Lemonada CEO Stephanie Wittels Wachs: Losing Her Brother to Addiction & What Families Need to Know

From The Zac Clark Show · 1:00:01

Show by Zac Clark

Stephanie Wittels Wachs is the CEO and cofounder of Lemonada Media, host of the award-winning podcast Last Day, and author of Last Day: How to Stop Losing Our Loved Ones to the Opioid Crisis. But none of this work would exist without her younger brother, Harris Wittels. Harris – the beloved writer, producer and comedian known for Parks and Recreation and Master of None – died of an opioid overdose in 2015 at just 30 years old. Before his death, Stephanie watched someone she loved cycle through addiction, treatment and relapse while her family struggled to understand what they were supposed to do. In this deeply personal conversation, Stephanie tells Zac about the call when Harris first revealed his OxyContin addiction, the mistakes she believes her family made with the information they had at the time, and the moment she finally understood that her brother wasn't choosing to hurt them – he was sick. More than a decade later, Stephanie has devoted much of her life to understanding the questions she couldn't answer then. She and Zac talk about opioid addiction, relapse, medication-assisted treatment, 12-step recovery, harm reduction, Narcan, boundaries, grief, guilt, and why there may not be one path to recovery. At its heart, this is a conversation about something millions of families struggle with: how do you help someone you love when you can't make them get sober? Stephanie’s new book – Last Day: How to Stop Losing Our Loved Ones to the Opioid Crisis – is available now: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Last-Day/Stephanie-Wittels-Wachs/9781668093184 Connect with Stephanie: https://www.instagram.com/wittelstephanie/ Listen to Last Day: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/last-day/id1468896686 More about Lemonada: https://lemonadamedia.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com Connect with Zac https://www.instagram.com/zwclark/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/zac-c-746b96254/ https://www.tiktok.com/@zacwclark https://www.strava.com/athletes/55697553 https://twitter.com/zacwclark If you or anyone you know is struggling, please do not hesitate to contact Release Recovery: (914) 588-6564 releaserecovery.com @releaserecovery Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More episodes of The Zac Clark Show

More episodes

PodSearch is a free, independent podcast search engine. Read about PodSearch, the privacy policy or contact us.