Johnny Allison’s substance use started as a way to cope with the trauma of war and chaos of military life. His recovery started as a way to become the soldier and person he knew he was and could be. Today, he is a Veteran, SMART Facilitator, and the Lead of the SMART UK Veterans Program.
In this podcast, Johnny talks about:
- What motivated him to join the British Army
- The ties between his boxing career and serving in the military
- Why his substance use started and not understanding what was happening
- How the COVID isolation affected his mental health and well being
- How he was becoming a shadow of himself
- His drive and commitment to finally getting help
- Finding SMART and how it helped him manage his thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
- Why he wanted to become a facilitator
- Creating the 1st Annual International Veterans and First Responders Webinar
- The best things about attending a Veterans meeting
Additional resources:
Click here to find all of SMART Recovery’s podcasts
PLEASE NOTE BEFORE YOU COMMENT:
SMART Recovery welcomes comments on our blog posts—we enjoy hearing from you! In the interest of maintaining a respectful and safe community atmosphere, we ask that you adhere to the following guidelines when making or responding to others’ comments, regardless of your point of view. Thank you.
- Be kind in tone and intent.
- Be respectful in how you respond to opinions that are different than your own.
- Be brief and limit your comment to a maximum of 500 words.
- Be careful not to mention specific drug names.
- Be succinct in your descriptions, graphic details are not necessary.
- Be focused on the content of the blog post itself.
If you are interested in addiction recovery support, we encourage you to visit the SMART Recovery website.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you or someone you love is in great distress and considering self-harm, please call 911 for immediate help, or reach out to 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline @ 988, https://988lifeline.org/
We look forward to you joining the conversation!
*SMART Recovery reserves the right to not publish comments we consider outside our guidelines.*