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P.O. Box 3886 |
(203) 500-4562 |
CAAP Connections Online
At the annual meeting on Oct. 18, 2008 elections were held and the executive board was elected. Congratulations! The results are:
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President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: |
Bobbi K. Fox Cher A. Shannon Barbara J. Segura Nilsa Rivera-Campbell |
First let me thank you for electing me to serve a second term as the president of CAAP. It will be my honor to serve you for the next two years.
Over the past two years in my role as president I had a lot to learn. I wanted to learn as much as I could in regards to our profession in the state of CT as well as nationwide.
In Connecticut I see a microcosm of the national landscape. What I’ve seen is a profession that is full of people with a passion to help those who are in, or recovering from, addictions. I see a profession whose future will be in dire need of a competent workforce, but most urgently I see a profession that needs to become “professionalized”.
As the only advocacy group for addiction professionals in Connecticut I’ve asked myself over and over “What should CAAP be doing to help our profession”? What I’d like to see is a gathering of all the concerned parties/agencies/organizations/providers, along with the counselors that they serve and that serve them, and see how, as a group, we could unite so that addiction professionals are seen as “professionals” in CT. Right now there seems to be schism between state agencies (DMHAS, DPH, DAS, DOL), the certifying bodies (DPH and CCB), the testing body (CCB), CAAP, treatment providers, the recovery community (CCAR) and perhaps others. It just feels like we’re not all ‘on the same page’. It just doesn’t feel like we’re working together to get all of our needs met. Like in a treatment facility, maybe the profession in CT needs a good assessment to determine our strengths, weaknesses, problems and needs. And then we can all work together on a treatment plan so that we can all get our needs met.
My primary goal for my second term is advocacy for our profession. But I can’t do this alone. I’d love some help with designing some sort of summit to get people united to look at the addiction profession and the addiction professional in Connecticut. With the workforce projections looking grim both statewide and nationally we need to make our profession desirable, competitive and professional. We need to work on this as a whole, as a state. We can’t wait for the national agencies and organizations to lead the way. Let’s make Connecticut a leader in this endeavor!
Thank You,
CAAP
PRESIDENT: Bobbi Fox. Bobbi is currently the coordinator for the DARC Program at Manchester Community College. She holds a Masters Degree in Counselor Ed from CCSU and Bachelors in Psychology from CCSU. She has worked as an addiction counselor in both the private and public sector since the mid 1980’s. She holds both certification and licensure in CT and continues to educate herself by going to conferences and workshops. She currently sits on the boards of ERASE (East of the River Action for Sub. Abuse Elimination), CCSU’s Professional Advisory Committee and NAADAC’s board of directors. She is also involved in the Behavioral Health Workforce Collaborative. She was a member of CAAP when it was known as CFADAC and rejoined CAAP/NAADAC in 2005 so she could become more active in addiction counselor issues in CT. She lives with her husband and 3 cats and enjoys lazy days reading or going to movies and finds peace and focus in yoga.
VICE PRESIDENT: Cher Shannon Cher works at Gateway Community College in North Haven and serves as the coordinator for the DARC Program. She also has a history with CAAP (former known as CFADAC) and helped in the advocacy efforts to get licensure for addiction professionals in CT. She would like to see CAAP take a more active role in advocating for the addiction profession/professional and has taken on the role as chair of the new Advocacy Committee for CAAP.
SECRETARY: Barbara Segura is employed by the CT Department of Correction and supervises addiction treatment programs. She has a Masters Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from Springfield College and post - graduate training in Gestalt and PBSP. She has a Bachelors in Sociology and Political Science from SUNY Potsdam. She holds both certification and licensure in CT. She has been in private practice since the mid 1980s. Her special areas of interest are trauma, grief and loss, mood disorders, anger, mediation and men's issues. She is honored to work with DMHAS Military Support Program. She is a city girl still pining for sidewalks and lives in bucolic eastern Connecticut with her family.
TREASURER: Nilsa Campbell. Nilsa is currently pursuing her Bachelors degree in Psychology. She received certification as a substance abuse counselor in 2007. She has also been a member of NAADAC/CAAP since 2006. For the past eight years she has worked as a substance abuse counselor in a methadone clinic. Her ultimate goal is to educate and help others in the substance abuse community. She is married and resides in New Britain. She is a nature and animal lover. She adores her 3 cats and 3 pugs (dogs). In her spare time she enjoys painting abstract portraits, reading self help books and watching foreign films. She is very close to her family and believes in surrounding herself with positive people.
You will notice on the enclosed training schedule that the number of trainings being offered by CAAP has lessened. Unfortunately, over the last two years the cost of putting on the workshops (which include paying $400 - $500 for each presenter) has exceeded the income we receive from registrations. Last year in the spring we paid out $3550 in expenses to presenters and took in only $1135 from registrations. That left CAAP with a loss of $2415. In the past we had received monies from DMHAS but that money is no longer available to us. We have been trying to ‘break even’ and some of our presenters have even volunteered their time, but CAAP has still encountered a financial loss. We are hoping that perhaps if we have fewer workshops, more people will attend and we can recoup the monies that we spend to put on our workshops.
We invite you to visit our website www.ctaddictionprofessionals.org and would appreciate any feedback or comments.
Thank You
CAAP Board of Directors