Yvonne Stroman is a Community Program Specialist with the Council On Chemical Abuse and has been affiliated with COCA for over 20 years. She believes it’s important to share recovery. Yvonne says at Coca “We speak about the disease of addiction, people do and can get well. Families do get better. Hope is just around the corner and often times that hope is found by contacting the Council on Chemical Abuse”.

Yvonne says “COCA is responsible for the administration of public dollars back into the community. By working with local drug and alcohol providers COCA works to offer the most effective means of recovery and prevention”. COCA works collaboratively in the community offering recovery resources, prevention, treatment for the disease of addiction and intervention services.

Yvonne says sometimes you ask, “Is it worth it with all this calamity, but when you see families and young people getting well, and you see them being productive citizens. That’s a huge motivator to keep working in the trenches making a difference”. One of the things that motivates Yvonne to keep going is running into individuals who will come back and tap her on the shoulder and say “Hey remember me, here I am, I doing well”

All I ask of people who have been help is for them to pay it forward. Seeing kids that I knew grew up in a shelter having kids now and raising their family in a healthy manner is the reward. Yvonne adds that one of the reasons she continues to get up and do the work every day is hearing people tell her, “yeah, I was benefactor of a service from COCA and I am doing wonderful today, Thank You.”. That’s one of the reasons I continue to get up and do the work everyday