Oh my where to begin. I was 14-15 years old when I started to try pot and alcohol, the year was 1970. My father had passed away a few years before and I learnt to hold in my emotions. You see back then you didn’t talk about feelings you just moved on with life. All...Read More

I wasn’t introduced to drugs or alcohol until I was 18 and in college, but I knew from the first time I took a drink, that I was doing it differently than everyone else.  While everyone else would stop after 1 or 2, I wasn’t stopping until 10 or 15.  Back then, I just thought...Read More

When I got clean and sober there was something that came along with completing 12 steps and living a life in recovery. Like a prize at the end of the game or a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They told me I would get “a life beyond my wildest dreams.” I...Read More

Who am I? A woman. An activist, believer in women’s empowerment, Jamerican. Progressive. I’m also a two-time breast cancer survivor. That last one is the most important to me. I want people to know me as a survivor. The road from discovery to recovery for me was not easy, but I’m proud to say that...Read More

I got drunk for the first time at age 13 at a teenage drinking party in Avalon, NJ.  There was a large punch bowl filled with grain alcohol jungle juice and I was eager to try alcohol, as it was a constant in our household growing up.  I wanted to be cool and fit in...Read More

March 6, 2009. Eight years ago. I finally had enough. I finally decided that the life that I was living was not the one I wanted. So what did I do? I asked for help. I surrendered. I listened when I didn’t want to. I followed suggestions that I didn’t want to. I showed up...Read More

I am open about my life in recovery. I will not be silenced, shamed, or invisible: I have a disease. And I battled my addiction alone for years. I didn’t have role models, doctors, friends, or colleagues who showed me how they had struggled with addiction and succeeded to find paths back to wellness. I...Read More

The absolute last thing I wanted to be was sober. I knew it meant the end of fun, and since I thought happiness meant flinging yourself from one fun experience to the next, I considered that the end of life. Yet the crazy part of my staunch belief that sobriety was the absolute worst thing...Read More

Nearly ten years ago, I stood in a doorway with nothing but a couple trash bags of clothes, a Jeep on a car title loan, and a decision to make. Behind me were fourteen years of obsession and insanity surrounding drugs and whatever I had to do to get them. Fourteen years of putting those...Read More

Growing up, society taught me that I should not disclose that I am an alcoholic or an addict; that my addiction is something I should be ashamed of. I heard this message every time someone described someone’s behavior to be that of a “crackhead,” every time someone talked about what a “drunk” someone was or...Read More