Welcome to today’s show!
WHAT WE’LL LEARN:
- John described his deepest roots led him to Syracuse New York...from his upbringing, to his professional development, to his professional career and to his sobriety.
- John’s sobriety journey is intertwined with a dual diagnosis with Mental Health issues.
- How he needs to maintain his mental health so that he does not drink again and vice versa.
- John’s first sponsor made him take his mental health seriously.
- How he balanced advocacy work with personal recovery-especially in early recovery.
- Where John was at the beginning of his recovery to where he is today-a person recovering out loud while respecting the traditions that people care about.
- When in conversation with a student in Rams in Recovery, the student asked John how it is that he claims to be in recovery if all he’s doing is advocacy (e.g. the coffee bike). This helped John become more connected with the recovery community. And helped him to build an “underground network” of people all over the world which he taps into to help others.
- How these projects (e.g. Coffee Bike, Narcan Bike) served as John's recovery program for a long time. And how the advocacy piece changes with each project. Now, the Narcan Bike, beyond the design, is largely all about advocacy.
Key Quotes:
“I tried to do it on my own with my will power alone and the group of people in that room (recovery room) knew what I was going through and had been where I was...it was one of my only options. It’s the one thing I could connect to and participate in that wasn't making things worse.”
“I’ve gone from an artist who’s an activist to an activist who’s an artist.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED
For more info, head over to atheistsinrecovery.com and subscribe to our email list. And thank you for listening!
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