Sexual Abuse and Addiction Recovery
Talk Recovery RadioThis week on Talk Recovery Radio
This week on Talk Recovery radio we have 2 great guests, first on the show Sue Bowles author of “This Much I Know…The Space Between” a book about sexual abuse and other traumas, second guest on the show is Dr. Geri-Lynn Utter, PsyD author of “Mainlining Philly: Survival, Hope, and Resisting Drug Addiction”. You can catch it all on Talk Recovery Vancouver’s Facebook page live Thursday at noon-1pm PST.
Sue Bowles
I am a Master Certified Life Coach to encourage others in their journeys, telling them the same thing I have lived and learned: it’s okay to not be okay, and NO ONE is ‘too far gone.’ You matter and your dreams can be reality now! We all have purpose and sometimes we just need someone to come alongside us to whisper hope and encouragement. Maybe the issue is self-confidence, relationships, stress management, anxierty, goals, or something else. I would welcome the opportunity to walk alongside you in your journey of discovery. I look forward to hearing from you.
For decades, making a difference in someone’s life was something I desired but always seemed ‘just out of reach.’ It was ‘good enough for everyone else but not for me.’ I believed I was too broken, too wounded, too everything, to have anything to offer anyone else. The garbage of life was trying hard to smother the glowing ember underneath. Hope was elusive, discouragement a constant companion, and purpose only a dream never to become reality. Sound familiar? I get it.
After decades of downplaying the events of my life and their effects on me, I finally reached out for help. That started the long, arduous process of thawing my heart and starting to face my pain. It has not been a journey for the faint of heart. To willingly face all that had stolen my life up to that point was not a process I wanted to endure but needed to. It has been a long journey to recovery, not just from my eating disorder, but from my depression, anxiety, and PTSD from being a childhood rape survivor.
Everyone wants to make a difference in some way but often believe they have nothing to offer because they don’t have it ‘all figured out.’ I’m here to say all it takes to help the person behind you is to be one step ahead. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be that for others.
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This Much I Know…The Space Between
Life hurts, and layers of hurt leave us feeling beyond help. Yet, the human spirit won’t let us quit. So how do we navigate the distance between hurt and healing? In “This Much I Know…The Space Between,” Sue Bowles shares her pursuit of healing from childhood sexual abuse and other traumas resulting in an eating disorder, constantly struggling to answer the question “Why?””When we’re talking about our stories, the space between is that gap, that time of questioning and anger and confusion and doubt and…whatever else you can think of. It’s the gray area of uncertainty, of wondering what the point is. “Do you believe you are too far gone for anyone – even God – to be able to make a difference? Do you wonder if your life will ever matter? Find hope in the space between.
Dr. Geri-Lynn Utter, PsyD.
I am a clinical psychologist who works with individuals struggling with drug addiction and severe mental illness. I’m the child of parents who suffered from drug addiction.
I have also witnessed countless addicts who lived and died in my parents’ wildly dysfunctional and often criminal inner circle during my childhood in one Philadelphia’s roughest areas.
My view of addiction was formed by witnessing its effects on real people long before I cracked a book on the subject. The familial and personal challenges I was confronted with during my youth helped me become a clinician with rare, real-world insight into addiction. I want this documentary to educate people in an effort to destigmatize those who are struggling so we can begin to offer the appropriate treatment.
Both of my parents struggled with heroin addiction and opioids throughout my childhood. Rather than joining in and using drugs and engaging in criminal behavior with my family, I went in the opposite direction; I knew I deserved a better life. My experiences have left scars on my soul, but I see them as marks of wisdom that have shaped my understanding of human behavior. I’m the kind of person who tries to understand what makes people do the things that they do. That curiosity and desire to help others is what drove me to pursue my career as a psychologist.
Mainlining Philly: Survival, Hope, and Resisting Drug Addiction
It’s only 20 miles from the Mainline suburb of Philadelphia to the area known as Kensington, but it may as well be a world away. The Mainline is one of Philadelphia’s most tony sections, famous for mansions and tennis courts and Princess Grace Kelley. Kensington is a decaying, poverty-stricken, drug-drenched blight, a place some can’t escape, yet others escape to as they sink into a world of drugs and despair.
Meeting Philadelphia native Dr. Geri-Lynn Utter, PsyD. for the first time, it would be easy to assume she’s the product of the elite schools and glossy social life of the Mainline. But in fact, Geri-Lynn grew up in Kensington, her father and her mother both lifelong drug addicts. She saw firsthand the torment of addiction. The violence of the “”life.”” The despair that there could be no way out except death by overdose.
Mainlining Philly is the harrowing story of how Geri-Lynn survived the grim alleys of Kensington and became a respected mental health professional. Her unique insight into the nature of addiction gives her the tools to offer solutions to those addicted and the families who love them. At times terrifying, startling, and hilarious, Mainlining Philly is a ride on the wrong sides of the tracks that you won’t be able to put down and you will never forget.
Listen and Subscribe
Talk Recovery airs live every Thursday at noon on 100.5 FM, Vancouver Coop Radio. The Last Door produces this weekly radio show discussing the many pathways to addiction recovery. To end stigma we must continue to talk about recovery. Talk Recovery is in its 7th Season, Hundreds of guests, thousands of listeners, thank you. Show ideas? Email community@lastdoor.org
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