Clean - A New Generation of Recovery Speaks Out

Chris Beckman began drinking Jim Beam at age 11 and smoking marijuana at age 13. By the time he was 22 he was using meth, heroin, mushrooms, straight vodka, and "whatever I could get my hands on." At the age of 24, he was in rehab and starring on MTV’s Real World with millions of viewers watching to see if he would relapse.

Now, Beckman shares his story and advice in his new book, Clean: A New Generation in Recovery Speaks Out (published by Hazelden, www.hazelden.org). Written by Beckman with contributions from dozens of teens and twentysomethings in recovery, Clean is part autobiography, part addiction and recovery primer, and part wake-up call about what’s really going on in schools, cars, malls, and wherever else kids come in contact with drugs and alcohol.

Because Beckman has lived through addiction and is now in recovery as a young person, he has a unique point of view to share with young addicts who area trying to clean up their lives. He understands the confusion of the early months of sobriety when young addicts must confront hormonal changes, normal adolescent problems, and come to terms with how addiction stunted their maturation process. "We get clean at 20 and feel like we’re still 13 emotionally," he writes. He uses his story to illustrate the book’s fundamental message that recovery at a young age is very different from recovery in adulthood. Beckman writes, "To suddenly think,Clean is the real thing: an honest, non-judgmental, peer-to-peer lifeline for young people thinking about experimenting with drugs, for those who are already experimenting or those who are already addicted, and for families who want to understand and help. Clean examines the vast issues that young people and their families confront when faced with addiction; including, genetics and family history, emotional problems, denial, treatment, Twelve Step programs, relapse, therapy, relationships, and self-care. He offers first-hand accounts of his and other teens struggles with these issues and their work to maintain sobriety in a tempting world. Americans got a first hand look at Chris’ confusion and pain as he began negotiating life as a sober young man in front of television camera. Millions waited for him to stumble and relapse. But he didn’t and his hard work has paid off. Chris been clean and sober five years and now travels the country, addressing college audiences, grateful to share is experience, strength and hope. He is living proof that recovery works and saves lives, families and dreams.

Clean is a collection of candid first person accounts from the front lines of the current drug and drinking scene among teenagers and young adults. Each chapter begins with part of my autobiography and describes a specific stage of the disease, from its earliest seeds to the first crisis, denial, spiraling down, bottoming out, turning point, recovery, and relapse. After my stories, other kids from around the country and diverse backgrounds help complete the picture, charting the rest of addiction country in their own words. Equal emphasis is on how we ultimately live in recovery. A lot of us are out there; in this book we get to speak up about staying clean and sober while still enjoying being young.

Why Did You Write This Book

I didn’t see anything out there that really spoke to young people on this subject and I think addiction is different for us. Learning to live in recovery as a young person is complex—and sometimes feels nearly impossible. Besides the confusion of the first few months and years of sobriety, we are coping with the upheaval of adolescence, hormones, and growing up. Drugs and alcohol interrupt and stunt our maturation process. We’re not rediscovering and reclaiming who we were before we were alcoholics and addicts—because we had not yet become who we would be. We get clean at 23 and feel like we’re still 13 emotionally. The crisis that led to our bottoming out turns into an identity crisis as we try to catch up with ourselves and answer the question, "Who exactly am I?" I thought sharing how I answered that question might help others feel some hopefulness about their own recovery.

What will the reader learn?

• that addiction can affect people from the most "normal" backgrounds

• what the bottom of addiction looks and feels like.

• how everyone’s bottom and realization of addiction differs

• the first step toward getting better.

• how to find help

• how to stay clean and sober

• A new generation of young people who are growing up with more access to—and pressure to use—drugs and alcohol than ever before. Substance abusers are younger and younger.

• University students

• MTV/Real World fans

• For parents who want to be informed at the first sign of a problem.

• Substance abuse counselors, mental health workers, health care professionals, hospital and rehab staff, high school and college advisors, educators, policy makers—in short, any professional who either interacts with kids or has an interest in where and how chemical dependency in youth intersects with the world at large

Initially the process of writing was scary for me. The first few chapters were tough for me to recall due to the extreme clouded times of my addicted past. This whole experience has been cathartic for me and if I had the chance I would do it all over again.

Yes, It is not easy to stay sober especially in the very beginning of my recovery. I think the more time I have the easier it has become, but there are still triggers all around. It takes constant work to stay sober. There have been some extreme low points in my recovery, which has made my strength much stronger for having survived them without picking up.

I would say never to let some issue or problem be the excuse from losing control of his or her life. To stay responsible in every decision and problem in their life.