Brad began using drugs & alcohol at 8 years old in Washington state. By the age of thirteen he was injecting meth amphetamine intravenously. He spent 5 years in Washington state youth authority, eventually graduating to state prison, in and out from 1985 – 1992 for various drug & alcohol related crimes.
Living in an extremely violent and dysfunctional home, he felt safer on the streets than at home so he began running away and living on those streets at age eight. Eventually those streets led him to the streets of San Francisco Tenderloin district. After robbing a local drug dealer, he was kidnapped, stripped naked and violently beaten and left for dead. At that point Brad reached out to the Northern California Service League which referred him to The Solidarity Fellowship in San Mateo. His recovery journey began there in 1992.
At that point Brad was illiterate, a felon on parole, no employment history with no basic job or life skills. Knowing he lacked so many basic skills, Solidarity put him to work in the fellowship and paid for him to take a drug and alcohol certificate class at College of San Mateo as well as work with him to learn to read and write. Brad was in the first graduating class of College of San Mateo’s Drug and Alcohol counselor certificate program. He spent the next seven years at Solidarity and transitioned to a counselor, then program director and finally regional program director.
An unfortunate reality of recovery is relapse. It is very common for those in leadership roles to who are so focused on helping others that they neglect their own recovery. And Brad fell victim too that reality and suffered a significant relapse which again led him to court intervention. Brad successfully completed San Francisco felony drug court program in conjunction with completing an eighteen month Salvation Army program.
After that program, Brad was hired by Center Point to serve as a SAP (substance abuse program) counselor for Solano prison, a prison in which he had once been incarcerated.
In 2001, Brad was hired by Yolo county to work as a drug counselor working with clients from various programs including Prop 36, Drug Court, DUI, CDP eventually transitioning to the Yolo County Mental Health Court.
In 2019, after a twenty year career with Yolo county, Brad retired as a “Alcohol Drug & Mental Health Specialist – Case manager for metal health”. He continued to work part time through 2023 helping those in need.
His personal and professional experience with recovery is invaluable and what drives him to continue to help others and partner in Stella Solidarity Recovery Services, Inc.
Program Director / Founder
