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True Stories of Inspriation & Transformation
Barbara returns to tell the rest of her story of being a sex and love addict. Much as alcoholic parents introduce their kids to drinking, her own mother introduced her to the world of illicit sex; as a young...
Dominic and Valerie met in recovery and to this day go to a 12-step meeting every morning. Dominic’s family affairs all were accompanied by alcohol. Parties and christenings alike all featured drinking, and so he started drinking at...
Billy served his nation by fighting the war in Iraq. But his use of crack-cocaine caused him to be discharged other-than-honorably by the military. Such a dis-commendation can make life very hard for an ex-military member. Often it prevents them...
David remembers arriving in Vietnam in 1967 to the words, “Welcome to Charlie Company.” War is Hell, and David endured one horrific experience after another. Upon returning home, he coped by abusing alcohol and drugs. But his life after war...
Vanessa comes form a family of addicts and enablers. She claims her father brought LSD into the country for Timothy Leary to try. Her home life as a child was horrible. Her mother would withhold food and...
Wendy’s eating was much like an addiction to crack-cocaine. It began for her at age 2. She enjoyed eating and even after cleaning her plate she would beg for more. If she still felt hungry, she would...
We first introduced Rozelle F. White, Sr., on Steppin Out Radio a decade ago. He had written 366 Days of Recovery: My First Year In Recovery, A Guide for the Recovering Person. Now, Rozelle is back to share his newest...
Eating was the only way Janet could feel safe and happy. Her worries vanished when she was alone with her food. She first turned to food for comfort as a child, when dealing with a mentally ill mother,...
. @WillToLiveOrg “At my son’s funeral, when I saw the love and support from my own “high school” friends, I realized right then what this foundation would be about. We would work hard to get the teens and young adults...
Andrea remembers as a little girl that she felt something was wrong with her. It began when she scarfed down a big piece of cake and asked her mother to give her more. She feels that as an...
Belinda is an overeater who addiction isn’t marked by continual weight gain, but via increasingly crazy diets. She would bond with certain food items so fiercely she would isolate herself from other people. When it was Belinda’s time...
Paul jokingly recalls seeing the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965 and then waking up in 1980. In that span, Paul became addicted to heroin, committed multiple felonies, recovered through methadone treatment, became financially successful only to bottom out all...
George first started “using” at age eleven. He grew up the son of bar owners in the Brooklyn. His parents taught him how to mix cocktails. Drinking in his family was normal and George now considers most of his relatives...
Dion Dimucci is an American singer-songwriter who is one of the most prominent rock n’ roll artists of our time. After gaining prominence as the lead singer of the Belmonts with hits such as “A Teenager in Love,” and “Where...
General Arthur Dean is the Chairman and CEO of Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA). Before joining CADCA, he spent 31 years in the U.S. Army, and retired as a Major General. During his time in the Army, General Dean...
Christine grew up in an alcoholic household. The smell of beer reminds her of her father. And she swore never to become like him. She vowed never to be a drinker, so she turned to pills. On the outside, Christine...
Michael was a young successful lawyer and entrepreneur who lived under the mantra “Work hard. Play hard”. He would get drunk, and cruise around town in his Cranberry Red BMW 5-series believing he had earned his right to party. Eventually...
Alex might just have been the wealthiest drug addict you’d ever meet. His story is the classic example of “stumbling forward” for years; improving his life-standing while falling deeper and deeper into addictions, including to crack-cocaine. He grew up comfortable,...
Spencer grew up in a nice neighborhood, but remembers his parents and other family members constantly in emotional turmoil. It often lead Spencer to escape to his grandparents home for quiet time but the troubles were too much; his first...
Amanda first known addiction was with alcohol. She fell in love with booze the moment the first drop touched her lips. She became a blackout drinker; aiming to drink so much she could not remember what happened or...
Richie’s life spiraled out of control in years after he lost his father. He became a heroin addict, and it cost him everything he had. He lost his own family and was living on the streets while trying to spend...
Gina never tried alcohol or drugs until she was 16 years old. Her first drug was crystal meth. From that very moment, Gina was an addict. She spent the next ten years chasing the highs but winding up in the...
Even with 28 years of sobriety under his belt, Bob still can’t find anything that remotely compares to the rush of gambling. It began as a child in New York City, pitching pennies with friends at age 7. He also...
Remember that short-lived poker craze that mesmerized the nation a few years back? Denise remembers it all too well. She was raised by a gambling family. Her father took her on her first trip to Las Vegas. Her mother held...
Ray remembers as a child sneaking into the bazaars held by the local volunteer fire department, and just becoming intoxicated by the gambling action that the adults engaged in. The spinning of prize wheels and the awarding of prizes was...
Paul likes to joke that he’s “achieved” a trifecta: He’s an alcoholic, a drug addict and a gambler. Drinking and drugging, however, were not the two diseases in which he first sought help. Paul’s gambling was his life’s excitement. As...
Randy always had to be in on “the action” – the games, the gambling, and the excitement. It began in childhood. When arriving early to school he used to flip baseball cards with buddies and he felt no greater rush...
Born in Europe, Reva’s childhood was an unhappy one. Depression set in so badly she tried taking her own life at age thirteen by swallowing a hundred aspirins. She survived her suicide attempt, but upon waking from a deep sleep...
Ron grew up in a normal household. His was not a family of addicts. Rob’s family did drink, but they didn’t abuse alcohol. He was introduced to alcohol at an early age, and from that moment he liked the way it...
Francine hails from a family of alcoholics and drug addicts. Her painful childhood lead to teenage drinking starting at 15. Drinking, she says, took away her shyness but often left her in worse positions. Francine remembers falling down drunk in...
Leidos is a global scientific and technology company with more than 30,000 employees working actively in defense contracting, aviation, information technology and biomedical research. But after the son of one employee died from an opioid overdose, Leidos CEO Roger Krone...
Growing up, Sean Hindman loved to swim, skateboard, hang out with friends and most of all, play soccer. When Sean was a teenager, he became addicted to prescription opioid painkillers, and spent the following decade in and out of rehabilitation....
Howard C. Samuels is the longtime founding director of The Hills Treatment Center in Los Angeles. He’s also an addict himself; for 16 years his life was controlled by alcohol, drugs and even illicit sex. Not bad for the son...
Anthony says he was hooked on gambling the moment he put five dollars into a slot machine and it gave him back $1,000. Slot playing lead him to spend days at the races. He denied his problems, but in doing...
Patricia is a nurse who not only had to tend to patients, but to her family. She had to provide round the clock care for her husband, her sons and even her father. The workload was just too much for...
Joya is a recovering alcoholic who found herself part of another group suffering from a dysfunction involving relationships with other people. While in the beginning of her recovery, she began dating another person in her AA program despite her sponsor’s...
Raquel eats and doesn’t stop. She was overweight and physically unhealthy, and resigned to her life. She couldn’t prevent herself from eating. Halloween was her favorite as she had access to seemingly endless amounts of sweet candy. But as an...
Despite Teddy’s 25 years of sobriety, he can’t recall his first Filet Mignon dinner or his first ice cream cone. But he’ll never forget his first beer at age thirteen. Drinking quickly morphed into hard drug use, and Teddy found himself...
Joe Namath is a former American football quarterback and Hollywood actor. He played for the New York Jets for most of his professional football career and played his final season with the Los Angeles Rams. He was elected to the...
Roy Kearse, LCSW, CASAC is Vice President of Recovery Services and Community Partnerships at Samaritan Daytop Village, where he is leading the agency’s efforts to create a recovery-oriented system of care and assist in our broader outreach efforts. Mr. Kearse...
Deirdre Rice-Reese serves as Assistant Vice President of Residential Treatment for Samaritan Daytop Village, where she oversees the veteran and upstate residential treatment programs. Ms. Rice-Reese also coordinates outreach to community partners and other referral providers, and provides customer relations...
With two #1 Comedy Central specials to his credit, comedian and transformational speaker Kyle Cease is a keynote speaker, igniting audiences through his unique blend of comedy and personal evolution. He has been a guest speaker at colleges, summits, and...
Like so many moms across the country, Elaine’s son became addicted to opioid pain pills, after they were subscribed to him to treat a sports injury. And, like many moms across the country, Elaine had no clue her son was...
Arnie today owns a help line for those seeking an end to their addiction to gambling. He thinks online gambling is the newest form of crack cocaine, as it affects people across racial, social and economic lines. But it wasn’t...
John is part of a special group of folks in recovery who like to refer to themselves as “Double Winners.” The title acknowledges that no only are they addicts, but their addictions were affected by the addictions of others....
Andrew is another member of the “Double Winners” – people who achieved sobriety through both Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon. He comes from a divorce family, and was shuffled between both parents who made their dislike for one another very apparent...
Tim is recovering from addiction to sex. He can look back at his family and see the genesis of his addiction, noticing his father (who had alcohol and rage issues) was notorious for having extra-marital affairs. Tim’s mother had “poor...
Dan admits to being a sex addict. He would seek sex from prostitutes in New York City four nights a week. He never had to worry about money, as Dan could hold down a job and keep enough money to...
Pat was a food addict in recovery when she began drinking. She spent most of her life overweight and having a severe addiction to food. She learned to use food to feel comfort whenever she felt rejected or guilty. Pat...
Justin attends Debtors Anonymous not because he has a debt problem, but because he won’t spend. He would hoard his money out of fear that he might not be able to control his finances. His refusal to spend money often...
