E 377: Silence Was My First Language: Breaking the Cycle of Trauma & Addiction with Rich Dunning

What happens when silence becomes your first survival skill?

Rich Dunning spent much of his childhood learning that staying quiet could keep him safe. Growing up surrounded by violence, poverty, instability, food insecurity and addiction, Rich learned how to survive long before he ever had the chance to simply be a child.

At just seven years old, alcohol entered his life. By 16, Rich was homeless, secretly sleeping in an abandoned train station while continuing to attend school, play baseball and maintain the appearance that everything was okay.

But surviving childhood didn't mean those survival patterns disappeared when childhood ended.

Rich went on to build a career, get married and raise a family, while underneath he continued to struggle with fear, distrust, unresolved trauma and an addiction to alcohol that eventually threatened everything he loved.

In this powerful and deeply honest conversation, Rich and Tammy talk about how childhood trauma follows us into adulthood, why silence and hypervigilance can become automatic survival responses, the impact addiction has on an entire family, and what it really takes to begin healing.

Now nine years sober, Rich is the author of Silence Was My First Language: A Memoir of Childhood Trauma, Addiction, Survival, and Recovery and founder of the First Language Foundation, turning his lived experience into a mission to help vulnerable children.

This episode is ultimately a story of hope and a reminder that no matter where you started, your beginnings do not have to determine your ending.

Connect with Rich:

Website & Book:

www.Richdunningbooks.com

First Language Foundation: