Maggie Behm

I attribute my success to God, number one. He has led me and helped me break the chains of addiction. That's who I turn to. No person, no human, nobody could do it. I had to surrender to God, and He walked me through it, and I had to trust in Him. It was hard - it's like losing your best friend. But God wants us to live in reality and just work through it. He'll see you through it. I thank God every day and always wonder, why me? I'm a lucky one. I know He still has a purpose for me.

The best career advice I ever received was to never stop believing in yourself, even when you're frustrated or discouraged. People have told me this, and it's been so important because there are times when you're going to be challenged and you feel like you're not smart enough, you're not good enough. But you have to keep believing in yourself, because that's the enemy telling you that you're not good enough. I've been there, and it took me a long time, but I'm good now.

My advice for young women going into the field of recovery and addiction is to go all in. Really get in there and investigate and know what you're getting into. If you're going to study it and learn it, go sit with those people - go to an AA meeting, go to an outpatient program, go to a rehab. Get in there so you can really get to meet the people that you're actually going to learn about when you're in recovery. The best way to do it, to me, is in-person, hands-on. You can read a book, but it's never really going to give you the best information about addiction until you really talk to people and see it through their eyes. You get a different perspective when you hear it from the true person struggling. That's so important.

One of the biggest challenges in my field is seeing people lose hope. That's one of the biggest challenges - seeing people just try to want to give up, and that's hard because you really want to bat for them. I'm a team fighter, but I can't make them sober up. We can lead them to water, but you can't make them drink it. That's a challenge for me because I know what it's like on the other side. It's very challenging for me to lose people. I've gone to many, many funerals, and that's hard. You really want to just see people succeed in this because you have, and I always thank God every day - why me? I'm a lucky one.

In my work, the most important value is to be present. When I'm nannying and taking care of the kids, it's about putting down the phone and being present with the children. That is most meaningful because being present is important. I also believe in taking on responsibility and following through. Work ethic is about following through and timeliness - if you say you're going to be there at 9, be there at 9. In my personal life, my values are family and unity - uniting each other and being together. I'm a big, big pusher of keeping the children together and united, with their girlfriends coming over, whatever we have to do to stay reunited as a family. And being God-centered - I feel that is so important. Faith over fear.