I was 17 when I had my first drink. And it was love at first sip. The taste, the smell, the way it made me feel. All bets were off when I went to college. My drinking got worse and so did the consequences that followed.

In 2016, during my junior year, I woke up one morning in the ICU. The doctor told me I had been on life support for the past 14 hours. He said my blood alcohol content had reached .47%—surpassing the levels for being legally dead.

I wish I could say this was the last time I got drunk, but it wasn’t. It took nearly 10 more months of hard drinking for me to finally seek help.

This past March marked one year of sobriety for me. After entering treatment, and losing a dear friend to an opioid overdose, my goal became to help change how we think about addiction. It’s time to end the shame, criminalization, and marginalization of those affected.

We are a nation in crisis. Overdose deaths are claiming more and more Americans every day. That’s why I Rise Up Against Addiction and will be participating in the Shatterproof Rise Up Against Addiction 5K Walk/Run. You should join me! Register for a Shatterproof 5K Run/Walk event near you.

I will continue to help end the stigma that prevents so many people from getting the help they need. I hope you do the same because together we can give hope to those in our community devastated by addiction.

September is National Recovery Month. Click here for ways to show your support.