Former Addict Advocates Another Way to Stay Sober (Exclusive)

• Scott Strode says he drank his first beer at age 11, and things have gotten worse since then.
• Strode, who has been sober for nearly 30 years, is the founder of The Phoenix, a national nonprofit community with more than 500,000 members.
• He says he was inspired by finding refuge in outdoor activities and public relations.

Can rock climbing, hiking and even gardening help addicts avoid drugs and alcohol?

Scott Strode developed a therapy program based on his own experiences to show that they can do it.

“I don’t really believe in the idea that you have to hit rock bottom to change,” Strode, 51, tells PEOPLE. “I think you need a moment of perspective where you are clear enough to see changes that seem achievable.”

This mental clarity comes from surrounding addicts in a supportive community, which ideally engages in activities that force them to regularly interact with sober people, Strode says.

“When you have a group of resentful people who are struggling without a support structure built around them, there is a risk that we pull each other down,” he says. “My life’s work has been to create a space where we try to lift each other up.”

In 2006, Strode began Phoenix, A national nonprofit sober community, now 500,000 strong, that offers free programs including CrossFit, outdoor recreation, book clubs and meditation. The only requirement is that the person must be sober 48 hours before joining.

“I realized that there is something powerful that can be found at the top of a mountain, on a climb, or when you cross the finish line,” Strode says. “I saw people struggling and I thought, If I can bring you to this place with me, you will see something in yourself.”

He spoke about his personal journey in his memoirs: Height. Restore. Thrive: How I Got Strong, Sober, and Created a Movement of Hope will be released on January 7.

Strobe says his parents separated when he was young, and he and his siblings spent time with both parents in very different settings.

His father, Jack, struggled at times with an unstable lifestyle (including a house that had only three walls due to an unfinished renovation project) and suffered from an untreated mental illness, likely bipolar disorder, Strobe says.

His mother, Marilyn, was the CEO of a state water company. and also served as ambassador to Finland in the administration of President George W. Bush and spent most of her time at work. According to him, Strode’s stepfather was an alcoholic.

Strode says his own path to addiction began when he drank beer for the first time at age 11.

He said he was admitted to a mental hospital at age 15, but found less treatment and more opportunities. There he met a drug dealer, and Strode increased his drinking and drug use. He began to get rid of people in his life who were not involved in his addiction.

“There was a moment when I felt like I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and realized that I it was the wrong company,” says Strode. “And it’s kind of a tense moment. Quietly, your dreams of who you thought you were were gone.

He enrolled in a vocational boat program for students with dyslexia and began to see the impact nature had on his mental health. This led to me joining the gym to learn to climb and eventually running marathons.

He marks April 8, 1998 as the day he became sober.

Strode realized that fitness, the outdoors, nutrition, wellness, positivity and community all offered another way to stay sober and could, for some people, lead to more meaningful and lasting recovery than traditional counseling and inpatient treatment.

Strode now lives in Boston with his wife Caitlin, who is also recovering, and their two children Magnus, three-year-old and one-year-old Alice. He says his children will grow up with a very different life than he and his wife did, and that the cycle of substance abuse will end for him and his wife.

“I began to realize that I wasn’t just recovering from substance use, but that substance use was actually a symptom of underlying pain,” he says. “It’s not like I got sober, and suddenly I was really in tune with my emotions and able to manage my old emotional material very well.”

Phoenix, he says, helped him overcome the shame of addiction, forgive his father and come to terms with the dynamics of his childhood.

“I understand that they had their own stories, and that with forgiveness, real healing began,” Strode says. “Unfortunately, I think more and more institutional structures dealing with addiction are focused more on managing the symptoms rather than the causes.”

Like Strode, Gavin Young says he struggled with alcohol in his youth, from about the age of 14.

He is now 41 years old, married, sober, a father of two, and a survivor of testicular cancer. He credits much of his progress to Phoenix’s unique approach.

“Over the course of my recovery, people’s views on recovery have changed a lot,” Young says. “You never know what will suit someone and what will not suit someone. If there is only one option—and it may not work—that may be a signal for them to continue drinking or using.”

Many people are attracted to the idea of ​​spending time doing different things with people who understand their journey to sobriety. And paying nothing for activities like gym climbing and CrossFit is also a strong temptation.

“I can climb for free and also do it with a group of sober people,” says Kevin Munzer, 41. “It takes a village, no matter how trite and overwrought that statement may be.”

A musician and cinematographer, Muenzer began flirting with alcohol to impress girls when he was still a teenager, he says. He went from drinking to heroin before finding sobriety through rehab, meditation and a supportive community.

In March 2013, he entered medical detox with no job, no money and only one option: go to rehab. He used a community of people in recovery and meditation to stay sober. When he moved from North Carolina to New York, he said the group Phoenix, which he joined in 2022, helped him maintain his sobriety. He now leads the organization’s climbing team.

“Climbing is full of metaphors: you need someone to be with you, and they need to be safe, to get to the top,” says Muenzer.

Strode says the idea for his nonprofit came from a group of recovering people who shared cycling, rock climbing and other activities.

“These were also people affected by substance abuse, and their numbers started to grow,” Strode says. “We focused on how to grow Phoenix and fortunately found philanthropists who wanted to be part of the solution and help the country solve this problem.”

Ashley Rath, 36, says she has always loved to drink, even from an early age. Her career as a successful chef in New York only contributed to this love, which ultimately almost killed her.

“I was drinking around the clock, 24/7, just to stay upright. I lived in complete denial,” Rath tells PEOPLE. “When I went to that (first) rehab center, I was really only thinking about saving my career, not saving myself.”

Rath, who has been sober for two years as of this month, says Phoenix offered her something different. She took classes with a renowned tattoo artist, which she says helped her rekindle her love of painting and drawing. The former college and high school athlete also began running through the group.

“I’ve met some of the best friends in my life right now through Phoenix,” Rath says. “I didn’t realize how much my life was yearning for genuine connection with people.”

Connection. Activity. Interaction. All of this adds up to a support system that allows addicts to cope with their behavior and understand why they are at this point in their lives, Strode says.

He says he wants people struggling with addiction to know they are not alone.

“For people who feel like they’re in a dark place and have a hard time finding hope, I’m telling you it’s out there somewhere,” he says. “There was a time in my life when I didn’t think recovery and healing was possible, and I was so far away from who I was because of the people who helped me along the way.”