Roger L’Hereault has been an integral part of the Visions Team for the last 10 years. He has a deep dedication to creating a safe and healthy space for clients to begin their path to recovery and has been responsible for building the fundamental internal infrastructure for the staff to follow. Roger is not only incredibly professional, he does so with great integrity and aplomb.This also means he sometimes has to don the “bad guy” role, but alas, he does so without falling into the negative follies so often seen in a position like this. The wonderful thing about Roger …
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Happiness: Less Perfection, More Self-Care
We really are hard on ourselves: addicts, alcoholics, and the like. While we may get sober in an effort to change our lives, often times those suffering from the self-induced pressure to be perfect find themselves with that negative hanger-on. This pressure increases our levels of stress and creates a subversive emotional environment of fear and self-loathing. I’m no stranger to this behavior. Phrases like “I can’t fail,” or “I can handle it; I don’t need help,” or “I don’t have time to feel like this,” are just some of the ways we add pressure to our lives. We can’t …
JuliAnn Crommelin: Alumni Coordinator and Counselor
JuliAnn Crommelin truly understands the treatment process. As a Visions alumni, she is a shining example of what is possible in recovery. For the last 6 years, JuliAnn has dedicated her life to helping others. She is kind, compassionate, and able to meet the clients and their families on a deeply empathetic level. It’s a pleasure to witness her growth. JuliAnn began working for Visions as a program aide but she quickly became a Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor, and eventually took on the role of Outreach Coordinator on the Marketing team. Quite honestly, JuliAnn is the perfect person to share …
Stress: Too Much Pressure
When I think of stress, I think of a rubber band being stretched beyond its limit and its eventual ruptured demise. Though our bodies are provided with a natural alarm system, designed to protect us during perilous times, that same fight-or-flight response becomes erosive if it’s engaged for too long—much like that rubber band. The body isn’t meant to live in a persistent state of fight-or-flight. The result of too much stress results in a concurrence of innumerable health problems. Still, our bodies are remarkable machines, having inbuilt mechanisms that help us move through our lives, and when something stressful …
Daniel Dewey – Teacher/Residential Director of Education
Daniel Dewey has been with us from the very beginning, nurturing Visions during the early days of its burgeoning development and creating a safe space for learning and academic achievement within our residential facilities. Daniel works to create academic stability for incoming clients, whose education has fallen to the wayside. Setting up educational plans and creating that type of stability works to not only create confidence in the parents, but in the students as well. There is an element of kindness that permeates everything Daniel does, whether it’s working with students, talking to the staff, or being a parent to …