Addicts share their stories of recovery
PENN TWP — Looking around the room, Spencer Geibel opened up with an ironic observation during the annual luncheon celebrating addiction recovery.
He grew up a member of the very country club where he stood Wednesday speaking before a crowd of more than 200 people.
“This club sent me a life expulsion letter,” Geibel said, recalling how the letter came at the height of his struggle with addiction.
For 14 years now, community members and leaders of recovery groups in Butler County have gathered for a meal to celebrate both recovery at large and one of the county's key resources for struggling addicts: the Ellen O'Brien Gaiser Center.
Attendees at the luncheon usually are treated to speeches from recovering addicts, including people who recently went through Gaiser Center programs. This year's event at Butler Country Club was no exception.
Geibel described his early adulthood as a derailing train he couldn't stop. For many years he couldn't find a way out of addiction, he said, and he couldn't put the brakes on the chaos filling his life.
He hated the idea of long-term recovery programs. But 72 days with the Gaiser Center worked. He now owns and operates a funeral home service in Butler.
“I never knew I could get to where I am today,” Geibel said. “I went to that program and I built a foundation.”
The Gaiser Center has produced its share of local leaders.Its executive director, Linda Franiewski, told the room about her stint at the center some 35 years ago. She went for help beating her own alcohol and drug addictions.“I would love to see someone else from our program go on to be an executive director one day,” Franiewski said.Franiewski, a Butler County Community College graduate, will be honored Saturday by the BC3 Education Foundation with the Distinguished Alumni Award. In addition to BC3, she holds degrees from Slippery Rock University and the University of Pittsburgh.
A third recovering addict, Casey Mullen, rose and told the story of how he went from Duquesne University dropout to Duquesne Law graduate.“I was arrested on Duquesne University School of Law's steps with 9 ounces of powder cocaine in my bookbag,” Mullen said.Years later, after three years in prison refocused his life, Mullen completed his undergraduate degree and returned to Duquesne in hopes of attending law school.His application was denied three years in a row.Determined not to allow his past struggle with addiction to define his future, Mullen kept trying. Eventually, a new dean at the school took a chance and granted him admission. The ugly spot on his record was later cleaned up, too, by a pardon from then Gov. Ed Rendell.Today, he's a criminal defense attorney in Pittsburgh.Mullen succinctly explained why people like Geibel and himself feel compelled to tell their stories.“Somebody has to stand up,” Mullen said. “For so long, I hid this, and so does everybody else. Every time we reveal this, we're told no. We all hide it out of self preservation.”
