Personal Interview Debbie Warnke BSHS/355- Delivery of Human Services August 3, 2015 Pamela Harris
Personal Interview Paper
After long consideration, I decided to do a personal interview on my previous drug and alcohol counselor, Julie Leland. The reason that I decided to choose her to interview was due to the fact that we do have a history together and I knew that I would get totally honesty regarding the way she felt and that was very important to me. Ms. Leland was my counselor for 6 years and she has helped me to figure out the importance of sobriety, the importance of methadone medication, and also the importance of being non-judgmental and honest within myself. Because of this, I believe she will be the perfect candidate for this interview. Background Information
Julie Leland is a licensed clinical social worker who is employed by New Directions Treatment Center in Bethlehem, Pa. She has been employed at this facility for six years and prior to that, she worked in a counseling center for drug addiction in Pittsburgh, Pa. She has a history of addiction to alcohol and benzodiazepines but has maintained sobriety for over 15 years. She has been a licensed clinical social worker for 12 years and she does enjoy the job very much and plans on it being her long term career, at least for the next ten years. New Directions Treatment Center is a drug treatment center for opiate addiction and does disperse methadone, which is an opiate blocker to help people maintain their lives after opiate use without the fear of withdrawal. New Directions does have many mandatory activities that are required for a person to stay in the program and there is a waiting list to be accepted. Some of the programs required is individual and group counseling, weekly random drug screens, and most importantly, the desire to stay clean. If any of these are abused, then the person will go for review and the decision will be made to remain in the program or give the opening to someone else willing to follow the rules. Focus of Job / Work Duties
When I asked Julie Leland what she thought the main focus of her job was she described counseling as her main objective, but besides that she also felt that she did a lot of advocacy for her clients through mandatory weekly meetings with the doctor, because at that time she will have to present any ongoing issues, ask for increases and decreases in medication and explain why she agrees it would be beneficial for the client. She also felt that she was involved in a lot of problem solving with her clients, because although they are there due to drug use, most of the clients also have problems occurring in their life because of the drugs. She stated that she also does a treatment plan with all her clients and does get frustrated when the client does not want to be work towards their sobriety. Julie also explained to me that she has begun new programs at the treatment center recently as well. She started a DUI group, a pregnancy group, and is trying to start a group for people who are addicted to more than just opiates (and that is in its final stages). A typical day for Julie starts at 5:30am and she begins her day by meeting individually with the clients who have a hard time scheduling counseling time due to work hours. She spends until about 8:30 with those clients. After that, she said that she then is the primary leader of two groups, each an hour long. After those groups are over, she attempts to do paperwork and have a meeting with her supervisor to discuss any
