Episode 626: Turning Pain into Purpose with CHELZZZEpisode 626: Turning Pain into Purpose with CHELZZZ
Busy Living Sober with Host Elizabeth Chance
Elizabeth Chance talks with CHELZZZ about her journey from overdose, heroin and jail to sobriety, music, MMA and founding Race Towards Recovery. The conversation touches on codependency, victimhood, treatment, and finding creative and physical outlets that turn deep pain into lasting purpose.
36:19•26 Mar 2026
From Heroin to Heroine: CHELZZZ on Codependency, Recovery and Fighting for a New Life
Episode Overview
- Owning past mistakes and dropping the victim role can create a sense of control and open the door to real change.
- Codependency is learned, not genetic, so patterns from childhood and relationships can be unlearned with focused work.
- Choosing recovery meetings and treatment centres carefully is crucial, as some environments may fuel relapse rather than support sobriety.
- Safe physical outlets like MMA and creative outlets like music and writing can help process rage, grief and shame in recovery.
- Long-term support, community and honest accountability after treatment are vital to sustaining sobriety beyond the first year.
“Instead of saying this is why I can’t change, I said this is exactly why I have to.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol and drugs after years of chaos, courtrooms and codependent relationships? Episode 626 of Busy Living Sober offers a high-energy, no-fluff conversation with CHELZZZ (Chels Henson), where raw honesty meets practical hope. Host Elizabeth “Bizzy” Chance chats with Chels about growing up with addicted parents, overdosing at school, graduating high school from sober living, and moving from pills and heroin to crack and jail time.
Chels talks frankly about fleeing to Florida with 14 felonies hanging over her, then finding stability through radical honesty at work, eventually becoming a vice president: “There was such a power in owning up to those mistakes because you’re the only person that can write your own narrative.” You’ll hear Chels explain how her sobriety date of 8 July led to nearly three years alcohol‑free, and how she shifted from victim to heroine in her own story.
She and Elizabeth swap views on 12‑step meetings, AA vs NA, and why “stick with the winners” still matters, while also acknowledging how some groups can get stuck in a loop of victimhood. A big focus is codependency: Chels calls it “the invisible tie” in addiction and suggests books like *Facing Codependence* and *Breaking Free* to work through shame and family patterns. She stresses that codependency is learned, so it can be unlearned.
The conversation also highlights Chels’s creative and physical outlets: hip‑hop music, writing her memoir *Heroin Heroine*, and training in MMA to safely channel rage. Her new nonprofit, Race Towards Recovery, already has people in treatment and sober living, with a goal of funding more long‑term support across multiple states.
If you’re juggling family, grief, early sobriety or just feel "untrustable" around your own choices, this episode asks a simple but tough question: what if your pain is the very reason you have to change, not the excuse that says you can’t?
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