He helped design and implement the first substance abuse treatment program for adjudicated teens in Western Canada.[/color] He invested nine years in this facility and was responsible for a wide variety of therapeutic tasks, including the development and execution of treatment plans in conjunction with the youths' probation officers, social workers, and parents. He provided therapeutic services in the counseling department of Trinity Western University for two years before moving his family to Denver, Colorado where he spent three years working as a family counselor in a 36-bed residential care facility for boys and girls ages 13-18 years. Over the course of those three years he was promoted to Director of Counseling and then to Program Director where he spent another three years overseeing the program. As the Director, he was responsible for the well being of the students, supervising and managing the Director of counseling, staff counselors, school teachers, and house staff. He also oversaw the licensure of the program with the State of Colorado and was expected to be familiar with the other treatment programs in United States and any cutting edge therapeutic techniques that were being developed. John has visited many other program sites and has attended a number of conferences designed to highlight various counseling services. He has a good sense of what is available in the counseling industry and what attributes are a mark of quality.
John has always had an intense desire to help families and to challenge young men and women to accomplish great things in their lives. He uses a strength-based approach to counseling, believing that parents often have more ability than they might believe to manage and guide their own families. John's hope is that while he might not be able to reduce the struggles one faces in life, he can teach and empower people to carry the load more easily. Nothing exemplifies this belief more than his willingness to bicycle across the United States with four drug-using teens in an attempt to help them discover what was possible in their lives. Throughout his career John has also guided the care-givers of the future by training graduate interns and undergraduate practicum students from a variety of colleges and universities. John is excited to share his experience and assist hurting families in need of guidance and support.
