Here you go fellow Dudes...

My early life growing up on an Indian reservation in eastern Montana in the mid-1950's and 60's was, I have to say, quite interesting, as I look back. Growing up in glaring poverty, yet not knowing it because everyone was living the same existence. Seven boys and 3 girls in the family made evening meals active and competitive, being sent away to a religious boarding school only added stress to an already stressful life. However, there was much good to be had along the way, learning to make our fun, versus having to be entertained, learning how to work at a very early age only translated to a strong work ethic later in life. Being exposed to religion was the precursor to finding and living a spiritual life of my choosing, learning to share what we had because that is how we stayed strong as a family and community.

Yet alcoholism and later drug addiction entered our home very silently, it began to fracture what was already vulnerable to many other intrusions from life circumstances. This silent capturing of each of our lives, either through impacts from someone else's using or our own active use of these destructive substances, became the greatest pain a mother, father, sister and brother will ever feel. How to stay out of the crosshairs of either of these impacts became a full-time effort. Yet one-by-one each child was pulled into this lifestyle, though if we fast forward this story to save the reader from, perhaps familiar grisly detail, we can arrive at a modern day miracle, which is that all of the brothers, sisters, father and mother ended up getting the gift of recovery before many passed away.

This set the stage for my entire family to start giving away to others, the miracle that had been given to them, some through their church, some through traditional cultural practices, some through a group called alcoholics anonymous and when reflecting on myself, it was through all of the above that I got into recovery 47 years ago and following, what I consider to be some of the best Counselor/Therapist training programs in the country, received at the Hazelden Foundation, I began a career of helping people from all walks of life to find their road to recovery.

To this day, I continue to serve others in their search for recovery, serenity, peace of mind and more. Over these many years, I have held many positions and titles in this treatment field that I can bore you with at a later date, yet the most meaningful and satisfying is doing what I now do, through my practice, Lifeline, LLC,  to teach people how to live in long term recovery. It would be an honor to share with you our stories of how we have all come back into life from our addictions and how, as Dudes, we continue to practice self-care, reaching our hands out to help the Dude coming behind us. We are strongest together, be fierce brothers about self, faith, family, friends and those in need. See ya out there...

Rod. K. Robinson

Lifeline Consulting