Julie Butera spent her formative years living a life of addiction, not knowing how to raise children even though she had three of them.

Then, the wife and mother reflects on the ways she puts her lived experience to work and realizes that her pain was worth something. “They trust me,” she said softly, referring to the parents she helps reunify with their children and recover from substance use disorder.

Butera is a care coordinator coach for Arizona Families F.I.R.S.T. (Families in Recovery Succeeding Together), which offers community-based substance use services to parents of children named as victims of abuse or neglect by the state Department of Child Safety. In this role, she connects parents with treatment, communicates with their probation officers and other resources, and advocates for them with DCS specialists. The “coach” in her title refers to Butera’s leadership: Along with an average caseload of 40 parents, she hires and trains other care coordinators. She is also the face of recovery in the community and a recent graduate of Grand Canyon University, earning a degree in social work with a near-perfect grade point average while working full-time. (She is now pursuing her master’s degree in social work.)

Breaking free from a lifelong cycle of addiction, Julie Butera determined to put her experience to work helping others on their journeys to wellness. Now, years of study, persistence and hard work have yielded a degree in psychology that combined with her life experience is transforming lives.

Butera achieved sobriety on Nov. 12, 2005, breaking the cycle of addiction prevalent in her family as far back as she can remember. Now, she pays forward her experience helping thousands of other parents on their wellness journeys. She knows that people in recovery listen differently to those who have walked in their shoes. She plants the seeds to help these parents find a new path and works with resources around them to help the seeds grow. Her magic is a combination of compassion and encouragement with loving boundaries.

As if keeping families together and helping people realize a life free of drugs aren’t enough, Butera lent her voice to legislation that changed outdated Central Registry guidelines. She also co-founded the Parent Advisory Collaborative, which brings the voices of parents and families into the decision-making process of Arizona DCS.

Butera is a light for those overwhelmed by darkness. For her, helping people feeds her soul. Among the “Julieisms” she shares with parents: “Addiction doesn’t define you.” “Relapse doesn’t have to be part of your recovery.” And “recovery comes first.”