Parker completed counseling course work and became a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor (LCDC) in Texas in 1994. He began a new career in mental health as the director of education at West Oaks Hospital in Houston before moving to the private alcohol and drug treatment center, The Right Step.
He moved to the Pacific Northwest to take an administrative position with Lakeside-Milam Recovery Centers in Kirkland, Wash. He met Dr. Hilarie Cash, who was at work developing observations about computer and Internet addiction. In 1999, they co-founded Internet/Computer Addiction Services in Redmond and developed the No More Secrets program for sex and love addicts.
He also has appeared on ABC News, CNN, the BBC, and PBS, and been interviewed by publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and U.S. News and World Report. He speaks at treatment centers and has addressed conferences of The Northwest Institute of Addiction Studies, the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals, and the National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity. He is an NCAA-approved speaker who addresses university and college student-athletes on the perils of alcohol and substance abuse as well as other topical mental health issues. Jay Parker has more than 20 years of personal sobriety. His commitment to his own recovery is unwavering. He is happily married with two adult children. Parker takes particular delight in dancing at the weddings of his clients who, like him, have turned around their lives.