An Interview with Michael Connelly on Odyssey’s 20th Anniversary
This year, Odyssey Training Center celebrates their 20th year helping people in Colorado earn their CAC and become addiction counseling professionals. Founder, Michael Connelly, says that looking back on twenty years he recognizes how many people contributed to Odyssey’s success and would like to express his gratitude for all the help and support from his family, friends,colleagues and students to make Odyssey what it is today. I sat down with Michael to discuss the anniversary. He says that Odyssey’s mission has always been to help people understand addiction and recovery in order to help those still in active addiction. Although it has been through many changes during 20 years of operation, helping students remains the number one focus.
Michael says he started the Odyssey Training Center as a professional and personal mission to help those suffering from substance abuse. Addiction had done immense damage to his family and himself. Like many in recovery, when he got sober, he knew he needed to help others do the same. Michael recognizes the importance of personal experience in the world of addiction counseling. “You just don’t choose this as your career unless there’s something really important there for you,” he explains. Whether it’s the struggle with your own addiction/mental illness or family members or friends, most people come into this profession with a real passion and deep motivation to help. For Michael, motivation doesn’t just come from his own recovery, but from his sisters’ struggle and he says that there are many people in this field who continue to inspire him with their own stories and passion to help others.
That’s why when thinking about the upcoming 20th anniversary of Odyssey, Michael decided not to throw any kind of party or event, but instead to contribute to the scholarship fund he set up in honor of his sisters, Patsy and Caryn. He said: “I wanted to do something meaningful instead of an event that no one remembers.” Nearly 50 years ago, his younger sister, Patsy, died from an overdose of prescription drugs at the age of just 17. Just two years ago, his older sister, Caryn from extreme alcohol abuse over the course of many decades. Before Caryn’s death, she and Michael came up with the idea to start a scholarship fund for women in recovery who have struggled with trauma and addiction. The goal is to help them attain their CAC I & II, encourage and support their recovery while they help other women do the same. For more information on the Sisters Scholarship program please visit our website or click the direct link at the end of this article.
Doing the best they can for the students has always been a top priority at Odyssey because understanding addiction is understanding recovery. That’s why most of the instructors over the years have been former students or close associates. Michael believes that CAC instructors have to have a passion for teaching and a keen understanding of addiction and recovery. He talks about how much has changed since he obtained his CAC III 39 years ago in 1980; “Back then our understanding of addiction/recovery was very limited. We have learned so much more through research and technology about addiction now the challenge is applying it to treatment. Odyssey, through the hard work of our training instructors and valuable feedback from our students strives to keep students up to date which is critical to being effective counselors.
Odyssey’s ultimate goal is always to send students out to be excellent counselors and do good work in their community. Michael speaks of the students with great pride: “Many of my former students are out there and they’re now program directors or in private practice or they’re writing the grants or in some way making a difference. Michael talked about quite a few students so here are several from the interview.” Parker Smith, a former student of Odyssey, founded NorthStar Transitions, a comprehensive treatment facility in Boulder, Chaya Abrams who recently earned a PHD from Regis University and is a current instructor at Odyssey. Thea Wessel is another current instructor who plans to complete her PHD program next year.
Michael believes there needs to be a wide range of instructors in order to cover the wide range of information that an addiction counselor must know. He started Odyssey because he didn’t want the class to be just some red tape on the way to becoming a counselor. He wanted to create a CAC training program that really emphasized the importance of understanding addiction and to make it meaningful to the students. “This isn’t about a job. This is your career,” he explains, “You’re working with people who are suffering and dying from their addiction.” He worries about the kind of counselor who believes that their experience as an addict is all they need to succeed. “You know all about being an addict; you know nothing about being a counselor.”
Michael takes the work very seriously, but also places a high value on levity in these situations. “There’s a lot of humor in life, even though there is suffering and tragedy,” he says. “There’s a lot of laughing that goes on in the classes. This is a serious career and you might as well lighten it up while you’re at it.”
Learn more about the 20th anniversary Sisters Scholarship at: odysseycenter.com/sisters-scholarship/
