When addiction is affecting your family, it’s a challenge to think about anything else. Getting hit with different emotions at the same time is overwhelming – fear, sadness, anger, confusion, self-doubt, mistrust – I hear you, and I understand on a personal level. Addiction has shaped my life in one way or another for as long as I can remember.

I grew up in a home thrown into chaos by addiction and co-dependency. I promised myself I wouldn’t follow the same path of destruction; but as much as I wished against it, I manifested into an addict myself. I spent my teenage years in an intense battle with addiction.  It has been over 40 years since I got sober, but I keep these experiences close. Having experienced addiction on both sides allows me the empathy for each individual’s experience when I’m performing an intervention.

Addiction isn’t something that only affects people living on the street. We were an upper middle-class family, and I attended the best private schools. If you are wondering how this could happen to your family, know that you are not alone. Addiction and mental health troubles families regardless of socio-economic status.

I was one of the lucky ones; I made it to recovery early. I threw myself into a twelve-step lifestyle and took to helping others quickly. Guiding interventions was a natural progression, and I have been helping families find their way to recovery ever since.