Episode 5: “The Recovery Story I Couldn't Find” Featuring Laura Cathcart Robbins
When Laura Cathcart Robbins began searching for recovery stories that reflected her own experience, she couldn't find them.
She was a Black woman. A mother. Successful. Educated. Struggling with addiction.
The stories she found rarely looked like her life.
So she decided to write the story she needed most.
Laura's journey challenges many assumptions about who experiences addiction, who feels welcome in recovery spaces and whose stories get told.
Her message is simple but profound: people cannot see themselves in recovery if recovery never sees them.
Recovery systems must reflect the people they hope to serve.
Book Highlight
Stash: My Life in Hiding
Laura's bestselling memoir chronicles her recovery journey while exploring the intersections of race, motherhood, privilege, shame and belonging.
The book has become an important touchstone for people seeking recovery stories that expand beyond traditional narratives.
About Brave Recovery: The Women Impacted
Twelve women. Twelve stories. One challenge to everything we think we know about addiction, recovery, prevention, grief and hope.
From mothers and advocates to researchers, journalists, counselors, authors and community leaders, each woman featured in Brave Recovery: The Women Impacted reveals a deeper truth: recovery is not simply about individual choices. It is about whether families, communities and systems create the conditions that allow people to heal.
These stories are not only about survival.
They are about what becomes possible when people are seen, supported and given the opportunity to reclaim their futures.