From Hiding to Healing with Nadine Machkovech

From Hiding to Healing with Nadine Machkovech

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation between Lisa Wall and recovery advocate Nadine Machkovech gives a raw, grounded look at what it can mean to move "from hiding to healing" as a woman in recovery.

Nadine shares how she once had no idea what recovery even meant, explaining, "It took me learning and finding my own definition of recovery, and redefining recovery for me saved my life." She talks about getting sober at 20, feeling painfully alone, and the long, awkward, often tearful process of building genuine friendships as an introverted homebody.

You’ll hear her describe the courage it took to fly solo from Wisconsin to New York for a SHE RECOVERS conference, stepping into a room full of strangers and realising how life-changing safe, women-centred spaces can be. The episode looks closely at themes of perfectionism, people-pleasing, and the pressure to “hold it all together” as mothers, leaders, and caregivers.

Nadine is honest about recent moments of sitting in her car and sobbing for two hours, reminding anyone who feels like they’re unravelling that intense feelings do pass and that "we don’t have to do it alone." As Executive Director of RISE TOGETHER, she also talks about working with young people, showing up with what she calls "radical authenticity" rather than lectures.

Stories from school presentations highlight how real talk about self-worth, grief and substance use can stay with students for years, sometimes nudging them to seek help later on.

If you’ve ever questioned whether your struggle is “bad enough” to seek help, or felt like you should be able to do everything on your own, this episode offers a gentle reminder to take the mask off, trust your intuition, and keep looking for the people who can hold your truth with you. Where might your own definition of recovery start to change if you did the same?