Pedersen Recovery Inc.

By: Ashleigh Mattern, CBC.ca Rod Pedersen has many memories of past Super Bowl parties, but not all of those memories are good — and that's why he's brought a new way to celebrate the big game to Regina fans who have struggled with alcohol addiction. "Super Bowl was always not just a football game — it was a reason to drink, to be honest with you, for a guy that was suffering from alcoholism and active alcoholism," said Pedersen, who recently celebrated his third year sober. The voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the past 20 years, Pedersen said he knew he had to change when his workplace staged an intervention. Being sober doesn't mean an end to having fun, though, so when Pedersen heard about Sober Bowl parties, he was intrigued. "I'd still like to have a Super Bowl party. Why can't we have sober one with no alcohol?" Sober Bowl parties are being hosted in cities like New York, Houston, and Minneapolis, and now Pedersen is...

OTTAWA - This month's Pedersen Recovery Rodcast comes to you from the Nation's Capital. As I'm learning quickly, Recovery is a small world. Multi-millionaire businessman Joe Roberts is known as the "Skidrow CEO" and his Recovery story is one of legend. The 51-year old was a homeless, drug-addicted teen in Vancouver but after getting sober in his early-20's, he became the President & CEO of a Fortune 500 company in less than a decade. And then he relapsed. He went from living in a 4,500-sq foot home overlooking downtown Vancouver to living in a van. Joe had to rebuild himself all over again, and he did. In the spring of 2017, Joe came through Regina as part of his cross-Canada tour raising awareness and funds for youth homelessness. He literally pushed a shopping cart from Newfoundland to Vancouver, symbolic of what he lived out of as a teen. During that stop in Regina, Joe asked me to join him out on the TransCanada Highway. So I did. And we...

NFL cities New York, Houston and Minneapolis are holding their annual Sober Bowl parties on February 4 and now the popular event is coming to Canada! The inaugural Sober Bowl Canada party will be held at Tony Roma's Regina on Sunday, February 4 as football fans are invited to a family-friendly, alcohol-free event to watch the NFL's Big Game. It's your chance to mingle with CFL personalities, enjoy a nacho and chili bar and win great prizes! Tickets are advance sale only, and are $30 for adults and $20 for kids. For ticket info or to purchase, email pedersenrecovery@aol.com.

This column began in early-December in Los Angeles and ends in late-December back home in Saskatchewan. Hopefully it provides some insightful Holiday reading: 1 - We find ourselves back in the Los Angeles area for the first time since December of 2014. Once again, I'm hosting 60 sports fans and listeners of my radio show back in Canada and we've come to enjoy sun, ocean, and some NFL and NHL games. But navigating this week would turn out to be as rocky as trying to catch a wave along the Golden Coast. 2 - You see, the last time we were here, I was just six weeks away from hitting my rock bottom and getting into Recovery. Frankly a lot of that trip was a blur. I was in for quite a few surprises this time around; some pleasant and others not so pleasant. 3 - Shortly after landing at LAX, catching a tour bus to our hotel and grabbing a rental car, my wife and I set off to tour Newport Beach and find a nice place for supper. I was immediately hit with shockwaves ... WHAT...

The following article appears in the fall edition of the Canadian Football League Alumni Association Magazine which will be distributed at the 105th Grey Cup in Ottawa: His rock bottom came on Monday, January 26, 2015. The longtime Voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Rod Pedersen, had been out for a "beer lunch" with a business friend which they'd done countless times before. Only on this occasion, those five or six beers mixed with the anti-depressants he was already overdosing on, leading to his own personal "trainwreck". "I don't remember leaving the bar, although I'm pretty sure it was just before my radio show at 4:00 pm that day," Pedersen recalled for this article. "Really, I don't remember much after that at all." What followed was a humiliating experience when Pedersen went on his popular SportsCage radio program on 620 CKRM Regina only to stumble and slur and eventually be pulled off the air within a few ...

The Pedersens on Capital Hill A NOTEBOOK FROM AN ALCOHOLIC IN RECOVERY - I'm still in Ottawa, in the middle of an 11-day trip to Eastern Canada while the Roughriders play back-to-back games out here. It was tremendous to have my wife - my rock - here for the last four days but she went home on Sunday afternoon after a whirlwind tour of the nation's capital. - Reaction was swift and wide-ranging after I started this Recovery blog late last week. However I'm happy to report that it's been 100% positive. - Perhaps the most rewarding comment came from my friend Ken L. of Regina - who's been sober 10 years - who said it's nice to read the viewpoint from someone in the same situation as him. (Like non-drinkers getting poorer restaurant service because they don't ring up high bar tabs). - It's true. Alcoholics and addicts are in the minority of society (1 in 11) while those in Recovery are only a tiny fraction of that (2% of the 1 in 11). At least...

SEPT. 29/2017 - Today's blog post comes to you from Canada's Capital where tonight the Saskatchewan Roughriders visit the Ottawa RedBlacks. I'm tremendously excited for several reasons!: 1) This is one of Canada's most beautiful - and certainly historic - cities. A walk around here is always full of interesting things everywhere you look. 2) The Roughriders are favoured to win. 3) My wife is with me for four days out here. 4) One of my Recovery clients got his job back and is on top of the world! That might have me feeling better than anything else. I reached out to the employer of another potential candidate this week but the response was, "It's okay! He's cured!" ( Or something to that effect ). My mind flashed back to three months into Recovery myself when my own boss said, "You don't need to go to those meetings anymore. It looks like you've got this situation handled". I snickered then like I did this week. By...