Recovered: Interviews with Alcoholics | Brent BorenRecovered: Interviews with Alcoholics | Brent Boren
The Magdalen House Podcast
Brent Warren reflects on decades of sobriety and relapse, sharing how The Magdalen House and fully working the Twelve Steps changed his experience of recovery. The conversation highlights peer-led support, daily spiritual practice, and the shift from "sober enough" to genuine freedom from obsession with alcohol.
40:02•15 Jul 2026
From Catastrophic Relapse to Real Freedom: Brent’s Long Road Back
Episode Overview
- Understanding the full meaning of Step One, including life becoming unmanageable while sober, is central to Brent’s current recovery.
- Simply attending meetings and knowing the Big Book wasn’t enough; living in Steps Ten, Eleven, and Twelve every day made the difference.
- Peer-implemented support at The Magdalen House, from staff who are alcoholics themselves, helped Brent drop his self-reliance and accept guidance.
- Prioritising step work over fixing individual life problems led, unexpectedly, to solutions in work, housing, and peace of mind.
- Volunteering and sponsoring others are now key parts of Brent’s sobriety, giving him as much benefit as the people he helps.
“I was busy seeking God through the Big Book, and while I wasn’t looking, my life fixed itself.”
What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? This conversation with Brent Warren offers a front-row seat to someone who has known sobriety for decades, yet kept slipping back into catastrophic relapse until he landed at The Magdalen House. Across the episode, you’ll hear Brent talk candidly about first getting sober at 19, relapsing four times, and spending most of his life around Alcoholics Anonymous while, as he admits, still not truly grasping the "second part of Step One".
He explains, with disarming humour and honesty, how he could quote the Big Book and look good in meetings, yet avoid living in Steps 10, 11 and 12: "I sat in AA for decades, not doing it all.
I did most of it." Brent shares how his final relapse brought real fear — being turned away from hospital detox, sitting in a dark room "sipping beer nonstop" until he could get into Maggie’s, and arriving at the men’s house "shaking and sweating" but finally defeated and open-minded.
He credits the peer-led environment and staff who "have been there" for helping him stop listening to his own thinking and start doing everything the book suggests, including a thorough ninth step and daily spiritual practice.
Host Laura Wilson draws out practical details of Brent’s journey through The Magdalen House’s First Step and Next Step programmes, his renewed understanding of obsession and allergy, and the way his life stabilised — job, housing, and peace of mind — while he focused first on the programme rather than on fixing individual problems. This episode speaks to anyone who’s been in and out of meetings, feels "sober enough", or worries they’ll never quite get it.
Brent’s story shows what can happen when someone finally goes "all in" on the programme and finds a recovery community that reflects their experience back to them. Could this kind of honesty be the nudge you’ve been waiting for?
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