by Jodie Nealley, M.S., Program Specialist. Jodie is shown here outside the house made famous by the TV show Charmed. It was important for Jodie to visit this house because she believes in "the magic of compassion, the magic of change, the magic of recovery, the magic of the moment, [and] the miracles that happen."
Greetings! I am Jodie. I have officially joined the Council as
an employee after doing some volunteer work for the organization.
Fulfilling is the word that I choose as I begin my work
here. Foremost of which, is to improve and expand the Council’s 24/7 Helpline
in order to better serve the needs of problem gamblers, their families and the
health care practitioners and providers who support them. The Helpline is one
of the backbones of the Council. It gives substance to its slogan – “We
understand the problem. We can help.” Through the Helpline people experiencing
problems with gambling and their family members can talk to a person about
issues surrounding their own or their loved one’s gambling.
One of the hardest issues those with a gambling disorders
deal with is feeling that they are alone in their problems. They are not. You
are not. I am not. At the Council, we have many resources that we can send out to
people and resources we can direct people to that can help them to know that
they are not alone in the problem. The visual image that I have is the problem
gamblers standing there and a crowd of people behind him like in the popular cell phone provider ad. “Are you there?” the problem gambler asks; and the Council – the crowd- says
“Yes – we hear you loud and clear and are here to help.”
As a graduate of St Lawrence University and Indiana University, I have experience in both the academic world and the school of hard knocks (most self-inflicted). I spent over 30 years working in Higher Education and am currently working toward my license in Addiction Counseling.
By nature I am an
optimist who believes that we, to some extent, create our reality by thinking
clearly and positively about what it is we want out of life. One of my favorite
illustrations of this idea is the scene in Star Wars V when Luke is training
with Yoda in the swamp. He
cannot believe in the power of the force and when asked to lift a star fighter
out of the swamp, he tries and fails. As we see mighty Yoda do it, Luke says ‘I
don’t believe it’. Yoda turns and says, ‘that is why you failed.’ Luke did not see in his heart that
he had the power to do what Yoda asked. He could not visualize success.
I have been lucky
and I have helped make my own luck. A lot has to do with positive thinking and
faith. Faith that things will work out. Faith that believing is better than not
believing, that moving forward – however slowly- is better than standing still,
that the glass is half full. It takes no
more energy to think an optimistic thought rather than a pessimistic thought.
It takes faith I suppose that thinking positively pays off but really why choose
the alternative.
Abraham Lincoln
said, “People are about as happy as they make themselves out to be.” I know in
reality this line of thinking is simplistic and does not – cannot work for
everyone – but it works for me and I believe very strongly in its power for
good.
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