Addiction Counseling Strengths

Strengths for Addiction Counseling In the area of addictions counseling, which is the primary area of practice I seek to work professionally, my biggest strength is my own personal experience with addiction. When I read things, such as the upcoming Week 3 addiction simulation assignment, I feel truly blessed to have a thorough and personal understanding of the obsession and compulsion of addiction. While others need to where a bracelet to understand what hiding track marks is like, I physically used to hide my track marks with female concealer for important family events and professional gatherings. While others need to simulate “using” ice cubes at their places of work, I was sneaking away to bathrooms to inject heroin, and on one occasion,
I have a personal disagreement with this practice, and it is my belief that it only perpetuates the neurological and behavioral factors of addiction by simply replacing once substance with another. Clients still rely on an addictive substance to sustain themselves, and often do not have access to the therapy they need due to insurance restrictions. Additionally, diversion and continued relapse on other substances has been my experience; as a case manager, I have not seen one positive case of an individual successfully titrating off of these substances and completing an MAT program. Since MAT is being pushed by state and federal agencies, it is important to embrace and learn as much as I can. I plan to work collaboratively with these programs, and gain a deeper understanding of the success stories they do have, and what were the factors in those successes. I also plan to keep my personal opinions to myself when working with MAT clients, and meet them where they are – it is their personal
I have noticed that I seem to almost “empathize too hard,” at times. Also, when clients I work with now relapse, I take it hard in certain circumstances and question if there was more I could have done. I currently utilize supervision, both individual and triadic with another case manager in recovery, to address specific feelings and emotions associated with client outcomes, and will continue to utilize this method as it has been beneficial. Another way I remain balanced and stable is through my personal self-care plan of continued attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, working with my own sponsor, exercise, and