Yesterday I was talking to a couple of our employees, both in recovery, about their plans for Halloween. Both were raising young children and decided to get the kids together for Halloween. In both cases, our employees had progressed from being incarcerated for drug offenses to being responsible parents after spending a few years at TLC.

Stories like this do my heart good. The parents involved in planning the celebration are living examples of what it means to be in recovery. A few years ago a plan like this would've been out of the question.

One of the payoffs of being in the recovery business is witnessing positive changes in the lives of former clients. Nothing is more satisfying to me than when I see recovering addicts acting like so-called "normal" people.

Often I explain to my employees that their sobriety, and the sobriety they help bring to the lives of others has a long-term effect. I believe that sober parents are a powerful influence in raising sober children. For the past 20 years I've listened to stories from clients who claimed their first experience with drugs or alcohol involved their parents. If their parents didn't provide the drugs or alcohol directly, they provided a bad example by their own addictions.

Conversely, parents who live right provide a good example for their children. Not only do the parents provide a good example, they can also recognize the beginnings of addiction in their kids and get them help.