- Alcohol
Submitted by Jordan Young, Heroes in Recovery lead advocate
One of the keys to developing a successful group or movement is having genuinely good people that can further that group or movement. These are caring people that are willing to offer help to others through acts of selflessness, not selfishness. Brian is one of those types of people that puts the needs of other before his own. He is the co-founder and lead interventionist for a company, appropriately named, “Caring Interventions”. Here is his story of recovery.
My early memories of Alateen meetings (Al-Anon for teens) for my father and his brother’s life in Alcoholics Anonymous were pleasant. This was especially true because I saw some classmates I knew there. I began drinking myself though and my drinking as a teenager became almost immediately alcoholic and blackout in nature. I decided to join Alcoholics Anonymous for myself when I was 19. I walked into my father’s old home group. He had long abandoned our family years earlier and was living in Los Angeles. My first 90 days in Alcoholics Anonymous were quiet and I left when my father invited me to join him in a Beverly Hills rental, where I could seek a new diagnosis. Part of me felt AA was stupid. I am alcoholic, so don’t drink alcohol. It was a straightforward concept that I felt did not need to be reviewed every 24 hours. My goal was to be anything else, anything other than an alcoholic.
My next five years were spent in extreme disciplines – physical, spiritual, metaphysical, religious, and dietary disciplines. I moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where I had spent the greatest summer of my New York City born life as a child with lots of cousins. In Jackson, I had very large and almost accidental success in business. I then came to the conclusion that I was not an alcoholic. My disease had been very patient. I had had no drugs and no alcohol for almost five years. I had my first drink in years in New Orleans and I drank for about 36 hours. I spent the next four years or so in Manhattan, mostly. I finally hit my bottom in a very bad way and snuck home to my mother’s house in Long Island.
My first sponsor was Chiropractor Frank. I remember his automobile and riding around Long Island, Brooklyn, and Queens in times, where I felt safe and like I was having fun. He immediately took me through some Dr. Bob, back to the basics step work. Alcoholics Anonymous gave me a completely new experience of having friends. Chiropractor Frank moved to Sedona and I reconnected with the best man I remembered from my first AA attempt twelve years earlier. His name was Duff. The sponsorship he and his wife provided was one of incredible healing for me. Those days of recovery consisted of daily prayers, phone calls, institutional service work, and making coffee at meetings. It was amazing! Duff took me through some very deep step work over the course of a couple of years. I lived in homes with others in AA and rarely saw any family members, unless I was accompanied by someone else in the program. A lady named Patty then came into my life. She introduced me to ACA, ACOA, Al-Anon for a second time, and a therapist that was deeply knowledgeable about twelve step recovery. At that time I started a much deeper work, which included a men’s prayer group, retreats, and difficult core issue healing. I moved to Mississippi about eleven years ago and it has been good for me. My life is currently comprised of on-going step work and the blessing of lifelong 12 step friendships. The life I now know is truly amazing!!