MarkPatJoeBillDinosaur

Hello all. I just graduated from undergrad and am taking a gap year to work in the field before applying to grad programs for 2020. I have a question I have been curious about for a while though. I had a rough few years in my early twenties which involved fairly extensive drug abuse and ultimately lead to my arrest in 2012. Luckily I was able to avoid any time in jail, and thankfully was able to clean up my act and turn my life around. Through family support, rehab, and perserverance I was able to turn things around and just graduated with my B.A. in psychology and landed a job in community mental health. My question: How much of this should I disclose in my personal statements? I know that programs like to see personal experience and the ability to overcome adversity but I fear that discolsing too much to some schools could hurt my chances. I also would love to avoid being labeled as 'the guy who used to be a drug addict' within my cohort, as I keep that part of my life very private in my professional role. I feel like I could write a pretty compelling personal statement with my experiences but fear it may backfire and programs will shy away from me for understandable reasons. Let me know what you all think I should do and if you have any similar stories or advice.

Thank you so much for the follow up. I know it was a long time ago and I'm hoping your interview went well. How long would you say it took overall? How many interviewers? Was it fairly formal or more casual? Were you in state or did you have to travel far for it?