Lightbulb moment

After my mother passed away from an overdose, I decided that the whys I had about addiction needed to be answered (to some extent). I decided that I wanted to know more. I enrolled in college and earned my degree in human services with a certification in alcohol and drug studies. My first employment opportunity was working in residential treatment. I worked for a company as support staff working in detox, PHP and IOP modalities. My opinion about addiction didn’t change that much initially. I still had the notion that addiction was somewhat a choice. That if addicts would just stay away from drugs, those who use drugs and change their environment they could conquer their addiction. In a sense that would be true, however it wouldn’t change the cravings, the urges and the thoughts. I hadn’t fully grasp the idea that addiction was a disease just yet.

After being support staff for a couple months I was given the opportunity to become a counselor (of course that was the goal all along) and that would be the beginning of an incredible journey of learning, compassion, understanding and discovery.