On April 24th, 2017, I interviewed Marco Sauri from Consejo Counseling and Referral Services. Marco is a supervisor of the substance use disorder (SUD) program at Consejo. Consejo has provided SUD services for over 37 years. Consejo’s SUD program mainly works with low-income, monolingual, often undocumented Latino adults and Youth. Marco has been a supervisor for the SUD department at Consejo since 2010. He has worked at Consejo in the SUD program since 2005. He first started as a chemical dependency professional trainee (CDPT), working with youth at risk for almost 3 years. Then, Marco became a chemical dependency professional (CDP), working with youth for 2 years. This paper will provide a synopsis of the interview that I did to Marco Sauri with purpose of having a better understanding on how Consejo provides SUD treatment to its clients.
Marco stated that Consejo’s treatment philosophy is to “Transform, Strengthen, and Empower”. First, transform refers to providing counseling with the aim that clients develop a functional and healthier lifestyle. Consejo also focuses on strengthening their clients. Marco shared that strengthening refers to counseling helping clients identify their own skills and strengths
…show more content…
Consejo’s clients have limited resources because most of them are undocumented. The clients do not have as many options to get housing, employment, or education because of their undocumented status. Marco stated that he feels sometimes limited on the resources he provides to his clients. He also stated feeling frustration when applications or attempts to obtain support for his clients are denied or not considered because of the clients’ undocumented status. What gives Marco hope is that he has found various providers and places that are passionate to help his clients even if they are