Home/Business Books/Redefining Rock Bottom

Redefining Rock Bottom

By Mike Appel

Before founding a behavioral health organization that stages interventions for addicts and their families, Mike Appel was a latchkey kid growing up in 1970s and 80s Boston who was exposed to alcohol and drugs very early in life. When his brother died from an overdose, it devastated Appel’s entire family and sent him spiraling even further into a vicious heroin addiction.

An overdose of his own left him fighting for his life in the ICU, where Appel had an out-of-body experience that served as his awakening: overcoming addiction might still be possible for him, but he had to change right then. After getting sober and working at a detox facility, a chance encounter led him to a purposeful and fulfilling life as an interventionist, helping addicts and their families find recovery for themselves.

Order Book

_{Every book on this page started as a conversation with an expert who knew they had a book in}_{them but had never figured out how to write it. Sound familiar? Book publishing services for experts.}

Additional Information

In Redefining Rock Bottom, Appel draws on his own 25+ years as an interventionist and addiction recovery expert to guide families toward health and healing. He offers a practical, compassionate manual for family recovery, explaining:

Why addiction is deadlier today than ever before, with drug overdoses on the rise
How recovery can begin with an awakening (that should not be “hitting bottom”)
The before, during and after of professional interventions
Why family support is the most effective and overlooked aspect of recovery
How to find effective addiction treatment programs and resources for addiction
Why a purposeful life is an addict’s best chance at long-term recovery

And much more.

Redefining Rock Bottom also includes statistics, guidance toward additional resources and personal and professional stories to illustrate each point.

As Appel shows, addiction, interventions and recovery are all widely misunderstood and the results of these misconceptions are often deadly. To protect their loved ones, families need to understand addiction accurately and redefine what a “successful” intervention is: taking the first step towards saving their loved one’s life before it’s too late, both for the addict and the family.

About the Author

Mike Appel is a professional interventionist as well as the founder of Crisis Case Management, a boutique behavioral health organization that serves clients which include sports team owners and Fortune 100 families. With over 25 years of professional experience and personal experiences with addiction recovery, Appel has dedicated his life to helping addicts and their families. Appel lives in Miami, Florida. Redefining Rock Bottom: An Interventionist’s Guide to Family Recovery is his first book.

Back to ALL Books

ISBNs:

(Hardcover)
(Paperback)
(eBook)

Genre:

Memoir
Self-Help
Psychology
True Crime
Medical Guide

Themes:

Addiction Crisis (a look at how modern drug risks are deadlier than ever before)
Family Intervention (empowering loved ones to step in and save an addict's life)
Redefining Rock Bottom (shifting the narrative away from hitting the absolute lowest point)
Purposeful Recovery (finding meaning and daily structure to ensure long-term, lasting sobriety)
Systemic Healing (recognizing that the entire family unit needs deep recovery and support)

FAQs:

Q: What is Redefining Rock Bottom about?
A: Redefining Rock Bottom is an essential handbook that combines a former addict's gripping survival story with clinical strategies to help households navigate substance abuse. It challenges traditional notions of recovery by showing families how to orchestrate lifesaving turnarounds well before tragedy strikes.

Q: Who is Mike Appel?
A: Mike Appel is a Cambridge College-educated mental health counselor and the head of Sobi, Inc., a non-profit organization focused on progressive rehabilitation initiatives. He pioneered a municipal diversion program that shifted law enforcement's approach away from incarceration, utilizing his Master's degree in counseling and nearly three decades of clinical expertise in family systems-based care to safely de-escalate highly volatile situations for vulnerable populations.

Q: What makes this book different from other memoir or self-help books?
A: Unlike books that dwell exclusively on personal trauma, Redefining Rock Bottom delivers an objective, step-by-step methodology detailing how family units can actively disrupt the cycle of dependency. It bridges the gap between raw biographical storytelling and an expert operational framework for professional crisis resolution.

Q: Who would enjoy reading Redefining Rock Bottom?
A: Relatives seeking a structured lifeline for a struggling dependent, clinical practitioners looking for real-world case studies and readers captivated by gritty accounts of human resilience will find this guide invaluable.