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    Blessed With Two Lives: A Story of Addiction, Recovery, and Redemption
    Blessed With Two Lives: A Story of Addiction, Recovery, and Redemption
    Blessed With Two Lives: A Story of Addiction, Recovery, and Redemption
    Ebook79 pages1 hour

    Blessed With Two Lives: A Story of Addiction, Recovery, and Redemption

    By Harry John Overend

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    About this ebook

    Author Harry John Overend grew up in the tough projects in Connecticut. His life was infested with negativity, drugs, and violence. But he was able to turn his life around, and Overend went from jail to Yale. In Blessed with Two Lives, he shares his story, how he overcame a host of challenges, and how he now helps others conquer their addictions.

    In this memoir, Overend narrates his journey—beginning with a life packed with drugs and alcohol and serving ten years in jail. Sharing details about his personal and professional life, he tells how he was given a second chance and feels he’s been allowed two separate lives.

    Blessed with Two Lives shares a story about change, recovery, and redemption from addiction, negative behaviors, and criminal activities. Overend credits a higher power and the power of example from others who have changed and showed him the way out of addiction.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLulu Publishing Services
    Release dateAug 1, 2016
    ISBN9781483455693
    Blessed With Two Lives: A Story of Addiction, Recovery, and Redemption

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      Book preview

      Blessed With Two Lives - Harry John Overend

      BLESSED WITH

      TWO LIVES

      A Story of Addiction, Recovery, and Redemption

      HARRY JOHN OVEREND

      Copyright © 2016 Harry John Overend.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

      ISBN: 978-1-4834-5568-6 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4834-5569-3 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2016912075

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 07/28/2016

      Contents

      Preface

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction

      Chapter 1: Here I Am

      Chapter 2: The Family Years

      Chapter 3: The Addictions and Crimes Begin

      Chapter 4: My First Time at Rehab

      Chapter 5: The Reformatory

      Chapter 6: The Summer of 1965

      Chapter 7: Off to Prison

      Chapter 8: Entering Daytop

      Chapter 9: The Daytop Program

      Chapter 10: Climbing Daytop’s Staff Ladder and Leaving

      Chapter 11: Élan and My Directorship

      Chapter 12: The Rich and Famous Residents

      Chapter 13: Leaving Élan

      Chapter 14: A College Degree, New Jobs … and Still Drinking

      Chapter 15: My Second Life Begins

      Chapter 16: Some Fun Memories

      Chapter 17: On My Own

      About the Author

      Preface

      A ll these events are based on my own experiences. All the characters are real people. The unlawful events mentioned are listed in state police records.

      I’m now semiretired. As a certified addiction professional, crisis intervention specialist, court/criminal-justice liaison, and motivational speaker, I still work with people who suffer from addictions. Along with my certifications, my own life experiences, strengths, and hopes are my best tools in helping others.

      I’ve been a therapeutic-community former resident employed in that setting for thirty-eight years. For ways to help your child become drug-free, I highly recommend the book You Can’t Do It Alone by Monsignor William O’Brien and Ellis Henican. If I can recover from making poor choices and overcome too many years of addiction, so can anyone else.

      Acknowledgments

      T he Daytop residential addiction-treatment and rehabilitation program in Connecticut turned my life around and introduced me to a better and happier existence. I’m eternally grateful to its cofounders, Monsignor William O’Brien and psychiatrist Dr. Dan Casriel, and to its many directors and staff members—including, but by no means limited to, David Deitch, Ron Broncato, and Charles Devlin—who oversaw the operations at this facility and were vital to my receiving the most beneficial treatment.

      Also influential to my recovery were those who relocated from the Daytop Swan Lake facility to the Connecticut residential facility, including George Tocci and director Kenny Williams, as well as Daytop’s Connecticut residents, including Vinny Nuzzo and Jackie Robinson Jr. Thanks also to my mentor, King Dyckman, PhD; James Downey, uncle to Robert Downey Jr.; authors Jim Naughton and Larry Kudlow, who encouraged me to write; the men’s fellowship group in Stratford, Connecticut; and the directors of the Connecticut Board of Pardons, Connecticut Renaissance drug-treatment center, Greater Bridgeport Regional Narcotic Programs, and Élan Corporation.

      Thanks as well to my many childhood friends, including Denny Tillison, Vinny Knapp, Al Ambrose, Fred Kurtz, and all my friends from East Hartford High School.

      I have been blessed with parents and sisters who were there for me in good and bad times. My daughter, Uriela, has been the greatest blessing in my life, and I thank her for the graphic design for the cover of Blessed with Two Lives.

      Introduction

      R eality therapy states that everyone is responsible for his or her own behavior—not society, not the environment, not heredity, not the past, but each individual. I have learned that addiction recovery involves teaching people how to look at what they have been doing, evaluate their own behavior, and make a plan to do better. Contentment with oneself and one’s life does not come through a textbook or a magic solution to one’s problems. It is attained by accepting responsibility for what one does instead of looking for blame or finding fault or dwelling on the past or feeling sorry for oneself. It requires a desire for improvement within the reality of one’s own situation. It is about life and the way you live with yourself and others. This was Daytop’s version of reality therapy, used in group sessions at the time.

      Addiction to alcohol and drugs affects thousands of people in all walks of life. Because addiction can always return, there must be continued treatment. Freedom from addiction comes through involvement in a fellowship of men and women who keep showing each other by example how to say sober and clean. Treatment centers help in this process of changing negative attitudes and behaviors.

      I’ve seen this therapy work for thousands, young and old, who suffer from addictions. One must be open-minded, willing to change, and dedicated to succeed through recovery. My story is about change, recovery, and redemption from addiction, negative behaviors, and criminal

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