Ep4 - Living Sober: Why Quitting Drinking Was the Best Decision of My Life with Lotta Dann
Release Date: 08/06/2024
Ep 21 - Everybody Self-Soothes: You’re Not Broken—You’re Wired with Kerene and Philly
Little Addicts Podcast
In this raw and resonant episode, Philly Powell interviews Kerene Strochnetter about Chapter One of her upcoming book. Kerene unpacks the origins of self-soothing and why we reach for wine, work, sugar, our phones, or even people-pleasing to feel better. This episode is a loving wake-up call. You’ll laugh, maybe squirm a little, and come away seeing your own patterns with more clarity and compassion. About the Book Kerene’s upcoming book (title TBC) explores how evolutionary brain patterns, cultural myths, and unconscious behaviours drive unhealthy habits and addiction—and how to...
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Ep 20 - Addiction, Trauma & Change: A Systemic Rethink with David Hanna
Little Addicts Podcast
David Hanna is a fifth-generation Tangata Tiriti (people of the Treaty), a leader in community-led development, and the director of Wesley Community Action. This conversation delved into addiction, trauma, social systems, and how grassroots initiatives can bring about meaningful change. David challenges us to rethink how we address addiction, not just as an individual issue but as a symptom of broader systemic challenges. We discussed: The Role of Compassion and Judgment in Leadership David shares insights into his leadership philosophy, emphasising the importance of...
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Ep 19 - Beyond the Scale: The Truth About Bariatric Surgery & Food Addiction with Bilge MacPhee
Little Addicts Podcast
Join me for a fascinating chat with nutritionist Bilge MacPhee as we explore the power of food, the truth about bariatric surgery, and why ultra-processed foods are designed to keep us hooked. Bilge MacPhee is a Wellington-based nutritionist with a background in biological sciences and human nutrition. Her holistic approach to health is deeply influenced by her Mediterranean roots, emphasising the connection between food and disease. She specialises in bariatric nutrition, supporting patients before and after weight loss surgery. Key Topics Discussed Bilge’s Journey into Nutrition ...
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Ep 18 - Shop, Snack, Sex, Repeat... or Find Inner Peace with Natalie Snooke
Little Addicts Podcast
Breaking free from the endless cycle of craving—whether through shopping, food, or relationships—Natalie Snooke explores how self-awareness, meditation, and the Enneagram can lead to true inner peace beyond external validation. Natalie Snooke is an experienced life and leadership coach, mindfulness facilitator, humanitarian, yoga and meditation teacher. She is the founder and director of Momentum Coaching & Yoga. A specialist of the ‘inner life’ Natalie has maintained a committed yoga and meditation practice for over 18 years. She has participated in more 10-day Vipassana...
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Ep 17 - Beyond Burnout: Kicking Achievement and Exercise Addiction with Lotty Roberts
Little Addicts Podcast
Lotty is a forward thinker in Emotional Culture, Change and Resilience, with over 20 years of experience leading and coaching people through large-scale change and transformation programmes. During her journey as a senior leader, competitive runner and mum of 3 boys, Lotty discovered the power of Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence to help her with various challenges, including an auto-immune condition, chronic pain, double hip replacement and corporate burnout. Through her experience, learning and research into the wisdom of emotions and mindfulness-based practices to attend to the...
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Ep 16 - NEAD to Stop: Our One-Year Experiment of Not Eating After Dinner with Philly Powell
Little Addicts Podcast
In this episode, I’m joined by my friend Philly Powell, the Wellness Provocateur and founder of Wellbeing Tick. Philly helps businesses ditch burnout, rethink work, and create cultures where people don’t just survive—they thrive. A few months ago, over a meal, we both admitted to snacking after dinner. Right then and there, we decided we wanted to stop, and NEAD was born. NEAD stands for not eating after dinner. After giving up alcohol, we thought NEAD would be easy…it wasn’t! This podcast is about why we decided to stop EAD and the insights and hurdles we’ve...
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Ep 15 – Breaking the Chain: From Addiction to Spiritual Freedom with James Dear
Little Addicts Podcast
James Dear is a recovering drug addict. He was severely addicted but has been sober for over 5 years. In 2018, he started a movement called ‘Break The Chain’ to raise awareness and provide information about addiction and mental health after tragically losing a close friend to suicide. He took his advocacy to the next level by training as a counsellor and now works in a residential drug and alcohol treatment centre. In this episode, James talks about his personal experience with addiction and how practising meditation, yoga, and spirituality ‘broke the chain’ for him… In this...
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Ep 14 - Free from Addiction: How Hypnotherapy Can Transform Your Life with Meredith McCarthy
Little Addicts Podcast
Meredith McCarthy is a clinical hypnotherapist, author, and speaker with over 30 years of experience helping individuals unlock the power of their minds to overcome challenges, including addiction and anxiety. Meredith founded the New Zealand Academy of Clinical Hypnotherapy (NZACH) and is president of the New Zealand Association of Professional Hypnotherapists (NZAPH). She’s passionate about empowering others to transform their lives by addressing subconscious patterns and fostering emotional healing. Meredith blends psychodynamics, cognitive psychology, and hypnosis techniques to...
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Ep 13 - Unstuck: Mastering the Mind, Transforming Habits, and Scaling Consciousness with Carl Lemieux
Little Addicts Podcast
I loved this conversation with Carl Lemieux from Mindsmatter. I could talk with him for hours! Carl is an author, workplace psychologist, management consultant, executive coach, psychotherapist, and mindfulness teacher. With 35 years of experience in corporate strategy, transformation, and leadership development, Carl understands the importance of well-being and self-awareness for himself, leaders, and the workforce. He doesn't see himself as an expert on addiction, but in my eyes, he's a behaviour change expert with a wealth of experience. Carl summarises this episode beautifully - " You've...
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Ep 12 - Tripping to Heal: From Binge Drinking to Psychedelics with Zach Cotogni
Little Addicts Podcast
Zach Cotogni and his sister Michaela wrote Blue Honey—Personal Experiences Using Psilocybin for Mental Health in Aotearoa, a book that challenges ugly preconceptions and misunderstandings about using MCPs (Mushrooms Containing Psilocybin, more commonly known as Magic Mushrooms). In this episode, Zach talks about his experience using MCPs to overcome his addiction to alcohol and drugs. I interviewed Michaela on the Little Addicts podcast in episode #8. It was a raw and emotional interview where Michaela spoke about her long struggle with mental illness, running out of options, and...
info_outlineThis week I'm joined by Lotta Dann. Lotta is an addiction recovery advocate who has published three best-selling books that draw on her personal experience to promote sober living and recovery, including - The Wine O'Clock Myth: The Truth You Need to Know about Women and Alcohol, Mrs D is Going Without, and Mrs D is Going Within.
She is partnered with the New Zealand Drug Foundation to run 'Living Sober', a website that helps over fifty thousand people a year to manage their relationship with alcohol. Lotta is a Project Lead at Blueprint for Learning for the Addiction 101 workshop, designed to increase awareness and reduce the stigma associated with addiction. She was recently made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her work in addiction advocacy.
In this episode, Lotta shares how lost, miserable, and terrified she felt before deciding to quit drinking and how it was the best decision of her life.
We talk about:
- Lotta’s journey with alcohol addiction and what keeps her grounded
- Moving from - fun drinking Lotta - to feeling sad and embarrassing
- Being locked in an intense 3-year inner battle about drinking and making the terrifying decision to stop
- The hard bloody work of learning how not to get the instant release and asking yourself, ‘How do I move around this world without alcohol?’
- The coming shift in drinking culture (E.g., Sober Curious)
- The mysterious nature of addiction and shifting the stigma and judgment
- How being honest and truthful with yourself puts you on the track to recovery
- Lotta’s 3 top tips for stopping drinking
- Understanding that being human is hard, emotions are pesky, and life's tricky - so be kind to yourself and choose your soothing instrument wisely!
- How alcohol helped push aside uncomfortable feelings and the importance of connecting with her emotions (after hating navel-gazing!)
- The gift of mindfulness for not getting so swept up in her mind (which she could never have done when she was drinking)
- Modelling being real and having courageous conversations with the people you love
- The importance of values work, and having fun without booze
- Lotta’s new book (available soon) on diet culture, body image and food.
We would love to know what stood out the most for you in this episode. Please feel free to get in touch with either of us via the links below.
Don’t forget to rate the podcast on Spotify or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, your support will help us reach a wider audience and help more people on the road to recovery.
Connect with Lotta:
Website - https://livingsober.org.nz/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mrsdisgoingwithout/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mrs_d_alcoholfree/
Connect with Kerene:
Website - mindfulatwork.co.nz
LinkedIn - Kerene Strochnetter
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/kerene_strochnetter