About Me

Matt Salis is a behavioral health writer and researcher with over a decade of experience studying addiction and emotional abuse, and a master’s degree in sexual health. He is a leading expert on the impact of addiction and emotional abuse on intimacy in committed partnerships. He is the executive director of the nonprofit organization, Stigma, and writes and co-hosts the Sober and Unashamed blog and the Untoxicated Podcast. Matt is the author of soberevolution: Evolve into Sobriety and Recover Your Alcoholic Marriage.

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My name is Matt Salis, and I live in Denver, Colorado with my wife, Sheri, and our four children. I am blessed with a loving family, many friends, a good career, two paid-off cars and a lovely home in a nice neighborhood.

But I had a secret. No one knew the defining characteristic that almost destroyed it all – my marriage, my business, my reputation. No one knew the shameful deceit that would eventually have killed me. No one knew I was an alcoholic.

And when I knew I had to stop drinking – when I knew my marriage, my children and my very life depended on my sobriety – I faced the intense shame of being the only person abstaining in an alcohol-soaked society.

Through Sober and Unashamed, I share my story in all its painful, embarrassing and hideous detail. I did not have a DUI or other legal problems, I did not lose my job or destroy my finances, and I held onto my marriage by my fingernails. Because my alcoholism did not involve a very public “rock bottom,” I was able to hide my disease and the ravaging effects alcohol had on my life from almost everyone. Now I tell my story so that others like me – heavy drinkers with no outward signs of calamity who are slowly dying inside – can find camaraderie, comfort and maybe a glimmer of hope.

Alcoholism touches the lives of more people than cancer. If you struggle with drinking, or your life if affected by the struggles of someone you love, I encourage you to subscribe to my blog. The shame of sobriety is overwhelming in our alcohol-worshiping society. If we ever hope to cure this very curable disease, we need to start talking about it. I invite you to join the conversation.

Matt Salis has been published in Elephant Journal, Thrive Global, Medium, Recovery Today Magazine and Urban Life Wash Park.