Nando & Lola

I moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1999 and left Odessa, Texas behind me. My main motivation in moving was becoming a licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselor in Texas and later discovering that the pay sucked.

So I moved to Iowa because a Spanish speaking counselor was a golden commodity there and the pay was equally golden! I went to work for a treatment facility (Rehab) where I was the assessment counselor and I was welcomed with open arms and made great friends. One of them being Lola.

Now, Lola has reached out her large liver-spotted arms to me once more and would like her try at blogging. So with no further delays, here is Lola the Drug Counselor.

Enjoy!

***********

Oh the "joy" of being a substance abuse counselor. Let’s see, last Monday I had four people not show up for appointments. One person actually called to cancel his, and one person called to say “he had made phone calls” to reschedule his appointment, but no one ever returned his phone call. Let’s just say he possibly "does not recall" the returned call that rescheduled his appointment.

The life of a substance abuse counselor is one of ups and downs. What would the ups be? A person showing up to all appointments and groups, making great lifestyle changes, and successfully completing their substance abuse service recommendations, and having a great successful life free of negative consequences due to alcohol and drug usage. Pipe dreams you say? No pun intended. What would the downs be? Client deaths due to continued alcohol and drug usage.

So one might think it is a hard job to be in. I just have to keep my sense of humor somehow, so focusing on the lighter side of things is the way I am able to do this. Memories of……..let’s just call this Substance Abuse Clients Gone Wild! The inebriated man standing by the Area Substance Abuse Council Sign surrounded by beautiful flower bed where he had stashed his 40 chugging said 40, then trying to convince the assessment counselor he had not had a drink in, um—at least four hours. Or the client “gone mad” acting like a rabid dog, trying to bite a 7 foot tall Grizzly Adams type staff member, kicking a male police officer in the family jewels, and almost throwing another over the balcony on the 2nd floor. Note to police officers who responds at ASAC: never underestimate the strength of a crazed 14 year old girl who weighed maybe 95 pounds soaking wet.

There was a client whose UA (pee test) returns positive for marijuana with a level of more than 400 (off the charts high for those who don’t know) trying to convince his counselor that it must have been dirty because he was sitting in the same room as his friends while his friends were getting high – he had not smoked for at least a month! The adolescent male crazed by cravings for freedom and possibly drugs too, jumping out of a two story window, doing the spider man arms and legs (think windmill motions) and landing on an abandoned taxi cab in the junkyard Meth Lab located next door to ASAC (go figure) then running off.

I always used to tell the kids I worked with in residential, please if you want to run away, just put on your shoes and go out the front door, no one will physically try to stop you. I don’t think that is quite exciting enough for those craving extreme “highs”. Last but not least, let’s not forget the clients who play the “pass out game” because they’re just looking for a high and has another client choke him, then proceeds to fall into the bedpost, requiring 9 staples in his head to close the gaping bloody wound left when he conked his 200 pound plus body and fat head down on the bedpost. Though not funny, that one is a constant reminder how desperate one can get to feel a high--any kind of high.

Now is it any wonder that Nando our very own ex-Assessment Counselor took a huge risk traveling to New York City to escape the craziness of substance abuse counseling in small town Midwestern Iowa? One crazy Iowa substance abuse counselor is thinking she may be ready to follow in Nando’s footsteps!