About Addiction Lessons and Why These Stories Exist
About
Stevie’s dad, Stephen, is NOT an addiction professional. He is simply the father of five children, the youngest of whom had a near-fatal addiction to alcohol. Stephen has gone all-in on learning about addiction to help his son and to pass on that knowledge in the service of other families suffering in a similar way.
Stevie has more than a decade of sobriety. He is living a connected, productive, empathetic and happy life. Stephen could not be more proud of his son.
Stephen was a Fellow in Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI), with an academic focus on addiction. He spent four years as the Executive Vice President of Shatterproof, a national addiction nonprofit, developing educational materials and tools for families. He is a co-creator and participant in the podcast series “My Child & Addiction”. Stephen has been a volunteer Parent Peer Addiction Advocate since 2015. He is an Advisory Board Member for the National Center on Youth Prevention, Treatment and Recovery.
Prior to pursuing addiction work, Stephen had a 30-year career at Morgan Stanley where he ran global sales, trading and lending businesses in the Fixed Income Division. He was a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. He received an MBA from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.
The stories have been read by more than 575,000 people, and 97 percent of readers say they would recommend them to others. They carry endorsements from Dr. Tom McLellan, Senior Editor of the 2016 US Surgeon General’s Report on Addiction, and Dr. John F. Kelly of Harvard Medical School, two of the most respected voices in addiction science. As Dr. McLellan put it, “I hope that every parent reads this even before their kids develop a problem.”
Finally, to be clear, “Addiction Lessons” is purely part of a personal mission to help others dealing with addiction. There is zero economic benefit to Stephen.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Stevie for allowing Stephen to share his story and our story.
My deep gratitude to Stevie’s primary counselors Colleen, Audrey and Jason, his AA sponsors and the teams at Northwell Health and Caron Treatment Centers.
