It was 1995. I was 38 years old. Little did I know my five-year drinking and drugging career was about to end. I had washed down a handful of pills with a few gulps of alcohol. The next thing I knew, an ambulance was rushing me to the hospital following an opioid and alcohol overdose. 

Looking back, it’s surprising that my counseling practice was going so well, because my personal life had been rapidly deteriorating. I’d been wearing a mask of self-assurance to conceal a lack of confidence. Drugs and alcohol had helped me keep the mask firmly in place.

As my six-week journey of in-patient recovery drew to a close, I knew that my very survival depended on starting to focus on myself. Not on others. At least for a while.

Eventually, I returned to “professional caregiving”, but with a different purpose. Harnessing what I had been learning about moving forward in the face of adversity, I decided to focus on coaching leaders in the private and public sectors. The corporate world was familiar to me since I’d earned several awards working for a national medical company while completing graduate school.

Over the years, I’ve watched leaders develop in their personal and professional lives and seen company profits increase. It has been my privilege to come alongside executives, physicians, educators, and non-profit leaders as they’ve regained their sense of curiosity and discovery. They have taught me a lot.