'Addiction doesn't look like you think': Ex-NBA player Chris Herren connects with students

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — Chris Herren freely admits his children saw some of the worst moments in his past.

From being in the car while Herren, a former NBA player, was making drug deals, to being high around his kids, to his children walking in on him in the bathroom when he had a needle in his arm — Herren remembers it all.

Herren, 46, a Fall River, Massachusetts native who played for the Boston Celtics, spoke to Berwick Academy's student body Tuesday, sharing his story as a cautionary tale as he has done for about 10 years.

He recalls going to an ATM to withdraw money from an account that once had $375,000 and finding no money was left.

"Addiction doesn't look like what you think it looks like," Herren said.

Herren said he struggled with drugs and alcohol beginning in high school, it continued in college and into his NBA days, saying it ultimately ended his playing career.

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Herren uses his story to inform and teach audiences of all ages, though he said youth groups are his favorite. He talks about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and what it leads to and the key part, which he said doesn't get talked about enough.

“I think when it comes to drugs, we all think about the worst day and we forget the first day,” Herren said. “I think it’s very relevant. We talk about what’s going to happen in the end, rather than why it’s beginning. For years, we’ve tried to scare kids away from drugs rather than talk them through it and talk about it.”

“I thought it was very moving,” Berwick Academy senior Noah Robie said. "I thought his story was very impactful.”

The impact of Herren's message

Herren, whose kids are now ages 22, 13 and 9, was transparent with the group about his past, and although his topic was about drugs and alcohol, his message is deeper than that. 

“I think this talk has a lot to do with self-esteem and self-worth,” Herren said. “I think it’s about confidence, it’s about family, it’s about secrets we keep, promises we break and the negotiation that we do with ourselves. It’s applicable to a lot of kids in here. I just want the kids to understand that addiction doesn’t look like what you think it looks like.”

“You can have kids, and you can have a family and still struggle from this,” Berwick Academy junior Ellie Crigler said, when asked what stood out most about Herren's talk. “You could have parents who are doctors and lawyers, and still struggle. No one is exempt from this.”

“There’s multiple faces and there’s multiple stages,” Herren said.

Herren was drafted 33rd overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 1999 NBA Draft, was traded to the Boston Celtics at the start of the 2000 season, and only played in 70 career games.

His talk started like an opening movie scene where the lights were off and a short, five-minute video played briefly detailing the journey of Herren, showing highlights of him playing at all levels, and also soundbites of news anchors reporting on overdoses and Herren being arrested.

As the lights came back on, Herren was standing in front of the projector with the microphone, and began with a story from a previous seminar he did at a high school about a girl who went through a period of self-harm due to bullying from peers who had no idea what she was dealing with at home.

Herren and the student didn’t connect at the school, but she later emailed Herren about two months later, explaining how his talk gave her the confidence to do things without fear of being judged. Herren said he was touched that even one person was positively impacted by his words, adding her courage lives with him to this day.

“I thought it was very powerful,” Berwick junior Cameron Hamilton said. “I thought he did a good job connecting with the audience and just making them think a lot inward about yourself. Not a lot of blaming, but deeper thinking questions, and I think it’ll help create conversation just with things that he brought up.”

Herren raised questions such as, "Do you want your younger siblings having the same secrets that you hide?" and “Why are you taking a chance and letting this begin?”

Hamilton said Herren's open, vulnerable storytelling connected with students.

“Even if you have a smaller problem than he did, you can do it and you have support,” Hamilton said. “You could tell that he really genuinely cared that he was helping our lives.”

“Everyone’s going through something,” Robie said. “There are ways we can help each other and people that we talk to. I think that aspect of connection was really important.”

Herren has spoken in front of professional teams such as the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, and in front of athletes such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Stephen Curry, but Herren said looking in the students' eyes and seeing that his message is connecting is like no other.

"This is where I want to be," Herren said. "I think it's the right time that we can challenge and start to educate and they can look at this through a different lens."