Annee Delaware

I recently worked at an international center for addiction  treatment and recovery in Antigua, West Indies as a consultant in counseling. I was an employee of the Centre in Admissions, Assessments and Marketing and as a Primary Counselor with the Clinical Treatment team from May 2006 till April 2009 and again in 2010. There I worked with clients from all over the globe seeking treatment for substance abuse. I have a 28 year background in psychiatric nursing, with emphasis on chemical dependency, trauma, dual disorders, trauma and relapse prevention. This experience enabled me to work with our clients suffering co-occurring issues of abuse in childhood and mental disorders. I am passionate, enthusiastic and hold a vision in supporting the work of newly sober people.

I recommended sober companions, escorts and coaches to my clients leaving primary treatment at the Centre and within my own referral practice.  This led to partnering and launching Safe Passages with Connie Millimaki, a certified chemical dependency counselor. We provide services for transition in early substance abuse recovery. I have experience in working with physicians, psychiatrists and psychologists in providing in home support when their patients are leaving hospital settings. I would often be the private nursing staff assigned to a patient and then work with them at home to establish a safe, supportive transition and environment. Coaching and supporting  with survivors of abuse and addiction reestablish a life of creativity, empowerment and self healing was, and continues to be soul work for me.

I am a recognized artist in mixed media and painting.  I discovered the powerful healing and integration through expressive arts at a women’s psychiatric hospital 25 years ago was a powerful epiphany for me. I became certified as a Life Purpose Process coach in 1996 and have integrated these skills, as well as expressive arts, into working with recovering addicts, artists, survivors and writers and persons in midlife transitions. I have presented at conferences, workshops and in clinical facilities around the world.  Presently, I facilitate Art As Therapy in substance abuse treatment centers in the Bay areas.  I have specific art interventions for symptoms of post acute withdrawal.  I continue with these practices and vocations to this day. It is an integral part of recovery to establish goals and resurrect dreams in sobriety and learn new skills to reach and manifest these dreams. These can be an effective tools and structured focus to motivate clients in sober living.
Employment Experience :

Chemical dependency counseling. This also included education, family and couples counseling, psychodrama and experiential facilitation, relapse prevention and symptom management, aftercare planning, admissions and detoxification. Establishing parity with insurance and third party providers for substance abuse treatment is important advocacy in my work. This is fueled by the evidence based knowledge of addiction as a brain illness that is chronic and requires innovative approaches specific to the individual needs of the client. This is necessary during the six months to two years it takes for the brain to heal from this disease. 12 Step groups are vital, yet with all diseases and illness, some clients are unable to manage symptoms and sustain a program of recovery with support groups alone.

Psychiatric nursing in chemical dependency settings, detoxification units, in and outpatient services for persons with dual disorders, and case management in these facilities. I have worked with adolescents, adults and the aged. I have worked in high-end facilities, public persons in politics, sports, music, film and the arts. I have also worked with the homeless and the serious mentally ill. I am skilled in crisis intervention, as I worked with the Mills Peninsula Hospital Psychiatric Emergency Services as a staff nurse. I am trained in management of assaultive behaviors and am confident in my skills in emergent situations. Care for the Caregiver, Compassion Fatigue and Codependency have been vital issues of personal recovery and an ethical exploration for my work. I have presented at conferences and counseled with individuals and colleagues in each of these topics.

I have also been a marketing representative and assessment coordinator and  for ASCA, Adult Survivors of Child Abuse in San Diego County. I have repeated these skills at Crossroads Centre Antigua and Woodside Womens Hospital, late of Redwood City, CA.

I am a skilled and sought after speaker and and conference presenter in the USA , Los Cabos, Mexico, Bali, Indonesia, Paris and Antigua.

Work Experience History by date

Safe Passages Napa and Santa Cruz, CA. Personal addiction recovery transitions services. 5/09 to present Sober transitions coaching. Sober companion and escort services.

Crossroads Centre, Antigua West Indies, 5/06-4/09 Substance abuse treatment

Dominican Hospital/El Dorado Center, Santa Cruz CA, 2000-07 Behavioral Health Inpatient Unit, El Dorado Center Day Treatment Unit for dual disorders of chemical dependency and mental illness.

Mills Peninsula Hospital, Burlingame, CA Psychiatric Emergency Services, Chemical Dependency and Psychiatric Units 1998-2000

Life Purpose Process Certification Program, San Diego CA 1996 to present, Life Purpose and Creativity Coach and Trainer

ArtReach, sole proprietor…Los Cabos Mexico and California, US, Creativity Coaching groups, workshops and individual coaching. Art As Process. 1993 till present.

ASCA Adult Survivors of Child Abuse Codependency Centers, Long Beach CA, San Diego Country marketing representative and admissions coordinator 1992 through 1995

Woodside Womans Hospital, Redwood City, CA 9/87-92, Free standing open inpatient psychiatric services for women with Dissociative disorders, Trauma Addiction, Eating Disorders. Staff nurse, Chemical Dependency nurse, Marketing.

Education:

University of Bridgeport, Connecticut Nursing and Pyschology

Southern Connecticut State University Psychology

Golden West College Huntington Beach CA Psychiatric Nursing