From Rock Bottom to Rebirth: Salma’s Story of Survival, Sobriety & Self-Love

Trust and Believe with Shaun T

Alex Coloreo

Health & Fitness, Family, Mental Health, Self-improvement, Weight Loss, Gay, Self Care, Self Improvement, Fitness, Parenting, Family Life, Wellness, Education, Nutrition, Self Help, Shaun T, Lgbtq, Twins

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if the thing that saved your life was something as simple as pressing play? In this raw and revealing episode, I sit down with Salma Virbanks—an artist, art therapist, and true warrior—who opens up about her incredible transformation from the grips of addiction, trauma, and abuse to becoming a beacon of healing for others. Her journey is not just about recovery; it’s about reclaiming power, rewriting your story, and finding strength through therapy, movement, and radical self-love. We talk about everything—from childhood abuse to addiction, bulimia, codependency, and how the power of fitness (yes, even Insanity at 4 a.m.) became her lifeline. Salma’s story will challenge what you think you know about addiction and inspire you to keep going, no matter how broken you might feel. This is more than a comeback. This is transformation in action. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to today's episode of T is for Transformation.
0:10.9	I'm your host, Sean T.
0:12.0	And today, we're going to get into a story that highlights the struggles of overcoming addiction,
0:18.4	followed by triumphs of embracing self-healing.
0:22.0	Salma Veer Banks's journey from the depths of addiction and trauma to becoming a beacon of hope for
0:28.3	others is a huge transformation that underscores the crucial role of mental health awareness.
0:35.0	The healing power of art and therapy, and the underlying support of
0:39.7	loved ones and navigating the road to recovery. Here's Salma Story. Hi, my name is Salma Veerbanks,
0:47.8	and I'm an artist and art therapist living in Taos, New Mexico. My transformation journey began when I was 22 years old. I got clean
0:58.3	from substance use and drug addiction. And basically, my life had just extremely, like, just
1:06.5	completely fallen apart. I have, I grew up in a pretty traumatic, I had a pretty traumatic childhood.
1:13.4	You know, my father and I have been estranged since I was 15.
1:17.7	As I was in college, my eating disorder continued to progress.
1:21.1	I began drinking, began smoking marijuana, and was doing these things, like over-indulgently, but not quite
1:30.7	addictively yet. And then I ended up in a relationship with a gentleman, I will call him,
1:40.9	who made his money through pimping women and selling drugs. The story of my introduction
1:47.5	to Sean T. I would get up every morning at like 3.30 to 4 a.m. And I would dance for two hours
1:55.9	and then I would do the insanity workout. And so Sean was with me from like the very beginning of like my transformation
2:03.0	journey. He always says like congratulations like you pressed play. Like you did it like you pressed
2:10.7	play. And like that for me is like I'm going to press play on my life for the person who's like,
2:17.2	I'm so broken and I've been
2:20.0	so hurt and traumatized. Like, I'm not lovable. I'm not the same as other people. Yeah, you are.
	...

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