A Stunning Memoir of An Ex-Addict
A Stunning Memoir of An Ex-Addict
Contact: Marketing Services
(888) 795-4274 x. 472
MarketingServices@Xlibris.com
International Plaza II,
35335 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Stunning Memoir of An Ex-Addict
Author Christopher Keeley offers hope for drug addicts to get clean, to start over, and have a wonderful life
Paradise Life is the author’s personal memoir of an addict overcoming addiction and the miracle of recovery. Keeley’s photographs deal with the many facets of obsession and speak to the internal search many individuals undergo during the lifelong quest for meaning and self-awareness. Drawing on his own inner obsessive quest for knowledge as inspiration, Keeley captures pain, longing, torment, despair, hope, and love within the faces and forms of his images. His pictures are unsympathetic and communicate the inner emotional trauma of the homeless, the addicted and the lonely as well as the strength of human bonding experienced by addicts in recovery. By revealing the essence of his subjects, the works magnify with often unsettling clarity the pain of discovery, joy of friendships born of pain, or the turmoil of new journeys that resound within each person. Through these poignant images, Keeley challenges the viewer to look within one’s own heart to question, affirm, accept, or reject, leaving on with valuable insights into our own places in humanity.
Keeley shares that any addict can get clean, stop using drugs and find a new way to live with his personal experience as a living example. He aims to help educate the public that addiction is a humanistic disease from which the addict and family members suffer no matter what supportive opportunities are given. The disease of addiction is completely profound in the aspect that help can only be obtained through a miraculous process of Recovery otherwise known as Grace. As he shares the horrors of his life and how wonderful it has become today, he hopes to help to alleviate the pain and suffering of addicts and those close to addicts by being exposed to his work of art. Paradise Life will bring to light the love and truth about the feelings of an addict who has found joy, happiness and freedom.
About the Author
Chris Keeley, MSW, LICSW
Phone: (202) 337-0022
Fax: (202) 337-4441
E-mail: addicts@gmail.com
Web: http://tunlaw.org
Education
Master of Social Work Degree, National Catholic School of Social Service , Washington, DC, 1997.
Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, Photography, The Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC, 1988.
Current Employment
Since November 1997:
Supervisor
In-Home and Reunification
400 Sixth Street , S.W.
Washington, D.C.
20024
(202) 727.3393
Previous Employment
May 1997 - August 1997
Hope Village, Inc. Justice Program, 2850 Langston Place, SE, Washington, DC 20020 - (202) 678-0161
Case Manager and Vocational Rehab Counselor
May 1997
The Office of National Drug Control Policy, CSR Research Group, 1400 Eye Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005
Consultant and Group Moderator
September 1996 - May 1997
The Psychiatric Institute of Washington, 4228 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016 - ( 202 ) 965-8550
Social Worker-Intern
September 1995 - May 1996
Community for Creative Non-Violence, 425 Second Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001 - ( 202 ) 393-1909
Case Manager
December 1988 - June 1995
T.H.E. Washington Counseling Center, 2850 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20008 - (202 ) 955-5555
1993 - 1995 ... Senior Counselor
1991 - 1993 ... Counselor, Clinical Director
1989 - 1991 ... Office Manager, Counselor
1988 - 1989 ... Office Manager
July 1985 - 1988
Visual Strategy Group, 10th Street NE, Washington, DC
Photographer's Assistant
August 1983 - September 1984
Hugo's Natural Foods, Livingston St. NW, Washington, DC (no longer in business).
Grocery Clerk
February 1981 - March 1982
Touch The Wild, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe (Southern Africa)
Safari Guide
Private Practice
In private practice I conduct drug interventions from referrals through my Website domain "tunlaw.org" (formally “intervention.org,” which was hijacked by Russians this week), and from community referrals. I do nearly daily referrals for people seeking help for drug problems or needing treatment. As a consultant, I have consulted on drug policy for government agencies.
Social Activism Awareness
News feature http://www.salon.com/, Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan and Joan Baez march at Saturday's antiwar rally Make levees, not war in
CalWORKs Homeless Families to the
LET THE CHURCH SAY AMEN, INDEPENDENT LENS, PBS, the disparities between the Shaw neighborhood and the Capitol district of the impoverished in
Television Appearances
3 On the Air, Channel ET-1,
Heroin Hotel, WJLA T.V. 7, (ABC), Del Walters, September 12, 1996.
Social Worker, WBDC-50 (WBDC), MEDILL News Service, December 2001.
ART
Selected exhibits of my photographs on social issues have been shown in:
Awards
"Bernard Williams Memorial Award for Photography,"
"Documentary Photojournalism," Photo Metro,
"Management Assistance Grant," D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities,
"Social Work Honoree," Child and
Social Worker of the Year 2001, Child and Family Services Agency,
Publications
Author of Addict: Out of the Dark and Into the Light, Beaux Arts, 365 pages, 1994. Fifty-one testimonials of drug addicts' recovery, along with their portraits.
Campaign poster: "No One's Vote Counts More Than Yours - You Don't Need a Home to Vote." National Coalition for the Homeless. 1996.
Magazine article: "Young Americans Rock for a Free Tibet." Shambhala Sun Magazine. 1998.
Publication Date: February 8, 2007
Trade Paperback; $48.99; 160 pages; 978-1-4257-3634-7
Cloth Hardback; $58.99; 160 pages; 978-1-4257-5080-0
To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 472. Tearsheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marketing Services. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x. 876.
For more information, contact Xlibris at (888) 795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com.