Reframing Addiction

By offering addiction counseling through Glory House, Ayele Chebude is helping countless individuals put their lives back together.

Ayele Chebude's kind eyes might be the first thing you notice about him. His striking intelligence, perseverance, and genuine desire to help others come into focus as you start to get to know him.

Chebude grew up in Ethiopia where he practiced medicine and was a mental health professional. When he and his family moved to the United States roughly 10 years ago, his medical credentials were not recognized by the U.S. system, so he was forced to start over if he wanted to continue to practice medicine. Leaving the place you know as home and moving your family halfway across the world is an extraordinary and harrowing undertaking for anyone. To lose your career in the process is demoralizing.

However, Chebude is indomitable. While working full-time at Smithfield to provide for his family, Chebude took night classes to earn his master's degree in addiction counseling from Grand Canyon University. "It was challenging, but I tried to make the best of the options I had," he said. "I did what I needed to do in order to feed my family."

For the final piece to complete his degree, he needed to find an internship in the field where he could prove his skills in the community. It took more than six months to find the right placement, but he finally landed at Glory House, a long-standing local institution for addiction counseling and treatment.

In its more than 50-year history, Glory House has helped countless individuals get back on their feet after experiencing addiction. "We are reframing the conversation to view addiction as a brain disease," Chebude said. "I want to increase awareness for each client that there is something in their brain, in terms of chemicals and parts of the brain that are affected by each drug, that is behind their addiction."

Chebude's internship at Glory House was so successful that Program Manager Kelly Cleveringa applied for a grant from the Community Foundation to help hire him full-time. "To get into treatment, people need to get an assessment from a licensed counselor, but they were having to wait several weeks to be seen,” said Cleveringa. "When somebody wants to get help, you want to see them as fast as possible."

In the year since Chebude first arrived at Glory House, the additional capacity he provides as well as improvements to their process have increased the number of assessments by 60% over the year prior.

By approaching addiction treatment through the science of the brain, Chebude is giving his clients the agency to take control of their situation through understanding of how addiction works. "It helps them make sense of their addiction and can help them find the path out of it," Cleveringa said.

Behind those kind eyes is a man who strives to see the best in people, and one committed to helping them see the best in themselves. "To enable someone to stand up again and to reconstruct their life is the most rewarding part of the work I do," Chebude said. "I can contribute something to the individuals who are overlooked by other treatment opportunities."

Taking the next step to enter addiction treatment takes courage and determination, but it's not a journey that needs to be undertaken alone — places like Glory House are here to help. "This is how you reclaim your life," Cleveringa said.

Chebude never gave up on himself, his family, or his dreams. That's exactly the kind of resolve that he fosters in his clients seeking to free themselves of addiction through Glory House. And, in turn, Glory House helped him get back on his feet. "My dream came true," he said.