Somewhere along the way, most families pick up the same belief. “The first step is getting them to admit they’re an addict.” So they wait for that admission. They push for it. They think if they can just get their loved one to say the word out loud,...
I was one year sober and working as a case manager in a detox when I met a girl I’ll call Amanda. First, a quick distinction that most families don’t know: detox is not treatment. Detox is medical stabilization, keeping someone safe through withdrawal,...
I want to tell you about a moment early in my recovery that most people would assume was a good one. I was somewhere around 10 days sober. I went to a meeting and I got a chip. When I walked up to get the chip, I could feel that people were going to clap. People...
For a long time I told myself a story that isn’t actually true. I said I tried treatment seven times and failed six of them. I don’t tell it that way anymore. What actually happened is I needed seven exposures before recovery could progress. Not six...
For two years, I worked with a police department in Massachusetts, meeting people at the ER right after they’d experienced a non-fatal overdose. This was one of the most pivotal points in my understanding of what’s missing from the current system. Once a...
I want to tell you about a morning in my home 14 years ago. I recently shared this story in a workshop. I was out running errands one morning, an extra large Dunkin’ cup in the cupholder. It wasn’t coffee. While I was gone, one of my three teenage...
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