Finding True Love: Shannon Lee Hayes on Addiction, Faith, and FreedomFinding True Love: Shannon Lee Hayes on Addiction, Faith, and Freedom
Recovery On-Air
Shannon Lee Hayes shares her journey from chaotic drinking, meth and heroin use, and losing her children to rebuilding a life centred on faith, honesty and service. The conversation touches on relapse, mental health, healthy love and the everyday self-care that keeps recovery going.
55:33•8 May 2026
Finding True Love and Freedom: Shannon Lee Hayes on Addiction, Faith and Mental Health
Episode Overview
- Early exposure to alcohol and normalised drinking can mask serious problems until consequences like arrests, DUIs and family loss pile up.
- Secret relapse and "controlled drinking" quickly spiral, and honesty about a slip is crucial for getting back to real recovery.
- Addressing grief, shame, childhood trauma and mental health issues such as ADHD and anxiety is essential, not just stopping substances.
- Faith practices, community support and service work can provide meaning, structure and healing in long-term recovery.
- Self-care can be simple and grounding, from taking time off work to gardening and allowing space to talk openly about not being okay.
“Recovery is a mixture of everything. It's not just about drugs and alcohol.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? Recovery On-Air puts that question centre stage as Shannon Lee Hayes shares a raw, funny, and faith-filled account of life before and after addiction. Shannon talks about growing up in a chaotic home where alcohol was part of every gathering, starting to drink at 14, and being drunk enough to get arrested for shoplifting on her graduation day.
She later describes drink-driving with her kids in the car, losing custody, and then turning to meth and heroin once the children were gone, saying she used them "trying to numb it" and escape the shame of her choices. Her story moves through domestic violence, a trap house, and drug court, into multiple rounds of treatment, including Guiding Star and Maverick House.
She’s honest about a secret relapse after years of sobriety, collecting chips while still drinking, and how a night of “controlled drinking” ended with her passing out, soiling herself on a friend’s floor, and finally admitting the truth at her home group. As she says, "I vomited my truth" and started again with a 24‑hour chip. A big turning point comes with faith and grief work.
Through life recovery, Bible study and a new understanding of ADHD and anxiety, Shannon begins to see that, "Recovery is a mixture of everything. It's not just about drugs and alcohol." She talks about choosing not to medicate, leaning on God, and learning proper self-care.
Now a programme supervisor on a street outreach team, she helps people facing homelessness, addiction and mental health crises, while building a life with her husband Dave, a long-time friend she eventually married after both prayed for a partner who shared their faith. Between outreach shifts and church service, she’s happily tending a "mini pineapple farm" in her garden and reminding anyone who’s struggling that "it's okay to not be okay" and that speaking up is the first step.
Who in your life needs to hear that they’re not alone?
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