Outspoken
I believe the single most important weapon we have to defeat this disease that effects over fifteen million Americans is to speak out and destroy the stigma of shame and blame associated with Alcoholism. Alcohol kills over three million people a year, and addiction to this poison is the most widespread epidemic of our own human invention and proliferation in history.
I don’t just write to battle the stigma, I speak out about it, too. I am very comfortable with groups large or small. I speak in corporate, religious, secular, government, educational and non-profit settings to all age groups including teens entering their alcohol experimentation years. I address issues including recovering out loud, society’s culpability in the alcoholism epidemic, the challenges of early recovery, family dependency and recovery, the impact of alcoholism on intimate relationships, parenting to end the cycle of addiction, and strategies to combat teen substance abuse.
To discuss a speaking opportunity, please contact me at [email protected]. My schedule typically books out three or more months in advance, but I can occasionally accommodate last minute requests.
Listen to My Speeches:
My Alcoholism is Not a Spiritual Problem – November 2019
I gave this speech to a community of people recovering from alcoholism through the twelve steps. It was not an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, though many of the people in the audience were AA participants. In the speech I make the argument that alcoholism is not a spiritual problem for me, so a spiritual solution is no solution at all. The speech led to a lively, yet open-minded discussion.
Fearless Teen Drinking: Make Alcohol a Choice – September 2019
After a large, racially and economically diverse high school experienced a series of brazen and scary incidents of abusive alcohol consumption, I wrote this speech to help teens understand that drinking is a choice rather than an expectation. I’m not naive enough to think we can convince all adolescents to avoid alcohol altogether, but I am eager to try to convince them to let their peers make their own choices without pressure or social consequences. Maybe by allowing alcohol to be a choice, they will make their own best decisions.
Alcoholism is More Prolific than Cancer, and We are the Cure – June 10, 2018
Almost 15 million Americans have cancer, but there are more than 15 million American alcoholics. Addiction to alcoholism touches all of our lives. In this speech designed to inform and destigmatize, I talk about how victims of cancer are treated with love and care while victim of alcoholism are treated with scorn and shame. The cure for alcoholism is available to us in changed attitudes and in the voices of those of us willing to tell our stories – willing to wear the label alcoholic without fear. It is a speech about misperception and bravery. It is about societal influence and rejecting the stigma. Most of all, it is about the cure.
Watch My Demo Video:
People are Talking…
That’s one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard.
-Reverend Richard Evans, PhD, June 10, 2018
Your strength is contagious. And you don’t sound like a prohibitionist. Or a preacher. Or a teetotaler. You sound like, well, a Prophet. You’re sharing your experiences and wisdom so that those of us that are paying attention can benefit from it, be OUR best selves, and look to give back/serve others. Thanks again, Matt
-Brian Stafford, September 12, 2018
Thanks again for your sharing and analyzing with great courage.
-Pat MacMillan, June 17, 2019