My story is featured on a National government agency website promoting recovery month in September 2010. Please find a recovery event in your town and attend and lend your face and your voice to the millions of other recovery advocates in September.
My story is here:
Dave Seward, M.Ed., NCAC II, LPC
Executive Director of a Treatment Center
Chester, SC
Since I found recovery in 1986, I have been motivated by a strong desire to give back what I had received. I joined the staff of a small, rural treatment center as a counselor. What I discovered was added strength for my own recovery, while I also bore witness to the struggles of others as they attempted recovery.
I’ve been able to sustain my passion and motivation to develop better methods for treating my clients. In 2005, I became executive director of the agency, and joined the beginning chapter of Faces and Voices of Recovery. After attending a national conference in Washington, DC, I found renewed motivation and a desire to bring about changes in the treatment delivery system by removing barriers that exist in providing care to all who need it.
At a Recovery Month celebration in 2009, I was privileged to hear speeches by several of the people in whose recovery I had played a small role. The inspiration of their stories of addiction and recovery and what it has meant to them and to their families will sustain me in the weeks and months ahead. And at the end of my career, I am sure I will be able to look back and take satisfaction in knowing that I made a difference. My journey of personal recovery from addiction continues to this day.
