Jones Interview the Work Done at Chemical

¶ … Jones Interview

The work done at chemical dependency treatment centers is extremely important and challenging. My interest in the subject has led me to a special interview I recently conducted with Mr. Will Jones. Will is a treatment counselor at McAlister Institute Teen Recovery Center in Chula Vista, CA and was kind enough to share some of his experiences to help me learn more about addiction and treatment. This essay is a summary of the interview I conducted with Will. This document will discuss some of the important issues related to the topic of addiction and use Will's interview to highlight important factors.

Will Jones has been a treatment counselor at McAlister Institute for nearly five years. He graduated from college with a degree in social work and is aiming to earn his masters in the same subject in the next few years. Will has a bachelor's degree in social work from UCLA and holds many other certifications. To work at McAlister you need to have state counselor certification, CPR certification, and a family counselor certification. Will is married with one child and comes from an alcoholic background. His father and two brothers have died due to alcoholism. These tragic deaths serve Will with much motivation and determination in his counseling work. The McAlister Institute Teen Recovery Center is an out-patient clinic where according to their website: to meet the unique needs of participants, program services are individualized. Aftercare, family counseling, and education are also offered. Services include educational groups, process groups, individual counseling, recovery supportive activities, aftercare, and dual diagnosis (co-occurring disorders) services. Participants attend workshops on a wide variety of topics, including AOD education, health education, HIV education, and life skills. The TRCs focus services on the population reflected in the geographic area of each center, including rural services. All adolescent services reflect the special learning needs of this age group, as well as the impacts of peer pressure and other adolescent stressors

Interview

The interview took place in Will's office where I asked him questions off a list I had created. I recorded the interview and took notes as he would talk about some specific points. When asked about the profession of chemical dependency treatment and its importance, Will was very impassioned when he discussed his dedication to this type of work. He noted that the many adolescents that he has personally worked with would most likely be dead or in jail if it was not for the treatment they received at McAlister. He mentioned that these types of programs are important and helpful more than the public will ever know. Treatment counselor's at an outpatient facility like McAlister work many hours, often on the weekend to help the people that need them the most.

McAlister's mission statement is a very telling statement. It reads: "McAlister Institute provides professional services that heal the lives of individuals and families, improving the quality of life in communities through the miracle of recovery." I asked Will about that mission and how he supports it on a day-to-day basis. Will noted that there were many different approaches and programs that are uniquely tailored to the patient. He believes that each person has a special "recipe," and no strict or exact method will always work.

I asked Will about intervention therapy and its success. Will is a big supporter of intervention therapy due to the emotional impact it has on the addict. Will suggested, "emotional reasons are often the root cause of most addiction problems and an emotional solution needs to be in the formula." He expressed how important it is for the addict's family and close friends to be part of the solution by providing a safety net to help prevent relapses.

Will noted that many of the young people that come through to see him often relapse. He suggested that patience and tolerance are important ideals that need to be demonstrated by everyone involved in the recovery. Often times, the young addict receives little support by his family, mostly because the addict's family also suffers from abuse problems as well. Will noted that this seemed like a cycle which is very hard to interrupt. Habits become forces of nature and young people can be sucked into a life very quickly and intensely. Once the habits set themselves onto these young minds, it is almost impossible to fully recover without some help from treatment counselors or other mental health professionals.

I asked Will about the different types of people that come to see him for help. Will explained to me that everyone that he sees are "neighborhood kids." He suggested that every community has their own problems and around there, most of the addicts reflect some economic problems as well. Will sees addicts from all races, but most young males. The few young females that he has worked with in the past were all the toughest cases. Will suggested that young males are more likely to become addicted, but are also more likely to be cured as well.