Ken Pecoraro, LCSW, LCADC
Division Director, Addiction Recovery & Community Outreach
I made the decision that I wanted to work in the field of substance use and mental health treatment at an early age, in my late teens after a childhood with many challenges of my own. Immediately after graduating college with a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 1992, I started working in this field at the age of twenty-two. For close to the next ten years, I learned that I truly love this work.
However, in spite of finding working with clients to be very rewarding, I found myself repeatedly resigning from different agencies within less than a year as I struggled with finding an agency that I believed approached treatment from a person-first perspective. I knew that helping people was the number one priority yet it seemed to me that sometimes various agency policies and procedures often got in the way of that goal. As a result, I found myself in constant search of the right environment where I felt like clients were always being put first, and where helping people who needed it the most was the expectation and not the exception.
In 2001, things changed for me as I began my career with CPC Behavioral Healthcare in the Addiction Recovery Services department. Almost immediately, I recognized that CPC was different in comparison with the multitude of other places I had worked at previously. I could easily see that decisions at CPC were clearly focused on what is best for the clients, even if it was more work for the agency. For instance, CPC stays invested in finding a variety of funding sources for clients who are either uninsured or underinsured, or who otherwise cannot afford treatment. This commitment to each client prevents unneeded discharges for clients who cannot afford care. Further, CPC demonstrates a commitment to helping people who are not always the easiest to help. In my prior experience at other agencies, if a client presented with too many obstacles and barriers to care, then oftentimes those clients were discharged and referred elsewhere. Conversely at CPC, clients with complex issues who seem to struggle with making progress, are engaged, embraced, and encouraged. At CPC we meet people where they are on their mental wellness and addiction recovery journey---we do not give up, and we look for new solutions that work for each unique individual seeking our care. This is the CPC way and I am so proud to be a part of that!
CPC’s philosophy and mission as a “safety net” agency is to help people who may have few other options or who are facing difficult challenges and barriers in their path to recovery. This is reinforced by management at CPC who display an ongoing commitment to staff training and use of the latest evidence-based treatment practices and program designs to help clinicians with individuals and families who often may have complex issues and concerns. Treatment at CPC is clearly about each person’s unique path to recovery, no matter how challenging that path may be. Finally, I had found an agency where my values matched their model of care, and where I consistently felt my colleagues and fellow clinicians worked in creative ways to help each client obtain their goals.
I have now been at CPC for over twenty-one extremely rewarding years. I have been blessed with the privilege of having the opportunity to be a part of an agency that helps so many people in my own community. Many times, I have clients say to me, "I would not have made it---not have recovered, somewhere else." To hear clients say that they are thankful that CPC did not give up on them, makes me truly proud. I am grateful to be just one part of CPC and I am rewarded with the notion that my career at CPC continues, and that I am just as inspired to work here today as I was over 21 years ago.
If you are currently seeking a career in behavioral health, please consider CPC and know that I would be happy to answer any questions you may have and can be reached at kpecoraro@cpcbhc.org
A full list of current openings along with more information about working at CPC can be found at the link here: https://www.cpcbehavioral.org/careers
Ken Pecoraro, LCSW, LCADC
Division Director, Addiction Recovery & Community Outreach