Alcohol addiction seen through the eyes of a parent

“I’m done with you.” Those were almost the last words Mike Scott ever said to his son after another fight broke out because of his son’s alcohol addiction.

Hours later, Mike’s son would crash into a vehicle carrying a family of four after running a red light.

That son was Casey Scott, popular broadcast personality and podcast host. You may be familiar with his story but this story is about how alcohol addiction affects a family, through the eyes of Casey’s own father.

Casey’s alcohol addiction begins to destroy his relationship with his father

Mike Scott joined the Project Recovery podcast with Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley, a clinical psychologist from the University of Utah, to detail his son’s addiction.

“I can look back, growing up with you, and maybe a hand-full of times, I saw you drunk,” Casey said while discussing his own struggles with alcohol. “Now let’s flip that question. How many times have you seen me [drunk]?”

The question bears significant emotional impact but his father was quick to reply, “more than I want to remember.”

Casey’s drinking started to create a strain for him not only in his personal and professional life, but it was also created tension within his own family.

“I remember trying everything. I tried the loving and let me put my arm around you and let me talk to you about this, and realizing it’s falling on deaf ears,” Mike said.

Even though Casey never heeded his father’s words, Mike never stopped trying. He consoled his son as much as he could, but inside, he was still struggling with the fact that his son was on a dark and dangerous road.

Mike’s battle with denial

Unfortunately, Mike quickly realized that the biggest problem was that there wasn’t an “instruction manual” to help fix his son. Therefore, he chose to deny the obvious.

“Denial [for me] seemed to be the easiest way out,” he said. “Most of the time, he was okay but there were those days where every word was slurred and he wasn’t comprehensible.”

No matter how hard Mike tried to help fix Casey’s addiction, he realized that he couldn’t help as much as he wanted to.  And with his attempts to help Mike struggled with the worry that it may have only made things worse.

“If you don’t know what to do, the tendency is, to try and ignore it,” Mike said.

Slowly, Casey’s addiction was driving a rift throughout his family and the pain was only getting worse.

How admiration evolved into embarrassment due to alcohol addiction

After years of alcohol abuse, the rift that Casey had created began to grow exponentially. Furthermore, Mike’s admiration for his son transformed into embarrassment.

“I’m so proud of you. You’re on TV, you’re this, you’re that, and everything else and you’re just throwing everything away,” Mike said while remembering a conversation the two had while golfing one day.

Mike recalled how his own father struggled with alcoholism. So much so, that he eventually passed away due to his own addiction. He ultimately realized that it wasn’t about what he could do for his son.

He realized that they needed to educate themselves and seek some outside help because his own decisions would be jaded by the fear of losing his son.

“My advice would be that when you see [addiction] with a sibling, or your husband, or your wife, or somebody else, that the best thing you could do is go see somebody,” Mike said.

The shared sobriety date

Casey finally committed to stay sober and get help. Once Mike realized that Casey was going to need help and support, he stopped drinking alcohol, as well.

They both just recently hit their first year of sobriety.

“I’m not the guy who was talking to your shoulder, or swinging three times on the golf course or ruining the family reunion. That was me, I can’t say that it wasn’t because it was,” Casey said. “That’s not truly who I am.”

Casey is now raising awareness surrounding alcohol addiction and substance abuse. He’s made mistakes in his life but he is here to change and make a change at the same time.

“I didn’t think I’d be in this world but I am, so let’s make some noise,” Casey concluded.

To hear more from Casey Scott and Dr. Matt Woolley, you can listen below or subscribe to the ‘Project Recovery’ podcast on Apple Podcasts and be sure to check out the ‘Project Recovery‘ page on KSLTV.com