Last month, Ben’s Friends, a national support group for people in the hospitality industry struggling with addiction, began hosting weekly meetings in Chicago.
River Forest resident Matt Stamm has spent the majority of his life working in Chicagoland restaurants, beginning in high school at a family-owned and operated restaurant. He’s now the general manager of a Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria in River North.Stamm, the second youngest of seven kids, says he began using drugs and alcohol “as a way to escape life,” and cope with the “insecurities of being a teenager.
Stamm says he struggled with addiction for years. “I hid my drug use and alcohol use from everyone in my life.” Founded in 2016 by Charleston-based restaurateurs Steve Palmer and Mickey Baskt to honor Ben Murray, a chef who died by suicide after struggling with alcohol use, Ben’s Friends’ mission is to “offer community, hope and a path forward for those struggling with substance abuse and addiction.”
“It’s a place to talk about what’s heavy on your heart, to trust people that understand you on a level much deeper than someone in another program could really understand … experience being around alcohol and drug use and the chaos of a busy restaurant life,” he said. “Getting sober is really hard.”
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