Stories of Addiction

Christian, 45, has been at the Gault House Sober Living Environment for over a year. Christian has been addicted to alcohol, weed and a little bit of everything else. He started drinking and smoking pot early in life, and it rapidly progressed in volume and frequency. At his bottom, he was physically unable to walk into the store to buy more booze and resorted to paying strangers to bring him his booze to drink in his truck, where he was sleeping at the time. After numerous DUIs, a devastating divorce and a directionless life, Christian finally had enough and kick-started his trajectory to sustained recovery. Listen in as he shares his best and worst moments with alcohol and drugs with Paul Noddings. To learn more about recovery from addiction and to get started in the Recovery Lifestyle, join our mailing list here at http://www.ResponsibleRecovery.net and join the conversation taking place on our FaceBook group and follow us on Twitter.

Carlos, 45, grew up in the East Bay and Northern California. In his teenage years, after numerous Grateful Dead shows and experimentation with using and selling psychedelics, he was eventually consumed by alcoholism and trapped in a cycle of relapse brought about by cannabis use and his drinking. This is the story of how he came to arrive at the Gault House SLE, and what his hope and inspiration for recovery look like today. He joins Paul Noddings to tell his journey to us, providing wisdom and courage for those who are going through the same.  To learn more about recovery from addiction and to get started in the Recovery Lifestyle, join our mailing list here at http://www.ResponsibleRecovery.net and join the conversation taking place on our FaceBook group and follow us on Twitter.

Jeff K’s best times with drugs consisted of hiking trips where he and his friends went hunting for psychedelic mushrooms. He remembers it as a fun experience of connecting with friends, something that he didn’t to come down from. But then there’s the flip side. As Jeff progressed into alcoholism and meth addiction, he started to struggle in leading a decent life and cultivating fulfilling relationships. There were times he wanted to kill himself and getting arrested was just a normal part of his miserable existence. He even became homeless for two years. Things started to turn around for Jeff when he sought refuge at the Gault House Sober Living Environment, where he found the support that he needed to get sober. Listen as he shares his story to Paul Noddings to gain inspiration for your own efforts to get clean and stay clean.

Elijah is a 26-year-old Oregonian who began smoking pot as a sophomore in high school. He soon began drinking and eventually turned to cocaine which took over his life. Unable to hold onto a job and grappling with mental health concerns, he is newly sober (13 days at the time of recording) and a resident at the Gault Street Sober Living Environment. He has never been to a treatment facility and is determined to hold onto his mental clarity through sober living.

Robert is a 61-year-old man from Southern California and a current resident of the Gault Street House Sober Living Environment. The son of alcoholic parents, he picked up his first drink at only ten years old, malnourished, afraid, and seeking an escape. His drinking led to cocaine use and jail, and finally a desire to free himself from the misery of addiction. He has been struggling towards sobriety for a long time and has renewed his commitment to sobriety with a move to a Sober Living house. He is currently three months clean and sober. Robert at times finds it difficult to talk about the people his addiction has hurt. His courage in honestly exploring the depths of addiction makes this a very moving episode.

Losing a loved one at a young age and having to grow up in an abusive environment can take its turn for the worse. With this kind of background, Dave, a client of The Gault House Sober Living Environment in Santa Cruz, California, eventually turned to marijuana, LSD, and meth at age fourteen. Spinning out of control, he later progressed to full-blown heroin addiction. Dave shares his entire story of addiction and recovery and the twelve steps he took to get to where he is now. Treading the spiritual path, he found a spiritual awakening that pushed him to be better and sober. Now, he is continuing that path doing what his higher power tells him to do. Discover Dave’s story of addiction and of recovery to gain inspiration for your own journey.

Everybody has a chance at a better life, even when that chance means reforming your life in prison. In this episode, Paul Noddings interviews Tommy who is a 43-year-old male from the Hayward area of San Francisco Bay. Tommy started using crystal meth at age 13 and was soon living a within-the-gang lifestyle. This led to a long period in prison which led to a desire to experience a different lifestyle. Tommy’s road to healing and recovery is inspirational. He offers some great advice to anyone wanting to go down that path. He shares his journey to the dark side of the street and back onto the sunny side of life.

The great Nelson Mandela once said, “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” This quote strongly applies to how Billy made his way through constant terror from bullies growing up. Having started weed at age eleven, he progressed to booze and drugs thereafter. In this episode, Billy shares his life story from childhood to present day, going to Genesis House, finding work as a bouncer, succumbing to alcohol, doing stand-up comedy, and eventually being an addict again. His timeline may look bad, but being in jail due to drugs made Billy take a 360-degree turn for the better. Know more about Billy’s incredible commitment towards remaining sober forever in this episode.

Dysfunctional family life tends to manifest for some people into addiction. Having learned he was adopted at a very young age, J.J. has since tagged himself as different from everybody else. He then spiraled into his story of addiction, beginning at 14 years old. A client at The Gault House Sober Living Environment, J.J. is on his recovery from his drug of choice, alcohol, along with meth. He shares his story with us on how he went through years of struggle, going in and out of his addiction across significant events in his life—from getting a divorce, meeting his biological family, to the 2008 recession. Read on this episode as J.J. shares the details of his journey into addiction and then out towards recovery in this authentic episode.  

A 26-year-old male shares his journey from alcohol in middle school to heroin in his mid-twenties and how his life fell apart. This is a powerful interview with wise words from a young man. Blake has been 95 days clean and sober. Will it last?

Andrea did not start using drugs until her twenties. She married and had children but she lost these to drugs and alcohol. Andrea has lived in her car for over a year but maintained an Executive Assistant job in Silicon Valley. Now Andrea has eleven days clean, will she be able to stay that way?

Luke had very little structure in his early teens. Smoking weed occasionally at eleven years old led to smoking pot heavily at thirteen. Luke is a big, strong, young man who was a stud on the football field. A broken arm introduced him to pain pills, which lead to heroin and then crack. He could not get off the drug train and would openly smoke crack on the Bart train system in San Francisco. A month in rehab would give his body a break but he was soon back onto the cycle of weed, pills, heroin, and crack. Luke’s fifth visit to rehab seemed different. This time he feels more serious about getting clean and staying sober. He wants the American Dream of owning his own home, having a wife and family, and being happy. Drugs will not get him there, but will he do the work that is needed? He is 28 days clean today and is thinking and taking "one day at a time".

Katie was an athletic teenager, winning a national championship for springboard diving. A back injury led to too much idle time and Katie used that time to party, smoke weeds and drink beer. A car accident at age 21 added more idle time and heavier use of drugs and alcohol but then Katie met her husband and the two of them got sober, got married, bought a house and had the first of their two boys. Katie started drinking "socially" but soon her behavior was very anti-social, attacking her husband and scaring her kids. A flesh-eating bacteria and the loss of health of Katie's mother caused Katie and her husband to look for a solution with Crystal Methamphetamine. In Katie's words; "The shit hit the fan". They lost their house and their kids. They lived in their car for eighteen months before Katie was arrested for stealing and sent to jail. Now Katie is fourteen months sober, her husband is fifteen months sober and they are getting their lives back.

Sterling is a 34-year old male from Santa Cruz, California. He talks honestly about this addiction to heroin (and use of other drugs) that lasted for nine years. He came as close to losing a wife and two children that he loves. His honesty is inspiring.

Heather had ambitions of becoming a doctor. However, too much alcohol caused her to redirect her goals towards becoming a paramedic. After several years as a paramedic, Heather became a firefighter where she handled many horrific calls. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder crept up on Heather. With the Fire Departments being generally a heavy drinking “boys club,” Heather soon after joined into the drinking and then added cocaine by her own choice. Friends encouraged her to get into recovery. Now, Heather has been two months clean and sober.

Whitney is a very attractive, slim, blonde, blue-eyed, white woman; not the typical look associated with severe drug addiction. Whitney had her wisdom teeth removed as a teenager and received Vicodin for the pain. This was her first abuse of opiate drugs and it led her to heroin and meth. For most of the past five years, Whitney has been homeless, living on the streets of Santa Cruz, California. Her addiction caused her to lose several jobs and to steal from homes and stores, where the hardware store became her specialty. Her boyfriend went behind bars for these crimes and got cleaned in jail. When Whitney saw the improvements in his health, she was inspired to get cleaned. Whitney detoxed alone and now lives in the Gault House sober living environment in Santa Cruz, California.

Mike's parents divorced when he was eight years old. Their domestic violence affected him. He was drinking hard at twelve years old and looking for a group of people where he could fit in. He found Skateboarders and Punk Rockers were his people. Heavy alcohol use was his thing. Rehabs, jail, lost jobs did not help Mike. Now Mike is four months sober. Will his sobriety last?

Hayley was adopted as a baby to loving and caring parents. She did not party in high school; her early adulthood started well. At the age of 23, Hayley was awarded a court settlement after a car accident, and with the money she bought a home. This allowed her to live alone and to hide the volume and frequency of her drinking. Even her boyfriend didn't know she was doing cocaine so she could drink more alcohol. Hayley's downward spiral had started. She knew it was happening but she didn't want to stop drinking and doing cocaine because she enjoyed doing it. Hayley's life was falling apart and she started to look for help. There were several attempts at getting clean, including some where she convinced herself that if she stopped drinking she could continue to smoke marijuana and snort cocaine. For the first time in years, Hayley is 40 days clean, but will her effort to stay clean and sober work out well this time?

Mike started using alcohol at age fifteen and progressed quickly to ecstasy, cocaine, norco, roxy and heroin. Mike was expelled from high school two months before graduation for selling marijuana cookies at school. After this, Mike sold loads of drugs to fund his own drug habit. He got into debt selling drugs and he felt sick every morning. This caused him to consider recovery. Now he is three months clean. He seems solid in his recovery but he could relapse at any time, just like any other addict.

Michelle is a single woman aged 29. Her parents did not provide a good environment for her and her siblings growing up. At age eleven, Michelle's uncle sexually molested her and used guilt to keep her quiet. Michelle was in denial that she had a problem with alcohol for a long time, until she had literally spent all her money on alcohol and had no source of income to buy more alcohol. Her honesty in discussing her journey is exceptional. Michelle has a positive attitude that shows the miracle of human spirit. Get inspiration from Michelle as she shares her compelling journey.