| Even after I stopped drinking and using drugs in 1990, I still thought of myself as an addict. I traded daily drinking (and drug use) for daily AA meetings where we spent our time endlessly talking about our past drinking and drug use and our failings in life. I suddenly realized that I had traded going out to bars for 12 Step meetings. I was now “a person in recovery”. These meetings turned out to be just like the bars but with coffee and even worse conversation. Where I was once a slave to my alcohol and drug habit, I became a slave to “my recovery” – and I was told that’s what I had to do if I wanted to stay sober. I felt completely trapped in the swamp of recovery and I wanted out. I wanted to move on with my life! I hadn’t stopped my substance use to replace it with a new addiction – 12 Step meetings. I wanted to be totally free from addiction and recovery. It took me some time, but eventually, my persistent search for a better path formed. I became an addiction researcher and an author. I joined forces with like-minded researchers who also rejected living in the past, and spent three decades creating the alternative to recovery; The Freedom Model for Addictions. I’ve since taught thousands how to make the transition out of the 12 Step cult successfully. Make no mistake; addiction and recovery are two sides of the exact same miserable coin. The good news is you can ditch that coin entirely like I did, and break out of the addict role for good and move on with your life. In 2017 my colleagues and I wrote The Freedom Model for Addictions: Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap. If you too are ready to break out of the addict role once and for all, or you know someone who is, you can get our free ebooks below! | 
