Take 5 Spotlight – Jodi Dayton

Take 5 Spotlight is a series of brief articles that introduce you to members of our National Office team, and many other SMART-types, in a short & sweet way.

If you want to talk about longevity at SMART Recovery, the conversation starts and stops with Jodi Dayton. Jodi started working at SMART in 2003 (rumor has it she needed a youth work permit) and is now the Office Resource Coordinator. “[SMART] was looking for a part-time employee and reached out to see if I was interested.  I started working 3 hours per day 3 days a week in 2003.” It quickly turned into a full-time position. Clearly the match was made to last.

Jodi says her job, in a nutshell, is to provide information and support wherever needed. And that support means a lot to people who contact SMART. “So often people will say to us, thank you for answering the phone and thank you for being there.  It’s nice to know something as simple as answering a call can mean so much.” Another key area of responsibility for Jodi is overseeing bookshop operations, including new publications.

Having previously worked in restaurant, retail, and administrative positions, Jodi is well aware of the importance of good customer service, and her attitude shows it.

Here are Jodi’s responses to the Take 5 Spotlight questions:

1. Are there tasks you perform regularly during your workday?  I am part of the Call Center Team which answers all incoming calls, and I help with general inquiry emails.  I also work in Volunteer Headquarters (VolunteerHQ) adding new meetings, making changes to existing meetings, and assisting with inquiries from volunteers.
   
   
2. What are a couple of the ways you interact and coordinate your job with other national office staff?  Jas, Leah & I work together daily to respond to voice messages and email inquiries.  If someone has a lot on their plate that day others will jump in to assist where needed.   I also work closely with Melina on VolunteerHQ. 
   
   
3. What is one of the ways that you think you personally make a difference at SMART?  Because of my many years here I can often answer questions about how things were done historically.
   
   
4. What is your message to all those dedicated SMART volunteers across the country?  THANK YOU! 
   
   
5. What kinds of things are you interested in outside of work? I enjoy hanging out with my husband and 2 boys, our daughter & son-in-law, and our pups as well as extended family.  We are big Cleveland Indians fans and enjoy watching the games on tv and once in a while at the stadium.  I love reading and rarely go anywhere without my Kindle. : )

Learn more about the Take 5 Spotlight series and see others who have been profiled.

PLEASE NOTE BEFORE YOU COMMENT:

SMART Recovery welcomes comments on our blog posts—we enjoy hearing from you! In the interest of maintaining a respectful and safe community atmosphere, we ask that you adhere to the following guidelines when making or responding to others’ comments, regardless of your point of view. Thank you.

• Be kind in tone and intent.
• Be respectful in how you respond to opinions that are different than your own.
• Be brief and limit your comment to a maximum of 500 words.
• Be careful not to mention specific drug names.
• Be succinct in your descriptions, graphic details are not necessary.
• Be focused on the content of the blog post itself.

If you are interested in addiction recovery support, we encourage you to visit the SMART Recovery website.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

If you or someone you love is in great distress and considering self-harm, please call 911 for immediate help, or reach out to The National Suicide Prevention Hotline @800-273-8255, https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

We look forward to you joining the conversation!

*SMART Recovery reserves the right to not publish comments we consider outside our guidelines.*