Blending in and giving back, ex-addict aids recoverers

At 47, Steve Brunken has it good.

He's retiring in the next few months from a successful insurance

business, playing new dad to a baby girl born Jan. 5 and doting on his

three young daughters and beautiful wife, Cathy.

What a casual observer won't see, however, is the decades of drug

use, criminal records and the daily battle against addiction.

It seems hard to believe, glancing over his exquisitely decorated Holladay home, with its vaulted ceilings and plush carpets.

He's been blessed, he insists. And now it's his turn to give back.

"There are a lot of things that occur in life when you're a drug

addict that are hurtful and painful," he said, choking up. "It's a

great gift not to be in that turmoil. I'm grateful for the freedom I

have today, but for me, that comes with great personal obligations."

He wipes away the tears rolling down his face. He's finally come to

grips with his tender heart and loving nature. Now, instead of trying

to hide it through drug use, he will harness it and serve people.

Serving and sharing

Brunken wants to devote his life to spreading the message of

sobriety, starting by volunteering at The Ark of Little Cottonwood,

where he found healing, and speaking to anyone he can about addiction.

He wants people to know how easy it is to become a victim and how hard it is to get out.

"The fact of the matter is, we all work with somebody in recovery,

or we work with somebody who's actively using," said Dr. H. Westley

Clark, the director of the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.