Katherine Ketcham

I've been writing non-fiction books for 40 years. My first book, "Under the Influence" (co-authored by Jim Milam, Ph.D.) was published in 1981 and my most recent book, "The Only Life I Could Save" about my journey with my son through his addiction and recovery is available on amazon for pre-order (official publication date is April 1, 2018). My books have been published in seventeen foreign languages and have sold nearly 2 million copies.

In 1998 I began volunteering at the Juvenile Justice Center in Walla Walla, leading educational groups and working individually with adolescents in trouble with alcohol and other drugs and their family members. From October 2001 to October 2003, I wrote a bi-monthly newspaper column for the Walla Walla Union Bulletin titled "Straight Talk About Drugs;" in October 2012 I started up this column once again.

In 2003, working with a group of committed parents, I started a parent support group at the Juvenile Justice Center in Walla Walla, which continues to this day. I am also deeply involved in community efforts to develop and expand community-based recovery support services for youth and families. Our grassroots, nonprofit organization, Trilogy Recovery Community, is part of the national recovery movement spearheaded by Faces and Voices of Recovery in Washington, D.C. I retired as Executive Director of Trilogy and now have the privilege of serving on the Board of Directors.

I grew up in New Jersey and graduated from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York with a degree in psychology in 1971. I have lived and worked in Boston, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, San Francisco, Seattle, and Ohio. In 1984, I moved to Walla Walla, Washington with my husband, Patrick Spencer, a professor of geology at Whitman College. We have three children -- Robyn, 36, is a speech pathologist working in the Vancouver, Washington school district; Alison, 34, is a special education teacher in the Seattle School District; and Benjamin, 31, is a writer working for Fresh, a Seattle-based technology firm.

My extended family -- brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, and on it goes -- is a great source of joy, along with my many wonderful friends. I love roses and having my hands in the dirt; golf (I get worse every year, a lesson in humility for sure); walks; yoga; reading; and photography. Someday I hope to devote more time to taking portraits of children and families.