In this episode Zach is first joined by Dr. Judy Ho, a triple board certified and licensed Clinical and Forensic Neuropsychologist, tenured Associate Professor at Pepperdine, and published author. Dr. Judy maintains a private practice in Manhattan Beach, CA and is a co-host on the TV show “The Doctors.” Zach and Dr. Judy discuss how the stigma of addiction and mental health affect her patients and their desire to get the help they need.
Following Dr. Judy, Zach speaks with Jeff Grant (at 34:54), who is the Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries, a ministry serving the white-collar justice community. The two discuss his experience in Federal prison for committing a white-collar crime as a lawyer, and how addiction stigma impacts life after prison.
Recovery Radio is the premiere radio show and podcast on addiction treatment and recovery. Over the course of each season, we will discuss facts and dispel myths surrounding what addiction is and isn’t. You’ll hear from experts in a wide range of subjects, including addiction specialists, mental health professionals, recovering addicts, and rehab facility administrators. You’ll learn about the factors that predispose someone to develop an addiction, understand the role that genetics and environment play, and hear about the history of illicit substances and their devastating effects on our communities.
If you’re concerned about yourself or a loved one’s substance dependency, Recovery Radio will be your source for finding the information, tools, and inspiration to navigate the road to recovery. New podcast content will be available every Tuesday at 9 AM Pacific Time on the Voice America Health and Wellness Channel, our website, and syndicated to podcast partners worldwide.
Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.is an ordained minister with over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive & religious leadership. Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” he uses his experience and background to guide people faithfully forward in their lives, relationships, careers and business opportunities, and to help them to stop making the kinds of decisions that previously resulted in loss, suffering and shame.
After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed when he was a lawyer, Jeff started his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York with a focus in Christian Social Ethics. He is Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice/economy exiled community. Jeff is the first person in the United States formerly incarcerated for a white collar crime to be appointed as CEO of a major criminal justice organization.
As an ordained minister, conversations and communications between Jeff and those he serves fall under clergy privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with Jeff while in active prosecution or litigation situations.
White Collar Week with Jeff Grant A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community
Limited 10 Show Run: Summer 2020
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
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Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19, with Guests: Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney
Today on the podcast we have two friends of mine, Trevor Shevin and Joshua Cagney – two guys who had it all. lost it all, got sober and then became nationally recognized specialists in interventions and addiction recovery.
Trevor was a Wall Street guy, witnessed 9/11, got sober soon after and attended recovery meetings with me in Greenwich, CT, where he went on to found Sterling Recovery Services. He’s doing incredible work that he talks all about on the podcast.
Joshua has a different story. He was a tech professional who got drunk one night, got in a car wreck where someone got killed, for which he spent over seven years in a Virginia state prison for vehicular homicide. Like Trevor, his story became one of soul searching and recovery. He joined our White Collar Support Group that meets on Monday evenings, and then co-founded New Paradigm Recovery in Tysons Corner, Virginia.
Two incredible guys, two incredible stories. I hope you will join us. – Jeff
Trevor Shevin is the Principal and Founder of Sterling Recovery Services. Sterling was founded on a guiding principle: Always provide clients and their families with the utmost in personalized, professional care while treating them with integrity, dignity and respect. His client-centric approach is palpable and permeates throughout each fiber of the organization. Combining years of experience with mentoring, coaching and a successful career on Wall Street for over a decade, Trevor continuously demonstrates his innate talent for conducting highly successful interventions with positive outcomes amongst even the most extreme, complicated cases.
Trevor is a Certified Interventionist Professional (CIP), MBA and also provides Consultative and Intensive Case Management services to individuals, families and corporations globally. He also graduated from the 350 hour NCADD CASAC program where he was designated valedictorian of his class. Trevor facilitates treatment by teaching the mechanics and skills necessary to cope with personal addiction and mental health restoration while developing personalized programs that are necessary for long-term recovery.
After years in the field developing a stellar reputation working with many prestigious families, companies and institutions in the United States and overseas, he decided to bring to life his own vision by launching Sterling Recovery Services. Sterling provides comprehensive recovery services including Interventions, Clinical Intensive Case Management, Assessments, Family Education services, Nutrition Counseling, Yoga, Outpatient Recovery Groups, Sober Companions and Sober Escorts. Sterling also offers community outreach programs, lectures and trainings. Previously Trevor served as a Partner and the Director of Intensive Case Management Services for two other substance abuse and mental health recovery companies.
Trevor is actively involved in the community and has dedicated his life both personally and professionally to being of service. He is on the nonprofit Boards for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) Westchester and Dogaholix (providing vocational re-entry for young adults in recovery). Trevor is a lecturer to CASAC students and runs groups for Executives integrating professional, personal and spiritual growth, as well as for recovering alcoholics and addicts focusing on life adjustment issues. He is frequently requested to speak about the destructive patterns of addiction and the path to recovery at international conferences and throughout the United States at inpatient recovery facilities, hospitals, prisons, schools and local town events. Trevor Shevin can be reached at sterlingrecovery.com.
Joshua Cagney is the Chief Operating Officer, and one of the principals of New Paradigm Recovery, LLC. New Paradigm Recovery is a dual diagnosis intensive outpatient program located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Additionally, he serves as a group facilitator for the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center in a pilot alcohol and substance use disorder therapeutic community program.
Mr. Cagney began a career in information technology over 20 years ago, which came to a halt in late 2003. A tragic turn of events came as the result of his lifestyle choices; the effects of which were profound and far-reaching. In an effort to bring some semblance of reason to this twist of life, he undertook a change in direction and has followed that altered course ever since.
Joshua holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and Business Law from Ohio University. He also holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, where he has completed post-graduate work in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Joshua is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership.
Joshua has been employed as a graduate assistant and adjunct instructor in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program at The Chicago School. In addition, he has worked as a Behavioral Therapist with juveniles diagnosed with developmental disabilities and traumatic abuse histories, and as a not-for-profit Program Director in the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center. He is a past council member for the Loudoun Re-entry and Advisory Council, which provides advice and support on offender reentry issues.
Outside of his professional work, Mr. Cagney serves as a volunteer speaker for Mothers Against Drunk Driving of Northern Virginia and of Washington, D.C., Loudoun Community Corrections. He is regularly invited to speak on topics ranging from the collateral consequences of criminal sentencing to the responsibilities associated with the use of alcohol and narcotics. Audiences include the Washington Redskins, the United States Army, students at James Madison University and local public and private schools, among other venues. Joshua Cagney can be reached at nprecovery.com.
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You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff
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All Episodes:
Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison
Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee
Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix
Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola
Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim
Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood
Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott
Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni
Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine
Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland
Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell
Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb
Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson
Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett
Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell
Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria
Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin
Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz
Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney
Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.
Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?
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Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.
If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…
In this very eventful summer 2020, our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.
Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.
So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grantand Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.
Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.
All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.
If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.
Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.
Meredith Atwood reached out to me after watching my interview on the Rich Roll Podcast.We connected on a lot of levels – recovering addicts, depression, suicide attempt survivors, lawyers (well, I’m a former lawyer), and dedication to a second life of health and purpose. Soon after, she asked me to be a guest on her podcast, The Same 24 Hours. When I read about the publishing of her new book, The Year of No Nonsense, I asked her to write a blog post for prisonist.org.
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For a really long time I carried the burden of self-hatred.
From a young age, I was always made to feel that I was shameful—in a myriad of ways—none of which were on purpose from my family. It was a sign of the times and an oppressive church at a very young age. By the time we found a decent church, the “damage” had been done, and I found myself in my teen years feeling ashamed of everything—from my body to my own shadow, my thoughts and my desire to kiss boys.
By the time I was in my late twenties, I had developed a full-on drinking problem. From that point forward, the self-hate ran deep and dark. I had identified none of my trauma(s) to date.
When I tried to take my own life at twenty-one, everyone brushed it under the table as a “one off.” I was tired. That wasn’t like me to try something like that. It was because I was drunk. I didn’t really want to die.
Even my psychologist didn’t make a follow-up, and I was out in the world—off to law school, then being a lawyer and raising children.
But now, I know that I did—in fact—want to die back then. I was that low. I was suffering that deeply. Much of it was at my own hand, my own “fault,” and my own “choices.”
In my mid-thirties, I began to fantasize about driving myself into a tree. Over and over again. The same tree. I thought, I could just detour this car and… I would think this as I drove home to my nice house in the suburbs, in my nice car, with my Louis Vuitton seated next to me, from my lucrative job as a lawyer in Atlanta.
I wanted to slam my SUV into a tree. Just to make it all stop.
On the day I had the kids in the car and I had this same thought, I was shaken. It shook me deep. I was suddenly wide awake. I heard a voice inside of me say, “Meredith, you will not be alive in one year if this continues. You will die by alcohol. Or, you will die by this tree.”
I believed that voice.
That voice, I wouldn’t say was God.
That voice—was me. It was the certainty that came from a knowing exactly what was happening, deep inside of myself. I realized that I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to end it all.
I simply wanted my suffering to end.
Little by little, I changed some things that I could see were causing some suffering. Drinking, for one. I got sober. I changed jobs—also a place of suffering for me, because I wasn’t living my perceived Purpose. I worked on a lot of things.
During the writing of my second book, The Year of No Nonsense, everything cracked wide open for me.
Because I uncovered the darkness that started all of the pain, the suffering, and potentially the addiction cycle. I learned that I wasn’t shameful. I believed (truly) that I was no longer shameful. I realized that some things were my fault, but some things were not. I learned that I had to forgive myself in order to move forward.
Through all the cracks in myself, I could see the light. The light was self-compassion, forgiveness and desire to learn to live—to truly live—through my faults and fears.
In this precious light of forgiving myself, I found a way to move forward.
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Meredith Atwood is an author, speaker, former attorney, founder of Swim Bike Mom, 4x IRONMAN triathlete. Host of the Top 50 iTunes (fitness) podcast “The Same 24 Hours” and author of Triathlon for the Every Woman, and upcoming, TheYear of No Nonsense: How to Get Out of Your Way and On with Your Life (Hachette Books, December 2019), You can pre-order the book through December 17, and then find it in Target, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble and your favorite bookstores and online. She is a writer for Psychology Today, Triathlete Magazine, Women’s Running and the founder of Grateful Sobriety—an online sobriety community. She is a certified USA Triathlon, IRONMAN, and USA Weightlifting coach.
Paul’s email to me, after hearing my interview on the Rich Roll podcast, was moving and powerful. It reminded me so much of my recovery from my own parents that I contacted him in the U.K. (he’s a Brit, his father now lives in the U.S.) and asked him if we could post it as a guest blog. He was thrilled to be of service to others and suspected that giving his story light would be therapeutic for himself, as well. Please feel free to email him your thoughts and comments. Blessings, Jeff
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The relationship between my mother and father broke down when I was four. It was 1972.
My father by his own admission was lost in the world you talk about in your ‘Second Chances’ episode with Rich Roll – white collar, corporate, big money, occasionally absent and estranged from family life. Working so hard he missed that his marriage was falling apart. I wasn’t around to watch him crash but he did. It tore me apart when he left and it took me a very long time to develop the ability to articulate and accept the pain. I nurtured strategies to numb his absence – as I grew older I relied heavily on a close circle of trust. I chose those helpers carefully.
My mother was repeating a ‘he was a drunk’ mantra, her language was unhelpful, I didn’t want to hear it, the episode had unsettled me and he was gone. I don’t recall her ever trying to console me. She quickly remarried – the man being one of my father’s best friends. Time passed and when I hit my mid teens I began to want for another perspective on this. In my heart I knew something didn’t add up – there were events that I experienced as a toddler that did not match my mothers recollections.
Of course adolescence invited all the traps you can imagine. Happy now to be away from home I hid out – escaping my trauma with bad life choices, pushing boundaries to breaking point, alcohol, clubs and drugs. London in the early nineties was pretty much party central. Fun to a degree – in the end it ground me down, it made me sick and I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
I married – I would have loved my father to have been at our wedding. My mother attended – with both her boyfriend and my ‘stepfather’, neither of those men were capable of replacing a blood bond. Today I am still married – we have a twenty year old. Healthy and happy, at university and enjoying his time – I have given him everything I missed out on – most of all my presence. He recognizes it.
Ten years ago (2009) a sequence of events brought my father and I together again. A situation I had all but written off – he had been absent for so very long that I had started to believe was never going to happen. The gift I received was not the ‘drunk’ my mother had described (people can change!)- it was a man years deep into sobriety and now working successfully in recovery. I was introduced to the AA way and bore witness to the 12 steps in action.
There were nearly forty years of mystery, unknown circumstances to discover together. There was much catching up to do, we engaged in a discussion framing the trauma we both experienced and since the reunion I have achieved much.
It was clear I needed and sought out help – seeing a counselor was hugely useful. I then decided to go back to school (entry level counseling), volunteered for a spell – playing soccer with teenage boys and spending time with socially isolated elderly men, I stopped drinking around three and half years ago, took up running. It wasn’t obvious how meeting my father would effect me but I can be certain it made me question old ways. Change was required.
Life now is settled. I’m content, I’m grateful – there are aspects that could be better. Namely career and income, I put some of this down to neglectful parenthood. In my teens when support would have been useful my mothers second marriage was crumbling – my stepfather was insignificant in that he was absent and working abroad, I rarely had time with him. There was no bond, no connection – writing this now I still cannot recognise his approach to fatherhood. I navigated my way through the later stages of school and further education with unremarkable results. I make things work today with a minimum wage job, my wife has the better income – if it wasn’t for her…
It must be said there are advantages that come with this. Work is done at 40hrs – it gives me a healthy amount of time to attend to family and fitness. Running has been a revelation – I reached a goal of running 1000 miles and climbed Snowdon & Pen Y Fan last year, two of the UK’s highest mountains. I’m competing now with race results I can be content with. This was how I came across Rich Roll (the podcast with elite athlete Kilian Jornet was the first time I watched him).
Long term goals are aimed in the direction of counseling and men’s health. Men can be pretty rubbish when it comes to this ‘stuff’ – I know. I’ve got the scars. This is a story full of hope, belief, trust, promise, forgiveness, acceptance, it is a tale of resilience, it is raw and human – there are few that can tell me now that miracles don’t happen! I look forward to the day whereupon this becomes someone else’s inspiration.
Paul Williams
Hill Runner, Husband, Father, Son, Online Sales Manager, Sober, Helper, L2 CPCAB in Counselling Skills (ICSK-L2).
