WATCH – SOBER LISTENING –
July 13, 2021 – “If you are talking to someone who drinks consistently, maybe doesn’t even have any problems, but you are talking about alcoholism, there is always a wall that goes up, an offense taken,” recovery and wellness coach Robbie Shaw said.
Shaw is trying to break those barriers. He hopes the name of his podcast will attract people, instead of scaring them away. He has gone through his own two decade-long battle with alcoholism. It started when he was in high school and continued into college.
“I failed out of college three times. I got kicked out once,” Shaw said. “It took me 7.5 years to graduate.”
But that wasn’t the worst of it. He got a total of four DUIs. His last one was a moment he will never forget. His girlfriend left him and his friend kicked him out of the house. Shaw looked at himself in the mirror and told himself he was going to change.
“I was in a parking lot drinking. I was absolutely at the lowest point of my entire life,” Shaw said. “I was looking at a year in prison and that scared me to death.”
It was a habit that took him countless tries to finally break. But at the age of 28 Shaw went to rehab and never looked back. He went on to get a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from the University of Southern Maine and has been sober for 15 years. Now, he coaches people through their own struggles with alcohol.
“I have had these traumatic and tough experiences in my life, and I think for this reason, I can help people avoid some of the stuff that I have been through,” Shaw said.
