Stories of Recovery | Alcoholism, Addiction & 12 Step Spirituality MARR Addiction Treatment Centers

Ep. 91: How I Recovered from OxyContin, Adderall and Fentanyl















Ladd H. wanted to be a good dad, a good husband, and a good employee. He couldn’t explain why he kept blowing off his commitments and continued to use. What began as college drinking gradually progressed to heavy use of OxyContin, Adderall and fentanyl, eventually leading to hallucinations. When things got bad enough he eventually went through MARR. While in treatment he faced some tough truths about himself and learned how to be supportive of others who were in sobriety. He also worked through the 12 Steps with a sponsor. Things started going really well. He was able to show up in his life the way that he wanted to. But that wasn’t the end of his drinking and using story. Things were going so well that he thought he could do sobriety on his own. He relapsed. However, the lessons he learned at MARR and the experiences he had in sobriety helped him make it back. Now he sits in groups at MARR every Thursday, and continues to be a part of the community.

Ep 90: The Dentist Who Couldn't Stop Using Drugs















From the outside, it looked as if Brian had everything going for him. He had graduated from dental school. His career was off to a successful start. And in his spare time as a musician, he had even found the time to record an album. However, what people couldn’t see was that he was also developing a serious drug dependency. All this activity came to a halt when he was confronted by his supervisor and told to go to treatment. When he checked into MARR, he began learning about the underlying causes of his drug addiction. He also learned that recovery took work and a commitment to the principles of 12-step recovery.

Ep. 89: As Family, We Were Invited to Participate







Family members can be a vital part of the recovery process. The two women on today’s episode are a prime example of that reality. Sallie and Rosemary are the wife and mother of one of our former clients, Rob. They watched Rob go through treatments before coming to MARR, and even participated in family programs at other treatment centers. But at MARR, they felt a confidence in the staff and program they hadn’t felt at previous treatment centers. They also accepted the invitation MARR extended to them to participate in their own recovery. These two women share their respective journeys as loved ones who watched the addiction progress and then saw what life could be like in recovery.









Rob (former client) and Sallie (Rob's wife)













Rosemary (Rob's mom)

Ep 88: A Fast Tailspin Toward Death







A daily cocaine and heroin user, Tara describes herself in her addiction as being in “a fast tailspin toward death.” Thanks to an unexpected intervention from her daughter, she ended up in MARR’s Right Side Up program at 40. Looking back on it, she describes getting to the program as finding an immediate sense of safety and connection. She now sees the day-to-day structure of the program as her saving grace. Tara takes us step by step through her first year of sobriety, describing the support she received at Right Side Up.

Ep 87: The Significance of Family Week in Treatment









When Laurie M.’s husband, Sam, checked into MARR (which you can hear about in episode 86), the relationships in their family were strained. Now, Laurie says, her marriage with Sam is better than ever, and there has been significant healing between her children and Sam. She credits a lot of the progress to the work that she and her kids were able to do in MARR’s Family Program. While her husband, Sam, was learning how to live in sobriety, Laurie was learning about her part in the family disease of addiction. She also learned how she could find her own path to recovery. She particularly credits Family Week at MARR, which her kids attended as well, as profoundly impacting their family life, both for herself and Sam, as well as their two kids.

Ep. 86: The Ego Deflation of a Successful Investor







Sam M. was a high-flying investor in capital markets for residential mortgages. He had a wife and two kids that always took a back seat to his career. But that all changed when he got arrested for a DUI and ended up at MARR. In treatment, his peers and his counselors helped him realize what really mattered to him. In this episode, we also hear from Sam’s wife, Laurie, about her perception of Sam’s recovery. Our next episode will focus entirely on Laurie’s experience of Family Week at MARR, and how that experience was a game-changer for her and her children.