Hi prospective students, you opened this page to find out about me and the other instructors at Odyssey. So a little about me: like many people in this field I have a checkered past, with lots of struggles and mistakes. All those paving the way for lots of positive changes and now being in grateful long term recovery.
What do you enjoy about training students? About training at Odyssey?
I believe it’s important as to recognize that everyone who begins taking CAC classes has thought about and reflected on the nature of addiction. How it has effected the lives of their clients and in many cases effected their own life. What I enjoy the most is seeing that student gain a new awareness of addiction and how that broadens their perspective of how each individual experiences addiction. That is what I believe training is all about and the outcome is counselors better equipped to help their clients struggling with addiction.
Why do you believe training is important for students to become effective addiction counselors?
My personal and professional area of interest has been and remains addiction. Over the span of 35 years as an addiction counselor there have been many positive changes in our understanding and treatment of addiction. I believe that these changes have been driven by our collective desire to make treatment more effective. Through training counselors learn about the most current research and information to increase their effectiveness.
What experiences gives you the passion for training?
What fuels my passion for working in the addiction field is the incredible transformation a person goes through on their journey from addiction to recovery. For me, being a part of that transformation is what this work is all about.
Describe your professional areas of interest/expertise you bring to your training.
Currently, my focus has been on developing online classes. The challenge is how to create an interactive experience online. To me, this means not only learning the class content but being able to integrate all the content into their personal and professional lives.
What’s a Fun Fact (special skills, interest, connection, etc.)
What is by far the most fun in my life is playing with our 3 grandchildren and looking forward to our fourth grandchild.
