Born to Serve Divine Light on the path to recovery One of Sakina Dean’s favorite inspirational quotes is the late Mark Twain’s comment that “‘Finding out the reason you were born is one of the most important things you can do.’” Dean believes it fits her chosen mission as founder and executive director of Divine Light, Inc.’s addiction treatment center in Philadelphia.
“I don’t look at it as work, I look at it as doing what I was born to do,” Dean says. “I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.” The daughter of a psychotherapist mother and a music-teacher father, Dean grew up in Philadelphia wanting to be a psychologist, caring for an underserved population. She has found that client population in the inner-city. On the way to founding Divine Light, Dean earned a degree in behavioral psychology at Temple University, and spent several years working as a social worker/ case manager and behavioral therapist. Working with emotionally troubled children and a second job as a real estate agent led to her opening a personal care (group) home for mental health patients unable to care for themselves. After she started working with dual-diagnosis (mental illness and addiction) clients, Dean returned to school to obtain some education on addiction and its treatment. “I wanted to properly serve the dual-diagnosis population and be able to refer them to treatment facilities with the proper strategies.” Dean entered the addiction treatment field through marriage; her then- husband ran recovery homes in properties he rented. After her husband was brought down by his own addiction, Dean took over the recovery home business to keep it afloat, and in August 2010 established Divine Light.
”I’ve always wanted to care for an underserved population.” -Sakina Dean executive director Divine Light
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