Ep 192. From “Certified Insane” to 32 Years of Recovery, with Suzi RaleighEp 192. From “Certified Insane” to 32 Years of Recovery, with Suzi Raleigh
Behind The Smile with Ash Butterss
Suzi Raleigh shares how early drinking, psychosis and heavy misdiagnoses led to five psychiatric stays before AA became her path to 32 years sober. The conversation centres on loneliness, codependency, inner child work and the spiritual peace she’s found in long-term recovery.
1:08:59•13 Sept 2026
From “Certified Insane” to 32 Years Sober: Suzi Raleigh’s Journey Behind the Smile
Episode Overview
- Stopping drinking can be easier to commit to when the consequences of continued use include repeated psychosis and hospitalisation.
- Misdiagnosed mental illness may improve significantly when alcohol and drugs are removed and long-term sobriety is maintained.
- Codependency often masquerades as kindness and caretaking; naming it and seeking support (such as Codependents Anonymous) can transform recovery.
- Naming inner parts (like “Mrs Fix-It” or “Lighthouse Keeper”) helps people recognise which voice is speaking and choose an empowered response.
- Leaving others to face their own suffering, rather than rescuing them, can reduce anxiety and deepen one’s own healing and boundaries.
“Now that I’m sober, I don’t miss my old life. I don’t wish I could go back. I don’t find my current life boring at all because there is a psychic change that occurs. Well, it’s peace.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This episode shares Suzi Raleigh’s story, from being “certified insane” to three decades of continuous sobriety, with a mix of gallows humour, raw honesty and spiritual growth. You’ll hear Suzi chart her drinking from age 13 in her dad’s pub, through five psychiatric hospitalisations, psychosis in Bali and London, and diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar.
She describes living with “the ache” – a deep loneliness that no one asked about – and how her dad’s simple suggestion to try AA in 1993 led to a turning point: she hasn’t had a drink since that first meeting. Ash and Suzi talk openly about how alcohol can light some people up "like a rocket", why peace can look boring from the outside, and how sobriety brought what Suzi calls a “psychic change”: “Well, it’s peace. It’s peace.
It’s not boring.” The conversation will resonate with anyone who’s felt broken by chaos yet suspicious of quiet. A major focus is codependency. Twelve years into sobriety, Suzi realised her rescuing, caretaking and people-pleasing weren’t virtues but “a defect called codependence”. She shares how Codependents Anonymous, trauma work and EMDR helped her stop trying to fix everyone else and finally attend to her own inner child – “little Tootie” – instead of outsourcing her self-worth.
Suzi also explains the playful inner characters she’s writing about in her book, from “Suzi the Floozy” to “Mrs Fix-It”, “Lighthouse Keeper” and “Suzi Buddha Gandhi”. Naming these parts helps her and others see which voice is talking – the addictive part, the fixer, or the empowered self – and then “name, tame and nurture” them.
For anyone wrestling with addiction, mental health labels or codependency, this episode offers hope that a quiet mind, strong boundaries and genuine self-friendship are possible. Which inner part of you might be running the show today?
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