For several more years Bryan Hullihen continued to experiment with drugs and drink alcohol while his behavior became increasingly more unstable due to his continued substance abuse. Bryan spent most of his time during this phase of his life with his girlfriend, his stepbrother, and his stepbrother’s girlfriend. Although Bryan was only 17 he drank more alcohol than most 21-year olds and he lived his life as if it were a perpetual party. The beginning of the end for this way of life for the young Mr. Hullihen occurred one night while camping with those who Bryan spent most of his time with. Bryan and his friends had been drinking all night while camping on an island when around midnight they had run out of beer. Not wanting the party to end Bryan took his friend’s boat back to the marina where his vehicle was parked and headed off to the store to buy more alcohol. Bryan ended up at the beach as his friend’s birthday party was ending and he hoped to catch his friend to wish him a happy birthday before heading back to the island. While at the beach that night Bryan got into a fight and was later arrested for assault and battery. Although Bryan was only 17 years old at the time of the incident, he was drunk and he hit the other guy with a bottle; the guy he hit turned out to be an off-duty Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy. These circumstances led to Bryan Hullihen to being charged as an adult and at just 17 years old he was looking at being sent off to prison for several years. After several months of court visits, a short trial that led to a mistrial, and some dealing by Bryan's attorney, Bryan was given five years of probation and a felony on his criminal record. The party was over for Bryan and his friends began to fall away and his girlfriend left him due to his continued alcohol abuse and wild behavior. The consequences of bad choices find us all and Bryan was no exception. By this time Bryan was 18 years old and he knew he needed to change but no matter what he tried he could only string together a few days of sobriety before he would give in to temptation and find himself drunk again. Bryan wanted to change. He saw his friends going off to college and enjoying life and he knew that his drinking landed him on probation with a criminal record, but he couldn't stop. He recognized that everything that was wrong with his life was a consequence of his drinking, but he would get sober for a few days and then relapse. This went on until Bryan was given a choice by his parents. The choice was simple. Move out of the house and have no support from his family or go into a drug and alcohol abuse program and have all the support he'd ever need. Bryan chose wisely and ended up at a program in West Palm Beach, FL called "Born Anew." This was Bryan's first real exposure to living a life of recovery from drugs and alcohol.
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