USD School of Health Sciences Success Spotlight: Alice Cruz Morales

Degree: Master of Arts in Addiction Counseling and Prevention Current Position: Director/Clinical Coordinator, White Buffalo Recovery Center

Current Position: Clinical Coordinator/Director, White Buffalo Recovery Center

Alice Cruz Morales

For Alice Cruz Morales, clinical coordinator and director at a Wyoming substance use treatment center, the USD School of Health Sciences Addiction Counseling and Prevention program represented not just an educational opportunity but hope for a future she thought she might never have.

As a young woman stuck in addiction herself, she had made some bad choices that threatened to derail her life plans, even after she got sober. But Morales says USD helped turn her challenges into a win and gave her the tools to help others raise themselves up.

"Getting accepted into the Master of Arts in Addiction Counseling and Prevention program at USD and hearing others talk about their own challenges was huge for me," says Morales. "My past no longer holds me back like it used to and I owe a lot of that to USD."

Before USD, Morales had had some experience with online learning and already held a BS in criminal justice and two associate degrees. But she says a lot had changed for the better in the ten years since her last online classes.

"It was a much more user-friendly platform than I had experienced in 2006," she says. "And I really appreciated how engaged the teachers still were, especially since it was online. At USD, all the teachers seemed very invested in the development of their students."

Now sober for more than 11 years, Morales has spent the last five years in charge of the clinical services at White Buffalo Recovery Center, which includes a residential facility, an outpatient clinic, a case manager, certified peer specialists, and others in a rural, underserved community.

"Not only did I deepen my knowledge of substance use, but USD really equipped me to lead that amount of staff," says Morales. "I have teams and supervisors under me that help me with supervision and a lot of that comes from seeing the way the teachers led at USD. That has definitely helped me grow as a leader."