“One of the most realistic and applicable presentations on recovery I’ve every attend.” Carol – Florida GAL
This quote brought a deep feeling of gratitude as I wrapped up my 4 part learning series for the Florida Guardian Ad Litem Association. Five years ago I entered this peer recovery workforce and pursued my BA in Psychology with a long term aspiration of educating GALs, CASAs, Child Welfare workers, Parent Attorneys and Judges around addiction and recovery. The lack of education around the psychology, the complex layers of challenges faced by someone in early recovery, the personal biases that were unintentionally infused, and the lack of power that the suffering person was afforded caused devastation in one family, mine; and this was unacceptable to me.
Too many families are experiencing negative consequences resulting from the lack of education this working population has around addiction and recovery, and in Nov. of 2019, after conducting many peer recovery coach trainings I began my pursuit to offer this knowledge to the working population of GALs, CASAs, etc and was given the first opportunity to provide a 4 part webinar series to the Florida Guardian Ad Litem Association.
The need for these trainings is paramount as evidenced by the responses received from some of the over 500 attendees at each training. The questions asked were thoughtful and in need of adequate answers to best serve the children of the families this working population serves.
As a society, we owe it to the workers doing this hard work, the children and the families that are impacted, and ourselves to sufficiently educate this workforce with all the new addiction recovery education. For as long as CASAs and GALs have been around, drug addiction has been a challenge.
The stories we’ve been told about addiction have shaped the way society treats those suffering. It’s time we rewrite history and change the story around addiction to improve outcomes for children, families, and society.
Forever grateful to the Florida Guardian Ad Litem Association for embracing the need for this education and moving forward with it. Will you join them?
If you would like to obtain more information on scheduling the training series for your agency, I welcome the opportunity to speak with you. Contact me at gingerross23@gmail.com.