Steppin' Out Radio

Alex grew in a very conservative religious home in the Midwestern U.S., in a family which adhered to strictly traditional gender roles. But even as a young boy, Alex began to realize he was more enamored with men than women; he found himself interested, even if not sexually to his friends' fathers. As a preteen, however, he was incestuously raped by a male cousin. Upon graduating high school, he started traveling the world and learning about himself, but nobody in his hometown would accept his orientation. And so he would search for acceptance in relationships that often were unhealthy.

Lindsey is a compulsive overeater, but he never knew it. Looking back, he can honestly say he's been a compulsive overeater his whole life. Lindsey remembers, as a child, being sent to the grocery store to fetch food for family brunches and snacking while at the store before coming back home and eating a full meal. By age thirteen, Lindsey weighed 200lbs. His size resulted in him being bullied by other kids. Depression followed, which lead to more eating and more weight gain.

Dave didn't drink today, and because of that he says "he never had it so good." He grew up in a steel mill town, with a family of non-alcoholics. He never drank as a child. Dave's first use of alcohol came when he was away at college, where an athlete friend took him to a bar. He remembers feeling so confident, and from that point on, he drank because alcohol could "give him something." He would keep drinking through college, becoming a schoolteacher. But alcohol did the very opposite; His marriage failed and found himself in trouble with the law.

Dave's first time abusing substances was at age 17. He tried beer and hated it. His next drink was 151 proof rum, and it liked it much better. From there, Dave would try anything he could touch he believed might get him high, from quaaludes to uppers, to marijuana. But then came cocaine. Much like the alcohol, Dave's first time using cocaine wasn't good; he felt nothing and was disappointed. But in no time, Dave was stealing money to by cocaine. He even went on a Mediterranean vacation and brought vast amounts of cocaine with him. One year, Dave spent roughly $40,000 on cocaine.

Jason says his drinking life was "awful" and that he now knows he was born with a disease of alcoholism. He says it was inside him, just waiting to be activated by his life's first drink. Jason grew up in a nearly alcohol-free home in Ohio, with attentive parents. While his parents could have just one glass of wine, he knows there is now way he could have "just one." His first drink came at age 13, when a friend with fake identification bought beer. He drank an entire twelve-pack, and loved the taste, the smell and the way it made him feel; his shyness disappeared.

Angel grew up with alcohol all around him. His family drank as part of their social scene, and their father had a bar in the house. He can remember at age five, sneaking drinks with his cousins as the adults were too drunk to notice. As a teenager, Angel played in a band and found that alcohol gave him a certain strength to get out on stage. He soon began to use and sell narcotics, but ended up in jail for for years. In jail he sought sobriety, got his GED, but one day after his release he found himself back in the same pattern.

Tia's father was a cocaine addict and her mother an alcoholic. Her parents were abusing drugs and alcohol as far back as she can remember. She can't remember her parents being sober. She remembers, from her childhood, the family bathroom full of blood streaks from when her father would use needles to inject his cocaine. Her mother was never home to care for Tia and her siblings, and Tia's father would also beat her and her brothers. From that she acted out, becoming a violent child herself. Her grandmother had her moved from the inner city to the suburbs where an observant teacher took notice that she was being abused by her family.

Christopher has vivid memories from early childhood of his parents drinking together up until the time they divorced. His father left when he was eight years old. Christopher thinks their alcoholism prevented his parents from loving him as a child; Frequently they didn't attend his childhood gatherings or school functions. Because Christopher was so in need of attention, he sought it first from other adults and then older kids and teens, who he hoped would take on the roles of his inattentive parents. But none of these people could fulfill his parental needs. While his relationship with parents has improved during his adulthood, they are both still active alcoholics.

Chris Herren's meteoric rise in college and professional basketball was only overshadowed by his quick fall into the world of addiction and recovery. His substance abuse began while playing in college, and continued during his NBA career, and soon Herren found himself convicted of multiple drug felonies, and even one night wrecked his vehicle so badly, paramedics say he was clinically dead for thirty seconds. Now, Herren is an activist, author, and mentor for young and professional athletes through his organization Hoop Dreams With Chris Herren. He also raised more than sixty thousand dollars running in support for addiction activism during the Boston Marathon.

Psychiatrist and activist Samuel Shem has now added "novelist" and "playwright" to his list of accomplishments. But the Rhodes Scholar and Harvard Medical School graduate is also an addict in recovery. Both he and his wife, Janet Surrey, were the writers and producers of the long running Off-Broadway sensation Bill W. And Dr. Bob, the story of two men who came to depend on each other for the strength to stay sober, and form the principles behind Alcoholics Anonymous and the concept of twelve-step recovery.