About My Experience

For the past 25 years I have worked to improve the lives of people who struggle with addiction and its devastating impact.  I have served as a counselor in residential treatment, outpatient programs and halfway houses.  I have been a treatment program director, designed programs and lead organizations that provide addiction treatment services as well as complimentary services that support people in recovery.  

Much of my focus has been helping to bring quality services to individuals and communities who have traditionally been underserved.  In these communities issues of poverty and trauma impact the recovery process in powerful ways. In addition to traditional addiction treatment services, I have focused on projects that integrate addiction treatment with supportive services such as housing, primary health care and mental health services, giving people a leg up on recovery and addressing the complicating factors that get in their way.

Some of the projects I have developed include bringing out patient addiction services to a rural community in Minnesota, facilitating the partnerships that developed a 16 unit supportive housing project for people struggling with addition, and integrating primary health care, behavioral health and addiction services for a tribal nation. 

For recovery to be successful, programs must be agile enough to meet people where they are in life, be sensitive to their needs and be flexible enough to modify tradition to meet needs of today.  I have successfully done that in the past and can bring valuable experience to assist others in this process.