SHAIR 158: My Fair Junkie with Amy DresnerSHAIR 158: My Fair Junkie with Amy Dresner
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Author and former stand-up comic Amy Dresner talks with Omar Pinto about her long history of relapse, sex and drug addiction, and how losing everything led to meaningful sobriety. Their conversation blends dark humour, candid stories and practical tools for staying clean, even on the rough days.
1:09:16•20 Feb 2018
My Fair Junkie: Amy Dresner’s Brutally Honest Road to Getting Dirty and Staying Clean
Episode Overview
- Relapse doesn’t disqualify anyone; returning and “just keeping coming back” is what matters.
- Discipline and routine create stability, not the other way round, so action has to come before feeling ready.
- Urges to use pass whether a person uses or not, so buying just 20 minutes with a simple activity can break the cycle.
- Fellowship and service – meetings, sponsorship, commitments – provide connection, accountability and practical support.
- It’s possible to sit with uncomfortable feelings without numbing them, using tools like naps, meditation and honest contact with others.
“Everything I judged, I became. Everything I thought that wouldn’t happen to me, happened to me.”
What emotional and inspiring tales of recovery are out there? This conversation with writer and comic Amy Dresner gives a no-filter answer for anyone who’s ever felt like they just can’t get their life together in sobriety. Hosted by recovery coach Omar Pinto, this episode leans heavily into dark humour and blunt honesty. Amy, author of *My Fair Junkie*, talks about being five years clean after years of crystal meth, cocaine, sex addiction, psych wards and multiple rehabs.
She doesn’t polish anything up – you’ll hear about bike helmets for shooting coke, suicide attempts, and sweeping human waste as part of 240 hours of court-ordered community labour. As she puts it, “Everything I judged, I became. Everything I thought that wouldn’t happen to me, happened to me.” The chat mixes war stories with day-to-day recovery reality.
Amy speaks about relapse over 20 years, the shame of coming back to meetings, and how losing everything finally forced a deep shift. She shares how structure, AA, sponsorship, and showing up even when she’s in a “funk” keep her steady. Expect plenty of talk about naps as a coping tool, cheap massages as self-care, and the hilarity and hazards of sex in early recovery and in 12-step rooms.
Omar and Amy also hit on predators in meetings, feeling safer in online groups, and how pride over “how low your bottom was” can get in the way of what really matters: staying alive and sober. The tone is raw, funny, and very real – perfect if you’re tired of sugar-coated recovery stories and want to hear what long-term change can look like, mess and all.
If you’ve ever thought, “That could never happen to me,” this one might make you think again – in a good way.
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