Eric Engler grew up in an environment where alcohol was common. By 14, he began his own struggle with addiction.
“When I was growing up, I had all these dreams. But, my struggle with addiction became so consuming that it took all of those dreams from me,” says Engler.
One day, at the age of 19, he sat in a counselor’s office, where she encouraged him to seek treatment and pursue recovery.
“Once I got sober, all of a sudden I had … this kind of reason to live, frankly. And then there was a point where I said: I want to help other young people find their way through this.”
He began working at an addiction treatment centre in British Columbia. During this time, he met Marshall Smith, who became chief of staff to Alberta’s Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, who worked with Engler on some projects and asked if he’d consider a government job.
Engler accepted the role of ministerial assistant within the Minister’s Office for Mental Health and Addiction in Alberta, which led to a promotion to press secretary to the Minster. Now, he’s the chief of staff. He worked on the ministry’s initiative to fund an additional 10,000 treatment spaces annually; helped establish a new provincial health agency for mental health and addiction, Recovery Alberta; and worked on the initiative to build 11 new recovery communities across the province, five in direct partnership with First Nations.
“Having a career that is fulfilling where I can have some personal success, but also … help a lot of people change their lives — that’s more than anything I could have imagined, either when I was a kid, growing up as a teenager, or when I luckily had the opportunity to pursue recovery.”
This article appears in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of Edify
