Safe Recovery Podcast LEAVING Alcoholics Anonymous cover art

Safe Recovery Podcast LEAVING Alcoholics Anonymous

Safe Recovery Podcast LEAVING Alcoholics Anonymous

By: Monica Richardson
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About this listen

Safe Recovery is a new series examining predatory behavior, power dynamics, and cultural issues inside 12 step meetings and the broader recovery industry.

Our mission is simple: Empowerment — not powerlessness.

This show explores modern, ethical, evidence-based, and spiritually diverse approaches to alcohol and drug overuse. We discuss alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous and traditional 12 step programs, while supporting authors, clinicians, and advocates who are creating new pathways to healing.

Safe Recovery highlights:

• Alternatives to AA
• Recovery without powerlessness
• SMART Recovery and cognitive-based approaches
• Moderation and harm reduction
• Secular and spiritual healing models
• Addiction treatment reform
• Protecting vulnerable people in recovery spaces

We believe people deserve informed choice.

Sobriety, moderation, or a different path entirely — empowerment means you choose what works for your life.

Americans deserve recovery models rooted in dignity, autonomy, accountability, and evidence — not shame or coercion.

Safe Recovery is about building a culture of informed recovery, personal responsibility, and real healing.

Copyright 2011-2026 Monica Richardson. All Rights Reserved Alternative & Complementary Medicine Hygiene & Healthy Living Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Michelle Dunbar, St Jude's Retreat

    Michelle Dunbar, St Jude's Retreat
    Mar 19 2026

    This episode was originally published in February 2013.

    Join us for an interview with President of St Judes Retreat, a non 12 step place to go for help with alcohol or drug problems.

    If you need to get away from your environment to get help, this might be the place for you. Abstinence and Moderation are options here.
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    59 mins
  • Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy Of An Epidemic

    Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy Of An Epidemic
    Mar 16 2026

    This episode was originally published in August 2012.

    Robert Whitaker is the author of four books: Mad in America, The Mapmaker's Wife, On the Laps of Gods and Anatomy of an Epidemic. His newspaper and magazine articles on the mentally ill and the pharmaceutical industry have garnered several national awards, including a George Polk Award for medical writing and a National Association of Science Writers Award for best magazine article. A series he cowrote for the Boston Globe on the abuse of mental patients in research settings was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.
    Show More Show Less
    59 mins
  • Mary Ellen Barnes and Ed Wilson from Non 12-Step Help

    Mary Ellen Barnes and Ed Wilson from Non 12-Step Help
    Mar 12 2026

    This episode was originally recorded in July 2012.

    Mary Ellen Barnes and Ed Wilson will join me for a 45 minute show discussing a truly non 12 step program they created.

    It is located in Palos Verdes.

    Show More Show Less
    44 mins
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