Jaron Stanton: Recovery, Faith & Finding YourselfJaron Stanton: Recovery, Faith & Finding Yourself
Recovery On-Air
Jaron Stanton shares his journey through alcoholism, five years of sobriety, relapse on ‘grey area’ substances like kratom and kava, and his return to recovery with faith and treatment. The conversation highlights family dynamics, anxiety, therapy and learning to build a life that actually feels worth staying sober for.
55:12•18 Sept 2026
Grey Areas, Kratom and Coming Clean: Jaron Stanton on Faith and Recovery
Episode Overview
- So-called ‘grey area’ substances like kratom, kava and certain pre-workouts can still feed addictive patterns, especially when used to calm anxiety or change feelings.
- Faith, prayer and a genuine connection with a higher power became crucial for Jaron after years of relying only on logic, self-will and therapy.
- Honesty about what is really going on—including secret substance use—can be the difference between staying stuck and accepting help such as treatment.
- Meeting loved ones “where they’re at” while maintaining boundaries allows care without making sobriety a condition for love.
- Finding joy in simple things like travel, friendships and hobbies helps build a life that feels worth staying sober for.
“Once my brain or body has felt that it can get me there, I cannot ingest it without seeking to get there.”
What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? For anyone curious about how faith, honesty, and hard lessons shape long-term sobriety, this conversation with Jaron Stanton hits close to home. Hosted by Kristen Day on Recovery On-Air, the episode follows Jaron as he talks through growing up in a chaotic home with a father who was a paranoid schizophrenic and a mum doing her best while struggling with her own substance use.
He shares how alcohol became his go-to solution almost from the start, and how, at 26, he was setting rules for himself like, “you can’t get arrested” and “you can’t leave 36 cents in your bank account” just to justify his drinking. Jaron walks through his first stretch of sobriety starting in 2015, when he found AA by Googling a meeting and walking an hour each way with no car or licence.
He stayed sober for five years without treatment, relying on logic, therapy, and self-control more than a higher power. That approach eventually crumbled into anxiety, control issues, and, finally, relapse. The heart of the episode is his raw breakdown of so-called “grey area” substances like kratom, kava, and products such as Alpha Moods. He explains how they became a secret coping tool while he still appeared sober, saying he was doing “mental gymnastics” to convince himself it wasn’t a relapse.
He’s clear that these substances can quietly pull people with anxiety and addictive patterns into a dangerous loop. Now in recovery again, after his first time in treatment and a deeper connection to God, Jaron talks about therapy, EMDR, community, and finding fun in life again—trips, friendships, games, and learning who he actually is without substances or chaos.
If you’ve ever wondered whether something “harmless” might be part of the problem, this honest chat might get you asking some important questions about your own solutions.
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