It was toward the end of January 2019, when Raul Maurice walked around Martin County, Fla., practically destitute and seemingly hopeless. Using some of the money his half-sister had sent him, he checked into a hotel and stood out on the balcony basking in the night’s air. He was breathing it in deeper than ever before. After all, it had been nearly two years since he had seen the stars.

He didn’t really know what his next move would be. He didn’t know what his life would look like now. And he didn’t know who to turn to. The immediate family he grew up with, his parents and sister, had all passed away by the time he was 28. He had pushed away many of his childhood friends. And aside from his older half-siblings from his father’s first marriage, no one really knew where he had been for the last couple years. Maurice knew one thing, though: He was free.

But while he was free to start anew, he was not necessarily free from a destructive past he left behind. Continue reading “Raul Maurice: A Road to Recovery” →