Recovered: Interviews with Alcoholics | Kirbie JeanRecovered: Interviews with Alcoholics | Kirbie Jean
The Magdalen House Podcast
Recovered alcoholic Kirbie Jean shares how all-day drinking, denial, and a medical crisis led her to The Magdalen House and the 12 Steps. She talks about learning what alcoholism really is, staying sober through deep grief, and building a new life that includes a sober wedding and meaningful service to other women.
52:37•15 Apr 2026
From All‑Day Drinking to a Sober Wedding: Kirbie Jean’s Story
Episode Overview
- Willpower-based sobriety without a programme left Kirbie miserable, obsessing over alcohol, and quickly drinking again.
- A severe withdrawal episode and hospital stay forced her to admit, "I'm an alcoholic. I need to go to the hospital now."
- Hearing other women share about the allergy and obsession of alcoholism helped her accept step one and see that she was "drinking against her will."
- Steps four through nine showed her how people‑pleasing, fixing, and secret drinking harmed others, leading to genuine amends and changed behaviour.
- Daily tools like prayer, meditation, nightly inventory, and service work kept her sober through the deaths of her father and sister and support her life today.
“Every day I woke up hoping that I could not drink again, and every night I was hoping that I drank enough to not wake up the next morning.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This conversation with Kirbie Jean pulls back the curtain on the kind of drinking many people hide: "I was an everyday, all-day drinker. I would drink from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed." She shares how her attempts to prove she wasn’t an alcoholic ended in secret drinking, lost jobs, accidents, and a terrifying hospital stay where doctors warned that her heart could be next.
You’ll hear how Kirbie moved from white‑knuckle willpower to genuine recovery through The Magdalen House and the 12 Steps. At first she treated the steps like a checklist and hunted for reasons she “didn’t belong” there. Then a line from Bill’s Story and a simple allergy analogy finally clicked: "I know it's killing me, but I'm going to do it anyway." That recognition of the body–mind nature of alcoholism opened the door to real honesty.
She walks through sponsorship, re‑doing her fourth step, the shock of seeing her people‑pleasing as selfishness, and learning that amends are for “cleaning her side of the street,” not fixing relationships. Her description of step five – entering feeling like she was carrying all the furniture in the room, and leaving feeling it was back on the floor – captures the relief many hope for.
The episode also goes into how Kirbie stayed sober through the deaths of her alcoholic father and then her younger sister in 2024, relying on prayer, phone calls, meetings, service, and letting people in. Today she talks about planning a sober wedding, working in a job she loves, and learning to high‑five herself in the mirror. Her advice?
"Stop taking yourself so seriously" and remember, "You're not unique." If you’re wondering whether this programme could work for you, Kirbie’s story might be the nudge you need.
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