BTG Fall 2018

Striking a Delicate Balance Counselors combine empathy, objectivity

Addiction counseling is a challenging field in which much of the most essential learning takes place on the job rather than in classrooms, as new counselors develop the skills to deal with the infinite variety of human personalities and behaviors. One thing Meeker has learned in her three years of practice is the importance of maintaining healthy boundaries in dealing with treatment clients and not becoming too wrapped up in their problems. “It’s very easy to become friendly, get close to clients and end up taking the job home with you,” Meeker notes. If a client relapses or is dismissed from the program for behavior- related reasons, she has learned not to blame herself or second-guess her counseling approach.

For addiction counselors like Bridging the Gap Services’Tina Meeker, helping clients find recovery involves striking a balance between empathy and maintaining a healthy objectivity. It’s a balance every counselor must learn to maintain to be effective. It was Meeker’s own struggle with addiction, and seeing the damage alcohol and drugs did to the people around her, that motivated her to enter the counseling profession. “I wanted to do something about it,” she says. Growing up in Baltimore, Meeker began using alcohol and drugs as a pre-teen, while hanging out with an older group (she has three older brothers). She was introduced to heroin at 19, after moving to Aberdeen, Md. After struggling for several years, in 2009 she entered a methadone and outpatient treatment program in Harford County. While in the program, Meeker enrolled at Harford Community College and Baltimore Community College, earning an associate degree in counseling. She completed a counseling internship at Powell Recovery Center in Baltimore, and eventually joined the staff at Bridging the Gap in September of 2013.

“I wanted to do something about it.” -Tina Meeker, counselor, Bridging the Gap Services

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