ABOUT THIS PODCAST 🔗
A Seattle-based social worker and an LA-based creative navigate their personal recoveries from drugs and alcohol, domestic violence and mental disorders amidst encroaching political turmoil and social decay. Hosts Audrey Comber and Patrick Newman attempt to bridge the divide between recovery and world events, recognizing that we live in a society and these dynamics feed each other.
Guests from the world of politics and organizing, psychology and 12-step recovery, disability activism and more will supplement an ongoing conversation between two friends seeking to heal the world as they heal themselves. In a time when the environment, democracy and vulnerable populations are under siege, Outside Issues offers education and solidarity across class and identity lines, advocating for the dignity and value of every person.
Main show theme is “Strangers” by Midnight Prisms
Music and lyrics by Alicia Beck
Music and production by Max Foreman
Mastering by Little Castle Sound
Please follow and listen to Midnight Prisms on Spotify!
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3o5jiLSZMoSXNWL98UBxYI?si=sK-K7IoUSp-QfFKgUwVY7A
Logo art by Graffiti Fucks (@graffitifucks on Instagram)
Guests from the world of politics and organizing, psychology and 12-step recovery, disability activism and more will supplement an ongoing conversation between two friends seeking to heal the world as they heal themselves. In a time when the environment, democracy and vulnerable populations are under siege, Outside Issues offers education and solidarity across class and identity lines, advocating for the dignity and value of every person.
Main show theme is “Strangers” by Midnight Prisms
Music and lyrics by Alicia Beck
Music and production by Max Foreman
Mastering by Little Castle Sound
Please follow and listen to Midnight Prisms on Spotify!
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3o5jiLSZMoSXNWL98UBxYI?si=sK-K7IoUSp-QfFKgUwVY7A
Logo art by Graffiti Fucks (@graffitifucks on Instagram)
Update frequency:
every 23 days
Average audio length:
43 minutes
Guest interviews
English
United States
27 episodes
since July 12, 2025
episodic
LATEST EPISODE 🔗
This month we talk about Israel and the language surrounding Zionism, holding fast to our belief in equal dignity and rights for all people. Audrey visits a Seattle town hall featuring Pramila Jayapal about January 6th and the creeping threat of white nationalism. Hasan Piker’s bid to elect Sociali…
PREVIOUS EPISODES 🔗
This month we sit down with mother, wife, addiction counselor, and former dockworker Lorie E. Garcia, who decades in recovery still speaks at meetings, sponsors women and fosters animals to square herself with a God of her understanding. We talk about the Steps, immigrant advocacy, and healing from…
Audrey welcomes friend and colleague Katherine “Wren” Hamilton, a Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT)-focused social worker. Wren began her journey towards helping others first from her own struggles with anxiety and suicidal ideations. Recovery from a host of addictions and traumas can often be tra…
After touching on Pride Month and trans dignity, Audrey talks about her joy, pressures, and long term goals in helping others heal, while Patrick discusses taking a chip for 8 years of continuous sobriety. Expressions of hope and joy are vital countermessaging in the era of Trump.
Opening quote by…
Audrey and Patrick welcome Melanie C. to talk about second chances, disillusionment with electoral politics, and Michael Clayton. Covid lockdown, parental support and medication-assisted treatment helped Melanie find recovery from a fifteen year opiate addiction. Reading Edward Said in college bega…
Nick Casaccio joins us to talk about Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine and its twin dynamics of alcoholism and codependency, relating Mark Kerr’s struggles to our own recoveries. Addiction has a habit of migrating, and we discuss how gambling, shopping, and relationships have taken our stories do…
Audrey welcomes another wounded healer to Outside Issues: spiritual advisor Matthew Blankinship, who helps professionals and peers get stronger in their 11th Step. To become an expert in any field, Matthew believes ten years and ten thousand hours are required, to graduate from “digging the ditches…
Filmmaker and humanist Anna K. Scanlon joins the pod to talk about her recovery from hopelessness, which has led to a great period of creative synthesis culminating in “Toss Up,” her recently-completed film inspired by a career working on political campaigns.
Anna's recovery came from a lot of pla…
Audrey and Patrick welcome Minneapolis native and clinician Brian Dyke to talk about community responses to state violence. The joy in working with recovering people in these tough times can be found through helping them discover their inherent sense of individuality. Looking towards the future and…
Every member of the Trump administration is an abuser. Audrey and Patrick discuss Trump’s execution of Stephen Miller’s vision in American cities but most recently in Minneapolis with the murder of Renee Good. Today we mull our new reality of a President not just waging war abroad but on his domest…
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Patrick Newman and Audrey Comber, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.
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