She didn’t experience a “rock bottom” moment that kept her from relapsing, a point of no return like the kind portrayed in movies and novels. It wasn’t until she lost almost everyone and everything she cared about that she was finally able to stop.

Sober now for over five years, Erica joins Ronit to talk about her new memoir Quitter: A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery, share what she’s learned about addiction, triggers and twelve-step programs, and why she, like so many facing addiction, will always need to actively do the work of recovery.

Erica C. Barnett is an award-winning political reporter. She started her career at The Texas Observer and went on to work as a reporter and news editor for The Austin Chronicle, Seattle Weekly, and The Stranger. She now covers addiction, housing, poverty, and drug policy at her blog, The C Is for Crank. She has written for a variety of local and national publications, including The Huffington Post, Seattle Magazine, and Grist.