From Addiction to Transformation Kitchen | Chason Forehand on Recovery & Second ChancesFrom Addiction to Transformation Kitchen | Chason Forehand on Recovery & Second Chances
Recovery Matters! Podcast
Recovery Matters Podcast Episode 220
33:05•25 Aug 2026
Chef Chason Forehand’s Recipe for Recovery, Second Chances and Transformation Kitchen
Episode Overview
- Recovery remains a lifelong process, and staying connected to support groups like NA is vital even decades into sobriety.
- Putting people first in workplaces can dramatically reduce turnover and build genuine community.
- Transformation Kitchen blends culinary training with life skills, paid work, and living-wage jobs to break harmful cycles.
- Major disappointments can threaten recovery, so it’s crucial to have trusted people and practices ready when life falls apart.
- Partnerships based on clear agreements, shared mission, and mutual benefit are key to expanding recovery-focused programmes.
“"The work doesn’t stop. The work never stops."”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation with chef and social-good entrepreneur Chason Forehand gives you a mix of raw honesty, practical ideas, and real hope. Chason talks with CCAR’s executive director Stacey Shar Pentier about growing up with severe physical and emotional abuse, turning to drugs as a teenager, and disappearing into the high-pressure, substance-heavy culture of professional kitchens.
He describes losing jobs, couch-surfing until every bridge was burned, and hating himself so much he couldn’t look in the mirror. Everything shifted when a chef who valued people as much as food chose not to fire him after a three-day bender. Instead, that chef revealed he was "10 years clean and sober" and decided to "pay it forward" by becoming Chason’s first sponsor and mentor, helping him into shelter, food, and a new way of living.
That relationship laid the groundwork for Chason’s long-term recovery and his passion for second chances. From there, you’ll hear how his idea for Transformation Kitchen grew out of frustration with traditional programmes that celebrate graduation, then simply say, "good luck." Chason wanted something different: a 12-week culinary and life-skills course, daily community meals, paid catering and food production, and, crucially, a living wage job at the end.
The aim is simple: "a hand up instead of a hand out" to break cycles of poverty, homelessness and food insecurity. He also shares the heartbreak of a US lease falling through at the last minute, how close that came to threatening his 30-year sobriety, and why he went back to NA meetings to protect his recovery.
Stacey and Chason talk frankly about how easy it is to lose yourself in helping others and why "the work never stops"—even decades into sobriety. If you’ve ever felt a door slam shut on your plans, this story of persistence, partnership, and hope might be exactly what you need today. What kind of "hand up" could change your next chapter?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.