CAREERS
Stacey Skilton is head of service delivery at WithYou ’ s community drug service in Redcar and Cleveland . We asked her about her career path and role
I AM A ...
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO WORK IN THIS FIELD ? I began my career working in custody as a prison officer but felt that the role wasn ’ t enough for me . I wanted to be able to help people more . In the alcohol and drug field I ’ ve worked in various different roles – recovery worker , criminal justice recovery worker , and then I moved up to team leader , operations manager , service manager , and head of service . I felt I had something to give to communities , and I had a skill set that would be useful to help people through their recovery journeys . The more I learned about the field , the more my knowledge grew – and the more my interest grew , the more I wanted to do .
I never sat as a little girl thinking , ‘ I want to manage a drug and alcohol service ’. In fact , I never would have wanted a managerial role . But I had a lot of visible results and could see people in my communities
22 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • FEBRUARY 2025 WWW . DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS . COM