Welcome to the podcast! In case you are new here, my name is Arlina Allen and I am the founder of Sober Life School. I have been sober since 4/23/94 (which means I will be celebrating 30 years!) In that time I have been obsessed with self-help, spirituality, psychology, and behavior change.   And let’s not get it twisted, I did not do it alone. In fact, I have had many many helpers along the way including mentors, sponsors, professional therapists and lots of loving friends and family.   As a way to say thank you to them, I try to be as helpful as I can and pass along what was given ..read more

Welcome to the podcast!    Today I’ll be joined by Barb Nangle, who is going to give an absolute masterclass on how to recover with co-occuring addictions. We’re going to talk about OA, ACA, Coda, and go over some practices for setting boundaries, building self-worth and finding your true identity.    I’ll just note that Barb does more for her self-care than anyone I’ve ever met, I’m not even kidding. She’s incredible. So if you’re new to recovery, it might sound a little overwhelming, but just know that you don’t have to do everything that we talk about to start feeling be ..read more

Welcome to the podcast!    Today I’ll be joined by CEO and Founder Chandler Rogers of the Relay app. He’ll be sharing his story of overcoming addiction to pornography and how it led him to create a highly successful sobriety app to help people connect anonymously.   We’re going to talk about how we met, and how after I heard about their project, I decided to partner with them so I could connect with you!    I’m always reachable on social media, but not everyone wants to reach out that way. In fact, a lot of people either want to say anonymous or NEED to be anonymous be ..read more

You are going to hear from Angela Pugh today, host of The Addiction Unlimited Podcast and a woman in long term sobriety. In fact she just celebrated 18 years!   Before we jump in, I do have a couple of resources for you. For a loooong time… like almost 8 years, I’ve only had group support for women. The good news is now there is a new podcast, called The Self-Help Junkie Podcast. It’s for seekers, dreamers, hustlers and overachievers who want to get focused, take the actions that will help them reach their goals and connect with others, just like you!    We also have biweekly me ..read more

We have a special guest today, former NBA basketball player, Chris Herren. He will be sharing his story of going from a rising star in his community, to the risks he took in active addiction.  And just a quick note before we jump in. There are so many people I would love to invite onto the podcast that I know you’ll love. The first thing they do to see if this is a good use of their time, is look at the podcast ratings and reviews and check our IG followers.  So if you enjoy this podcast, could I ask you to leave us a 5 star rating and a review on Apple podcasts? It’s a zero cost way ..read more

My guest today has been sober for over 37 years. He has published several books including “Conscious Recovery, A Fresh Perspective On Addiction”. TJ is a featured thought-leader on wholehearted.org along with Dr. Gabor Maté and Marianne Williamson, and was given the honor of being ordained as an Agape minister by Dr. Michael Beckwith.   When I listened to the audible version of his book, I was intrigued by some of his ideas that challenged some of my own personal beliefs about 12 step programs. Ideas that imply that a dependency on anything outside ourselves is just another substitute for ..read more

We are brought to you today by The SHJ Patreon Membership, where seekers take action. If you have been listening to the podcast, you will have heard me talk about the new podcast that I just launched. It’s not just a podcast, but a community of people who truly want to make changes in their lives.  At the end of the day, we want you to have that feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that you fulfilled your purpose. Can you imagine how great that will feel?! Well that’s what we’re doing.  We know that the best way to make lasting change is to surround yourself with like minded pe ..read more

Today is going to be a continuation of a new project called The Self-Help Junkie Podcast. I thought about just making it a series on this podcast, but I decided it should be its own thing. I’ll still be publishing episodes here that are focused on addiction recovery, but just feel like after nearly 8 years, there is another podcast format I’d like to explore that has more of a community aspect to it.    That format will be to identify personal development topics like self-esteem, shadow work, manifestation with evidence based practices. We will talk about what they are, why they’re i ..read more

Welcome to the podcast. In case you’re new here, my name is Arlina and I’ll be your host.   Before we jump in, I am going to ask for your help. We have been really lucky to get some amazing guests, and I have a whole list of dream guests that I would love to invite. Experts that are in psychology, trauma therapy, spirituality, but also high profile guests like in sports, movies, and other podcasts.   But in order to get certain guests, we need to have a significant following and a lot of 5 star reviews. It’s the first thing they look at. So if you could take a moment to either leave ..read more

“I think when we get in that victim space, like it makes so much sense and certainly some people have had such horrific experiences, I can see why they would feel that way. But the truth is, that only holds you in that place.” Jason VanRuler   Today I’m speaking with Jason VanRuler. He is a licensed therapist, Coach, Speaker and Author of "Get Past Your Past, How Facing Your Broken Places Leads to True Connection". I had so much fun talking with Jason, he’s actually really funny, but we also covered a lot of ground in terms of finding practical solutions to the challenges a lot of us face ..read more