I’m a captain in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. I hold a position of responsibility at HHS working on the nation’s opioids crisis and serious mental illness initiatives — and I’ve been in recovery from addiction for more than 16 years.
It’s not easy to open my life story to the public, but I want to share it in hopes of showing others struggling with addiction that recovery is possible. I want to fight the stigma of addiction that has kept so many hidden and made it difficult for them to seek the help they need.