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In my field of work as an alcohol and drug counselor, there are changes every day because I deal with the human condition. In most jobs, I have had in the field over the last 21 years staff members come and go, many times like a revolving door. The job I have now is not the case. We all have been there ten plus years, including my boss. Yesterday I said goodbye to her after 10 and a half years as she moves to another state. I still can't believe she will no longer be there. I will miss her, as the facility will. I wish her the best however, and I know we will all be OK. Change is the only constant in life. I write about change and the human condition in my novels as most writers’ do. Below is an excerpt from my novel Tomorrow is August 12, which explains what I go through on a daily basis as an Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor. Take care Yolanda, I wish you the best in your new chapter in life.---Keith
Excerpt: Tomorrow Is August 12th To begin with, I spend a ridiculous amount of time on paperwork. Useless paperwork, that takes so much time away from my hands-on work with clients. I constantly fight with insurance companies to keep them paying for a client’s stay in the facility. It pisses me off how people pay their insurance premiums and when they need the benefits the most, it doesn’t cover shit, and to top it off, the insurance companies don’t care. Those fucking bastards. So, myself, as well as every other counselor in the field, are the ones who must go to the client and tell them they have to leave the program because their insurance company won’t pay for more. This is after meeting with administration to see if any funding is available. The answer is always no, so then I talk to the client and break the news. Another part of my job is meetings, consisting of two or three a week. Clinical team meetings can last up to two hours, discussing budget, funding cuts, and complaining about it all. If any time is left, clients are discussed, usually at best, twenty minutes is spent for thirty of them. An addictions counselor also attends an unbelievable amount of training classes to keep up continuing education units. These are an incredible waste of time and money where I learn nothing. Most of the time, I find that people ask stupid questions just to hear their own voices. Then there is the actual treatment for the clients, such as groups, classes, and individual counseling sessions. In all of my years of alcohol and drug counseling, I have heard every horrific story about the human condition. Drug use, drug abuse, misuse, and excuses, you name it. Once hearing their story, my job is to dig deeper into why a client is using drugs in the first place. This is when the story can get really grim. Some clients have suffered rape, committed murders, saw murders, saw rapes, have been molested, and have been perpetrators. Girls raped by their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins, with ice picks, coat hangers, and beaten with water hoses. Boys penetrated anally by their fathers, brothers, uncles, and cousins resulting in blown out anal sphincters. Parents have taught their children how to shoot up, smoke, and snort drugs, as well as, shoplifting, killing, stealing, and raping. Generational drug use passed down to the client starting with the grandparents or even further back. The stories wear me out; it wears counselors down after so long. It’s common to want to hug the clients, comforting them, but it’s considered inappropriate. It’s common to want to continue to help them after they leave the facility by further counseling, but that’s unethical. Clients have to be referred to an outside therapist.
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AuthorKeith Kelly currently lives in Rio Rancho New Mexico. Archives
October 2020
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