This my story to help others find their way out of the hurt and pain of a bad childhood. I been through it all, having been abused and neglected to the point of horrific nightmares, demons attacking me! I found alcohol and drugs to cover up the pain and fear, but only to make everything worse! It's a sad story, but it has a good ending, of how God works in people's lives and how his Mighty hand can deliver a soul from turmoil to freedom! Once you pick this book up you will not put it down until the END!

“Jimmy” From stepchild and addiction to recovery. This is my story, an average kid growing up in an abusive world of foster homes, going through addiction, homelessness, jails and prison, having a rough time dealing with life itself and a heartbreaking divorce. I'm not anything special, I just want to let kids and people of all ages, to be able to relate and know that they're more of us with the same story out there. I'm writing this book, not because I have been told I should write my story, but for my own therapy, which is important to my recovery as an alcoholic and addict, as it can be for the stepchild that suffers from a life of abuse, alcoholism or drug addiction. I have been blessed with a good memory, and the knowledge of how God has been working in my life. I can remember very clearly from moment to moment, but for time and reading sake, I didn't write about every little thing that happened, but it's pretty darn close!In this book I mainly keep the focus on myself as much as possible and as I seen life through my own eyes and not others, at how my drinking progressed and how hard my life came to be, because of it; there may be an exception or so with the step parents and step sisters or brothers through out my life.I had a rough childhood, but not as bad as some kids I met and were friends with during my life, but I experienced more than enough to understand how a hurting stepchild feels. I'm honored to be able to share and hopefully touch someone's heart out there in this crazy world we live in, and grew up in, also for the ones that have a hard concept of family and are alone in life. Men, women and children alike, trying to fit in and just wanting to be happy in their lives. Asking the question's I ask myself, “why me?” how did I get the short end of the stick? Where did I go wrong, and what did I do to deserve this?I once blamed God for my misfortunes, but I know now that God has been keeping a strong caring hand on me, even when I really didn't noticed that he was guiding me along, no matter how deep and dark it became in my life. I hope you enjoy the stories of my life and you can have a sense of being there with me, maybe you had similar times and events that you experienced in the same fashion? It's not everyday you get to read about another foster kids life and how you can walk along side with the abuse, addiction and the everyday heartache of abandonment, or the sinking feeling if anybody is ever going to care about you. But, there are good times though, and there were funny episodes too, not everything in my life has been bad, and I hope that the good times in this book will cause you to find yours! Jimmy P. † © 9/12/10

The story of one man's quest to discover a life of purpose and meaning out of the darkness of drug addiction, abuse, crime, and living on the streets.Now a successful entrepreneur with goals for massive positive impact, Jimmy Colson is one of the most relatable people you'll ever meet and has the wisdom of a thousand thieves.The book is for anyone who has gone through Hell and wonders if there is light on the other side.

When Jim Wahlberg went to prison the second time at 22 years old, he was sentenced to six to nine years for breaking and entering, bargained down from life for home invasion. He had staggered into a Boston cop’s apartment, helping himself to the sellable stuff and all the beer in the fridge. The cop came home, found Jim passed out at the kitchen table, beat the hell out of him, and arrested him. But Wahlberg, a 130-pound kid from Dorchester, had learned some things from his life on the street and his first prison sentence. He knew how to survive. And he knew that if he wanted to avoid serving the full sentence, he would have to do something. He did what he was best at: He hustled. He would create the illusion that he was trying to change, that he’d become the model prisoner, not a guy hell-bent on getting out while he was still young enough to drink more, steal more, and do more drugs. He didn’t know, though, that the Catholic priest he was trying to hustle was actually hustling him. The Big Hustle is the story of a redeemed life and a family’s healing. This is the no-holds-barred, unvarnished, and sometimes brutal true story of Jim Wahlberg, the fifth of nine kids growing up in a working-class Irish Catholic neighborhood outside of Boston, hustling for attention any way he could get it, which led him to the biggest hustle of his life. Against all odds he got clean, he got out, and he got the girl. Jim dedicated his new life as a former addict to working with addicts, and for years has spread the word that recovery is possible. But nothing could have prepared him for what came next. His discovery that his own son was an addict threw Jim into a crisis—one that led him deeper into his faith and led to healing he never thought possible. This book is a testament to God’s power and an invitation to all of us to hope in the darkest places. About the Author Jim is the fifth oldest Wahlberg. Like his brothers Donny and Mark, Jim recovered from his tough upbringing in the streets of Dorchester to become producer, writer, and director of films, including The Circle of Addiction, What About the Kids?, and The Lookalike. Jim is the executive director of the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, created to improve the quality of life for inner city youth through a working partnership with other youth organizations. Jim and his wife live in South Florida and have three children.

Written a decade before coronavirus pushed in-person meetings online and kept us home, this portable and practical workbook for the newly sober is a perfect coach for the present moment. In this portable recovery aftercare program, Earnie Larsen coaches readers through one full year of sobriety with personal, practical, actionable steps to help them refocus on the core concepts that are essential to sober living. Make no mistake about the intention of the guidance offered in this book. This is not just another "nice recovery book"--one that you read and then put aside, hopefully taking away a few good thoughts. My intention is that the material offered here should be chewed, pulled apart, scrutinized, and internalized. This book is designed to be worked. It is intended to provide support, insights, and exercises that will do something about the high relapse rate of people starting recovery.>-Earnie Larsen, From the introduction In this invaluable guide, renowned author and lecturer Earnie Larsen brings you a portable recovery aftercare program that you can easily integrate into your personal life ?and take with you anywhere you go.Now That You're Sober is an all-purpose, year-long compendium of recovery wisdom and inspiration to help those who are newly sober focus on practical applications of Twelve Step principles. Like a traditional aftercare program, it is designed to keep the basics of recovery front and center in your consciousness, as it is the loss of this awareness that causes relapse. In his characteristic down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is style, Larsen serves as your recovery coach, providing guidance and inspiration when you feel vulnerable in your sobriety, and helping you to move past common stumbling blocks and flourish in your daily life. Each of his fifty-two entries includes a motivational essay, or pep talk, centered on a key element of recovery, followed by personal, practical, actionable steps to help you refocus on the concepts and behaviors that are essential in a recovering person's life.Earnie Larsen is a nationally known pioneer in the field of recovery from addictive and unwanted behaviors. He has authored and produced more than fifty-five motivational self-help books and resources on a variety of topics ranging from managing interpersonal relationships to spirituality.

New York Times Bestseller! "New, scientifically-based approaches that recognize the biological basis of addiction have brought major advances in the treatment of addiction. Dr. Urschel is at the forefront of this treatment paradigm." Dr. Larry Hanselka, Psychologist The Proven Scientific Approach to Conquering Addiction and Defeating the Disease Healing the Addicted Brain is a breakthrough work that focuses on treating drug and alcohol addiction as a biological disease—based on the Recovery Science program that has helped thousands of patients defeat their addictions over the past 10 years. It combines the best behavioral addiction treatments with the latest scientific research into brain functions, providing tools and strategies designed to overcome the biological factors that cause addictive behavior along with proven treatments and medications. Using this scientific approach, you will learn to conquer the physical factors that keep people tied to drug and alcohol addiction. The proven fact is addiction is not a moral failing or an issue of not having enough willpower. It is a disease of the brain that can and must be treated like other chronic medical illnesses —such as diabetes, hypertension, or asthma—in order to defeat the disease. This revolutionary program can triple the success rate of patients, from 20-30% to 90% There Is Hope. By understanding addiction and using 21st-century breakthroughs, for the first time drug and alcohol addiction can be, and will be, defeated.

This text follows a case in rural Illinois, where in the mid-1990s methamphetamine production & misuse became a big problem &, as a result, child welfare professionals saw an influx of children whose parents were involved with the drug. This is an account of the problems the children faced, and of the efforts to help them.

A hands-on homework toolkit for mental health practitioners treating clients with substance use disorders In the newly revised sixth edition of the Addiction Treatment Homework Planner, a team of distinguished clinicians delivers a practical and effective resource for clients who wish to keep their therapy and recovery efforts front-of-mind and incorporate them into their daily lives. The activities and homework contained within will assist clients—and the clinicians treating them—to collect real-time data, enabling practitioners to address relevant issues quickly and collaboratively. This Homework Planner is designed as a companion manual to the sixth editions of the Addiction Treatment Planner and Addiction Progress Notes Planner. It focuses on client-centered, assessment-driven, evidence-based treatment in the field of substance use disorder psychotherapy. Each included exercise is designed to: Emphasize the importance of client motivation and increase the knowledge, awareness, and insight of people moving through the addiction recovery process Incorporate a skills component for further instruction in therapy or at home Be completed or processed within individual sessions or – where appropriate – within group therapy sessions and at various levels of care An indispensable, hands-on resource for counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals engaged in the treatment of patients with substance use disorders, the Addiction Treatment Homework Planner is a time-saving tool with the potential to improve patient outcomes and increase client engagement.

Understanding what ‘family’ means – and how best to support families – depends on challenging politicized assumptions that frame ‘ordinary’ families in comparison to an imagined problematic ‘other’. Learning from the perspectives of people who were in care in childhood, this innovative book helps redefine the concept of family. Linking two longitudinal studies involving young adults in England, it reveals important new insights into the diverse and dynamic complexity of family lives, identities and practices in time – through childhood and beyond. Paving the way for future policy and practice, this book makes an important contribution to the theorization of family in the 21st century.