Intentional Recovery Counseling Transforms Lives
For those living with a history of trauma there are two choices: become a hostage to your past or use that past to help others. Lisa chose the latter.
“Growing up with parents who struggled with addiction, I felt led to help others avoid what my family went through. So, I pursued a degree in counseling.”
It was during her undergrad years that God showed her where she was needed most.
“While there is poverty in my background, I didn’t have a real understanding of generational poverty. I became well aware of it during the volunteer portion of my undergrad studies. It broke my heart. I was convicted to the very core of my soul. God told me, ‘I want you to go where my people are.’ The rest is history.”
Today, Lisa is living out her passion as an Associate Counselor and Licensed Master Social Worker at Phoenix Rescue Mission.
Growing up in an environment that included addiction and poverty, Lisa is using her past to help others as an Associate Counselor and Licensed Master Social Worker at Phoenix Rescue Mission.
“Here, I’m on the front lines of God’s miracles every day. I get to watch Him take clients from a place of brokenness, despair, and addiction to a place of wholeness. I saw that from day one. There are plenty of places to get sober but we do much more than that. We are in the business of life transformation.”
Lisa is one of four counselors on staff in our men’s recovery program, ministering to 14-25 men each week and helping them untangle past trauma through intentional recovery counseling.
“Intentional recovery counseling explores every area of a client’s life: physical, spiritual, and emotional. We’re looking for the root cause, to change the maladaptive patterns of the past and find healing. The source of that healing is a relationship with Jesus Christ. We never force anybody to do anything but we are creating a place where, if that relationship can develop, it will.”
The results speak for themselves. The national average is that only 30% of those in recovery make it to 180 days of sobriety. At Phoenix Rescue Mission, the rate is much higher at 56%!
“Our staff is very well trained. We all have master’s degrees, but what really sets our work apart from other counselors is that we get to bring Jesus with us. It’s freeing; I get to tell my clients what the real source of healing is. I couldn’t ethically practice in an environment where I wasn’t allowed to do that.”
