The Recovery Conversation That Challenges Everything With Richard Taite

About this episode

Sonia Kahlon interviews Richard Taite about addiction, trauma, and the complexities of recovery.

In this episode, Sonia sits down with Richard Taite to talk about addiction, trauma, treatment, emotional sobriety, self-love, and what it really takes to build a life that feels worth staying present for. They explore Richard’s decades of experience as an addiction treatment entrepreneur, recovery advocate, founder of Cliffside Malibu and Carrera Treatment, and host of the mental health podcast We’re Out of Time. Richard also opens up about his own history with addiction, childhood trauma, homelessness, long-term recovery, and his controversial view that some people can transcend addiction after doing deep, sustained work. The conversation moves through some big questions: Is addiction always a lifelong identity? What does it mean to truly recover versus simply stop using? How does childhood trauma become the emotional engine behind substance use disorder? Sonia and Richard also discuss AA, therapy, treatment centers, the fentanyl crisis, emotional sobriety, reparenting, and why “getting sober” is only one part of the work. Richard challenges familiar recovery language while still crediting AA as a foundation in his own life, making space for a more nuanced conversation about…

People in this episode

Host: Sonia Kahlon

Guest: Richard Taite

Topics covered

• addiction
• trauma
• treatment
• emotional sobriety
• self-love
• recovery

Keywords

• addiction
• recovery
• emotional sobriety
• self-love
• childhood trauma
• treatment centers
• fentanyl crisis

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cliffside Malibu, Carrera Treatment, We’re Out of Time

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