Tricia Greaves

Roy Nelson

Scott Adams

Talia Witkowski

Tricia Greaves, President

I grew up in a beautiful home with loving parents and two older sisters. There were problems, of course, but I had it good. I went to a prestigious prep school, played varsity sports and was president of my school my senior year. I received a BA from Amherst College.

Nevertheless, by the age of 21, I had hit bottom from the diseases of compulsive eating and alcoholism. After trying everything I could think of to overcome my outward symptoms and inner turmoil, including OA, AA, treatment, retreats, eating disorders therapy, self-help books, and diet and exercise, I still couldn’t stop the self-destruction for any length of time, nor did I have any kind of peace. I feared I was hopeless. I thought I would have to spend the rest of my life battling food, fat, and the insanity of obsession without any lasting reprieve.

Thankfully, God put a person in my life who actually helped me find a way up and out. Roy was someone who had overcome the problem of compulsive eating, among other addictions. He taught me how to treat myself with love and respect and to care for myself instead of depending on others to take care of me. He helped me to develop spiritual disciplines that were personal to me and which brought me serenity. He helped me to get clear about what was working in my life and what I needed to let go of in order to have peace. He helped me to love myself and others. Most importantly, he has helped me to develop a personal relationship with God that is a constant source of strength and inspiration for me.

I believe God gave Roy a gift for helping others, because he helped me when no one else could, and I’ve seen miracles happen in others’ lives on account of him. Roy is still my mentor today, helping me to live a more sane and useful life. I am not cured of compulsive overeating, but one day at a time I have freedom from the compulsion to overeat. I do not fight food or alcohol, or other self-destructive tendencies. But I’m clear that I can’t accomplish this on my own, and I can’t do it without help from someone who has experienced the same problems as me, and has overcome them. This life is a spiritual journey, and it has helped me to have a spiritual guide—someone who has traveled this journey farther down the road than me—to help me negotiate the peaks and valleys.

Thanks to the rich education I’ve gain from this experience, through the years I have been able to speak publicly on the topic of addictions and eating disorders. I have also been fortunate to be an entrepreneur in the fields of health, nutrition, and marketing, and have written several articles on the subject.

Feeling compelled to raise worldwide public awareness about this unique process called Metasteps, in April of 2000 I founded Be Totally Free!, the outreach organization which seeks to effectively and systematically reach people who are suffering from all addictions. I have been given the opportunity to carry this message on various local and national health programs on radio and television.

People who are looking for a way out of their pain need a real friend; someone they can talk to, someone who genuinely cares, and someone who can actually help them. I, along with the many others who have experienced this incredible gift, and who helped me put together this website, hope that you, too, will be inspired to reach out for help to “be totally free!” God has healed us, and we want to make that help available to anyone else who may need it and want it. Thanks for visiting our site…may our paths meet along this journey or recovery!

Roy Nelson

Roy Nelson grew up in poverty in a small town in Texas. He was one of four children. His father was sadistically violent with his family and was known in his town as a drunk. On account of many evictions, Roy’s family moved often. At one time, for three years, his entire family, including his grandmother, lived in a two room tin house. On a daily basis at school and at home Roy experienced and lived with the constant threat of physical violence. And he was no stranger to emotional and sexual abuse. Where the idea of God and church might have brought him comfort, his experience of “hell, fire and brimstone” religion brought only further terror and alienation. Roy worked to make money from a very young age, and at the age of 14 he left home and school permanently to pursue a job opportunity in another town.

At the age of 17, Roy joined the Army. He served in Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. At the age of 20, Roy married a woman who had a daughter; a year later she gave birth to a son. Nine months later she gave birth to twin boys! All three mischievous boys shared the same grade throughout their school years, providing unimaginable headaches and stress for Roy and his wife! At the age of 22, Roy was responsible for providing for a wife and four children. He left the Army after 7 years and embarked on a career in sales and marketing.

Throughout his life, Roy battled with his weight. He was overweight as a child, and by the age of 22 he weighed 230 lbs. His success in sales was matched by progressive weight gain, heavy drinking and smoking, and generally “riotous” living. He was spinning out of control. By the age of 28 he was suffering from panic attacks and phobias and sought help through psychiatry, psychology and medical hypnoanalysis. By the age of 32, he reached 275 lbs, and while still experiencing success on the outside, was an emotional wreck on the inside.

Late one night, when all his “painkillers” had failed to keep the guilt, remorse, fear and despair at bay, he crawled out of his bed and, on his knees, cried out for help from a God he thought he didn’t believe in. The first miracle was that he was able to get back into bed and fall asleep peacefully. But more than that happened…when he awoke the next day, he felt peaceful. And he began to lose weight. And he no longer drank alcohol. His whole life took a different tack. He began to seek more of the peace he found that night, and over of a period of about 9 months he shed 100 lbs. Seeking answers to the inner pain he had suffered his whole life, Roy talked to others who had struggled with addictions, as well as spiritual and medical figures who strived to understand the workings of the subconscious mind. As he put the pieces of the puzzle together, he continued to recover. Roy was not content to stop only the major addictions and continue on with the lesser ones. He had a burning desire to BE TOTALLY FREE. And that desire drove him to break free from the bondage of all addictions and even from the addictive personality itself. But Roy always gives the credit to God.

After “cracking the code” of his own problems, Roy turned to help others do the same. He knew that in order to continue on with his own success, it was vital that he help others to succeed in the same way. And it has been his life’s mission to do this ever since. While he experienced success in business, that pursuit was always secondary to his helping others. Today he devotes his full time to helping others. There is nothing more important in his life. NOTHING. Roy believes that because God and others have so generously been there for him, he must be there for others. Because he has suffered at such a deep level, and been healed, he wants to always be there for others who are suffering and seek healing. Roy knows that love heals. His two favorite quotes are: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” And “There was a man, they thought him mad, the more he gave, the more he had!” That aptly sums up the heart and service of Roy Nelson.

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Scott Adams, Chief Operating Officer

Despite growing up in relative poverty, Scott grew into a very successful and well-educated professional.  Scott is currently a Senior Program Manager for a large, global IT corporation.  He holds multiple degrees from the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and he has worked in the White House in two different presidential administrations. While Scott's life has been a long series of successes in his professional life, no one would have guessed how he felt on the inside.

As a small child, Scott was insecure and fearful.  Early on, he decided that he would need to be the best at everything he did in order to be accepted.  In elementary school, he acted out and played the "class clown."  In high school he was so involved in extra-curricular activities that he had little time for anything else.  In college, he worked hard and was elected president of his student body.  However, none of this success brought self-confidence.

Later, while living a very public life in the Washington, DC, political scene, his self-confidence was so low that he spent every day terrified that he would fail.  He worked hard to build an impressive resume so that he could impress the world - all the time hoping that if he could just get "successful enough," the internal doubt would fade away.  But, the reality is that no amount of external success could calm the storm in his heart - and this storm was killing Scott.

From the very earliest days of his life, Scott depended on food to numb himself from this internal pain.  Throughout the decades of trying to override this torment, Scott grew more and more addicted to food.  By the time Scott was 30 years old, he weighed over 350 pounds.

Scott did everything humanly possible to cope with his weight problem.  He paid personal trainers, tried every fad diet, took weight loss medications, and even spent a year in an out-patient weight loss program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.  After losing control again, he resorted to bariatric surgery. 

Neither diets nor surgery could calm the internal chaos and at 35 years old, Scott had eaten his way to 430 pounds.  He was dying from an addiction to food and was out of options from the medical world.  That is when Scott found Be Totally Free!

With the mentorship of Roy Nelson and the application of the Metasteps process, every aspect of Scott’s  life has flourished.  As a result of his new perspective on life the food addiction has been healed and he has lost 200 pounds.  Scott has finally found the inner peace that he has sought since he was a child. Scott's personal relationships are healthier than ever.  His financial life is no longer a mess of debt and bad credit.  In short, he is excited to wake up each day and live his life.

Scott’s gratitude to Be Totally Free! has led him to offer his time and skills in helping Be Totally Free! reach those who, like himself, need and desperately want to be totally free.

Talia Witkowski, Outreach Coordinator

Talia Witkowski, Psy.D. is a Doctor of Clinical Psychology. She received both her Master’s and Doctorate degrees in the field of clinical psychology from The California School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Witkowski has specialized in the fields of eating disorders and addictions for several years. She has worked in inpatient as well as outpatient treatment centers and has experience with treating women as well as men, and of all ages.

While working professionally to help people overcome their eating disorders Dr. Witkowski lived in denial of her own problems.  After her first meeting with Roy Nelson under the pretext of seeking help for one of her patients, Talia was able to get honest about her own eating disorder and numerous addictions. She subsequently began her mentorship with Roy Nelson and following the Metasteps process. As a result Talia has been able to lose 60 pounds of excess weight. Furthermore, Talia no longer leads a double life of helping others in treatment by day, and abusing herself with food, alcohol, drugs and unhealthy relationships by night. By addressing the pain she had buried for so long in addictions, she has experienced a total turnaround in her life. She is totally free.

Having worked in the field of addictions and understanding the high rate of relapse (especially for eating disorders and weight loss) Talia understands how vital the Be Totally Free program really is for those who are out of options and hope. Talia’s passion is helping others receive the help she has received. As Be Totally Free!’s “Marketing Maven”, Talia devotes her time and effort towards raising awareness about Be Totally Free, Roy Nelson, and the Metasteps process.