Cherene Caraco on Radical Leadership

Cherene Caraco on Radical Leadership

Interested in the personal battles against addiction and mental health? This episode of the SMART Recovery Podcast brings together host Luke Frazier and radical leader Cherene Caraco, Founder and CEO of Promise Resource Network (PRN), for a bold conversation about what truly helps people heal. Cherene shares how PRN grew from a simple idea in 2004 into a "survivor-led, recovery-focused, wellness-driven" community in North Carolina, built by people who’ve been kicked out of, or opted out of, traditional services.

She talks openly about starting as "a mental patient" and having to learn how to become a CEO, and how lived experience became the backbone of everything PRN does. You’ll hear her challenge old ideas about treatment, especially systems that decide what help should look like without asking the person who’s struggling.

As she puts it, "If it is harmful to you, it doesn't matter what my intention is." From there, the conversation moves into what she calls "radical leadership" – having clear values, calling out what isn’t working, and having the courage to build something different, even when it’s uncomfortable. Cherene also explains "experts by experience" and why people with lived experience must be in leadership and policy rooms – and be paid for their time.

She describes PRN’s core value that "it starts with love" and shares deeply personal reflections on resilience, grief, and choosing to feel everything rather than simply white-knuckling through pain. SMART Recovery’s science-based, self-empowering approach sits comfortably alongside her belief in a "buffet of options" for recovery, where there’s no single right way to get better.

If you care about recovery, systems change, or just want to hear what leadership rooted in love and honesty sounds like, this conversation might stay with you long after it ends. What kind of leader do you want to be in your own recovery and community?