005: "The Runaway Model"- Raquel G. shares her 6 yr story of addiction, drug abuse and alcoholism until she finds recovery!005: "The Runaway Model"- Raquel G. shares her 6 yr story of addiction, drug abuse and alcoholism until she finds recovery!
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Raquel G. shares how drinking at nine, heavy drug use as a teen and a near-fatal overdose at 18 led her to rehab in Costa Rica and a new life in recovery. She talks openly about early sobriety struggles, step work, and building a daily routine that’s kept her clean for five years.
59:35•17 Mar 2015
From Runaway Model to Recovery: Raquel G.’s Harrowing Descent and Her 5 Years Clean
Episode Overview
- Starting to drink or use drugs very young can escalate quickly, regardless of how “normal” it seems in the family or culture.
- Age does not protect anyone from addiction; Raquel identifies with an emotional bottom rather than how long she used.
- Honesty in rehab, even when it risks consequences, became a key turning point that allowed her to stay and truly begin recovery.
- Working the steps thoroughly, including repeated step work and a detailed fourth step, helped her change long‑held beliefs and fears.
- Regular meetings, sponsorship, and surrounding herself with people actively working a programme form the foundation of her ongoing sobriety.
“"Honey, let me help you."”
What remarkable journeys have people faced head‑on against addiction? This conversation follows Raquel G., known as “The Runaway Model”, as she looks back on nine chaotic years of drinking and drug use and five years clean. The chat opens with Raquel’s life today: gym sessions, work, regular meetings and sponsorship forming the backbone of her routine.
Then it rewinds to her first real drunk at just nine years old, when wine felt “like the most magical feeling in the world… better than any Disney movie.” From there, things escalate quickly: moving to Costa Rica, being able to drink freely in beach bars, trying cocaine and ecstasy at 11, and dating the town’s young drug dealer by 13.
Omar gently guides her through the key chapters: bar‑hopping ladies’ nights at 16, heavy cocaine and ecstasy, and later an 18‑year‑old college life in Santa Barbara that centres less on lectures and more on blackout drinking, heroin, Xanax and dangerous situations she can’t remember the next day. The emotional core lands with her overdose on heroin, alcohol and pills, waking in hospital strapped to a bed, swollen and terrified.
Her dad’s call — “Honey, let me help you” — becomes the turning point that leads her to detox at her mum’s house and then to Costa Rica Recovery in San José. From there, the focus shifts to early recovery realities: acting out in rehab, getting called out by the director, finally becoming honest, and staying four months instead of the 28 days she’d insisted on.
She talks candidly about working the steps, burning her first fourth step, slogging through NA step work, and learning to believe “it’s going to be okay.” This is especially relevant if you’re young, feel “too young” for recovery, or think your using isn’t bad enough yet. It asks a simple question: if she can go from overdosing at 18 to building a life she loves, what might be possible for you?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.