eKART Proves Invaluable for Martin Countian Candace Smith’s Job Search Following Addiction Recovery Treatment

Candace Smith had just completed a year of treatment at Addiction Recovery Care (ARC) in Louisa and she knew a job needed to be her next step. It was June and the country was only a few months into a global pandemic, but she was ready to hit the ground running.

It wasn’t long, though, before Smith realized that her job search had hit a wall.

Martin County resident Candace Smith is working full-time in Floyd County after receiving services from EKCEP’s Eastern Kentucky Addiction Recovery and Training initiative.

“I was putting in applications on Indeed and online and just putting in applications for everything I could think of, and just couldn’t find anything,” says Smith, who’s now making her home in Martin County.

Fortunately, Smith had made some connections while in treatment at ARC, including Vanessa Keeton, a success coach with the Eastern Kentucky Addiction Recovery and Training (eKART) program, an initiative of Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP) that provides career and employment services to individuals in recovery.

Keeton referred Smith’s case to Jimmie Wilson, a job entry and retention support specialist with eKART who assists people like Smith with landing a job out of recovery. For Smith, that support would be invaluable.

“It took Jimmie maybe about three weeks to a month to find me a job, but it wasn’t that it took her that long to find me a job. She could have found me anything,” Smith says. “But I was wanting to stick with working at a counseling facility, so she found me this place and I came in for an interview and I started right away.”

The place Wilson found was Commonwealth Counseling Centers in Prestonsburg, which provides treatment for people in recovery from drug addiction. For Smith, it was a connection that she needed not only for a job, but for her own continued progression.

“First of all, as a recovering addict, without something to do, without something to look forward to, I was afraid I was going to resort back to how I used to live,” Smith says. “Because if you don’t have anything to look forward to, if nothing is expected of you, you’re not going to do a lot. Also, my son just moved back in with me, and of course I had to find a job first before moving him all the way down here, so it was really important.”

Smith had earned her medical receptionist certification while in treatment at ARC, and began the first of four weeks of paid work experience in that position with Commonwealth Counseling nearly a month after completing treatment. eKART paid her wages during that time while she worked for a new employer and gained valuable real-world experience in the workplace. Through eKART, Wilson also assisted with travel costs and covered the fee for Smith to regain her phlebotomy license, which had lapsed while Smith struggled with her addiction.

By the time her work experience through eKART ended, Smith says she had already received some good news about staying on full-time in her position at Commonwealth Counseling. And by regaining her phlebotomist license, she also gained some more responsibilities.

“I was not only hired for the position I was working toward, but I also became their phlebotomist with LabCorps, and I’m also doing scheduling for another doctor that works out of a counseling center,” Smith says. “I stay pretty busy.”

And staying busy is a good thing, she adds, and something that may not have happened as quickly had she not been referred to eKART.

“It’s so hard to get a job nowadays, especially when everything is online and you can’t meet the people face to face,” she says, adding that having Wilson’s support was especially helpful. “Jimmie really got me this job without talking to anybody else, before I came in and talked to the owner, so it was really just having someone to go to bat for you.”

For the work that she does in helping connect individuals in recovery with meaningful job opportunities, Wilson says it would not be possible without transformational employers like Commonwealth Counseling that provide a welcoming atmosphere for people to regain their footing in the workforce.

“It is rare and indeed seldom that you can sit down with an employer that recognizes the worth of Human Resources beyond the application on the table,” Wilson says. “I have been fortunate to meet and work with so many Eastern Kentucky employers that believe more in second chances than the chances that come with any candidate's application.” 

Smith says the entire experience of working with Wilson and eKART is one she would recommend for anyone else in a similar position as herself who may need that opportunity at a critical time.

“They have more resources, and they come into contact with employers that need help,” Smith says. “It’s a lot easier than just putting in your application online and hoping for the best.”

To learn more about eKART and available services, visit ekcep.org/ekart.

EKCEP, a nonprofit workforce development agency headquartered in Hazard, Ky., serves the citizens of 23 Appalachian coalfield counties. The agency provides an array of workforce development services and operates the Kentucky Career Center JobSight network of workforce centers, which provide access to more than a dozen state and federal programs that offer employment and training assistance for jobseekers and employers all under one roof. Learn more about us at http://www.ekcep.org, http://www.jobsight.org and http://www.facebook.com/ekcep.