David Magee
Bestselling Author, Speaker & Changemaker in Recovery and Student and Family Well-Being
David Magee
Bestselling Author, Speaker & Changemaker in Recovery and Student and Family Well-Being
Biography
David Magee is an award-winning author, nationally recognized speaker, podcast host and changemaker in recovery and student and family well-being. His story is one of hope and resilience—a family that lost its way, shattered by addiction, found recovery, and rebuilt life with deeper purpose and joy. Through honesty, grace, and connection, David and his family discovered that healing is possible even in the face of life’s greatest challenges, including the loss of his oldest son, William, to overdose. Their shared journey through adversity to recovery and renewal fuels David’s mission to help students, families, and organizations find strength, meaning, and hope amid the nation’s mental health and substance misuse crisis.
At the University of Mississippi, David helped create The William Magee Center for AOD and Wellness Education, a pioneering model for prevention, recovery support for students. His bestselling memoir, Dear William: A Father’s Story of Addiction, Recovery, Love, and Loss—now being developed as a major motion picture—serves as a foundation for national work in opioid abatement and student, family, and community mental health recovery.
David is also the founder and CEO of The Magee Foundation, which uses storytelling to break stigma and help solve the opioid and mental health crisis through education, innovation, and connection.
Today, David hosts The David Magee Show podcast and speaks to audiences nationwide—from schools and universities to healthcare systems, churches, and corporations—challenging and inspiring them to build lives and communities rooted in compassion, connection, and hope.
Speaker Videos
TEDx: Road to Wellbeingville
On “Dear William” | CBS Mornings
Family Matters: Meet the Magee’s
Speech Topics
Dear William: Turning Pain Into Recovery & Purpose
Through the lens of his bestselling memoir Dear William and the family story behind it—now becoming a major motion picture—David Magee shares his family’s remarkable journey of recovery and renewal. What began as heartbreak became a blueprint for healing, inspiring a national conversation about hope, connection, and second chances. David helps audiences see that no matter how broken a story may seem, it can be rewritten into one of strength, purpose, and grace.
Revising the Story: Healing the Crisis, Building Connection
In a time of unprecedented mental health and substance misuse challenges, David Magee invites audiences to “revise the story” — in their homes, schools, and organizations. Drawing on lived family experience and years of work in student and family well-being, he shows how open dialogue, compassion, and connection can transform cultures of despair into communities of hope. This talk empowers leaders, educators, and families to move from fear to empathy—and to create real change together.
The Gift: Finding Meaning & Resilience in Recovery
David uses his family's miracle recovery story to explore how faith, courage, and vulnerability can turn our hardest chapters into the foundation for a new life. With authenticity and insight, he reveals how embracing our stories—rather than hiding them—leads to personal renewal and community healing. This talk reminds every listener that hope isn’t something we find; it’s something we build, together.
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