Please Help!

Be organized and make sure you tell them everything you have been doing over the last year to aid your recovery. Volunteer work, EVERYTHING!! Good Luck! jen

:heartbeatThanks Jen! I'm so Nervous! I just not sure what format to put it into.

I just had my hearing a couple of weeks ago. My advise is to be honest. They will ask you very specifically what you did and what lead up to it and they are looking for honesty. They have your info on paper so don't just repeat what is on paper. I was honest and sincere and they reinstated me after a year. The two women in front of my got turned down. It is not an easy process but sincerity will take you far. This is just my opinion but it worked for me!

Thanks so much for your reply! Did u have anything written out? I have had letters on my behalf sent to BON from my suport system and then the assistance program letter, just not sure if I should write a letter to BON or have an outline in front of me just for my use. Or what to do. Just found out my hearing was postponed now due to the weather til the 26th, so got a little more time. But not sure how much patience...lol. One day at a time! So happy for you! What's your plans now? You got employment lined up?

Of course I'm in Texas and I don't know where you are located so the BON stuff may be a little different. My hearing was called an "informal" board hearing meaning there is no judge, tape recording, etc. You aren't allowed to take anything in with you so having something written wouldn't have worked. The board already had copies of all of my stuff including letters and they had already looked over everything before I got in there, no surprise there. The two women that went before me got ripped up! They talked about the lawyer and an investigator tag teaming and not letting them answer questions. So needless to say I was about to die waiting for my turn. I was already thinking about what I would do with the rest of my life! Oddly enough they weren't like that with me at all. I think alot of it is honesty and sincerity. Be confident but not cocky. And whatever you do DON'T walk in there assuming that your going to get it back and blow the whole thing off. This is one of the most difficult things you will ever go through in your life and it should be treated as such. That being said you've worked hard for your recovery and they will know that just convey it with words.

As for me I'm still waiting on my official letter and stuff and then I can try to find a job but I've already made it through one of the hardest parts!

If I could take notes into the hearing I would. I know if I didn't I would forget important details. Best of Luck! Jen :heartbeat

I brought a close nurse friend with me to my reinstatement hearing, as well as three letters of recommendation from other nurses. I did not have an attorney with me because I was so broke that I could not afford one. The hearing went very well, but it was a little emotional-and yes, at one point, I cried, but in the end, I was reinstated, with three years probation. It took another 8-10 weeks to get my new "Active/On Probation" nurse's license in the mail-and for the state nursing website to say the same thing. I have to admit I was unpleasantly surprised about the 3 years' probation part-turned out that 3 year time was chosen becuase of a mandatory pre-reinstatemnt "evaluation" I had done 6 months prior to the hearing. The evaluation was supposed to be done by an addiction specialist; instead, I basically was handed a 6 page worksheet and asked to fill out details regarding my health/addiction history. The "evaluator" was a 23 year old who kept asking me how to spell certain words....very humbing experience! Good Luck to anyone going through this!

still waiting to hear back from the bon. I hope you get yours reistated, like was said before, be honest and natural answer the questions to the best of your ability and things should go well. This was my second time before the bon, the first time i was denied they stated i needed more recovery time. life is goig on but as of now i just want to get back to nursing!

good luck

It seems that the common denominator in all these post to your query have been about honesty. So let me be honest for a minute and speak quite matter of factually. If you do a little soul searching and speak with other addicts you will realize one thing. Addicts are masters of deception. The whole drug using experience was blanketed in deception and lies. We lied to ourselves, we lied to others even our loved ones to conceal our addiction. In fact we were quite good at it. I think it was 7 yrs before a busted tail light, a BAC of .18 and a bag of party powder landed me in a heap of trouble. Even then as I sat in jail, I called my boss and lied again, saying I had a family emergency and would be out a few days. Long story short, lost the job, continued the lie for awhile longer before I made an adjustment to my moral compass.

So why all this banter? Not sure if I made my point, never been in front of a review board other than a bunch of N.A. peers that could smell BS a mile away, and with that being said, I suspect the board members are trained to detect deception and patterns of an addict. For example; someone who has not attended regular weekly meetings is likely to falter, for the ones truly trying to make change, they will speak of each milestone as if it were a badge of honor as any addict know, any milestone is an honor. These heartfelt feelings can only be expressed by an earnest recovering addict and I am sure this is what is being looked for.

Bottom line, be open and honest, they already know you have an addiction problem, show them the steps you have taken to make change.

Sorry if not being a nurse here is stepping out of bounds. I do hope to become a nurse eventually. It was something I decided to become 5 yrs later on in my recovery. I am an Art and Spanish class away from transferring to a BSN program. Of course there is always the getting accepted thing, but one step at a time, likened to one day at a time :)

:yeah:I had mine almost three years ago. it went well but because of the resrticions i was unable to find a job as a lpn. I had two work as a cashier for two years and then a cna for another 9 months. now i have very little resrictions on my license and i was given a second chance by the very same facility that fired me when my addiction first started to hit me hard. I have been working as a charge nurse with my own unit and it feels great. whatever happens dont give up.Thank god there are people out there who understand.