A father who solves problems for a living learns that love cannot control his son's addiction. On this World Mental Health Day 2026, a bonus episode of the SOBER Method Podcast Perspectives series, Katie Rizzo returns, and for the first time a guest is not alone. Her husband, Nick Rizzo, shares the father's side of losing their oldest son, Nicholas, to an accidental overdose.

Nick talks about the anxious, sensitive, soccer-loving boy he raised, the boundaries he set, the night he called the police, and the regret that still visits him. The turn comes when he admits he can hold two truths at once: that it felt like his job to protect his son, and that he never could have controlled the addiction. He describes going back to work two weeks later and telling no one, learning guitar to honor Nicholas, and why staying connected in Al-Anon and grief groups helped more than ruminating alone. If you are still using and feel your parents' anger, Nick has a message for you: they still love you, and nothing you did changed that.

Chapters

00:00 Meeting Nicholas Through His Dad's Eyes
04:16 Why Love and Anger Lived Side by Side
09:38 Why a Fixer Couldn't Outwork Addiction
14:27 How Al-Anon Helped Save Their Marriage
22:11 Your Parents Still Love You
30:35 Why Men Grieve in Silence at Work
35:46 How a Guitar Became a Way to Honor Him
42:20 One True Sentence to Carry This Month

• Katie's first episode S1E10, He Wasn't an Addict...He Was My Son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_cX_TtBCTM
• Katie Rizzo, author of The Trimesters of Grief: https://katierizzo.com

Work with Massimo: https://sobermethod.com

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