About us
A small nonprofit doing the part that comes first.
Addicted To Life is a 501(c)(3) organisation in San Jose, California, focused on substance use prevention, mental health awareness, and community education.
Who we are
Prevention, awareness, and education — nothing more, and nothing less.
Addicted To Life was recognised by the IRS as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organisation in June 2019. It is classified under mental health and crisis intervention, and under alcohol and drug abuse, prevention only — a category that describes our work precisely. We are on the prevention side of this field.
That distinction matters. There are excellent clinicians, treatment centres, and crisis lines already doing the work of acute care. What is usually missing is everything upstream of them: the accurate conversation that happens a year earlier, the parent who knows what to say, the teenager who has heard the information from someone who was not panicking.
Our name is the shortest version of the argument. Recovery, prevention, and mental health are not about the absence of something. They are about a life someone is actively building — and a community that makes building it possible.
How we hold ourselves
Four commitments that shape what we publish.
In a field where bad information causes real harm, restraint is a feature.
People before labels
We describe people by what they are doing, not by a condition. Nobody here is a statistic, a warning, or a cautionary tale.Accuracy over urgency
It is easy to frighten people and hard to inform them. We publish what we can support, and say plainly when something is outside our expertise.Clear about our limits
We are an education and awareness organisation. Clinical care belongs to licensed professionals, and we say so on every page it matters.Accountable locally
We are registered in San Jose and answerable to the community we work in. Our nonprofit filings are public and checkable.
Language
Words change how quickly someone asks for help.
Research on stigma is consistent: language that frames substance use as a moral failing measurably delays help-seeking. So we watch ours.
| Instead of | We say |
|---|---|
| Addict, junkie, abuser | Person with a substance use disorder |
| Clean / dirty | In recovery / currently using |
| Failed rehab | Treatment did not work that time |
| Committed suicide | Died by suicide |
| Substance abuse | Substance use |
Scope of our work
What we do, and what we deliberately do not.
What Addicted To Life does
- Prevention education about alcohol and drug use
- Mental health awareness and stigma reduction
- Community education and shared vocabulary
- Signposting to licensed and government services
- Support for families, caregivers, and friends
What we leave to professionals
- Medical treatment, detoxification, or medication
- Therapy, clinical counselling, or diagnosis
- Emergency or 24-hour crisis response
- Rehabilitation or residential programmes
- Individual medical advice of any kind
For anything in this column, a licensed professional or a national service is the right place to go. We are glad to point the way.
Transparency
Our registration details, in full.
These details are public. You can verify them through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search using the EIN below.
- Legal name
- Addicted To Life
- Status
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
- EIN
- 84-2025268
- Tax-exempt since
- June 2019
- Classification
- Mental Health, Crisis Intervention · Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Prevention Only
- Registered address
- 19040 Graystone Ln, San Jose, CA 95120
- Deductibility
- Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law