Dana Golden and David Marion are ex spouses who have turned their struggles with addiction into a successful coaching business to help others; they discuss the numbers and impact of addiction on society and families and the importance of early intervention. In this episode you will learn: 1. Addiction affects more than just the addict - it affects the whole family. 2. Addiction is a progressive disease - it will get worse unless it is addressed. 3. It takes time and effort to recover from addiction - there is no quick fix.

"The best thing you can do is bring it out in a very healthy way. You know, it's not judgmental, it's not shaming, it's not blaming, but it's in a healthy manner to communicate about it."

Dana Golden is a certified family addiction coach and interventionist. She works with addicts and their families to bring healing to everybody involved because addiction is a family disease. David Marion is the founder of the Life Recovery Coach and Life recovery interventions. He is a certified Intervention professional, certified Recovery Coach, and author, an advocate for those struggling to get into treatment, those trying to maintain any type of their sobriety, and those that are just looking for a solution in life that has been bumped up against that same path and can't do anything they feel to maintain any type of happiness.

This is Dana Golden, David Marion's story...

Scenario: I have a friend or family member that I think may be addicted to something, but I'm not sure. And I don't want to confront them because I don't want to ruin the relationship. Or I don't want to deal with the rage that might come from it. What is the best thing to do? 

The best thing you can do is bring it out in a very healthy way. You know, it's not judgmental, it's not shaming, it's not blaming, but it's in a healthy manner to communicate about it. And that's the start of just opening it up, making it not a secret, because that's the hardest part. A very popular line in AA. You're only as sick as your secrets. And that goes for the family,

In this episode, you will learn the following:1. Addiction affects more than just the addict - it affects the whole family.2. Addiction is a progressive disease - it will get worse unless it is addressed.3. It takes time and effort to recover from addiction - there is no quick fix.

Resources:https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-l-marion/https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-golden-0147487/https://www.facebook.com/The-Life-Recovery-Coach-2056873307870812https://www.facebook.com/dana.goldin.marionhttps://www.instagram.com/theliferecoverycoach/

Chapter Summaries:[00:00:02] - Today's topic is addiction. Dana Golden is a family addiction coach and interventionist. David Marianne is the founder of Life Recovery Coach and Life Recovery Interventions. He is an advocate for those struggling to get into treatment, those trying to maintain sobriety, and those that have been bumped up against that path.

[00:03:37] - David's family doesn't want to talk about his relationship problems, but it's the best thing to bring it out in a healthy way. David stopped talking to his girlfriend because he didn't know how to handle the situation. David believes that if you see something that doesn't look right, you should talk about it.

[00:06:20] -  Dane believes that addiction is an elephant in the living room.

[00:08:01] - The way addiction affects the family. It ravages them like an F Five hurricane. Many families ask if marijuana is a gateway drug. In his experience, he's never seen anyone go from smoking marijuana to shooting drugs. For him, the gateway to harder drugs and self-medicating the pain is trauma.

[00:09:37] - In the best-case scenario, one in three or one in four people are touched by addiction. Whether in themselves or someone they know well or peripherally. The numbers are a lot stronger than they were before because of the pandemic of addiction and mental health disorders.

[00:10:52] - David and his ex-wife are both recovering alcoholics. She wants to get certified as a recovery coach to help other families. She goes through a checklist of their social life, their finances, their relationships, their job status and their attitude to help them change their lives.

[00:15:43] - It takes time to recover from an addiction. It's more of a mental problem than a physical one. The recovery comes from not having an obsessive thought to use in a long time. The pandemic was not planned and so maneuvering through unplanned moments plays a big part in the recovery.

[00:19:06] - David and Dana help people struggling with addiction. They have a website where people can take a quiz to find out if they have an addiction problem. David and Dana are trying to shed light on the problem and help people to find a solution to their problems. They are happy to answer any questions.

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