At age fourteen, Cyndy Etler had escaped from her violent home only to be reported as a runaway and sent to a drug rehabilitation facility that changed her world. Behind the closed doors of Straight, Inc., the program used bizarre and intimidating methods to treat its patients. In this memoir, Cyndy recounts the living nightmare that she endured for sixteen months at Straight, Inc.

"What did Brenda Myers-Powell want? When she turned to prostitution at the age of fifteen, she wanted to support her two baby daughters and have a little money for herself. She was pretty and funny as hell, and although she called herself "Breezy," she was also tough--a survivor in every sense of the word. Over the next twenty-five years, she would move across the country, finding new pimps, parties, drugs, and endless, profound heartache. And she...

The pro skateboarder and Jackass star comes clean about fame, addiction, and the road to recovery in this candid memoir—forward by Tony Hawk.
At seven, Brandon was a skateboard prodigy. By the time he was fourteen, he was living the dream. Discovered by skate legends Bucky Lasek and Tony Hawk, he started touring the U.S. with the elite Powell-Peralta team. Brandon had it all. Then he got hooked on heroin.
Soon the up-and-coming...

After surviving nearly a decade of heroin abuse and hard living on the streets of San Francisco's Tenderloin District, Tracey Helton Mitchell decided to get clean for good. The Big Fix tells her story of transformation from homeless heroin addict to stable mother of three -- and the hard work and hard lessons that got her there. Rather than dwelling on the pain of addiction, Tracey focuses on her journey of recovery and rebuilding her life, while...

"I wasn't popular before I got locked up in Straight Inc., the notorious 'tough love program for troubled teens. But when you're psychologically beaten for sixteen months, you start to absorb the lessons. The lessons in Straight were: You are evil. Your peers are evil. Everything is evil except Straight, Inc. Before long, you're a true believer. And when you're finally released, sent back into the world, you crave safety. Crave being back in the warehouse....

The author recounts his own life as the child of two heroin addicts and his own battle with addiction and living on Skid Row, connecting his first-hand experiences to insights on solutions and policies that could help those suffering from homelessness and drug addiction.

"No matter what your road to recovery looks like, Dummies is on your side. Addiction and Recovery For Dummies gives you the tools you need to identify and face addiction in yourself or a loved one, while working towards a healthy and realistic approach to recovery. This book offers a compassionate, unbiased, and non-judgmental guide to evaluating and overcoming addiction. You'll learn to identify the range of addiction levels, the various types (including...

Find The Love, Patience, and Insight to Take Your Life Back What does it look and feel like to be a Mother of an Addict? How does a Mother's unconditional love help her child's addiction? Sandy Sherman is a Mother of 2 addicts, a Daughter and a Son. For 5 years, she felt her life was spiraling down into a pit of despair, fear, helplessness, grief that was consuming her life. She felt alone and humiliated and the dreams she had for her kids were all...

The son of broadcaster Bill Moyers shares his personal battle with alcoholism and drug addiction, describing his privileged childhood, multiple relapses, and rise to a key player at the Hazelden Foundation, an addiction treatment center.

After discovering that she was born in a prison to a heroin-addicted mother, the author recalls her subsequent descent into drugs and crime and her recovery as she finds forgiveness and acceptance for both her real and adopted mothers.