Barbara "Bobbi" Fox

I was born and raised in Jewett City, Connecticut, a small manufacturing town in Eastern Connecticut.  I am one of eight children and after graduating high school I spent a couple of years working as a secretary.  The job really held no future for me so I enlisted in the US Navy and was a Hospital Corpsman (medic) for four years.  I did most of my enlistment at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.  It was here that I met and married my husband TJ (Thomas Jones, Jr - Yes, Tom Jones!).

After we were both honorably discharged we came to the greater Hartford  CT area to live.   I went to community college for my associate's degree, worked for a few years, and then went back to college for my bachelor's degree.  It was during my years getting my bachelor's degree that I started working as a work study student for the Veteran's Administration at their Newington, Conn., facility.  I worked in the Dept. of Psychiatry on their Substance Abuse unit. I was eventually hired as a full time addiction counselor and worked there from 1983 - 1988.  During this time I got my certification as an addiction counselor. 
 
In 1988 I left the VA and did counseling work for a few years in the private sector I returned to the VA in their West Haven campus and worked there from 1991 -  1993.  In 1994 I returned to school and got my master's degree in Counselor Education from Central CT State University.   It was at the end of my degree in 1996 that I was offered a part-time position as an adjunct professor at Manchester Community College to teach in their Drug & Alcohol Recovery Counselor (DARC)  Program.   I remained part time until 2002 when I was selected as the full time Coordinator and Professor of the DARC program.  I have been in that position from that time until today.  In 1996 I was eligible and became an LADC (Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor) in the state of Conn.
 
In regards to NAADAC, I was a member during the early and middle nineties but slipped away from my membership.  One day in 2006 I realized that Connecticut's NAADAC affiliate had no communication with me in many years. After investigating why this was so I learned that the affiliate really had no board and it became evident that Connecticut needed someone to bring life back to the affiliate.  So, I, and some very dedicated and wonderful volunteers, formed a board and I agreed to run for president while we got our feet back on the ground.  I am now finishing up my second (and last) term as president and have just been elected as Northeast Regional Vice President of which I am extremely proud.