If you’d told me ten years ago that I’d be working toward a master’s degree in addiction psychology, I probably would have assumed you had me confused with someone else.
My background is in marketing, with smatterings of sports, journalism, education, and philanthropy mixed in to complete the gumbo. Most of my career has been spent helping organizations communicate more effectively, tell better stories, and understand their audiences.
What I didn’t expect was that the longer I worked in marketing, the more marketing would morph away from what drew me to it in the first place. I enjoy the white board strategy sessions, and trying to figure out why people act the way they act. I’m less interested in developing 400 versions of AI content and running an algorithm to see which ones generate the highest direct response.
We tend to treat addiction differently than many other health challenges. People often feel pressure to wait until things become severe before seeking help, as though there is some invisible threshold they must cross before support becomes acceptable.
At the same time, I found myself paying more attention to addiction and recovery. Part of that comes from seeing how many people are affected by addiction, often quietly and without much public discussion. What bothers me is not simply the problem itself but the way we talk about it. We tend to treat addiction differently than many other health challenges. People often feel pressure to wait until things become severe before seeking help, as though there is some invisible threshold they must cross before support becomes acceptable. That has never made much sense to me. We generally encourage people to address health concerns early, manage financial problems before they become overwhelming, and deal with small issues before they become large ones. Addiction seems like it should be no different.
I’d much rather use technology to make human connections more effective than use it as a substitute for human connection.
The third piece is technology. After spending decades around technology and marketing, I have little interest in arguing whether artificial intelligence is going to save humanity or destroy it. Every major technology seems to attract both predictions. What interests me is the practical side. If technology can help counselors spend less time buried in paperwork, create better educational materials, identify patterns more quickly, or give clients better tools for tracking progress, that seems worth exploring. I’d much rather use technology to make human connections more effective than use it as a substitute for human connection.
So these days I spend a lot of time studying addiction psychology, and learning how emerging technologies might fit into that picture. I didn’t set out with a grand plan to end up here. It simply became increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that understanding people was more interesting to me than marketing to them.
I’m currently pursuing internships with treatment centers, counselors, therapists, and other organizations that support addiction recovery. Please email me if you think I’d be a fit for your organization.