New Comers Speak
New Comers Speak

Recovery Radio Network

Three AA newcomers, Carla, Melanie and Robert, share candid stories of family alcoholism, trauma, faith, therapy and early sobriety. Their shares focus on honesty, asking for help and the newfound support they’ve found in recovery programmes.

HonestInspiringAuthenticHealingHopeful

53:16•13 Apr 2026

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Newcomers on Fire: Carla, Melanie and Robert Share Early Sobriety

Episode Overview

Early childhood trauma and alcoholic homes can feed addiction, but can be revisited with new understanding through recovery work.
Therapy, including EMDR, can sit alongside AA to address PTSD, anger and deep-rooted self-hatred.
Al-Anon and learning about AA can help shift focus from controlling others to examining one’s own behaviour and drinking.
Letting go of ego, embracing honesty, and asking for help are crucial shifts, especially for those taught never to show weakness.
Facing resentments and past abuse, and practising forgiveness, opens the door to genuine connection, faith and a new way of living.

“"Men do ask for help. Men do cry. Men do tell their feelings to another man if they want help."”

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This Recovery Radio Network episode, "New Comers Speak", brings together three early-days Alcoholics Anonymous members sharing raw, honest stories that many in recovery will instantly recognise. Carla, sober since August 2024, talks about growing up in an alcoholic and abusive home, losing custody of her three children, and using alcohol and drugs for 42 years.

Through AA, therapy and EMDR for PTSD, she’s learned self-forgiveness and says, "I wouldn't be alive without God's grace." Her mix of vulnerability and humour about being "picky" with sponsors makes her story feel both painful and relatable. Melanie, 160 days sober, grew up in a multi-generational alcoholic family and spent 50 years trying to direct everyone else’s life.

She describes the relief of finally saying "I am an alcoholic" after months of sitting silently in online meetings, and uses a powerful image of an "ornate leather bag" stuffed with unspoken pain, alcohol and drugs until everything started spilling out sideways. Robert, the youngest of 13, shares a brutal history of abuse, early drinking at eight, sexual trauma, heavy cocaine use, and repeated prison time.

His turning point came when he asked for help and faced deep resentments and shame: "Men do ask for help. Men do cry." He now calls the AA design for living his "blueprint for life" and talks about the genuine care he’s found: people who text just to ask how he is, not what he can do for them. You’ll hear stories of God’s grace, sponsorship, therapy, Al-Anon, and the courage to be emotionally honest.

If you’re new, struggling, or wondering whether recovery could ever be for you, could these newcomers be the voices you relate to most?

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