I’m very excited to share my interview with my friend, Caroline Fenkel.

Caroline is 29 years old, married and a rock star in the alcohol and substance abuse recovery industry in the greater Philadelphia area. Caroline has been ten years sober since August 9th, 2007 – Go Caroline!

In this interview, Caroline tells her story of how she became sober and clean. I appreciate Caroline’s honesty as she provides us with several “rock bottom moments” that finally led her to go to rehab in August 2007. Caroline then tells us her amazing ten-year journey of not only being clean and sober but also becoming extremely successful in the recovery industry while simultaneously attending Bryn Mawr College and the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, Caroline is working at Newport Academy, where she is the Director of the Center for Families in Malvern, PA.

We also discuss the complexity of the opioid epidemic in America, as well as how parents and grownups can help children entering middle school and high school from going off the grid and abusing substances by modeling healthy choices in their own lives. Quick statistics – in 1999, 4,000 people died from drug overdoses compared to 62,000 deaths in 2016. I learned SO much from Caroline in our interview, and I hope you do too!

Show Notes:

• O2:06 Welcome Caroline
• 02:28 Hitting rock bottom
• 06:09 Ten years sober
• 06:23 What did the first year of recovery look like?
• 08:45 “Rat Park” Study
• 12:20 What happened when she returned from therapy?
• 15:32 How her career developed
• 17:47 Newport Academy
• 21:00 Starting the Center for Families
• 25:51 Family Background
• 26:35 Looking at and treating addiction as a disease
• 31:32 The Opioid Epidemic
• 40:50 How can you help kids from going off the grid and model healthy choices?
• 47:34 What would you tell your 25-year-old self?
• 48:52 When you think of success, who do you think of?
• 50:06 Learn more about the Center for Families