When: Thursday November 21st, 12:30-2pm
Where: Hazelden Betty Ford Bellevue is in the Overlake Medical Pavilion Building on the Overlake Hospital campus
What: Free event featuring William Moyers, light lunch, a talk by William Moyer, Q&A hosted by The Sober Curator Founder Alysse Bryson, and book signing/sales. Raffle for signed copies of the new book Broken Open and Broken.
In a new memoir, Broken Open, published this September as a follow-up to the New York Times-bestselling Broken from 2006—William C. Moyers reveals that during his 30-year recovery from illicit drugs and alcohol, and a successful career as a national recovery advocate and fundraiser for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, he experienced a multi-year “run-in” with prescribed pain medications.
The story—featuring dozens of diary entries—describes in vivid, relatable detail how Moyers felt compelled to keep his opioid use disorder secret from the most important people in his life as he struggled to understand what was happening to him. With everything he knew about substance use disorder, recovery, and his journey thrown into question, Moyers felt overwhelming shame. Yet, he eventually moved beyond addiction once again, this time with the help of an anti-craving medication that is perhaps the most under-utilized tool in America’s efforts to turn the tide on its relentless opioid crisis.
“I thought I had all that I needed in the tools that had worked for me and been so important to my recovery journey up until that point—from regular recovery meetings to healthy daily practices that nurture my spirit to a rich community of people like me for support,” Moyers says. “But, in this case, I needed something else, something more—a medication to quiet my craving brain. Only then could I move past the shame and confusion I had felt and embrace my evolving journey in a new way—not as a redemption story, but as a whole-life story—replete with failures, fears, joys, triumphs, and sorrows. I’ve made peace with the reality that our stories aren’t set-in-stone accomplishments that we must forever strive to live up to; they’re ongoing adventures that we get to live into.”
Moyers wrestled with the very stigma he’d been fighting against for years as a well-known national speaker and the deep shame he had never truly released—now exacerbated by a new substance use disorder. Along the way to being broken open and fully exposed, he gained fresh perspectives on addiction and recovery that run parallel to a growing national dialogue and the evolving practices of his employer, Hazelden Betty Ford, the nation’s leading nonprofit provider of substance use and mental health care and related education and publishing services. Broken Open will be published by Hazelden Publishing and available Sept. 3, as Hazelden Betty Ford celebrates its 75th anniversary.
“William has inspired thousands of people over the past 30 years, and he’ll inspire thousands more as he shines new light on the complexities of addiction and recovery, the value of addiction treatment medicines, and the harm of stigma and shame in every form,” said Hazelden Betty Ford President and CEO Joseph Lee, MD. “William is a big part of Hazelden Betty Ford’s 75-year history and an important recovery voice nationally, thanks to his skill as a communicator and remarkable willingness to be vulnerable—a trait he shares with our namesake Betty Ford. His journey is like the journey of many in recovery, with ups and downs that all eventually reinforce hope.”
In the book, Moyers describes how he was so paralyzed by fear and confusion that he sought the help of an addiction medicine doctor outside of Hazelden Betty Ford, even though his employer was leading efforts nationally to integrate buprenorphine into treatment center protocols and breakthrough long-held stigmas against such medications.
“As they learned more, my leaders at Hazelden Betty Ford were rightfully concerned and asked many tough questions that were justified based on how I’d hidden the truth of what I was experiencing,” Moyers said. “I see now how afraid I was to lose everything I’d established over 30 years and how unworthy I felt.”
Moyers feared his “run-in” (as he calls it in the book) with pain medications would erase all the good he had done as a national advocate.
“It didn’t feel like a relapse in the way I expected any return to substance use might. I wasn’t experiencing many consequences other than internal turmoil. I still felt like I was in recovery even before taking the anti-craving medication, so it was confusing,” Moyers said. “In the end, I learned that recovery is an intimately personal journey that isn’t always measured simply by abstinence or even sobriety. The experience crystallized the reality that there are many pathways, not just one way, to get well, and I hope others will see themselves in the story and feel empowered. Embracing the truth that we’re people whose lives are always in process is hard, but it’s a way to a new kind of freedom.”
The story resonated with Moyers’ friend, music legend Rosanne Cash, who wrote the foreword and was inspired by his relentless drive to help others, even as he struggled.
“In every obstacle, confusing or tortured moment, something in him knew the current experience could be useful to another suffering soul later. That is a high calling,” she writes. “I felt moments of joy reading Broken Open. … I felt a sense of liberation by William’s permission not to try so hard, not to avoid the truth of pain and shame, but- to wander an utterly authentic path, even if it sometimes seems circuitous or slow.”
For years, Moyers measured his recovery by the number of days since his last drink or last stop at the crack house. Now, he marks his recovery journey as beginning at the first moment he realized he wanted to get well three decades ago. He says it’s been a long and strange road since then, but worth every up and down.
“There are as many roads to wellness and recovery as there are people who seek these things—and we can support and accompany and encourage each other even as we’re on separate paths with different markers and milestones,” he says.
The book is available for preorder from Hazelden Publishing and most online book retailers, including Amazon. It will be distributed by Simon & Schuster. An extensive book tour is planned, starting later in the summer through the end of 2024, including 75th-anniversary events at all of Hazelden Betty Ford’s residential sites nationally.
About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families, and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. As the nation’s leading nonprofit provider of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient addiction and mental health care for adults and youth, the Foundation has treatment centers, telehealth services, and a network of collaborators throughout health care. Through charitable support and a commitment to innovation, the Foundation can continually enhance care, research, programs, and services and help more people. With a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center, the Foundation today is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in its services and throughout the organization, which also encompasses a graduate school of addiction studies, a publishing division, an addiction research center, recovery advocacy and thought leadership, professional and medical education programs, school-based prevention resources and a specialized program for children who grow up in families with addiction.
#QUITLIT: Broken Open by William Cope Moyers | #QUITLIT Book Review The Sober Curator
TSC LIBRARY: Welcome to The Sober Curator Library! We don’t just read books; we immerse ourselves in literary journeys, tune in on Audible, and craft insightful reviews. Our digital shelves are organized into three genres: #QUITLIT, Addiction Fiction, and Self-Help.
SOBER IN SEATTLE: Get ready to dive into Seattle’s sober scene—where zero-proof and sober-curious vibes are as iconic as our city’s Space Needle! We’re your go-to guide for all the coolest spots to enjoy elevated, alcohol-free experiences.
Picture this: vibrant venues where unforgettable moments happen, from chic NA bottle shops to electrifying recovery game nights with the Seahawks or Mariners. Our community is shaking up social norms and turning wellness-focused lifestyles into the new trend.
Whether you’re a Seattle native, just passing through, or somewhere in between, everyone’s welcome to raise their glass—without the booze. Discover why Seattle’s sober scene is as refreshing as a sunrise over the Puget Sound. Trust us, you’re in for an amazing time!
Got an event, product, restaurant, experience, or story rooted in the Emerald City? We’re all ears! Drop us a line at thesobercurator@gmail.com or slide into our DMs on social media.
A Disco Ball is Hundreds of Pieces of Broken Glass, Put Together to Make a Magical Ball of Light. You are NOT Broken, Friend. You are a DISCO BALL!
Resources Are Available
If you or someone you know is experiencing difficulties surrounding alcoholism, addiction, or mental illness, please reach out and ask for help. People everywhere can and want to help; you just have to know where to look. And continue to look until you find what works for you. Click here for a list of regional and national resources.
