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TW child abuse, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse:
“Doug Smith [Leading with Conviction™ 2018] experienced abuse in early childhood, and at age 12 when his father left, he spiraled into severe depression, suicidality, and repeated psychiatric hospitalizations.
“As a teenager, he discovered alcohol and used it to manage his symptoms while earning a master’s degree in social work and working at a suicide hotline, even as hospitalizations and heavy drinking continued.
“In his mid-30s, after a suicide attempt and abruptly quitting alcohol, Doug was introduced to crack cocaine, triggering years of intense addiction, medical crises, psychiatric admissions, and failed treatment attempts. During this period, he lost his marriage, access to his child, and his freedom, eventually serving nearly six years in Texas prison for robbery-related charges.
Watch the interview:
“While incarcerated, Doug found purpose in peer leadership, serving as a sexual-assault-prevention educator, 12-step sponsor, and chapel volunteer. After his release, he experienced relapses but reframed them as part of recovery rather than failure, rebuilding his life, his mental health, and his relationship with his daughters through honesty and accountability.
“Doug later remarried, adopted his stepdaughter, and built a career training peer specialists and advising states on mental-health, recovery, and justice-system reform. He authored The Path of Rocks and Thorns, blending his personal story with leadership and recovery insights, and continues to speak, train, and return to prisons as a free man to help others find a path forward.”
Thank you so much for supporting our mission here at JLUSA! Your donation helps to support our network of leaders working to dismantle oppressive systems and uplift people and families impacted by mass incarceration across the country.
All charitable donations made to JLUSA are fully tax deductible, as allowable by the IRS.
