Over here at AfterParty, we receive an onslaught of questions from people about addiction and recovery. And well, our video series AfterParty Answers gives us an opportunity to address them. In this episode, Anna David and Danielle Stewart answer a reader’s question about switching addictions.
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The question, in short, is this: do you need to tell your boss you’re sober? Anna and Danielle acknowledged a) that they live in LA, where every other person is sober, b) they’re hardly bankers/lawyers/in jobs where propriety is of the utmost importance and c) they work at AfterParty, where being an addict—or at least suffering from some good, old-fashioned mental illness—is practically a prerequisite.
Taking all that into consideration, their answer was: hell, no, ain’t no one’s business but your own! In other words, while sober folks should absolutely feel comfortable telling whomever they want that they once poured vats of vodka down their gullets, they are in no way obligated to disclose that to anyone—let alone their employer. As Anna and Danielle pointed out, sitting the Big Boss down and coming clean is likely to make your sobriety into a bigger, and not a smaller, deal.
There are, of course, many opinions on this topic but if you want Anna and Danielle’s complete answer, check out this vid. While the girls aren’t in any way medical professions (emphasis on “aren’t in any way medical professionals”), they are sober folks who have not only grappled with some of the issues being asked about but have also written scads of articles for this very site on them. Tune in every month to see what you, our faithful readers, want to know.
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