Adalberto Morales maintains a number of responsibilities as clinical director at the Pyramid Healthcare Newport News Treatment Center. He regularly supervises counselors, authorizes discharge planning, manages aftercare coordinators and oversees the intake department. 

Ask him why he does what he does, and you’ll get a simpler response.

“The clients are my passion,” Morales said. “I enjoy working with (clients), speaking with them, seeing them grow, watching them slowly but surely become new people.”

If I can enhance one life per day, I’ll feel accomplished.

–Adalberto Morales, Pyramid Healthcare Newport News Clinical Director

Since Pyramid Healthcare first opened the Newport News location — its first residential treatment location in Virginia — Morales has worked to implement services to enhance client sobriety and improve their chances for long-term sobriety. This approach, he said, begins when the counseling team provides each client with a clear understanding of their future in Newport News.

“By week three”, said Morales, “clients will understand their entire treatment plan. They’ll enter the final week knowing where they’re going, what they need to do and how things should work if they follow our recommendations.”

The client experience is central to Morales’ daily tasks. He connects regularly with counselors to ensure clients get the most out of all onsite programming. At minimum, clients should participate in 6.5 clinical hours per day — a benchmark Morales confirms is met each day.

“The more education a person receives, the more they retain,” he said.

For Morales, it’s important that every client has a “plan of attack” after they graduate from the program. Whether it’s sober living, transitional housing, continuing care, or residential programming with less restrictive parameters, clients should feel supported from the moment they walk through the front doors until the moment they depart.

Morales — who has worked in healthcare since 1994 — plans to introduce a number of new initiatives in the coming months, to further deepen the quality of services clients receive. These programs include weekend family programs, art therapy and nondenominational spiritual services. He also aims to integrate marriage and family therapy sessions, allowing clients and family members to better understand each other.

Video games, movies and family time keep Morales busy when he’s not changing lives in Newport News. Before citing the counselors, aftercare planners and intake staff that help him fulfill his own role, he said he keeps his own goals simple:

“If I can enhance one life per day, I’ll feel accomplished.”