The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd Bonus "Are We 'Should-ing' All Over Simone Biles"The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd Bonus "Are We 'Should-ing' All Over Simone Biles"
The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast by Freedom Recovery Services of Greenville
Mike Todd reflects on Simone Biles’ decision to prioritise her mental health, linking it to his own experiences with trauma, PTSD, and panic attacks. He also shares how recovery housing in South Carolina is being strengthened through advocacy, standards, and wider access to naloxone.
13:05•2 Aug 2021
Mike Todd on Simone Biles, Mental Health, and the Truth About Recovery Housing
Episode Overview
- Mental illness and trauma can affect a person for life, even when they appear highly successful on the surface.
- Stepping back from a high-pressure role to protect mental health is an act of courage, not weakness.
- People with conditions like PTSD and depression cannot always predict when episodes or panic attacks will strike.
- Recovery housing has become an industry, bringing both support and the risk of exploiting a vulnerable population.
- The South Carolina Recovery Housing Association works to support operators and aims to equip all recovery houses with naloxone and training.
“If this would have happened to any other organ in her body, we would be talking about this differently.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This bonus share from the Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast offers a raw look at mental health, trauma, and recovery, all framed around gymnast Simone Biles and the backlash she faced. Host Mike Todd speaks candidly about why he relates so strongly to Biles.
He talks about growing up with sexual abuse, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and how living in constant survival mode as a child "does something to you for the rest of your life." His honesty gives anyone in recovery a sense that they’re not alone in struggling with unseen injuries.
Using Simone Biles as a starting point, Mike challenges the culture of "should-ing" on people with mental illness: "If this would have happened to any other organ in her body, we would be talking about this differently." He praises her for stepping back from competition, calling it an act of courage rather than weakness, and ties that to his own experience of nearly having a panic attack while testifying about recovery housing before an opioid subcommittee.
The episode also highlights practical advocacy. Mike explains how recovery housing has grown from people simply living together for support into a full-blown industry with real risks of exploitation. To address this, he describes the creation of the South Carolina Recovery Housing Association and its push to get naloxone into every recovery house in the state, along with training residents to use it.
This is a heartfelt, conversational piece aimed at people in recovery, their families, and community advocates who want straight talking about mental illness, substance use disorder, and the systems meant to support healing. If you’ve ever felt judged for stepping back to protect your mental health, this one may hit home and give you something to think about: where’s the line between "should" and self-preservation in your own life?
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