Recovery, in their own words

Sober Stories

Real people, real recovery. Honest accounts of what it was like, what happened, and what life looks like now — shared to remind anyone still struggling that they are not alone.

Charles 52 2/7/2025 Featured story
Age 52

Charles

Sober since

Charles looked like he had everything under control while alcohol quietly made everything harder. Sober since February 7, 2025, he shares how recovery gave him the clarity to rebuild, one de...

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Ralf Friedrichs 64 6/13/2013
Age 64

Ralf Friedrichs

Sober since

After years of struggling with alcohol, Ralf experienced a life-changing moment in 2013 that led him to sobriety. Today, he lives sober, serves others, and shares his journey of faith, recov...

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Lyss 27 4 / 24 / 2020
Age 27

Lyss

Sober since

From a really young age, I turned to drugs as a way to escape. I started using at 13, and for years it felt like that lifestyle was all I knew. I lost sight of who I was, and I was stuck in...

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Jay Birks 72 7 / 25 / 1988
Age 72

Jay Birks

Sober since

I drank and used when I didn’t want to. I sunk below my values quicker than I could lower them.

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Sue 63 10 / 6 / 2018
Age 63

Sue

Sober since

My first drink I was 9, my last I was 56. I had a 20 year dry period too. I blacked out from the beginning. But the numbing of feelings and the ability to talk to males was what really kept...

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Kevin Forsberg 45 2 / 29 / 2013
Age 45

Kevin Forsberg

Sober since

Awful and just terrible. Sickly and out of my mind. Drinking 7 nights a Week sometimes all day until was blacked out. Was losing my family and possessions cause of it.

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Jeff Kaser 54 4 / 18 / 2018
Age 54

Jeff Kaser

Sober since

"Living in addiction was easy—no responsibility, no accountability, just a hollow existence, like my soul had checked out. My addiction was born on November 20, 1991—my 21st birthday—the sam...

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Brenda Mattson 60 7 / 15 / 2015
Age 60

Brenda Mattson

Sober since

Excruciating. I did damage to every relationship I had. I would sit on the toilet every morning, for the better part of four years wondering how my life had become that. It hurt, but I could...

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Justin Hobson 41 7 / 24 / 2019
Age 41

Justin Hobson

Sober since

I spent over two decades caught in the chaos of addiction. Heroin and meth stole everything from me — my family, my identity, my health, and my future. I was in and out of jail, homeless in...

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Jordan Beavers 34 11 / 27 / 2018
Age 34

Jordan Beavers

Sober since

Heroin didn’t show up in my life as a monster. No, that would’ve been too easy to resist.It came as a whisper. A tender voice that curled around my ear and said, “Come here, baby. Let me hel...

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Morgan Smith 31 3 / 17 / 2022
Age 31

Morgan Smith

Sober since

It was pure hell. I was a slave to meth from the age of 19. I had experimented with other drugs as well and by the end of my last (and hopefully my last ever) relapse I was IV using both met...

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April Richards 32 8 / 28 / 2023
Age 32

April Richards

Sober since

I was an alcoholic. I was depressed. Struggling daily to just get through my day. Struggling in my marriage and friendships. Struggling in my relationship with God.

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