I was a typical All-American kid who grew up in a good family, did well in school, played sports, had hobbies, and carried dreams and aspirations of becoming a Police Officer like a lot of other kids.

 

In 1980 I moved to South Florida to pursue my dream and made it happen. I had an exciting and successful career as a Police Officer during the 1980’s where I achieved the rank of Field Training Officer and SWAT Team member. As many TV shows accurately depict, the job was tough in South Florida and eventually I would suffer alcoholism and later cocaine addiction through a “life in the fast lane” lifestyle that involved working off-duty security detail at strip clubs and relationships with dancers and prostitutes.

 

I resigned from police work and pursued self-employment in an attempt to change my work environment. Nevertheless, a 15 year battle against alcoholism and cocaine addictions followed.

 

I was exposed to an underworld lifestyle that was so contrary to my dreams and aspirations. My family and friends thought I had lost my mind. Drugs and alcohol took me to places in my life that I had only previously seen in movies and working as a Police Officer. How could this happen to me, an All-American regular kind of guy?

 

Eventually the underworld lifestyle caught up with me in the culmination of crime sprees including armed robbery and bank robbery.

 

The worst nightmare of any Police Officer had come true for me. I was in solitary confinement in the County Jail waiting to go to prison. The questions began to come forward, “What do I do now? How will I survive? Can I survive? Should I kill myself?” I felt hopeless, confused, and afraid; I felt as though my life was over. I was all alone. I had no one to talk to about what laid ahead.

 

My attorney was unable to help with these serious questions. He had never experienced incarceration.

 

I had to learn to do prison the hard way. I went into the jail and prison experience blind. I was unprepared and did not know what to expect. But I survived by God's Grace. I learned coping skills and worked a personal betterment program to maintain a positive mental and spiritual attitude. I stayed physically fit and learned how to deal with staff and inmates.

 

It is my intention to prevent anyone else from having to go through what I did. It is my intention to dispel other people’s fears and questions when I can provide accurate information. It is my intention to prepare them to deal with the prison experience, substance abuse, and addiction.

 

Today, having recovered from both, alcoholism and drug addiction, I have a life beyond my wildest dreams. My experiences as a Police Officer, a prison inmate, and an active alcoholic and drug addict have made me a better person today. I chose to take a whole lot of bad things, work hard at changing what I had become, and make my life into something that was meaningful.

 

This is why I am qualified to help you. No one should have to experience what I did without first meeting someone who can coach them through these kinds of difficult periods in their life. No one should have to go into prison as I did – blind.

 

I want people to know they can survive the Prison Experience and find a meaningful fulfilling life. Let me help you. If I can come out of my experiences a better person, a successful man, who has committed his life to working with others who are struggling with similar demons, I know I can help you.