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Personal Background
John W. Stiemke, BS, CADC III, ACRPS, ICADC
Website Administrator
"As the creator of this service, I am committed to providing a quality product that can assist you in the recovery process. Recovery is perhaps the hardest thing you may ever do. The tools you find here can help. I believe you are worth it."
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I am a Certified Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor and have worked in the field of addiction medicine since 1982. |
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I am an Advanced Certified Relapse Prevention Specialist. |
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I have worked with a variety of patients (adults, adolescents, professionals, minorities, chronic relapse, and dual diagnosis) in my career. |
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I have worked in a variety of treatment settings - inpatient, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, outpatient and continuing care. |
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I have worked as a counselor, supervisor, trainer, director and consultant in the United States and Sweden. |
Sometimes people ask me what I do and I say, "I am a builder, and I teach people about recovery from addiction." When they hear this, they often give me strange looks. Yet this response is most certainly true. "Oh, I see, you teach people how to recover
from addiction." And I say, "No, I teach people to let themselves recover!" "What do you mean, teach people to let themselves recover?"
I respond, "I believe all people can recover from addictive disease, but some people just get in the way of their own recovery. Anyone can build a house of cards, anyone can nail together some boards and call it a shelter; but in order to build a strong recovery you must know how to read a blueprint, be able to follow a plan, know how to use
the resources that are available, and finally, how to finish it all off. Some people just can't seem to let anyone else help in constructing their recovery."
"What do you mean a builder?" "What I mean is - this is what I do, this Website and many other things like it are what I do. I am a builder. I built a recovery program for myself, or maybe I should say that I allowed a recovery program to be built, with the help of a Great Contractor." I have come to believe that this Great Contractor is a source of power and wisdom I can rely on. So I let this Great Contractor continue to advise me about the building projects with which I am involved.
"If this sounds spiritual, it is. All I ask is that you keep an open mind to find your own Great Contractor, and let him help you build a strong recovery program." And so I build. "I have built a wonderful family. I have built some very good addiction treatment programs, and I have helped others to find out how to let themselvesbuild recovery into their life. All this and more was only possible and accomplished with the help of others and my Great Contractor."
This Website is designed to provide access to the tools that every good builder should have. "I hope that you build a fine house, with a strong foundation, straight walls, a unique floor plan, and a roof that doesn't leak."
John W. Stiemke
Author: John W. Stiemke
Copyright © 2000 Recovery Lane All rights reserved.
Revised: February 15, 2001
