Meet the Voices of No Alcohol Needed

Julie Miller, RCP

Author | Alcohol-Free Life Coach | Podcast Host

Julie Miller is an author, recovery and emotional wellness coach, and podcast host, and the founder of Create A Life So Full, a coaching and education practice focused on building meaningful, alcohol-free lives. With years of lived sobriety and professional coaching experience, Julie works with individuals at all stages of an alcohol-free journey, including those who are sober but feeling stuck, restless, or unsure how to move forward. Her work centers on emotional sobriety, self-trust, and creating a life that feels genuinely worth staying sober for.

Julie is the co-host of the No Alcohol Needed podcast (formerly Through the Glass Recovery Podcast), where she explores the inner work of recovery through honest conversations about identity, relationships, emotional regulation, shame, anxiety, and personal growth. The podcast reaches listeners around the world who are sober-curious, newly alcohol-free, or years into sobriety and seeking more than surface-level change.

In addition to one-on-one coaching, Julie facilitates workshops and educational experiences focused on values-based living, emotional awareness, and navigating major life transitions without numbing or avoidance. Her teaching blends lived experience, reflective practices, and practical tools designed to help people build resilience, reconnect with themselves, and develop a deeper sense of purpose. Julie’s approach emphasizes curiosity, self-compassion, and sustainable growth rather than rigid rules or quick fixes.

Julie lives in Colorado, where she embraces a slower, values-led life shaped by creativity, time outdoors, and meaningful connection. She believes sobriety is not the finish line, but the foundation for a life that feels expansive, grounded, and fully lived.

Steve Knapp, RCP

R. Sean Rollinson, LPC

Licensed Professional Counselor | Emotional Intelligence Educator | Founder of Enso Counseling & Coaching

R. Sean Rollinson, LPC, is a Licensed Professional Counselor, educator, and emotional-intelligence specialist with over two decades of personal recovery and clinical experience in mental health and addiction treatment. He is the founder of Enso Counseling & Coaching in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the creator of the Mastering Emotional Intelligence™ (MEI) system—a transformative framework that helps individuals build deeper self-awareness, emotional stability, resilience, and healthier relationships.

Sean is also a TEDx Speaker, delivering the talk “Listen to and Understand Your Emotions—Because They Are Going to Change the World,” which centers on the idea that world peace isn’t political—it’s personal, and emotional healing is the foundation for meaningful transformation.

Sean earned his Bachelor of Science in Human Communication and a Master of Arts in Professional Counseling, grounding his work in a blend of evidence-based therapeutic models including mindfulness, attachment theory, cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR-informed principles, and Pia Mellody’s emotional development framework.

Drawing from his own long-term recovery journey, Sean brings a relatable, real-world understanding of the emotional patterns that drive addiction, relapse, and healing. His experience gives him a unique ability to help clients break through shame, fear, avoidance, and long-standing self-protective patterns that interfere with sustainable recovery.

In addition to his core MEI curriculum, Sean is the developer of Relapse Prevention Through Mastering Emotional Intelligence™, a specialized six-week program designed for substance-abuse treatment settings. This curriculum blends emotional-regulation skills, core-belief work, mindfulness, and identity development to support long-term sobriety and reduce recidivism. It is currently being offered as both a stand-alone aftercare program and an integrative add-on for inpatient, outpatient, residential, and PHP treatment centers.

Sean lives in Scottsdale with his soulmate Jana (pronounced Yana) and their three children—Parker (30), Payden (26), and Paulina (17)—who are his greatest joy and the true calling beneath everything he does. At the end of the day, his family is his purpose, inspiration, and grounding force.

Robbie Pike

Robbie began his emotional freedom journey in November 2022, a path that initially came with its share of highs and lows as he learned to navigate emotional regulation. Everything shifted once he found the words to articulate what he was feeling. From that moment, Robbie chose the road less traveled—one marked by introspection, courage, and a willingness to confront the darkness rather than avoid it.

Now three years into this transformative chapter, Robbie hasn’t looked back. His ability to face hard truths has led to powerful breakthroughs, continually expanding the boundaries of his self-belief.

A dedicated single father, Robbie treasures the time he spends with his daughter. When he’s not working, podcasting, or parenting, you’ll almost always find him on the trails, fitting in miles between life’s responsibilities.

Robbie is the co-host of the Golden Hour Adventures Podcast, where he and his team highlight everyday people doing extraordinary things. He also contributes to Forged in Silence, a men’s mental health podcast focused on addressing the struggles men face but rarely talk about. 

Robbie’s story is one of resilience, growth, and a relentless belief in the power of vulnerability—and he’s just getting started.

Janice Johnson Dowd, LMSW

Author | Speaker | Social Worker

Janice’s work focuses on family-centered recovery, generational healing, and rebuilding relationships impacted by addiction.

She is the author of Rebuilding Relationships in Recovery (North Atlantic Books) and co-host of the Recovering Relationships podcast, where she helps families navigate boundaries, communication, and relational repair with compassion and clarity.

Janice frequently speaks at professional social work and addiction conferences to help educate other mental health professionals, as well as at 12-step conferences to inspire and support individuals and families in recovery.

Kristyna Holler

Kristyna is a 46-year-old woman, wife, and mother of 2 boys, ages 9 & 10. She is a born and raised SOUTH Jersey girl – GO BIRDS!

Kristyna grew up around alcohol and had her first drink at 12 or 13 years old. From then on it was pretty much drinking whenever possible. In her 20’s she began to really feel the negative effects of her drinking. She was drinking till she blacked out every weekend and doing things she would never have done sober. But it was just a weekend thing – no big deal! It continued like that for years. She even tried to learn how to prevent blackouts; not by quitting drinking though!

Then in 2014, she had enough; enough of the shame and the guilt, she quit. Kristyna had her sons in 2015 and 2016 and stayed sober. Then, slowly, she got sucked into the mommy wine culture which, eventually, spiraled out of control. Then in 2024, after 2 to 3 years of daily drinking till blackout and constant depression, anxiety, shame, and guilt, she was ready to try again.

At the recommendation of her therapist, she decided to try 30 days alcohol free. That was on June 2, 2024 and she never thought she would make it to day 30 and today she is over 18 months alcohol free and never going back. Giving up alcohol has given her a freedom she never knew, a whole new perspective on life and just pure, genuine joy.

Life isn’t always easy, heck it rarely is, but having a clear head and being sober truly has made even the hardest of times easier to handle.

Matt Shambo

#soberdaddoingsoberdadthings

Matt’s Instagram @shamman780

Matt Shambo, is a 40 year old father of two from Burnt Hills, New York.  He celebrated 34 months on December 5th. Matt always believed he would get sober but at the same time feared it may never come.  He spent five and half years stuck in the up and down battle with alcoholism before finding a better way.  He wants to thank you everyone for sticking with him through all this. 

Matt was first introduced to Julie and Steve through Instagram when he was about three months sober.  He first joined Through the Glass as a guest on the Season 2 premiere, since then he has been on eleven times over the last three seasons. Over that time he’s been able to share his experiences in recovery about topics including: alcohol cravings, vulnerability, sobriety being worth it, spirituality and more.   Each episode has been challenging and rewarding in its own way.

Matthew would like to personally thank Julie and Steve for allowing him to share with them, the Through The Glass Recovery Podcast family and now No Alcohol Needed the Podcast group his recovery journey.  They have played a major role in his recovery and many others.  They provide the recovery world a unique look every week into guest’s personal experience with getting sober and their constant journey with personal growth. 

Mike Coyne, CIP

Family Addiction Specialist | Neurodivergence Specialist | ACT-Informed Counselor | Speaker

Mike Coyne is the founder of Curevine (@curevine), a private practice trying to elevate the quality of treatment and discourse around mental health. As a Counselor and Family Addiction Specialist his work centers on disorders of compulsion, neurodivergence, and relational healing. Drawing on a biopsychosocial framework, he helps individuals and families develop healthier dynamics through an emphasis on the recognition of personal emotions and their roles; interpersonal patterns and communication. His approach integrates neurobiological insight with practical strategies to help people recognize and meet their needs, eliminating the maladaptive behavior.

Before pivoting to mental health, Mike spent 14 years coaching in the NFL and NCAA, gaining invaluable insight into the psychology of fear, resilience, growth and development under incredible pressure. This is where he began to understand that change — personal or collective — emerges from a commitment to one’s values, disciplined empathy, and the courage step into fear.

Amber Fenner

  • Instagram: Demon_Slayer1224

Oh Amber is a 43 year old former east coaster who now calls the mountains of the western slope in CO home. She has a cat named Jack, loves to cook, is slowly learning how to let her creativity loose and is thriving in her new career as a banking consultant with a local and growing credit union. The latter coming as a result of stepping far outside of her comfort zone and applying for a position outside her previous experience wheelhouse. Something pre-sobriety Amber wouldn’t have done. 

Amber grew up in Massachusetts as an only child in a highly toxic family dynamic. From a young age she learned how to people please, self abandon and manipulate others emotions for her own emotional safety. As a young adult and into her late 30’s she bounced from one toxic romantic relationship to another, re-creating her deep mother wound with each new partnership, subconsciously seeking the love and validation she craved as a young girl. She secretly hated the girl she saw in the mirror and alcohol was the only thing that could mask her pain, fear and self loathing. 

After many years of pain and suffering and feeling empty and exhausted, she decided on Christmas Eve ‘21 to check herself into a 3 day medical detox, spending Christmas isolated from everyone and everything she knew and unsure of what life would be going forward. At the very least she imagined life would be the same, a little better without abusing alcohol surely, but mostly the same. 

Today at just over 4 years sober, life looks nothing like she predicted. She has dug deep, faced fears, taken responsibility for what was hers and tossed what was not. She attributes much of her success to finding a solid community of like minded people, many of whom are from the No Alcohol Needed community. People who didn’t want to just stop at sobriety, but create a life filled with joy and fun and adventure. A life where alcohol simply doesn’t fit in. 

“Today, my life looks nothing like it did when I began this journey. I owe all of it to strangers who became family and also…..to myself, for having the courage to face what was underneath the mask I wore and the determination to heal and rise above it”. I hope my story and my journey to healing offers someone like me the chance to see that none of us are too broken, too far gone or too hopeless. We all have what it takes to kick everyone else out of the drivers seat and bring our bus back home, to ourselves”. I love you and I believe in you!