Chapter 7

The Staff, Infrastructure of Straight, Inc.

One of the fundamental tools utilized at Straight, Inc. was peer pressure. It was believed that peer pressure got kids on drugs and peer pressure will get kids off drugs. This concept was used in group throughout my phases. With several dozen and in some cases several hundred clients in group pressuring other clients to get off drugs Straight proved to be both a motivator and at times a nuisance for me.

Leading this large group of clients and in fact counseling them to deal with the drug problem were two types of Staff. Professional Staff consisted of Executive Staff members. They usually held some kind of college degree. The other Staff Members were called "paraprofessional Staff". There were different levels, Staff Trainees, Junior Staff and Senior Staff. The Paraprofessional Staff members were all Graduates of the program and received some training in dealing with the Group through Staff Training provided by the Executive Staff and frequent in-services as needed.

A Group Staff Supervisor who is also a graduate but was considered to hold a position within the Executive Staff realm supervised the Junior and Senior Staff.

Most of a clients time in Straight, Inc. was spent in Group being led in Rap sessions in order to talk about his/her drug using past and how using the 7 steps and the rest of the program can help achieve life time sobriety. The Junior and Senior Staff led the majority of these rap sessions.

Staff Positions with a brief description of roles, responsibilities and duties.

Program Director
Reports to the National Clinical Director. Handles Administrative duties in running the branch. He/she interacts with the Group twice a week leading "Executive raps" which last just two hours. The Director promotes 4th Phasers to 5th Phase and determines when a 5th Phaser is ready to 7th Step or Graduate the program. The Director conducts family conferences as needed if a client or his/her family is in need of special counseling sessions.

The Assistant Director
Reports to the Director. Assists the Director in Administrative role. Has the same interaction with the Group as the Director. "Executive Raps" co-led with the Director. The Assistant Director works more closely with the Paraprofessional Staff. He/She teaches the 46 hour Pre-Training course to potential Clients and 7th Steppers desiring to become Staff members. Conducts Family Conferences as needed. The Assistant Director approves or denies potential candidates in the 7th Step Society that have been nominated for 7th Step Officer. Meets with the current President of the 7th Step Society for final rulings. This Assistant Director is the main disciplinarian when dealing with the Paraprofessionals and problems that arise.

Program Coordinator
Reports to the Assistant Director. Assists the Assistant Director with Administrative duties. Conducts Executive Raps as needed. Works directly with the President and other Officers of the 7th Step Society. Leads 7th Step Parent Raps on a monthly basis. Conducts Family Conferences with 7th Steppers.

The following job descriptions come from actual documents obtained by a former Senior Staff Member from the Virginia Straight, Inc.

Group Staff Supervisor
Major Functions

Leading, supervising, and training the Group Staff.
Duties:
General supervision of Group Staff, the Group and the treatment process.
Clinical observation and supervision of Group Staff
Chain of Command supervision of Senior Staff
"Nuts and Bolts" in-service training to Group Staff
Counseling support to Group Staff. Responsible for seeing personal growth of Group Staff
Supervise case-management system
Assist in clinical training and supervision of new Executive Staff members.
Group Staff and Trainee schedules.
Rap scheduling
Assigning Group Staff responsibilities
Knowledge
Understands chemical dependency disease, recovery, treatment and family systems. Mastery of personal change tools. Understands STRAIGHT therapeutic process. Understands every area and responsibility of the program. Understands interpersonal communication process and understands rational therapy process
Abilities:
Competent at personal growth and change using the program tools. Capable of using concepts as well as intuition to make decisions. Very skilled at basic counseling techniques in order to serve as a role model for Staff and to train them. Demonstrates personal maturity and leadership amongst Staff. Mastery of control over Group. Competent at holistically diagnosing and prescribing for the Group process. Demonstrates flexible ability to use concepts and skills to meet changing conditions and new situations. Able to work with adult Staff as peer and Group Staff as a peer leader. Ability to delegate responsibility.
Attitude:
Serious; care; dedication; objective and open minded; conceptual and intuitive; with high moral value and a positive outlook.
Rev. 4/30/84

Senior Staff

NATURE OF WORK
This is a very responsible staff position requiring direct personal contact with parents of our Clients and program participants in both individual and group settings.
Works under direct supervision of the Senior Staff Supervisor at all times. Employee must exercise considerable initiative, ingenuity and independent judgment.
Duties include the supervisor of program’s Junior Staff members.
Accomplishments are to be judged through performance of Junior Staff members, written reports and results achieved.
ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLES OF WORK
Supervise Junior Staff members and prepare them to achieve Senior Staff status.
Attend all training and in-service training sessions as required.
Provide leadership to clients on the program through the leading of raps, parental conferences, etc.
Provide input to Executive Staff on the promotion of Trainee to Junior Staff
Assume Responsibility for the conduct of the daily routine (raps starting on time, regular exercise periods, etc)
DESIRABLE KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES AND SKILLS
Ability to be sensitive to the participant’s emotional status and to display a genuine "helping" relationship.
Ability to supervise personnel
Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, orally and in writing.
To have received a high school diploma or be in the process of achieving this degree**
**In Cincinnati a Staff member had to have the high school diploma prior to be promoted to Senior Staff.

Junior Staff

NATURE OF WORK
This is a very responsible staff position requiring direct personal contact with the program participants in both individual and group settings.
Works under the supervision of assigned Senior Staff members and/or the Senior Staff Supervisor. Employee must demonstrate motivation to help others and present a positive model to the clients.
Accomplishments are to be judged through conferences, written reports and results achieved.
ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLES OF WORK
Maintain attendance records of program participants on a daily basis and immediately report all absences to the Program Director.
Conduct One-on-One discussions with program participants as requested by participant or as deemed necessary by professional staff.
Conduct, lead and stimulate group discussion.
Interview potential participants for suitability for acceptance to the program and make recommendations for same to Program Director.
Monitor progress of participants in the program and report on same through written reports and conferences with para-professional supervisors.
Attend all training and in-service training sessions as required.
DESIRABLE KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES AND SKILLS
Ability to begin, generate and maintain group discussion that center on participants problems that may have led to his/her drug usage.
Ability to aid the participant in identifying the problems that led to his/her drug usage and to fully discuss solutions to these problems.
DESIRABLE TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
High school diploma or GED or working toward same.
17 years of age.
Successfully completed pre-training sessions set up by the programs professional staff
Personal experience with drug treatment program.


The Roles and responsibilities of the Staff Trainee will be discussed in another chapter.