[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/the-road-to-recovery\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/the-road-to-recovery\/","headline":"The Road to Recovery","name":"The Road to Recovery","description":"It was a perfect storm of personal and professional misfortunes.\u00a0Bryan was a successful independent marketing communications consultant, well respected in the business with a good network of friends. But in his late 50s he discovered that he had adult attention deficit disorder (ADD), with a host of problems, ranging from an inability to focus to […]","datePublished":"2014-06-13","dateModified":"2024-04-19","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/author\/admin\/#Person","name":"admin","url":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/author\/admin\/","identifier":2,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9802e0bea345b33afa85a53646482da09b2d7944429d88b59778b5d3e1c3dd14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9802e0bea345b33afa85a53646482da09b2d7944429d88b59778b5d3e1c3dd14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Richard Killen and Associates","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/landscape-logo-12345-for-web.png","url":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/landscape-logo-12345-for-web.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/The-Road-to-Recovery.jpg","url":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/The-Road-to-Recovery.jpg","height":1000,"width":719},"url":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/the-road-to-recovery\/","about":["Bankruptcy","Consumer Proposals"],"wordCount":704,"keywords":["ADD","attention deficit disorder","Bankruptcy","consumer proposal","debt","insolvency","insolvency act","Richard Killen","toronto"],"articleBody":"It was a perfect storm of personal and professional misfortunes.\u00a0Bryan was a successful independent marketing communications consultant, well respected in the business with a good network of friends. But in his late 50s he discovered that he had adult attention deficit disorder (ADD), with a host of problems, ranging from an inability to focus to poor organization skills and depression. After years of laboured compensation for the symptoms, he felt the copying structure he had carefully built begin to fall apart.Then he lost his biggest client. With the onset of a deep depression, he found it harder and harder to do work and make up for the lost income. He started to drain his savings and line of credit to stay afloat.He took a consolidation loan. The Canadian Revenue Agency called about missed tax installment payments. He had to ask for a personal loan from a friend to pay for a month\u2019s apartment rent. He spent a Christmas without money to buy presents. He missed a bank loan payment.\u201cIt was the lowest ebb in my life. I felt like a complete failure,\u201d says Bryan in his quiet voice. \u201cMy parents were alive at that point. They berated me for my financial mismanagement. My father had been a bank manager. He told me that if I went bankrupt I would never be able to get credit again.\u201dWith this sword hanging over his head, and not much hope to propel him forward, Bryan went to an assessment with Richard Killen. He may have gone into the meeting with intense sense of \u201cembarrassment\u201d at winding up in this precarious financial position, but he was soon reassured to learn that his problems were manageable.After a detailed evaluation of his situation and going through the ins and outs of a consumer proposal versus a bankruptcy, Bryan felt the latter \u00a0would best suit his situation. The instability of his income at the time would have made it difficult to commit to the monthly payments a consumer proposal would demand. But the most important thing was that the decision was his to make. This helped put him back in control of his financial life \u2013 a luxury he had not experienced in a long time.Almost immediately Bryan felt a surge in spirits knowing that the burden of debt would be lifted. \u201cIt was this huge sense of relief,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI was told by Howard that when the phone rings, just to give them his name and number, and he would take it from there. When the bank called the next week, they were very matter of fact and nice about it when I told them. It was just business for them.\u201dFiling for bankruptcy in 2003, Bryan was able to keep his car, since he used it for work purposes, as well as his personal assets. And he didn\u2019t have to pay any portion of his income to creditors, since it fell under the legal threshold set \u00a0in the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.During the bankruptcy, he attended the mandatory credit counselling sessions held at Richard Killen & Associates. At the same time, he underwent treatment for his ADD, getting it under control with therapies that included learning the complex body motions of the martial arts.Nine months after filing for bankruptcy Brian was discharged and able to make his life anew. What about his father\u2019s dire prediction that he would never get credit again? \u201cEvenbefore I was discharged, credit card companies were calling me and offering me credit.\u00a0 I applied for a Royal Bank Visa after discharge and have never missed a payment,\u201d he says.Since then, Bryan has gone from strength to strength in his life. The return of his self-esteem has enabled him to rebuild his business. He has co-founded a company that will create\u00a0 a smartphone app to help kids with ADD. He is poised to take his third-degree black exam in karate.\u00a0He has downsized and simplified his life to better protect him from financial vagaries and to minimize the disorganization associated with ADD.Bryan adds with pride, \u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling to get your life back and become a fully contributing member to society again.\u201d"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"The Road to Recovery","item":"https:\/\/rkillen.ca\/the-road-to-recovery\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]