Addicted While Expecting: Hannah's Battle for Recovery and ForgivenessAddicted While Expecting: Hannah's Battle for Recovery and Forgiveness
Bare Knuckle Recovery
Hannah Till shares how her addiction moved from painkillers to heroin and fentanyl, even during pregnancy, and how Family Recovery Court, treatment and 12-step support helped her rebuild her life and regain custody of her daughter. The conversation highlights shame, abusive relationships and relapse, while showing how connection and community can support long-term recovery.
55:36•13 Apr 2026
Addicted While Expecting: Hannah’s Story of Fentanyl, Motherhood and Starting Again
Episode Overview
- Addiction can begin with legitimate prescriptions, especially when emotional pain and low self-worth are already present.
- Trying to manage or limit use with rules like “just on weekends” rarely works and often leads back to dangerous substances.
- Pregnancy does not automatically stop addiction; shame and fear can block people from asking for help, making non-judgmental support crucial.
- Real change started when Hannah accepted powerlessness, engaged in the 12 steps, and built strong connections with other women in recovery.
- Ongoing community, meetings, service work and alumni support play a major role in staying sober and rebuilding relationships with children and family.
“I did not get sober to be miserable.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol and drugs after addiction has touched pregnancy, motherhood, and every corner of their past? This Bare Knuckle Recovery episode follows Hannah Till as she shares how substance use, shame and second chances collide in one very human story. Hosted by Zach Dawson with co-host Sierra Bowling, the chat keeps things real but relatable.
Hannah talks through her early years in Fort Wayne, feeling shy, scared and “never the favourite”, before a knee injury at 17 led to prescribed painkillers and a boyfriend who suggested, “if you take a couple extra, it feels really good.” Her description of that first high – “it felt like somebody came up and hugged me” – sets the stage for years of opioids, heroin, fentanyl and destructive relationships.
You’ll hear how treatment attempts, methadone, Suboxone, abusive partners and legal trouble all failed to break the cycle. The most painful part comes as Hannah speaks about using fentanyl throughout her pregnancy, bringing a drug kit to the hospital while in labour and nodding off with her newborn in her arms. She doesn’t sugar-coat the guilt: she is still working on forgiving herself.
Family Recovery Court, a near-fatal overdose, and being told her fentanyl levels were so high “they didn’t know how [she was] alive” finally pushed her into real change. This time, she stayed in treatment, embraced the 12 steps, built a women’s support network, got a sponsor and leaned hard on meetings and service. Slowly, she rebuilt her life, gained custody of her daughter and now works as an alumni outreach coordinator helping others stay connected after rehab.
If you’ve ever thought, “I’ll just do it on weekends” or “I can fix this on my own,” Hannah’s story shows how dangerous that thinking can be – and how connection, honesty and community can start to rewrite even the heaviest chapters of addiction and motherhood. What part of her journey do you recognise in yourself?
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