Humans
In Recovery

Last year over 100,000 people succumbed to fatal drug overdose. At the same time, every day Recovery Unplugged sees the best of humanity as we guide our clients toward health, peace of mind, and lasting wellness. Our Humans in Recovery series serves to tell these stories while letting those who have not yet found their way to treatment know that it’s never too late to turn it all around. Recovery Unplugged wants to celebrate the incredibly diverse recovery community, highlighting their struggles, stories, accomplishments, and the lives they’ve built.

Zachary Bishop

I was slowly killing myself.
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Yessica L

It can be harder to love someone who's using than it is to be the one using.
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Vicki Q

Active addiction was me holding on to any hope that I could use drugs.
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Terry B

I thought ‘I think this is how it ends. I’m gonna die like this.
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Sehar Ryan

My advice is to hold on, pain ends.
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Sarah K

For people who are struggling, even people who are in recovery, just hold on. It does get better!
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Sara Yosseif

I just became this empty person that I didn’t know anymore.
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Ryan Toth

I was dead spiritually, and I felt like I was going to die physically
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Ryan O’Connor

By the end, it was like living the worst nightmare you’ve ever had.
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Rob Lohman

…alcohol pretty much became my master when I was 14 years old.
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Richard Wall

I played a complete victim role in my own mental health.
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Parker Summers

I’m just going to get messed up until I can find anything else to do.
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Pam Crea

It seemed like I was loving the drugs more than being a mom.
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Nicole Walck

If I can get sober, anybody can get sober, and the excuses need to stop.
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Michael Demchack

…because alone, no one is stronger than addiction.
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Michael A

I had never used music as a tool in recovery before, now I do every day.
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Melissa Gary

It took me away from everything and everybody I loved.
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Marie S

I couldn't take any more people down with me.
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Marisa D

Being in active addiction is like your own self-made personal hell.
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Lisa Deangelis

You have hopes and dreams for your child and you realize that they may never happen.
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Keri B

I've learned if I just concentrate on myself, the rest falls into place.
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Kaylin Turpin

I kept finding myself isolated and wanting to die.
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Kasi Roy

I thought, "If I die, I don’t really care.
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Josem Lantigua

I realized that the life I was leading wasn’t any way to live.
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Joseph Pignatelli

The only time I wasn’t looking to use was when I was unconscious.
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Josiah M

The power of love is real—it’s the most powerful thing on the planet and I’m so grateful to have been open to it.
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Jonah Brooks

I realized that I was close to death.
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Joey Grant

I feel like my spirit was broken.
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Jillian Owens

I was questioning why I existed at a very young age.
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Jason Cabello

I didn't even care that I had no future other than living in a bathroom.
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Jason Amato

My family and friends were scared of me.
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Jamie Linvir

I had never been so afraid of my own daughter.
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Erika Murphy

I really got to see myself and what I had done to my family; and that’s somebody that I never wanted to be.
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Drew

I started idolizing people that died from drug addiction and suicide.
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Doc McGhee

I could spend all the time in the world building their career, but trying to save them as a person- it's too hard.
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David G

I’m not a slave to a substance.
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Dan D

Being in recovery is so freeing. I don’t have crazy thoughts. I don’t have to act out on my emotions, I can set boundaries.
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Damian Ramirez

It is possible to find a new way to live and to stop using, even though it seems impossible.
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Colleen Thomas

I was tied down by the drug, chasing the dragon.
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CJ Roberts

I hadn’t realized how much I actually hated myself.
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Chris K

Nobody knew where I was, but I used my card to buy a gun.
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Chris Gates

I found myself sitting with a gun in one hand and a syringe in another, trying to decide which one to use.
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Chandler Hendershott

I knew I either had to die, or try to get clean.
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Carly H

That was what I had been waiting for my whole life- to get sober.
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Carlos T

Life continues to get better, and it’s all because I continued to work the program.
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Brandon W

I didn't see myself ever having a life worth living.
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Blake Cohen

…looking back, it was awful and I was totally lost.
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Beth Sullivan Jawitz

It was a habit I couldn’t break and it made me suicidal every day.
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Ashley Armstrong

You can be scared and still make the move to get better.
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Alec K

I was just trying to put a bandaid on a broken bone.
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Adam David

The idea of coming back just to do the same thing all over again was horrible.
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Abigail Dorfman

I couldn’t even recognize who Abby was anymore. There was no me left.
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Virginia V

Virginia V

I would encourage anyone struggling with addiction to give themselves a break.
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