Ep 170. Long-Term Sobriety and What It Takes to Keep Growing, with Campbell ButterssEp 170. Long-Term Sobriety and What It Takes to Keep Growing, with Campbell Butterss
Behind The Smile with Ash Butterss
Campbell Butterss reflects on sixteen years without alcohol, from a fearful childhood and chaotic partying to recovery, therapy and family life. The conversation touches on trauma, spirituality, changing friendships and what it means to parent while staying sober.
1:11:11•12 Apr 2026
Sixteen Years Sober: Campbell Butterss on Fear, Family and Growing Up in Recovery
Episode Overview
- Stopping drinking young can be possible with strong support, community and a clear sense that alcohol has stopped providing any relief.
- Unresolved childhood trauma and growing up in an alcoholic home can resurface even years into sobriety, and may need focused treatment and therapy.
- Spiritual tools such as prayer, meditation, breathwork and simple gratitude can help keep fear, ego and stress in check day to day.
- Healthy boundaries with family and old friends are crucial to protect recovery, even if that means stepping back from certain relationships or settings.
- For parents in recovery, staying sober, being present and loving, and being willing to mend mistakes are more important than being perfect.
“Things are never as good as they seem and they're never as bad as they seem.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation between siblings Ash and Campbell Butterss gives a rare, front-row seat to what long-term recovery can really look like inside a family marked by alcoholism, success, and chaos. Campbell, sixteen years alcohol-free, talks openly about growing up in a home where money and status ballooned quickly, yet the emotional ground often felt shaky.
He recalls constant unpredictability, “walking on eggshells”, and using sport as an escape, only for alcohol at 14–15 to instantly quiet the fear and self-doubt: “All the fear went away… all the noise in my head stopped.” You’ll hear how a wild year of backpacking and bingeing overseas finally crushed his spirit enough to push him towards sobriety at 25.
He describes that last drunken night where, despite a “skinful of grog”, there was zero relief, just a clear inner message: he was done.
From there, he leaned on recovery meetings, young sober peers, and a growing spiritual life that now includes simple prayer, meditation, and a trust that “there is something way, way bigger and more powerful than me involved in our lives.” The chat also gets real about childhood trauma, a brutal depressive “second rock bottom” at six years sober, and how trauma therapy and a stint at South Pacific Private shifted everything.
Campbell shares how boundaries with family, changing friendships, and a commission-only real estate career have all tested – and strengthened – his recovery muscles. Some of the most moving moments come when he speaks about fatherhood: the deep fear of “messing up” his kids, the guidance from his therapist, and the simple focus on staying sober, being loving, and being present.
If you’re wondering what growth looks like after the pink cloud fades, this honest, funny, and heartfelt brother-sister chat may be exactly what you need today. What parts of Campbell’s story feel closest to home for you?
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