AUDIO – LISTEN UP –

Feb. 27, 2023 – Caers shared intimate stories about growing up in Tongerlo, Belgium, the process of accepting and feeling accepted by his queerness, living with HIV and being bipolar and fighting a methamphetamine addiction. He then went on to discuss being sober for the past 10 years and finding joy in community service, particularly his work with Project Open Hand, where Caers says he currently volunteers for four hours each week in Tenderloin, San Francisco. 

“I’m going to tell a very personal journey,” Caers said in his opening line. “I will talk about challenges I’ve had throughout my life, particularly around addiction, and also how I learned from other people’s stories. We often hear at Stanford stories of successes and excellence; this is a story about failure and about the challenges that came with it, and how I addressed some of these challenges.” 

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