By Maurice Lusby
CCC Journalism Program
BLACKWOOD – The Addictions Counseling Club at Camden County College aims to break the stigma surrounding addictions, help people battling addictions and provide opportunities to students wanting to enter the addictions counseling field.
The club’s director, Dr. Leroy Stanford, speaks from firsthand experience. Stanford has been in the addictions counseling field for 25 years and has been in recovery from substance abuse for almost 29 years. He began his position as teaching administrator director of the college’s addictions counseling department in 2016.
He says he comes from the background of being a client first, then a counselor and now an educator. His experience motivated him to start the club.
The club started with students who were in the addiction counseling program who wanted to go into the field and to give back to the community. The goal was to raise awareness.
The club has 15 to 20 members. Five to 10 of them actively participate. The club meets at 5 p.m. Mondays via Zoom.
Stanford partnered with the Camden County Addiction Awareness Task Force. He participates on its committee and it holds lectures at the college.
Stanford encourages those in need to join the club. The first step of recovery is to admit you have a problem. “I knew that I had a problem when I wanted to stop but I couldn’t,” he says.
Lindsay, a second-year student, discusses how she realized she had a problem. “Mentally and physically you do not want to go through the pain or the habit, it is involuntary and it is hard to get out of that. It does not take one time; it takes multiple times,” she says.
Lindsay, who has been sober for two years, says she did not know she was pregnant when she was battling addiction. She found out when she was four months pregnant. The pregnancy saved her because she decided to have the baby and get clean.
Lindsay joined the club because she wanted to work with someone in the field she was studying. This is how she met Stanford.
She says she likes going out into the community, distributing pamphlets to people who need help and providing people with the resources they need. Her goal is to motivate people so the group can grow and do more things.
If you want to participate in the group or you need help or resources, call Stanford at 856-227-7200, ext. 4546 or email him at lstanford@camdencc.edu.