Learn / From Wall Street to AA Meetings: An Executive’s Path to Healing, and How He Uses It to Help Others
From Wall Street to AA Meetings: An Executive’s Path to Healing, and How He Uses It to Help Others
August 2nd, 2024| Clinically Reviewed by
Key Points
- Trey Laird is the founder and CEO of The Lighthouse.
- His sober living home and Recovery 365 program cater to those in early recovery.
- Trey's personal recovery story fuels his commitment to helping others like him.
Trey Laird is a man in long-term recovery, a CEO and founder, and a member of our advisory board at Recovery.com. He founded The Lighthouse Sober Living and The Lighthouse Recovery Coaching 365 Program, both of which cater to men and women needing support and a safe, comfortable environment in early recovery.
As one of our advisory board members, Trey plays a key guiding role with lived experience in recovery and the treatment space. Listen to his episode and hear from other guests here!
A Successful Start
Trey Laird initially worked as an equities trader on Wall Street. He’d graduated from Dartmouth College and began his career quickly, despite spending much of college steadily consuming alcohol and cocaine. Trey then found success in forming and maintaining positive relationships with his Wall Street clients—usually strengthened by drinks or parties after work. Describing his focus with clients, he says,
“It was building relationships…. One of my key positive attributes is I’m generally curious about other people and generally curious about what makes them tick. And today it’s super helpful because that may unlock a door to helping them recover.”
After graduating and beginning his career on Wall Street, Trey married and started a family. Then, at 32, a surgery left him with prescribed pain medications, which turned into a daily habit, and then into an addiction.
Realizing The Need for Help
Trey eventually took prescription pain pills throughout the day and drank at night, going to bars where he wouldn’t be recognized. He began seeking solitude to drink or use substances, which went far out of his usual character as an extrovert. Trey says,
“Being somebody that liked to be around a lot of people going to someone that, you know, wanted to not be around those people, was a big warning flag for me.”
Trey soon realized his drinking and substance use kept him from being the husband and father he wanted to be. He recognized his need for help and started looking for treatment options close to him.
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Entering The Treatment Space
Trey sought treatment without knowing how it worked or what going to rehab really meant. But he went anyway, mentally prepared to stop his drug use. Trey initially planned to keep drinking after treatment, then was required to stop after he joined a 90-day outpatient program. At his wife’s request, Trey moved into his own place. He began going to 12-Step meetings in treatment and during his outpatient program, where he committed himself to at least make it through the 90 days.
The meetings and the supportive community he found in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) took him by surprise. It was not the cult-like setting he expected, rather, men with stories like his living in recovery. By the end of the 90-day program, his mentality surrounding treatment and substance use radically changed. Trey says,
“And it got to the point where I was like, what would the benefit be of having a beer again?” … “I like what I’m feeling. And more, maybe more importantly, I like the people that I’m around.”
Overcoming Challenges With The Support of a Sober Community
Trey’s path to recovery was strewn with formidable obstacles. During the financial crisis 2008, America’s economy teetered on the brink, presenting an unprecedented challenge. As a Wall Street trader, Trey found himself in the eye of the storm. Yet, his sober community became his anchor, providing unwavering support.
Trey’s personal life also faced challenges. His wife filed for divorce. The stakes were heightened as the conditions of the divorce mandated that Trey pass a drug-free test to maintain visitation rights with his children. This requirement added another layer of pressure and was a crucial motivator in his steadfast commitment to sobriety.
“Going through that time period and meeting these men who just showed me how to live a life, no matter what, stuck with me. That’s what launched me into my recovery.”
He also adds,
“The opportunity to interface with a live recovery community was essential.”
Accomplishments and Plans for The Future
New leadership at the company Trey worked for inspired him to leave the finance world and provide other men like him with the recovery community he found so vital. He wanted to offer a link between intensive treatment and home, and so in 2016, he opened The Lighthouse Sober Living. The luxury setting catered to men at first, opening homes for women later. Trey also remarried and has since added more children to his family.
The Lighthouse uniquely offers a sober living space for men like Trey, who have monetary means and have become comfortable in more professional settings. This, and the expectation to ‘man up,’ can make it even more impactful when clients instead embrace vulnerability.
Since opening The Lighthouse, Trey has also begun a recovery coaching program, The Lighthouse Recovery Coaching 365 Program. Graduates of their sober living program attend the 365 program for 3-6 months, gaining professional recovery coaching and family coaching.
Trey aims to open more sober living homes for men and women and strengthen his local recovery community, extending the gift of support (and recovery) to as many people as he can. We’re excited to have him on our advisory board and call him a friend!
Listen to Trey’s podcast episode here, where our hosts Dr. Malasri Chaudhery-Malgeri and Cliff McDonald discuss Trey’s journey and all he’s accomplished—personally and professionally. Don’t miss it!
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