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We recently had the honor and privilege of gaining some insight into the life and times of Owen McLean. Below, he shared his story and shed some light on his life experience in relation to his recovery.
1. How did you become involved with or learn about TriCircle?
I learned about TriCircle through my Mom's involvement. Although I no longer lived in Connecticut at the time when my Mom got involved, it's where I grew up so I'll always have a connection to the state. It's also the place where I started using so I really appreciate organizations like TriCircle taking action locally to provide support.
2. Have you or a loved one benefited in some way from the services TriCircle offers?
Yeah, my Mom seems to get a lot out of her involvement. She continues to work with the organization, including as a volunteer. I know she gets a lot out of helping people.
3. What activities do you engage in to help others in recovery or those dealing with a family member's addiction?
I'm a big proponent of 12 step recovery programs & remain active in those, trying to help other addicts as best I can. I've also spoken at rehabilitation centers & prisons, worked with TriCircle in the past, and tried to be a positive influence on the people I knew from when I was a using addict.
4. Can you share a brief overview of your journey with addiction and recovery? What does it feel like to have 4 years under your belt, free of drugs and alcohol?
I really got started using when I was 15; although I had tried substances earlier, that was when I began compulsively using. It quickly spiralled out of control from there & within months began creating chaos in my life. My parents eventually put me into an intensive outpatient program, my first experience with any sort of addiction treatment. Unfortunately, it didn't really take since I quite frankly didn't want to change. I did manage to cut back on my using for a time, largely out of self preservation, until I moved out to go to college. I was right back to wreaking havoc in my own life & the lives of those around me, this time without my parents as a limiting factor. Things intensified further than ever before and my mental health deteriorated until I checked myself into a hospital for fear of taking my own life. There was a moment of desperation where I suddenly realized that I actually valued being alive & my using was now in complete opposition to that. Self preservation now meant I would have to stop completely to save my own life, not just get better at hiding my using to avoid punishment from my parents. That sense of self preservation has stuck with me, even more than four and a half years later I am keenly aware that this remains a life or death situation for me. While my life has improved leaps and bounds by virtue of getting clean & I'm proud of where I am today, I purposefully try to focus on the present & avoid getting complacent in my recovery. With the time I have clean, I don't find myself really struggling with cravings for drugs anymore, so avoiding complacency usually means working on the other areas of life that are affected by my disease.
5. What was the most challenging part of seeking help for your addiction?
The most challenging part of seeking help was gaining a willingness to accept help in the first place. To this day, I'm not entirely sure how I overcame that. I had been in multiple life threatening situations of my own making prior to the day I got clean. None of that ever made me want to change, until suddenly that day it did. I will say that around that time I was becoming more motivated by goals for the future which I kept sabotaging with my using, that might have helped me feel like I had something to live for & helped push me past the threshold where the uncomfortability of staying the same outweighed the uncomfortability of change. While there have certainly been challenges since then, all of them pale in comparison to gaining that initial willingness.
6. What positive factors did you encounter in your experience?
I mean, there's really too many to describe. Getting clean was the best thing that's ever happened to me. Using was the number one source of my problems, a lot of them just straight up went away when I got clean. Aside from that, I've gotten freedom to take control of my own life. I've developed legitimately healthy relationships with people who I'd never have met otherwise. My relationship with my family has improved immensely. I've been able to pursue my professional goals. I've been able to travel the world. I've been able to work on myself in ways that simply weren't possible when I was using. The list goes on; for virtually everything good in my life today, recovery has been the foundation.
7. What barriers, if any, did you encounter in accessing treatment, such as location, transportation, cost, or availability?
Not many, to be honest. Especially now, in the post-COVID age of ubiquitous online meetings for virtually every flavour of recovery, treatment is a click away. As for cost challenges, I am personally very wary of any treatment option that charges the addict. There are countless effective options that are free of charge. It should be noted that I've never done inpatient treatment, so I cannot speak to the challenges associated with that. But in virtually every case, I believe the addict themselves will be their own biggest barrier to accessing recovery.
8. How important was the support of family and friends in your recovery journey?
The support of family & friends was invaluable to my recovery journey. My parents have been nothing but supportive and have always been there when I needed them. I've become friends with many fellow recovering addicts, without whose mutual support I wouldn't have been able to recover at all. As for my friends who were around when I was using, some disappeared when the drugs did but others helped me out immensely. And when I make new "normie" friends, I really appreciate the acceptance most of them have that I don't use drugs or drink.
9. What other information (personal or professional) would you like us to share in our newsletter?
Anyone who'd like to get in touch can reach out to me via email at owenrandallmclean@gmail.com. Professionally, I'm an entrepreneur so a little shameless self promotion is now in order: if you're in need of alternative women's clothing check out my website https://ghoulrip.com, OR if you're in need of business consulting/digital marketing/web design services you can check out my other business at https://anotherworldproject.com. Use code TRICIRCLE10 when placing an order to receive a 10% discount!
10. How can your skills and expertise benefit the people TriCircle serves?
Well, from a personal standpoint, I can relate to anyone affected by the disease of addiction. I don't pretend to have all the answers but I know the pain addiction brings quite well. For addicts in particular, I can make some recommendations as to what has worked for me. Professionally, I can benefit you if you need new alternative women's clothing or business consulting/digital marketing/web design services!
Thank you, Owen, for your dedication to TriCircle and for your willingness to share your story, your thoughts and your talents with us.
Together WE are Stronger!
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