What True Recovery Looks Like—Beyond Sobriety With Dave Riccio

What True Recovery Looks Like—Beyond Sobriety With Dave Riccio

Curious about how others manage co-occurring challenges while staying sober? This conversation between recovery advocate Tim Westbrook and automotive business owner Dave Riccio digs into what “true recovery” looks like beyond simply stopping drinking or using. Dave, known as the “automotive therapist” and co-host of Bumper to Bumper Radio, talks candidly about growing up in a chaotic, shaming household, developing sex addiction, and later being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

He recalls the moment everything shifted: getting on his knees and praying for help when he realised, “This isn’t who I am, or who I want to be.” Within a week he found himself in a 12-step meeting and started building a life based on honesty and community instead of double lives and secrecy. You’ll hear plenty about practical recovery tools: early-morning routines, daily exercise, cycling, meditation, and sponsoring others.

Dave sums up his new definition of success with the line, “Health is the new success… I’m healthy when my nervous system is regulated, when I can literally just sit in my own skin and be comfortable.” He and Tim swap stories about shame, religion, judgment, and learning to feel all their feelings rather than numbing out with alcohol, sex, screens or work.

The chat also touches on guided psychedelic work with psilocybin, which Dave describes as “a year’s worth of therapy in six hours” when done carefully with a guide, journalling and intention. Throughout, recovery is framed as becoming authentic, building real relationships, and learning self-love instead of people-pleasing.

If you’re wondering what life in recovery can look like when you go beyond white-knuckling sobriety and start healing mind, body and spirit, this conversation might spark some fresh questions for your own journey. What could “health as success” mean for you today?