Jessica Burke on Atlantic Recovery, Medication-Assisted Treatment, and Breaking Addiction Stigma

Host Branden Hudson interviews longtime friend Jessica Burke, owner of Atlantic Recovery in Salisbury, Maryland, an outpatient medication-assisted treatment clinic opened February 1, 2018. Burke shares how her own progression from alcohol addiction (including DUIs, jail, and court-ordered IOP) to prescription opioid addiction led her to seek treatment and build a reliable, local program that lets patients maintain work and family life while receiving medications such as Suboxone, Zubsolv, Subutex, and Vivitrol, plus required one-on-one counseling and regular urine screens with visits tapering from weekly to monthly. They discuss withdrawal as a major barrier to recovery, respond to stigma that MAT is “legal drug dealing,” and emphasize individualized levels of care, boundaries vs enabling for families, and that addiction affects all walks of life. Burke provides Atlantic Recovery’s location, website/socials, and notes calls route to her directly.

00:00 Welcome And Housekeeping
00:57 Meet Jessie Burke
02:01 Atlantic Recovery Overview
02:35 Why She Started
03:15 What Makes It Different
04:53 How Outpatient MAT Works
09:56 From Alcohol To Opiates
10:47 How Addiction Escalates
13:40 Close Calls And Justifying
18:26 Quitting Alcohol For Good
21:15 Host Shares Sober Journey
25:28 Sober Life Wins
26:43 Suboxone Stigma Debate
30:04 Withdrawal Reality Check
32:06 Treatment Beyond Medication
33:30 Clinic Challenges and Growth
37:16 Advice for Parents
41:12 Losses and Boundaries
44:17 Future Vision and Politics
47:56 Where to Get Help
49:30 Final Message and Wrap