Chained Open: A Journey of Discovery and Alcoholism Recovery is the poignant true account of one man's life in a residential treatment program and his long and difficult path to sobriety.
Michael Beechem is a college professor living in bondage to a drinking problem. He successfully fools his family and colleagues for years, but with his career on the line and his family in disarray, he finally joins a thirty-one-day inpatient treatment center.
Within the facility, he is forced to battle his demons head-on, coming face-to-face with his brittle denial and thick defenses.
Eventually, he joins a ragtag group of fellow addicts who provide the help and support he needs. But his road to recovery is far more challenging than he could have imagined.
Presented from a patient's perspective by a mental health professional, this raw and honest memoir provides an insider's look at the inner workings of a substance abuse treatment center-where the residents bond like siblings and grieve when their time is finished.
In the vein of books like Inside Rehab by Anne M. Fletcher and Double Double by Martha and Ken Grimes, this powerful story about personal growth and discovery will both captivate and inspire.
About the Author: Michael Beechem, MSW, PhD, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work from Michigan State University. He provided grief work counseling for chronically ill patients before directing mental health services in a five-county region. He went on to earn a PhD with specializations in social work, psychology, and administration.
Beechem's university teaching career spanned twenty-five years and included time at the University of West Florida. There, he provided instruction in mental health-related courses and directed the university's Center on Aging. At the university-owned television station, he hosted a program interviewing community leaders and developed a training video on elderly alcoholism.
For his extensive university and community involvement, he received the university's first Faculty Service Learning Award. His research has focused primarily on substance abuse, for which he has been interviewed by various media about treatment options for addicted persons.
He is also the author of Elderly Alcoholism Intervention Strategies.
