Richard Jewell on Recovery, Sober Sex, and Finding Your Worth

Richard D. Jewell, CPRC is a certified peer recovery coach with Lifeboat Addiction Recovery Services, a SAG-AFTRA actor, educator, investigator, and longtime advocate for addiction recovery and personal transformation. His work has taken him across criminal investigations, higher education, workforce development, addiction recovery, and the film industry. Today, he works directly with individuals and families impacted by substance use disorder, helping people navigate recovery, access support, and build meaningful lives rooted in worth, wellness, and hope. In this conversation, Richard Jewell and Dr. Joe Kort explore what recovery looks like today and how the field has changed over the years. Richard explains the role of a certified peer recovery coach, how it differs from an AA sponsor, and why recovery support must look at the whole person, not just the substance. He discusses the eight pillars of wellness, including emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, physical, spiritual, occupational, and social well-being, and how these areas can help someone rebuild a life worth living. They also discuss the importance of addressing sexuality, intimacy, trauma, and sober sex within recovery. Richard shares why people in recovery may not know what sex or relationships feel like without substances, and why shame-free conversations about sexual identity, abuse, intimacy, and presence are essential. He also reflects on his own relationship with his wife and how working with Dr. Kort helped them build a monogamous, loving, soulful relationship that has lasted for decades. The conversation also looks at addiction as a disease, not a choice, and why substance use disorder must be understood through compassion, science, and lived experience. Richard talks about emotional development, relationships in early recovery, relapse, denial, rationalization, medication, recovery campuses, and the importance of supportive environments. He also discusses why rules like avoiding relationships for the first year of sobriety may come from a valid concern, but should not always be treated as one-size-fits-all. Richard and Dr. Kort also explore harm reduction, Narcan, mocktails, recovery-friendly workplaces, LGBTQ+ communities in recovery, mental health, suicidal thoughts, worthiness, and what it means to help people find their value again. Richard shares powerful insight from his own life and work, including how recovery coaching can help people access treatment, housing, Medicaid, identification, food, clothing, and long-term support. Listen to this Smart Sex, Smart Love episode as Dr. Joe Kort talks with Richard Jewell about addiction recovery, peer recovery coaching, sober sex, trauma, relationships, worthiness, harm reduction, recovery-friendly workplaces, the eight pillars of wellness, and what it really means to build a life worth living. Support the show