The Shane Vitko Podcast | The Hard Way Home

In Episode 12 of The Shane Vitko Podcast, I sit down with my good friend Jack Campbell, retired NHL goalie, for something completely different.Instead of walking through Jack’s hard way home, we recorded immediately following Jack’s first real breathwork session and unpack what actually comes up when the body finally lets go.Jack opens up about the pressure of always performing, never cracking, and carrying everything on his shoulders as a high-level athlete. He talks about feeling emotions move through his body that he didn’t even know he’d been holding onto.Shane breaks down what breathwork is doing physically, why hands lock up, why yawning happens, and how the nervous system starts resetting when it finally feels safe.Then comes the moment that hits hardest.Jack shares about losing his puppy unexpectedly, how close he came to ending his life, and how that grief surfaced during the session in a way he’d never experienced before.This episode is about release.About slowing down after a lifetime of pushing.About doing real work instead of running from what you feel.If you’ve spent your life staying strong and holding it together, this one’s for you.This is breathwork.

In Episode 11 of The Shane Vitko Podcast, Shane sits down with his best friend George Wozniak, now CEO of Ryan Aviation Group. The two got sober together in Los Angeles, and this one is a full-circle conversation about what it really takes to rebuild a life after addiction.
George takes us back to Minnesota, growing up around recovery, family interventions, and the early warning signs he didn’t understand yet. He opens up about the first times he drank and got high, the chase for “more,” and how pills and opioid addiction took over after surgeries. Then comes the moment you won’t forget: George tells the story of using his black lab’s pee to try to pass a drug test, and how that insanity became the turning point that finally got him to say, “I need help.”
From treatment to West Side LA recovery, Shane and George break down why that community worked, why “men of action” mattered, and how real change happens when you stop talking and start doing. They get into time, trust, rebuilding a marriage, showing up as a father, and how George went from early sobriety fear to leading a company without lying to himself about what “balance” really means.
If you’re listening and you feel too far gone, this episode is for you. There’s a way out, but it’s earned, not announced.

In this episode, I sit down with Sabrena Morgan for a conversation that doesn’t flinch from the reality of addiction, eating disorders, incarceration, and survival. Sabrena shares what it was like living a double life long before drugs entered the picture, how control, body image, and trauma shaped her choices, and what it meant to finally lose everything in a very public way.
This isn’t a story about redemption as a highlight reel. It’s about what happens after the consequences hit and the cameras are gone. We talk about prison, identity, and the strange disorientation of reentry, where freedom doesn’t feel free and the people who love you no longer speak your language. Sabrena explains the loneliness of coming home and why leaving prison can feel like losing your last sense of belonging.
This conversation goes deep into accountability without shame, survival without glamor, and recovery that doesn’t fit into a neat box. Sabrena reflects on being shot and living, wanting to die and staying alive anyway, and how rebuilding a life sometimes starts with accepting that you’re still here for reasons you don’t yet understand. We don’t sanitize addiction or romanticize suffering. We talk about the long road of rebuilding trust, learning how to live in your body again, and deciding who you are after the worst chapter becomes public record.
This episode is about identity, consequence, resilience, and what it really means to come home to yourself when there’s no applause waiting.
Instagram:
@svthehardway @warriorwithinhale
TikTok: @svthehardway @sabrenamorgan

In this episode, I sit down with Joanna Miranda, a single mom of five and a health and fitness coach, for a conversation that doesn’t look away from the damage addiction leaves behind. Joanna shares what it was like to love a man who was struggling, navigate military life, and carry the weight of decisions no spouse ever wants to make. This isn’t a story about fixing someone. It’s about what happens when love alone isn’t enough. We talk about boundaries, self-respect, and the difference between supporting someone and losing yourself in the process. Joanna speaks honestly about the grief that comes before death, the kind that shows up while the person you love is still breathing. She also shares how addiction doesn’t just affect the individual, but quietly reshapes the entire family, especially the kids. This conversation goes deep into detaching from outcomes, telling the truth even when it hurts, and choosing yourself without guilt. Joanna reflects on what suffering taught her, how her children became her teachers in resilience, and why facing uncomfortable truths was the only way forward. We don’t romanticize recovery or loss here. We talk about the real cost of staying, the real cost of leaving, and what it means to find your way back to yourself after everything falls apart. This episode is about love, loss, accountability, and learning how to come home to yourself when someone you love never makes it home.
Instagram: Shane Vitko @svthehardway @warriorwithinhale
Instagram: Joanna Miranda @gogether_academy
Website: https://bio.site/gogetheracademy

Ronnie Costa joins The Shane Vitko Podcast for a brutally honest conversation about what happens when the streets raise you, violence becomes currency, and survival turns into a full-time identity.
Ronnie grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, surrounded by mob culture, reputation, and a pressure cooker standard of what it meant to be a man. He talks about chasing respect, earning a name, and how crime became his first addiction long before drugs ever showed up.
Then OxyContin hit New England, and everything shifted. What started as an escape turned into a trap. Ronnie explains why he says opiates “saved” his life at first, because getting strung out kept him out of the neighborhood and away from the violence that was going to get him killed. But that same escape turns into heroin, the needle, losing everything, and sleeping wherever he could to make it through the night.
This episode isn’t about glamorizing any of it. It’s about the lie that you’re still in control, the moment the runway runs out, and what it takes to rebuild when your life is already labeled a liability.
We get into shame, identity, the tough guy mask, relapses, and why moving 3,500 miles away actually mattered for him, not as a magic fix, but because he finally did the inner work too. Ronnie also breaks down what he’s seen in the treatment industry, why ethics matter, and why he refuses to “babysit” clients just to keep a check coming.
If you’ve ever felt like your life sentence is already written, this episode is for you.
Instagram: @svthehardway @ronniecosta333 @counselingunlmtd
https://www.counselingunlmtd.com