Richard Kramer

Richard Kramer’s mission is to bring the stories of drug and alcohol addicts who have found recovery at Brighton Hospital out of anonymity.

The woman with rheumatoid arthritis whose addiction to painkillers kept her confined to a wheelchair, the young model whose drug addiction ended her career and nearly her life, the woman whose methamphetamine addiction kept her incarcerated for a year, the prominent lawyer who nearly lost everything due to his gambling addiction, the attorney who has been sober for 31 years since his employer suggested he seek help — these are just some of the nearly 60 stories filmed mostly by Kramer and shared on the hospital’s website, and on YouTube.com (search rkramer100).

Kramer works at Brighton Hospital as the president of the Brighton National Addiction Foundation. When he began filming three years ago, he could not imagine the affect these videos would have on the lives of recovering addicts and on the lives of those in need of help.

Former Brighton Hospital patients volunteer to record their stories at alumni reunions, which occur a few times each year. When people return to the hospital after filming their testimonies, Kramer says he often will “get a hug, (and the patient will say they) got so much positive reinforcement from family and friends” as a result of the video.

“Imagine the young man in his 20s who put his family through hell since he was 11,” Kramer explained. “He’ll talk about his recovery, and (then) all the people who knew him when he was doing drugs will congratulate his parents, encourage him, and perhaps even want to offer him a job.”

Kramer continued, “Lives get better through sharing. That’s a change, because AA was founded on anonymity. We thought addiction was a moral weakness, but now we know it’s a disease like any chronic disease that can be dealt with. More people are choosing to tell their story, and in the process are getting a lot of positive reinforcement. People are reaching out to them.”

Sharing their stories also helps recovering addicts because “part of the 12-step program is giving back,” said Kramer. “It’s making amends to people they’ve hurt.”

While these videos may not always help the people hurt by recovering addicts, they have helped others struggling with addiction. Kramer knows of at least two recovering addicts who now work for Brighton Hospital, who were told by incoming patients that those particular women’s videos gave them the nudge they needed to seek help.

“They could see these women were no stronger, no more powerful, no less vulnerable than themselves,” explained Kramer. What the new patients had seen in the videos were “suffering, struggling human beings just like they were.”

One fellow employee told Kramer, “Today a woman gave me a hug and said, ‘You saved my life. I saw your video and said, ‘If she can deal with her addiction, I can deal with my addiction.’”

That was the moment, Kramer said, when he became a believer in the power of these videos. The videos help convince addicts in need of help, and families wanting to intervene for their loved ones, he said.

“There are two ways people come in (to Brighton Hospital),” explained Kramer. “They refer themselves, or the more traditional method is that a loved one (or) employer … intervenes or does something to get them into the hospital. (Since making the videos), more patients are starting to refer themselves. And family members, teachers, and people with the right intention, but who don’t know what to do, see it’s ordinary people, and think, ‘I can do it too.’ We’ve taken the myth away. Now they think, ‘If she can get clean, my sister can, too.’”

Kramer’s stories about these videos range from inspirational, like the employee’s story shared above, to the unexpected. He said, “There was a physician in one video, and a relative from a village in Italy found him, and they were able to talk about family, genetics, and the risk for addiction — which is four times as great when a family member has an addiction.”

Another time one of these stories helped others was when the hospital’s Chair of Psychology, who helped interview the woman with an addiction to painkillers due to her rheumatoid arthritis, presented her video to fellow physicians in an attempt to help them understand the strong connection between painkillers and addiction.

“I never dreamed someone (from my videos) would be helping teach doctors not to over-prescribe pain killers,” said Kramer. “It feels like you’re making a difference … A lot of addiction is caused by prescription drugs today. That’s the beginning step.”

Helping others through his videos and his work at Brighton Hospital takes on extra meaning for Kramer, as it does for almost all employees there, because he has had a family member struggle with addiction. More than half of Brighton Hospital’s employees are in recovery themselves, and many others have a family member who struggled with addiction, said Kramer. Employees must be in successful recovery for at least two years, and have a “successful, sincere commitment to their own recovery before being considered for a job,” he added.

These employees help make Brighton Hospital successful because, for them, work is “a mission, not just a job,” Kramer said.

“The difference between a job and a mission is that, if you’re in housekeeping and you see someone struggling during the first two days while they’re in detox — and you’ve been there — you’re going to extend yourself and say, ‘Hang in there. I’ve been there. It will be better tomorrow,’” he said. “If it’s just a job, you don’t go that extra mile. It’s the difference where people know they really care and have walked the walk.”

Filming these videos has given Kramer an even deeper appreciation for the struggles addicts face. “Even though I had addiction in my family, all I knew of it was from specific instances,” he said. “I didn’t understand it overall. By sitting there, and hearing the stories live, and then editing them and hearing them 30 times over — it gets through your thick skull. I hear the personal triumph in it, and it just inspires me.”

Kramer’s ultimate goal in his video work is to help “raise the bottom.”

“By the time they’ve hit bottom, (so many addicts have) crashed the car, lost their life, lost family relationships, or lost their job,” he explained. “We (at Brighton Hospital) want them to realize — before they lose so much — that they can’t go on living this way. We want them to see there can be a happy and healthy life without drugs and drugging. These people (in the recovery videos) aren’t religious saints or aesthetics, but they’re living nice, fulfilling lives — without drugs or alcohol.”
 

Richard Kramer

Richard Kramer’s mission is to bring the stories of drug and alcohol addicts who have found recovery at Brighton Hospital out of anonymity.

The woman with rheumatoid arthritis whose addiction to painkillers kept her confined to a wheelchair, the young model whose drug addiction ended her career and nearly her life, the woman whose methamphetamine addiction kept her incarcerated for a year, the prominent lawyer who nearly lost everything due to his gambling addiction, the attorney who has been sober for 31 years since his employer suggested he seek help — these are just some of the nearly 60 stories filmed mostly by Kramer and shared on the hospital’s website, and on YouTube.com (search rkramer100).

Kramer works at Brighton Hospital as the president of the Brighton National Addiction Foundation. When he began filming three years ago, he could not imagine the affect these videos would have on the lives of recovering addicts and on the lives of those in need of help.

Former Brighton Hospital patients volunteer to record their stories at alumni reunions, which occur a few times each year. When people return to the hospital after filming their testimonies, Kramer says he often will “get a hug, (and the patient will say they) got so much positive reinforcement from family and friends” as a result of the video.

“Imagine the young man in his 20s who put his family through hell since he was 11,” Kramer explained. “He’ll talk about his recovery, and (then) all the people who knew him when he was doing drugs will congratulate his parents, encourage him, and perhaps even want to offer him a job.”

Kramer continued, “Lives get better through sharing. That’s a change, because AA was founded on anonymity. We thought addiction was a moral weakness, but now we know it’s a disease like any chronic disease that can be dealt with. More people are choosing to tell their story, and in the process are getting a lot of positive reinforcement. People are reaching out to them.”

Sharing their stories also helps recovering addicts because “part of the 12-step program is giving back,” said Kramer. “It’s making amends to people they’ve hurt.”

While these videos may not always help the people hurt by recovering addicts, they have helped others struggling with addiction. Kramer knows of at least two recovering addicts who now work for Brighton Hospital, who were told by incoming patients that those particular women’s videos gave them the nudge they needed to seek help.

“They could see these women were no stronger, no more powerful, no less vulnerable than themselves,” explained Kramer. What the new patients had seen in the videos were “suffering, struggling human beings just like they were.”

One fellow employee told Kramer, “Today a woman gave me a hug and said, ‘You saved my life. I saw your video and said, ‘If she can deal with her addiction, I can deal with my addiction.’”

That was the moment, Kramer said, when he became a believer in the power of these videos. The videos help convince addicts in need of help, and families wanting to intervene for their loved ones, he said.

“There are two ways people come in (to Brighton Hospital),” explained Kramer. “They refer themselves, or the more traditional method is that a loved one (or) employer … intervenes or does something to get them into the hospital. (Since making the videos), more patients are starting to refer themselves. And family members, teachers, and people with the right intention, but who don’t know what to do, see it’s ordinary people, and think, ‘I can do it too.’ We’ve taken the myth away. Now they think, ‘If she can get clean, my sister can, too.’”

Kramer’s stories about these videos range from inspirational, like the employee’s story shared above, to the unexpected. He said, “There was a physician in one video, and a relative from a village in Italy found him, and they were able to talk about family, genetics, and the risk for addiction — which is four times as great when a family member has an addiction.”

Another time one of these stories helped others was when the hospital’s Chair of Psychology, who helped interview the woman with an addiction to painkillers due to her rheumatoid arthritis, presented her video to fellow physicians in an attempt to help them understand the strong connection between painkillers and addiction.

“I never dreamed someone (from my videos) would be helping teach doctors not to over-prescribe pain killers,” said Kramer. “It feels like you’re making a difference … A lot of addiction is caused by prescription drugs today. That’s the beginning step.”

Helping others through his videos and his work at Brighton Hospital takes on extra meaning for Kramer, as it does for almost all employees there, because he has had a family member struggle with addiction. More than half of Brighton Hospital’s employees are in recovery themselves, and many others have a family member who struggled with addiction, said Kramer. Employees must be in successful recovery for at least two years, and have a “successful, sincere commitment to their own recovery before being considered for a job,” he added.

These employees help make Brighton Hospital successful because, for them, work is “a mission, not just a job,” Kramer said.

“The difference between a job and a mission is that, if you’re in housekeeping and you see someone struggling during the first two days while they’re in detox — and you’ve been there — you’re going to extend yourself and say, ‘Hang in there. I’ve been there. It will be better tomorrow,’” he said. “If it’s just a job, you don’t go that extra mile. It’s the difference where people know they really care and have walked the walk.”

Filming these videos has given Kramer an even deeper appreciation for the struggles addicts face. “Even though I had addiction in my family, all I knew of it was from specific instances,” he said. “I didn’t understand it overall. By sitting there, and hearing the stories live, and then editing them and hearing them 30 times over — it gets through your thick skull. I hear the personal triumph in it, and it just inspires me.”

Kramer’s ultimate goal in his video work is to help “raise the bottom.”

“By the time they’ve hit bottom, (so many addicts have) crashed the car, lost their life, lost family relationships, or lost their job,” he explained. “We (at Brighton Hospital) want them to realize — before they lose so much — that they can’t go on living this way. We want them to see there can be a happy and healthy life without drugs and drugging. These people (in the recovery videos) aren’t religious saints or aesthetics, but they’re living nice, fulfilling lives — without drugs or alcohol.”