Recovery Beyond Abstinence with Celebrity Interventionist Michael Gonzales

I'm going to say something that makes a lot of people in the recovery world uncomfortable:

Abstinence isn't the answer for everyone.

For years, addiction treatment has pushed a one-size-fits-all model. But people aren't that simple. Trauma isn't that simple. Recovery isn't that simple.

On this week's episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, I sat down with Michael Gonzales, veteran interventionist and former cast member on A&E's hit series Intervention. Michael opened up about the years he quietly used medical cannabis to manage PTSD while working in the recovery field and why he felt he had to hide it. That's what happens when recovery culture values following “the model” over honesty. In this space, we stop getting curious and people DO NOT get better.

We also talked about harm reduction, medical cannabis, overmedication, deprescribing, and why treatment should be individualized instead of driven by outdated beliefs or rigid rules. We even pulled back the curtain on the business of addiction treatment and why money, reputation, and media don't always serve the people who need help most.

Here's what I believe people: recovery isn't about checking someone else's boxes. It's about helping people build stable, meaningful lives and doing it in a way that WORKS for the CLIENT. If our treatment models can't make room for that reality, maybe it's time to stop pretending they're the only way.