What does recovery really look like when it’s rooted in connection, service, and meeting people exactly where they are?

In this episode of Broken-ish, we sit down with Angie, Executive Director of Peer 180, the largest recovery community organization on Colorado’s Western Slope, to talk about the long road from survival to service.

Angie’s story starts far from where she is today. At 19 years old, newly sober and running from guns, gangs, and chaos in Detroit, she believed staying clean was enough. What she learned instead was that recovery is about far more than abstinence. It’s about relationships, purpose, and belonging.

Through gang involvement, cross-country moves, near-misses, and relentless internal battles, Angie never picked up a drink or a drug. What carried her through was service. Showing up for others when her own life felt unsteady became the foundation of her recovery and eventually her life’s work.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why sobriety alone isn’t always enough
• The power and limits of traditional 12-step recovery
• What “meeting people where they’re at” actually looks like in real life
• Peer-led recovery and why hierarchy can get in the way of healing
• How Peer 180 grew from a volunteer effort into a thriving community hub
• Why dignity, choice, and inclusion save lives
• And how connection, not correction, creates lasting change

This episode is honest, nuanced, and deeply human. It challenges rigid ideas about recovery while honoring what works. It’s about walking with people instead of telling them where they should be.

Whether you’re in recovery, love someone who is, or work in mental health or addiction treatment, this conversation will change the way you think about healing, community, and hope

In this episode of Broken-ish, we move out of the heaviness and into the hope. Not the fake, motivational quote kind. The real kind that comes from doing hard things, telling the truth, and staying in the work long enough to see something take shape.

Using Tupac’s The Rose That Grew from Concrete as a backdrop, we get into what happens when passion and purpose finally line up, and why most people don’t “find” their passion at all. They build it through service, skill, relationships, and repetition.

We talk about:

• Why living only in self-reflection can keep you stuck
• How helping one person can turn into helping thousands
• The role ambition plays without turning into ego
• Why relationships matter more than credentials or modalities
• What it really means to build trust, culture, and impact
• And how meaningful work often grows out of uncomfortable seasons

This is a raw conversation about leadership, growth, helping others, and building something that actually matters. In life, in business, and in recovery.

If you have ever felt stuck in the concrete If you are questioning your purpose If you want to help people but also want more for your life If you are building something and feeling the weight of it

This episode is for you.

We are not broken. We are broken-ish. And something real is growing.

What happens when an idea turns into something real? When comfort disappears and growth takes its place?

In this end-of-year episode of Broken-ish, we sit down to reflect on everything 2025 brought, both personally and professionally.

We start light with a surprisingly passionate debate about The Nightmare Before Christmas, then move into deeper conversations about fantasy vs realism, creativity, and how those same themes show up in real life.

From there, we unpack what it actually looked like to build Ava Health from the ground up in one year. The wins, the chaos, the late nights, the lessons, and the moments where everything felt uncertain.

In this episode, we talk about: • Going from an idea to a fully functioning organization • Building culture, trust, and alignment without traditional recruiting • Leadership, identity, and learning to stay present • Fatherhood, relationships, sobriety, and personal growth • Letting go of routine and learning how to adapt in real time

This isn’t a highlight reel or a motivational speech. It’s an honest reflection on building while becoming, and what growth actually costs when you’re in it.

If you’re building something, navigating change, or trying to figure out your next chapter, this conversation will resonate.

Drop a comment and tell us if you’re more Tim Burton or Christopher Nolan. Like, subscribe, and share if this episode hit for you.

What happens when the spotlight fades—and purpose shows up?

In this unforgettable episode of Broken-ish, we sit down with a man whose life reads like a movie script: from touring as a rapper inspired by 8 Mile, to jail, to rebuilding his life—and now leading frontline outreach for the unhoused.

This isn’t a “feel-good” story. It’s a real one.

You’ll hear what the music industry doesn’t prepare you for. What jail can take from you—and what it can give you. And why listening might be the most powerful tool we have to change lives.

Our guest shares how losing everything forced him to ask one honest question: “If there’s more to life than this… show me.” What happened next changed not only his life—but the lives of hundreds of others.

This episode will challenge how you think about:

• Homelessness
• Recovery
• Success
• And what it actually means to make a difference

If you’ve ever felt broken, stuck, or unsure if change is possible—this conversation is for you.

Most people look away from homelessness. This episode looks straight at it—with honesty, compassion, and lived experience.

You’ll walk away with:

• A deeper understanding
• A shifted perspective
• And a reminder that hope isn’t abstract—it’s built through people

Guest info: Philip Masters (Homeless Outreach Coordinator), United Way Mesa County

In this powerful and brutally honest episode of Broken-ish, we dive into the silent crisis shaping an entire generation of men. From abandonment to emotional abuse, from addiction to incarceration, from chasing approval to losing ourselves completely, we speak the truth that so many men live but never talk about.

🎙 In this episode: • What really happens to boys who grow up without strong male role models • How distorted masculinity forms and destroys lives • The deep need for approval that can never be filled • Why gangs, addiction, and crime feel like masculinity to fatherless boys • Generational trauma and the men who choose to break the cycle • Redefining manhood with strength that looks nothing like what we were taught

This is not a pity party. This is a wake up call and a roadmap for men who want to do better, be better, and raise better.

If you grew up fatherless, If you are a father trying to get it right, Or if you are healing from what you never received, This episode will hit deep.

👉 Like, comment, and share your story below. Let’s open the conversation men have avoided for far too long.

Subscribe for more real, unfiltered conversations on growth, healing, and becoming the man you were meant to be.

Families don’t come to treatment looking for education — they come looking for answers.

But what if the most ethical thing we can say is: there is no single answer?

In this episode of Inside Ava Health, a panel of experienced therapeutic consultants challenges long-held assumptions about treatment, cost, outcomes, and control. From private-pay vs. community care to data transparency and long-term wellness, this conversation asks the harder questions the industry often avoids.

You’ll hear real insights on:

• Why expectations often become premeditated resentments
• How rigidity and “the way it’s always been done” are failing families
• The limits of outcome data and completion rates
• Why collaboration beats competition in behavioral health
• What true long-term care should actually optimize for

This episode is not about selling certainty — it’s about building sustainable, human-centered care in an uncertain system.

Meet Our Guests

Joanna Lilley, M.A., NCC (She/Hers), Lilley Consulting Website: www.lilleyconsulting.com Email: joanna@lilleyconsulting.com Phone: 970-218-9958

Shayna Abraham, M.A. (She/Her), Prepare To Bloom, LLC Website: PrepareToBloom.com Cell: 650-888-4575 Conference: 925-291-7007

John Conway, LCSW, CADC (He/Him/His), Conway Therapeutic Consulting Website: www.conwaytherapeuticconsulting.com Email: john@conwaytherapeuticconsulting.com Office: 847-242-1978 Cell: 815-814-1469

The holidays are supposed to be about gratitude, family, and togetherness — but for a lot of people, they’re the hardest time of the year.

In this episode of Broken-ish, we strip away the Hallmark version of Thanksgiving and talk about the reality no one wants to post about: loneliness, addiction, incarceration, homelessness, and the quiet pain that spikes when the days get shorter and the world gets louder.

We share personal stories from foster care, jail cells, solitary confinement, and moments so small they almost get missed — moments that literally changed lives. This is a conversation about holding two truths at once: deep gratitude and deep suffering.

If you’ve ever felt alone during the holidays… this one’s for you.

The mental health system is broken-ish—and we’ve felt the weight of it for years. In this episode, we talk honestly about burnout, deaths of despair, and why fighting the system felt like swinging in a dream.

But we also share the shift that changed everything: choosing curiosity, partnering with communities, and building real solutions from within a fractured system.

From Western Colorado to the birth of Ava Health, this is a story of purpose, alignment, and the sparks of hope that are already catching fire.

Welcome to Broken-ish. Where we hold heartbreak and hope at the same time—and still take a swing.