Rebellion Dogs Radio fash back (#40 from 2018) NAADAC Houston, Renezvous With Madness TorontoRebellion Dogs Radio fash back (#40 from 2018) NAADAC Houston, Renezvous With Madness Toronto
Rebellion Dogs Radio
Professionals, musicians and artists share stories about secular recovery, women-focused support, ADHD, grief and the power of music and art in addressing addiction and mental health. The episode moves between a film festival and an addiction conference, highlighting how creativity and lived experience shape modern recovery conversations.
57:52•12 Jul 2026
Art, Music and Secular Paths in Recovery: Rebellion Dogs Radio Flashback
Episode Overview
- Recovery spaces can better support agnostic and atheist people by offering secular versions of 12-step facilitation and respecting cultural humility.
- Sharing personal stories of grief, depression and suicide through music and film can help open conversations and reduce stigma.
- Women often feel safer and more understood in gender-specific recovery groups that address higher rates of trauma and different social expectations.
- Art projects like Letters to My Mother show addiction as a disease, create connection between families and highlight the emotional cost of relapse and overdose.
- Music in treatment settings can boost blood flow in the brain, trigger emotional release and support spiritual change for people in recovery.
“If we don’t speak to our own experiences, we can’t break through and let some light in.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This flashback to Rebellion Dogs Radio’s 2018 episode pulls you into a busy week where art, music and professional practice meet head-on in conversations about recovery and mental health. The show moves between two events: the NAADAC conference in Houston and Toronto’s Rendezvous With Madness film and art festival.
Host Joe C frames it as “less dogma and more bite”, sharing how he presented research on secular 12-step facilitation and the growing demand for agnostic and atheist-friendly recovery support. You’ll hear singer‑songwriter Catherine MacLellan talk candidly about grief, depression and her father Gene MacLellan’s suicide, using music and the documentary *The Song and the Sorrow* as a way to “open up more dialogue”.
Her honesty about feeling further from her dad the deeper the project went is raw, and her comment that “if we don’t speak to our own experiences, we can’t break through and let some light in” sets the emotional tone. From there, the focus shifts to NAADAC. Artist and photographer Branislav Jankic shares his project *Letters to My Mother*, born from his relationship with his mother’s alcohol addiction and his need to make peace before her death.
His portraits and letters from women with substance use disorders highlight stigma, loss and a sense of chosen family in recovery. Dr Laura Walsh brings a clinical angle with her work on ADHD and addiction, while Women for Sobriety president Adrian Miller talks about women‑specific support, gendered trauma, and the organisation’s 13 affirmations that stress responsibility, positivity and building happiness as a habit.
Rounding things off, recovery music specialist John McAndrew explains how music affects the whole brain, creates “chills”, and helps people reconnect emotionally in treatment. If you’re curious how creativity, science and lived experience can all sit at the same recovery table, this episode might be worth your time.
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