Charlie W.

Purple Alumni :: XII

I took my first drink at 11 years old, and that night I knew I had found my thing. I knew that I wanted to drink and get drunk everyday for the rest of my life. I had finally found the confidence and courage I thought I had lacked my whole life. 

Little did I know that in the next six years I would experience more pain, misery and outright suffering than I thought was humanly possible. Through actions and choices none other than my own, I drove myself headlong to the gates of insanity and death. I was hospitalized five times in two years before I found Purple.


I was recommended to Purple by staff at the psychiatric hospital. I was apprehensive at first, but I knew I wanted relief. What I found was that and so much more. I was introduced to a way of life that offered me peace, happiness and freedom. I met a group of men in states very similar to my own; all with open arms and a new found enthusiasm for life that was incredibly infectious.

Today, my life is everything I thought it could be and more. I have re-built relationships with my family, developed friendships on a level I would never have expected and I experience true happiness. Life isn't complicated and I don't have to complicate it either. I am confident in myself and proud of all that I have accomplished.

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