248 - Should you work in addiction treatment?

248 - Should you work in addiction treatment?

What drives someone to seek a life helping others out of addiction? This conversation between Tom Conrad and Benjamin B gets real about whether working in treatment is the right move, and when. Across ten years in the field, both of them have seen a pattern: people with 30–90 days clean saying, “I want to do what you do.” Tom and Ben don’t knock the passion, but they’re honest about the risks.

As Ben puts it, early recovery is a time when “you’re really still growing as a person,” and that doesn’t always mix well with being surrounded by active addiction every day. You’ll hear Tom share how he took a full year just to focus on sobriety before even applying for a job in treatment, starting as a behavioural health tech and slowly working his way up.

Ben describes doing two tough years at a moving company, getting written up, clashing with bosses, and gradually learning the humility, communication, and character he later needed in treatment work. A big theme is sobriety before service. Tom compares it to choosing a fitness coach: would you pick the guy who “knows everything about nutrition but can’t follow it” or the one who actually lives it?

The same principle, they argue, should apply to people working with vulnerable clients in recovery. They’re also blunt about the industry itself. They criticise centres that hire staff with only a few months clean and share real examples of people who relapsed or lost their ability to work in the field after poor decisions like getting involved with clients.

If you’re thinking about turning your “mess into your message”, this chat lays out a simple test: have you built a solid foundation, or are you rushing in? It might leave you asking yourself: is it time to work in treatment, or time to focus on staying sober first?