Healing Trauma Unlocks Recovery with Paul Schulte | Episode 521Healing Trauma Unlocks Recovery with Paul Schulte | Episode 521
The Way Out | A Sobriety & Recovery Podcast
Long-term sober counsellor and EMDR therapist Paul Schulte talks with Charlie and Jason about how addressing deep trauma can transform recovery from addiction. Their chat covers sexual abuse, PTSD, grief and emotional sobriety, and how EMDR alongside the 12 Steps helped turn painful memories into manageable parts of life.
1:27:05•28 Sept 2026
Healing Trauma, EMDR and Nearly 23 Years Sober with Paul Schulte
Episode Overview
- Unhealed trauma, including sexual abuse and family violence, often sits behind addiction and needs direct treatment.
- Talk therapy alone may miss deep trauma because it speaks to the logical brain instead of the emotional brain where the trauma sits.
- EMDR can reduce the emotional charge of traumatic memories so people feel present and safe rather than re‑living the past.
- Combining EMDR with working the 12 Steps and a sponsor can unlock long‑stalled recovery and prevent becoming a “dry drunk”.
- Emotions like grief, anger and fear are visitors; avoiding them with alcohol keeps people stuck, while facing them allows genuine healing.
“"We are designed to heal. That's my message today."”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation with long‑term recovering alcoholic and EMDR therapist Paul Schulte offers a raw, honest look at how healing trauma can unlock lasting recovery. Paul shares his story of growing up the youngest of ten in a chaotic, deeply Catholic, military family soaked in PTSD, secrecy and alcohol. Vodka tonics became his escape, until alcohol nearly destroyed him and he got sober in January 2004.
He’s since lost his father and three siblings to alcohol‑related illness, which makes his message that “getting cleaned up counts” land hard. The heart of the episode is trauma. Paul and host Charlie talk frankly about sexual abuse, grief, and violent experiences that so many people in addiction carry but minimise.
Paul explains why talk therapy often struggles with deep trauma – “the logical brain is offline” – and why EMDR, which works directly with the emotional brain, can quiet those “broken records of rumination” in as little as a handful of focused sessions.
You’ll hear how EMDR and working the 12 Steps together helped Charlie move from being repeatedly re‑triggered by childhood trauma to finally feeling “I’m here, not there anymore.” Paul echoes this with veterans and civilians he’s treated in war zones and beyond, stressing that trauma lives in the body and that grief, anger and fear have to be faced, not pushed down with drink.
Along the way, they touch on emotional sobriety, avoiding the trap of becoming a “dry drunk”, and why so many in LGBTQ+ communities and veteran communities are hurting. The tone is direct, funny in places, and deeply compassionate. If you’ve ever wondered whether your own unaddressed trauma is keeping you stuck, this conversation might be the nudge to seek real help – are you ready to believe you’re actually designed to heal?
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