David Gust has been professionally offering his guidance and support for substance use issues with treatment information and recovery.
In 2000, I started at Kaiser’s Chemical Dependency Recovery Program and that opportunity, in retrospect, catapulted my career to today. Now, after countless moving experiences in the recovery community over these past decades, and despite entering with merely a base level of knowledge like all therapists entering the professional sphere, my compassionate drive and overall desire to better serve the broader community, is matched only by David.
I have been incredibly grateful for all the years of the practical, real world applications of his decades of knowledge and how that undoubtedly improved my skills as a therapist.
I originally met David after having attended one of his workshops approximately 20 years ago. These workshops were pioneering for the time; then, it was a live mix of these very specific relevant, real life tools and skills, that helped build the foundation upon which my successful work was build. From these workshops, and David taking his personal time after and around many of these to fully ensure therapists had all the relevant information for their practices.
To this day, I still utilize in my own work David Gust and Ted Smith’s original edition “Effective Outpatient Treatment for Adolescents” and despite knowing some of this is included in David’s workshops, it truly represents another instrument in any therapist’s tool-belt as it outlines myriad scenarios with specific cases and examples helpful to any clinician or mental health services provider. Some of this information, at the time at least, was not accepted openly by the broader medical community, and is only now viewed more respectfully and appreciated for being ahead of the curve.
Through multiple private and personal conversations, coupled with attending some of his seminars and workshops, alongside my own practical experience, the information and materials compiled represent a treasure trove of information upon which any provider can base their work.