Add your title here

This is the text area for this paragraph. To change it, simply click and start typing. Once you've added your content, you  can customize its design by using different colors, fonts, font sizes and bullets. Just highlight the words you want to design and choose from the various options in the text editing bar.

This is the text area for this paragraph. To change it, simply click and start typing. After adding your content, you can customize it.

What Is a Peer Recovery Specialist?

We support CADA clients throughout their recovery

A peer recovery specialist is someone who has experienced addiction or lived with a similar mental illness, has completed formal training and now provides one-on-one strength-based support to other people in recovery. At the Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse of NWLA (CADA), you can lean on them for support before, during or after treatment. They also provide addiction support to folks in Shreveport, LA and northwestern Louisiana who can’t enter formal treatment.


Our peer recovery specialists can help guide and mentor you, bridge the gap in the recovery process, give you hope, be a role model and support you in your effort to take back your life. Contact them now to get immediate help.

You can call our peer support specialists at any time

Peer support specialists are not therapists or case managers, and they cannot replace a treatment team. However, they can tell you what it’s like to live with a substance abuse disorder.


Here’s how you can reach us:


  • Kerri Vines - call 318-780-6472
  • Chris Boyd - call 318-780-5018
  • Celeste DeFreese - call 318-780-7968
  • Austin Theriot - call 318-658-6722
  • Greg Stephens - call 318-517-1139
  • Ted Nelams - call 318-465-8307
  • Dickie Travinski - call 318-658-3059
  • Casey Allen - 318-584-5127


Contact any member of our addiction support network now to discuss your struggles with someone who understands.

WHAT PEERS ARE

  • We are hope builders
  • We help fight stigma
  • We help find the expert on yourself within yourself
  • We are advocates
  • We share understanding
  • We walk with you on your journey
  • We provide self-help education and link people to tools and resources
  • We support people in identifying their goals, hopes, and dreams and in creating a road map for getting there
  • We help you identify your strengths and help you learn to build on your strengths

WHAT PEERS ARE NOT

  • Superheroes
  • Therapist or counselor
  • Doctor, nurse, or psychiatrist
  • Sponsor
  • Friend
  • Priest or Clergy
  • Babysitter
  • Police

WHAT PEERS ARE

  • Increased self-esteem and confidence
  • Increased sense of control and ability to bring about changes in your life
  • Increases sense of empowerment
  • Increased sense that treatment is meeting your needs
  • Increased sense of hope and inspiration
  • Increased sense of empathy and acceptance(camaraderie)
  • Increased engagement in self-care and wellness
  • Increased social support and social functioning
  • Decreased substance use and depression
Share by: