Peter Sterrett
Recovery Services Administrator
Recovery Innovations of North Carolina
Aside from stints of seven years in New Orleans for undergraduate and graduate school and two-plus years traveling and in the Peace Corps, I have spent most of my life in the Washington, DC area. This is where I embarked on my Social Work career. I worked with struggling adolescents and their families to strengthen the family unit; supported adults recently released from long-term psychiatric hospitalizations to find themselves again in the community; helped individuals with no place to call home find a home for dignity in themselves and discovered the world of recovery by serving individuals working to overcome significant emotional challenges in a program that was committed to person-centered and strengths-based priorities.
During this time I also had the opportunity to single-parent a young boy who is now a mature young man in his first year of college. After several years of being a single parent, I had the great fortune of meeting my current wife and the mother of Taylor, our beautiful six year old daughter. She continues to keep us guessing.
As the family grew, it became clear that what we needed could no longer be found in the DC area. So; in search of community, schools and work, we made our way to Raleigh North Carolina. I found work as a Clinical Supervisor and then Program Manager for a large mental health services provider in the area and felt challenged and helpful. After a few years, the position was, unfortunately, due to money constraints, reduced to glorified paper pusher and my insides began to ache. I knew that if I kept at it my spirit would just shrivel up. I took a risk, and quit. I knew that something better must be possible. That something better has been Recovery Innovations where I have been an Administrator at the Recovery Response Center in Henderson, NC since January 2011.