Recovery Story Series: Lester HowardRecovery Story Series: Lester Howard
Rural Roads- The RCORPodcast.
Tim Rabel talks with peer specialist Lester B. Howard about his journey from addiction and prison to long-term recovery and purposeful work. Lester shares how lived experience, family support, creativity and self-compassion shape his approach to helping others in rural communities.
35:35•25 Sept 2024
From Prison to Peer Support: Lester Howard’s Powerful Recovery Story
Episode Overview
- Peer support uses lived experience so people feel less alone and more understood in their recovery.
- Forensic peer specialists draw on their own justice-system history to support others dealing with courts and incarceration.
- Recovery can mean rebuilding an entire life, not just stopping substance use, including addressing childhood pain and family issues.
- Stress and guilt are powerful triggers, so learning to live in the present and reduce pressure is crucial for long-term sobriety.
- Self-compassion, honest support networks, and meaningful passions like writing or art can help turn survival into a purposeful life.
“If you got the belief in your heart that you can make it, you can make it.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction head-on? This conversation with Certified and Forensic Peer Support Specialist Lester B. Howard gives a raw, funny, and honest look at recovery that stretches far beyond simply stopping drugs. Host Tim Rabel chats with Lester, a native of Charlotte now working with Agape Health Services in Washington, North Carolina.
Lester explains what makes peer support so powerful: he’s the “been there, done that kind of guy” who can say to someone, “I recovered. You can recover. I have my own recovery story. Let’s work on building yours.” He also breaks down the added layer of being a forensic peer support specialist, bringing his experience of the criminal justice system to those still caught up in it.
Lester shares how his addiction was tied to a whole lifestyle of selling, using, and affiliation, and how prison forced him to confront the reality that “one more felony, and it’s a life sentence for me.” Recovery for him meant more than leaving crack behind; it meant going back to find the 16-year-old version of himself carrying bullying, divorce, and shame. As he puts it, “I stopped looking at it like I’m trying to escape the drug.
I’m trying to recover in life.” He talks openly about overdoses, being shot, and the stress that can still trigger old feelings, while gently challenging the idea that relapse or struggle makes anyone weak.
His mantra is simple: “If you got the belief in your heart that you can make it, you can make it.” For anyone working in treatment or walking their own sober path, this episode offers an honest look at peer support, the importance of family and safe spaces, and the power of small beginnings. Could Lester’s story help you rethink what your own “one more season” might look like?
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