The Power to Reinvent Yourself: Cat Greenleaf on Recovery and Redemption

In this episode of Opening Doors, host Rachel Dalinka sits down with Cat Greenleaf, creator and host of NBC’s Talk Stoop and now host of the Soberness Podcast, to talk about sobriety, second chances, and the work she is building through Restorative Housing Organization.

Cat shares what it was like to realize alcohol would become a problem for her even before she ever drank, how she found her way to sobriety, and why making amends became one of the most freeing parts of recovery.

She also explains how moving to the ocean in Coney Island became a turning point in her healing and inspired a bold question: how can the peace and stability of waterfront living be shared with people coming home from incarceration?

That question became Restorative Housing Organization: a model that brings formerly incarcerated people into paid renovation work, provides housing during the project, and converts renovated properties into long-term affordable housing.

In this conversation, you’ll hear:

• How Cat knew early on that alcohol would take her too far, and what finally made her choose sobriety
• Why “the ninth step” (making amends) helped her release years of guilt and shame
• How she rebuilt her identity after losing her NBC role, and what it means to “step back into my skin”
• How Restorative Housing Organization started, and why she felt called to share waterfront healing with “people who had lived in cages”
• Her first project on City Island: training and housing formerly incarcerated contractors while renovating, then turning homes into Section 8 housing
• Why stable housing and employment are decisive factors after prison, and why recidivism spikes without them
• A powerful critique of recovery language (and why “abuser,” “powerless,” and “character defects” can do real harm)
• Why she started going behind the walls, what she learned in prison recovery circles, and why she believes redemption is possible
• Why she is going back to school at 53 to deepen her work with incarcerated people, including plans to pursue forensic mental health counseling
• A reinvention moment she can’t shake: “Power is the ability to reinvent yourself.”
  
  

Resource Links:

• Restorative Housing Organization: https://www.restorativehousing.org/
• The Soberness Podcast, Celebrity Interviews with Cat Greenleaf on Recovery: https://soberness.com/
• John Jay College of Criminal Justice : https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/
• SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

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Opening Door Podcast Music by John Abella