I had my first real drink when I was 15. I was in a boarding school near an affluent suburb in Pretoria, South Africa when my friends and I jumped the fence on Wednesday night and snuck to a bar [...]

I was a bonafide party girl for more than 10 years, personifying the stereotypes with slurred words and a boozy smile. I danced on bars, pursed my lips to make a duck face for pictures and loudly [...]

My parents couldn’t have been more different. My mom was emotionally present and very involved. She never made me feel like a burden. She never drank too much. She was the glue that kept our [...]

How I Lost my Mom to Addiction—and Found the Road to Recovery Some of my earliest memories are of my mom hanging out with her friends, drinking wine and getting tipsy. When I was little, it [...]

TRIGGER WARNING ♥ Cozy Blankets and Coffee Needed ♥ (This content deals with PTSD flashbacks and childhood sexual abuse).   It was a bitter November night in 2014 when I found my 3-year-old [...]

I walk the halls like the old me is here, but I cannot find her since she disappeared. She’s been replaced by darkness; the light flickered out Childlike spirit abused and spit out.   [...]

TRIGGER WARNING ♥ Cozy Blankets and Coffee Needed ♥ (This content deals with suicidal thoughts, depression, and childhood sexual abuse).   It happened many years ago, but I’ve never [...]

  On September 1, 2020, my co-authors and I released The Addiction Diaries —a collection of 18 stories intended to humanize addiction, end the stigma, and offer hope to those who are [...]

Today is International Overdose Awareness Day, and even though I have lost many people to opioid overdoses, including my dear cousin, Joey, on this particular day, I would like to remember Lance [...]

How to Heal Depression by Making Friends with the Dark   “Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.”    [...]