RETURN TO FRONT PAGE OF THIS ISSUE  |  JOHNSON INTERNSHIP WEB SITE

Johnson Internship Program: Freedom House

Jack Mitchell, Johnson Intern

When I first started working at Freedom House, I really didn't feel comfortable talking to our clients. I just didn't see how I was going to find common ground with them. There seemed to be a chasm between us that I didn't know how to cross. After all, the experiences that they have had with addiction are mostly things that I can't even begin to imagine.

I discovered early on that many of the staff members had dealt with drug or alcohol addiction themselves. That left me feeling even more that I would be lacking something that I would need to be able to relate to clients. It seemed to me that the experience that the other staff members have had allows them to speak to our clients much more authentically than I could. After all, they knew what the clients were going through first hand.

In those early days, when I said to myself and others that I worried about finding common ground, what I was really saying was that I didn't think that I had anything in common with these people. After all, I'm not an addict or an alcoholic or homeless or poor. At its root, my problem was an inability to see the person behind the addiction ... behind the labels.

Over the first month that I was at Freedom House, I tried to make a point of finding opportunities to spend time talking to clients one on one, and as I became more comfortable (and clients became more comfortable with me) I learned about people's lives -- not just about their addictions. As I learned, it became much easier to see people rather than addictions and other labels.

My job description at Freedom House is to do case management work, to help people find placement at other programs, to get them appointments with other agencies, and to drive them to appointments that they wouldn't otherwise have transportation to. I am also working to get computers set up that clients will be able to use and that we can use to teach basic computer skills. All of those things are very practical things that I am able to do to help clients move forward in their recovery.

While my job is case management, I feel like my ministry at Freedom House is one of presence. The most important things I do are not the practical things (necessary though they are). As I spend time with my clients, as I listen to them and share my own journey with them, my goal is for them to know that they are loved, and that they are loved by God (or, as many people in AA and NA would say, their Higher Power) and that with God's help and the help of their fellowship, they can overcome their addictions.

© 2002: Chapel of the Cross