My story begins in an abusive home. My father is a recovering addict/alcoholic. He was VERY violent and I was the oldest of 4 children. My dad’s parents (my grandparents), helped raise us and life was terrifying and EXTREMELY chaotic. I can remember always wishing I could be someone else and threatening suicide as early […]
Living with Depression My body aches, has zero energy and is just so tired I feel like I could sleep forever. Unable to focus and barely could drag myself out of bed to eat, drink or go to the bathroom. No wanting to hang out with friends, missing school and work because I am too […]
My name is James and I’ve spent more than eighteen years of my life struggling with substance use disorder. I moved to Maryland in 2015 for a program called Helping up Mission. I spent more than a year in the program and never imagined I would transform into the man I am today. I am […]
My addiction began long before I experimented with alcohol or other drugs. My addiction truly began during adolescence when I can vividly remember feeling “not good enough” in pretty much every area of my life; school, sports, friends, etc. During middle and high school, when experimentation was a part of every different “clique” I desperately […]
My addiction began in high school. I was heavily involved in sports and after our games we would get together and party at someone’s house. It started out as just drinking a few beers, and quickly turned into something more. Before I knew it, I was in college being rushed to the hospital because I […]
My story began in high school. It was the first lacrosse game of my senior year. I Tore my ACL. After surgery I was put on pain meds. Took as prescribed. Finished the bottle and everything was fine. Six years later the knee pain had gotten worse from a job that required constant strain. I […]
From the outside looking in, every part of my life looked normal. I was from a good family, I had two parents who were still together, I went to a good school, I had friends, I was well dressed and well taken care of, I got good grades, and I played sports, but I just […]
Never in a million years did I think that I would have the life I have today!!! That is only because of God, Recovery and a 12-step fellowship that I choose to participate in everyday! I chose to surrender to my disease on January 22, 2017. That is the day my life truly began to […]
More than anything, I’ve long been addicted to avoiding my feelings, particularly those encompassed in my struggle with social anxiety. Initially, I would drink in an effort to be social, but over time my habit became pervasive. With my continued drinking, I developed an undercurrent of depression in my life, for which I’d smoke weed […]
I suspect the seeds of my mental health disorder were sort of always there. My anxiety disorder, which primarily manifested as perfectionism and obsessive thoughts, probably started around age 7. My depression, particularly the suicidal ideation, started after the suicide of a close friend and a broken marital engagement, both of which occurred in the […]
