Best Alcohol and Drug Rehab TX in Salado, TX

Melanie has counseled hundreds of clients in residential treatment. She is a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and she has a BA in Psychology with a concentration in Addiction Studies. Melanie has obtained her MA in Social Work at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. She has worked in several residential treatment facilities and intensive outpatient programs. Melanie is experienced with clients of all ages and she has extensive experience working with families. She practices Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused techniques, and is EMDR trained. She takes an existential attitude with any approach she employs. She is passionate about her work and believes freedom from addiction is available to all who are willing to work a recovery program.

Jamie Thompson was born and raised in Bastrop, Texas. She attended Southern Career Institute for her Medical Assistant Certificate in 2002 and 2015, and went on to National American University, where she graduated with honors on the President’s List and Summa Cum Laude. Jamie also received her license for Vocational Nursing. Jamie got her start in the addiction field when she was working in a county jail for over 6 years. In the last 3 years, she was the Director of Nursing at an exclusive male rehab facility. Jamie is not in recovery; however, her life has been touched in so many ways by recovery. Her cousin and best friend overdosed in 2008 on opiates and it changed her world. After that tragedy and working in law enforcement, she really saw how challenging the world of addiction can be. Jamie enjoys being of service to people in recovery, providing encouragement and love, and showing them that people care and are invested in them. She loves to be a part of their recovery journey. Her favorite part of being the Director of Nursing at Banyan is supporting her team and advocating for her nursing staff and the clients. She loves creating a therapeutic environment for the staff and supporting them in creating the same for the clients. Jamie’s goal for her career at Banyan is to create an atmosphere of acceptance, encouragement and longevity amongst the staff. She wants to plant the seed and grow along with the other staff members to have the best working environment possible.

"To achieve lasting change, you have to change at the emotional level. It took me 20 years to realize this. I had gone through trial and error, attempt after attempt, and I got nowhere but depressed. In my mind, I wanted to change, but just couldn’t stick with it. Once I learned to address the underlying causes, my emotions no longer fought against my mind, and I was able to quit my own addictions, and stay quit. That’s the trick! I can teach you to do that too at AIM, and it won’t take 20 years! For me, there is nothing more rewarding than working with clients as they identify their core recovery issue. I help clients find their own life purpose and create a life vision for themselves; something more meaningful than using drugs or alcohol. I know my purpose is working with clients just like you at AIM. What’s your life purpose or vision for yourself? I’m intensely interested in finding out."