Do What You Can Live With: Navigating Through Addiction and Recovery

What if everything you’ve been told about helping someone with addiction is wrong? Hosted by Brandi Mac. A critical care nurse practitioner, mother, and author of Doing What You Can Live With. This podcast offers real, raw, and radically honest conversations for families affected by addiction. Forget the tough love clichés and one-size-fits-all advice. Here, we talk about what it's actually like to parent, partner, or care for someone in active addiction… without losing yourself in the process. Brandi shares her lived experience, insights from the ICU, and hard-won lessons learned through navigating her daughter’s addiction, multiple treatment programs, relapse, and the messy middle where most families live. Each episode offers no-shame guidance, emotional survival tools, and a safe place for the people who don’t know what the hell to do anymore...but still haven’t given up hope. This is not a podcast about getting it perfect. This is about doing what you can live with. 🔍 Topics include: Addiction recovery & harm reduction Boundaries that don’t break you Parenting through relapse When love feels like a trap Siblings, grief, and family fallout Ending stigma in healthcare & treatment Rebuilding trust after betrayal What families deserve to know

Alcohol Is a Drug: How Big Alcohol Shaped Addiction Language, Policy, and Shame-Bonus Episode 02/10/2026

Alcohol Is a Drug: How Big Alcohol Shaped Addiction Language, Policy, and Shame-Bonus Episode Alcohol is the most normalized drug in America and one of the deadliest. In this episode of the Do What You Can Live With Podcast, critical care nurse practitioner and author Brandi Mac exposes how the trillion-dollar alcohol industry shaped the language we use around addiction, influenced federal policy, and helped keep alcohol socially acceptable while millions of families quietly suffer. Alcohol kills an average of 178,000 Americans every year, more than all drug overdoses combined. Yet it remains legal, advertised, and culturally protected. That did not happen by accident. In this episode, Brandi breaks down how corporate lobbying influenced federal agencies like the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, why alcohol was intentionally separated from the word “drug,” and how terms like substance abuse were shaped by profit, not families, clinicians, or people in recovery. Backed by peer-reviewed research and decades of frontline ICU experience, this episode connects the dots between policy, stigma, and the invisible grief of loving someone with alcohol use disorder. In this episode, we cover: Why alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization How alcohol kills more people than fentanyl, heroin, meth, and cocaine combined The role of corporate lobbying in changing federal addiction language Why alcohol harm receives a fraction of the funding compared to other diseases How the separation of “alcohol and drugs” shaped stigma and shame Why families affected by alcoholism are often dismissed and minimized What boundaries, love, and clarity look like when the system fails you Brandi also explores how lobbying dollars dwarfed public health funding, how Big alcohol companies profit off the sickest drinkers, and why harm reduction has worked for drug overdoses but remains taboo when applied to alcohol. This episode is for parents, partners, siblings, clinicians, and anyone who has been told “it’s just alcohol” while watching someone they love disappear. Because your pain was not imagined. Your crisis was not invisible by accident. And you are not wrong for taking it seriously. 📘 Learn more at 📖 Author of Do What You Can Live With /episode/index/show/b7a47ac9-5041-4de5-bed5-4c1f1925584f/id/40055580

Mom Loses Daughter to Cocaine Overdose, Not Fentanyl | Melissa Ledesma 02/09/2026

Loving Through Addiction Without Losing Yourself | Steffy Bailey on Truth, Boundaries, and Breaking Generational Cycles 01/08/2026

Loving Through Addiction Without Losing Yourself | Steffy Bailey on Truth, Boundaries, and Breaking Generational Cycles Brandi Mac sits down with fellow mom and truth-teller Steffy Bailey to talk about what it really means to love an adult child through addiction without abandoning yourself in the process. Steffy shares her decade-long journey of finding her voice, taking responsibility for her emotional and mental health, and learning how to tell the truth even when it costs comfort. Her son, is approaching six months in recovery, and this episode goes far beyond surface-level hope. Together, Brandi and Steffy unpack the realities families face when addiction enters the home: fractured marriages, strained relationships with other children, protecting grandchildren, and the exhausting pressure of carrying it all alone. They speak openly about boundaries, forgiveness, accountability, and why there is no single “right way” to love someone in recovery. What You’ll Hear in This Episode What it means to speak your truth as a parent of a child with addiction The emotional cost of carrying family pain alone in marriage and motherhood How addiction impacts children and grandchildren in ways we rarely talk about Why boundaries are not abandonment, but protection and love The role of forgiveness, responsibility, and accountability in healing Breaking generational cycles instead of repeating them Ethical storytelling and sharing lived experience on social media Why there are many valid paths to recovery and family healing Holding hope without minimizing harm About the Guest Steffy Bailey is a mother, and creator who has spent years speaking openly about what it’s like to love a child with substance use disorder. Known for her raw honesty and refusal to sugarcoat hard truths. Her son, Nehemiah, is currently approaching six months in recovery. You can find Steffi on TikTok at . Her handle is steffy_u_r_not_alone About the Host Brandi Mac is a critical care nurse practitioner, author, and mother of a daughter in recovery. She is the creator of Do What You Can Live With, a trauma-informed, harm-reduction-aligned framework for families navigating addiction, grief, and impossible choices. Resource Mentioned Do What You Can Live With: A Survival Guide for Families Navigating Addiction, Grief, and Impossible Choices by Brandi Mac Available on Amazon. /episode/index/show/b7a47ac9-5041-4de5-bed5-4c1f1925584f/id/39656815

Radical Acceptance and My Daughter's Addiction 11/20/2025

Empowering Change Through Advocacy 11/09/2025

Empowering Change Through Advocacy Keywords recovery, addiction, advocacy, community, personal growth, storytelling, resilience, Kensington, self-care, support Summary In this episode, Brandi Mac shares personal updates about her family, including her daughter's recovery journey and her own struggles with work-life balance. She discusses her advocacy efforts, including a recent event called Rise for Recovery, where she engaged with other advocates and learned about impactful stories of resilience. Brandi reflects on her experiences in Kensington, a community facing significant challenges due to addiction, and emphasizes the importance of community support and outreach. She concludes with a call to action for listeners to contribute to their communities and support those in need. Takeaways Brandi's daughter is nearing two years in recovery. She is focusing more on advocacy and less on hospital work. The Rise for Recovery event was a transformative experience. Storytelling is a powerful tool in advocacy. Kensington is a community deeply affected by addiction. Brandi emphasizes the importance of self-care. Community outreach is crucial in addressing addiction. Brandi's book aims to support families dealing with addiction. It's okay to find joy amidst pain and struggle. Everyone can contribute to their community in meaningful ways. Chapters 00:00 Welcome Back and Personal Updates 05:27 Advocacy and Community Engagement 11:32 Storytelling and Collaboration in Advocacy 16:36 Impactful Stories from the Summit 21:14 Kensington Experience and Observations 26:03 Navigating Advocacy and Community Challenges 31:41 Final Thoughts and Call to Action Brandi's Book "Do What You Can Live With: A Survival Guide for Families Navigating Addiction, Grief and Impossible Choices" Please send emails that I can share. Send anything, but I really want to know whats the craziest thing you have done as loved one through their addiction? Email: brandi@brandimac.com /episode/index/show/b7a47ac9-5041-4de5-bed5-4c1f1925584f/id/38966115