Michael Fatula MA ’10 sees his work with people who have substance use disorders and are involved with the justice system as an opportunity to give hope to the hopeless.

Michael, who received a master’s degree in counseling from Franciscan University in 2010, is the manager of the Statewide Substance Use Disorder Program for the Virginia Department of Corrections. In 2019, he was chosen from among 13,000 employees as Employee of the Year for the corrections department, which is the largest state agency in Virginia.

“Many times, when people have addiction, which is a chronic medical condition and wrongly stigmatized as a moral failure, they feel like there’s no hope for life, for the future,” he says. “We have the opportunity to provide hope that recovery and a brighter future are possible.”

Read the full story in Franciscan Magazine.