Careers in a Portland Rehabilitation Center
Imagine for a moment you saved a life.
What would that feel like? I imagine it is exhilarating, a rush of adrenaline and a cathartic experience that purges a rash of emotion from your soul. It is overwhelming and powerful, yet brings a tangible sense of peace and a finite absolution. It completes a circle of life – it illustrates the fullness of life in one pivotal breath. We can salvage each other from the wreckage of a painful, impossible existence, and when we do, we can bask in the rising sun of hope.
Hope is a powerful belief. It defines faith in the future; faith in each other. It defines motivation; ambition to face the path toward salvation or change, and to endure, even when the road becomes rocky. It’s a beacon of light across a phantasmagoric void. When we save each other – literally, figuratively – we give hope. It’s a gift of fortitude, an investment in the human journey we all share on this uncharted voyage toward the unknown. It means we hold each other’s hands in support and solidarity. Together, we march on toward that rising sun. It rises for each of us.
Imagine for a moment your career was saving lives. What would that feel like?
Pursuing a career in a Portland rehabilitation center can feel scary, or uncertain. Do you really want to surround yourselves with people previously referred to as addicts, or vagabonds, or foundationless nomads, wanderlusts hoping they will find their next drink somewhere along the dusty, downtrodden path?
The truth is, Portland rehabilitation centers are making a difference every day. A Portland rehabilitation center like Lifeline Connections delivers actionable messages of hope every day to our patients. We believe in humanity and we believe in achievement, success, and advocacy for those who have fallen. We believe that when we instill hope in our patients, they strive for absolution. They live every day as a new step toward sustainable sobriety. They live for the families they have abandoned, and desperately want back. They live for the jobs they lost; for the things they owned that evaporated into the chill of vapors rising from a freshly shaken martini. They need hope because it is all they have to earn back the favors of those lost blessings, and they need compassionate people to rally around them. They need a team.
A clinical social worker is an advocate for their clients as they navigate the challenging path to sobriety.
HOW DO I FIND WORK AT A PORTLAND REHABILITATION CENTER?
Careers in the addiction and rehabilitation industry are growing. This specialized job market continuously experiences a measurable need for compassionate, educated, motivated talent to join a team of dedicated professionals whose life’s work are centered around healing.
As the addictions field has expanded exponentially during the last five-to-ten years, the requirements to become an addictions professional now mirror those of other professional health disciplines. Proper preparation to enter the field is key, and generally starts with a bachelors or associates degree in the fields of psychology, sociology, human or family sciences or social sciences. Some colleges or universities offer specialized degrees in addictions counseling.
At the undergraduate level, students can expect to learn:
❖ disciplined approaches to the underlying causes of addiction and substance abuse
❖ the lasting effects of behavioral disorders and addictions;
❖ the varied communications techniques which are requisite to counseling patients with addiction concerns;
❖ environmental factors which play into developing and sustaining addictions.
At the graduate level, the programs are distilled down to focus on high level, specific points of study within the framework of clinical psychology, counseling or social work. An accredited program will require 48-60 hours of graduate study, including supervised medical practicum in a clinical setting.
Once a student joins a Portland rehabilitation center, they can expect to perform a variety of tasks, including, but not limited to:
❖ Coordinating counseling with other mental health care professionals and counselors;
❖ Evaluating clients’ progression toward pre-determined goals;
❖ Keeping accurate and secure records which comply with HIPAA and other federal and state regulations;
❖ Providing treatment information to family members and keeping family members abreast of client progress.
Portland rehabilitation centers like Lifeline also employ the following professionals:
❖ Case managers
❖ Administrative support
❖ Nurses
❖ Clinical professionals
❖ Vocational Counselors
❖ Social Workers
❖ Family Therapists
❖ Detoxification specialists
All of our licensed professionals share a common goal: to save lives. To instill hope. To respect, to listen and to advise. To simply be present in the life of someone who has struggled for far too long. It is a gift to give genuine hope to another person; it is even a greater gift to watch them grasp that hope and allow it to motivate them to a healthy, sustainable life where they have discovered renewed vitality, energy, self-respect and the newfound love of their families and friends.
