Lamm was born in Wenatchee, Washington, in 1966, the youngest of four brothers. His father was a minister and he grew up in a religious home. The family moved to Eugene, Oregon, in 1968 and, in 1982, to Yorba Linda, California, where his father became Senior Pastor of Yorba Linda Friends Church.

Lamm graduated from Whittier Christian High School and attended the University of California at Los Angeles.

In 2008 Lamm was married to television and theatrical producer Scott Sanders in a ceremony officiated by novelist Alice Walker.

After college Lamm worked in television in Boise, Idaho and then in Washington, D.C. as a meteorologist. He lived in Japan and New York, working while abusing both drugs and alcohol. Dubbed the "once reigning king of the late night party scene," he wrote for and hosted the cable TV show "Party Talk" seen in New York, Los Angeles, and other large markets in the US.

Lamm opened nightclubs in Washington, D.C. and Denver in 2002, but entered a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program soon after. His subjective experiences of his own rehabilitation combined with his acquaintanceship with the work of Boulder, Colorado, psychiatrist Judith Landau to convince him of the efficacy of the family-centered process in helping addicts overcome addiction.Lamm has asserted that substance abusers with strong familial and social support systems are five times as likely to succeed in their goal of sobriety as persons lacking support. He calls this supportive system a “firewall.”Lamm is a member of Mehmet Oz’s “Experts” paneland has presented to the UK-European Symposium on Addictive Disorders. Lamm also speaks and works on issues of food and obesity with individuals and organizations.With the consent of the addict, Lamm’s program works with family members, co-workers, partners, and employers, and friends to develop and implement a plan of change and a recovery model. He gives seminars and workshops in his method of intervention.

Lamm has been interviewed, and makes frequent appearances, on television and radio programs including "Good Day" from Atlanta, "The View from the Bay," "Nancy Grace," "The Dr. Oz Show," and "Paula Sands Live," and lists Dr. Mehmet Oz, Nancy Grace, Alice Walker, Roseanne Barr, and Mariel Hemingway among his endorsers.