Show notes
Earlier this year, Rachel sat down with Ann Marie Farino for an unforgettable conversation about her son Richard, addiction, suicide, grief and the difficult journey toward finding joy again.
Today, we’re bringing that conversation back for a very special reason.
Ann Marie’s memoir, Chronic Chaos: A Son’s Addiction, A Mother’s Love, and Her Quest to Find Joy, is now available.
Rachel was honored to provide an endorsement for the book, and with its release, we wanted to revisit the conversation that introduced so many Miss Understood listeners to Ann Marie and Richard’s story.
Richard was funny, charming, rebellious and endlessly capable of creating what Ann Marie affectionately calls “shenanigans.”
But underneath that larger-than-life personality was a young man struggling with his mental health and addiction.
His journey took his family through marijuana, opioids, heroin, treatment programs, wilderness programs, an overdose, the criminal justice system and even an unbelievable encounter in which the FBI approached Richard about going undercover with an anarchy group.
Eventually, Richard got sober.
For the final three years of his life, he remained sober, built a career, fell in love and became engaged.
From the outside, things finally seemed to be moving in the right direction.
“There were no red flags. There were green flags,” Ann Marie tells Rachel.
The night before his death, Richard sent his mother a photo and told her, “It’s a great day.”
The following day, at 24 years old, Richard died by suicide.
Ann Marie opens up about the call that changed her life, the guilt and questions that can follow suicide, the work of grief therapy, learning how to get out of bed again, the signs she believes Richard continues to send her and the moment she began allowing herself to experience joy without guilt.
She also explains how helping other people through loss became part of her own healing and ultimately part of her purpose.
That journey is now told in full in Chronic Chaos, a memoir about a son’s addiction, a mother’s enduring love and what it means to build a life after unimaginable loss.
This is an encore presentation of Rachel Uchitel’s conversation with Ann Marie Farino, released in celebration of Chronic Chaos, available now.
BUY CHRONIC CHAOS:
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H7YNBT8J
Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/chronic-chaos-ann-marie-farino/1150783670?ean=9798900260112
Bookshop.org:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/chronic-chaos-a-son-s-addiction-a-mother-s-love-and-her-quest-to-find-joy/c5c3949e990255b5?ean=9798900260112&bkshp-astro=t
Amplify Publishing:
https://amplifypublishinggroup.com/product/nonfiction/health-medicine-and-wellness/mental-health/chronic-chaos/
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988 in the United States to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
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