Bonus Episode: Max's StoryBonus Episode: Max's Story
i am somebody
Max shares their story of identity, family estrangement and the loss of their emotional support dog, Avalanche, and how these experiences shaped their sense of belonging in recovery. With gentle humour and honesty, they reflect on building chosen family, supportive community and a home where they can finally be themselves.
25:14•15 May 2026
Belonging, Estrangement and Avalanche: Max’s Road to Feeling at Home in Recovery
Episode Overview
- Belonging can be an ongoing practice, much like recovery, rather than a one-time achievement.
- Growing into one’s identity may require distance from environments that feel unsafe or shaming.
- Estrangement from family can be a boundary rooted in self-respect, not a sign of failure.
- Chosen family, including animals, can offer powerful examples of unconditional love and support.
- Feeling like you don’t belong does not mean you’re broken; it may mean you haven’t yet found your people or place.
“Belonging isn't something that you just get to find once and keep forever. It's a lot like a recovery journey where you keep coming back to it.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This bonus episode of *i am somebody* brings that question to life through Max’s deeply honest story about identity, family, and rebuilding a sense of home from the ground up. New host Max (they/them) shares how growing up in a religious, rural Midwestern environment left them feeling like belonging was “for other people”.
Things began to shift at university, where they found language for their identity, community with other LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent students, and, as Max puts it, “the thing that fits me finally” when they became Max officially. Sitting alongside operations director and guest host Ashley Psalm, Max talks openly about coming out to family, the quiet but painful reactions, and the pattern of disrespect that eventually led them to choose estrangement.
They’re clear that it wasn’t one dramatic moment, but a gradual realisation: “I started asking for more kindness, more respect… and they couldn’t do that.” The episode takes a tender turn as Max talks about Avalanche, their 90‑pound husky–malamute mix and emotional support animal, who became their first true chosen family. Avalanche saw them through some of the hardest years of their life and taught them what unconditional love feels like.
His recent death, and the grief that followed, is shared with raw emotion and gentle humour, including a “side quest” story of how they met him at a shelter. Yet this isn’t just about loss. Max describes the joy of working at FOCUS Recovery and Wellness Community, owning a home filled with bright colours and squishmallows, and having a supportive partner and sister.
Their message to anyone who feels like they don’t belong: your feelings are real, but “just because you feel that way, it doesn’t mean that it’s true.” Someone, somewhere, is ready to see you as you are. If you’ve ever felt like the odd one out in recovery spaces, this gentle, honest conversation might be exactly what you need today.
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