343: Breaking the Stigma Around Addiction and Recovery in the Workplace with Cheryl Brown-Merriwether

The Addicted Mind Podcast

Duane Osterlind, LMFT

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Mental Health

4.8 • 621 Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Addiction is not a new problem in the workplace. In fact, about 70% of folks that are using illicit drugs are employed in the workplace, either full-time or part-time. However, this is not a comfortable topic for people to talk about obviously due to the stigma around it.

How do we then bridge that gap and break the silence so people get the help they need, and for total recovery to take place?

On today's episode, Duane speaks with Cheryl Brown-Merriwether, HR professional and recovery support professional, about the innovations in the workplace as well as addiction and recovery from a workplace perspective and a human relations perspective.

Cheryl holds a number of certifications with several years of experience working with clinical professionals in addiction and recovery support services. Through educational programs, Cheryl is committed to helping people in the workplace understand addiction, substance use disorder, and recovery. Cheryl hopes to reduce the stigma and change the whole perspective around addiction and recovery in the workplace.

In this episode, you will hear:

What’s changing in the workplace
How to break the stigma of recovery
The benefits of external partnership
Working with people who struggled with addiction
The importance of connecting at all three levels of the workplace
How to extend the workforce and empower the frontliners
About the International Center of Addiction and Recovery Education

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Supporting Resources:

ICARE International Center for Addiction and Recovery Education

⁠NovusMindfulLife.com⁠

Episode Credits

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Addicted Mind podcast. My name is Dwayne
0:09.4	Osterlund and I'm your host. Our guest today is Cheryl Brown, Maryweather. She is the co-founder,
0:15.6	vice president and executive director of the International Center for Addiction and Recovery Education,
0:22.5	ICare.
0:24.0	Shoe Brown, Meriwether brings over two decades of experience in corporate HR management
0:29.2	at AT&T, Addiction Recovery Awareness and Adult Education to the International Center
0:35.8	of Addiction and Recovery Education.
0:38.4	As a VP and executive director, she oversees and directs the administration operations and student support services for Icares three divisions,
0:47.8	Strategic Sobriety Workforce Solutions, International Association of Professional Recovery Coaches and Net Institute.
0:55.0	So today, Cheryl is going to bring her expertise as an addiction and recovery education expert.
1:02.7	She's going to talk about addiction and the workplace and how the workplace can become a space
1:10.3	for people to get good information about addiction recovery
1:15.1	and a safe place to talk about addiction, recovery, and mental health.
1:20.8	And she's going to talk about how she helps organizations incorporate that into their
1:26.6	workplace culture and some of the challenges in doing that.
1:30.8	As so many of my guests, I love to talking to Cheryl.
1:34.9	She was passionate about this work, knows what she's talking about, and shares that with
1:40.7	all of you.
1:41.7	So I hope you get a lot out of it.
1:43.7	And if you're getting a lot out of the Addicted Mind podcast, please rate and review us in iTunes
1:48.5	or Stitcher or Google Play or wherever you're getting your podcast.
1:53.8	I'd really appreciate it.
	...

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