Addiction and Recovery: When the Hero Asks for Help

About this episode

Dr. Tony Dice shares his journey through addiction and recovery, exploring the complexities of identity and the challenges faced by those who are seen as heroes.

Maybe you've built your whole life around being the one who shows up. The one who runs toward the hard thing when everyone else steps back. You know the feeling of being needed. What you might not know is how long you can keep that up before you lose track of who you actually are underneath it all. Dr. Tony Dice spent years chasing the highest version of that identity, from a remote mountain town in Northern California to the Navy SEALs, from the brotherhood of elite service to the unraveling of a nine-year addiction. What looked like strength from the outside was quietly hollowing out everything beneath it. And the moment it all became undeniable wasn't some dramatic public collapse. It was a phone pushed under a bed. A call from a daycare. A son who needed him, and a room he couldn't leave. This conversation is about what happens after that moment. Tony has been in recovery for fifteen years, earned his doctorate, returned to the very treatment center that saved his life, and built a career helping veterans, law enforcement, and high performers face the thing they've been outrunning. His story doesn't wrap up neatly, and he wouldn't want it to. It just points somewhere real…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Gilhooly

Guest: Dr. Tony Dice

Topics covered

• addiction
• recovery
• identity
• mental health
• veterans
• high performers

Keywords

• addiction
• recovery
• identity
• Navy SEALs
• mental health
• veterans
• treatment center
• high performers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Navy SEALs

Places: Northern California

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