Angela Goodman, Program Secretary

Angela Goodman is Madonna House’s Program Secretary, and she’s been with Caz Recovery since November 2019. She comes with over 20 years of secretarial experience in healthcare. In fact, she used to work at another behavioral health organization in their Suboxone clinic.

According to Angela, one of the best things about working at Madonna House is the site’s Program Manager, Carolyn Kirkwood. “I love my boss,” Angela said. “Carolyn is amazing. She always has an open door policy whether its staff or residents.” Angela also said that Carolyn “is like a mentor” to her. Angela is appreciative of the rest of the team at Madonna House, too. “Everyone pitches in to help where it’s needed,” she said of her team. Angela reflects this attitude in her own work. Not only is she the Program Secretary, but she helps out by covering shifts and taking over other responsibilities.

Mondays are busy days for her, as she works both morning and evening shifts. She also helps out in the kitchen those days. When asked about her favorite recipe to make for the women at the program, Angela said it’s definitely her homemade Chicken Broccoli Alfredo. She said that the residents “love it.” Scaling it up to feed over 20 people was quite the challenge, though. “It took a lot of adjusting and tweaking,” said Angela. Her strategy is to do parts of the recipe in batches and then put it all together. “I think I have it down pat,” she said. Angela occasionally watches the kids in the program sometimes, too. This is all a lot to handle, but she enjoys the different kinds of work. “It’s fun,” she said. “It makes the days go by fast.”

Throughout her career, Angela has enjoyed interacting with the people in the programs. This is certainly true of her current position at Madonna House. “You have to be empathetic,” Angela said. “It’s a lot of patience and a lot of listening.” She’s always impressed that residents “come from all walks of life” to work on their goals. While it’s often bittersweet to see the women move on, she enjoys hearing from them when they call to let the staff know how they’re doing. “It’s always nice to hear those stories,” Angela said.