My experience in counseling has been within social service agencies in Erie. The first seven years of my career was in residential treatment at Gannondale and Perseus House. The clientele were juvenile offenders from cities across the state of Pennsylvania. Working with adolescents became my passion. There is no greater reward than to see a young person turn their life around. I became interested in addictions, since many of the residents were users themselves or came from families that abused substances. I spent the next five years working with adolescents and adult substance abusers at GECAC in their addictions department. The next thirteen years was spent at Harborcreek Youth Services as a therapist and director of their addictions treatment. My career turned from addictions to Mental Health issues as I became the Director of Behavioral Health Rehabilitative Services at the Achievement Center and therapist at the Family Center. This opportunity allowed me to work directly with clients on issues of parenting, divorce, custody, mental illness and behavioral redirection.