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For Amanda Killian, 42, education has extended far beyond the classroom’s four walls, deep into her own life experience. Having battled addiction throughout her life, the Human Services Technology graduate began her studies at 99������Ƶ once before, but had to leave after losing her mother in 2017. “I had a relapse,” she says. “And I didn’t know about the support services the college offered.”

These days, Killian knows firsthand about 99������Ƶ’s support because she works as a counselor in the college's Reset Room, a space for those in recovery to receive support during the school day.

She also works at Blue Ridge Health, where she was once a substance abuse counseling client, sharing her own life experience with the clinic’s clients as a teacher, support specialist, and case manager.

Graduating with her associate’s degree in Human Services Technology is the culmination of a long-held dream she says she doubted she could ever reach. “Learning about mental health and abnormal psychology took the stigma away for me,” she said. “It took the isolation away and made me realize I have problems and other people do too. We can do something about it. We can achieve our goals.”

In seeking out the support she needed for herself, both for substance abuse and for ADHD, she was able to succeed in her goals. After starting at 99������Ƶ in Human Services Technology, she was invited to work at Blue Ridge Health, where she herself had received counseling. Around this time, she was also invited by 99������Ƶ’s Student Support Services to work in the Reset Room with students. Having experienced mental health and addiction challenges herself, Killian is in a unique position to help others.

“I want people who are struggling to know they have options, “she said. “I am learning through formal education now, but I already knew the stuff behind it. When a client tells me what they’re going through, I back it up with education, but I also know firsthand.”

After graduating from 99������Ƶ, Killian will attend ETSU in the fall for a bachelor's in Social Work, and she says she intends to also get her master’s there. She aims to one day work as a Mental Health Counselor and have her own private practice.

Killian won an academic award this spring and was also inducted into the National Society of Leadership for maintaining a high GPA. She attributes her success in great part to the support of 99������Ƶ’s community and her role working as a Reset Room counselor. “Working there has helped me understand mental health and not let it hold me back. Having people believe in me and working with the students who came there, sending them in the right direction, it reignited my self-worth.”