263: Recovery and Community

Dawn Nickel is my guest on this episode.  Dawn is a certified professional recover coach and holds a Ph.D. in Healthcare Policy with a focus on women who experience issues related to mental health, addiction, and intimate partner violence.  Dawn has taken her life experiences of being in recovery from substance abuse, domestic violence, cancer, codependency, grief, and workaholism and turned it into an empowerment movement called She Recovers.

It is a fact that people with ADHD have higher rates of addiction.  Because of that, I’m excited to share this conversation with you.  You will hear Dawn share her incredible story that includes four overdoses by the time she was a 20-years-old, a pregnancy at that same age, struggling with workaholism, and defending her dissertation in recovery from surgery.  Dawn says that we are all recovering from something.

Connect with Dawn Nickel:

Email – [email protected]

Website – SheRecovers.co

Facebook – She Recovers

Your Resources

• Working Ourselves to Death: The High Cost of Workaholism and the Rewards of Recovery – Diane Fassel
• Workaholics-Anonymous.org

You’ll Learn:

• [03:01] – Dawn shares her story and tells us how she got to where she is now.
• [08:33] – When Dawn went back to school, she found herself addicted to the pace of school. She calls this “toxic productivity.”
• [09:30] – Dawn describes the experience of her daughter falling into drug use.
• [12:08] – Overachieving was a confirming experience for Dawn.
• [12:33] – Dawn considers workaholism “the final frontier.” I share my struggles in this area of life.
• [16:10] – By having nine retreats a year, Dawn is guaranteed periods of time away from work.
• [18:04] – When I am working longer than I want to, I find myself getting annoyed. Dawn says this is a matter of being aware.
• [20:01] – Dawn talks about identifying bottom-lines and high-lines and using healthy accountability to meet goals.
• [29:20] – Dawn tells us the story surrounding her cancer diagnosis. She defended her dissertation from the hospital post-surgery.
• [36:12] – “Everyone knows what addiction looks like. Nobody knows what recovery looks like.”
• [43:08] – Dawn talks about working with Shelly, and witnessing the changing perspective with shame.
• [52:16] – Dawn shares the story of She Recovers and describes their offerings.