Caitlin Morrison | More Than the Hardest Chapter: A Conversation on Substance Use, Recovery & Humanity

What exactly are we asking someone to recover into?

We often talk about recovery as though treatment is the finish line.

But what happens afterward?

Where does someone live? Who is waiting for them? What relationships remain? Can they find work? Community? Purpose? Mental health support? A place where they are seen as a whole human being rather than the hardest chapter of their life?

In this episode of Tune Up Your Warrior, Jenny sits down with Caitlin Morrison, Executive Director of Matthew Perry House, for a deeply human conversation about substance use health, recovery, stigma, family and what it actually takes to build a life beyond treatment.

Caitlin is also Matthew Perry’s sister.

But this conversation isn't about celebrity.

It's about what Caitlin and her family learned through loving someone experiencing substance use challenges, and what they believe needs to change for other people and families navigating them.

Jenny and Caitlin explore why language matters, including why Matthew Perry House uses “substance use” and “substance use health” rather than language that can reduce a person to a diagnosis or struggle.

They talk about stigma, dignity and the limits of trying to save someone you love. They explore the enormous gap that can exist between receiving treatment and having the housing, relationships, community, employment, mental health support and sense of purpose needed to sustain recovery.

And underneath it all is a bigger question:

What if we stopped defining people by their hardest chapter?

Because people experiencing substance use challenges are still parents, siblings, children, friends, colleagues, neighbours and human beings deserving of dignity.

And recovery requires more than asking someone to survive.

It requires creating something worth recovering into.

Released October 7, ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10, this is a conversation about substance use health, humanity and what it means to see the whole person.

🎙️ More Than the Hardest Chapter: Caitlin Morrison on Substance Use, Recovery & Humanity