Come join the DARK side...

[Maryraps20]

i know this is a bit silly asking you guys about this, but if One is to choose to be an Addictions and community services worker, which of these two do you think will be an effective & convincing worker ? The one that experience being one before and has changed or the one that has a clean slate & dont have the experience and will just base it all on theories?Thanks!

[EP, RN]

IMO, both have a lot to offer, and neither is preferred over the other as a group. It just depends on the individual and how competent/good they are at their job. (Note: that is my opinion; I have absolutely no familiarity with what current research, or past for that matter, states.)

[elkpark]

There is an old saying in the substance abuse treatment community -- you don't have to have had pneumonia to treat pneumonia. I'm with EP; both groups (people with personal experience and those without) have plenty to offer, and neither is automatically, by definition, "better." There are potential drawbacks as well as potential advantages to having personal substance abuse/dependence experience.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

As an alcoholic -- I actually preferred my therapists who did not have addictions issues (or were not open about them with me). They allowed me to experience *my* story with alcoholism and recovery on my own terms. Not saying that it wasn't comforting to be able to talk about some of the crazy **** I said or did in my addiction and have the fellow addict staring back at me smile and nod. But...the recovering addicts I had as therapists pushed AA heavily. Lots of the "all alcoholics are the same" and "do like I did to stay sober" mentality that is pervasive in AA. I can (and do) go to AA for free. I'm paying a therapist to impart the therapeutic processes that they presumably learned with their schooling.