Raised in New Brunswick, NJ, Mànuel went on to earn his Addiction Studies Certification from Middlesex College and launch into a career in recovery. He began his professional therapeutic journey as a counseling intern at a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinic in Cliffwood Beach, NJ, where he recognized he had found his soul’s purpose. Continuing to expand his expertise in the field, Mànuel now has over three years of experience working in substance use care and MAT, as well as long-term residential and intensive outpatient programs.   

Prior to entering the addiction treatment space, Mànuel worked in human services for seven years, managing a 14-bed youth shelter that provided outreach and prevention for homeless and neglected youth throughout central NJ. He was drawn into human services from his own lived experience as a homeless youth in active addiction. Today, in long-term recovery, Mànuel is certain that he is where he belongs at The Living Room. He sees his work here as an opportunity to walk hand-in-hand with others as they navigate the experience of “waking up” and witness the beauty in the pains of addiction and mental health difficulties. Perhaps more than anything, he hopes the work he does will help create a wiser and kinder world, something that carries all the more significance having recently adopted his daughter, Emmabell.