Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joyce Mahoney. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joyce, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I was working at the University of Maryland Baltimore in the President’s office. He created a partnership between EMD and three schools. elementary, middle and high school. Employees were able to volunteer 2-3 hours per week and I got interested in volunteering. I read to children in the local middle school. The director of the program asked me a question. “Joyce, did you know you can get paid for helping.?” I had no clue what he meant, but we sat down and in a year I was working in a juvenile facility as a counselor. It was at best the worst experience and the most profound experience of my life. I went back to school the very next semester.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After my experience with volunteering it was suggested that I think about social work. I completed a Masters Degree in social work in 2000. I have always felt privileged to be a social worker. It has been the highlight of my life (except for the birth of my children) to help empower others to a better life. I was drawn to social work and as a Christian I wanted to serve others. I have been able to succeed at helping and when I took an early retirement I thought this is my opportunity to serve a wider community. I felt strongly that I was called to serve adults who were suffering with addiction. Sober Truth (my nonprofit) became a Medicaid provider and opened a community treatment program in 2017. Sober Truth is a true reflection of me. Sober Truth staff not only want to provide treatment but will go out of their way to help with whatever our clients need. Food, clothing, housing, employment, transportation. Sometimes clients need to get to an appointment and there is no transportation in our community. Sober Truth can really help out from time to time. I love our clients and their families. It is important to be judgment free and provide the best treatment that is available.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I believe there is no greater honor then when we get a phone call from a client who has received treatment for their addiction and they have relapsed and they want to come back to Sober Truth. To me, this is the true test that we are doing the right thing and providing the appropriate treatment for the individual. Client referral is the best way to build your practice. Advertising doesn’t really work because treatment is only needed when the prospective client needs it. Secondly, making sure that the services you offer are at a time that is convenient for your clients. This is challenging because most people work during the day so we must provide evening treatment groups. This can affect your personal life so you have to learn to balance the life-work boat to keep the ship sailing smoothly. Take good care of yourself so that you are able to care for others.

Any advice for managing a team?

There is no secret to managing others. I believe that making sure that you communicate daily with your staff is the beginning of a happy team. I try to make exceptions of every human resource rule. As an example, no school due to weather and the employee asked if they can bring their child to work. This is easy because we all have been in a position, if you have children, that day care fails or schools close for various reasons. For many business owners having a child in the office is not conducive to work. I feel the opposite because if your employee is not worrying about child care they are more productive. Secondly, I believe in getting out of the office for a day long retreat. Provide breakfast and lunch with lots of informative material in between is a good way for team members to get to know one another on another level outside the office setting.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Realsober.org
• Facebook: Sober Truth-Taneytown
• Linkedin: Joyce Mahoney
• Youtube: Sober Truth. Inc.