Chronic Chaos: Ann Marie Farino on Richard, Grief & Finding Joy After Loss

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.”