Ep 27. Becoming someone you can be proud of with Sober Motivation's Brad McleodEp 27. Becoming someone you can be proud of with Sober Motivation's Brad Mcleod
Behind The Smile with Ash Butterss
Brad Mcleod shares his journey from opioids, heroin and jail to rebuilding his life in Canada and creating Sober Motivation. He and host Ash Butterss talk about daily habits, relationships and mindset shifts that support a life in long-term recovery.
1:09:24•5 Feb 2023
Becoming Someone You’re Proud Of: Brad Mcleod on Rock Bottom, Recovery and Sober Motivation
Episode Overview
- Recovery often starts long before the substances, with untreated mental health issues, trauma and deep feelings of not fitting in.
- Prescription painkillers can feel like an emotional cure-all, but tolerance, withdrawal and escalation to drugs like heroin can arrive quickly.
- Jail and other external consequences may become turning points, especially when the impact on loved ones becomes impossible to ignore.
- Long-term sobriety is sustained through small daily actions, honest connections, and staying alert to the early steps that lead towards relapse.
- Keeping a small trusted circle, remaining willing to learn, and practising self-kindness can help build a life you’re genuinely proud of.
“Sobriety to me in a nutshell is what I do when nobody's watching.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation follows Brad Mcleod, the man behind Sober Motivation, as he traces the messy, very human path from teenage turmoil to long-term recovery and fatherhood. Brad shares how early struggles with ADHD, depression and feeling like an outsider set the stage long before he ever picked up a drink or drug.
A wilderness treatment programme at 17 briefly put him on track, but prescription painkillers later became the “solution” he’d been chasing his whole life: “Everything I was looking for, for the last 18 years of my life, I found for five bucks.” From there, things escalated to heroin, academic failure, job losses, legal trouble and estrangement from his family. The episode leans heavily into honesty rather than drama.
Brad talks through his arrest for drug trafficking, a year in jail, deportation from the US, and the emotional punch of realising how much pain his behaviour caused others. He describes jail as the point where he finally had to stop running from himself, and where he set two simple goals: get a German shepherd and become an addiction counsellor.
You’ll hear how he rebuilt his life slowly in Canada, worked in treatment and peer support, and eventually created Sober Motivation, now followed by hundreds of thousands of people. The chat is warm, candid and practical, aimed at anyone in addiction, early sobriety or supporting a loved one.
Brad and host Ash Butterss also swap tools for staying well: small daily habits, staying connected, telling on yourself when cravings hit, and remembering that relapse starts long before the first drink or drug. His three non‑negotiables – keeping a small, solid circle, dropping excuses while staying teachable, and being gentle with himself – offer simple ideas you can try straight away.
If you’re wondering whether you can become someone you’re proud of, this story might help you ask what your next small step could be.
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