"Bring Me The Pebble, Not The Mountain" featuing Erin Johnston of Addiction Is Real"Bring Me The Pebble, Not The Mountain" featuing Erin Johnston of Addiction Is Real
Pondoff's Anonymous
Chris and KG chat with Erin Johnston of Addiction Is Real about dry detox, fentanyl, youth mental health, suicide prevention, Narcan, gun locks and parenting. The conversation mixes humour with frank stories, focusing on practical ways families can seek help and talk about addiction and recovery earlier.
1:55:00•27 Jul 2026
Bring Me the Pebble, Not the Mountain: Erin Johnston on Families, Fentanyl and Grace
Episode Overview
- Dry, non-medically assisted detox in custody can be traumatic and can undermine progress people have made in treatment.
- Fentanyl and Suboxone timing are critical; getting it wrong can trigger such severe withdrawal that people avoid treatment.
- Parents are urged to ask about mental health directly and regularly, and to invite problems while they’re still "pebbles" rather than "mountains."
- Gun locks, Narcan and simple, clear messages like "Stop, you're loved" can create vital seconds of pause in moments of crisis.
- Genetic testing shows significant heritable risk for addiction, suggesting families need information and support, not blame.
“"You need your kid to bring you a problem when it's a pebble, not when it's a mountain."”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? In this episode of Pondoff's Anonymous, you’ll hear Chris and KG sit down with Erin Johnston from Addiction Is Real for a raw, often funny, but deeply serious chat about what families are facing right now. Erin brings three decades of nonprofit experience and more than a decade in addiction work, sharing frontline stories about detox, fentanyl, and the justice system.
She explains "dry detox" in jail, where people are "puke and shit and piss" in a cell with no medical help, and how fentanyl and Suboxone timing can make withdrawal feel so horrific that "some of them would rather die almost than go through it." The conversation shifts to how frighteningly easy drugs are to access, including parents finding repeated £120 Uber courier charges that turned out to be fentanyl deliveries.
From there, they move into youth mental health and suicide, with Erin pushing back on the idea that we shouldn’t say the word "suicide" around younger kids. She’s blunt: many adults think "if we don't talk to them about it, they won't find out," but the kids already know.
You’ll hear about Addiction Is Real’s work giving out Narcan and gun locks, and the heartbreaking statistic that "it's a nine second decision" to pick up a means of suicide, with roughly nine minutes where someone’s mind can change.
Erin talks about parents needing to ask "how's your mental health today?" and shares her favourite parenting line: "You need your kid to bring you a problem when it's a pebble, not when it's a mountain." There’s humour, talk of Taco Bell and dogs, but the heart of the episode is grace, faith, community, and practical help — from genetic testing for addiction risk to youth ambassador programmes and Taylor Swift–style friendship bracelets that open up tough conversations.
If you’re a parent, partner, sibling or friend trying to support someone around alcohol, drugs or mental health, could this be the reminder you need that you don’t have to face the mountain alone?
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