The Mechanic

THE BLURB: Owning and running restaurants has been my friend Michael Levine's family business going on three generations now. Over the course of my show biz career, I had hundreds of meals at Monty's, the Levine family's restaurant in the Westwood area of Los Angelels with clients and friends. Years of standing, greeting customers - and servicing their craziness with a smile - has made Michael unrelentingly positive. Bon appetit!SHOW NOTESIf you enjoy this podcast, please check out the rest of our lineup at Costard & Touchstone. Your next favorite podcast is only a click away!

THE BLURB: Addiction medicine didn’t always exist. The good news: not only does it now exist, but it’s got my friend Dr. Courtney Scott as one of its distinguished leaders. With over a decade of experience, Dr. Scott is the medical director for more than 25 detox, residential and outpatient substance use disorder – SUD – treatment centers across multiple states. His clinical approach seamlessly integrates addiction medicine with internal and emergency medicine to deliver comperehensive, trauma-informed and medically sound care. In real, practical terms – having been a patient in various emergency rooms while staggeringly intoxicated – what that means is quite simple: Dr. Scott cares deeply about his patients as human beings first and foremost. The individualized detox protocols he’s developed have saved lives. Mine included.SHOW NOTESIf you enjoy this podcast, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone Productions!

THE BLURB: My friend Diane is something of a sober role model. She's been sober since June 1980 when a ife of alcohol abuse and transporting drugs suddenly crashed in on Diane. She landed in rehab – her first stint there. But, to her absolute surprise, she experienced something profoundly spiritual that completely changed her world.She discovered a completely new way to live. Sobriety. In this episode, Diane will share not only her story, but her deep passion for volunteering and helping others overcome their addictions and live their best possible lives.SHOW NOTESFor more great podcasts, please check out Costard & Touchstone.

THE BLURB: Shia Blakeny works at the intersection of mental health, addiction and human development – and what happens when that intersection gets complicated. To that end, Shia has built programs that challenge traditional models of treatment. As CEO of Recover Integrity and cofounder of Antedote Lab, he develops experiential and relational approaches to recovery that are grounded in what Shia calls “right relationships” instead of rigid ideology. His work integrates psychology, spirituality, and culture to rethink how people heal, grow, and live. As someone who’s benefited from what Shia’s done, I can tell you: his work works. SHOW NOTESIf you enjoy this podcast, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone Productions!

THE BLURB: My friend John Kiriakou might just be the best known spy in the whole world. A former CIA officer, during america's war on terror, John led the counter-terrorism force that captured Abu Zubaydah, the man we thought was the Number 3 at Al Qaeda. When John learned later that we had tortured Abu Zubaydah, he ratted out the CIA's illegal torture program and spent 23 months in federal prison for having done the right thing. SHOW NOTESIf you enjoy this podcast, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone Productions!

THE BLURB: Addiction Recovery Specialist Lance Wright goes way beyond the normal models of addiction treatment. Lance founded his company Life Over Addiction to help people understand that addiction isn't simply a substance problem. His approach invites addicts to think differently about their addictions with tremendous results. As most addicts can tell you, how they think about themselves and their addiction is part of their addiction.  SHOW NOTESIf you enjoy this podcast, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone Productions!

THE BLURB: Dealing with the legal system is always a nightmare. Dealing with it while facing serious drug charges? A nightmare on steroids. Good thing Nick found Vicken sss - truly his legal eagle. In this episode, Nick talks about how he found Vicken and then how Vicken skillfully helped Nick navigate this nightmare, reducing what could have been some serious time in some serious places to a couple of months (plus lengthy drug treatment and time in halfway houses). In this episode, we'll explore the darker side of Nick's story.SHOW NOTESIf you enjoy this podcast, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone Productions!

THE BLURB: We all know that good help can be hard to find. But my long-time friend Jonathan Rosenbloom wasn't just "good help", he was great help and became my assistant at The Agency. We'll talk about the good ol' days of deal-making, high-living (literally and figuratively) and all sorts of Hollywood craziness. Also we'll talk about some of the aftermath of all that craziness and the process of recovering from it.SHOW NOTESIf you enjoy this podcast, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone Productions!