Addictions and Small Town Canada

My first adult job (one with a pension plan) was as an out-patient addictions counselor.  It was so many years ago and before I started colouring my hair.  If it wasn't for pictures from that period, I would have no idea what was my natural hair colour.

I knew I wanted to work in addictions but at that time, conventional wisdom was that the only people that could work as addictions counselors were recovering alcoholics.  That is when the AA model was the only path to recovery.  I was frustrated but kept trying and then landed my dream job.  I was a hospital employee but I counseled people on an out-patient basis.  It was in a small town that was fairly affluent and progressive.  On my first day, I was worried that I wouldn't have enough work and they would cancel my program.

Aside from me, there was one other addictions counselor in town and he worked out of the Friendship Centre.  I was in my 20s.  He was in his 60s.  I had a degree.  He had 30 years sobriety with AA.  I was an outsider.  He lived in the community his entire life.  I talked a lot and very quickly.  He was a man of few words, and when he did speak it was slowly and thoughtfully.  Aside from when I went jogging, I never left home without wearing atleast one of three things:  pearls, pumps, or a silk scarf.  He only wore jeans and a t-shirt.  The only thing we had in common was that we had the same job.  We became best friends and looked for all opportunities to collaborate.

After my first year, someone from the Government came to review my program.  The result was that four more addictions counselor positions were funded at my hospital.

I was there for three years until I had my first child.  While on maternity leave, I was recruited by the local Children's Aid Society.  Taking away people's children for a living seemed so much less stressful than being an addictions counselor.

I loved my job as an addictions counselor and someday will write a book about the experience.  The best thing about working with addicts is that most of them are so darn charming.  It is true.  Addicts become addicts by keeping their behavior secret until they are fully afflicted.  In order to do this, they come adept at charming those around them.  Even in recovery, the charm remains.  Also, there is something amazing when an addict decides that they want to change.  It is a powerful energy that is frankly intoxicating.

When I was an addictions counselor, I went to a lot of movies.  It didn't matter what type of movie it was, I cried.  I cried and cried and cried.  It was my way to let out some of my emotion associated with my job.  I didn't know how to care without carrying.

Someone asked me if I actually helped anyone.  That was a difficult question to answer.  I think I did help some people but mostly the people I helped were people that attended residential treatment and then were coming to see me as part of their after-care plan.  It was possible to help someone sufficiently motivated to give up their addiction on an out-patient basis, but, those are few and far between.  Addiction doesn't happen over night and it can't be treated over night.  People become addicts for many complex reasons.  Residential holistic treatment is usually the most effective way to treat addicts.

When we had an actual department with five counselors devoted to addictions, I thought we were going to run out of clients.  There just can't be this many people in our small progressive community.  They kept coming.

Today is Overdose Awareness Day.  Unfortunately, some of my clients did overdose.

I remember one woman in particular.  She was in her sixties and had a great job.  She was a raging alcoholic.  I met her several times while she was in the hospital prior to her becoming my client.  Alcohol was often the only nutrition she would get some days.  On those days, she would end up falling.  When she fell, she fell hard and often ended up bruising her entire body or cutting herself.  Her husband would call the ambulance.  When I would see her in hospital, she would never acknowledge that she had been drinking.  She always had a story.  She thought no one knew she had a problem.  Everyone knew.  She thought she was smart.  She used to buy her alcohol by credit card and have it delivered by taxi.  She never went into a liquor store so how could she have a problem?  Well, everyone knew.  After a while, the hospital refused to admit her and the ambulance would no longer be dispatched to her address.  I didn't know that could be done.  Apparently, it could.

She showed up drunk to her job often.  She would chew gum thinking no one would know.  They knew, but even drunk, she was good at her job, so they looked the other way.  Finally, there was a public incident so her employer couldn't look the other way.  She was one year away from her magic 80 so they begged her to retire early or go on a leave.  She wasn't going to quit her job because she didn't have a problem.  She was ordered to go to addictions treatment in order to keep her job.  She came to see me.  I recommended she seek residential treatment.  She said she didn't need that.  She saw me a few times but she had no intention of quitting drinking because she didn't have a problem.  A couple of months later, she was fired.  She lost her pension.

Three months after she was fired, she called me and begged me to come see her at her home.  I made an exception and saw her at home hoping that she was wanting a referral to a residential treatment program.  In the three months since I had seen her last, she had lost about 80 lbs and she was thin to begin with.  It was hard to recognize her because she looked like a skeleton.  She was lying under several blankets to keep warm and she was so weak she could barely speak.  She told me she had a problem and wanted treatment.  I told her I would see what I could do to get her a referral.  She passed away the next day.

A few months earlier, she had been one of the most outstanding citizens in our town.  Addiction is a powerful disease and crosses all demographics.  No one is immune.