Speak Loud

With me today is Michael, who is here to speak loud about something not many people speak about. Michael is dedicated to ending the silence around male sexual abuse survivors, after a harrowing journey with sexual abuse, alcohol and drug addiction and mental illness. Michael grew up in a violent, emotionally and physically abusive household, because of his mother. At 14, he entered a sexually abusive situation with an older woman. He was obsessed with her, unaware of the negative impact the situation was having on him. When a family counselor unearthed the truth, neither they nor Michael’s parents addressed the abuse. Instead, he was grounded. He began drinking and experiencing mental health spirals that led to a brush with suicide. “I was wild, disruptive, like a grenade without a pin,” Michael says.  After high school, Michael was in the bar business for 27 years, with unlimited access to alcohol and compulsive sex. At 22, his father passed away, and Michael developed the mindset that good people, like his