Dominique Baker

I have been working in the mental health and substance use treatment field for 12-13 years, and it has become my true passion. I started as a behavioral tech working with adolescents and have climbed the ladder through every level - house manager, admissions and treatment roles, and even director of operations managing an IOP, two sober livings, and two detoxes all at the same time, which was a lot but amazing. Now I serve as program director and group home administrator at the Mindful Lemon. In my role, I handle the day-to-day program operations and logistics, making sure clients get the care they need, collaborating with the team, clinicians and executives, scheduling the clients' day and planning their outings, and ensuring they get to their doctor's appointments. I'm pretty much the core of the houses I've worked in. What I love about this work is that it doesn't feel like a job to me - even on the worst days when I want to pull my hair out, I know I got through it with a client and helped them, which is what matters. I'm very passionate about what I do, and I'm grateful and blessed to be working in a field that doesn't feel like work all the time.