July 2025 Student of the Month

I am a lead behavioral health technician in Los Angeles, California. I came to California for treatment from Tulsa, Oklahoma, because like many others, my life had become unmanageable. I was estranged from my 16-year-old son, and I could not deal with life on life’s terms.

Through my heroin addiction, I lost my son’s mother and many friends, so I decided, while in treatment, that I was not only going to better myself but help others to better themselves, so I sought out a career in treatment and ultimately found myself attending ATI.

I’m currently pursuing my CADC-1, but I also have a passion for motorcycles—specifically Harley-Davidsons. I love working on, riding, and building them. I attended school at MMI (Motorcycle Mechanics Institute), and after, I continued in the Harley-Davidson Program. After school, I still felt a calling to treatment, so I moved back out to LA to work and pursue my career in substance abuse counseling.

My goal is to help those who were lost like me find their way again, and I have ATI to thank for that. I chose ATI because I have friends and coworkers who have attended ATI and have had great experiences. One of the things I love about the program is the discussion boards, because you get to see how different people have different perceptions of addiction. I also like that it’s all done online because I work full time on a swing shift, so it made it possible for me to attend class and continue to work comfortably.

Right now, I work in the operations side of treatment. With my certification, I plan to work on the clinical side as a case manager or therapist, so I know both sides of running a treatment center. I believe knowing both sides will make me a more well-rounded employee. I believe that what I have learned and will learn here at ATI will help me understand how to better help clients understand their disease and how to help them stay sober. My future career goal is to become a Program Manager and one day a Director of Operations or Program Director of a detox facility.