Bryan Perri’s Recovery Story
September is National Recovery Month, and Pyramid Healthcare is highlighting the real-life recovery journeys of our staff. In this interview, Bryan Perri, Certified Recovery Specialist at Pyramid Healthcare’s Pittsburgh Residential Treatment Center, opens up about his struggles with addiction, the turning point that changed everything and how his recovery journey has shaped his life and career today.
Q: Can you share your recovery story?
Bryan: Like many, I started young—drinking, smoking, then pills in high school. We’d steal them from people’s grandmas and stuff, but we believed we were just having fun. Two years later, I had a needle in my arm. I’d been a star athlete in high school, and I ruined all of that with criminal behavior from drug use.
When I was 19, I ended up in prison for five years. Although I felt ashamed, I justified my drug use. Even then, I didn’t see myself as an addict. When I got out, I tried to just forget it all, but it wasn’t long before I went back to using. I was halfway functioning for awhile – I was shooting dope, but I also owned a business. I still told myself I wasn’t an addict; this was just how I liked to get high. But you can only maintain that for so long. Life got ugly fast, because by now I was an adult with responsibilities. I lost businesses, homes, and eventually my kids.
In 2018, I went to jail for another two years. When I got out, I began injecting cocaine. That led me all the way to complete homelessness. My brother and I had always been close, so when I wasn’t invited to my brother’s 30th birthday party, I knew it was bad. I tried rehab three times, but nothing stuck. In 2020, I committed a crime and went back to jail. Four days in, my wife died. That was my rock bottom. At first, I still planned to get high again. They let me go to the funeral on an unaccompanied furlough. I overdosed twice on that furlough, then tried to sneak a bunch of drugs back in. It was a mess and I ended up in the hole. When I returned to the block, some guys I used to get high with were snorting Suboxone out of a little toothpaste cap and offered me some. I was about 60 days clean, and something just clicked. I looked at them nodding off and said, “Nah, I’m good.” I don’t know why that moment changed me, but it did. I decided to give recovery a chance. I decided to work hard in jail’s drug and alcohol program, started rebuilding relationships with my kids and when I got out, I kept going. Now I’ve been clean more than five years. I see my kids every day. My wife and I just bought our second house near my mom’s. I remarried in June and have a healthy marriage. Looking back, getting arrested in 2020 saved my life.
Q: What led you to start working at Pyramid?
Bryan: After I got out, I was working in a pizza shop. It was a paycheck for someone with my criminal history, but it wasn‘t a great environment and I knew I wanted more for myself.
A friend who had just relapsed reached out for someone to talk to. So, I started talking to him, and he said, “You got a lot to say, man. You should really put these skills to use. Plus, it’s a job that you can have with criminal history. You should go work at Pyramid.” And I said, “Yes, I should.” That day, I started contacting people I got clean with who were doing Certified Recovery Specialist work in Butler. They were like, “Yo, we’ve been waiting for you.” Pyramid had a tough reputation years ago. I wanted to be part of turning that around. Now I work here full-time and in recovery houses in the community. It feels like a dream come true to use my experience to help others.
Q: What advice would you give to someone still struggling?
Bryan: I believe in one day at a time. When I first got clean, someone told me, “You don’t have to worry about tomorrow. You just got to get through today.”
Q: What’s something most people wouldn’t know about you?
Bryan: I’m an avid apocalypse prepper. That’s how I go to sleep each night. I pretend I’m in apocalyptic scenarios. But I actually prep in real life too. I’m ready.
Q: How do you spend your free time now?
Bryan: My free time is very family-oriented. My wife and I have a blended family, and our kids are my life, my main motivation. If I’m having a bad day, I can call my seven-year-old and I guarantee he will make me smile. If I’m not at work, I’m with my kids, my wife, my mom, my nieces and nephews. Whether it’s hockey games, playing catch, or just being together, that’s what matters most. I also love to hunt.
September is National Recovery Month, and Pyramid Healthcare is highlighting the real-life recovery journeys of our staff. In this interview, Bryan Perri, Certified Recovery Specialist at Pyramid Healthcare’s Pittsburgh Residential Treatment Center, opens up about his struggles with addiction, the turning point that changed everything and how his recovery journey has shaped his life and career today.
Q: Can you share your recovery story?
Bryan: Like many, I started young—drinking, smoking, then pills in high school. We’d steal them from people’s grandmas and stuff, but we believed we were just having fun. Two years later, I had a needle in my arm. I’d been a star athlete in high school, and I ruined all of that with criminal behavior from drug use.
When I was 19, I ended up in prison for five years. Although I felt ashamed, I justified my drug use. Even then, I didn’t see myself as an addict. When I got out, I tried to just forget it all, but it wasn’t long before I went back to using. I was halfway functioning for awhile – I was shooting dope, but I also owned a business. I still told myself I wasn’t an addict; this was just how I liked to get high. But you can only maintain that for so long. Life got ugly fast, because by now I was an adult with responsibilities. I lost businesses, homes, and eventually my kids.
In 2018, I went to jail for another two years. When I got out, I began injecting cocaine. That led me all the way to complete homelessness. My brother and I had always been close, so when I wasn’t invited to my brother’s 30th birthday party, I knew it was bad. I tried rehab three times, but nothing stuck. In 2020, I committed a crime and went back to jail. Four days in, my wife died. That was my rock bottom. At first, I still planned to get high again. They let me go to the funeral on an unaccompanied furlough. I overdosed twice on that furlough, then tried to sneak a bunch of drugs back in. It was a mess and I ended up in the hole. When I returned to the block, some guys I used to get high with were snorting Suboxone out of a little toothpaste cap and offered me some. I was about 60 days clean, and something just clicked. I looked at them nodding off and said, “Nah, I’m good.” I don’t know why that moment changed me, but it did. I decided to give recovery a chance. I decided to work hard in jail’s drug and alcohol program, started rebuilding relationships with my kids and when I got out, I kept going. Now I’ve been clean more than five years. I see my kids every day. My wife and I just bought our second house near my mom’s. I remarried in June and have a healthy marriage. Looking back, getting arrested in 2020 saved my life.
Q: What led you to start working at Pyramid?
Bryan: After I got out, I was working in a pizza shop. It was a paycheck for someone with my criminal history, but it wasn‘t a great environment and I knew I wanted more for myself.
A friend who had just relapsed reached out for someone to talk to. So, I started talking to him, and he said, “You got a lot to say, man. You should really put these skills to use. Plus, it’s a job that you can have with criminal history. You should go work at Pyramid.” And I said, “Yes, I should.” That day, I started contacting people I got clean with who were doing Certified Recovery Specialist work in Butler. They were like, “Yo, we’ve been waiting for you.” Pyramid had a tough reputation years ago. I wanted to be part of turning that around. Now I work here full-time and in recovery houses in the community. It feels like a dream come true to use my experience to help others.
Q: What advice would you give to someone still struggling?
Bryan: I believe in one day at a time. When I first got clean, someone told me, “You don’t have to worry about tomorrow. You just got to get through today.”
Q: What’s something most people wouldn’t know about you?
Bryan: I’m an avid apocalypse prepper. That’s how I go to sleep each night. I pretend I’m in apocalyptic scenarios. But I actually prep in real life too. I’m ready.
Q: How do you spend your free time now?
Bryan: My free time is very family-oriented. My wife and I have a blended family, and our kids are my life, my main motivation. If I’m having a bad day, I can call my seven-year-old and I guarantee he will make me smile. If I’m not at work, I’m with my kids, my wife, my mom, my nieces and nephews. Whether it’s hockey games, playing catch, or just being together, that’s what matters most. I also love to hunt.
