Doug Werth – Supervisor Spotlight

Doug Werth spent nineteen years working for Fellowship House before Cazenovia Recovery assumed operations of the agency’s programs. During this time, he held a wide range of positions at most of Fellowship House locations. He began his career in the field as an intern at Somerset House and quickly moved through the ranks holding positions like counselor, case manager, and residence manager.

Currently, he serves as the coordinator for our Supportive Living program in Niagara County. Since joining the Cazenovia team, Doug has come to appreciate the agency’s vision and energy. “I’ve come to thoroughly enjoy the people,” he added. “I like to see people that have a positive focus on improving.”

Doug and Aurora

While Doug is passionate about recovery from substance use, he is also enthusiastic about dogs. In his office, he has a calendar of hunting dogs not far from his desk and a hat that bears the name of the breed he particularly enjoys working with: verein deutsch drahthaar, which means wirehaired pointer in German. “They’re referred to as versatile hunting dogs,” said Doug. “They’re not lapdogs, but they like to sit in my lap even though they’re 65 pounds.”

Recently, he found a great way to combine his interests in recovery and canines. For the last eight months, Doug has been training his dog Aurora in narcotics detection. “This has been a lifelong desire,” he said. Both he and Aurora will need to be certified before they can work in the field and he hopes to pass the certification test next month. It’s a timed test that involves Doug working with Aurora to find substances in different locations. Aurora must perform a “passive find,” meaning she will point or lay down to show that she has discovered the narcotics.

As his storied career draws to a close, Doug is working on setting up plans for his retirement. At the moment, his target date is the first week in January. Doug acknowledges that retirement will be a “major change,” but he’s planning on spending more time with Aurora. His wealth of experience and knowledge will be sorely missed not only throughout our agency, but throughout the recovery community in Niagara County. Regardless of what he ends up doing, he plans on engaging in continued self-improvement. “I plan to do the best I can possibly do,” said Doug. “It doesn’t happen every day, mind you,” he added for extra measure.