I worked as a counselor for Daytop for ten years and I'd like to share my experiences here. I've read a lot of the posts that put down a lot of the staff saying they were abusive and uneducated. My first reaction was this is all bullshit! I began working there in 1990 and left in the summer of 2000. I look back at those years and sometimes wonder was I one of those abusive uneducated assholes they are talking about. The truth is that in the beginning I was. There was always this us against them mind set with the educated professional staff on one side and the recovering staff on the other. Recovering staff feared the knowledge of the professional staff and the professioal staff feared the life experience knowledge of the recovering staff. The biggest problem the recovering staff had was misguided loyalty. I was definately guilty of that. That was until I finally realized I was following a bunch of assholes who I swear went home every night thinking of new ways to fuck with peoples heads. It was then that I decided well what would happen if I sought the knowledge that all these professionals had? Well it took a lot of hard work but as time went on I gained that knowledge by going to school, attending workshops, and not being afraid to ask the professionals a lot of questions. As I did that I not only grew as a counselor but as a person too. Working for Daytop had a lot of ups and downs. i met a lot of fantastic people but unfortunately My final years were a complete nightmare. I was ridiculed and emotionally abused by senior staff that were only interested in one thing, letting you know that they were in control. When I gave my notice and told them I was moving to Maine to be with the woman I loved, they told me I was crazy. What did I get for ten years of faithful service? Not a god damn thing, not even a thank you card.I left the field for three years after that nightmare but I'm back now working with kids in the correctional system. I hear that Daytop wants to open a facility in Maine. God Help Us if they do.
Don't hate the media. Become the media
--Jello Biafra