Recovery: One Family At A Time!

We at McAlister Institute’s Signs of Life (SOL) have so much to be thankful for. We enjoy working with San Diego County’s Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Late Deafened Adults, and Blind/Deaf Community. SOL is proud to be a provider for the San Diego County, Alcohol and Drug Services. McAlister Institute’s Education and Training has made us a National Model for special needs treatment in the field of addiction and recovery. As a Co-Occurring Teaching facility, we provide internships for Gallaudet University graduates, UCSD Medical Students, SDSU Rehabilitation Majors, and the Mesa College’s Interpreter’s Program. We are proud to be a National Consultant with the opportunity to have several professionals from different states come to SOL and train with us, taking this information back to their home states to set up much-needed programs and services for their Deaf Community.

It has been so exciting the last seven years to see the, “Miracles of Recovery” in our clients' lives when they are honest with themselves and focus on changing their world with new positive opportunities. After working 15 years in Law Enforcement for the State of Florida (Child Protection Investigator) and in the Los Angeles area, I became deaf from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in 1980. With assistance from the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation I graduated from California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) with a degree in Education (Counseling). I later earned California Teaching Credentials from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1990 I entered a dual-options Master’s Program at CSULA (MFCC & Rehabilitation Counseling), and completed two years of classes and three years of Supervised MFCC Internship working with the Deaf Community in Los Angeles. I have worked as a Director of Deaf Programs in Miami, Fort Myers, and Tarpon Springs, Florida. (Silent Bridges) I also feel fortunate to have worked two years with the Deaf Community in Colombia, South America, while teaching English at a University in Medellin, Colombia. I enjoyed my experience there, while learning to use Colombian Sign Language. Before coming to San Diego, I worked as the Outreach Specialist for the State of Utah, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission.

SOL has become a National Model Program because of the hard work of the McAlister Institute's Staff, Contracted ASL Interpreters, SOL Alumni and the many great volunteers we have had in the past seven years. I want to thank them and the Social Committees that works with our “Christmas for the Kids"in our Deaf Community Party” (5 Years) and our successful “Deaf Beach Social" at Moonlight Beach (Encinitas, CA) since August, 2006