Growing up Max wanted to be accepted by other people. He finally felt that rush of being popular when he brought marijuana to school for the first time. Sometime after, attending his first AA meeting at the age of 17, Max wished he could’ve acknowledged earlier on that he had an issue with substance abuse. Max has been in and out of the program several times since then and, while he could string a bit of time together sober, he was never really willing to do the work. It would be a series of events of loss and grief that would help him fully embrace treatment. 

Max reached a point where he just knew that he was done. When he walked into treatment he knew he was in the right place because his very first class was about grief and loss. Throughout his time in treatment, Max focused on dealing with the emotions that he avoided dealing with in the past. He freed himself emotionally to cry things out, to just be open, and consequently he was able to learn how to vocalize how he was feeling. Once he did that all those negative feelings started to subside.

New to his journey, Max’s sobriety has been tested with new painful events but he’s thankful to have a good strong network to be able to work through the obstacles that come his way. He knows that he can make it no matter what as long as he stays connected.