Shea Packard, who originally hails from Cambridge, Massachusetts, began her Guardian Recovery Network journey when hired at Pine Tree Recovery Center, a medical detox center and IOP program in Portland, Maine. She joined the team in 2021 and worked as a Behavioral Tech (BHT) for around 6 months before transitioning to Case Management.

When CuraWest first opened, they recruited Shea to fly to Colorado and help train the new BHTs. “I was just helping out at first,” she explains. “Then a position opened up. It seemed like a great opportunity; I really liked Colorado. I’ve been out here since the end of July.”

Shea works as the Office Manager & HR Designee for CuraWest. “When I first came out here I spent a lot of time learning how to effectively fill the role,” she says. “But I also helped out with the BHT team, I played a role in getting them trained. I run 12 Step groups, so I have my hand in a lot of different things. But in this role specifically I spend a good amount of time making sure we’re always adequately staffed for residential. I walk new staff members through the onboarding process and help get them acclimated and excited about what we’re doing.”

CuraWest Program Expansions

When asked how the transition from exclusively detoxification to detox and residential treatment has played out, Shea responds, “We soft-launched the residential portion of our treatment program in July, and we’ve been working on building it out since then. But now that we’ve officially opened the other side and expanded, it’s been great. Working at Pine Tree we had detox and IOP, but I worked mostly on the detox side of things. It’s been amazing seeing people come in for detox and progress in their recovery once they transition to residential. It’s been nice seeing people grow and having the opportunity to develop relationships with them.”

A Day In The Life

As HR Designee, Shea has the opportunity to develop professional relationships with staff members from all departments. “Being able to work with such a diverse group of people is definitely one of the most rewarding parts of the job,” she says. “Whether someone is on the clinical team or the nursing team, they have to go through me. I’ve found that the majority of people who choose to work in this field do so for a reason, whether they have some sort of personal connection to it. Maybe they have gone through the process themselves or have helped a loved one through the process, or they simply want to help people. I think with this field in particular you kind of have to have that in order to sustain it long-term. I usually meet with people on their first day and work to understand what brought them to CuraWest.”

Guardian Recovery Network Culture

When asked about the Guardian Recovery Network culture, Shea says, “I personally went through The Plymouth House, and because of that I have long-standing respect for the people who work for Guardian. Both Pine Tree Recovery Center and CuraWest are run by a passionate group of like-minded people. We all really want to help people and we work together to do so. I’ve met some incredible people over the course of my time with Guardian; salt-of-the-earth, smart, capable, good-hearted people.”

When she isn’t working, Shea tries to get outdoors as much as possible. “I’m very active in my own recovery life,” she says. “I also like yoga and going to the gym. I still haven’t skied, it’s on my bucket list for this winter. Hiking in Colorado is incredible.”