Porn Recovery Coach Steven Wolt

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
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**Theo Von** (0:15)
Today's guest is a certified coach and a founder of Valor Recovery. It's a recovery program that focuses on porn addiction, pornography addiction, intimacy disorders, commitment disorders, a whole gamut of stuff in there. There's a lot of things when it comes to emotional connection. He and I have known each other for years. He's a dear friend of mine. He's been a mentor. He's been a guide.
And at times he's been a hero. I'll say that. This episode isn't really for children. If you have children, maybe in the back seat or something, you know, I mean, it's not graphic, but it's just I don't know. Just, you know, I hope this episode reaches who it reaches. I would like to say that. I had a great chat today with my guest and friend, Mr. Steve Wolt.
Thank you for coming.

**Steven Wolt** (1:22)
Yeah, I love you too, man. It's been a long time I've known you.

**Theo Von** (1:24)
I know, it has been a long time, man. For some of you guys who don't know, today's guest is my friend Steve Wolt, who started a program called Valor Recovery, and it's a recovery program for men who have suffered with pornography addiction. Is that pretty much a safe way to say it, Steve?

**Steven Wolt** (1:41)
That's a good way to say it.

**Theo Von** (1:42)
Okay, cool. And thank you so much, dude. I love the work that you do. Thank you for like, you know, you've been a guiding light in my life, and just a partner in crime, you know, in positive crime.
And, and yeah, I just want to like, we start, we met in recovery rooms, right?

**Steven Wolt** (1:57)
Yeah, a long time ago.

**Theo Von** (1:59)
Yeah, we met above the bank over there. We're going to recovery rooms in the Palisades.

**Steven Wolt** (2:02)
Yeah.

**Theo Von** (2:03)
I didn't suffer from porn addiction, but I did. I have dealt with that, like parts of that. And I have like, you know, had like intimacy disorder, like commitment issues, that sort of thing, you know, which those meetings cover all of that.
Your recovery started with drugs and alcohols?

**Steven Wolt** (2:22)
It did. I mean, I was one of those kind of men that kind of struggled with a lot of stuff. But, you know, as you look back, I definitely think pornography was the culprit.

**Theo Von** (2:32)
Really?

**Steven Wolt** (2:33)
Yeah, I do. You know, I think pornography was this kind of gateway drug that led me to a lot of dark places.

**Theo Von** (2:40)
Yeah. I'd love to hear your experience, strength and hope today. Just take us kind of on your journey. This is what people do in meetings a lot. They share their experience, strength and hope.
And your journey with like intimacy, sex addiction, pornography addiction, et cetera. Is that okay?

**Steven Wolt** (2:56)
Yeah, it's great. And so, you know, I think it started for me in the late 90s. You know, I was living in New York City, working in financial services from all outward appearances, like doing great in life.
You know, I remember moving kind of my first nice apartment and 32nd floor of a building. I'd worked so hard for this, right? Like, my goodness.

**Theo Von** (3:17)
A walk up? No.

**Steven Wolt** (3:18)
It wasn't a walk up. 32 floors is a long way to walk.

**Theo Von** (3:21)
Oh, yeah.

**Steven Wolt** (3:22)
But what I do remember within a few weeks is getting the internet in my apartment for the first time.
Pretty cool, right? People could do research. You could do a lot of things with the internet. Like, not this guy. I mean, I mean, I use the internet for porn. And so really, for the first time in my life, I had, like, unlimited access to pornography. And I'll tell you what, when I watch porn, it lit me up like a Christmas tree. When I watch porn, that fog of depression that kind of hovered over me much of my life lifted.

**Theo Von** (3:56)
Really?

**Steven Wolt** (3:57)
Yeah, 100 percent.

**Theo Von** (3:58)
I can kind of relate a little bit to what you're talking about. Like, there's something else with it that feels very addictive.

**Steven Wolt** (4:02)
You know, there's a euphoria to it.

**Theo Von** (4:04)
That's what I'm saying.

**Steven Wolt** (4:05)
I mean, it works just like, worked just like a drug for me, right? That anxiety I felt, that, that kind of loneliness that was so profound, vanished when I watched porn. So, you know, I watched porn to really numb difficult emotions.