Dr. Brian Pennie

But I was finding this new lust for learning about the human mind.

And Johanna came into the Detox Centre and I think through my passion for wanting to learn in those early days, she made this very kind, off-the-cuff statement.

And she says, God, you have a sharp mind.

And I was like, wow, this doctor thinks of a sharp mind.

Maybe I'm not brain damaged.

Maybe I could even go back to college.

And in a lovely roundabout circular moment, Johanna gave me a job teaching in Trinity College five years after that, teaching the neuroscience of addiction.

But that set the tone for me.

I went back to college when I left treatment.

I'd done a degree in psychology.

I began designing the program to navigate my own life, which has become the business where, thankfully, I'm very grateful I go around the world sharing that program.

But it's built on...

my lived experience and the work I've learned through doing a PhD in neuroscience and psychology and just everything I've learned on that journey.

But it became like, I laugh saying it was a new addiction, but there's no consequences.

There's good consequences from that.

So it's not an addiction per se, but it became a new passion of mine to share the challenges I'd been through, why I was so broken, why I now feel incredible today and giving that chance to other people, you know.

Yeah, it was a big deal.

I often wonder if anyone would do a PhD if they knew what was involved in it before they came in.

Nothing to do with smart or intelligent.

An element of it, but not much.