Unwrapping the Gifts of Recovery: Effective Tools for Chemical Dependency Counseling

H. Leroy Thompson has dedicated his life to helping people struggling with chemical dependency achieve abstinence, sobriety, and recovery. As an Oklahoma City University undergraduate, an Emory University graduate cum laude, and an ordained member of the United Methodist Church clergy, he served as a pastoral counselor in an inner-city social action ministry for ten years. This experience led him to join the staff of a hospital-based chemical dependency unit, first as an outpatient counselor, then director of outpatient services, clinical director of the inpatient unit, and, eventually, executive director.

A certified chemical dependency counselor at the state, national, and international levels, Thompson saw the importance of the bigger picture: training counselors to better help their clients. He was a co-developer and co-director of the Summer School on Chemical Dependency conducted at Oklahoma City University for more than thirty years.

Now retired, Thompson and his wife reside in Edmond, Oklahoma, with their Boston terrier, Jazzi.