Becoming an Addictions Counselor and opening my own Rehab Center / Halfway House

[kronedog]

Hello everyone, some people recommended I start a thread here about my potential career path idea.

Just a little background about myself first, I'll try to keep this short.
I began using when I was 14. It started off with smoking pot, and that first high changed everything. I became intrigued and wanted to experience other highs. I quickly searched for everything else drug wise, and got what I wanted. I became addicted to heroin by 16. I was failing out of high school and was losing friends left and right on a daily basis. Everyone I had grown up with and had a relationship with had had enough of me and I became extremely lonely, depressed, and addicted. Fortunately, my family sent me to a remote 60 day rehab program in Montana. I detoxed and began the treatment program which would forever change my life. I was then sent to a beautiful halfway home where I stayed for another year and a half, and was able to go back to school and graduate high school.

The halfway home experience changed me in a profound way. I went through a 12 step program during my stay there and for the first time saw a future for myself. During my use I saw nothing but a black hole and through the treatment process, life became fun again and felt like the world was in the palm of my hand and that I could achieve anything. I learned to love myself and others again, and developed a strong attachment to being outdoors in nature.

Flash forward a few years after completion of the halfway house; I was doing very well and happier than ever. I relapsed after a bad breakup. I knew exactly what I was doing and getting myself into. I did not reach out for support; instead, isolated myself from everyone. I went deeper than I could have ever imagined into addiction. The using went on for years and got progressively worse each and every day. I eventually somehow became very conscious of what I had been doing for years and wanted no more of it. I reached a breaking point and realized it's either I quit all of this now or I will never have a happy life if I continue. I could not get it out of my head everything that I learned during my stay at the halfway home. I managed to get sober through months and months of agony coming off everything and feeling completely lost.

This was a few years ago now. I feel I've gotten myself back together and I'm on a much better path. I just enrolled back into college this past year into a culinary program but decided that's just not for me. I've decided I want to help others, specifically people who have substance abuse problems as I have struggled with the majority of my life.

I'm now taking regular pre-req classes and have decided wholeheartedly I want to open up my own rehab center similar to the halfway home I was in years ago. I want to be able to help others in a major way because I believe their is so much more to life than getting high and being addicted feeling like there is absolutely no hope. There is always hope, I can attest to that. I have also pondered becoming an addictions counselor myself and thats the reason I've made this thread in the first place.

I really have no idea what kind of degree I should pursue. I know that if I want to become an addictions counselor I most likely have to get a Masters degree in Substance Abuse Counseling. I figured I'd work my way through school and become a counselor so I can help people one on one with their problems. The question that comes next is, what if I want to then pursue my dream of opening my own halfway home? Is it necessary or beneficial being an actual addictions counselor first before doing something like that? Would it be beneficial to major in some kind of business degree with a minor in psychology for my undergrad degree or vice versa, a major in psych and a minor in business? Does anyone here have any experience in this field of work?

I'm just looking for any advice really at this point, I'm going to go forward in this direction no matter what. Thank you guys.

 

[Dr Griffin]

Good to read that you have some goals in helping others overcome difficulties that yourself have experienced.
One step at a time.
Start from scratch and work your way up to getting a degree in substance abuse counselling. By the time you finish that, you will be better equipped to know what to do next. Obtaining a degree in counselling will alter your knowledge base and attitudes to where you are know.

 

[kronedog]

Thank ya! I always gravitated and related way better with counselors in the past who were addicts themselves. I hope I can bring the same amount of positivity and experience to the table that I was given in treatment.

You're right about the one step at a time, a lot of people are telling me just to focus on the classes I have at the moment, which I'm doing. I've become pretty obsessed lately of the idea of opening a sober living home. I've wanted to open my own business since I was a child but again, the conflicting thing is that I want to do both, be a counselor and work with addicts and alcoholics one on one but at the same time open a sober living home.

The owner of my halfway home years ago did just this; he went to treatment in the same inpatient program I went to, and then became a Licensed Addictions Counselor. From there he opened a halfway home, and after years he expanded and turned it into a very successful halfway home in Western Montana. He's an inspiration to me. I would have liked to contact him and ask him some questions but I've completely lost contact with him and that halfway home has closed in recent years due to internal issues with staff.

I guess I'm also just really excited because I went so many years without a single goal or aspiration and was content on just doing nothing in life and coasting the entire way, high as hell. Thats just simply not the case anymore.