E144 Aired 04-16-2026 - JoshuaE144 Aired 04-16-2026 - Joshua
Courage to Hope
Joshua Smith shares how a long journey through pills, heroin, fentanyl and homelessness shifted into recovery through treatment, 12-step work, and faith. The conversation touches on stigma, cost of care, relationships, and finding purpose by helping others in sobriety.
1:00:50•7 May 2026
From Fentanyl and Homelessness to Hope: Joshua’s Remarkable Turnaround
Episode Overview
- Substance use can develop even in stable, non-using families and slowly escalate through different drugs over many years.
- Prescription medications, pill mills, and easy online access to drugs can rapidly intensify addiction and harm.
- Short treatment stays often aren’t enough; longer programmes and sober living can give crucial time to build new habits.
- 12-step recovery, regular meetings, and sponsorship can provide structure, community, and a practical path to change.
- A personal, lived sense of spirituality or connection with God can become a central foundation for long-term recovery.
“Today can be anybody's last day of using drugs, of drinking, of gambling. There's help out there.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? Courage to Hope brings Joshua Smith to the mic, sharing a gripping story that stretches from a "pretty normal, peaceful, middle-class suburban upbringing" to years of heavy substance use, overdose, homelessness, and finally, recovery.
Joshua talks openly about his early encounters with alcohol and cannabis, how prescription Adderall and psychiatric meds fed into self-medication, and the way his addiction moved through “phases” — from marijuana and psychedelics to benzodiazepines, then on to OxyContin, heroin, and eventually injecting fentanyl and meth. He’s frank about the realities of doctor shopping, pill mills, and the shocking cost of treatment, including his wife’s £7,000-a-month rehab stay.
The conversation will resonate with anyone who’s juggled mental health issues, addiction, and family expectations. Joshua describes surviving a suicide attempt, spending nine months in jail on a marijuana charge, and the near-death overdose that required six units of Narcan: he recalls watching paramedics work on his body from above. His honesty extends to admitting abusive behaviour during active addiction and the hard work he and his wife have done to heal and stay together.
On the hopeful side, you’ll hear how both of them went through separate treatment programmes, committed to 12-step recovery, and rebuilt life from a homeless, codependent partnership into a sober marriage grounded in faith and service. Joshua now works in recovery, studies for a master’s in social work, and puts it simply: "Today can be anybody's last day of using drugs, of drinking, of gambling.
There's help out there." Anyone wrestling with addiction, or loving someone who is, will find this conversation raw, practical, and quietly uplifting. Whose story in your life might be ready for its own turn towards hope?
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