This man was banned from being a counselor. He's fighting back.

People who have overcome drug or alcohol addiction often want to help others overcome addiction, too. Their first-hand experience can make them particularly well-suited to guide others through recovery.

https://ij.org/case/virginia-fresh-start/

Rudy Carey is one of those people. After a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction, in 2007, Rudy completed rehab and turned his life around. Then he got married, completed hundreds of hours of coursework and training in substance-abuse counseling, and started a career as a counselor at a Fredericksburg, Virginia treatment facility.

Unbeknownst to Rudy, his career was illegal.

That’s because Virginia bans people with convictions for any of 176 “barrier crimes” from being employed in a “direct care” position, which includes substance-abuse counselors. Generally, the ban applies no matter how old the conviction, how unrelated it is to substance-abuse counseling, or how little it reflects the person’s fitness today. As a result, old mistakes still prevent many people who have overcome addiction themselves from counseling the people they are uniquely fit to help.

For Rudy, the ban meant that after five years of excellent work, Virginia sent his employer a letter saying that he was banned from working as a substance-abuse counselor there—or anywhere else in the commonwealth—forever. Not because he wasn’t qualified: Rudy’s clients loved his work. Rather, Virginia banned Rudy from counseling because of a single assault conviction from 2004—well before he turned his life around. In other words, Virginia is judging who Rudy was nearly two decades ago. It should be judging who he is today.

The U.S. Constitution protects Americans’ right to earn an honest living free from irrational government interference. Banning Rudy from working isn’t rational—it just deprives people battling addiction of a qualified, sympathetic counselor. That’s why Rudy has teamed up with the Institute for Justice to file a federal lawsuit challenging Virginia’s lifetime ban. A victory will vindicate a simple truth: that no one should be denied the right to work because of irrelevant criminal convictions.

Filmed on a Canon C70 with a .071x adapter with a Canon 24-105mm ii, 50mm 1.2 EF, and various other lenses. Zacuto shoulder rig and follow focus.
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