The 36-Hour Treatment Center Stint – Mike D.

About This Speaker Tape

South Side Chicago, age six: a father’s sudden death leaves a void that Mike D. filled with a "chunk" on his shoulder and a lifelong habit of going right when told to go left. He spent years as a professional at the office and a disaster everywhere else, clutching bottles of Wild Turkey and mastering the art of the lie. After a 36-hour stint in treatment that ended the moment he saw someone "worse off," Mike eventually crash-landed into a room of red chairs and raw honesty.

The turning point came in South Dakota at a coffee shop called the Crack Pot. His sponsor, Joe Friday, stripped away the delusion that alcoholism was just "getting drunk a lot." Joe dismantled Mike’s wreckage into three parts: a physical allergy, a lying mind, and a broken soul. He taught him that while the program can't fix the body or the mind, it can fix the soul through a Higher Power. Mike stopped judging the 13th drink and started focusing on the first.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Laughter: Story about Greenpeace volunteers at the beach.
• 5:12 Childhood trauma: The sudden death of his father at age six.
• 10:20 Early substance use: Smoking 'oregano' and the transition to alcohol in high school.
• 16:45 The 'L-shaped hallway' moment: Contemplating suicide before being reached by Brian.
• 20:15 Introduction to the Lamont Oaks Group and the 'red chairs' for newcomers.
• 26:30 Sponsorship: Meeting Joe Friday and the discussion on the physical allergy to alcohol.
• 32:10 Step 1: The dialogue about the 'broken soul' and the inability to do what is right.
• 38:45 Step 4 & 5: Working the sex conduct inventory and confessing to a priest.
• 44:10 Step 8 & 9: The grueling process of driving from South Dakota to Chicago for amends.
• 51:20 Reconciliation: The miracle of becoming a son to his mother again.
• 56:15 Steps 10-12: Discussing the 'back rubs' as a sign of spiritual growth in his sponsees.
• 62:00 Closing: The 'Danger, Will Robinson' robot metaphor for spiritual power.