More Than Recovery

More Than Recovery

Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This Agents of Recovery episode, "More Than Recovery", brings Coach Blu Robinson and Coach Wendell Wood together for a straight-talking, often funny, but deeply honest conversation about why quitting an addictive behaviour is only the starting line. You’ll hear them challenge the idea that recovery is just about abstinence.

Blu argues that "addiction's not the problem", and Wendell backs that up with his own experience of thinking that simply cutting out porn would fix everything, only to realise the deeper pain and unmet needs underneath. They dig into inner child work in very down-to-earth terms, asking what that "six or seven year old" inside each person needed but didn’t get – attention, protection, reassurance – and how those gaps can keep fuelling addiction years later.

Loneliness comes up as a huge trigger, with Blu sharing the story of astronaut Michael Collins’ intense isolation on the dark side of the moon to show how you can feel utterly alone even when surrounded by people. The hosts link that emotional isolation to relapse, especially with pornography, and talk about how shame convinces people they don’t deserve help. A big theme is curiosity over self-judgement.

Instead of just trying harder or muscling through urges, Blu and Wendell invite you to pause, sit in the silence, notice what you feel, and ask what your younger self might be trying to say. They also stress that healing happens in community – in their men’s groups, in recovery teams, and in friendships where people are brave enough to point out blind spots.

There’s humour (including bike crashes and biscuit binges), but the message is serious: stopping the behaviour is level one; healing means learning to need, grieve, connect and become an agent of your own recovery. Could it be time to move beyond simply "not using" and start getting to know yourself for real?