Today, on September 20, we celebrate National Addiction Professionals Day. Cumberland Heights is joining the movement and celebrating vital players in the continuum of care – our addiction professionals. Now, more than ever, it is necessary to recognize the importance of addiction awareness and the efforts addiction professionals make to support their community. National Addiction Professionals Day was established by NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, in 1992 to celebrate and commemorate all of the hard work that addiction professionals do on a daily basis. This annual day of recognition is held in September as a part of National Recovery Month. National Recovery Month aims to increase awareness and understanding of mental health and substance use disorders and celebrate people in recovery. As the only addiction treatment center in Tennessee by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Cumberland Heights is committed to transforming lives and giving hope and healing to those suffering from drug and alcohol addiction.
A few of our very own treatment professionals weigh in on what brings them to work each day and what is most challenging about being an addiction professional and what they find most rewarding.
Dana Mires, Director of Nursing at Cumberland Heights, says the greatest reward for her is getting “to watch the sparkle in their eyes return” and to “watch them begin to smile and laugh again, seeing them have hope once again.” Mires commented that a place like Cumberland Heights allows people struggling with addiction have opportunity to begin their journey to a life of recovery within a safe space.
“Medically supervised detox mitigates the risks associated with detox from certain substances, as well as decreases some of the uncomfortable symptoms associated with the withdrawal process,” Mires added. “These combined factors keeps individuals actively engaged in the recovery milieu longer.”
Nursing Coordinator Tammy Gatlin weighed in on one of the biggest challenges she faces as an addiction professional saying “the hardest part is seeing the patients come in at rock bottom, no hope and just lost.” But the work is not without reward. Gatlin stated the most rewarding part of her job is seeing these same individuals “climb out of rock bottom and realize there is hope in finding recovery.”
Here at Cumberland Heights, we recognize the important role our addiction professionals play in the lives of those seeking recovery. Without them, many individuals would feel lost, alone, and without hope of ever experiencing recovery for themselves. So we want to say thank you to our addiction professionals – thank you for the long days and hard fight you’re a part of each and every day to relieve those suffering from addiction and give them hope of a better future.
You are amazing and you are a part of such a powerful work of transforming lives. We would not be who we are today without you!
For more information on addiction and how we treat it here at Cumberland Heights, visit here.
