19: Dr. Robb Kelly – On Addiction and Recovery
World-renowned addiction consultant who believes in treating the problem of addiction not the symptoms, Dr. Robb Kelly talks about addiction and recovery.
Hello and welcome to this episode of Padded Cell, I am Anthony Oluoch. According to the world health organization, the harmful use of alcohol results in 3.3million deaths each year. 31 million people have drug use disorders and almost 11 million people inject drugs. Now these are scary statistics, and as my guest Dr. Robb Kelly says, we are all affected in one way or another by addiction. Dr Kelly is a world-renowned addiction consultant who believes in treating the problem of addiction not the symptoms. Today, he inspires, educates and changes lives with his amazing gripping story of success to failure to success. Here’s an excerpt from his book, Daddy, Daddy, Please stop Drinking.
I’ll never forget what she said as she was leaving with my daughters, I will always love you Robb, but you’re not killing me, and you’re not killing our children. It was of course the wisest thing she could do but it triggered something deep inside of me. I could not believe that she thought she could just walk out the door with my children. I called my lawyer and offered him an extortionate amount of money to get my children back within 24 hours. He delivered them back to me the next day and I placed them in front of the television and that is the last thing I remember before I hear banging on my front door days later. I could hear children crying in the background and I knew I’d come out of a drunken blackout once again. I fought the mental fog to make sense of my surroundings and get my bearings. I opened my eyes and as the room started to come into focus through the blur, I saw my two small children sitting on the floor. They were so young, and both were crying, and I knew I was in big trouble and had done something once again that was unforgivable. My children were crying because they had not been fed for a couple of days.
Empty bottles of vodka and beer were strewn across the floor as I struggled to sit up and tell my children that it would be okay. The house looked like a bomb had gone off, a place you would never frequent if you were sane. Barely conscious or thinking straight yet, I heard bang, bang, bang! It was the police at the door. The neighbors had called them and reported that I was unconscious from drinking with my young children present. I stumbled to the door in full knowledge that I had gone on yet another bender with my children in my sole care. I saw the disgust on their mother’s face as she stood there with the authorities knowing quite well that I was not capable of caring for myself not so less my children. They snatched the crying children and handed me a piece of paper which said two words that have been permanently branded into my brain and have haunted my nightmares since: “UNFIT FATHER.” As the authorities trundled down the path with my children, Charlotte, my eldest turned to me and says “daddy, daddy please don’t go.” A few steps further, she turned and says “daddy, daddy please get better.” Then, in one final turn the last pleading words uttered by my beautiful, innocent child were “daddy, daddy please stop drinking.” After closing the door, my response was to grab another beer from the refrigerator. Within weeks I was barred entry from the house we shared, and my world crumbled around me.
Daddy Daddy Please Stop Drinking – Dr. Robb Kelly
robb@robbkelly.com
