S10: Episode 1 – Overcoming Incarceration and Addiction and Becoming a Successful Businessman with Kevin McCracken

This week’s interview features Kevin McCracken, who candidly admits that overcoming addiction is a difficult decision and process. Despite coming from a family with a history of alcoholism and being abused as a child, Kevin rose above his traumatic experiences and co-founded Social Imprints, a swag company that trains and employs at-risk adults.

During his addiction, Kevin was caught in a cycle of criminal activities, guilt, and shame. However, he was fortunate to have been given the option to attend a long-term rehab program while in prison, which ultimately helped him overcome his addiction.

Kevin is the co-founder of Social Imprints, a swag company that hires and trains at-risk adults. 

Kevin came from a family of both sides having a history of alcoholism. Kevin is not really close to his father because he was often running. He will only connect with his father when he’s clean and sober.

Kevin was abused as a child by a family friend. And was traumatized.  He said that when traumatized, you can’t talk about it because you’re also scared talking about it. He did not have any therapy not until 8 years ago and there are already a lot that need to recover from, not just his addiction but the root cause of his addiction; was sexually abused as a child, history of alcoholism and some mental health issues as well.

There were a lot of traumatic experiences Kevin went through in his addictive years. He shoplifted, sold the items just to buy drugs and then he repeated it over and over again. Drug dealers put gun on him and a lot of criminal activities he did. Those criminal activities lead to remorse and guilt and shame. It felt to him that it was inescapable at that time. And truly it was hard to break.

He was lucky that the San Francisco County prison gave him choices and he chose to go under a long term rehab program. He had to go through a lot in the rehab, went to meetings that he didn’t even want to. He can’t even go there alone and needed to bring someone with him. 

Kevin emphasizes to really start to build the foundation of trust. And acknowledge that we can’t really control everything in our lives. 

Kevin’s testimony and life story of how he overcame addiction and the process he went through is his form of letting people know it’s okay to share your story and that it’s not easy to recover from addiction. Sharing his story is also a way of healing for him as he gets empathy from people around him but not in a victim perspective.

The following important points were discussed:

1. Being vulnerable with people and sharing your story really helps.
2. The more honest you are in recovery, the more attractive you are to people and letting people know that it’s okay.
3. Telling your story is also healing.
4. Start the foundation of trust.
5. Find strength and cultivate it.

Listen to this episode of the Overcomer’s Podcast to learn about the life of a formerly addicted and imprisoned individual and how Kevin McCracken overcame all the challenges in his journey and is now a happy family man and successful business owner.

To connect with Kevin McCracken:

Website: https://www.deathbyincarcerationpodcast.com/ & https://www.socialimprints.com/about-us

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ktmccracken/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinmccracken

Email: [email protected]

For more of the Overcomer’s Podcast, visit our website at overcomerspodcast.com or listen to all of our episodes on iTunes, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

7:31 – 17:10

Kevin shares his family history, his addictive/criminal years, and his time in rehab.

18:01 – 21:52

Kevin shares the moment when he felt the need to change his life.

23:08 – 28:40

Kevin talks about when he started his addiction and the time a guy in an AA meeting changed his view on recovery.

32:00 – 37:00

Kevin discusses the start of his Social Imprints business.