In recovery DUI before nursing school now graduated and passed NCLEX

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Recently graduated and passed NCLEX. I had a DUI before I started school 6 years ago. Waiting on the Nursing commission to deny or approve my license. I was wondering if anyone had any experience where they disclosed in their letter of explanation being an active member of a 12-step group (AA/NA) to the nursing commission. I was wondering what happened and if the license issued was restricted or if they were placed in a substance abuse program? (I've been sober for 6 years and have not seen anyone with this experience yet)

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Specializes in RN.

Hi! I went through the same thing. I disclosed what I do to stay sober when I had to do the substance abuse eval mandated by my states BON. The counselor who did my eval gave me a good recommendation. Even if your state didn't have you do one maybe look into that. Hope this helps!

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Update: I got an unrestricted liscense. I got outside help and talked to a lawyer outside of the program who specializes in dealing with the board before writing my letter of explanation. And I talked to a psych nurse and a friend in a 12 step program who is in healthcare. The lawyer directed me to only disclose what I needed to (I was about to talk about my whole story and was advised not to). I talked about the effect getting my DUI had on me. And what I did after I.e. stop drinking, service, etc. My friend, based on personal experience, thought it'd be better to talk about my 12 step program without talking about my 12 step program. Have been lucky to do lots of work in H and I and public information before nursing school. So I also wrote about that without disclosing it as 12 step service work.

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On 10/17/2021 at 8:53 PM, StudentM2021 said:

Hi! I went through the same thing. I disclosed what I do to stay sober when I had to do the substance abuse eval mandated by my states BON. The counselor who did my eval gave me a good recommendation. Even if your state didn't have you do one maybe look into that. Hope this helps!

Thanks for sharing your experience. It definitely gave me hope. I was fortunate I didn't have to do anything further than what I did.

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