Mary Beth O'Connor

Mary Beth has been clean and sober from her methamphetamine use disorder since 1994. She also is in recovery from abuse, trauma, and anxiety. She wrote about her story in her award-winning memoir From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction.

Mary Beth is a Director, Secretary, and Founding Investor for She Recovers Foundation. She also is a Director for LifeRing Secular Recovery. She regularly speaks on behalf of these organizations and about multiple paths to recovery. This includes television, radio, conferences, podcasts, and recovery houses. She also develops relationships with other organizations, such as Women for Sobriety, and trains attorneys, judges, and medical professionals.

Mary Beth regularly writes opinion pieces that have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Recovery Today, and other publications. Her memoir writings have been published in Memoir Magazine, Awakenings, and Ravens Perch, among others. 

Professionally, 6 years into her recovery, Mary Beth attended Berkeley Law. She worked at a large firm, then litigated class actions for the federal government. In 2014 she was appointed a federal Administrative Law Judge from which position she retired early in 2020.