Christopher Froehler

I would like to work in addiction treatment, in part, because I am a person with a history of addiction and feel that this would be a way of giving back. I know that I cannot undo any of the harm that I caused those negatively impacted by my actions while I was temporarily relieved of the ability to choose my choice. I recognize that I am responsible for that harm. I also recognize how difficult it can be to liberate one-self from patterns of behavior related to the adoption of maladaptive coping mechanisms. And that this can be especially difficult when the reliance upon these maladaptive coping mechanisms artificially decreases the choices available to us until the only choice we have left is to drink, use or engage in our (for the lack of a better term) behavior of abuse.

My personal experience with recovery has allowed me to understand that there was a way out of this pattern of destructive behavior for me. I believe that there are as many paths to recovery as there are individuals to go down those paths, and it is my hope that I can help to facilitate or guide individuals struggling with addiction toward the path to their recovery.

There is an A.H. Almaas quote that I think of often. It goes like this: "Only when compassion is present, will people allow themselves to see the truth."

I cannot speak for anyone other than myself. So I will say that at the heart of my addictive behavior was an un-truth. It was that I was not deserving of empathy, sympathy, patience, compassion, respect, or dignity. It was only through experience the compassion of others that I was able to see the truth of my situation as others could. It would take a lot of work but when was able to discover that everyone is deserving of my empathy, sympathy, compassion, and respect, and that we are all people deserving of dignity, where I once had resentment I only had compassion. And when I realized that I was one of the people who was deserving of those things, I no longer had a desire to drink or do drugs. I do not expect this to be the experience that everyone has, but do I intend to live my life having compassion for those who are ill-equipped to have compassion for themselves. I know I will not achieve this perfectly, but I will do the best I can in the moment, with the tools available to me at the time, given the circumstances.