My paternal grandfather shot himself to death the year I was born due to depressionand alcohol addiction. My paternal grandmother suffered from blackout drinking herentire life and was charged with DUI in her 70s. Both my mother and father had severeproblems with alcohol use that included frequent physical and verbal altercations in thepresence of me and my siblings. My mother

Picture swimming in the ocean with no land in sight.  I have a paddleboarder and motorboat to my right, a motorboat to my left, and attached to my ankle is an Ocean Guardian* shark repellent: a three-foot-long meshed metal tail with a battery on the end that shocks me and the surrounding water every six seconds. This is what I

Five years ago, on Christmas Eve, my fifteen-year battle with addiction reached a critical breaking point. I was detoxing during a family gathering on my aunt and uncle’s couch after days of consecutive cocaine use, numbing myself with counterfeit pills I later discovered were laced with opiates, purchased from my dealer. My grandma turned to me and asked, “Are you

It is September 1 st of 2018; Labor Day weekend was meant to be spent in Rhode Island amongst longtime friends. Sun-soaked days at the beach followed by cooler nights around a fire pit. That was not how the weekend unfolded. Instead, it was spent lying in a hospital bed with pancreatitis. I would go on to spend almost a

My name is Aidan, and I’m an addict. I grew up in New Canaan, to a single mother. Growingup I felt rather anxious, I didn’t have a lot of friends, and I got diagnosed with depression,anxiety and ADHD at a young age. Instant gratification was something I latched onto early. Mythoughts were intense and critical, I obsessed over what people

I am a truly grateful, recovering alcoholic. I am 60 years old and have cumulatively been sober 32 years with one relapse. Last month, I celebrated 6 years of continuous sobriety with the validation, love, and support of my groups. My groups, including 12-step groups, have been crucial to me. Alcoholism is a disease of loneliness, and I have found

Hi, my name is Cini Shaw, and I am in recovery. I was born and raised in Peter Cooper Village on the lower east side of Manhattan. My mother was orphaned at the age of 7, marrying my father in her early 20’s. My parents divorced when I was 4 yrs old because of my father’s drinking and erratic and

It was a late summer day, 2006, on Cape Cod where I’ve lived for over 30 years. My third of four sons was supposed to be home with the family car. He had visited his therapist, and three hours later he still had not returned. I was starting to get worried. Suddenly, the phone rang. It was my son, who

In 1990, living in Westbrook, CT, I was aggressively trying to die. Why may youask? On the surface, my family lived a wonderful life. My dad was a top executiveat an insurance company, and my mom stayed at home taking care of the children.Our house was only a hundred yards from the beach. However, my parents divorced when I was

I didn’t just wake up one morning dry heaving into my toilet, needing a drink withinfifteen minutes of awakening – so ashamed that I could not even look at myself in themirror – wondering again how I was going to get through the day (cursing God for nothaving taken me during the night). My spiritual bankruptcy was decades in the