Mo Michael & Timmy Michael : Compass Recovery Center : Helping addicts recoverMo Michael & Timmy Michael : Compass Recovery Center : Helping addicts recover
Beyond the Bars
Mo Michael BS, BHT – Program Director Maureen “Mo” started working in the treatment field in 2008 where she first started as a residential house manager. Mo comes to Compass with a wide variety of skills in both the administrative and clinical side...
46:00•30 Apr 2018
From 53 Felonies to Freedom: Mo and Timmy Michael on Gambling, Prison and Starting Again
Episode Overview
- Gambling addiction is often invisible yet can cause greater financial damage and higher suicide risk than many substance addictions.
- For gamblers, money functions like a drug, so early recovery requires strict financial boundaries and often handing over money management for at least a year.
- Process addictions such as gambling trigger the brain’s reward system much like drugs, keeping dopamine levels high even on near-misses and losses.
- Sustained recovery depends on a complete lifestyle change that includes structure, healthy habits, spiritual growth and strong 12-step and community support.
- Families play a crucial role by insisting on honesty, removing access to shared funds and putting layered protections in place to prevent further harm.
“Recovery is a complete lifestyle change. There’s not a whole lot that you want or need to hang on to from that particular lifestyle.”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of gambling and alcohol addiction that flip the usual recovery script on its head. This conversation on Beyond the Bars brings together host Rob Lohman with Maureen “Mo” Michael and her husband, Timmy Michael from Compass Recovery Center, for an honest look at what compulsive gambling and substance use can do – and what genuine recovery can look like.
Mo, an internationally certified gambling counsellor and program director, explains why gambling is such a “hidden addiction”. As she puts it, you can’t smell a gambling problem, yet the financial devastation can be huge: drained savings, secret mortgages, criminal charges, and the highest suicide rate of any addiction.
She calls money “the drug” for gamblers and talks about how distorted the relationship with money becomes, to the point where “a gambler is getting high whether they win or lose.” Her own story is raw: early exposure to casinos, escalating theft, 53 felony charges, nearly a year in county jail, and then a life-changing placement in a gambling-specific treatment programme, where she became their first female client and hasn’t placed a bet since.
Timmy shares his background with alcohol, a 12‑year prison sentence, and the damage done to his family – along with the decision to walk out “a different man” and channel an inheritance into starting Compass Recovery Center with his brother Ted. On the practical side, they break down the brain science of process versus chemical addictions, why early recovery feels so flat, and how structure, lifestyle change, exercise, diet and spiritual growth all help calm that frantic dopamine chase.
They stress family involvement, strict financial boundaries, and 12‑step support as essentials. And then there’s their unlikely love story: years of prison and jail letters, terrible one‑line jokes, and a shared date on which both their mothers died – a twist that even they struggle to explain. If you or someone you love wrestles with gambling or alcohol, this conversation might be the nudge to ask: what could your own “complete lifestyle change” start to look like today?
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