Candace Bryant is an addiction therapist at HOPE Counseling & Addiction Services. HOPE works hand-in-hand alongside Adult & Teen Challenge, under one roof, to provide counseling services to our residents.
“I teach groups from 9 am to 12 pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday to help patients with coping skills, relapse awareness triggers – those types of things,” Candace said. “I’m also helping them to regulate their emotions and not let their emotions control them.”
She also works with clients one-on-one to help them process feelings and thoughts brought up in group sessions. Sometimes clients have coping skills but forget to use them or they use them inconsistently. “I try to meet a patient where they are,” Candace said.
She’s been at HOPE for three years but worked at secular recovery facilities before. Having experience at both faith-based and secular centers makes her well-rounded. But ATCOV’s mission drew her there.
“It was actually two things I love,” Candace said. “It’s a faith-based facility where I can say Jesus Christ. And also, I believe in abstinence.” Candace loves the work at HOPE and ATCOV. “It’s not a job to me. It’s truly a ministry,” she said. “Here’s my approach: In order to truly help others, you’ve got to be able to be mentally stable yourself. So, to know that I come in every day and give it my all and walk down the halls and see how patients thrive from that, it’s just a love for me.”
The best part of her work is being part of patients’ journeys. She sees them at the beginning of the program and then at the end. “I can sit in group with a patient and they’ll be like, ‘I’m not changing.’ And I’ll have the opportunity to remind them, well, you did change,” Candace explained. “You have changed. You’re not the same person.” She’s able to remind them of how far they’ve come.
“Every patient I’ve ever worked with is rewarding in itself, especially the ones who are thinking about going home,” Candace said. “They’re thinking about leaving treatment early. I get to have them come down and have a conversation with them. I work through some feelings with them and go over some coping skills and really try to figure out what’s going on. That’s what I love to do…The beautiful part of that is when they decide to stay.”
