Victory Lane Sober Living
Brad Sowell, Executive Director
Brad Sowell, Executive Director of Victory Lane Sober Living, LLC, is a lifelong native of Bowling Green. He is the son of local pediatrician, Dr. Debra Sowell, and Ron Sowell, CFO of the Medical Center at Bowling Green. Brad attended Bowling Green High School, where he played offensive and defensive line for the Purples. After graduating BGHS in 2002, he subsequently attended the University of Kentucky where he majored in Political Science with a minor in Geography. Upon graduating from UK, Brad attended Mississippi College School of Law, graduating with the Magna Cum Laude distinction and in the top 10% of his 2011 class.
Brad returned to the Commonwealth and began practicing law for McCracken & Judd in 2012. He subsequently practiced in Brownsville with Gary S. Logsdon & Associates. In May of 2015, Brad founded his own Firm in Bowling Green: Sowell, Stevenson & Steidl, PLLC. While Brad’s professional career was exemplary, his personal life was in shambles. Brad suffered from undiagnosed and untreated depression for the better part of two decades and self-medicated with alcohol and drugs.
On May 6, 2019, a failed drug test provided by the Kentucky Bar Association sparked a desire to change; a desire to do something different; and, more importantly, a desire to be something different. For the first time in his life, Brad became honest with mental health professionals permitting them to treat him for his co-occurring disorders: alcoholism, addiction, anxiety disorder and severe depressive disorder. With the assistance of JourneyPure’s Intensive Outpatient Program, daily AA attendance and psychological treatment, Brad quickly discovered a life he never dreamed possible while in active addiction. On March 26, 2020, he ultimately had his license to practice law suspended as a result of the failed drug test from May of 2019; however, rather than feeling sorry for himself over the wreckage of his past, he dedicated his life to helping others who struggle with alcoholism and addiction.
Today, Brad serves as the Residential Program Manager at JourneyPure in Bowling Green. This position places him on the frontlines of the war against a common disease. In July of 2020, with the support of his loving Wife, Billie Jean, and their four sons, Cayden, Gavin, Brennan and Nolan, the couple decided to pursue another dream: open a sober living facility (“3/4 home”) to help patients transition from an inpatient/residential rehabilitation program into society. Together, Brad and Billie plan to open several clean, safe homes, and to provide those in early recovery the best chance at long term sobriety and recovery.
Billie Jean Sowell, Chief Financial Officer
Billie Jean Sowell, Chief Financial Officer of Victory Lane Sober Living, LLC, is also a lifelong native of Bowling Green. Billie Jean graduated from Warren Central High School in 2003. As a professional photographer for over twelve years, serving clients all over Bowling Green and surrounding communities, Billie Jean has grown deep roots in Bowling Green and long lasting bonds with families, far and wide over the great state of Kentucky.
While Billie Jean does not suffer with alcoholism or addiction, she has been touched by many in her family and throughout her life that do. She has witnessed, and lived first hand, the struggle and pain of watching someone you love battle with active alcoholism. She has lived the story of that loved one not taking the first step and admitting they have a problem and cannot overcome it alone, thus allowing their disease to overcome them and slowly destroy their lives. Billie Jean has a unique understanding of just how beautiful recovery truly is and what a gift it is because she has lived through what happens to those in active addiction (and their loved ones) when they do not get the help they need.
Billie Jean now lives a very different story and a very different life, with her husband Brad, whom she proudly supports and cheers on, as he navigates his own recovery journey. Together they happily, and hectically, raise their collective four hilarious and wild sons, Cayden, Gavin, Brennan and Nolan, also known as ‘The Herd’.
Both knowing they wanted to do more to help those battling alcoholism and addiction, they decided to open their first sober living facility. Their hope is to be able to provide homes that are safe, clean and foster an environment of love and support for those in early recovery, so they may have the best chance at long term sobriety and recovery, because everyone deserves to live a life with the gift that is recovery.