Video: 0:07

Eight seconds to you. Cue her. Good morning. I'm bringing you some sad and upsetting news.

Angela Kennecke: 0:19

From series like the Morning Show to TV classics like the Mary Tyler Moore show audiences have long been captivated by the fast-paced world of journalism. But behind the scenes, real life newsrooms can be anything but glamorous.

Megan Luther: 0:36

It is tight deadlines and you cannot make an error like, you know, and it will happen 'cause we're human, but it, it is high pressure.

Angela Kennecke: 0:43

While there isn't a widely recognized statistic proving journalists have a higher than average rate of alcohol addiction, research suggests that high stress professions, especially those with irregular schedules and exposure to distressing content, carry an increased risk of substance use, including alcohol.

Megan Luther: 1:02

Journalists are now. We used to be above Congress, but now we're below Congress as the most hated profession.

Angela Kennecke: 1:08

In this episode of grieving Out loud reporter, Meghan Luther opens up about her personal battle with substance use disorder, her journey to recovery, and why she is now speaking out about a disease. Too often met with stigma. Well, Megan, welcome to Grieving Out Loud. Full disclosure here, you and I go way back. We've known each other for quite a few years. We both worked in journalism and you continue, you know, to work in journalism. I'm in the nonprofit world now, still using a lot of my journalism skills, but one thing I never knew about you. Is that I never knew that you struggled with alcohol. I had no idea until you kind of went public with that. And I was actually, maybe I shouldn't have been surprised because journalism is a really high stress profession, but I was surprised.

Megan Luther: 2:04

Yeah. I think there's, you know, a stigma, you've talked about it before on your podcast of, you know, you don't have a problem with alcohol until you're in a gutter. Lost her kids divorced, drinking on a brown paper bag, and that's just not the case. Like I'm lucky that I found recovery and I had kind of the high bar because there, there's different bottoms for, uh, different people.

Angela Kennecke: 2:27

Yet everyone's story surrounding substances is unique. For Megan, she steered clear of alcohol throughout high school. A choice that wasn't always easy, but everything changed when she got to college.

Megan Luther: 2:41

I joke that I made up for it in college, but I did well in college. I got my master's. I did really well and I really ramped up my drinking. My mom had died in a tragic car accident. I had just gotten engaged and so I. Physically could not deal with the pain. And numbing was the only thing I knew how to deal with. And I was supposed to be planning a wedding. My mom's supposed to be part of that. And so drinking was how I got through the day basically. So I would just get plastered at night. That was my thing. So I always said I don't discriminate. I drink liquor, I drink beer. I drink wine.

Angela Kennecke: 3:20

Megan was 25 when she tragically and suddenly lost her mother, no matter the age. Turning to substances after losing a loved one is not unusual. Here's Dr. Mark Van DeRock, a fan ontologist, or a grief educator. On a previous episode of Grieving Out,

Dr. Mark Vande Braak: 3:41

I have found that over 70% of addictions are grief based.

Angela Kennecke: 3:47

Well, sure. You're looking to drown out your sorrows. It's cliche, but it's true. It is

Dr. Mark Vande Braak: 3:52

so true. Be it narcotics, be it alcohol, whatever it is.

Angela Kennecke: 3:57

Food. Lots of things. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Mark Vande Braak: 3:59

Uh, I'll do everything I can not to deal with it, not to feel it.

Angela Kennecke: 4:06

This disease is really rooted in grief. If you really dig down, it could be. Trauma and the grief surrounding that trauma that happened to you? Maybe like for some people losing their innocence because of abuse. I mean, there could be all kinds of reasons why people are grieving, but I think grief is something that if you don't wanna really go into that dark place, and I know about those dark places of grief, I mean, anybody who's lost someone that they love very much knows how difficult it is and you don't feel like you can survive what have you since. On this journey that you've been on and into recovery about grief and addiction,

Megan Luther: 4:44

I've learned that grief is different for everyone. There's no proper way to grieve, and you know, grief can sneak up on you. It can stay long. I didn't start feeling my quote unquote, new normal until about five years after my mom's death. So it took a lot of therapy, a lot of intensive therapy, and when you do intensive therapy, typically therapists will tell you like it'll get worse before you get better because you're going through all of it. When I started therapy, then I had to start dealing with my sexual trauma when I was little, and so it's coping on that, you know, you just kind of like. Open up the floodgates of what you have to deal with and realize what that's brought to you. And so it goes back to the numbing part. I think numbing is the best word that I've heard as far as just, it is really tough to deal with things like sexual assault with losing a loved one. And when you combine that and you're trying to get through the day, it is illegal, quote unquote coping mechanism.

Angela Kennecke: 5:40

Yeah. And reliving that trauma. I mean, you hate to be re-traumatized, right? So there are certain ways. Right ways to do it if you're gonna go back and try to face some of these things like you've experienced. In addition to coping with grief and sexual trauma, Megan stepped into a high pressure career with tight deadlines. A 2020 Reuters Institute survey found that more than a third of journalists reported experiencing mental health issues, which could lead to more substance abuse. As a journalist for 35 years. When I started, it was so common. It was, first of all, it was the good old boys club. It was mostly men. It was just kind of coming out of that era when I started, like when I very first started and there was smoking in the newsroom, you know, it was smoke filled. Here I have asthma. I think they just banned smoking like in my first newsroom on my like first week there. Seriously, and the stories always were about all this. Booze in the bottom file drawer. All these men had booze and they'd go out after the broadcasts and drink. It's been such a part of journalism and I think journalists are under a lot of stress. It's very demanding. High stress job with tight deadlines and people turn to alcohol as a way to cope, to relax all of the things. But we don't always talk about it as journalists about ourselves. You know, there may be journalists who are covering addiction, who are covering. The fentanyl opioid crisis like I did and all of these things, but they're not really talking about it among themselves.

Megan Luther: 7:20

They're not. And it journalists are now, we used to be above Congress, but now we're below Congress as the most hated profession. Seth, I

Angela Kennecke: 7:28

know. It's horrible and least trusted and all of the things, you know, and I think if when you went to school for journalism and you try to do all the best practices, it's kind of sad, you know? It's sad.

Megan Luther: 7:37

You know, there's bad apples in every profession. Sure. But you know, so having that pressure and it is tight deadlines and you cannot make an error like, you know, and it will happen 'cause we're human. But it is high pressure and we always used to joke that, you know, you might have a liquid lunch here or there. So go out for lunch and go to a bar, have a drink with your lunch. And then, you know, I'm a better writer when I'm under the influence, which is a joke. I was a tail writer during my drinking days and a much better writer now that I'm sober. So, and I always tell people. When you try to control your drinking is when you know you have a problem. So I used to like measure and like, okay, I only had eight ounces today, or I'll only drink beer and I'll no longer drink liquor. And so I tried all those things for many years and it's just not possible for me. And so that's why I was time to quit.

Angela Kennecke: 8:25

What was that ultimate turning point in your mind for you, and how bad did it get before you got to that point?

Megan Luther: 8:32

I was at a worst bottom years before, and people in recovery talk about this. I had an epiphany moment and it's actually, I had my last drink at a journalism conference in New Orleans. And so it wasn't my worst drink, but it was, I told my boss, I think three years into my recovery, but he had made something. We were joking around the next morning about, oh, you never know what drunk Megan's gonna say. And you know, I was giving a friend a hard time and it just, the drunk Megan really hit me. And I'm like, I don't wanna be drunk, Megan. Like, I don't, I don't want that name. So. That really kind of hit me. It was like, all right, it's time. I'm tired. Yeah. That's not how you saw yourself. I came back from the conference, I was thinking, all right, Monday morning I gotta talk to my boss, you know, apologize that I was drunk, Megan, or whatever. Like, what am I gonna tell him? What am I gonna say? And then I woke up at three in the morning, which I usually am a heavy sleeper, and I woke up at three in the morning and I sat up in bed and I just thought, I have to get sober. And it just. It kind of hit me over the head, frankly. And I've talked to quite a few people in recovery that have had the same, like just this real epiphany and it kind of hit me over the head. And then the next day I went to my first meeting.

Angela Kennecke: 9:38

Just a turning point. You shifted, right? Yep. Something inside you shifted.

Megan Luther: 9:42

Mm-hmm. And I am one of the super weird ones. I went to my first recovery meeting, and then the next day I tested positive for Covid and then the world shut down. So I actually got sober in March of 2020.

Angela Kennecke: 9:55

Oh, that is unusual.'cause actually more people started drinking and turning to alcohol during the pandemic. Absolutely. Realizing she had a problem and needed help was a big first step for Megan, but that was only the beginning. She still had to do the work, not just to overcome substance use disorder, but to finally face her grief.

Megan Luther: 10:17

I guess there's a right or wrong way to do grief, but I just. Tried to show up to my therapist. Honestly, there are times that you just don't wanna get outta bed and you don't want to deal with life and you know, you think a lot of people don't understand. So just trying to get outta bed, go to my therapist, you know, I didn't cancel sometimes I didn't make it physically there, so she did on the phone.'cause I literally could not get outta bed, but I will. Tell you that I realized, you know, this is my first big tragedy. So I hadn't really dealt with death. You know, I had some grandparents, but they were older. And so you realize that this happens to a lot of people and the world continues on. Um, what really helped me is helping others. Like the empathy part of me, I was like, all right, you know, this is not the end of my story. My mom would not want this to be the end of my story. And so you gotta kind of persevere and get through it. But it, it is not easy.

Angela Kennecke: 11:11

I think it's really important to stress the help of the therapist because most people can't do that. Can't go through the darkness or dive back into the darkness alone.

Megan Luther: 11:22

Absolutely. And I did a combination of medication and therapy. You know, I think there's a stigma with antidepressants, and I always tell people, you would never tell a diabetic not to take insulin. And so when you are suffering from depression, you take medication and you do a combination of what worked for me is a combination of therapy and medication,

Angela Kennecke: 11:42

and I think the same could be said for if you need medication for alcoholism or opioid use disorder. I mean, there are medications out there that can help with this disease of the brain. Those need to be destigmatized, just like medications for mental health. And all of these things, of course, are intertwined mental health and substance use disorder.

Megan Luther: 12:02

Absolutely. And there's been studies that show that the vast majority of those with substance use disorder have struggled with mental health, whether that's during their heights of their addiction or before. And you're right, it's very intertwined.

Speaker 12: 12:17

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Angela Kennecke: 12:47

Yeah, so also the other thing that you did that I really admire is that you went, decided to go public with your story, and that's how I actually found out you shared something on Twitter and I was like, oh, I didn't know this about Megan. And of course, with the work that I'm doing, I'm very interested in your story and your story of survival and recovery. Why did you decide to post about it?

Megan Luther: 13:08

It took me a while. I was three years sober and I think. A couple things into play. One relapse is very prevalent, so it's like, oh, I don't, you know, wanna post in case I relapse, whatever. And I live in a, you know, I live in Mitchell, I live in a small town. I was afraid of the stigma, you know, I live in a profession. I work in a profession. I was afraid of that stigma, so it was really heavy on it. But I had a friend who, a young woman who's also a mother, who was very open about it. And every time she posted about it on Facebook, inevitably someone would reach out and say, Hey, I'm struggling with alcohol. You know, what advice do you have? And so, you know, silence is deadly and silence can kill. And I think if we are quiet about it, then people really feel alone. And I think for me it was very helpful to find other women mothers who battle addiction and then also journalists. And so I think the more open we are about it. It destigmatizes it, but then the most important thing is I'm helping others. So there's a silver lining to my addiction is that if I'm public, then it can help others fight theirs.

Angela Kennecke: 14:15

That's what I say about Emily's death and as a family member of someone who was suffering from substance use disorder, ultimately killed her. Helping others helps me. I always say that and I don't think there's any silver lining to losing my daughter, but it is the one thing that I can hold onto that helps my survival in all of this too, is just knowing I can help even just one other person, one mother, or stop one person from dying, then you know, it does truly help me. I get that thing I wanted to say about the anonymous part. My grandfather was really big into Alcoholics Anonymous back in 1950, and I remember everybody was so embarrassed in my family. My mother would tell stories about his alcoholism and how embarrassing it was right when he was drunk and the things that happened and he was so proud of it. And he always talked about Alcoholics Anonymous, and he was in recovery for years when I, you know, when was a little kid and older, I mean, I never saw him drink, but the anonymous part of it. I think I understand not everybody has to talk and not everybody has to tell their story, and if you're not comfortable being public about it, no one should force you to be. But I also think the anonymous part keeps the shame and keeps it hidden in darkness.

Megan Luther: 15:28

It does. And like you said, each their own. And I felt empowered, you know, on my three-year anniversary to tell it. But I think especially for women, I think especially for women, especially for moms, we're supposed to be super moms and invaluable and I think just. Going public. You know, women are growing trend in alcohol use disorder. I read this amazing book, it's called Quit Like A Woman, and it talks about one, how women process alcohol differently or bodies metabolize it differently. And so that's why I. One drink gets us drunker faster than a male body. But also it talks about how there's been a huge lobbying effort and a huge commercial effort by the liquor lobby and the alcohol industry to target women. You know, and that's why you see like the flavored seltzers and things like that. So the book is super knowledgeable on the, the increase of advertising, and we are a growing group, especially with binge drinking, and I think it's just not talked enough about.

Angela Kennecke: 16:24

No, you're right. And it is so heavily marketed. It's such a big part of our culture. You know, wine Wednesdays, mommy juice, all these kind of things. I had a a liver doctor on this podcast and she was talking about the increase in liver disease among women and how women are drinking at higher rates and they're now catching up. Men used to be heavier drinkers and now women are catching up to that. But how bad it is for women to do that, and they end up. You know, with liver disease and I think. Women aren't thinking that way when it's being sold to you and marketed to you like, oh, this is just what everybody does. And socially, you know, it's so accepted. I mean, I'm guilty of having wine at social events and you know, I mean, it's just like, that's just what you do,

Megan Luther: 17:07

right? Yeah. And one of the things about getting sober during covid was I didn't have to go to social events, so I didn't have to deal with that because it makes people uncomfortable when you're a drink. It does if you're not drinking. Yes. It makes people uncomfortable and they wanna know why. They wanna know why. And while it's none of their business, I will tell people like, I'm allergic to alcohol, which I am.

Angela Kennecke: 17:27

I'm allergic to beer. Literally wheat. I'm allergic

Megan Luther: 17:30

to wheat. So, and typically I have found in my. Years and anecdotally that people who are most uncomfortable with me not drinking are people themselves who struggle with alcohol. And frankly, I look back to years ago when I was a drinker, I was uncomfortable around sober people because I didn't wanna be judged. And it's like, well, maybe that's a sign that I need to look within.

Angela Kennecke: 17:53

Even though they probably weren't judging you, you know what I'm saying? It's just that your idea was you kind of in the back of your mind knew. You knew because part of you knew. Right? And so that makes people uncomfortable when they are questioning themselves. Am I okay or do I have a problem? And how come this person isn't drinking? And that's just what we do. We drink, and you know, it's a complicated social thing.

Megan Luther: 18:13

Well, it's really, it's really hard for you internally to decide if I'm a problem drinker or not. When it's. So celebrated and part of rituals. And it's weird if you have a wedding without alcohol, right. You know, it's weird if you have a child's birthday without adult drinks. Alcohol drinks at a child's birthday. Well

Angela Kennecke: 18:30

that's weird to, because it never used to be that way, but it's definitely that way now. Yeah. Where if you had a kid event, even, you know, hockey games with kids, you know, they serve alcohol now or parties and different birthday parties. There's alcohol there for the adults, but. I just kind of shocked by that, like why do you need to have alcohol to celebrate with your kids or to do a family thing?

Megan Luther: 18:52

Yeah. You know, we used to joke like, so we can survive a child's birthday party with all the screaming, but it's, uh, again, it goes back to the coping mechanism, but not healthy, in my opinion. And it wasn't healthy for me either.

Angela Kennecke: 19:02

Right. And what keeps you in recovery?

Megan Luther: 19:06

I think fear keeps me in recovery. It is no coincidence that I have professionally. Done the best I've ever done the last four years. My first year sober, my boss actually commented, he's like, oh man, you've had a banner year. Like this has been your best year yet. And it's, it's not a coincidence. Yeah. So work. I'm a better parent. I'm happier. Like I'm, you know, alcohol is a depressant. Alcohol is a toxin, like our bodies are not meant to take in alcohol. And so I'm just happier. I don't wake up hungover. I don't wake up sick. I enjoy motor needs. Now I enjoy life, so I'm a happier person. I'm more content. I'm healthier. So there's so many good things going for me that I can't imagine going back. But addiction is addiction and relapse is very common. So one of the things that has helped me is I focus on it. I have, you know, kind of a devotion that I read every day, a daily reminder, I have a sponsor, I attend meetings. The biggest thing that I say, and my therapist calls it a blessing, which I, I do believe it's a blessing, is I have nightmares of relapse. I relapse nightmares, and they're very detailed and they're horrifying. And it's one of those nightmares where you wake up and you believe it happened because it was so real. Then it is a huge relief to finally realize it is not real. I did not relapse. I'm here. I'm still sober one more day. And sometimes I tell people, especially in the beginning, it's taking sometimes hour by hour or minute by end minute, like, I need to stay sober in this minute or in this minute because it's really just something in your brain that you cannot forget and can't stop thinking about at times.

Angela Kennecke: 20:37

What about the people around you? Have they been supportive, your friends and family?

Megan Luther: 20:42

What's interesting is most of 'em were surprised. You know, I think we keep it hidden and like I said, I wasn't in a gutter. I wasn't drinking. Not at

Angela Kennecke: 20:50

all. Yeah. Highly functioning. Yeah. And I think that's true for so many people who suffer with this disease. I mean, and it's so socially acceptable to drink, so there are a lot of people out there functioning and going about their jobs and doing the things, but it's definitely a problem.

Megan Luther: 21:06

Yeah. So a, a lot of people are surprised and then. You know, supportive. But it's different because I was the partier. I was the life of the party. I love buying people drinks. I love buying people shots. Like it's different, you know, you lose friends. But I would argue those friends weren't meant to be like people who I thought were my friends were basically drinking buddies. And I Sure you know, so relationships change and some people get weirded out by it. But having it during covid, you kept your group very close knit.'cause you weren't going out and socializing. So you kind of found out who are the people for you and who you could rely on.

Angela Kennecke: 21:40

Are you passionate about keeping kids safe and informed? Emily's Hope is proud to introduce our K through five substance use prevention curriculum designed to educate young minds about the dangers of substance use. This engaging program lays the foundation for a healthy future. Visit emily's hope edu.org to learn more and help bring this vital resource to your local schools. Encourage your school administrators and counselors to explore our curriculum to today. It's part of our mission. Together we can make a difference. In addition to openly sharing her struggle with substance use disorder, Megan joined the Advisory Committee of Journalists Recovery Network, a support community for journalists in recovery. The group was founded by Taylor six, a crime and courts reporter for the Lexington Herald leader, who has also battled alcohol addiction.

Megan Luther: 22:41

And she realized that it happens a lot in our industry, but no one talks about it. And so she had asked me to kind of come and help, and our goal is to let journalists know that there are. People out there and you know, it always helps to talk to someone who understands what you're going through, the understands the deadlines, the hatred, the pressure, and why we unwind with the EAT cocktail at the end of the day when we file our story. So that is available for any journalist confidentially who wants to reach out and just talk to someone who's been there and done that.

Angela Kennecke: 23:12

For more information about Journalist Recovery Network, check out the show notes for this episode. While you're there, we'd appreciate it if you could take a moment to rate the podcast, leave a review, and share it with friends and family. Together we could help break the stigma around addiction, recognize it as the brain disease it truly is, and help more people get the help. They so desperately need, and that must be rewarding work as well. I mean, you're helping other people. And what kind of response has that effort been getting?

Megan Luther: 23:44

You know, we've had people reach out and we've had people who are in editor positions. We've had people from different countries reach out. And so, you know, Taylor's done an amazing job. It was covered by Pointer. Pointer, did an article about it, and that's how I found out about it. And I reached out to her. And so, you know, we're just in the beginning stages, but the goal is to provide that lending ear, you know, we don't do treatment, but we've. You know, experienced it and probably experienced some of the issues that people are dealing with now. It's peer support is what it is. Exactly. It's peer support. Exactly.

Angela Kennecke: 24:16

As a journalist, Megan has also used her work to shed light on the devastating impact of addiction

Speaker 8: 24:25

that would be hidden on Jin ever again.

Angela Kennecke: 24:28

That's Taylor Nielsen, a South Dakota man who suffered from liver disease caused by alcohol. Sadly, he died at just 35 years old. Meghan followed his journey as he spoke out, determined to show others the deadly reality of alcohol addiction. It was an amazing piece where you dove in to what a huge problem this is, especially in the state of South Dakota. I mean, it's one of the worst states for. Death from liver disease, correct?

Megan Luther: 25:00

It is, and him and his dad, Dave Nielsen, were very generous with their time and their story. And I approached them about, you know, would you be willing to share it? And so I spent a lot of time with them in several days, over several months. I was with him in the hospital when he was in Omaha, trying to see if he qualified for a new liver. And then I started digging into like the data and found that. For the first time ever, the leading cause of death of South Dakotans in their thirties is liver disease, and the vast majority of that is alcohol induced liver disease. And it's also the leading cause of death of South Dakotans in their forties. And so we have a huge problem and we have people who are supposed to be in the prime of their life, thirties and forties, dying from alcohol induced liver disease. So. Taylor was very generous where he shared the good, bad, and ugly, and there are some really ugly moments that he went through and his dad went through. But the goal was for them to maybe save a life or to help a family member who's dealing with a loved one with an addiction, and he died

Angela Kennecke: 26:01

before he could get a liver transplant.

Megan Luther: 26:03

He did die before he could get a liver transplant. He was denied a transplant. He didn't qualify at the time, and so, you know, I followed him as he worked through recovery and worked on his health, and ultimately he did succumb to the disease.

Angela Kennecke: 26:17

Sadly, Taylor's story is becoming all too common. According to the South Dakota Department of Health, deaths related to alcohol liver disease have increased more than 200% within 10 years, from 90 deaths in 2012 to 285 in 2021. Of course, this isn't just a South Dakota problem across the nation. Liver disease among young Americans, particularly younger women, is surging. On a previous episode of grieving Out Loud, I sat down with Dr. Jessica Mellinger, a liver specialist at the University of Michigan. She's witnessed a 60% increase in waiting lists for transplants for patients with alcohol hepatitis. At what point are people at risk for liver disease?

Dr. Jessica Mellinger: 27:05

So it depends. So there's some differences in, I think probably one of the biggest factors that can influence, you know, how much is too much is if you're a man or a woman. When we think about the anti AAA or the the National Association for the Study of Alcohol here in the US through the NIH, which is the National Institutes of Health, their recommendations for a safe level of alcohol, for people who don't have an alcohol use problem, who don't have liver disease, who don't have medical issues from alcohol. Is no more than one drink a day for women or two drinks a day for men. And then that raises the question of what is a drink, right? So it's one drink is about four ounces of wine. So that would fill up really only the bottom, right? You think about a typical wine glass. And so, you know, if I'm gonna fill up a wine glass, I'll fill it up about halfway full, which is two servings, right? Probably two servings, yeah. Wow. And then one shot is one serving one standard. 12 ounce can of beer is one serving. That's of, you know, the typical kind of percentage of alcohols that we have had in the past. A lot of the newer IPAs and the microbrew and so forth have actually a higher concentration of alcohol in them. So you may have a beer, one serving of one of those more highly concentrated alcohol drinks and be getting two, three or more, you know, servings of alcohol in that. So. For women for a variety of reasons. Our body size, largely how we process alcohol, where the enzymes to process alcohol are in our body and how many of them there are, how much of them there are in our stomachs and in our livers. We can't drink as much as men and about half as much as men before we start to see the consequences. So. From a liver disease standpoint, let's say if you drink heavily more than two or three, uh, drinks per day for several weeks, you will get fatty liver from that. So there will be fat accumulated in your liver and like 90% of people will get that.

Angela Kennecke: 29:00

If you'd like to listen to the full episode, the Silent Crisis of Alcohol and Women's Liver Disease, we've shared a link in the show notes of this podcast.

Megan Luther: 29:12

In that story also, we talked about the sales tax data showing a huge jump in, you know, liquor purchases in the state of South Dakota and they have not gone down to pre pandemic levels. Like everyone knows that alcohol use was up during, during Covid, but we have not reset in South Dakota and we continue to buy large amounts of alcohol and haven't gone down to the pre 2020.

Angela Kennecke: 29:36

What's interesting is that nationwide. Deaths, the number one cause of deaths of people 18 to 45 is fentanyl. We talk about that all the time, you know, on this podcast. But here in this state, you're telling me for 30 and 40 year olds, it's actually alcohol.

Megan Luther: 29:51

Yeah, I thought maybe it would be cancer or car accidents. So I was really surprised and when I, when I saw that stat, I was like, well. This is how we tell the story because you could write a story and the lead be about the number one cause of death. But I think the way to get readers to understand how big a problem that is, is to tell it through a human being. And Taylor was generous enough to do that. Yeah, it just

Angela Kennecke: 30:13

broke my heart. What

Megan Luther: 30:14

was he 35? He was 35.

Angela Kennecke: 30:16

Oh yeah. Yeah. How wonderful that his family, even though they knew the outcome, could be the worst. Willing to share it with people as well to help others. So. Those stories must be told. Was it difficult for you to tell that story?

Megan Luther: 30:31

I thought, you know, I will say one of the things is I don't think Taylor would've told me his story if I wasn't in recovery because, you know, it's really hard for someone to understand how the brain and the body works when it comes to addiction unless you've been there. And so I don't think he would've talked to me if I wasn't in recovery. And this was, this story was a turning point for me too, because. You know, in journalism we talk about being objective and neutral and so I had disclosed for the first time in a story that I was in recovery. And one I thought was important because I wanna be transparent, but two, I don't think I would've had this story otherwise if I wasn't in recovery and being open and honest. So I also think that Destigmatizes, and I think that's why we have editors. I had an editor who went through it, and if he thought that. My quote unquote bias of being in recovery was influencing the story. You know, that's why editors check you. But I think journalism is gradually getting there, but I think we need to really examine that people's experiences, make them really good reporters, and help them understand complexities of all sorts of issues. And it doesn't mean that they're biased, it just means that they're knowledgeable and that's why you have an editor to check that bias. And that's why, you know, you can do disclosures and be transparent about it.

Angela Kennecke: 31:47

Was there any fallout from you disclosing that or even going public as you did on social media? Was that a year or so ago?

Megan Luther: 31:54

Yeah, no, I, thankfully, I have not had any fallout that I know of. I mean, you, that I don't know if I've, uh, anyone's like not accepted a pitch for me because of that, or, you know, I've lost a freelance job because of that. But so far people have been very generous and very kind about it. And most importantly, I've had people who have reached out and said, Hey. I have a problem and I immediately say, let's schedule a meeting, let's get coffee, let's talk about it. And that's frankly one of my favorite parts of recovery is just being there.'cause I've been there and it's really freaking lonely. And to have someone talk to you about it, I think is, um, how we kind of battle these diseases of addiction.

Angela Kennecke: 32:37

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story and. For the work that you're doing to draw attention to problems like this one, like with this article on Taylor and the other things I know, I bet you've got future projects coming up, so I look forward to seeing those as well.

Megan Luther: 32:53

Absolutely. You know, one of the things I'm working on is obviously we have a problem, so what's the solution? You know, we don't just wanna point out the flaws in our society. We wanna find out, well, what is working and what solutions are we working on? So that's the goal.

Angela Kennecke: 33:06

Yeah. Well, thank you. Thanks for what you're doing. Thanks

Megan Luther: 33:09

for your time. I appreciate it.

Angela Kennecke: 33:11

And thanks for listening to this episode of Grieving Out Loud. You can find more episodes. Check out my blog and stay up to date on the latest news about substance use disorder and the opioid epidemic on our website, Emily's Hope Charity. If you are a loved one struggle with addiction, please get help immediately. Don't wait. Remember, you're not alone. Your life matters. Until next time. Wishing you faith, hope, and courage. This podcast is produced by Casey Wallenberg, king and Marley Miller.