Getting Sober With Dr. Burns

Getting Sober With Dr. Burns

What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This conversation between Jeff Friedman and Dr Victoria Burns gives a raw, honest look at how trauma, addiction and recovery can collide in one person’s life. Victoria, a social work professor at the University of Calgary, shares how she was “born in an alcoholic soup”, first soothing herself with food as a child before alcohol became her main way to cope.

She talks about being a high-achieving student by day and a blackout drinker by night, and how moving to France at 18 helped her romanticise heavy drinking as connection and belonging. The episode doesn’t shy away from the hard parts. Victoria speaks about multiple sexual assaults, the chaos of blackout drinking, and being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes shortly after a major trauma.

She explains how she even used red wine as a way to manage blood sugar, describing addiction as “Russian roulette” where she “never knew how the night was going to end.” You’ll hear how stigma in healthcare and wider culture kept her sick, and why she now researches addiction stigma and “toxic alcohol culture”, especially in academic settings.

She reflects on hiding her recovery while chasing an academic career, the relief of finally being honest with her dean, and her push to normalise sobriety on campus. Recovery-wise, Victoria talks about hitting bottom, getting sober with her husband, engaging in 12-step groups, and finding support through EMDR and trauma-focused work.

She reframes addiction as an “attempted solution” to trauma rather than a moral failing, and stresses the need for compassion, especially for those in professional and academic roles who are scared to speak up.

If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to be openly sober in a high-pressure career, or questioned whether alcohol is really the “benign” social tool it’s sold as, this conversation might give you plenty to think about—what would it mean for you if sobriety was seen as normal, not shameful?