The Psychiatrist Who Told Him He Was Too Good at Manipulating People 🤣 – Brian C.

About This Speaker Tape

East Coast Convention - 2014

A mask of respectability served as the perfect cover for Brian C., a professional con man hiding a thirteen-year crack habit while working at a state hospital. He traces the wreckage of his family—a mother killed in Chicago and a sister wasted away by AIDS—and the loneliness of being a 'slave' to a dope dealer in a basement. The turning point arrives through a friend who tells him he can't win a war while standing on the front lines. Brian C. describes the grueling process of getting his grandkids out of the system after a tragic shooting and the irony of the state refusing him food stamps while paying him a foster care stipend to raise his own kin. Tara P. follows dismantling the delusion that she was a 'drain on society' and discussing how service from putting up chairs to taking on the secretary role pulled her out of the 'poor me' trap and allowed her to reclaim her children.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Brian C. begins by discussing his early brushes with recovery in 1987 and the barbershop meetings.
• 5:12 Brian C. describes the trauma of losing his cousin to a dope house robbery and his sister to AIDS.
• 10:45 Brian C. discusses the 'mask' he wore to hide his crack use from coworkers at the state hospital.
• 15:20 Brian C. recounts being a 'slave' to a dealer in a basement and the friend who offered him a way out.
• 20:15 Laughter: Brian C. admits to being a manipulator and 'predator' with newcomers in early sobriety.
• 25:40 Brian C. shares the story of his grandkids being shot and his fight to get them out of CPS.
• 32:10 Tara P. begins her share, discussing her arrival in Fort Wayne and her early relationship with her Higher Power.
• 38:50 Tara P. discusses the importance of service and her role as a secretary in her home group.
• 44:15 Tara P. reflects on being a 'drain on society' and the process of getting her children back.
• 50:20 Tara P. discusses the 4th Step and the freedom found in forgiving herself.