Stories

We have to share our stories; even if it helps one, it’s worth it.

Paula Settle
I love helping people and meeting people where they’re at, whether they’re ready to enter recovery, whether they’re thinking about it, or whether they want to do it right then.

Krista W.
The biggest thing I want to say to anyone is just don’t give up if you’ve got a loved one you’re trying to get into recovery. Just don’t give up. Love them. You may have to love them from a distance, but love them. And don’t be afraid to give them a little tough love.

Brian H.
What an honor it is to be able to say—and I tell my participants this all the time—I'm like: “I’m not going to tell you it ever gets easy, but it does get easier."

Charlotte
Life’s good, man. And I get to really be a part of it today, for the first time, and I’m not governed by this fear and anxiety.

Dano McCawley
The only barriers that I have are the ones that I put on myself. I’ve beaten so many statistics over my life and it’s all through grace.

Fran Gray
It’s what I advise a lot of parents to do: it’s just the hardest thing that you can ever do—but if you want to save their lives it’s what you’ve got to do: it’s tough love.

Lori Meadows
I strongly feel that people in recovery are heroes, and Greg was my hero.

Denise Hanson
I think my place is in the meeting rooms. To hear somebody talk, to me, is to know that I'm not alone in this.

Kelly
We do a lot of writing in recovery. But it serves a very, very positive purpose. The power of the pen is unmatched, okay? There's just no way around that.

Ryan Elkins
God had healed me from this, and everything I’d tried, nothing amounted to that, and I was overwhelmed with the love and the grace that I had found in forgiveness.

Cory Sargent
I never even imagined being married, but now I’m able to be a mom and be a wife and be a productive member of society and it’s because I was able to connect with people. I was able to build love for myself and experience things in a completely different reality than what I was before.

Hayley
Being involved in peer support groups—with people who knew exactly what it was like to work in a setting with access to medications—was the key for me to be able to get solid in my recovery.

Mitzi Averette
And that treatment center showed me compassion and love, which in then turn I was able to show compassion and love. And from that point there was peace in my heart.

Drew O'Connell
Each year, I've shared my story with my students and will continue to do so. It's a sad reality, but many of them personally know someone in active addiction. When I disclose my experience to them, they now know someone in recovery.

Nick Roberts
You get sober to go do things and hang out and . . . to have a life.

Ryan C.
I had the resilience and strength to care and to try to work on myself, no matter how awful life is and how many times I've had a setback. It just really made me feel like getting sober wasn't a one-stop type of thing. You can try as many times as you have the strength to.

Ongeli
Now, I can find those moments of peace all the time. When I’m riding bikes with my son, mowing the grass, fishing. All of this is possible because now I know who, what, and why I am.

Brian
Recovery to me was not just about quitting drugs and alcohol. It was about finding a whole new way to live and fixing myself from the inside out.

Jessica
Learn about addiction and alcoholism. Learn about the history of it, and the approaches that our society have made over the centuries. See what failed, why it failed, and learn why the many pathways to recovery can work for you.

Greg

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We have to share our stories; even if it helps one, it’s worth it.

I love helping people and meeting people where they’re at, whether they’re ready to enter recovery, whether they’re thinking about it, or whether they want to do it right then.

The biggest thing I want to say to anyone is just don’t give up if you’ve got a loved one you’re trying to get into recovery. Just don’t give up. Love them. You may have to love them from a distance, but love them. And don’t be afraid to give them a little tough love.

What an honor it is to be able to say—and I tell my participants this all the time—I'm like: “I’m not going to tell you it ever gets easy, but it does get easier."

Life’s good, man. And I get to really be a part of it today, for the first time, and I’m not governed by this fear and anxiety.

The only barriers that I have are the ones that I put on myself. I’ve beaten so many statistics over my life and it’s all through grace.

It’s what I advise a lot of parents to do: it’s just the hardest thing that you can ever do—but if you want to save their lives it’s what you’ve got to do: it’s tough love.

I strongly feel that people in recovery are heroes, and Greg was my hero.

I think my place is in the meeting rooms. To hear somebody talk, to me, is to know that I'm not alone in this.

We do a lot of writing in recovery. But it serves a very, very positive purpose. The power of the pen is unmatched, okay? There's just no way around that.

God had healed me from this, and everything I’d tried, nothing amounted to that, and I was overwhelmed with the love and the grace that I had found in forgiveness.

I never even imagined being married, but now I’m able to be a mom and be a wife and be a productive member of society and it’s because I was able to connect with people. I was able to build love for myself and experience things in a completely different reality than what I was before.

Being involved in peer support groups—with people who knew exactly what it was like to work in a setting with access to medications—was the key for me to be able to get solid in my recovery.

And that treatment center showed me compassion and love, which in then turn I was able to show compassion and love. And from that point there was peace in my heart.

Each year, I've shared my story with my students and will continue to do so. It's a sad reality, but many of them personally know someone in active addiction. When I disclose my experience to them, they now know someone in recovery.

You get sober to go do things and hang out and . . . to have a life.

I had the resilience and strength to care and to try to work on myself, no matter how awful life is and how many times I've had a setback. It just really made me feel like getting sober wasn't a one-stop type of thing. You can try as many times as you have the strength to.

Now, I can find those moments of peace all the time. When I’m riding bikes with my son, mowing the grass, fishing. All of this is possible because now I know who, what, and why I am.

Recovery to me was not just about quitting drugs and alcohol. It was about finding a whole new way to live and fixing myself from the inside out.

Learn about addiction and alcoholism. Learn about the history of it, and the approaches that our society have made over the centuries. See what failed, why it failed, and learn why the many pathways to recovery can work for you.

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