What happens when instability becomes your normal?
In this episode, I sit down with Quinten Coffey for an unfiltered, heart-cered conversation about growing up in foster care, surviving active addiction, and finding your way back to yourself. Quinten shares the realities of institutional pipelines, the heavy toll of loss, and how survival mode shapes identity, trust, and relationships.
He opens up about his turning point in recovery, the courage it takes to drop the wall of self-protection, and the shift from intellectualizing trauma to true emotional embodiment. From extending unconditional love amidst deep family struggles to holding radical grace for transformation, Quinten’s story is a powerful study in resilience—and a testament to his dream of building a wilderness sanctuary for kids trapped in the system.
Inside the episode:
Surrendering Control to Find True Sobriety: Unpacking how overcompliance can hide incomplete surrender, and how letting go of the need to manage chaos creates space for authentic healing, self-trust, and lasting recovery.
Building a Bridge from the Head to the Heart: Shifting away from rehearsed narratives and intellectualized trauma to step into full somatic awareness, feel genuine grief, and embrace the terrifying beauty of vulnerability.
Redefining Home, Belonging, and Purpose: Discovering that home isn't a physical place, but an active connection found in shared humanity, radical empathy, and giving ourselves permission to accept who we are in the process of becoming.
When life has been built on running and survival, true transformation begins when you stop fighting the unknown, find presence in grounded movement or connection, and grant yourself permission to step into your worth.
Chapters
00:00 Growing up in the foster care system
08:44 Getting tired of running and choosing recovery
12:30 Trusting others while struggling to trust yourself
16:03 Self-worth, comparison, and taking recovery slowly
20:32 Learning to make choices and build an identity
25:22 A vision for helping young people in foster care
29:16 Protecting younger kids and confronting harm in care
32:54 Redefining home through connection and faith
37:10 Jail, prayer, and a turning point in recovery
40:36 Taking a different approach to treatment
46:21 Grief, dissociation, and the fear of vulnerability
50:40 Moving from analysis toward embodiment
58:41 Wanting to feel grief after years of numbing
01:00:15 Why healing has no formula or straight line
01:07:03 Storms pass, and reaching out can interrupt relapse urges
01:11:03 Numerology, routine, and protecting recovery time
01:17:26 Quinten's permission to trust yourself and connect
