Alcoholism and Addiction Recovery Part 3

In this, the third in the Hickle series, the author pulls together the pieces that remain in the discussion up to this point into one work. Sobriety isn't just not drinking or using. Rather it is a number of pieces that come together that make sense, creating a coherent whole which we can call life. Always the one with titles that make you scratch your head, Bob offers such pieces to consider as: "A 50-50 Chance" and "The Professionals See Them First" and "Doing The Right Thing For The Wrong Reason" and "Shut Up And Listen" and finally "I Never Got Anybody Drunk". Like his other works, this booklet is in Bob's straight-forward, plain-speaking, down-to-earth jargon-free style. Read to be enjoyed while learning at the same time.

Drawing on 40 years of experience where he developed employee assistance programs in both the railroad and manufacturing industries. Counseling hundreds of alcoholics and addicts Bob developed his own way of seeing the alcoholic/addict, their families, the addictions profession, and society’s view of alcohol.
His unique view starts from having had parents who were both alcoholics then raised by his grandmother who was a teetotaler and a member of the Women’s Temperance League. If you asked him, he would tell you he never had even a sip of alcohol believing that if he did, he’d go down the same road as his parent. This was quite an accomplishment given that Bob served in both Army and Navy during WW II. Additionally, he served on several boards and committees during the initial development of alcoholism treatment programs in the State of Iowa while also being a Boy Scout Leader, an active member of the Methodist Church, and an avid outdoorsman.

I was fortunate to be a friend of his for several years then as he prepared for retirement. I, not being one to mince words, asked him what would happen to his booklets after he died. “I guess they’ll die with me” was his response. It was at that point I offered to keep his works alive by keeping them in print first only as a book then as eBooks, Kindle, and now audiobooks. Making allowances for the time in which he wrote and recognizing that most of his work was with alcoholics you’ll find they have endured the test of time and that what he wrote can easily be applied to any addictive behavior. You will enjoy his writing, finding as he said, “I write the way I talk,” clear, to-the-point, and jargon-free.