BOB CANDITO REMARKS AT COUNCIL’S 2019 SPRING LUNCHEON
Good Afternoon I ‘m Bob Candito and I am honored and grateful to be here co-chairing this
event. Thank you to our speaker Andrew for being here and to all the amazing staff and
volunteers at the Council on Recovery.
Houston is a great city and only becomes better when the Council is active and thriving.
I am not an alcoholic or addict so why am I up here? Well I may be a little addicted to fly
fishing! Seriously though, I’m a parent with 2 children and 4 stepchildren. 15 years ago
my teenage daughter was diagnosed with serious mental health issues. We tried all kinds
of Drs and therapists to no avail. Serious drug use became part of the problem. I had
absolutely no idea about addiction. Sure I knew people that drank too much but I hadn’t
been exposed to the tragic and devastating consequences of addiction.
Surely my daughter could get help and get back to being a “normal teenager”.
It wasn’t until I jumped on the hood of a car to stop my daughter from leaving my imposed
grounding when police were dispatched, something clicked briefly in my mind…. I knew I
was going to die trying to save my little girl. It was brought to my attention in a not so
subtle way that I needed as much help as my daughter if I were to become part of the
solution instead of being part of the problem.
Al Anon, steps, sponsors and education about the brain, I went along for the ride and
slowly realized that the gifts of recovery are there for me too.
During the last 15 years, my daughter Kristina has struggled with mental health issues,
trauma, alcohol and addiction.
18 months ago Kristina was in Neuro ICU after an OD. She was in a coma for 6 days and
spent 6 weeks in the hospital.
Today Kristina is here and sober. She went back to school finished her master’s degree
and has a job offer as a licensed therapist.
Recovery must be earned and nurtured. It is her job, not mine. My job is to maintain my
own recovery and sanity.
My passion is to improve the confluence of mental health treatment and treatment for
addiction especially in psychiatry.
Let’s be clear addiction is a mental health and brain disease. If a patient has other co-
occurring mental health issues think depression, anxiety, Bipolar, etc., caregiver
