Continuing our September series, “Teen Recovery,” we bring you the story of David, a young man from Massachusetts who entered recovery as a teenager and grew into adulthood clean.David grew up in a house where addiction was the norm and using was encouraged. At the age of 10, he began repetitively coughing and convinced the adults around him to give him an opiate-containing cough syrup. At just 13 years old, he began intentionally drinking and using drugs, quickly escalating to harder substances. What started as a way to feel “a part of” left him more isolated than ever—he soon realized he was the only one in his group who actually even used those drugs, and worse still, he kept using.In an effort to escape, David left Massachusetts for New York, but his addiction followed him. In college, he was caught selling drugs to pay for his habit, leading to expulsion and the threat of criminal charges. An inpatient stay spared him legal consequences and introduced him to the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous.Early recovery was shaky. At his first men’s meeting, someone questioned whether he even belonged, but that doubt gave him the exact fire he needed to keep coming back. With a sponsor, a home group, and support from an intensive outpatient program, David began to build a foundation. By eight months clean, he reached back out to his school—and against all odds, they allowed him to return, on the condition that he continue drug testing and attend meetings.By the time his miracle year rolled around, David celebrated clean time both in Massachusetts and New York. He poured himself into school and leaned on the fellowship to teach him how to live the life he had never been shown. Still, the journey wasn’t easy. Being the youngest person in the room left him feeling isolated, and living clean in a college environment where everyone around him was using set him apart. Relationships, too, became a substitute drug until he learned what it really meant to love another person—and himself.Today, David is a 30-year-old man who has survived and thrived through his twenties entirely clean. From a teenage boy running from addiction to a man anchored in recovery, his story shows how surrender, dedication, and service can transform a life. David reminds us that recovery isn’t just about surviving—it’s about growing up, one day at a time.

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