Katie K. Way Out Women's Group Sacramento, CA 1/9/2026Katie K. Way Out Women's Group Sacramento, CA 1/9/2026
Mad Dog Recovery AA Speakers
Katie Kempker shares how alcohol once felt like her "fear killer", but eventually brought her to an inward bottom and a desperate "maybe" toward a higher power. She describes finding relief through the AA steps, sponsorship, service and mending relationships with her family.
45:05•12 May 2026
From Jailhouse Despair to AA Joy: Katie K.’s Honest Share
Episode Overview
- Alcohol became Katie’s immediate solution to lifelong insecurity, but eventually led to jail, loss and an "inward bottom" that no external consequence could reach.
- AA literature and book studies helped her understand the physical allergy and mental obsession of alcoholism, explaining why willpower alone failed.
- Working all twelve steps quickly, including a thorough fourth step and real amends, created momentum and tangible changes in her life.
- Consistent service and sponsorship, especially helping newcomers, became her main way of accessing a higher power and staying sober.
- By putting "God and this programme first", she gradually rebuilt trust with her parents and turned past harm into opportunities to "pay it forward".
“"It doesn’t matter what we lose or don’t lose. It’s that inner thing that happens… I can’t live with it and I can’t live without it."”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of chaos, surrender and sober joy as Katie Kempker shares her story at the Way Out Women’s Group in Sacramento. A long‑time member of Alcoholics Anonymous, she talks candidly about growing up feeling "not enough" in every area, channelling that into perfectionism at school and sport, and then finding alcohol – her "fear killer" and "very best friend" – at a teenage party.
From there, you'll hear how her drinking and drug use escalated into jail time, grief and deep shame. Katie describes chasing an "outside bottom", only to realise what AA calls the real breaking point: "It’s not an outward bottom… it’s the inward bottom." Sitting in a cell that "smelled like onions" while volunteers with "eyes smiling" brought AA meetings in, she reached a tiny yet powerful "maybe there’s something to this God thing".
The episode then shifts into how she embraced the AA programme after years of resisting it. A book study on the Big Book helped her understand the allergy and obsession of alcoholism — "I can’t live with it and I can’t live without it" — and why sheer willpower was never enough. She walks through doing a fast set of steps, the emotional punch of her fourth step, and the hard but freeing work of amends.
Katie brings plenty of humour to tough truths, whether she’s talking about bed bugs in early recovery housing, over‑the‑top fabric softener use, or being told by her sponsor to "stop being so goddamn selfish and go stick your hand out and help somebody". Her story circles back repeatedly to step twelve, sponsorship and simple service: saying yes when it would be easier to say no, showing up for people in hospitals, and "lighting up" the family she once devastated.
If you're wondering whether AA has something for you, or you simply need a reminder that change is possible, this share might be exactly what you’ve been waiting for.
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