"It's Not About Me" — Dr. Sam McMasters on 38 Years Sober and the One Thing That Changes Everything
Episode notes
Dr. Sam McMasters got clean at 19. He's now 38 years sober and has spent four decades building addiction recovery programs in some of the most underserved communities in the country — including a decade-long harm-reduction project in Houston, Texas, working with active drug users through syringe programs and street-level outreach.
His philosophy: you can't help people from a distance. You have to meet them where they are. And even then, the statistics are brutal — 85% of people walking into treatment don't believe recovery is actually possible for them.
In this episode, Sam and Austin talk about what the "mess before the message" looked like for Sam, how his faith has grown over nearly four decades of sobriety, why addiction is a spiritual disease that no purely clinical approach can fix, and what his sponsor told him that he still carries today.
This is one of the most grounded, quietly wise conversations we've had on The Way.
The Way Podcast — stories of recovery, faith, and second chances.