We were lucky to catch up with Shane Watson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Shane thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?
My background is in journalism and broadcasting, so the way I found myself in the field of mental and behavioral health education and consulting is definitely an odd story. It was a combination of serendipitous timing, utilizing a great deal of personal experience, a tremendous passion for helping others, and being given some gracious opportunities during a very challenging time in my life. If all the pieces hadn’t lined up exactly the way they did, it may not have happened.
I am an individual in long-term recovery from addiction and alcoholism, now over 12 years sober. Due to the decisions I made under the influence of drugs and alcohol, I have a felony conviction from the last night I drank or used (11/28/11). Despite having a university degree and years of experience in a variety of fields (journalism, broadcasting, marketing, eBusiness, sales, public relations, etc.), my felony quickly made me nearly unemployable. I wasn’t just getting turned down for jobs related to my degree, I was getting turned down for everything I applied for, hearing the same answer every time: “Sorry, we don’t hire felons.” I was at the point of trying to get unskilled warehouse labor jobs and being told no.
One day while having coffee with a friend, I was expressing my frustration over the situation. I told him, “I completely understand why companies have this policy. But I am no longer that person. Whoever takes a chance on me is going to get everything I have to give.” A gentleman at the next table happened to overhear me. He apologized for interrupting but asked, “Do you have any public speaking experience?” I let him know that I had years of it. He then followed up with, “Do you have a story to tell? Like a recovery story?” I laughed and replied, “Oh yeah, I have a story to tell.” He suggested that I apply at a local prevention nonprofit that works to prevent unsafe and unhealthy behavior in youth. “Once you’re a year into recovery, they’ll give you a shot and you’ll be speaking in schools,” he added.
Once I reached a year sober, I applied. I told them, “I want to work here. I am so interested in sharing my story in schools. But if you need me to do other things, I’m happy to do them. I’ll do filing, I’ll make coffee. I’ll clean the floors. I just want to be here and want a chance.” They gave me the opportunity to travel to middle schools and high schools, sharing my addiction and recovery story. When sharing my story, I explained to kids why I started drinking and using, the consequences I faced as a result, and what I do differently today to cope with life, find happiness, and stay sober. I talked about the importance of healthy relationships, positive communication skills, and healthy coping skills. I also provided students with a variety of resources to use if they’re ever struggling, including the Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Crisis Text Line.
Within a few months, the organization made me a full time staff member. Eventually, I trained and began speaking on topics including suicide prevention and intervention, bullying prevention, safe social media use for youth, stress and anxiety, depression, self-injury prevention, and more. I soon began speaking to adult audiences as well, educating parents, grandparents, guardians, educators, and other community members. The organization then made me their Public Information Officer, giving me the opportunity to do local and national media interviews, including the “Today Show,” “Good Day New York,” “Kansas City Live,” and PBS
I was so grateful for the opportunity. I propelled myself full speed ahead. By the time I left the organization after nine years to start my own LLC, I had done over 600 speaking engagements and 100 media interviews throughout the United States. I had the chance to save lives and change lives for the better. And this all happened because a stranger gave me a tip and a local organization gave me a chance.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I think it’s most important to start with WHY I do what I do. I do what I do to save lives and change lives for the better. I do it to help equip individuals and families with mental health knowledge, tools, inspiration, support, and resources that absolutely have the potential to save lives and change lives for the better– including the lives of kids. I do it to help rid society of the stigma surrounding mental and behavioral health challenges, so that those facing such challenges feel comfortable speaking up and asking for help. Finally, I do what I do because I remember what it felt like to feel alone, broken, strange, and less than. I don’t want anyone else to have to wrestle with those feelings alone. I want them to know that no matter what they’ve done or what has happened to them, there is a path to healing and recovery. They can not only survive, they can thrive.
Next, I think it’s crucial to explain HOW I do this. I do what I do by leveraging experience. I’m utilizing 11 years professional experience in the field of prevention and mental health, including seven years facilitating and early intervention or diversion program. As far as personal experience, I’m incorporating the knowledge from 20 years of my own struggles with addiction and other mental and behavioral health challenges, as well as my 12 years in long-term recovery from those struggles. Finally, I’m drawing upon my 11 years experience as a parent, which gives me a level of understanding and empathy for other parents and the challenges they and their kids face in this era.
As far as WHAT I do, it’s a variety. I do speaking engagements on a variety of topics. I share my story of addiction and recovery to help prevent kids from making the same mistakes. I also share that story to help families with addicted loved ones and individuals in active addiction know that there is hope, people can change, and recovery is real and possible. I also educate parent and faculty groups on substance use prevention, suicide prevention and intervention, and general mental health (stress/anxiety, depression, self-injury, suicide). I do these speaking engagements both in person and via Zoom. It’s a unique blend of information and inspiration that I pride myself on. I want to feed both the head and the heart when I connect with people. I want people to leave my presentations with new knowledge and a sense of hope.
Also, I am doing consulting sessions (in person and via Zoom) with individuals in recovery who need coaching and support, individuals looking to be in recovery, family members of individuals in recovery, and family members of individuals actively wrestling with addiction and/or other mental and behavioral health challenges.
Additionally, I help lobby for programs and policies that will help benefit individuals, families, and society as a whole.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
While training and knowledge are indeed crucial in the field of mental and behavioral health education and support, I truly believe you can only go so far without a genuine passion for helping people. That passion is what has allowed me to continue after 11 years that included a number of very challenging days. There are a lot of victories in this field, but there is also a great deal of heartbreak. It’s easy to burn out and I’ve seen it happen too many times to count. I feel like that passion for helping others is innate. It can’t be taught and it can’t be faked. I guess it can be faked for a while, but eventually the truth will always come out. Time will tell you everything.
The next thing that I believe is really important in this field is personal experience. When individuals find out I didn’t just read about addiction and recovery in a book somewhere but I actually lived it, the walls come down. I’ve had numerous people, especially young people, tell me that the reason they listened to what I had to say is because I’ve been there and they believe I am able to understand and empathize with them.
Finally, empathy is key. Very little progress, if any, can be made in this field without empathy. When I help others, I am very easily able to put myself in their shoes because in many cases, I was in situations similar or identical to the ones they’re in. Even if they’re experiencing something I didn’t live through, I can still make a point to understand what it feels like. Empathy and respect have allowed me to build bridges with people who previously wouldn’t talk with anyone else about the challenges they were facing. I have been able to intervene in suicides as a result and have helped people get sober. I have numerous letters and cards from people thanking me for helping them or their loved ones. I even have a framed email printout from someone who told me, “I’m alive today because you helped.” That to me is success.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My journey as a whole illustrates my resilience. From overcoming drugs and alcohol, to refusing to let a felony defeat me, to not being discouraged by how “late in the game” I got sober and started in this field (age 36), to choosing to not hide my mugshot (that was all over Google image search) but use it in my platform, to deciding to continue to show up every day through the reality of losing people to overdoses and suicides, it’s all been resilience.
I’ll highlight one of those in particular. Shortly after I began my recovery, I discovered that my mugshot (which is made public online in Arizona when you get arrested) had been downloaded by bots and replicated on dozens if not hundreds of mugshot websites. Each of the sites had a button that said, “Click here to remove.” The button brings up a credit card form where it cost somewhere around $100 to supposedly remove your mugshot from that website. But it’s a scam. Also, even if you remove it from one, it keeps getting duplicated on others. The predatory individuals who ran those sites were banking on panicked people being desperate enough to hide their mugshots that they’d end up forking over thousands of dollars all told. I refused to play the game.
I told myself, “You have two choices. You can spend the rest of your life fearing that mugshot and worrying about who will see it, and you can give it power over you. Or, you can take that power back, use that mugshot as part of your platform, and intentionally show it to as many people as you present to, because that’s not you anymore.” Obviously I went with the latter. I’ve shown that mugshot every time I’ve shared my addiction and recovery story and it’s been a powerful piece of the speaking engagement.
On my one year sober date, I took a picture of myself to do a side-by-side comparison photo with my mugshot, because in that one year, I went from 220 lbs of unhealthy alcohol weight to my normal weight of 170. Each year on my sober date, I took another one to continue showing the progression. Two years after I started doing that, I shared the progress photos on Reddit. Little did I know they were about to go viral. My “sober progress photos,” as various websites and publications called them, ended up in newspapers in Europe, showed up on the website Bored Panda, were posted on Cosmopolitan’s website, and ended up duplicated on dozens of other sites. I started receiving emails and DMs from people saying that the photos were a huge encouragement to them. Others asked for help. All of this started because I chose to not let my mugshot have power over me. The pictures can still be found online today.
Contact Info:
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