Domenica is in recovery herself, which helps her relate to what her patients are going through. Nearly two decades ago, while working as a peer counselor in an corrections based treatment program, Domenica began helping out the staff and  inmates, acting as a sort of “junior counselor.” She caught the eye of a supervisor, who helped her apply for a scholarship that largely funded her undergraduate education and helped her get her first job in the field. 

“I just fell in love with it,” Domenica says. “The fulfillment of giving the gift back is like nothing else.”

Domenica worked in corrections facilities and health clinics, where the intensity of the experience eventually took its toll. In the first three months of 2005, she lost four patients to violence and overdoses. She recognized that the work was starting to affect her mental well-being. Domenica went back to school for an MBA, but before she graduated she was offered a job designing and implementing a community based recovery program in Wilmington. After many years working in the field in many different modalities of mental health and addiction treatment she was well aware of the gaps in service. This began to drive her passion to create something to address those gaps.  

“When I think about what keeps me whole and grounded I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt it is a solid spiritual program, a great support circle, and a life of service. For me that is what we have to provide people if we want them to get, and stay well. After treatment, what we offer and provide them is critical.”

At IMPACT Life, Domenica has designed a program that sets up the clients up for success. In addition to vocational career services, there are wellness programs and training for basic life skills, like how to balance a checkbook, communicate with other people, and have fun while staying sober. There will also be recovery residences.

“We focus a lot on recovery from addiction, but for me, it’s about overall wellness,” Domenica says. “My investment is looking at the whole picture: if we don’t help people get and maintain employment, get old charges pardoned and expunged, assist them in navigating social services,  and simple things like knowing how to communicate effectively, the recovery eventually collapses.”

The program Domenica has developed, and the life she’s led, are supported by the three consistent pillars. If you have ever heard her speak you have definitely heard her talk about them. Connection, Compassion, and Kinship. They lead to services delivered with dignity and respect and in turn people are open to change. 

“Those of us in recovery, we’re constantly cranking that gift out,” Domenica says. “We’re saying, ‘We’re an example of how this can work.’ It’s about reassurance and compassion and empathy. You have to help people through their process that’s how people get well. We have to work to install hope that recovery is possible, and then we have to prove it. That’s on us.”