My professional career and personal history have always been about getting things done.

Whether as a practicing alcoholic and drug addict or now that I am in recovery, I pursued my passions to their fullest. I overachieved in high school, and have always been at my best when I am able to contribute to my surroundings in an organizational manner.

After finishing high school at 17, I went off to college, and that is where my alcoholism took off. This chapter of my life did not last long. I was fortunate. My family had been involved in 12-Step programs for years. I had been raised in those rooms, so I knew where to go. I began to build a life centered around helping others.

I got involved, and focused my energy on doing the work within myself that enabled me to pass it on to others. I had always worked, and found a calling in social service. As a young adult in a 12-Step program, I saw a lack of representation in our area for young people like myself. I set about establishing a group that to this day provides young people a safe place to begin and celebrate their recovery.

Professionally, I moved from social service work into finance. My next decade of work was dedicated to moving up in the corporate world. I look back at it now, only to realize that my success there did not fulfill me as did working in social services and mental health. At 30 years of age, I also found the need to find out, one more time, if I was truly an alcoholic.

I talk a lot in my story about the feeling of the weight lifting off my shoulders and being able to breathe. That is the feeling that alcohol and drugs, and now sobriety and AA, gave me upon returning to the rooms of recovery after a 7 year relapse.

Growing up with mental health in my family, I learned that supporting the family system is just as important as helping the family member in need. I have always valued the power of a healthy family system and how powerful that can be in recovery. I was able to see first-hand how sickness affects a family system, and how that system can heal together.

The first time I walked into the office at Brass Tacks Recovery, the same feeling came over me. I like to believe that I didn’t choose to work with this team, I was chosen. I am humbled to be a small part of an organization that is truly helping people change their lives.