Aaron Edmiston, LPC Associate, LCDC

Aaron Edmiston

Aaron Edmiston, LPC Associate, LCDC

Case Manager Aaron Edmiston is a chemical dependency counselor who is willing to let experience guide his educational goals -and he’s passionate about learning. Aaron started working in the field in 2011 as a direct care assistant for adolescent boys at Starlite Recovery Center. He took the job to pay the bills while he was earning his chemical dependency counseling license. It provided more than a salary–he learned that he loved the work. After receiving his LCDC, he spent five more years as a case manager at Starlite, four of those years were working with young adult males. Two-and-a-half years with Nova Recovery in Austin followed, heading up the partial hospitalization program and working with residents in sober living. Aaron worked with clients in the detox setting for his final year with Nova. He returned to Starlite to be close to family and transitioned to La Hacienda in October of 2019.

Enjoys Seeing Patients Transformed

“I always wanted to work at La Hacienda, especially after David Lester—with whom I worked at Starlite-moved over here and told me how great it was,” says Aaron. “I love the emphasis here on patient care.” A calm, resilient, easy-going personality helps him work with most any patient. Like most counselors, he enjoys observing how his patients grow while they’re in the program, “transforming from being ambivalent and uncertain about their future to expressing confidence and excitement for a new life.”

A Strong Academic Background

Aaron has earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and an Associate Degree in Human Services with an addiction counseling emphasis. He is halfway through work on a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling through Liberty University and will graduate in December 2022.

Practical Experience Steers Education

Aaron started his higher education with a desire to go into neurobiology. However, this changed after he found his passion working directly with individuals who have been affected by chemical dependency. “I really enjoyed the work, so I switched my major, and ended up in counseling.” “I’m passionate about education, especially learning about psychology and how to apply it to my patients. I enjoy exploring current research in the field of addiction and counseling. It is important to me that I am applying current evidence based treatments with the patients I serve” He is determined to continue his education up to the doctorate level.

Born British and American

Aaron was born in England into an American military family. He has dual citizenship in the United Kingdom and the United States. He has not been in the UK since he was 18 months old and doesn’t remember it, but he’d like to go back and visit. Texas has been home since he was six, primarily in the Hill Country living in San Antonio and Boerne.

Fun Time Outdoors with Family

Aaron and his wife live in Kerrville, where she is a contract recreational therapist with the Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Center, working with children with intellectual disabilities. They have a young son. “He’s the funniest person I know,” Aaron says of their boy. The young family, which includes three dogs and two cats, heads for the outdoors on weekends to go hiking or swimming.