Mr. Otis Ray Sr.

Mr. Otis Ray, Sr. has been selected by CCAT's Board of Trustees as the Kindred Spirit Awardee for 2005 for his long career in the field of substance abuse treatment and prevention.During his nearly thirty year career Mr. Ray has mentored and formally taught hundreds of current professionals in the field.

The Kindred Spirit Luncheon during which the award will be presented to Mr. Ray will take place on December 8, 2005 at the Westin Hotel's Fountain Room.Registration is at 11:30 a.m. and the luncheon begins at 12:00 noon.

Mr. Ray started his career at CCAT in 1977, first as a patient aide and subsequently as a primary counselor.He spent the past 28 years in different capacities which allowed him to not only counsel the chemically dependent, but train hundreds of candidates to become knowledgeable, ethical, and compassionate chemical dependency counselors.In 1996 he formalized this process by creating the Skills Development Program, operated as a Talbert House project, to educate and prepare candidates for the state written and oral chemical dependency exams.

In addition to his skills as counselor and teacher, Mr. Ray has also worked to develop new treatment programs.He worked as a Program Director for Emerson North as well as assisting with the development of the chemical dependency component for Talbert House, Spring Grove site.Currently he is on the Board of Directors for the Drop Inn Center and on CCAT's OASIS Volunteer Advisory Committee.

If interested in attending the luncheon to honor Mr. Ray, please call Kit Berger at CCAT at 513-381-6672 or information@ccatsober.org.