healing starts with seeing the whole pe...
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Recovery Rewind: Deepening the Journey into Healthy Habits and Self-Care

November 23, 2024 • 26 mins
Can small, healthy habits lay the foundation for long-term recovery? In this bonus episode, Antonio Matta revisits transformative insights from Season Two’s debut, featuring reflections from lived experience expert Richard and health and wellness coach Isabelle Wettergren. Together, they explore how mindfulness, movement, boundaries, and supportive relationships all play a powerful role in brain healing and personal growth. With a...
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Continuing the Exploration of Dual Diagnosis and Resilience in the LGBTQIA+ Community

November 4, 2024 • 15 mins
How does identity impact the recovery journey? In this special bonus episode, Antonio Matta revisits highlights from his Season Two conversation with certified substance use disorder counselor Daniel Ingersoll, focusing on the unique mental health and addiction challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ individuals. Together, they explore the effects of minority stress, co-occurring disorders, and the need for culturally competent, affirming ca...
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