My Last Relapse: Addiction Recovery & Sobriety Stories

Judge Wayne Mallia went straight from law school into the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office, working there for 13 years and spending nine as First Assistant DA. He was later elected as a district court judge in Galveston County, where he presided over criminal cases, created the county’s first specialty court, STEP, and helped start a drug court.

After leaving the regular bench, he became a senior district court judge, continuing to serve as a visiting judge while shifting his focus to programs for defendants with mental illness. At the request of County Judge Mark Henry, he star...

David became a father at 18, finished college while working full-time, entered Nissan's executive training program, and then built a successful marketing agency serving plastic surgeons.

As his success grew, so did a hard-partying lifestyle driven by cocaine and alcohol addiction, and he drifted from his faith. After suffering a severe stroke and grand mal seizure in 2015, he was put in a medically induced coma and told he likely would not survive.

Experiencing a decisive spiritual turning point on the dialysis chair in January of 2017, he describes hearing an inner voice from God saying "get right with...

Frustrated by an education system Aaron viewed as compliance-driven and devoid of meaningful agency, he left teaching to work in trauma and addiction recovery. Over 20 years teaching high school, Aaron observed that his students' lives and trajectories were effectively set by the time they graduated.

He began noticing recurring patterns: victim thinking, codependency, and a clinical culture that prioritized diagnosis over genuine identity change.

He became deeply interested in story, narrative, and the question of how people change, eventually moving from traditional teaching into supporting people struggling with addiction and trauma using "story" as his main...

Although Curtiss was sexually abused as a child, he did well in school and football until a humiliating pep‑rally incident in seventh grade led him to quit sports and start smoking marijuana. Drifting into fights, he landed in alternative schools and eventually dropped out. 

While his mother used crack and his father cooked meth for the Bandidos, he lived mostly with his grandparents while stacking up arrests and DWIs. 

For two decades, he cycled through probation, prison, and the SAFP program, manipulating drug tests while he continued to use and run businesses such as vape shop...

Jessica's childhood fractured early. Her alcoholic father went to prison for a DWI, and by the time she was six, her parents had divorced. Her mother remarried, folding the family into a blended household with an adopted stepsister who had split personality disorder. 

That stepsister would go on to accuse both her own father and Jessica's stepfather of molestation, and eventually began self-harming in front of the family. When the situation became untenable, they cut the stepsister off and fled to the country, hoping for a fresh start.

It wasn't one. Jess got bullied at school f...

Rachel’s parents divorced when she was just a baby, and she lived with her mom, who struggled with alcoholism and mental health issues, while her older sister went to live with their dad.

By ninth grade, she was rarely at school, drinking heavily, and immersed in the punk scene.  She blacked out a house party and assaulted her cousin who called the police, leading her to hide out in a friend's basement for 2 months before fleeing to Dallas on Greyhound bus. 

In Dallas, Rachel dropped out of school permanently and moved in with her mother. She...

Craig “Bubba” Norton was first exposed to addiction when his mother died from alcoholism in 1982. His father later entered treatment, and during a family program Craig realized at age 20 that he was also an alcoholic. After moving from North Carolina to Texas, his drinking escalated, leading to three DWIs and jail in 1987, where he decided to seek help.

He found early stability through work and AA but later stopped going to meetings, believing he was cured. Although he stayed abstinent for a time, his life became unstable. 

After returning to AA and completing deep step work, the s...

Nikki grew up in a small town with a mother who struggled with alcoholism and periods of abuse but was also loving and devoted. As a teen, she began using substances like weed, pills, and whippets. At 19, she sought help from a doctor but felt dismissed, and at 21, she entered her first treatment program.

Three months later, she met Curtis at an AA/NA club. Both had histories of alcohol addiction and drug use, along with legal issues. They married in 2015 and ran several businesses together, including a vape shop, while cycling through sobriety and relapse.

...

Richard Galvan began stealing, getting arrested and drinking vodka alone in sixth grade. He snorted and sold his Ritalin, stole his mother’s pills and drank cough syrup. By his early teens, he was selling pills, using meth, and became well known to the police.

Born in 1982 in the San Fernando Valley, by 10th grade, he started using heroin and spending time downtown near Skid Row. He was kicked out by both parents, lived with relatives, friends, and on the street, and entered juvenile hall at 16. 

From ages 17 to 22, he was intentionally homeless with his girlfriend, was...

Judge Katrina Griffith grew up wanting to be a lawyer, encouraged by her mother during arguments with her older brother in "mom's court." As a teenager, she saw the juvenile system affect family members.

After college, she entered the University of Houston Law School focusing on juvenile criminal defense. In her 2L year, she joined the juvenile defense clinic. In her final semester, she took Professor Ellen Marrus’ child dependency clinic and shifted to CPS and child welfare law.

After graduation, she opened a law firm with her best friend, taking immediate CPS appointments while building th...

Born and raised in East Texas, Randy Grimes grew up in church with an older brother and sister and played football and baseball. He attended Baylor University, where he had a strong football career and met his future wife on his first day. They married after his junior year.

In 1983, he was drafted in the second round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and moved to Tampa with his wife in a U-Haul. He soon began taking large amounts of opiates from a team drug safe to manage injuries. By 1990, he experienced blackouts during games, including one in Detroit...

Jenifer grew up in a home marked by physical and verbal abuse, which shaped how she viewed trust and relationships. She got pregnant at 18 and had her son, Hunter, at 19, raising him mostly on her own. 

At 28, she married, but the relationship was unstable and ended in divorce due to her husband’s alcoholism. Jenifer built a 20-year career as a dialysis nurse but battled major depressive disorder.

She developed an alcohol addiction and turned to alcohol to cope, which led to a drunk driving accident that seriously injured another woman. Jenifer was charged with a thi...

Doug experienced abuse in early childhood, and at age 12 when his father left, he spiraled into severe depression, suicidality, and repeated psychiatric hospitalizations. 

As a teenager, he discovered alcohol and used it to manage his symptoms while earning a master’s degree in social work and working at a suicide hotline, even as hospitalizations and heavy drinking continued.

In his mid-30s, after a suicide attempt and abruptly quitting alcohol addiction, Doug was introduced to crack cocaine, triggering years of intense crack addiction, medical crises, psychiatric admissions, and failed treatment attempts. During this period, he lost his...

Born in Italy to Russian parents, Dan came to the U.S. as a baby and grew up in a highly driven immigrant community near Princeton, New Jersey. 

An only child, he was pushed hard to be successful in academics and athletics, with video games becoming an early escape. As a teenager, he turned to marijuana and alcohol, escalating after his mother passed away during his senior year. 

He headed to college in 2013, where he bounced between fraternities for drug- and alcohol-related issues while throwing himself into lifting and bodybuilding. At a rave, he was introduced to...

Seeing him on this podcast for the first time in 13 years, Matt admits to his old friend Austin York that he robbed him during the chaos of their using days in Southern California.

Like Matt, Austin got into trouble very young, fighting in school and using drugs at a young age. His parents sent him away several times to try to get him back on track. He bounced around multiple high schools but never graduated, spending most of his teen years in juvenile rehabs like Phoenix House in San Diego and a wilderness camp in Idaho.

...

After Cynthia was molested in childhood, she used food as a coping mechanism, developing bulimia and extreme body dysmorphia. As a teenager, vaccinations triggered hormonal and immune imbalances, causing mood changes and hives. 

When she became pregnant as a young adult, it motivated her to stop smoking and make healthier choices. She later married someone struggling with alcohol addiction, leading to domestic violence and emotional turmoil. Because of her faith as a Jehovah’s Witness, she stayed in the marriage for years before eventually divorcing.

When her son was diagnosed with autism and severe developmental delays, she...

Chris grew up in Odessa, Texas, in a home where alcohol and drugs were part of everyday life. At 15, he altered his birth certificate to work in the oil fields. By 19, he was drilling, and by 25, he was running crews—building a successful career.

Drug addiction resulted in four incarcerations, and by his last conviction he faced a potential life sentence. In prison, he began seeking faith and direction but his addiction destroyed his family. 

When an 86-year-old lawyer offers to take Chris’s case and be paid later, he miraculously gets his sentence reduced to a six...

Kratom is a plant-based substance that’s easy to find in smoke shops, gas stations, and even health food stores. Marketed as a natural remedy for pain, energy, or opioid withdrawal, it’s gained a reputation as a “safe” alternative.

But according to Houston addiction medicine specialist Dr. Kamal Shah, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

He’s seen firsthand how quickly people can become dependent, from those in long-term addiction recovery to others simply looking for pain relief. What starts as something “natural” often ends with tough withdrawals and a return to addictive patterns that th...

Growing up in Spring, Texas, Jordan was a standout student and star athlete. Raised in a supportive, yet strict household, he excelled in sports and academics, graduated near the top of his class, and was inducted into his high school’s Hall of Fame for football.

While attending Cornell University on a football scholarship, sports injuries shifted his focus from athletics to cocaine, ketamine, and marijuana. After graduation, he moved to Miami for law school and a master’s in sports administration. Cocaine addiction became a daily reality, even as he finished near the top of his class. 
...

At the age of 17, Robert entered treatment for the first time for heroin addiction, painkillers, and Dilaudid. Over the next few years, he cycled through nearly 60 detoxes and programs across the country, spending several years in and out of institutions. 

At 19, he moved to California for a fresh start—attending trauma therapy, enrolling in college, and playing football at Santa Monica College—until a fractured femur ended his athletic goals and he literally ended up homeless and living on Skid Row. 

Soon after, his plans to serve in the Texas Army National Guard abruptly ended with a medi...

Rachel grew up in Louisiana in a family marked by loss. Her older sister died of leukemia at age seven, leaving deep grief that shaped her childhood. At 13, she experienced sexual abuse, and by 21, she lost her mother to untreated hypertension and heart disease—the event that sent her drinking spiraling out of control.

She developed depression and anxiety early on, and alcohol addiction quickly became her way to cope. By 25, she was a new mother, married to an alcoholic, and caught in a cycle of domestic violence and codependency. 

In the hospital with a gallstone, she...

Ted was sent to military school, later joined the Navy, and served during the Gulf War, stationed in Jacksonville and working drug interdiction missions off the coast of Venezuela. During his Navy service, he developed alcohol addiction, a habit he continued for years in New Orleans while working in the oil and gas industry, as drinking was embedded in the local social culture.

After several failed recovery attempts, Ted achieved sobriety in March 2017 and launched Bodine Recovery, an addiction recovery community. The program started with an empty house and no clients for eight months, but through persistence and...

Candice grew up surrounded by addiction and loss. Both parents drank heavily, and by 11, she had lost her mom. Her dad died soon after, and by 19, most of her family was gone, including her sister, who was killed in a murder-suicide. 

She became a single mother at 16, and by 21, she had three kids. After her third child, heroin addiction and painkillers took over her life. She lost custody—her daughters went to live with an aunt, and her son entered the court system—while she lived with dealers and cycled through addiction and pill mills.

She event...

Brandon grew up in Houston with an abusive, alcoholic father and experienced trauma from sexual abuse at ages eight and 10. By 11, he had his first sip of alcohol, and by seventeen, he was charged with organized crime and began a seven-year prison sentence—learning basic life skills like shaving from other inmates.

Over time, he spent a total of fifteen years incarcerated, carrying a street mentality that followed him long after release.

On parole, Brandon returned to drugs, relationships, and old habits. His last relapse stripped him of everything—no car, no home, no money, only the...

Karen married young and became a mom at 15. By 17, she had two children, and by 36 she was a grandmother. Her brother’s Xanax addiction and overdose involving alcohol at age 19 propelled her toward addiction recovery work, determined to help others find the support he never had.

Jill lived in her car in the East Texas heat and humidity, calling treatment centers nonstop after losing her insurance. After more than a year of pestering, she was finally granted a spot in a state-funded facility. 

Ten years ago, Karen and Jill met while working as peer recovery coaches in...

From Jason’s first drink at 17, his alcohol addiction spiraled into prison, and homelessness. He tried AA, NA, and church, but staying in recovery was tough, and a string of DUIs and prison sentences made things harder.

While homeless, Jason describes walking the streets of Pensacola, covering about 20 miles in June heat until his shoes were bloody and had to be discarded upon arrival at a mental hospital, where he collapsed. This grueling walk marked a turning point, leading him to seek help and eventually enter sobriety through sober living.

He moved to Tampa and into a...

Rune never directly struggled with substance abuse, but grew up surrounded by it and then married into it. His father battled alcohol addiction and eventually died. Later, his ex-wife also lost her life to addiction after multiple attempts at treatment and time in jail, leaving their two children without a mother. 

For years, Rune kept his head down and worked quietly in IT to avoid the weight of his own reality. When he finally got divorced, he shifted and slowly stepped into the addiction recovery world. 

Six years ago he started coaching others through their own gr...

Andy grew up in Houston and started drinking in high school, escalating in college.  After getting kicked out and switching schools, she eventually graduated while trying to keep her drinking under control. But when she entered the workforce, it got worse.

In 2013, after a family ultimatum she went to AA for the first time and stayed sober for a month. She relapsed and repeated that pattern for several years, bouncing between AA and psychiatric hospitals, searching for something that would stick.

In the spring of 2014, she entered a psychiatric facility, stayed on her meds, and held o...

Raised in a solid, loving family, Danny was a standout athlete with a full ride to UCLA for golf. His future was golden, but the lure of partying and a fast lifestyle spiraled into meth and heroin addiction, multiple jail stints, and years of chaos. 

Danny’s last relapse was the breaking point. Detoxing himself at his mother’s house after a dangerous encounter involving fentanyl, he  surrendered and asked God for help. 

Facing his mounting court cases, he was sentenced to 90 days in treatment at Monarch Shores instead of seven years in prison.

While i...

Dr. Kamal Shah’s perspective on addiction recovery is both deeply personal and scientifically informed.  Addiction isn’t just behavior. It’s the brain, trauma, and the emotional patterns that keep people stuck. 

Over a decade into sobriety himself, Dr. Shah combines his lived experience with a background in neurology, movement disorders, and addiction medicine to explore what really drives relapse and what truly supports lasting recovery.

GUEST

Kamal Shah, MD
Dr. Kamal Shah is a behavioral neurologist and addiction medicine specialist who combines over a decade of personal sobriety...

Scott’s last relapse ended with him withdrawing in jail, where for the first time since age 13 he made it past five days sober. 

Facing probation, restitution, treatment and childhood trauma, he found purpose through service work, community support, and helping others just starting their recovery. Ironically, a broken leg led him to a role supporting newcomers—work he excelled at and that launched a career dedicated to helping others heal.

Today, Scott’s life is proof of what’s possible. He went from living in shame and survival mode to finding happiness, forgiveness, and growth in sobrie...

My Last Relapse explores what everyone is thinking but no one is saying about addiction and recovery through conversations with those whose lives have changed.

For anyone disillusioned by traditional recovery approaches and still feels left out, misunderstood, or burdened by unrealistic expectations, this podcast looks to the future – rejecting the lies and dogma that hold people back from seeing their future without using.

Full episodes launching September 2025. 

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