Recovery Memoirs

At seven, Brandon was a skateboard prodigy. By the time he was fourteen, he was living the dream. Discovered by skate legends Bucky Lasek and Tony Hawk. Touring the US with the elite Powell-Peralta team. Signing autographs and appearing in films and magazines. Brandon had it all. Then he got hooked on heroin. Soon he was living a down-and-out life in a garage, begging for change, and hustling to score his next fix. He stole from his family and friends. He pushed the fantasy that everything was okay, that he was going to rehab, getting help, and getting better. But it was all a lie.

In Shock is a riveting first-hand account from a young critical care physician, who in the passage of a moment is transfigured into a dying patient. This transposition, coincidentally timed at the end of her medical training, instantly lays bare the vast chasm between the conventional practice of medicine and the stark reality of the prostrate patient.

Lauren Windas is one of the estimated 250,000 people suffering with CFS in the UK. Whilst at university in 2012, she fell ill with a viral infection and was later diagnosed with CFS. Since then she has devoted herself to reclaiming her health and being able to live a full life, drawing on the knowledge of experts to help manage her often mysterious and hard-to-manage condition. In Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lauren recounts the highs and lows of her own health journey and experiences,.

Bryony Gordon is a respected journalist, a number one best-selling author and an award-winning mental health campaigner. She is also an alcoholic. In Glorious Rock Bottom Bryony opens up about a toxic 20-year relationship with alcohol and drugs and explains exactly why hitting rock bottom - for her, a traumatic event and the abrupt realisation that she was putting herself in danger, time and again - saved her life.

In this story of perseverance and the strength of the human spirit, Robert Woods recounts the painful years of his childhood, when he watched his parents recover from a challenging divorce while suffering his own horrendous abuse in secret. By opening up about his abuse and the many years of holding on to hatred and resentment that followed, Robert illustrates that no matter the circumstances, there is always hope.

A coming-of-age memoir that follows a large, working-class Irish family as it plunges into chaos in the wake of a terminal diagnosis—and the author's own hidden struggle to endure when her sister's disease becomes the dark star around which they all revolve.

Over the next ten years, 40 to 60 million people in this country will be admitted to the ICU. Most of these hospitalizations will be sudden, unexpected, and harrowing experiences that can alter patients and their families physically and emotionally, with effects that endure for years. In this rich blend of science, medical history, profoundly humane patient stories, and personal reflection, Dr. Wes Ely describes his mission to prevent patients from being inadvertently harmed by the technology that is keeping them alive.

Michael Hogan, as a poet and educator, has been gifted with friendships of fellow writers throughout most of his life. Three of these were Nobel laureates, still others household names: Seamus Heaney, W.S. Merwin, Charles Bukowski, Marge Piercy, Naomi Shihad Nye and Ray Bradbury, among a dozen others . What is surprising is what he manages to do with such experiences in this book. Through a series of narrations centered on wide-ranging episodes with other poets, the author distills a unique kind of ars poetica, one that is tied less to a traditional memoir, than to the impression these men ...

This is a personal story of generational trauma, a mother's debilitating paranoid schizophrenia and a daughter who was thrust into foster care, homelessness, drug addiction, and was sexually abused and neglected. This book Discovers the strength of the human spirit and the power of love that defies all odds, a story of resilience and hope. Beautifully written as a heartfelt memoir that invites readers to discover Lorie’s profound journey, The Voices We Couldn’t Hear is a transformative coming-of-age story that delves into poignant themes including abuse, mental illness, and the ...

This is an honest, upfront, relatable account of one suburban housewife's journey from miserable wine-soaked boozer to self-respecting sober lady. This audiobook is an inspirational tale of self-transformation, addiction, and domesticity.

Grit Over Shame is the raw, inspiring true story of David A. Douglas — a man who rose from the chaos of addiction, incarceration, and personal wreckage to build a life of purpose, recovery, and service. From a turbulent childhood in Tacoma to a spiral into methamphetamine use in the 1990s, David’s journey is one of deep lows, powerful turning points, and the long road back.

The founder of Recovery Management Agency—the world’s first agency devoted to helping addicts heal their addictions by reawakening their souls—uses her knowledge of depth psychology and her personal experience as a recovering addict to help you reconnect with soul, find meaning and live your purpose.

When her six-year-old daughter found her collapsed on the kitchen floor, Rachel had no idea how much her life was about to change. A brain scan revealed a dark shadowy mass, a huge abnormal growth of tissue that, whilst benign, was still growing and would surely kill her. It was too big to operate on. It needed to be "managed", and Rachel had, at best, two years to live. Refusing to accept the bleak prognosis, Rachel was determined to stay alive.

In 1945, US intelligence officers in Manila discovered that the Japanese had hidden large quantities of gold bullion and other looted treasure in the Philippines. President Truman decided to recover the gold but to keep its riches secret. These, combined with Japanese treasure recovered during the US occupation, and with recovered Nazi loot, would create a worldwide American political action fund to fight communism.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. (Revelation 12:11) Are you battling demons from your past? Feeling bound by the shackles of shame? Do you long to break free from bondage? Kelsey Decker’s memoir is Mary Magdalene meets Damascus Road. A poetic story written for God’s glory. These pages are filled with love, loss, grief, trauma, and abuse. They also overflow with God’s mercy and grace. It’s shocking, intriguing, and beautiful. She is an overcomer of impossible odds, freed from addictions, prostitution, cult abuse, New Age beliefs, ...

When Kerry Cohen reached her early 40s, she realized she had a drinking problem - just enough to blur the edges of her life that had become a monotony of working, carpooling the kids to school, and everyday distractions. What she also realized was that she wasn't the only one. Lush is a gripping memoir that examines Kerry's struggles with alcohol, a struggle that a rising number of middle-aged women are facing. Wonderfully poignant and relatable, Lush follows Kerry as she attempts to rediscover the awe in her life, leaving mistakes, regrets, and the bottle behind her.

Mark Johnson’s third memoir chronicles an ironic year of surprise and transformation when one man’s life takes an unexpected detour and he discovers his destiny on the way to a new destination.As the story begins, Mark is poised for a new adventure. He has already navigated the ups and downs of his St. Louis childhood and retraced the path of his mother’s life from fertile ground. Yet, he doesn’t expect his journey with his husband Tom—selling their steady-but-often-snowy Illinois home and resurfacing in the warmth and serenity of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert—will prove to be as ...

As a WWE wrestler with millions of fans, Shawn Michaels had adulation and all the attention he could ask for, but he found himself longing for something more. When he became a committed Christian at the height of his career, Shawn learned what it's like to be a man of faith in a secular arena. Wrestling for My Life documents Shawn's journey to finding a new way of life - one that's marked by faith, family, and forgiveness.

With three children under five, a set of twins and a newborn, Rachell Brownell wanted to feel like an adult again. So she turned to three bottles of white wine a night. Through wit and honesty, Brownell lets listeners into her world of addiction, but also towards hope. Through examples of community, wisdom, and support, this book provides a map for anyone trying to get through the early stages of recovery.Mommy Doesn’t Drink Here Anymore.

Domenica Ruta grew up in a working-class, unforgiving Italian town north of Boston where in the seventeenth century women were hanged as witches. Her mother, Kathi, a notorious figure in this hardscrabble place, was a drug addict and sometime dealer whose life swung between welfare and riches, whose highbrow taste was at odds with her base appetites.