I chose to become an addiction counselor because um well in hopes of just helping people not experience some of the negative experiences that I encountered when I was an act of addiction myself the most rewarding thing about this job is is being afforded the opportunity to see people learn how to live life in a more productive Manner and and watching them grow early on when I first started working here I was doing group and I looked over it uh one of the one of the girls sitting right next to the door she looked like she was about ready to take off um she didn't look like she was physically doing very well and I asked her if she was okay and she told me no I'm not okay but I will be um it was very interesting because somewhere in that lecture I said something that really hit home with her and from that point forward she was very much on board with making some pretty significant changes in her life this was probably four years ago um she still comes to see me now every now and then um just to let me know that she's okay and and lets me know know that she's still clean and sober and that that that's been really rewarding I think being able to be being able to relate to the clients is a really important aspect of the job the fact that I'm in recovery helps me to do that I understand what it feels like to be an active addiction I understand what it feels like to not see drugs and alcohol as the problem part of the job is not much unlike that of a teacher um we do psycho educational groups and teach people about addiction and recovery and just learning how to live life in more productive manner so a typical work day right now for me is I do group at 8:00 to 10:00 in the morning and then I do intermittent individual sessions throughout the day um throughout my week I have um a variety of staff meetings to attend to and I spend uh what feels like a significant amount of time de with other agencies that are involved in the clients that I work with in their recovery process um that that can include courts lawyers probation officers um Child Protection Services Workers and and the agencies that work with them um right now I'm I'm working at a sober living house so I only have eight clients so for me to see more than three a day would be unusual um prior to that I was doing intensive outpatient and outpatient over here at the Gateway facility so for me to see four to five a day wasn't unusual it's it's a really good feeling just watching people go from what is very possibly the worst day they've ever had to getting through every day without it without it being horrible for them you know