“I am the Team Leader in Coolmine’s Cork City North Community Day Service on the northside of Cork City. We receive many referrals from people looking to make small changes to their lives. What Coolmine offers is a service to people at all of the stages of their journey into recovery. Every day is different and every day brings a new challenge to myself and my team. The changes that service users make each week are so evident. Services users attend one to one sessions or groups.
“People are always interested to hear you speak about people in addiction and recovery. I like to see every interaction with people as an opportunity to highlight that people we work with are people first and not just the addiction they present with. When I talk about the Here & Now groups we run in the centre people are very interested. The aim of this group is to meet people where they are at in the here and now of their journey. Many times, people who reach out are ambivalent about what changes they can make. The Here & Now group supports them and motivate themselves to look at what small changes they can make each day. So far, this group has been a great success and a great starting point for service users.
“I look forward to work each day as each day is different and challenging and rewarding. The staff in Coolmine are great to work with and I work with a great team of professionals in The Glen.
“I think when working with people in addiction you get a real sense of how life can change any given moment in time no matter who you are. My perception of addition has always been to see the person first and hear their story. I’m very privileged to be working with an organisation that offers too much to people at the early stages of their addiction right through to recovery.
“Following on from my degree in social studies in the early noughties I went on qualify as an addiction counsellor. This involved much personal development over the years and is still ongoing. I think my role as a parent also requires a great deal of personal development as you strive to be the best you can as a parent. As for my professional development this too is ongoing on a daily basis in my current role as Team Leader.
“Overall, I love working with Coolmine and I love how welcome people are made to feel from the minute they walk in the front door of the service.”
