Gary R. King, MS, LPC

For more than 20 years, Gary R. King, MS, LPC has dedicated himself to helping others struggling with substance abuse and mental health issues. Since 2015, he has excelled as a licensed professional counselor at Specialty Counseling & Consulting, LLC and as substance abuse program manager since 2018; in this capacity, he oversees the numerous treatment programs, meets with and consults with clients, conducts substance abuse evaluations, trains clinicians and interns, and supervises staff. Prior to this appointment, he served as a licensed professional counselor at the nonprofit SW-WRAP, or Southwest Wyoming Recovery Access Programs, from 2012 to 2015. He previously lent his expertise in substance abuse and mental health counseling to Capstone Counseling and Recovery from 2007 to 2012 and was active as a seminar group facilitator at the Summer High School Institute at the University of Wyoming from 2006 to 2011. Mr. King began his career in the field as a member of the residential staff at Southwest Counseling Service – Recovery Center, an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center located in Rock Springs, Wyoming, from 2000 to 2003.

Mr. King’s mission to give back to the recovering community stems from his own experience being on the other side of counseling in the past. He was addicted to numerous substances for nearly 30 years and went into treatment five different times, ultimately working hard to overcome his struggles. From that point on, he decided he wanted to help others who were in his situation—he ended up working with the same people who helped him during his treatment. In the midst of launching his career, in his 40s, he pursued higher education and earned an Associate in Arts, with a focus on psychology, from Western Wyoming Community College in 2003. He subsequently attained a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Wyoming in 2006 and a Master of Science in counseling and community counseling from the University of Wyoming in 2008. He received his certification as a licensed professional counselor in the state of Wyoming in 2011.

Since 2015, Mr. King has been a dedicated associate member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Looking toward the future, he intends on continuing to help as many people as possible in his role as substance abuse program manager. As a counselor, he encourages all of those who wish to enter his field to “trust their heart’s voice over their head’s voice.”