What is your background?
I have been working in the treatment industry for four years. I started as a tech and moved my way up to lead tech, and eventually Case Manager. But I think more importantly is my experience in addiction and recovery. I’ve been to treatment four times myself and spent many years in and out of sobriety until I finally “got it”. So I know exactly what our clients are experiencing with detox, legal trouble, estrangement from friends and family, and financial hardship all due to drugs and alcohol.
Why do you love working at Dallas Detox Center?
I think it’s very important that a treatment center genuinely cares about its patients–that they aren’t just numbers on paper or a means of getting a paycheck. At DDC, all the staff from the bottom up genuinely cares about our clients’ success. And that is the most helpful thing we can do at the end of the day is to care.
Why do you love working in this industry?
I thoroughly enjoy seeing men and women, who come in broken and hopeless, leave after a relatively short time with some hope and some tools to stay clean and sober moving forward. I love talking to them months or years later and hearing that they are still clean/sober with their families back, being active members of society, and helping others out of the same pit they were in before. I like seeing the light come on in their eyes and seeing their genuine personality come out. I also enjoy the challenge of it all. Most other jobs I’ve had haven’t challenged me in the ways the treatment industry has and still does. No two days are alike in this field.
What are you most passionate about professionally? Personally?
Professionally I’m most passionate about helping the “chronic relapsers” that have been in and out of treatment a lot of times but can’t quite seem to “get it”. I’m passionate about a holistic approach to recovery which includes the 12 Steps paired with proven clinical tools and trauma-informed care. I’m not a clinician, so I enjoy teaching the 12 Steps and sharing my own experiences with failure and success.
Personally I’m passionate about the Lord of the Rings, biblical theology, and New/Old Testament history. I spend most of my spare time reading or studying about these things. Just ask my lovely wife!