In the first episode of HOME, Holly Whitaker and Laura McKowen explain what they're doing here, how they met, how the name HOME came about, and what to expect next.

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 1: Introduction

In the second episode of HOME, Holly interviews Laura to string together her story. The drinking story, the life story, the David Byrne-esque "How Did I Get Here?" story.

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 2: Who is Laura?

In the second episode of HOME, Laura interviews Holly to string together her story. The drinking story, the life story, the David Byrne-esque "How Did I Get Here?" story.

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 3: Who is Holly?

Do we keep the same playmates in sobriety? In this episode, Holly and Laura break down their experience with friendships, and how they changed (or didn't) once the booze was gone. 

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 4: Friendship

Holly and Laura break down steps 1-3 of AA in this longer-than-usual episode. They each answer these questions: what's your interpretation of the step, did you do it, and do you think it's necessary for recovery? What this episode is NOT: a debate about AA!

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 5: The Steps Series, v1 of 4

In the most intimate episode yet, Holly and Laura paint the picture of what their love lives looked like before and after getting sober. 

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 6: Dating (1 of 2)

Holly and Laura break down steps 4-6 of AA in the second of the Steps Series. They each answer these questions: what's your interpretation of the step, did you do it, what was your experience of doing it, and do you think it's necessary for recovery? What this episode is NOT: a debate about AA!

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 10: The Steps Series (Steps 4-6)

Holly and Laura break down the perils of perfectionism in response to a reader's letter about her "non-substance" addictions. 

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 11: Perfectionism

Ugh. "Relapse." What do we do when we fall off the path and drink when we're trying to get and stay sober? Holly and Laura break down what relapse means to them, what it looked like on their own paths, and what they did about it.

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 12: "Relapse"

In the second "relapse" ep, we talk about what it looks like when we fall off the path in sobriety, and not by drinking/using, but by losing our way otherwise. Depression, anxiety, confusion, pain, and other things that come up to knock us off the beam.  What does it feel like? How do we get back? 

Episode 13: "Relapse" Part 2

I'm comin' out! I want the world-to-know-ow. Holly and Laura breakdown the who, when, and why of how they came out sober and what it was all like. Also, a recap of Unite to Face Addiction in DC and a couple special announcements.

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 14: Coming Out Sober

We're going all Oprah in this episode and talking about a few things-- in life, love, and the pursuit of happiness--that we know for sure.

Music by Radiation City.

Episode 17: What We Know for Sure

In the first interview episode ever, Laura and Holly talk to Sarah Hepola, author of the New York Times Bestseller "Blackout: Remembering The Things I Drank to Forget." Sarah's essays on culture have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Elle, The New Republic, Glamour, The Guardian, Slate, The Morning News, and Salon, where she was a longtime editor. Laura and Holly talk to her about the science of blackouts, what it was like to come out to the masses, dating in sobriety, and what's next.

Photo credit: Zan Keith. Music by Radiation City.

Episode 21: Sarah Hepola

Laura and Holly talk with Annie Grace, author of “This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol. Find Freedom, Rediscovery Happiness and Change Your Life?” Sounds like everything, right?
Annie’s story is like so many young, successful, professional women, but her path to sobriety was not. We talk about her drinking life, what drove her to write this book and her hopes for the way we treat and view addiction. We dig into some heated topics like the difference between “normal” drinkers and “addicts,” the label of “alcoholic,” and the importance of addressing the grey area in addiction. Holly and Annie also confess their mutual girl crushes.

“This Naked Mind” is available on Amazon.

Music by Radiation City.


Episode 26: Annie Grace

The sound on this one is a bit rough, guys. It was the second take (listen to hear the story of that madness) and the girls forgot to ask Glennon to put in her headphones, Craig is vacuuming in the background, and everyone's voices are a little...excited. What can we say? Perfectly imperfect.

In this episode, they talk about Glennon's new book, Love Warrior, getting angry, sobriety, rock bottoms, faith, depression, and sisterhood.

Glennon Doyle Melton is the New York Times Bestselling author of Carry On, Warrior and most recently, Love Warrior. She's the founder of Momastery and also, Together Rising, a non-profit that grew from Momastery to provide financial support to women in need.

Episode 56: Glennon Doyle Melton

In this episode, the girls talk to Jolene Park, a functional nutritionist, and an expert in the craving brain. They talk about the intricate connections between anxiety, depression, trauma, nutrition, addiction, relationships and more. Jolene is a goldmine of experience and resources, and she's got a compelling personal story to back it up. What's more, Jolene's personal story is common, but not often heard: successful woman approaching middle-age comes to terms with closing the window on her idealized image of a family and marriage, and, in the process, develops an unhealthy but 'high-bottom' relationship with alcohol. In the discussion, she bravely shares her story for the first time in a public way.

Jolene is the Founder of Healthy Discoveries, where she coaches companies and individuals develop a more complete view of well-being.

More about Jolene and Health Discoveries here: http://www.healthydiscoveries.com

Episode 62: The Craving Brain

In this episode, Holly and Laura revisit sex (and love) addiction with their dear friend, Lara Frazier. While Lara was in treatment for chemical addiction, she was labeled a "love addict" and a "sex addict" and told she needed to seek treatment for both. She shares her story leading up to and through recovery.

Episode 70: Lara Frazier & Love Addiction

Holly and Laura talk about the weird, glorious, difficult, out-of-body, out-of-mind time that was the first 100 days of sobriety. They recap what life was like the week before and the week after their final quit dates, what it was like learning to walk on new legs in a new world, and a few memories that most stand out from that time.

Episode 88: The First 100 Days

This week, the girls talk to Nikki Myers a yoga therapist, teacher and somatic experiencing practitioner who founded CITYOGA School of Yoga and Health in Indianapolis, IN. She launched Yoga of 12-Step Recovery in 2004 based on her own personal struggles with addiction. She talks about how she came to pair the 12-steps and yogic philosophy, what her long-term recovery looks like, and co-dependency.

Episode 93: Nikki Myers

In this week's show, the girls take a long, in-depth and candid walk through the evolution of Laura's relationship with AA: her beliefs when she started, how it's evolved, and where she stands now at nearly three years sober.

Episode 103: AA-volution

In this episode, the girls give their top tips for getting started in sobriety. From meditation to sweating to talking to God, they talk about what worked for them and what they've seen work for others in the first days.

Episode 107: How To Begin

In this episode, the girls riff on the very best stuff that has happened to them in sobriety. From quitting their jobs to paying bills to sober sex, this episode pulls us out of the darkness and into the "fuck yes" moments.

Episode 109: Good Shit

In this ep, the girls catch up on their love lives, sobriety, home life and work, including a tricky discussion about serving alcohol at parties (or not), lessons that just keep repeating themselves and digging less chaos.

Episode 110: HoLo HEYYYYYYY

It's the 111th episode of HOME, recorded on 11/11! In this ep, the girls mix it up and ask each other 11 random questions from Danielle LaPorte's "Conversation Starters" app. Some answers are full of light and love, and some not so much.

Episode 111: Conversation Starters

This week, the girls talk to Kate Northrup. Kate is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, mother, and activist. She's the author of Money: A Love Story, is currently writing her second book, and her work has been featured everywhere from The Today Show to Glamour magazine. The girls talk about privilege, the personal responsibility of activism, the surprising wakeup of motherhood, and the power of seeing our energy, work, and bodies as cyclical. Kate is such a fresh, real, powerful voice and she shares herself so honestly in this episode.

More about Kate and her work can be found at www.katenorthrup.com.

Episode 112: Kate Northrup

This week the girls talk to Allison Micco about the "A" word: anxiety. Like so many people, Allison struggled with anxiety long before she knew what it was and at a certain point assumed it was a fault of hers or just something she'd have to learn to contend with forever. In college, she was prescribed a medication to cope with it that she later became addicted to and after years of searching and frustration, she finally got to the root of her anxiety, including its connection to alcohol. Allison shares her story and provides incredible insight into a condition that's so widely misunderstood and downplayed in society.

Episode 113: Allison Micco & Anxiety

In this episode, the girls respond to two letters. The first, from a new mom who's worried about how much she's been drinking in the first months of her baby's life while breastfeeding, and the second from a girl grieving the loss of two long friends that don't support her new sobriety. This episode is about the let downs: things we think we "should" be able to do, like choose people we love over alcohol, and the ways our relationships change despite us wishing they wouldn't.

Episode 114: The Let Down Reflex

Laura and Holly met the Hawkins sisters (Janet and Julie) at a workshop. When they began telling their story, Laura and Holly immediately asked them to come on the show. In this episode, the sisters beautifully and candidly share their family's story of drinking addiction, their individual and overlapping journeys to sobriety, and the complicated mix of feelings that they've each experienced along the way.

Episode 115: The Hawkins Sisters

In the last episode of 2017, Jeff DeFlavio returns to HOME. Jeff is the founder and CEO of Groups, a company that provides affordable, modernized treatment for opiate use. This episode is a mashup of talk about the opiate epidemic, politics, keeping focus and heart when the battle is so big, and some book reviews (wherein Jeff mistakes Hillbilly Elegy for Dreamland for most of the episode), and more.

Episode 116: Jeff DeFlavio Returns

Happy New Year! If the best part about 2018 is that it means 2017 is over, that's enough. In this even-longer-than-usual episode, the girls check-in on their love, sobriety, work, and home lives and do a little hoping and wishing for 2018.

Episode 117: Happy-ish-Mostly New Year

The episode where the girls talk about their favorite things right now (books, music, tech, news apps, self-care), but first, talk about the Enneagram and Instagram for an hour.

Episode 118: Favorite Thingstagram

This week, the girls talk to Maia Szalavitz; a neuroscience journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller, Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction. Maia specializes in covering the intersection between brain and behavior and how social factors like inequality get under the skin. She is the author or co-author of six other books and writes for major publications including the Guardian, TIME, the New York Times, Scientific American Mind, the Washington Post, VICE and Pacific Standard.

Episode 119: Maia Szalavitz

HOME Podcast with Laura McKowen and Holly Whitaker takes up the big questions of life through the lens of addiction recovery. Each week, we explore a new discussion about our hearts, relationships, life, love and the universe at large.

Intro and outro music by Radiation City.

HOME Podcast

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