Seeing Addiction ‘From Both Sides’ A counselor’s journey to recovery
Charles Wiley, a counselor at Gateway to Sobriety, likes to say he has “sat on both sides of the desk.” That means he not only has experience helping other people with addiction, he has personally experienced addiction and then recovery. As is often the case, Wiley's own addiction and recovery experience provided motivation for him to become a professional counselor. A Houston native, Wiley began playing professionally in R & B bands as a teenager, playing trombone, keyboards and flumphet (a trumpet-flugelhorn hybrid). He also worked as a music producer at recording studios in Dallas and Atlanta and a music, math and language arts teacher in Houston. Wiley began occasionally using cocaine, which eventually escalated into a full- blown addiction that derailed his career as a teacher. After two felony convictions for his substance use, he was mandated to seek help for his addiction. Wiley made two attempts at treatment but was unable to remain clean. “At those times I wasn’t ready,” he says, looking back.
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