12 Step Recovery Historian, Author, Educator, and Advocate
Gary K is a very influential person active in almost every area of the recovery community that exists.
He serves as Director of Recovery Education at Comprehensive Wellness Center in Lantana Florida, Hazelden Author, Recovery Play-write {PASS IT ON...AN EVENING WITH BILL W & DR. BOB) , 12 Step Recovery Educator and Group Facilitator, CCAR Certified Recovery Coach and Trainer of Recovery Coaches, 12 Step Advocate, Circuit Speaker, “Bill W.”/12 Step Historian, Ambassador for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc., a cast member of Viceland’s DOPESICK NATION (appearing in 6 episodes on A&E Television) and the subject of a documentary made for Public Television "GARY K - ONE STEP AT A TIME" .
A MESSAGE FROM GARY K
EXPERIENCE, STRENGTH AND HOPE
I am clean and sober over 20 years and blessed to know that my “life mission” is to carry the message of hope and the miracle of Recovery to as many people as I can reach.
I was born and raised near Akron, Ohio – birthplace of 12 Step recovery. In 1978 I moved to New York City where I began a 30 year-long career performing in Broadway Musicals, National and International tours, off Broadway Theater, Film, Voice overs and Television. My alcoholism and addiction fully progressed by the time I was 21. Between 1980 and 1995 I was sent to dozens of detoxes, several trips to psyche wards and jails, stints in Rational Recovery, Smart Recovery, Jungian Therapy, Freudian Therapy, Anthony Robbins Fire Walks, Sweat Lodges, Peyote Treatments and a host of other “pathways to recovery”. In 1994 I entered the first of many treatment center experiences resulting in 19 relapses. In 1996 I hit rock bottom and surrendered to the 12 Step way of life and with Psychotherapy, EMDR, medication, Spiritual Direction and good Sponsorship I it has not been necessary for me to take a drink or a drug for over 2 decades.
HISTORY OF SERVICE and RECOVERY
By the Grace of God – while in treatment I met the two men who first took me through the 12 Steps and co-sponsored me for over 20 years until their deaths in 2017 – they were pioneers of the 12 Step way of life.
These “original gangster” pioneers who became my sponsors profoundly inspired me. From the day I was given the gift of sobriety they instilled in me a sense of duty and passion for doing service work for my home groups as a greeter, making coffee, chairing meetings, group secretary, raising funds for recovery clubhouses, serving as GSR, serving on round up and convention steering committees, manning the phones on the NYC Intergroup hospital desk and bringing meetings into prisons and drunk wards for Hospitals and Institutions Service Boards, Sponsoring and making 12 Step Calls. I have taken over 2000 men through the 12 Steps using the method employed by Dr. Bob and Bill W. and the early pioneers of 12 Step recovery in the 1940’s which produced recovery rates far higher than today.
12 STEP HISTORIAN
For 2 decades I have studied and researched in the Archives of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services in New York City, the archives at Stepping Stones – the home of Bill W and Lois Wilson in Bedford New York, at the Wolfe Street Foundation Archives in Little Rock Arkansas, the AA Archives in Akron Ohio and the Dr. Bob Archive at Rockefeller Library at Brown University.
ON 9.11 MY LIFE WAS CHANGED FOREVER. Working on Wall Street in early recovery - I found myself in the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit the North Tower. By the Grace of God I narrowly escaped with my life, volunteered for service in the Evacuation Triage and witnessed countless miracles. I began to share my STORY OF SURVIVAL AND HEALING THROUGH SERVICE on national television, on the radio and in print including Chapter 2 of the book TOWERS OF HOPE and numerous newspapers, magazines, blogs and other national print media.
My experience on 9-11 led me to explore the contemplative life as a silent monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Bardstown Kentucky where I took a vow and re-dedicated my life to be of maximum service to those who suffer and carry the message of recovery to as many people as possible.
In 2014 I moved from New York City to South East Florida where I am currently on staff as Director of Recovery Education Programs at Comprehensive Wellness Centers in Lantana Florida – a dual diagnosis alcohol and addiction treatment facility
where I serve as a counsellor, recovery coach, group facilitator and teach the history of 12 Step Recovery and facilitate a 12 Step Immersion Program for our patients www.cwcrecovery.com
From coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada I also am honored to serve as a Recovery Circuit Speaker and facilitate EDUCATIONAL PRESENTATIONS DETAILING THE HISTORY, HOPE AND HEALING OF 12 STEP RECOVERY for community groups, educators, medical professionals, law enforcement officials as well as TREATMENT GROUPS for PHP and I.O.P. patients and staff at addiction treatment centers.