181: Lauren - Beauty from the Broken

Lauren Brown: From Alcohol & Heroin to Recovery, Motherhood, and Becoming a Counselor | Rock Bottom with RyanOn Rock Bottom with Ryan, Lauren Brown from Long Island shares her story of growing up around alcoholism, family dysfunction, and early trauma, first drinking at 8–9 and quickly chasing “more.” She describes bullying and self-harm in adolescence, escalating teen drug use (cocaine and opiates), functional success in school, and later severe alcoholism intensified after gastric sleeve surgery, leading to blackouts, violence, a 2017 accident, and a 2019 DWI. After her marriage ended, she became involved with a partner, relapsed into heroin, progressed to IV heroin/fentanyl, crack, and meth, became homeless, accumulated multiple charges during COVID, and survived a near-intentional fentanyl overdose. Facing prison time, she entered detox and long-term treatment, relapsed in early rehab, then self-reported drinking on Nov 3, 2020—her sobriety date—committing to recovery, AA, therapy, and steps. She later became a drug and alcohol counselor, built a family, and created an art business focused on finding beauty in the life cycle, emphasizing openness, teachability, boundaries, and balance.00:00 Early Friendship Hook01:03 Detox Decision01:31 Show Intro Sponsor02:46 Meet Lauren Brown04:25 Childhood Alcohol Normalized06:17 Dad Mental Health Secrets08:10 Siblings Divorce Codependency12:13 New Town Teen Turmoil14:00 Finding Misfit Crowd17:41 Older Friends Shoplifting Rush19:57 High School Drugs Escalate24:17 Functional Drinking Adult Life24:31 Surgery Blackouts Spiral27:59 Marriage Collapse After DWI30:18 Violence New Relationship DWI34:04 Dating App Recovery Guy36:04 Heroin Kit Discovery36:26 Back to Opiates37:06 First Time Shooting38:17 Homeless and Spiraling40:02 COVID and New Charges42:26 Fentanyl Overdose45:36 Detox Setbacks48:02 Treatment and Breakup51:12 Rehab Drama to Womens Program54:58 Rebuilding a Life01:00:14 Art as Healing01:04:05 Service and Harm Reduction01:06:01 Advice and Closing