The Phoenix Spirit

12/07/2025

"I had one of those double lives – successful restaurant guy by day – Dracula-drug-addict by night." Andrew Zimmern

Andrew Zimmern, celebrated chef, writer, and television personality, is an adventurous, passionate storyteller, a media producer, and a person devoted to long-term recovery. In this interview, edited for clarity and length, Zimmern shares insights into

09/07/2025

"Recovery is living a life full of what you want and dream about without the limitations the eating disorder puts on people." Melrose Center

This issue, we talk with Melrose Center's Heather Gallivan about her work helping those with eating disorders (EDs). Can you tell us a little about how you got involved in this kind of work? I had an

09/07/2025

"Chasing mediocrity is a perfect solution for your life." Our Stigma

Hey, you! Yeah, you! What if I told you that in zero easy steps you could become a completely average version of yourself. Imagine if being more physically fit, eating better, reading more, learning more,

08/07/2025

“That practice reminds us to live in balance, to take only what we need, and to recognize that healing comes from relationship — with land, with culture, and with each other.” Minnesota Department of Human Services

In many American Indian communities, food is much more than sustenance. It’s medicine. It’s ceremony. It’s connection to land, to ancestors, to spirit, and to each other. And today, in Minnesota, that sacred understanding of

08/07/2025

"There is nothing like cooking to give me a lesson in humility—overdressed soggy salad, undercooked Thanksgiving turkey, lopsided birthday cake. Public failures." Mary Lou Logsdon

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates It’s growing season in Minnesota. Farmer’s markets are bursting with vegetables that tease our tastebuds—radishes, scallions, arugula. Mint and dill transport lettuce into surprise spurts of

02/07/2025

DEADLINE: Ads for our July/August "Arts + Education" (Featuring Chef Andrew Zimmern) issue are due this Friday 7/4. Thank you to our partners and supporters for helping us produce the issue!

14/05/2025

There’s a beauty and a peacefulness in a state park, a grounding that happens every time your foot hits the path. And, it’s been proven that walking in a park lowers one’s blood pressure. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

A visit can help you slow down, enjoy nature. The cold and dark days of winter are mostly in the rearview mirror these days. As we move into longer days and warmer temps, Linda Radimecky, an

08/05/2025

"Many folks that live with a mental health diagnosis, particularly folks like me who live with bipolar disorder, often struggle when they get caught in a loop of anxiety and procrastination." Our Stigma

On May 16th, 2024, I sent an email to a production company with an idea about a podcast exploring mental health stigma in a diverse variety of faith communities. Twelve months later I completed a

08/05/2025

"The story of Refocus Recovery isn’t just one failure or controversy. It’s a lesson in ambition, consequence, and the cost of moving faster than the system could support."

A Personal Reflection on Ethics, Growth, and Hard Lessons In 2019, Minnesota faced a mounting public health crisis. Substance use was rising, overdose deaths were climbing, and the state’s treatment systems were overwhelmed. Traditional healthcare struggled

08/05/2025

Chat with a helper: Valerie Gustafson of Hennepin Health

This issue, we talk with Hennepin Health's Valerie Gustafson, a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor about her journey from Peer Recovery Coach to LADC. Views expressed are of Valerie's and not of her employer. Can you

08/05/2025

Some have argued this was “COVID-era” funding, and that the pandemic has ended. The behavioral health crisis unleashed by COVID-19, however, has not disappeared. It’s deepened. Minnesota Department of Human Services

The federal government’s decision to rescind up to $27.5 million in critical behavioral health funding from Minnesota is not just short-sighted — it’s dangerous. This action threatens to dismantle essential mental health and substance use

06/05/2025

Beattie forged a career path in the recovery world becoming a chemical dependency counselor. It was in that work, listening to the stories of wives of alcoholic men, that she noticed a repeated theme—the need to control a husband while assuming responsibility for his drinking. She recognized the compulsiveness of codependence in story after story including her own. Married to an active alcoholic Beattie followed the same pattern attempting to enforce his sobriety.

"Letting go of our ideas about how life should go is a choice that sets life’s magic free.” Melody Beattie Melody Beattie, the woman who brought the term codependency into normal conversation, died on February 27,