Interviews

Q. What is your name?

A. Leigh Spaziano

Q. What is your job title?

A. I am an Addiction and Substance Abuse counselor here in Rochester.

Q. What is your background?

A. Trained in the treatment and therapy for drug and alcohol abuse and depression.  I have my CASC in substance abuse and counseling.   My patiences are primarily adults, but have worked with a few 17 and 18 years.

Q. Where do you work?

A. My office is at 556 South Clinton Avenue in Rochester.  I work for the Conifer outpatient addiction treatment center.

Q. Within your career or throughout your life, has there ever been a time where you've had to help calm someones harmful thoughts, and if so, how did you do that?

A. All my patiences need to learn to be calm and work through their harmful thoughts.  Often their harmful thoughts are to turn to drugs and alcohol to calm them.   They have to be taught to use strategies we teach them to work through their thoughts of self harm through drugs and alcohol.  The addict often doesn't feel good about themselves and where they have ended up.  They want help, they don't come to us unless they want help.  Many don't succeed because the treatment become to hard for them.  When they end up arrested or homeless they return to us to try again.  Detox is the hardest process that they go through.  Changing their life style is the second hardest.

Q. What is something that many of the people you help have in common?

A. Hopelessness, questioning how did they get to this point, unloved and abandoned.

Q. In your opinion, why do people struggle to reach out for help? 

A. Many don't know when to go or what is available to them, especial if they don't have money.  Many are afraid of what will treatment be like and wonder if they can hack it.  We offer in patient and out patient services.  We have to assess which is best for our patiences.  Getting clean and sober is very hard.  Addicts feel their addiction controls their lives.  They need honesty, support, and the ability to see a path to breaking their addiction through treatment. 

Q. Would you be willing to share my digital posters with colleagues and others within your field? 

A. Yes, email it to Mrs. Bullock and she can get it to me.

Q. I there anything else I should know that you would like to share that I have not asked?

A. Rochester has many services and different ways to help addicts, they just have to want the help.  Sadly, many prefer their way of life and refuse help.  Many addicts don't have access to the internet, so they are not aware of all the services they can access.  More work needs to be done to get that information out to addicts.  Their are volunteers that hand out flyers and information to addicts living on the street, trying to get them to take at least a step to know where to go when they are ready for help.  That's the key wanting help.

Q. Are there any websites, books, materials, or other sources that you would recommend?

A. Going to Amazon there are tons of books avail on substance abuse and recovery.  Books to help families dealing with addiction, books to help addictions understand the recovery process, motivational books, and more.  The internet is a great source too.