Celebrating Recovery and Loving Life with Laura SilvermanCelebrating Recovery and Loving Life with Laura Silverman
Katherine Arati Maas
Laura Silverman shares how binge drinking, anxiety and OCD led her to seek help and build a joyful sober life. She talks about finding support beyond traditional routes, embracing transparency, and using creativity, community and mental health care as core parts of recovery.
0:00•26 Apr 2016
Celebrating Sobriety: Laura Silverman on Mental Health, Creativity and Loving Life
Episode Overview
- Asking for help with alcohol or mental health is framed as a genuine act of strength, not a weakness.
- Binge drinking once or twice a week can still indicate a serious problem, even without daily use or physical withdrawal.
- There are many valid paths to recovery, including but not limited to 12‑step groups, and it’s okay to build a programme that fits you.
- Co‑occurring mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and OCD often sit behind substance use and need their own proper support.
- Focusing on one day at a time, supportive relationships, creativity, movement and therapy can gradually turn sobriety into a source of pride.
““It is totally a sign of strength to ask for help. It’s not a sign of weakness.””
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This conversation between host Katherine Arati Maas and guest Laura Silverman, founder of The Sobriety Collective, gives a candid look at exactly that. You’ll hear Laura share how her drinking, mostly bingeing rather than daily use, still led to blackouts, hospital stays and one terrifying night in New York that finally pushed her to ask for help.
She describes that moment of clarity honestly, saying she didn’t see white lights or hear voices – she just knew, deep down, that she couldn’t keep living the way she was. Laura talks openly about co‑occurring disorders, explaining how anxiety, depression and OCD intertwined with her alcohol use.
She explains, in simple terms, how “it is totally a sign of strength to ask for help, it’s not a sign of weakness,” and how therapy, medication for anxiety, and honest conversations have become as important to her recovery as not drinking. The chat is funny and warm in places – including a running joke about confusing her with comedian Sarah Silverman – but it never hides the tough bits.
Laura remembers being 24, cutting out drinking friends, avoiding bars and dates centred on alcohol, and feeling like the only young person trying to stay sober in a culture that glorifies drinking. She and Katherine swap stories about early sobriety, that awkward “hermit” phase, and the myth that everything magically improves once alcohol is gone. Laura also shares what helps her now: creativity, music, walking in nature, honest friendships, mental health support, and building community through The Sobriety Collective.
If you’re wondering whether your drinking “counts”, or you’re wrestling with anxiety or panic attacks, this chat might feel very close to home. What small, one‑day‑at‑a‑time change could you take from Laura’s story and make your own?
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