I’m Dylan.

I am a recovered heroin addict.

In the last six years, I’ve worked for four different companies running a residential treatment center. During this, I spent time assessing defendants in court, and teaching DWI classes. For the majority of my career in the field, however, I’ve been on the unit of that treatment center - monitoring clients and teaching classes. Unfortunately, due to many issues within these companies, specifically leadership, the run has come to an end. While I am still a licensed Peer Recovery Support Specialist(PRSS) in my state, I do not have a job.

At this critical turning point in my life I decided to continue my work in recovery and write about the lessons I’ve learned. I do this simply because I’m obsessed. I do not think recovery is communicated optimally and I aim to change that. Addicts and alcoholics have a wealth of skills, abilities, and potential I want to help tap into. Too often, treatment centers, state legislation, insurance companies, and doctors inhibit their clients from really getting the best information possible. Unfortunately, the vast majorities of addicts and alcoholics trying to get clean are still stuck with subpar treatment being dictated by insurance companies and old doctors stuck in the era of prescribing medication for nearly everything often during withdrawal. If you didn’t know, withdrawal mimics the symptoms of nearly every mental illness. Fortunately, the field is moving in the right direction with peer support programs and advocacy companies such as Faces and Voices of Recovery. The people heading these movements, from what I gather, are tired of the stigma and one way route to abstinence. They, like me, think we can do this better. I hear from clients all the time: we can do it better.

With that said, I do not plan on going back to work for another company whose hands are tied. I do plan on writing my recovery philosophy. I plan on interweaving this with nearly every other program of recovery to show that everyone who gets clean does certain things to maintain that state. I plan on demystifying this whole thing called Recovery. My articles are living. Meaning, I go back and add to them when I have things that come up that relate to the general thesis.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable man persists in adapting the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

G.B Shaw

Lastly, anything I express here is simply my opinion of reality as I see it based on my experiences. I will do my best to cite research here and there but honestly have very little desire to “prove” anything and will probably skip it most of the time. The difference on whether I cite research or not could depend on whether I eat breakfast or not, I don’t know. I almost never eat breakfast though. In any event, please, if you disagree with anything please email me and I’ll do my best to discuss further. If anything we discuss leads to edits you will get credit. I’m not too attached to any ideas I’ve expressed here. Getting them out of my head and onto paper concisely is hard enough. I would love help. My goal is to help addicts by communicating ideas in a way that leads to the most change. This website is about me figuring me out. I write it in a way that hopefully can help others. In doing so my only expectation is to improve my thinking, writing, and goal of creating something. That’s all the control I have. If I help anyone in the process it’s just a bonus.