How does someone go from being a “soft, sensitive guy” to a “depressed, angry little s***”?

In a word: drugs.

In his documentary The Golden Boy: A Film about Recovery, Wade Sherman directs his camera at his family and friends and allows them to speak candidly about his descent into drugs as a teenager.

Sherman himself is the dispassionate narrator, describing how he reluctantly went through the 12-step program and managed to get clean and sober at 20 – only to spiral down again over the next 20 years with another addiction, this time to fame and fortune.

“It meant nothing to me the first time,” says Sherman. “I thought it was a drug problem. I didn’t realize it was a life problem.” Although he was no longer using drugs or alcohol, he relentlessly pursued his career as an award-winning TV commercial director, working all the time, travelling the world, neglecting his family and friends. His marriage failed and he lost touch with his kids.

“The biggest thing about the film is that it’s honest,” says Sherman. “Honest” is a word that comes up frequently in conversation with him.

Six years ago, he realized he needed to take a long, hard look at his life and re-learn the lessons of the 12-step program. “At some point, you have to make peace with yourself and live honestly.”

He began working on the film and started volunteering to help others with their recovery. And he enrolled in the Addiction Careworker Diploma program with McMaster’s Centre for Continuing Education.

“I absolutely loved the program. It opened my eyes,” says Sherman, who has just completed all his course work and will graduate this fall. His studies ranged from wellness in the workplace to group therapy practices to pharmacology. He estimates he wrote about 50 essays.

“I didn’t realize I was going back to university,” he quips. Ironically, his lowest mark was for the course he took on youth and addiction.

He now works as a Toronto-based content producer and director, but Sherman is quick to point out the importance of his volunteer work as a group therapy facilitator. “I realize now that it’s part of my calling to share my experience. It’s mandatory – it’s something I have to do.” He also offers private counselling services.

Sherman emphasizes the need to find some kind of faith in a higher power, whether you are religious or not. And he credits his success as a facilitator with his willingness to be completely honest about his own story.

“I never say it’s going to be easy. I say it’s going to be worth it.”

The Golden Boy: A Film about Recovery will screen in Toronto on Monday, June 6 at 7:00 pm at the Danforth Mennonite Church, presented by Arise & MCCO Restorative Justice.

It will be shown again in Barrie on Tuesday, July 12 at 7:00 pm as part of the 57th Annual Institute of Addiction Studies conference.

Both events are free.

Copies of the film are available on USB for $15 each. Contact Wade Sherman directly at wsureman@gmail.com.

Watch the trailer here: