Speaking with Katie, the first thing you’ll notice about her is her confidence. She spoke like she wasn’t afraid of anything, but her recovery story proved she didn’t always exude the same fearlessness.
“My father passed away with 35 years of continuous sobriety. He was an exec, very successful. Had six kids. Even when he was in recovery, we didn’t talk about it. It was like our secret.
“We were forbidden to drink. But I drank. I got a DUI and went into treatment. I was 22 years old and in college, and I thought, ‘I’m not like these people in treatment.’ But I packed up my loafers and sweaters and played the part.
“Early on, I was staying sober because of my father. I started volunteering at an addiction treatment facility. Started there when I was 22. I was the detox counselor. Then I was the activities counselor. Next, I was an outpatient counselor.
“Then I got pregnant with my triplets and couldn’t work. When I had them, I was active in AA for about 10 years and continued working in the field. But I was getting a bit of an ego. Everyone would say, ‘You saved my life.’ I’d say, ‘Of course I did.’ So I started thinking, ‘I don’t need to attend meetings anymore.’ I stopped going.”
“I ended up drinking when I was 40 years old, after 18 years of sobriety. I got three DUIs in a year and a half’s time. The progression of alcohol is tremendous. If you stop drinking, picking it back up is like you’ve been drinking the whole time. I lost my license, my marriage broke up, and I was drinking myself to death.”
Asking for help isn’t always easy, and Katie’s situation was no different.
“It was tough for me to go back in. But I became active in AA again. My husband and I were still living together at the time. The women in AA would come over and say, ‘You can do this, Katie. You can’t cohabitate. You gotta move out.’
“So here I am. I’m 20 years old, married, and have three kids. AA women say, ‘You’re strong enough to move out.’ And I’m saying, ‘I don’t know if I can.’ When I left my parents’ house, I got married. I’d never even paid a bill.
“I decided, I gotta go. I gotta leave.”
Katie’s successful path to recovery began by looking outside of herself. At her core, she knew something was still not right. While working at Recovery Centers of America, something changed her path for the better.
“I’ve had a tough time getting my recovery back. There was always something missing. I wasn’t sponsoring anybody; I wasn’t helping anybody.
“I knew this one girl, she used to come to meetings talking about the Big Book. So I reached out to her. I said, ‘I need help. I need you to take me through this book.’ So she took me line-by-line through the book, from the front cover. She said, ‘You’re in much pain, Katie.’ She said, ‘I gotta get you through this book quickly.’
Her purpose in teaching me the book was so I could teach someone else. I felt like I had a purpose. It gave me more compassion, and I became more interested in the solution, not the problem.
“That’s the advice I would give struggling people: Slow down. Try to do something kind for somebody else.
“Because of my active involvement in the program, I’m a better mother, girlfriend, and friend. 
My overall focus is more on giving to others rather than receiving. My recovery is the biggest blessing I have in my life today.”
Addiction is a chronic disorder, not a personal failure. There is a human face behind every example, and there is real hope that addiction recovery can change your life.
