Episode 6 Transcript
This is a radio transcript. It may still contain typos and errors.
[Music in]
[Eric Spofford] It’s a little bit of all… all of the above, right? It’s certainly my new place to live in Miami for when I’m here. But I still travel around. I travel between here and the Northeast…
I want to catch you up to speed on what Eric Spofford has been up to lately.
[Eric Spofford] …And so it'll be home base while I'm here. Also…
This whole podcast started with Eric. And while we’ve tackled much bigger ideas over the past few episodes, it's worth checking in. Because what Eric’s been up to, it says a lot… about him and the addiction treatment industry.
Now, an interview with Eric never happened. I have more to tell you about that in a bit.
But anyone with internet access can get a pretty clear picture of the parts of Eric’s life that he wants people to see.
Eric has posted hundreds of videos on his YouTube and Instagram accounts. The titles of the videos alone paint a picture. Like, “How My Yacht Makes Me Money” and “Squeezing Every Last Drop Out Of This Life.” There’s also “F%CK HOW YOU FEEL!”
One I want to tell you about though is called “I Bought My Dream House in Miami (Full Tour).”
[Music] …Because I’m the king of this mountain. Look in the eyes of a champion… (music fades down)
Most of Eric’s content is similar in vibe: Loud hip-hop music. Lots of footage of Eric exiting or entering expensive modes of transportation.
And in this “Dream House” video, he climbs out of a black Rolls Royce, locks it, and then the camera follows him as he struts into this super modern waterfront house in Miami.
[Eric Spofford] Welcome to my house! Miami! Venetian! (hip-hop music up and fades under)
I told you in the second episode of this podcast that Eric sold Granite Recovery Centers in December of 2021. He says he made hundreds of millions of dollars on the sale. A few months after that, he bought this house for $21 million.
In this video from March of 2022, he tells interested viewers about his seven bedrooms, his pool that overlooks Biscayne Bay, and his heated toilet seats.
[Eric Spofford] (hip-hop music fades back up) It’s got the heated seat, bro. Do you know how warm that is? Do you know how comfortable it is? You put your ass cheeks on that thing, man?
[Man] Damn! Damn! (laughs)
Eventually, the full tour of the dream house comes to a close. Eric sits down at the bottom of his floating staircase. The camera is now focused just on him… because Eric wants to talk about why he moved to Miami.
[Eric Spofford] As I’m sitting here about to record a video to talk about why Miami, this is the type of stuff that I get.
Eric holds up his phone to the camera and you can kind of make out what looks to be a long direct message from someone on Instagram. He turns his phone back around to himself and reads the message out loud.
[Eric Spofford] And this gentleman says, “How much are you profiting off of others’ pain? You’re a fraud…” Uh… I probably have all the junkies lined up. And, you know, just… I’m a liar and a thief with no integrity, and I have no balls.
Eric says this kind of “drama,” as he calls it, is a big reason why he moved. “Haters” were attacking him.
[Eric Spofford] New Hampshire largely became a very inhabitable place for me to live.
I think he means uninhabitable.
[Eric Spofford] New Hampshire, although I get a huge amount of love, right? A huge amount of love – it’s 95% love for what we did there. We created a recovery movement. We created one of the largest providers of addiction treatment and recovery services in the Northeast. // But I got a lot of attention inadvertently in the beginning, and I got it from a lot of people that are not very well, right? I… I joke around that I’m the most well known drug addict in…in New England. I think that’s either true or close to true. And that came with some consequences, like this message, right? It just became uncomfortable.
Looking at Eric sitting at the bottom of these fancy stairs, wearing a diamond chain around his neck with his company logo on it, it does not compute for me that this is a man who is uncomfortable. What consequences?
[Music in]
This man is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct from women who worked at and attended his last treatment center.
But Eric is still in it.
He’s still in the addiction treatment business. He’s started a new company. And he just opened its first residential facility in Ohio.
And Eric says he plans to make a ton of money.
This is The 13th Step. I’m Lauren Chooljian.
[Music up and out]
[Eric Spofford] (hip-hop music fades up) What’s up? Just landed in – where the fuck are we?
[Voice] Columbus, Ohio.
[Eric Spofford] Just landed in Columbus, Ohio. Opening day of a new business – White Light Behavioral Health…
This is another one of Eric’s many YouTube videos. This one is called “Recovered Drug Addict Entrepreneur Starts Addiction Treatment Program.” It’s December 2022. Eric is sitting on his private jet. He announces to the camera that he’s started a new business called Treatment X.
The plan is that Treatment X will run facilities in multiple states. White Light Behavioral Health in Columbus, Ohio is the first one. Eric took his private jet to staff orientation.
He and his team get off the plane and into a black SUV. His video guy starts to ask him some questions.
[Videographer] I think it’s kinda crazy though that you just sold a business and now you’re doing this – all within what 12 months? When did you sell it?
A woman sitting next to Eric says, “Yeah, it was a year ago last week.”
[Woman] Two months from buying this building to dual accreditation, licensure, opening.
[Eric Spofford] (laughs)
Dual accreditation, licensure – that’s the oversight stuff I told you about in episode four.
In one year, Eric was able to sell Granite Recovery Centers, find a building in Ohio, clean it out, hire staff, and get the required state approval needed to open a residential addiction treatment center.
Though, Eric left his face and name off both websites – for Treatment X and the Ohio facility – even though he’s clearly involved. His name and signature are on the official state paperwork that registers both businesses.
And in the opening day video I’ve been telling you about, Eric is portrayed as a big part of orientation. He shakes hands with the new treatment staff. He gives what seems to be a keynote speech. It’s one you’ve heard him give before – Eric’s recovery story.
[Eric Spofford] My name is Eric Spofford. I’m in recovery 16 years. I celebrated that… Thank you. (audience applauds) I grew up in a town named Salem, New Hampshire. It’s right on the Massachusetts line…
So this is what Eric’s been up to: living mostly in Miami; running a company called Spofford Enterprises, which calls itself a real-estate and venture capital company; he’s opened a new treatment center; and Eric is also trying to teach anyone who is interested how to succeed like he has.
He offers online coaching sessions, including one class called “Learn How to Start Your Own Addiction Treatment Center.”
The website features a little ad-style video of Eric. Above the video player, it says, “Learn from a guy who sold his last treatment facility for 9 figures in 2021.”
[Eric Spofford] In this course, I’m going to teach you absolutely everything you need to know to start, grow, scale, and operate an addiction treatment business.
For the price of $7,497 dollars you gain access to 14 modules. Things like “patient acquisition strategy,” “potential problems to consider,” and “licensing and accreditation.”
If this course is anything like the snippets of advice Eric posts on social media, his potential students can expect a lot of emphasis on turning a profit.
[Eric Spofford] I’m going to build 1,800 treatment beds. I have 116 active today…
For example, this video called “Stay Focused On The Mission And Know Your Numbers!”
[Eric Spofford] …At 1,800 beds at 80% occupancy is 1,500 patients being served daily. An average blended reimbursement rate of $550 dollars…
The editing is really choppy so this video is hard to follow, until he makes his final point. And then it's clear.
[Eric Spofford] … And market trends show that will trade somewhere between 16 and a 19 X multiple. That’s a billion dollar deal. And so that’s… that’s what my day-to-day, my first day-to-day job is. We’re building a business in a quality meaningful way. We’re building it as if we’ll own it forever, but we plan on selling it and transacting at $300 million of top line revenue for a billion dollar valuation in the next five to seven years. (sound effect)
…
There is, of course, nothing wrong with entrepreneurship.
But watching Eric’s social media reinforced two ideas: that it’s still relatively easy to start an addiction treatment center, and apparently there is a ton of money to be made.
[Music in]
Of course, this isn’t all Eric Spofford has been up to.
For a lot of the time I’ve been working on this podcast, I’ve also been facing the lawsuit Eric filed against me, my newsroom, and three of the sources in this story. It’s for defamation. Eric is claiming that the story I published about him last year is entirely false. And he’s claiming that I knew it was false.
Eric’s lawyers claim that because of my story, Eric has experienced, quote, “significant setbacks in growing his investment portfolio and expanding his business ventures.”
Our lawyers responded to Eric’s lawsuit by filing a motion to dismiss – basically, asking the judge to throw this thing out.
In January, there was a hearing on our motion in a New Hampshire courtroom.
[Judge Daniel St. Hilaire] Good morning, the court is calling the matter of Eric Spofford vs New Hampshire Public Radio et al…
I have audio, though it’s not the best. But I want to give you a glimpse of what this was like.
The hearing took place on a Tuesday morning in front of state court Judge Daniel St. Hilaire. Both sides' lawyers were in the courtroom, of course. Eric also made the trip up from Miami to be there in person. He wore a well-tailored navy suit. No tie.
[Howard Cooper] Good morning, your honor. Howard Cooper…
A lawyer named Howard Cooper argued Eric’s case.
[Howard Cooper] …Let's start with the Snapchat photographs, where they were from years before! There had never been any mention of anything like this happening! There was no civil lawsuit. There was no criminal lawsuit. The woman who told Ms. Chooljian that she'd received – over two years! – pictures from Mr. Spofford of his penis, a so-called dick pic, just so this could be the most sensationalized story they could possibly publish. She said…
Cooper talked for about an hour, pretty much at this same level of outrage, while Eric sat a few feet away from him listening to this discussion about his penis and a so-called dick pic.
[Howard Cooper] What the New Hampshire Public Radio defendants published, and I say this respectfully, is an addicted woman's allegation under the cloak of anonymity! And it is irrelevant that Eric knew who she was.
Despite Cooper’s “respectfully,” it's stunning to hear him use such stigmatizing language, especially since he’s representing someone who is in recovery.
Stunning – but not surprising. You might remember that Eric’s initial response to my reporting included a line that suggested some people with substance use disorder shouldn’t be trusted.
[Howard Cooper] No responsible journalist would ever have published that.
The hearing took about two hours total. The judge didn’t ask many questions, so we couldn’t get a great read on what he was thinking. Everyone packed up their stuff and left the courtroom.
And then, we waited.
…
The judge said he’d rule in the next few months – an incredibly vague and anxiety inducing measure of time.
My biggest concern has always been that Eric would gain access to my reporting materials – my notes, details about my sources.
[Music in]
Not because I have anything to hide, but because this is the kind of lawsuit that First Amendment advocates worry about.
[Music post]
These kinds of lawsuits can have a chilling effect; they can deter people from talking to journalists, which means… stories like this one would not exist.
[Music up and out]
Finally, three months later, April 2023 – we got an email. A ruling from the judge.
Judge St. Hilaire dismissed Eric’s lawsuit.
We put a link to the decision on our website if you want to read it.
But in short, Judge St Hilaire said that Eric didn’t present any facts that show NHPR acted with what’s known as “actual malice.” In legal terms, that means Eric failed to convince the judge that we knowingly or recklessly published falsehoods about him.
Soon after that, Eric asked the court again for access to my reporting materials.
So all this to say – this legal battle is far from over.
…
A few hours after the judge granted our motion to dismiss, Eric posted this to his Instagram story.
[Eric Spofford] Little report from Costa Rica. It’s beautiful here. It’s actually a lot less humid than I…
He’s talking into the camera while sitting poolside at the Four Seasons in Costa Rica.
[Eric Spofford] Just thinking about all the adversities and challenges that we face in business, right? We have to go to war sometimes. There’s some things about war that there are to know. One, prepare – Pray for peace, prepare for war. Make sure you have a good skill set ready, that your sword is sharper than the other guy. Make sure you have sufficient resources to survive a war. And the ultimate thing that wins wars, is make to sure you’re willing to take it further than your opponent.
[Music in]
I sent Eric a final request for comment before we published this podcast. I emailed him a list of questions.
And a few days later, Eric wrote back. He said he was surprised I reached out, but glad I did. He said he’d be open to an interview.
But there were conditions. He wanted to bring his own camera crew, and record the interview. And he wanted it to be, what he called, a discussion, where he could also ask me questions.
Those were conditions we could not accept. He was welcome to record audio – just like I would be – but not video.
As for interviewing me? Under these circumstances, that was not appropriate. It’s unusual for any journalist to agree to be interviewed by a source and he’s in the middle of suing me. So that was a no.
He wrote back, offering a different condition: He wanted me to promise, in advance, that I would publish the complete, unedited version of our interview in this podcast.
That was also a hard no. News organizations don’t give the subjects of their reporting editorial control over what they publish. Besides, if I did that for everyone I interviewed, this podcast would be hundreds of hours long.
By the way, you can see our whole email exchange on our website.
I told Eric multiple times that I would call him. I asked for his number. I gave him a time we could talk.
But ultimately, Eric sent a statement.
Here’s the whole thing. Quote, “I offered to do a sit down, tell all, interview under one condition; NHPR publish the entire interview. But NHPR and Lauren are not interested in fair, unbiased, ethical journalism. They refused my interview because they want to censor me to fit their narrative.”
[Music up and out]
MIDROLL
[Lauren Chooljian] Thanks for having me.
[Nikki Bell] Yeah, of course. Of course.
[Lauren Chooljian] Such a cute space.
On an extremely warm day last August, I drove to Worcester, Massachusetts.
[Lauren Chooljian] Oh, my God. It's so hot!
[Nikki Bell] I know, I left my AC on all weekend because I was like…
[Lauren Chooljian] There's no other way!
I’m sitting down with Nikki Bell in her office on two comfy, floral print chairs. The air conditioner is blaring.
[Lauren Chooljian] I might scooch this a little closer.
[Nikki Bell] Yeah, sure.
[Lauren Chooljian] Is that cool?
I’m here to learn about an organization called LIFT. It’s short for Living in Freedom Together.
Nikki is the founder and her story helps explain what LIFT is trying to do.
[Nikki Bell] I bounced in and out of treatment programs, jail, shelters, you name it, for almost my entire adult life. And one of the things that was never addressed in any of those spaces was safety, the trauma I experienced, and exploitation.
Nikki was sex trafficked when she was 16 years old by her first boyfriend. Opioids entered the picture not too long after. For more than a decade, Nikki was prostituted to support her drug addiction.
[Nikki Bell] It's almost like this component of being a woman with substance use disorder. The reality is, most – more often than not, you've had to exchange sex for drugs, money, a place to stay, but nobody talks about it. And so it was something that was really preventing me from actually, like, finding recovery, sustaining recovery.
Nobody talks about it.
This is why I’m here. LIFT is trying to create safe spaces for women. Supportive spaces that are honest about the reality of women’s experiences of prostitution and addiction.
LIFT’s overall goal is to end the sex trade.
And a quick language note for you: Some groups use the term sex worker, but at LIFT, they say prostituted person. LIFT believes most people end up in prostitution because they don’t have a choice. So it’s not work; it’s sexual violence. So for this episode, I’m gonna use their vocab, too.
Nikki started LIFT as a support group for any woman who had experienced prostitution. And so often, addiction is a big part of that experience. So is sexual abuse and harassment. Nikki told me she experienced both in nearly all the spaces that were supposed to be built to help her: Shelters. Food pantries. Treatment Centers.
[Nikki Bell] It's almost acceptable… // Like, it's normal to be sexually harassed in those places. It's normal to, like, walk into those places and the guy checking you in at the counter is somebody that's paid to access your body. And, like, even, like, when they're coming in for commitments, right? It's normal to have those guys that are speaking about recovery and what a great life it is, to be perpetrators, right? And so, it's so hard to, like, find safety anywhere.
Paid to access your body means paid for sex, meaning you’ve walked into a place looking for help and run right smack into your trauma. A life you’re trying to leave behind.
[Nikki Bell] It's, like, treatment is hard. It's… it's hard work. // You're trying to build skills to deal with, like, your trauma. // And every day to have to see a person that, you know, you know, has violated you and perpetrated violence against you makes it that much harder to stay. I mean, I know so many women that have run just because of that.
Since 2014, LIFT has expanded significantly. They own and run an emergency drop-in shelter. They work with the local DA’s office on a diversion program.
But I was really curious about a house they call Jana’s Place. It’s a residential recovery facility and it’s specifically designed for women who have experienced prostitution and substance use and mental health disorders.
It opened in 2019, on a residential street in Worcester, Massachusetts. You’d never know it was a treatment center if you walked by, which was intentional.
Jana’s Place can take 16 women at a time and there’s often a wait list.
Nikki told me she’d take me over there, show me how they do things differently.
And before we headed out, Nikki told me she actually played my original story for the women at Jana’s Place. The story about Elizabeth, Employee A, and Employee B.
[Nikki Bell] We listened to your story together as a group. And then, I said, you know, I said that you would be coming over, and I said, “How many of you have experienced exploitation in a treatment center?” // And every single person in the room raised their hand, every single one. So again, it's kind of so common that it's, like, almost expected, which is really gross and sad.
[Music in]
[Lauren Chooljian] …And, like, glitter. I love glitter!
[Nikki Bell] I can’t wait ‘til – So, you're going to be in the Glam Room. That's what we're going to meet. And it's, like, purple suede couches… Just really had a lot of fun with it.
Jana’s Place is inside a renovated old apartment. It’s bright, clean, and colorful.
[Music out]
Nikki says all their programs are focused around a connection to joy. Hence, the Glam Room.
When I visited, 16 women lived here. Three of them wanted to talk with me, but they asked to use pseudonyms to protect their identities.
[Lauren Chooljian] Hey, I'm Lauren.
[Nikki Bell] This is [BEEP].
[Kelsey] Hey, Nikki. I got the job!
[Nikki Bell] You what?!
A woman I’ll call Kelsey walks in, sees Nikki and doesn’t just say hi. She says, “Nikki, I got the job.”
[Kelsey] I got the job at Veggie Out.
[Nikki Bell] Oh, my goodness!
[Kelsey] And they gave me a management position. //
[Nikki Bell] Oh, my God. That's so exciting. Congratulations. You worked so hard for that.
[Kelsey] I did. Thanks to LIFT.
[Nikki Bell] Oh, no, thanks to you. You did all that, girl.
[Kelsey] I know, but without the help of this program… Like, I’m fucking ha– I’m so…
[Nikki Bell] Oh, you are so happy. The smile on your face is amazing right now.
[Kelsey] I mean, coming to Worcester was the best thing I could have done, Nikki.
[Nikki Bell] I know, you had to get out of there.
[Kelsey] Like, I appreciate this program, like so much…
[Nikki Bell] Oh… oh…
Kelsey starts to cry. Nikki walks over to her and gives her a big hug. (sob)
We all sit down on the purple suede couches. I start giving my spiel, who I am, what the podcast is about, and a woman I’ll call Maggie interrupts me. Like, “OK, we get it girl – we’re ready to talk.”
[Lauren Chooljian] But Maggie, what were you just – you were just saying?
[Maggie] I was just the first thing that came to mind was… I was going into a halfway house in // 2017 // and this guy did my admissions…
The stories come pouring out. Maggie tells a story of how she relapsed and how the guy who admitted her to that halfway house solicited her. Paid her 180 bucks for sex.
[Maggie] And of course, I did it. It was 20 minutes and I had 180 bucks, you know?
These stories resonate a little differently in the Glam Room than they might in other places. At Jana’s Place, no one is judging you. Kelsey and other LIFT staff who have joined, they nod along with Maggie, like, “Yeah, totally understandable that you did that with that guy.”
[Maggie] But, like, I remember one time I asked him if he could send me money, but I wouldn't be able to meet with him. I just needed a little money because I was sick and he told me no. And I was like, “Are you kidding me? Like, you give me all this money. You can't send me $20 one time and I'm, you know, doing whatever…” I don't know if that was my fault, like a bad thing I did or not, but, like, I was pissed…
Everyone in the room is nodding again as if to say, no Maggie – this is not your fault.
A woman I’ll call Emma chimes in. She tells me about a time she was solicited by the person who was driving her to a detox center.
[Emma] It was my first time going to treatment ever. That was my first time ever experiencing going to detox, anything. So I was, like, expecting to be like a doctor – getting in a car with a doctor. // And here I am with a guy like, “Yeah, you want me to make a stop?” // So it's, like, it turns into getting a car with a john.
Jana’s Place works really hard to make sure nothing like that will happen here. They don’t contract with outside drivers specifically for this reason.
And they make sure that anyone who is in contact with the women who live here, they’re specially trained. They only hire women at Jana’s Place – not that women don’t perpetrate violence or harassment, but it's less likely. Some of the staff have also experienced prostitution and are in recovery.
They provide medical treatment at Jana’s Place. There’s an exam room on the second floor. So doctors, clinicians, therapists, anyone providing that care comes here. And women aren’t touched without giving permission.
Residents of Jana’s Place also get a say in the kind of treatment they receive. Emma, for example, is doing dialectical behavior therapy. It’s a kind of therapy that focuses on identifying and changing negative thinking patterns.
[Lauren Chooljian] That sounds fascinating.
[Emma] It is fascinating. And since I come here, I changed, you know, going from negative thinking to positive thinking. I wake up every day being grateful for everything I have. // It's just great. My whole… my whole lifestyle has changed. I have a reunification date for getting my children back in October. So my whole life has gone from completely negative to positive since I've been here and it’s amazing.
Making choices is a big part of life at Jana’s Place. That’s a really trauma informed approach. It gives the women their voices back. For example, they get to decorate their rooms. This is very popular. Here’s Kelsey.
[Kelsey] I have vision boards on my wall. I have the letter K because my name starts with a K. I have pink beads on my curtains… like I…
[Lauren Chooljian] It’s happy.
[Kelsey] Yeah, it's happy. It resembles us. It represents us because if we're not comfortable in our own living space, how are we going to be comfortable?
It’s also clear that this is a sisterhood. Kelsey and Emma are sitting closely on one of the purple couches. And when Emma was telling me about that awful van ride to detox, Kelsey reached her arm over to her friend.
[Kelsey] I love my sisters, like… To wake up to women every morning saying, “You look beautiful. Congratulations on you're doing this or you're doing that….” Having someone to talk to when you feel like relapsing or having someone to talk to when you're down… // I've been here seven months and this has been the best seven months of my life, besides having my children. Like, I didn’t accomplish going to school. I completed school. I'm going back to school in September. I got a job. Like, I've been sober for going on a year, August 23rd. Like, it's just… I just cry a lot now. I cry a lot and it's happy tears. It's not misery tears; it’s happy tears because being out there in the streets, I never thought I would get clean. I mean, I would never thought I would get sober. // Because there's a lot of programs that just care about the money, but they genuinely care about you here.
[Music in]
Jana’s Place is not the only answer. And of course, it’s not all success stories. They’re still battling the same chronic, frustrating disease everyone else in this industry is.
Maggie ended up leaving Jana’s Place shortly after I visited. I’m not sure why.
And then, as we were finishing the podcast, we got news that Nikki Bell had left the organization. LIFT refuses to give me any information about why, except to say that it has to do with the, quote, “environment she cultivated.” I don’t know what that refers to and I haven’t been able to get a hold of Nikki.
But Leaders at LIFT say Nikki will always be their founder and they don’t want to erase her from their history.
I’m really not sure what to make of all of this. But rather than erase Nikki from this podcast, I’m telling you what I know. And what I witnessed.
Because Jana’s Place is trying to look clearly at all the problems you’ve heard about in this podcast and prioritize them. Here, sexual misconduct isn’t just some unfortunate thing that happens. It’s a thing they work to prevent… because sexual misconduct gets in the way of recovery.
[Music fades out]
[Fade up ambient sound of leaving Jana’s Place – Lauren Chooljian, other women]
I appreciate you guys.
Thank you so much.
It was nice meeting you.
Good luck with everything. It was great to meet you.
Nice meeting you.
[Music fades back up]
After our conversation in the Glam Room, Nikki walked me out to my car. We stood on the sidewalk, the sun beating down on us. We were both sweating, but we kept talking about the women, about the obstacles they’ll face when they leave Jana’s Place.
[Lauren Chooljian] Do you think anything – not like we can solve every problem on this super hot day. But, like, do you think – what would change the stigma that exists?
[Nikki Bell] I don't really know, because, I mean, now it's like, it impacts everybody somebody knows, but we're still able to dehumanize and, like, you know, kind of like push these… push people with substance use disorder from… to the margins, right? And, like, until we, like, actually, like, start treating substance use as a actual medical condition that it is, right? And, like, you know, we're not treating people with diabetes this way or people with heart conditions, right? Like, we provide…
I kind of smiled to myself when I heard her say this. Like, “Oh look! We’re back here again. Round and round we go.”
But then Nikki said something that has really stayed with me.
[Nikki Bell] But it's, it's, it's our – it's society's job to recognize, like, “Wow, we've really failed people here. And so we want to change that. And so how do we do that?” But instead it's another thing we heap on to the backs of survivors. // Do I think we need to give voice to our experiences? Yes, but there's also the responsibility of everybody else.
The responsibility of everybody else.
I’m so grateful to all the women who told me their stories. All of them – even the ones who couldn’t come forward publicly. But I’m also sorry they had to.
Survivors carry an unfairly heavy burden. To share their experiences. To testify. To relive their traumas so others can understand and learn from them.
Isn’t it time to help take that weight off their shoulders?
[Music post]
This was supposed to be the last episode of The 13th Step. But then someone came to visit me. Someone who’s been at the center of this story.
[Employee A]: Like I said, I didn’t… I didn’t necessarily know where this was gonna go. Like, for all I knew, it was gonna go nowhere because that’s what I know from the past. So I was proud of all of us.
[Music out]
Employee A comes to the studio… in an epilogue of The 13th Step.
[Music in]
The 13th Step is reported and produced by me, Lauren Chooljian.
Jason Moon contributed reporting. He also wrote the music you hear in this show and mixed all the episodes.
Alison MacAdam is our editor.
Additional editing from Senior Editor Katie Colaneri and News Director Dan Barrick.
Fact-checking by Dania Suleman.
Sara Plourde created our artwork and our website 13thsteppodcast.org. That’s the number 13.
Sigmund Schutz is our lawyer.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie.
And special thanks to Casey McDermott, Taylor Quimby, Ariana Lyke, Max Green, Patrick Smith, Cate Cahan, Desiree Demos, Temperance Staples, and Alina Bluto.
The 13th Step is a production of the Document team at New Hampshire Public Radio.
[Music up and out]