Episode 47 | The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd | When Is Enough, Enough"Episode 47 | The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd | When Is Enough, Enough"
The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast by Freedom Recovery Services of Greenville
Mike Todd shares his changing views on medically assisted treatment in recovery housing, stressing trust, equity and the life-or-death stakes of exclusion. The conversation highlights housing as healthcare, the impact of fentanyl, and the need to prioritise people’s lives over personal opinions about what recovery should look like.
16:32•26 Oct 2021
When Is Enough, Enough? Mike Todd on MAT, Housing and Fair Chances in Recovery
Episode Overview
- MAT can be compatible with genuine recovery, and people on prescribed medication deserve access to housing and support.
- Trust, relationships, education and equity (TREE) are essential for honest conversations about recovery housing and medication.
- Personal opinions about sobriety matter less than the urgent need to reduce overdose deaths, especially with potent drugs like fentanyl.
- Recovery does not look the same for everyone, and pathways beyond traditional 12-step models should be respected.
- "Housing is healthcare" – safe, stable housing is a core part of helping people survive and improve their quality of life.
“"Everyone deserves an opportunity at treatment and recovery."”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This episode of The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast with host Mike Todd leans into one of the most hotly debated issues in recovery circles: medically assisted treatment (MAT) in recovery housing. Mike speaks openly about his own shift in perspective. He shares that he once refused entry to people on medication, believing they were "not sober" or "not in recovery".
Now, after years of learning from others, his stance has changed dramatically. As he puts it, "everyone deserves an opportunity at treatment and recovery," and his programme now accepts people on MAT without pushing them to taper off on someone else’s timetable. To frame the conversation, Mike introduces his "TREE" concept – trust, relationships, education and equity. He argues that real progress on MAT and housing needs all four: honest communication, genuine connections, solid information and fair access.
He’s clear that his personal opinion is less important than the reality that "we lost 99,000 people in 2020 to accidental overdose" and that fentanyl is "more powerful, more potent than heroin". Mike also stresses that housing itself is vital to wellbeing: "housing is healthcare". He uses a simple example – being turned away from a shelter because of prescribed medication – to show how easily people on MAT can be excluded from life-saving support.
The episode also points towards a broader conversation with advocates including Michael Crouch, Mark Burrows, Riley Coyote and Bobby Brazel, who focus on harm reduction, recovery housing and support services. There’s further mention of efforts in South Carolina to standardise recovery housing and ensure naloxone is available and residents are trained to use it.
If you’ve ever wondered whether MAT and recovery housing can truly fit together, this honest, no-frills conversation asks a direct question: are personal opinions worth more than someone’s chance to stay alive?
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