How to Spot Relationship Red Flags Before You Lose Yourself | Dave McLachlanHow to Spot Relationship Red Flags Before You Lose Yourself | Dave McLachlan
Busy Living Sober with Host Elizabeth Chance
Relationship coach Dave McLachlan talks with Elizabeth Chance about spotting red flags, emotional safety and choosing truly worthy partners. The conversation focuses on helping women protect their hearts and sobriety by looking beyond chemistry to values and behaviour.
48:05•13 Aug 2026
Is He Really Worthy? Spotting Relationship Red Flags Before You Get Hurt
Episode Overview
- Sobriety can leave old relationship patterns intact, so emotional work around dating is still needed.
- Creating a clear list of non-negotiables and scoring them helps you assess partners beyond chemistry.
- The WORTHY method offers quick questions to judge whether someone supports your heart, time and wellbeing.
- Watching for selfless versus selfish choices is a simple way to spot whether a partner will show up when life gets hard.
- Waiting on intimacy and being honest about needs can reveal whether a relationship has real long-term potential.
“Emotion is the enemy. That's the irony. It's both the blessing and the curse.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol and then realise their relationship patterns still need work? This chat between host Elizabeth "Bizzy" Chance and ICF certified relationship coach Dave McLachlan zeros in on that exact reality: getting sober doesn’t magically fix how you pick partners.
You’ll hear Dave share how his own marriages, divorce and custody battle pushed him to create the WORTHY method and the platform Is He Worthy?, designed to help women assess whether a man is truly emotionally safe and compatible. He explains that the letters stand for winning, obstacle, recoverability, torture, heart and your friends, each pointing to simple but revealing questions about how a partner affects your life.
Elizabeth brings plenty of humour and real talk, comparing red flags to walking past warning signs on a stormy beach until you’re "drowning in the middle of the ocean with the backpack on your back and bricks in it." Dave fully agrees, arguing that "emotion is the enemy" when it comes to ignoring those signs. Together they look at why women stay, why some men avoid breaking up by behaving badly, and how shame and fear can keep anyone stuck.
The conversation hits on sobriety, childhood trauma, dating apps, arranged marriages, intimacy, and whether second chances with exes ever work. Dave keeps things practical, urging women to spot whether a man is fundamentally selfless or selfish, to wait on intimacy, and to write a clear list of what they want in a partner instead of only chasing chemistry or handbags and Gucci loafers.
If you’ve ever felt that something was off but were scared to speak up, this episode offers language, structure and a bit of tough love to help you trust yourself. Could it be time to ask honestly: is he really worthy of your time, heart and recovery?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.