Thread drift, drug counselors

[sisterpine]

Did not want to hijack the other thread but this got me thinking as I am a drug counselor now attending a masters program to be a therapist. I am not an addict.

Why do addicts want to become drug counselors? Would love to hear the general opinions of you all.

They want to be drug counselors because they have cleaned up and are sure their way is the only way to get clean and sober so they want to share their new education with others. (a large percentage of this group has a relapse and must become something else)

In some states it is only a two year program to become a drug counselor- decent pay sort of for very little schooling.

In my state this is the only profession a person with a felony can get a license for.

[Micheal]

On one hand - The possible reason addicts want to help could be to help others forgo the bad experiences that they went though along with continously re-enforcing their own convictions of staying clean.......
Besides (on the other hand) as an addict; why would I want to take advice from, or be counseled by, someone who has never experenced what I am going through?

[JJFarmer]

Sometimes when a person has already "been there done that" they can make the best teachers. While book education will teach you a lot, if you've never personally had to deal with an addictive personality or the weakness that comes with giving in for whatever reason it's hard to find a common ground with those who have dealt with those struggles. I think trust comes in part with finding a common ground.

There are a lot of reformed drug addicts that turn their life around and become leaders in church, etc that even without book education have made a huge impact in peoples lives.

[LisaInN.Idaho]

We had an employee who was a former addict, did time and while worked for us, did his two year AA to become a drug counselor. He couldn't find a job in counseling, went back to the life, left his wife and killed himself a few months ago in a cabin up in the mountains.
I'm sure the suicide wasn't all because he couldn't get a job in counseling, he had malignant melanoma too. But he took out a lot of loans for college and it kind of sounds like he was really led down the primrose path by the community college.

[sisterpine]

Where i last worked about half of the counselors were addicted people and half not. When ever a client would tell me that only another person who had been an addict could help them I responded with " if you had a brain tumor would you only go to a doctor who had a brain tumor too?" That usually quieted them down. I find that almost all counselors have been touched by addiction some place in their family and that they are like me in a way that they want to be part of the solution instead of adding to the problem. Sometimes we forget that addiction is a fatal disease if left untreated.

[DamnearaFarm]

Sometimes they become counselors with the best of intentions but being around folks who still use is usually a major downfall and they begin using again.

[GammyAnnie]

Maybe for the same reason some women who have been raped become sexual abuse counselors, because they KNOW what it is like and have walked a mile in those shoes!!

Annie

[Pearl B]

I wonder if some really haven't admitted defeat to the disease, & becoming a counselor is just another form of denial.

[motdaugrnds]

Each "therapist", "drug counselor" and "family therapist" has his/her own reasons (very personal) for practicing what they do. Some are only playing the part; some are truly what they represent themselves to be. The ability to work within the mental health (as well as addictive) field was simply a "learned" behavior for some as they survived their childhood/young adult world and received an education. (Those who have been a "client" or a "patient" can often recognize the difference.)

If you have a rigid perception of why others do what they do, you are "not" cut out to be any type of a counselor/therapist!

[boiledfrog]

...because their sponsor couldn't talk them out of it.

[lamoncha lover]

LOL boiledfrog
I am in recovery..did a 2 yr AAS program for drug counseling..(after about 15 yrs clean time)really enjoyed my internship at a halfway house. Did exceptional in school. Never did get a job in the field....and never killed myself or went back out there.
I think most folks that have addictions and clean up look at active addicts with a mindset of "but for the grace of God walks I"
Addiction was a huge part of my life...though childhood and into adulthood. I knew it very well.
I think its natural for folks in recovery to want to help those less fortunate. And it is something they know intimately.
As for those counselors without addiction problems themselves. I think it all depends.
I would have an easier time sharing with any counselor if I knew they had made some big mistakes too. I would never feel ok sharing with someone who I felt would be "shocked" by some of my choices or behaviors.
Empathy, compassion and a non judgemental attitude go a long way in counseling. And also knowing when to be tough and when to be soft. Those are more inmportant to me then if a person had a past addiction problem.
The counseling I did was cool..but very frustrating. I wanted some of them to get it so badly..and with everything to lose and every opportunity to clean up their lives, So many would just continue on the path of addiction.
(I think I am happy I never got hired in the field

[sisterpine]

Thank you for your post Lamonchalover. I have gone home and cried myself though dinner worrying about this client or that client because they have not "got it" and I know they are about to have their children taken away. I lost a child in a different way and I know it is almost impossible to go on making your own life better after such a loss. I am very glad that I am an addictions counselor and it reestablishes my faith in humanity when a cliet works their way out of "hell". I never have clients tell the stuff about not having walked in their shoes any more because I keep telling them that private life is not the one we are working on. I wish there were a counselor for every 20 addicts in this country and that they all got free treatment - the best available. sisterpine

[lamoncha lover]

sisterpine,
I think when a counselor puts more energy and more foot work,,,,and more tears into someone elses recovery..it's a sure sign things are not going to end pretty.
When I went to treatment the counselor played a very minor role in my recovery. It was actually the other folks in my group that were key to my recovery.
As an internist, I saw ladies with their children on the line....party the first night they were out of the halfway house. A million reasons and none make sense....
I've seen my own friends in the past gather the day after we lost a beautiful young woman to 1 car DUI accident,,<Many brought the booze. Then drove home
I lost my childhood to parents partying...my first marriage to partying...and almost lost my life to partying.
It just makes no sense at all........

It's such a sad way to go through life.

[TheMartianChick]

Originally Posted by lamoncha lover

LOL boiledfrog
I am in recovery..did a 2 yr AAS program for drug counseling..(after about 15 yrs clean time)really enjoyed my internship at a halfway house. Did exceptional in school. Never did get a job in the field....and never killed myself or went back out there.
I think most folks that have addictions and clean up look at active addicts with a mindset of "but for the grace of God walks I"
Addiction was a huge part of my life...though childhood and into adulthood. I knew it very well.
I think its natural for folks in recovery to want to help those less fortunate. And it is something they know intimately.
As for those counselors without addiction problems themselves. I think it all depends.
I would have an easier time sharing with any counselor if I knew they had made some big mistakes too. I would never feel ok sharing with someone who I felt would be "shocked" by some of my choices or behaviors.
Empathy, compassion and a non judgemental attitude go a long way in counseling. And also knowing when to be tough and when to be soft. Those are more inmportant to me then if a person had a past addiction problem.
The counseling I did was cool..but very frustrating. I wanted some of them to get it so badly..and with everything to lose and every opportunity to clean up their lives, So many would just continue on the path of addiction.
(I think I am happy I never got hired in the field

Some treatment facilities and programs only higher recovering addicts for the reasons stated above.

[therunbunch]

Our ex-employee used to talk all the time about how she wanted to be a drug counselor, but we found out that she was actually USING! I don't even pretend to know why she wants to "help others", but I do believe God has a plan for everyone. Shrug.

I understand people overcoming some extreme adversity and being able to counsel people afterwards because they've BEEN there. That's amazing stuff and they are able to really relate and help people overcome the same problems. BUT... people striving to help others overcome something they have NOT ... that part I don't think is realistic.

[HeelSpur]

I've seen several programs on tv where ex-cons get work with security co's & the FBI. They teach them the ways of a master thief and such, so I guess it wouldn't be to far from home to get a job about what you know.

[Laura Zone 5]

Why do addicts want to become drug counselors? Would love to hear the general opinions of you all.

1. In the process of getting clean, they have had a deep (for a lack of better words) Religious experience / Come to Jesus, and it is their way of Praising the Lord for their deliverance, by helping others, be delivered from addiction.

2. They feel a sense of 'giving back'.

3. They feel they can speak to an addict on their level. Maybe out of utter frustration when they were getting clean / staying clean, their counselors really didn't have a firm understanding of where they were coming from and so they really want to help other addicts not go through that same frustration.

4. Because they have been there, done that, and lived. It's what they know, inside and out, from personal living experience

[elevenpoint]

Don't know about this as I do not believe in addiction.

[Terri]

A friend next door wanted to be a counselor in a drug prevenion program for gifted teens. She said that since she had become an alcoholic herself, that she would be able to understand how a gifted person would be more strongly tempted towards drugs and be able to warn them against it.

She was my friend, but she was BADLY in denial about her past. And, I think that any kids she counseled would pick up on her connection of cleverness and drug abuse.

She eventually got a job in another city as a school counselor-she WAS a counselor- and I lost track of her.

I remember how surprised she was that I had a bottle of wine that intended to drink with dinner eventually: why didn't I serve it up? Wasn't it always a temptation, sitting there in the fridge? Um, no, it WASN'T! My body chemistry must be different from hers, because wine is only a tasty side dish to go with steak, sort of like a baked potato or some other desired dish. I dislike feeling drunk.

[HeelSpur]

Originally Posted by elevenpoint

Don't know about this as I do not believe in addiction.

You would if you visited Hardy County, WV.