I challenge poverty and addiction and replace it with the dignity of self-worth.

I’m Michael. I’ve been there.

Everyone around me told me I was intelligent and high-functioning, and I believed them. But I could never quite reach the bar that had been set. So, I turned to another bar. From the moment I set foot on the college campus, alcohol was the answer. As my drinking progressed, I became less and less capable. It’s a miracle I graduated. I bounced around jobs. By age 25, I couldn’t show up for work or take care of myself. Addiction was so normal in my family, I never thought drinking was the problem. 

I entered recovery and spent extensive time in treatment centers. The facility that addressed the shame, self-loathing, self-destruction and worthlessness I felt literally saved my life. When I stopped wanting to change how I felt and lived in reality, I could make the changes I needed. When I made new choices, the positive reinforcement motivated more positive choices. 

I know the power of reclaiming the dignity that addiction destroys. What I didn’t know was basic life skills. Alcoholism had stripped away my self-confidence, and especially in in early recovery, just holding down a job and paying bills could be challenging. I studied finance in college, which proved surprisingly useless. When I researched “personal finance” nothing led me to what I needed. It was all investing and budgeting, when what I needed was real-world financial know-how. Which is how I came to Bedrock Financial Health. I am here to bring dignity and value back to people coming from hard places of hopelessness and despair.