HARLINGEN — Texas Tropical celebrated a win after 20 years.
Harlingen resident Stephen Vega received an award earlier this month from the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals (TAAP).
Vega is the director of Substance Use Disorder Services for Tropical Texas Behavioral Health and has been there since January 2016.
Vega was nominated for counselor of the year for his work with Tropical Texas.
The award was presented at the 43rd annual Texas Association of Addiction Professionals conference that is held in San Antonio every year.
According to Vega, there have been only three people in the Valley to have been awarded over the past 30 years.
The last person to have won the award was Dr. Ralph Jones in 1997 after Joan Conkey, who received the award 10 years earlier.
“I am humbled as an individual by the support I’ve received from my mentors to allow this opportunity,” Vega said.
Vega moved to Harlingen in 2009.
He worked with Veterans Affairs for more than seven years and Recovery Center of Cameron County before moving on to Texas Tropical.
“As the director of Substance Use Disorders services, my strength lies in my team and we have a good one,” Vega said.
Vega oversees federal programs, outpatient treatment and detox and aftercare services.
“I’m grateful and proud of the work we can do for our community,” Vega said.
Elutario Blanco is the president of the Valley Association of Addiction Professionals (VAAP) and nominated Vega for the award.
“He is really active in the association and he is a good representative of the profession,” Blanco said.
Blanco said he viewed the nomination as a chance to get recognition for VAAP.
“Our chapter is kind of small and we’re trying to expand it,” Blanco said.
Blanco previously worked on the committee to nominate finalists for the Counselor of the Year award.
“We needed to send a lot of documents to support our nomination,” Blanco said.
