Our Stories
Share the power of long-term recovery. If you are in recovery, a family member, friend or ally of someone in recovery, we want to hear your recovery story!
Learn more...
Voice of the Recovery Community Award
Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) is the recipient of The Joel Hernandez Voice of the Recovery Community Award!
Learn more…
|
Our Stories
Mike Barry
Louisville, KY
My name is Mike Barry. I am in recovery and have been for nearly a decade. My drug of choice was alcohol.
I graduated from college, became a father, and started a successful career that brought me a lot of money and much fame. I rose from a small radio station disk jockey to become a highly respected television news anchor and producer. I worked in St. Louis, Nashville, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. I had a small part in the soap opera Santa Barbara and did a bit on the Today Show. I wrote for several magazines on a freelance basis and did commercials all over the country. All by the age of 35.
Ten years later I had lost all those jobs, my house, my family, my children, and had nearly landed on the streets. In the end I was living in a homeless shelter. I had lost it all; most of all, I had lost all hope and I attempted suicide.
One of the many reasons I had difficulty getting into recovery was the stigma placed on the disease. I was in a Catch-22. If I admitted my problem I was likely to lose my job and if I didn’t do something about my alcoholism I was likely to lose my job.
Today I am happy and life is good. I have so much less materially, but I have so much internally. I have been blessed with a wonderful gift. I am happily married. I have my own business (which is struggling, of course), and my children are speaking to me. I have a beautiful granddaughter who has never seen me drunk. Hopefully the cycle has been broken. With my public advocacy, I want to let people know there is help, hope, and healing. I want to take the stigma out of this disease by letting others know I’ve been to Hell and back. I don’t want to be held back by some of our antiquated public and private policies. I don’t want to be denied health care or other benefits like school loans just because I admitted I had a problem, sought a solution, and recovered. There are people who have committed more serious crimes who aren’t denied these rights.
Click here to sign up for the Faces & Voices online newsletter. Meet other powerful faces and voices; get regular updates of the recovery community’s advocacy across the country!