Jared Casey

donut falls Jared

Jared Casey, LMFT

Clinical Director 

I started work as a roofer for the family business at the age of 13 and continued until I was 19.  After serving a wonderfully difficult mission to Brazil, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the next two years,  I returned to my roofing career.  My dad would often say after I complained about just about anything, "You don't want to grow up to be a roofer, do you? Get good grades!" I decided to switch careers into Sales in my early 20's, after being told by my brother that he felt trapped by the roofing business, and I should get out while I still could. I succeeded in some ways in Sales but I felt greatly unfulfilled. As much as I disliked the hard work of roofing, I reflect on how good it felt to spend that much time with my dad and brothers. We talked, laughed, shared from our lives, enjoyed sunrises from a high vantage point, and we bonded. Those moments were full of purpose. Years into my Sales career I went to visit another brother that was working as a social worker. I asked him why he did what he did. He replied,  "Every day is different, I get to feel the spirit at work and I feel fulfilled." This sparked an awareness in me of something that I had lost. I went to school to be a social worker, and after learning more about clinical directions in therapy, I felt most attracted to marriage and family therapy and decided to drop social work for that course. Becoming a marriage and Family Therapist required me to intern and practice therapy with several types of clients. My life started to experience several severe difficulties that made my clinical work even harder. I started taking home my worries from work until I felt so overwhelmed that I abruptly left therapy. This was a very hard decision and one that once again left a hole in my life. A couple of years passed and I was running in the mountains one day trying to make sense of my life and direction. I stopped in a peaceful spot and prayed. I asked God, "What would you have me do?" My time as a therapist came to my mind and I prayed some more. I was feeling that therapy was too hard emotionally and financially. I decided that I wanted to do therapy but I was so uncertain of the details. I asked God again and in a moment of deep peace I heard the words in my mind say, "feed my sheep." I replied, "I will, but will you feed my family?" I felt peace and started applying for therapy jobs that day.  I got a call back for a drug rehab center the next day. It seemed strange to me to work in drug addiction, but I went anyway. I felt like it was what I was supposed to do from the first moment I walked into the building. The pay was low, the challenges seemed impossible- but it felt right at that time in my life. After seeing the need for better transitional care for my clients I made the move to I Am Recovery.  People in the world of addiction recovery face a lot and it has been my goal to help end the stigmas surrounding addiction and help those people fighting and their families rise above.

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