Bringing Compassion to Communities: Becoming an Addictions and Community Services Worker

Lori Chenger, Willis College ACSW Instructor, and award-winning actor, speaker, writer and director.

Many who choose the Addictions and Community Services Worker (ACSW) path aren’t just looking for a job. They want to give back. Often, this career speaks to people who have experienced addiction firsthand, or watched a loved one fight that battle, and want to help.

To see how personal history becomes professional help, we spoke with award-winning actor, speaker, writer and director – and longtime Willis College ACSW instructor – Lori Chenger.

It’s not just textbooks, it’s changing how you think

On paper, this diploma program covers essential frontline standards: mental health, pharmacology, Naloxone training, non-verbal crisis communication, trauma-informed care, and risk assessment. Lori says, “they also learn behavior modification programming, and how to design programs for groups and individuals which are skills that they are often asked to complete on practicums.”

But according to Lori, the real magic happens when students look inward.

“I like to tell my students that addiction starts in the mind. It’s a belief that we are addicted to that leads us to that gateway behavior of an addiction. This program will help you find confidence in yourself, your beliefs, and where you came from, and how you can use that to empower your future clients.”

Lori notes that the classes require deep self-reflection. “I’ve taught this program for nearly 6 years now, both on campus and online, and I hear this the most from students: ‘Lori, it’s not the fact that we had to practice time management, it’s not the exams, it’s not the assignments. But what I learned the most was the unpacking of myself and realizing who I was in that journey and that there are better versions of who I can be’.”

Recovery in the real world

Frontline workers are in short supply, with Canada’s Job Bank stating it faces a strong risk of shortage. Canada’s struggling healthcare system and “the closure of harm-reduction sites, together with the increase of social stressors that the vulnerable sectors face, makes the ACSW diploma course always in high demand,” says Lori.

The program gives big career flexibility. “Graduates are very versatile in their employment opportunities due to the fact that the courses cover addictions as well as prepare students to work with many populations of people. There are careers within rehabilitation sectors, addictions, working with children and youth, working with seniors.” You can work in schools, social services, group homes, or rehab centers.

Your lived experience is an asset

Many adult learners fear that past struggles or lack of academic success will hold them back. At Willis, that history is viewed as a strength.

“Willis College offers you an opportunity to come back as a learner from a period of time in your life that maybe you were not as successful as what you had wanted to be,” Lori says. “This is a really good opportunity to get your foot back in the door into the industry, to unlearn old habits and to really identify how much growth that you’ve had.”

Lived experience is a ACSW superpower.

“The students that we see that have the most success are people who have had a lived experience and are talking about their life from the other side of it,” says Lori. “They really worked on themselves, they understand where their clients are at, and they know how to motivate them to pull them through the muddy parts of their life. Vulnerability is a gift. And to have that voice and to share it with others gives you an edge in this field.”

Thinking about taking the leap?

Lori has a clear message for you:

“If you are considering reaching out to Willis College to be a student within the ACSW program, I would say to you, congratulations because you are looking at your life in a way that says, ‘Yes, my life felt bleak and struggles were many, but now I’ll live up to the life I created with a willingness to accept growth and with the desire to be an example for others.’ Be very committed to who you are and remember your ‘why’.”

Lori loves seeing that transformation happen. She shares the story of a graduate who had faced intense personal trauma and deeply doubted their own potential. “Two months after graduation, they reached out to me saying that they now had a business card, they had an office and, more importantly, they were making a connection with people who used to be versions of who they were.” 

Learn more about our ACSW program here.

Read more about Lori’s award-winning work here.